A blond man had made his way inside my house without me knowing. I let the camera roll, figuring if he was planning to murder me, there'd be proof. "Who are you?" I demanded. "How did you get in here?" I knew for a fact I had locked the doors. And I'd heard the garage door go down, so Lucian hadn't left it up.
The blond rolled his eyes and sighed. "Really?" He wore a tailored suit and expensive shoes. I wasn't sure of the brand, but they weren't department store specials.
"Adam," he called. "Come in here."
Lucian's best friend walked in, and I relaxed and shut off the camera. "Adam, what's going on? Who is this?"
Adam looked at the blond with a puzzled expression. "I thought you unlocked her memories?"
The blond shrugged. "I did, yesterday afternoon."
I walked around my studio setup into the other part of the office where Adam stood near the desk with the handsome man. "Adam, tell me what this is about." I was pissed. First, I'd have to reshoot part of what I'd been doing, which sucked, because I'd been on a roll. Second, how had they gotten in? "Did Lucian give you a key?"
"Just do it again," Adam told the stranger.
The blond looked at me with sympathy in his eyes. "Sorry, Lil."
"Who is Lil?" I recoiled as he reached out and put a finger to my forehead, then shuddered when the memories returned. "Damn it," I muttered. I looked down at my human body and shook my head. "Oh, crap on a cracker."
"How long after I left did you forget?" Gabriel asked.
"Not long," I said. Adam cleared his throat. With all the memories crowding in and then remembering that I was pregnant, and one hundred percent shouldn't have been, I'd forgotten he was standing there. "Michael," I whispered.
He grinned. "You can call me Adam. It feels weird to be Michael while human." He still looked like his ethereal self, without the ability to sprout wings. He held out his arms, and I gladly rushed into them.
"Now I know why you've acted so weirdly around me," I hugged him tight, memories flooding me.
"Oh, you should've known," Gabriel said. I leaned back from Adam's arms and made a face at him. Gabriel stuck out his tongue. I’d missed my brothers so much.
"Is this why you've been asking so many questions about the baby?" I asked, fighting the urge to hug them both again.
"So, I take it since you didn't remember, you didn't make any strides toward figuring out why you and Lucifer are still here?" Gabriel took my hand, and we walked downstairs into the living room to sit together on the couch.
I sat between them and tried to touch them both at the same time. "No, once you left and Lucian came home, I kept trying to remind myself, but it just kept slipping away." I crinkled my nose. "Sorry."
Gabriel leaned over and pressed a kiss to my temple while Adam stroked my knuckles with both of his thumbs. They crowded closer. "I've missed you," Gabriel said.
"Me, too." Adam put his arm around me, and I shifted to lean against him.
Gabriel pulled my legs up into his lap. "It took me a while to find you. My Earth cycle always ends up off-kilter from yours, but I try to keep an eye on you while you're here."
Adam nodded. "I do, too. But they can't have both you and me on Earth at the same time." Adam, as I knew him on Earth, was the Archangel Michael, the leader of God's armies. And Gabriel was his right-hand man, along with Raphael. Raph and I had never gotten along, but Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer, and I had been bonded for several thousand years. Our bond had survived the Fall, even though God wasn't very happy about it. But He said He wouldn't interfere with love, even amongst his angels, and he left us to work it out the best we could with Lucifer and me living in Hell while Michael and Gabriel lived in Heaven, fighting the good fight. The love I shared with Gabriel and Michael was different from that with Lucifer, but never any less.
Humans. They'd messed with our entire infrastructure, but since we had to spend time as a human, we learned what it was like to be human, truly human, and after that, we couldn't condone the options they were given. Lucifer and I had led the charge to convince God to change his ways.
He'd finally agreed, but it had come at a cost. Lucifer and I were charged with creating and maintaining Hell for all of eternity. We were no longer welcome in Heaven even though our entire life had been built there.
It was God's nature. He was forgiving, but there were always consequences. Our rebellion had cost us our way of life.
We'd made the most of it, with Lucifer creating Purgatory so we could be with our brothers.
Michael and Gabriel. We'd been together so long it was like second nature. Being on Earth always threw me off when I remembered, because while on Earth, I always ended up with Michael and Lucifer, never Gabriel. We never had our Earth-cycles at the same time, and I ended up on Earth with them every time.
I sighed and leaned my head back on Adam. Michael. Dang, the human memories were making it all so confusing. "I've never had both memories while in my human body," I muttered as I enjoyed the closeness of my brothers. "My ethereal body is better equipped to hold them all."
“That’s how it is for everyone,” Michael said.
I twisted on the couch and looked at my sibling. He had features so delicate and pretty I could make him into a gorgeous woman with my knowledge of makeup. He kept a scruff, though, and I knew it was because he'd always been told he was pretty. Everyone had insecurities, even the Archangel Michael.
