I held up a hand to calm them. “I won't. I just . . . I feel as if taking a bite of apple may be overkill, even if I don't use the Great Nine.”
“Who gives a shit?” Re asked. “Overkill away, La-la. We're going up against the Heavenly Host.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, you're right. Honestly, I was very confident by the end of my last apple adventure. I don't know why I'm worried this time.”
Odin narrowed his stunning, peacock-colored eyes at me. “Have you spoken to Brevyn about it?”
“No. He's insisting on staying here for a reason that he can't speak of. That means he's already seen this battle and there's nothing he can divulge. So there's no sense in asking him.”
“Then you should proceed with confidence,” Odin said. “If Brevyn isn't worried, then we shouldn't be either.”
I made a face. Yes, I believed in my son and his visions, but visions can be tricky and are rarely straightforward. Brevyn probably hadn't seen the battle as Odin implied but rather had to interpret imagery relating to the battle. As good as Brev was getting at interpreting his visions, he could still make a mistake. But I didn't want to ruin Odin's confidence right before we went to war so I kept that to myself.
Instead, I said, “Let's get ready for church.” Then I grimaced. “And I hope I never have to say those words again.”
Chapter Thirty
The Church of Eternal Light looked legit. It had a sign and everything. People were strolling up to the doors, looking very human. They weren't. We couldn't use Angels as our “human congregation” because they'd be recognized, and we couldn't use Demons for the same reason, so some of my lions and a few Froekn women had agreed to play the part. They had even driven to the church and parked in a little dirt parking lot to one side.
Azrael stood on the church steps, greeting everyone, and I stood beside him, playing my part as well. Just beyond the open doors, a massive bomb waited. The plan was that we'd all enter the church, go invisible, then immediately trace out to the woods to wait for the attack. No, we couldn't be absolutely sure that Jerry would attack us, but I don't think Brevyn would have been so adamant about staying if nothing was going to happen. Once the attack began, Luke would text Cid the go-ahead to enter the Heavens.
Even though Jesus had traced over with us, he walked up to the church from out of the woods as if he hadn't.
“Brother!” Azrael exclaimed. “Thank you for coming.”
“I wouldn't miss it for the world,” Jesus said, then hugged Azrael. He moved on to hug me and whisper, “Dad is already gathering the Host.”
I smiled at him as if he'd said something sweet. “I'm glad you're with us, J-man.”
“Always, V.” He winked at me from behind his John Lennon glasses.
“Nice suit.” I looked over his Victorian ensemble, complete with cravat and top hat. It gave his round glasses a completely different look. “It goes with your glasses.”
“Thank you. I bought it in 1846 when it was the most primo threads a man could wear.”
“Of course, you did. With your hair loose like that, you look a bit like Gary Oldman inDracula.”
“Thank you! He was outtasight in that movie.”
Jesus moved on, and our faux-parishioners filed in behind him. My other husbands weren't a part of the show since the humans didn't know about them so it wouldn't make sense for them to be there. They were already in position, hidden in the trees with the rest of the Froekn, my Intare, Luke, his small Demon team, and the few Angels we had on our side. And just to clarify, the number of Demons was small, not their size. It wasn't as if Satan had shown up with a bunch of mini-Demons. But how cool would it be if there were Demons the size of pixies?
Once the congregation was inside, Azrael and I followed them, then closed the doors behind us. The Froekn and Intare were already tracing away since there wasn't a lot of room in the church, most of it was taken up by the bomb. I edged around the shiny metal monstrosity toward Torrent, who stood at the back, where the pulpit should have been.
Torr typed on a control panel in the device, then the remote in his hand. “We're good to go. Literally—let's get out of here.”
“One second.” Azrael went to the MP3 player we had hooked up to some speakers and started the recording we'd made of people singing Wiccan music about the elements.
Az turned it as high as it would go and set it on a loop, then motioned at us. We traced out to the woods, leaving the bomb and an unset ward around it, to lure in the Host. Then we waited.
It wasn't long, maybe fifteen minutes, and then the clearing filled with Angels. They may like to fight from the sky, but they emerged from the Aether on the ground. That part wasn't surprising. It was the fact that they were arrogant enough to appear right in front of the church that shocked me. But with the Wild Magic rushing through me, I felt pretty arrogant myself. I could understand why they were so cocky. They believed themselves to be invincible.
I couldn't wait to prove them wrong.
“Now!” Azrael said, his voice coming from beside me but also through the communication device in my ear.
Those of us who had laid the ward sent our magic forward, setting it into place to seal the Angels inside with the bomb. Apple-enhanced Angels had broken through Azrael's ward before, which is why several of us cast this one. It didn't have to last very long, just through the blast, and there weren't as many Angels as there had been last time. Jerry had only sent a few squadrons, around thirty-six Angels, but that made sense. With them amped up on apples, they should have been more than enough to kill a couple of unprepared gods, singing with humans and basking in their worship.
“Torrent!” Azrael said.
