by J. L. Myers
“Shhh…” Of all the things she could do, Gabriel smiled. Bringing her palm up to cover his belting heart she joined their lips ever so lightly. “All I need is right here with me. I do not need anything else. My Morningstar,”—her touch fell so she could rub her belly—“and our child, are all I will ever need.”
Lucifer sighed along with her, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders at the same time as feeling like he owned the world. He would do anything for them. The both of them. They were all that mattered to him.
Gabriel’s breaths started coming faster again. Her face pinched.
A strong calm came over Lucifer, hiding the fact that it hurt him to see her in any pain. Removing his armor plate and chest leathers, he climbed onto the bed and went around to her back. Extending her wings, he slung his legs around her hips to ease her back against his chest. “Breathe for me. One two in. One two out. Focus on my voice.” As he kept speaking, Lucifer’s arms went around her body to slide his hands over her belly, willing the pain to wash away, wishing he could take all of it from her and onto himself.
Time passed in slow motion, the peaks getting longer as the breaks got shorter and shorter. The sounds of the castle grew quiet too as if Zachias had ordered any unnecessary soldiers away to provide a peaceful setting. Even the sounds from down in the city were duller than they usually were during the late afternoons. A call to his ability had fire sprouting from all the black candles on surfaces and stands around the chamber. Through it all, Gabriel was strong, amazing Lucifer in her ability to drive herself through this, to keep reminding herself that soon she would meet their child.
Now at her side on the bed, Gabriel squeezed Lucifer’s hands so hard a few small bones cracked. He didn’t utter a sound, continuing to murmur, I love you. You are doing wonderfully, into her ear as he cradled her swelling stomach. With her on her back now, propped up by feather-stuffed pillows, red was brewing beneath the sheen covering her pale face.
“Oh, God. Lucifer, I feel…it is almost—” A guttural scream tore from Gabriel’s throat.
The hellhounds retreated, slipping from the ajar doors with low grumbles. Lucifer barely noticed as he snatched up a damp cloth—one of the items Zachias had delivered before disappearing. He dunked it into the water as Belial cawed, ready to press it to Gabriel’s forehead once more—as a twin thump sounded. His arm froze mid-air, a crystal drop that reflected candlelight dripping onto her face. “Did you hear—”
A splintering crack erupted as a yelp came and went. The door exploded inward, the two pieces snapping clean off their hinges to slap the ground. But not before knocking Belial, who’d dive-bombed the entry, down to slide along the ground in a broken heap. A swarm of soldiers raced in before Lucifer’s fire exploded up around the room. Twelve had gotten inside. Led by— “Zachias?”
His trusted guard flung a glinting weapon. Lucifer jumped up, going for the dagger at his side—but his hand hit an empty scabbard. Hot pain stabbed into Lucifer’s thigh as the projectile hit. The dagger, his dagger, the one that could annihilate permanently was now deeply embedded in his leg. Lucifer staggered off the bed as Gabriel screamed. He needed to protect her. He needed to protect their child. Struggling to work his leg properly as rivers of what felt like lava shot through his veins, Lucifer threw his hands forward. “You dare to betray me? The ruler of Hell?”
The fire that Lucifer commanded failed, sucking back into his palm.
Despite the heat that roiled from his leg through his body, his eyes were as free of flames as clearly as the rest of him was. Only his fire protecting the room remained—but it too was weakening. Lucifer reached down to grasp the dagger’s hilt, but Zachias was suddenly in front of him, freeing the blade only to drive it into the other leg.
Lucifer’s knees buckled as Gabriel’s screams dragged on. The few soldiers that had stolen inside had slid the fallen doors over the threshold. Now they were going after Gabriel, leaving the room open—
Zachias caught Lucifer’s wrists before he could smash his fist into his guard’s face. He whispered into Lucifer’s ear, “This was not my plan.”
Lucifer roared as soldiers flooded into the chamber, eating up ground as they marched at Gabriel. Lucifer ripped his hand free, his sword unsheathed in a heartbeat as he booted Zachias back. But the deathly sharp weapon never met its target. A whoop sounded in-between screams that peeled from Gabriel’s throat, and then his trusted guard’s eyes widened in shock as a red line appeared across his throat. Zachias’s head slipped sideways, falling with a thud. His body crumpled next, blood spurting from his severed neck across the dusty floor.
But the dagger he’d ripped from Lucifer’s thigh never hit the ground.
Cyrus stood right behind where Zachias had been. Beneath his dark hair, his crimson eyes glowed with malice. In one hand he held a bloody sword, and in the other—the angelic dagger. “We meet again, old friend.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Gabriel scrambled back on their bed, wide-eyed as Darius strode into the room. With a long bloody sword in his hand, the twin lumps of leaking flesh out in the hall made her gasp. Her pets, Zallina and Zephyr. They were both morbidly still, cut up and broken, their heads severed as surely as Cyrus had severed Zachias’s head.
“Get away from her!” Lucifer screamed from across the chamber, barely evading the sweeping slice of Cyrus’s sword. His own sword fell with a clatter, kicked to spin out of reach as their enemy jabbed the blue-glowing dagger at Lucifer’s chest. He missed. Barely. And Lucifer stumbled, tripping on Zachias’s severed head as he dodged around the lava pit. A high-pitched whistle blew from his lips to call his crows.
But as Gabriel strained to listen, there was no flutter of wings to announce the arrival of any help.
Surrounded by crimson-eyed soldiers, there was nowhere to run to and nothing to defend herself with. Gabriel’s wings quivered, desperate to flap and lift her off the bed. The tearing pains inside her belly and between her legs refused to allow her the option to flee. She bit her lip to trap her screams inside, shrieking in the back of her throat.
Even if she could stand or lift off, Gabriel wasn’t sure she could make herself run.
Not while Lucifer was fighting for his life. Not with their child demanding to be brought into this anarchy.
Darius weaved through the crowding soldiers, poising his sword high as if to lop off her head.
“Darius, I will kill—”
A flash of light appeared up high in the speared ceiling. Every face in the room shot up, even Cyrus’s and Lucifer’s across the room. “No!” her lover grated.
But it was no use.
“What is it?” Darius barked.
“Who is there?” Cyrus demanded at the same time.
From the looks of confusion on their faces, it was clear they could not see the threat. But Gabriel could, and so could Lucifer.
Azrael hovered above them. Black tendrils lifted like silken strands from Zachias’s lifeless body up into the hot air. The strands swelled into an orb of black that formed from one of Azrael’s outstretched hands. In his other, a beacon of light flared into existence. “Gabriel, I am sorry. Get out while you can.”
Arms flinging down, the dark and light released simultaneously as Azrael vanished. The darkness struck Lucifer as Cyrus lowered his raised head to continue his assault—and the light plowed into Gabriel.
An explosion of pure power ricocheted from Gabriel with her scream, fanning out in waves that knocked every man in the room down. Cyrus and Lucifer were floored too, though not as severely with a pillar blocking the outward blast.
Gabriel scampered to the edge of the bed, needing to run and escape, to save her child before they could carve it from her belly and slit her throat. But she never made it. A grunt of agony stopped her stretching foot from touching the ground. Cyrus recovered, using his sword to push up to his feet. And the soldiers that had hit and bounced off the fiery walls or flattened furniture into rubble began to recover too.
<
br /> But it was none of them that had halted her intent to run.
Lucifer suddenly flipped onto his back. His chest heaved upward, ready to crack open and spew the vile darkness of Zachias’s soul like a plague. Lucifer held it in, eyes squeezing shut and lips pressing into a trembling line.
They were doomed—her child would die.
But she could not allow it.
Though it killed her, Gabriel slid off the bed, her knees buckling as a debilitating pressure burned between her legs. She cried out, hand flying to the bed’s edge to keep her off the ground. Lucifer screamed her name, but he couldn’t help her. He struggled to his hands and knees, pouring silver-black blood from his split chest until it snapped shut. But he was so far away, hands shoving him up to his feet—
To create a bullseye for Cyrus as he plunged the glowing blue dagger into Lucifer’s chest.
Suddenly right in front of her, Darius’s sword pointed at her throat. Legs failing she fell onto the bed, dragging her sweating body back onto the wet sheets. Rolling to her side, she saw Cyrus twist the blade in Lucifer’s chest, bringing him back down to his knees. He knelt there, arms falling harmlessly to his sides.
Cyrus sneered down at Lucifer, glee dancing in his crimson eyes. “Now you will watch her die, powerless to stop it.”
Gabriel struggled to her knees, stare locked and unable to look away as Lucifer’s eyes darted to the lava pool. Like he wanted to reach for the close burning source and use it to retaliate, to get to her and save her life as well as the fragile one they had created. The utter desperation she glimpsed as sweat sprouted all over his face and bare chest made her utter a sob.
He was paralyzed by the power of the angelic weapon that had struck so close to his heart.
He couldn’t help her or their child, and she couldn’t save him, either.
Darius and the soldiers grabbed at her then, and she flailed and cried out as Lucifer’s mouth opened with a silent scream of torment. They threw Gabriel down onto the bed, forcing her hands above her head and pinning her feet down to stop her thrashing. Her wings batted out over the bed’s edge, lashing out to throw soldiers off her. One leg came free and she kicked out, smashing her heel into Darius’s face.
Gabriel flapped again and ripped her hands free—and screamed as the worst imaginable pain tore through her body. Slammed back onto the bed, the walls trembled from her cry, rattling the bone chandelier as if in fright. Then she ratcheted up, her repeat scream never-ending as Darius recovered and advanced with the soldiers.
“Stay away from her,” Lucifer grated out, still trapped on his knees and powerless.
The soldiers ignored him but froze as Darius held up a hand.
Gabriel’s scream cut off suddenly as did the pain that had ridden her entire body. She lifted the hem of her dark robe from her ankles, and the face blinking up at her was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, with a dusting of hair, perfect golden skin, and wide violet eyes. Their daughter. Gabriel lifted their precious baby into her shaking arms, holding her tiny warm, wingless body right against her racing heart. Her wings curved around their precious creation, her eyes narrowing at the surrounding threat that was waiting to attack.
Time stopped as Gabriel’s eyes sliced sideways to Lucifer. His lips moved though no sound came out. “Run. Fly!”
Fresh tears streaked down Gabriel’s cheeks. And then the struggling flames around the room died.
“Now!” Lucifer screamed.
“Get her!” Cyrus ordered, and his son led the charge with a war cry, swords ready to skewer Gabriel as she clambered—
A shock of white light exploded from Gabriel’s chest as the piercing shafts of metal reached for their target. Every soldier was thrown back, even Darius, hitting walls, pillars, and even the edge of the lava pit. Cyrus flipped sideways from the blast, his hand yanking the dagger free as Lucifer too was floored.
Still, his eyes never left her.
The light blast had thrown all but herself and Lucifer—and was now raining upward in a shower of white. Kneeling on the bed, Gabriel unfurled her protective wings to stare down at her cradling arms. Her empty arms.
A sudden agony worse than any physical pain shredded Gabriel’s heart.
Their daughter—the newborn proof of their undying love—was gone.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The most heart-wrenching sound ripped from Gabriel’s throat as she collapsed on the messy bed. The stream of silver tears down her face as she stared dumbfounded at her empty arms and wept made Lucifer almost wish for death. Their child, their daughter, the life they’d created through pure and unadulterated love was gone.
“Where…w-where is? H-how? Light?”
Gabriel’s words were shaky and incoherent, her thoughts too jumbled to form sentences. Her eyes darted up to Lucifer, begging for answers he didn’t have, then back to her silver-smeared arms. Lucifer had never seen light like that down here in this desolate land. The white brightness, that purity, it was not of Hell. It was of Heaven. God’s light. But knowing that did not deliver any comfort, only more unknowns and a knot of dread that promised that reality was one he didn’t want to know but could not ignore. For their child to vanish like that—did that mean God had…eliminated her?
The prospect was unbearable, threatening to siphon Lucifer’s will to fight and survive.
But that was not an option.
Still surrounded, Darius and the soldiers were getting over their shock fast. Swords were drawn as Darius glanced his way with a tight-lipped nod—to Cyrus. The old king was on his feet now, stalking away from the lava pit that was too close for comfort. His mouth had been agape, but it snapped shut as his red eyes cut from Gabriel to his followers. “Plan B. Restrain her!”
“Don’t you dare touch her.” Lucifer pushed through the dagger’s residual paralyzing effects, struggling to his wobbly feet. Plan B meant there had been a plan A. A plan that had included his daughter. Their attack on this day had not been by chance. They had come to kill both Gabriel and himself—so they could take possession of a being that had the potential to be even more powerful than the both of them combined. Lucifer lunged, intending to swoop up his lost sword. “I’ll kill you!”
At the same time, Gabriel sprang up off the bed with a cry, wings flinging out as she launched at Darius and the advancing soldiers. Pain and vengeance raged in her silvery eyes as if she blamed them for the loss of their child. And then she hit, delicate fists pummeling cheeks and noses in a whirlwind of her black robe and grey wings.
The soldiers surrounded her in seconds. As Darius and a few others took the punishment, the others’ swords took aim.
“Gabriel, get out!” Lucifer never made it to her in time. Cyrus blocked the way, driving the dagger toward his heart. Lucifer darted back, evading the blade but meeting Cyrus’s primed fist. Lucifer’s heel hit the edge of the lava pool, the thick liquid searing where it touched him. Shocked and off balance he fell, using what little muscle control he had left to tip sideways and not backward into the bubbling pit.
Lucifer’s head snapped up, skull crunching as his back hit the black marble floor with a clap. Air belted from his lungs—but not only from the impact.
Recovered in time from her assault, Darius stabbed his sword right through Gabriel’s belly. The place their child had safely resided in only moments ago. Another sword was sliced through her back. Two others penetrated her sides. Gabriel’s fight fell still, her hands dropping to her sides as she spluttered silver from her rosy lips.
She was stuck. Pinned. An angelic bug stuck on the protruding lengths of four swords.
With her feet curled in, it was clear the swords were the only things holding her upright anymore. Her gaping mouth was wet with blood and her pinched eyes revealed the pain she fought to stay conscious through.
“No,” Lucifer rasped, rolling to his side to plant one hand on the ground. His sword was out of reach, past the pillar and under the legs of his writing table. But he had to get to i
t. He had to fight back. His worst fears were coming to life. First his child, now the love he could never survive without. He had to stop this.
Staggering to his knees, head spinning and body weak, Lucifer joined his shaking hands, begging up at Cyrus who stood over him. “Let her go. Please,” the words tasted like acid in his mouth. Lucifer had never begged for anything. He had never reduced himself to a position where he had needed to. But now he was about to lose everything. And that thought terrified him. He shuffled deceptively closer on his knees, getting nearer to the platform. “Take Hell. I never wanted it anyway. But let her be and take your vengeance out on me. Strip me of flesh, break my bones—do it for eternity if you wish, I do not care. But please, please release her.”
Lucifer granted himself one last look at Gabriel. Her silvery hair was matted down to her waist, her skin was pale, turning from porcelain to a frightening shade of gray-blue. Silver stained the black cloth that draped down from her shoulders to her ankles, now forming a puddle beneath her feet. Her eyes fell to Lucifer, unspeakable sorrow resonating as deeply as the silver pooling below her irises. I love you, she mouthed.
“With the only escape from this place gone, I plan to, Lucifer.” The flicker of relief that swelled inside Lucifer died almost as fast as it had sparked when Cyrus added, “You took my life and you took my freedom. I plan to get an eternity of vengeance, an eternity of payback.”
With a burst of power, Lucifer shoved Cyrus as he rose up and dove for the sword—right as a terrible sickness suddenly swelled inside Lucifer’s chest. “No,” he grated, but it was no use. Collapsing on his side, Lucifer’s ribs burst open with a spray of silver-black gore. Oily black poured out, debilitating him as Zachias’s soul was delivered into Hell. The inky mass slid across the floor and pooled, but instead of rising up, it shed like a glossy liquid to reveal his trusted guard’s curled-up body.
