When his voice washed over me, my panic receded. Something about the way he spoke calmed me. I took a moment to get a good look at him for the first time. He had long, blond hair, curling over his collar, which, I belatedly noticed, was made of gold.
"What are you wearing?" I asked.
He looked down at his tunic-toga-wrap-thing. "What?"
"You look like a Greek painting." I inched closer to the door. While I believed, somehow, in my heart, he intended me no harm, I didn't want to stick around.
"Lilith," he said. "Enough is enough."
He thought I was someone else. Well, that explained a lot. "Nice try." I moved out into the room, away from the counter. "I'm just going to go, and you can return to whatever cosplay or reenactment you came from."
He sighed, pulling my gaze to his. "Lilith, you have to remember. It's time."
"Yeah, I'm not Lilith, so this is a case of mistaken identity." I pointed to the back door. "Shut the door behind you, we've got a rogue owl prowling around."
He looked from me to the door, his long blond hair swinging back and forth. "You really have no idea?"
I arched an eyebrow at him. "I don't know why you're in my kitchen uninvited, but I want you to leave."
"Okay, we'll do it the hard way." He pointed to himself. "I'm Gabriel." He pointed to me. "You're not Constance. You're Lilith."
"Uh-huh." I put my hand on my hip. He was throwing Biblical names at me. I just didn’t know why. "And Lucian is Lucifer, right? Are you in a play at church or something? Are Adam and Eve going to waltz in here next?"
Laughter bubbled up my throat, but I clamped my lips together. No sense in laughing at the crazy cosplayer. "Oh, no, I get it." I was unable to mask the sarcasm in my tone. "My neighbor, Adam, he'stheAdam, right?"
A small giggle escaped as the man who called himself Gabriel shifted in place, flexing one of his muscled arms. I froze as I realized I was antagonizing a very large,verystrange man in my kitchen. I was pregnant and far more vulnerable than I'd ever been in my life. Not the time to press a potentially crazy stranger.
"No, he's nottheAdam," Gabriel mimicked. "Just a coincidence, his human parents naming him that.” He looked away for a second, then amended his statement. “Actually, he wastheAdam once, now that you mention it.”
This had gone on long enough. "Okay, well, sure. I'm Lilith, you're Gabriel. Let's go sit down in the living room and talk about it." If I could get out of this damn corner of my kitchen, I could grab my phone. Or maybe get over to the gun safe. It was programmed to my fingerprint and would open a small compartment containing another revolver.
"Enough," Gabriel said. He strode forward, and I slung my hands out in front of me to push him back, but all he did was place one finger on my forehead.
"Remember." His voice resonated in the roomy kitchen, echoing off the walls.
The word washed over my skin like warm water, sinking into me and igniting a firestorm of memories. I gasped as it all came rushing back.
Lilith, Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer. My husband, my brothers, the men of my life. I moaned as several lifetimes of memories crowded into my head. I remembered everything. The Fall of Lucifer, which had been much less about Lucifer's rebellion than the world thought it was. And our lives since, constantly tied to one another, spending decades on Earth for every five centuries spent in Hell.
Hell. My home. I remembered it clearly, in detail.
Tears poured out of my eyes as I remembered Gabriel. I lurched forward, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Gabriel." I sobbed into his tunic as he stroked my back. "Oh, how did I not know you?"
I'd been through the emotional turmoil of remembering before but never like this. I usually died, then woke at home, in Hell, surrounded by my family. Michael, Gabriel, and my love, Lucifer.
For me to be able to live with him and my brothers, Lucifer had long ago created a special part of Hell that angels could enter, just for me. They couldn't go into Hell-proper. Likewise, I couldn't enter Heaven, but in Limbo, or Purgatory, the realm Lucifer made, we had a home, a life. I’d always figured they’d settle down and find mates eventually, but here we were, thousands of years later. They were eternal bachelors.
I sobbed into Gabriel's stupid shirt as more memories assaulted me. "Why are you waking me on Earth?" I asked when I finally came to terms with the situation. I was in the middle of a human-cycle, and for some reason, Gabriel needed to cut it short. "Why not wait until I return to Hell?"
"Because you've been here way too long." He squeezed me, but then looked down between us. "This is weird."
I laughed and stepped back, rubbing my stomach. "Yeah, the belly gets in the way."
Covering my eyes, I thought about all the memories that had flooded me. They clamored to get my attention as I tried to process everything. Michael's face popped into my head.
"Michael," I gasped. "Oh, my gosh, he's Adam."
Gabriel nodded. "Yeah, and I think he remembers."
