Several of the men gasped, the Colonel included.
Then the Colonel rallied and said, “You could try.”
“If we did, we'd succeed,” Azrael said simply. “Can you not simply be thankful that we are not interested in taking Italy or any other country on Earth? We just want to share it with you. And we did not come here with nothing to offer in return. The Fey have brought gifts with them—plants to offer medical advancement, ancient wisdom, and magic.”
The Colonel took a deep breath and let it out. “I would have been content with sharing the world with you if the Virgin Mother hadn't started to weep blood. Magic is the Devil's work.”
I bit my lip.
Azrael was able to keep a straight face as he said, “As I said, that is a trick.”
“That sounds like something the Devil would say.”
I couldn't hold it back that time; I snorted a laugh. At least I didn't blurt the words that came to mind, that the Devil would say it because it's the truth. That would not have gone over well. As it was, the Colonel glared at me.
“I'm sorry, Colonel Keusch, but you truly are being tricked,” I said. “We are not devils trying to deceive you. Why would we bother? As my husband has been telling you, if we wanted to, we could take the entire world. A war with us would mean the extermination of the human race.” I let that sink in a second before saying, “But that's not what we want. We want peace. We want to help humanity advance. Is that something you think the Devil would say? And do you think the Devil would try to work things out peacefully or would he take the opportunity to promote violence?”
The Colonel's face twitched. “I don't know. But it is not up to me. This is a matter for the Pope.”
“The Pope only has control of Vatican City.” Azrael's expression hardened as he added, “And he has that control because I have allowed it. Tell him I said that or I will enter his bedchambers tonight and tell him myself.”
The Colonel shot to his feet. “Was that a threat?”
“Haven't you been listening?” The Faerie God's eyes began to glow so brightly that I had to look away. “Everything I've said is a threat. I've tried to be kind about it, but you are obstinate, so I shall be clear instead. Come at my people again, hurt them in any way, and I shall destroy Vatican City and your Pope with it.”
The humans all gasped, their eyes going round.
“You can't do that,” the Colonel said.
“You are still repairing the damage the Wild Magic did to the Basilica,” I said. “That was just the magic acting on its own. Imagine what will happen with the Faerie God directing it. All that history, all that beauty, gone in seconds.”
Azrael stood up, and the soldiers pulled their guns.
“Go ahead,” the Faerie God said to them. “Take a shot and see what bullets do to faeries. Prove the truth of my words.”
What he was implying wasnearlythe truth. Most Fey could recover from a bullet wound but if it hit them through the heart and they were not a Fire faerie, they would die. Or, if you damaged them enough, they might die anyway. But I wasn't about to make that clarification.
The men holstered their guns.
“No?” the Faerie God taunted. “Not a single one of you is brave enough to shoot me? Then how can you hope to stand against my armies?”
A gun went off, a bullet pinged, then hit the wall.
I flinched, my stare swinging toward the Colonel, who was the only man still holding a gun. As I stared at him—I wasn't worried about Az—a bunch of faeries ran into the room.
“Stand down.” Azrael held his hand toward the faeries. “I asked him to fire his weapon.”
The faeries stared at Az as if he'd lost his mind.
The Faerie God pulled open his button-down shirt and revealed his unblemished chest to the wide-eyed Colonel (and wide-eyed faeries). Az wasn't just a faerie, he was also a god, and bullets don't hurt gods. The Colonel should have known better; there were videos of Azrael all over the Internet being shot at with missiles. Freakin' missiles! A bullet was nothing.
“Are we good now, Colonel?” Az asked.
The Colonel nodded crisply and holstered his gun.
“Please, escort the Colonel and his men out of the Embassy,” Azrael said to the faeries as he closed his shirt. “And let everyone know that they can return to their homes.”
“Yes, Sire,” one of the faeries said with a smirk at the humans. “This way, gentlemen.”
