As much as I wanted to rot him to pieces for speaking to me that way, I had to admit he was right. WhathadI been doing? Fucking hating and tormenting the very person I should have been working to protect. Shem saw the blood drain from my face and immediately came to my defense.
“You know Ramel didn’t have access to his memories because your preciousYahwehwiped them.”
“Fuck off, Shemhazai, that’s not an excuse,” Gabriel snarled. “What the fuck haveyoubeen doing, then?”
“My words were bound.”
“But your actions were not. You’re telling me you’ve spent this whole time down here just fucking the dog while Ramel followed around a human girl?”
For a moment, it looked like Shem was going to give Gabriel the same treatment that he had given Rafael. His face went white with rage, and his fists clenched so tightly at his sides that he shook. As quickly as the anger came, he wiped it away. Suddenly, he was relaxed again. He gave Gabriel one of his easy, sly grins and leaned back against the arm of the couch, crossing his legs casually in front of him.
“Sounds like you have some opinions on what I should have been doing with my time over the past millennia, Gabe. Please, enlighten me. How would you have spent that time if you were me?”
Gabriel’s amber eyes flashed in the green firelight, a sinister smile spreading across his face.
“I would have been coming up with a plan to get fucking revenge.”
“Rebellion is the seed of freedom.”
—THOR HEYERDAHL
Ieyed the archangel warily. Shem’s eyes were narrowed and there was a relentless hum of energy rolling off his tense form.
“What you’re suggesting istreason.You will be sentenced to purgatory along with us if Yahweh finds out you’re encouraging rebellion against Heaven. Especially with the King of Hell and Hell’s General,” I said, my tone calm but suspicious.
“Unless… is this part of Yahweh’s plan?” Shem speculated out loud. “Convince us to collude with His primary messenger only to have him turn on us at the last moment?”
“Thatseems more likely,” I growled, unable to keep the rot from spreading closer to Gabriel.
Gabriel scoffed. “You’ve known me for thousands of years, Shemhazai. Have I ever given you the impression that I’m particularly fond of sucking Yahweh’s cock every time the mood strikes?”
Shem pursed his lips but didn’t respond. Art tried to hide his reaction, but I didn’t miss the way he winced from his station by the fireplace.
Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, deflating. “Listen, it’s not my fault I was made after the one responsible for giving angels the option to switchsides was trapped in Yahweh’s fucking bowl of nothing. I’ve been hoping this whole time that you two assholes were figuring out a way to get things back to the way they were before I was made. Turns out, all you’ve been doing is screwing around hoping Yahweh was just going to‘come around.’”His eyes flashed in rage.
“Yahweh isnevergoing to allow you to stay here with her. He may have let her continue to rule Hell if you had taken His original offer and returned as angels, but I can tell you right now that offer is off the table. He’s working to find a way to manage death without Lilith. He’ll unmake you both and trap her in the bowl for eternity if you don’t pull your heads out of your asses anddosomething.”
The idea of Lilith going back into purgatory made my blood turn to ice in my veins. Shem hissed, and I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. Considering the immortal nature of angels and demons, matters between Heaven and Hell had always been solved as diplomatically as possible. However, now that Yahweh had developed a means of unmaking immortals and seemed to be trying to mass produce these weapons, that was no longer the case.
I didn’t trust Gabriel, but we couldn’t afford to continue to do nothing. Not if what he was telling us was true.
“So what exactly is it you propose we do?” I asked, being careful not to let the rage and fear that were coursing through me come through in my voice.
“You need to find a way to cut His legs out from under Him. A full-blown offensive attack isn’t going to work any better this time than it did last time. You need to be smart and hit Him where it hurts.”
“Get to the fucking point, Gabriel,” Shem snapped, and he just sneered at him.
“No. I’m not fucking helping you do this, not without something in return.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “What exactly is it that you want?”
“I thought I made that obvious. If I help you overthrow Yahweh, then I want you to make Lilith change me into a demon. I want a place on the Watcher’s council. I’m done fucking around with this shit angel form. I want you to free me.”
“Oh, is that all?” Shem picked an invisible piece of lint off his black shirt. “You didn’t need to fucking blackmail us with information for that, Gabriel. All you had to do was ask.”
Gabriel straightened the cuffs on his white shirt and rolled his eyes. “You really think I’m stupid enough to take that gamble? I want your word that I will be changed as soon as your queen completes her coronation.”
I glanced at Shem and raised an eyebrow. Changing Gabriel and allowing him to live here in Hell was not a fate worse than death. If he hadn’t been an angel, I might have actually liked him. The issue was that I didn’t trust him. It was possible this was some sort of scheme planned by Yahweh to get us to trust one of his followers.
