“Who’s there?”
My heart lurched at the weak sound of Gabriel’s fearful voice.
“He’s not getting what he wants, so he’s sent his lackey this time?”
Now, even through the rasp, I heard anger. He’d endured something awful, that much was certain, but Gabriel wasn’t broken.
“It’s me,” I called, just as I’d hit the top.
He scoffed, clearly thinking it was a trick, until I stepped into his line of sight. The door to his prison had been left open, and sunlight currently streamed through the room’s several arrow slits. He was slumped on the floor, bound by thick chains. Physically he looked well enough, though there was so muchdried blood caked on him and staining the floor, it was a little hard to tell.
Narrowed eyes searched my face. “What are you doing here?”
I cocked my hip and smirked. “Rescuing you, of course.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re being held prisoner. That is generally what rescue missions are about.”
“You’re a demon.”
Perhaps I’d been wrong and Lucifer had broken him.
“I’m neutral. You should know this after all our years.”
“If that were true, you’d do nothing. Your arrival here clearly indicates that you’ve chosen a side. Neutral parties do not choose sides.”
For a single instant, I regretted coming here. “You’re insufferable, you do know that, don’t you?”
“I’ve been told.” Without waiting for a response, he let out a soft groan as he lifted his arm. “The chains are enchanted. I cannot break them.”
“Are you healing still? Is there damage to your body we need to address?”
He shook his head. “I’m physically weakened by my bindings, but Lucifer is sadistic enough to allow me to heal so he can inflict wounds over and over.”
Yes, that did sound like him.
“Unless you have the key, I don’t see how you can help me.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You know, for someone in your position, you are quite ungrateful. Do you really have so little faith?”
His jaw flexed, and when his eyes returned to mine, they were blazing with an emotion I could not recall ever seeing from him. “And why should I have faith? And in what? I have been Lucifer’s captive for weeks and suffered every indignity at his hand, and the only one who came for me was a demon. Not mybrothers. Not my father—though he sacrificed his only flesh and blood child, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he’d leave me to rot. Tell me, Lilith. What good is faith to me? I have been forsaken.”
I gave the moment the weight it deserved before I burst his bubble with a derisive snort. “Don’t cry to me about being forsaken. You’re needed. I’m here to bring you back to the fight, but if you’re going to wallow in self-pity and let the world burn around us, I’ll just leave you be.”
“The fight?” he asked, a small light in his eyes now.
“Yes. The time for neutrality has passed for us both. We can’t continue to sit idly by while the world we’ve both grown so attached to is snuffed out. No matter how you feel about your brethren, or heaven, or... Him, we cannot let Lucifer win this.”
He held my gaze for an uncomfortably long time. I knew this was a big decision for him. It went against the moral code he’s clung to for centuries. Longer, really. But I also knew I was right.
His expression didn’t change, but he held out his hands. “Can you do something about this?”
“Is that your way of saying you’ll join us?”
“I can’t exactly help you from here, can I?”
A little flicker of hope curled in my belly, but I kept my expression neutral as I rolled my eyes. “See? Insufferable. Just say thank you, Gabriel. It’s really not that hard.”
