‘What do you think?’I asked Shem into his mind. He bobbed his head back and forth as if mulling it over.
‘I think we don’t havemuch of a choice. If we want to protect Lilith and keep her out of purgatory once and for all, we need to assume some level of risk. He’s right. We can’t continue to do nothing.’
I nodded. As usual, he and I were in agreement.
“Alright, Gabriel. You have my word that we will relieve you of your angel form and reserve you a place on our council.” I tried not to scowl at the fact thatsixty-sevenWatchers didn’t have the same satanic ring to it. “In return, you will keep us apprised to the best of your abilities of Yahweh’s plans and help us from the inside in any way we deem necessary.”
“I also want your word that you’ll do what you can to lessen my… punishments when I’m forced to return to Heaven.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “How the fuck do you expect us to do that?”
“Sending me back with something He wants would be a good start. If I come back with nothing, He will punish me, and you know it.”
“I’m not willing to part with either the scepter or Rafael. I can’t agree to that.”
“Rafael will never leave here if I can help it,” Shem added menacingly.
“I’ll bring you a new scepter. As I said, Yahweh has a ton of them and is making more every day. I can sneak one back without Him noticing, but for now, it needs to at leastlooklike I’m doing my job here.”
“You will need to sign a deal then. I can’t just trust your word on that.” Signing a deal with the Devil was magically binding. If Gabriel failed to hold up his end, he would be condemned to an eternity of serving me until I felt his dues had been paid. If he thought serving Yahweh was bad, I had a feeling he would hate serving me even more.
“Fine,”Gabriel gritted through clenched teeth. “I’ll sign.”
“Great.” With a wave of my hand, I drew up the contract and manifested a black quill. Gabriel drew the sharp tip of the quill along his arm, slicing it open and filling the tip with his blood before signing his life away to me.
Shem’s eyes flashed, and a feline smile curled across his lips. He manifested the scepter and handed it to the archangel.
“Well, Gabriel. Welcome to Hell. We’re looking forward to working with you.”
Gabriel scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t fuck this up, asshole. I’ll return as soon as I have something of use.” With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the manor, leaving Shem and I stewing in a pit of despair and anxiety.
“We need to figure out how to weaken Yahweh enough that He will bend to our demands,” Shem muttered. Art pushed up from the wall, coming forward with a frown.
“What do you need from me?” he asked. Shem shot him a grateful look, but I could barely get a handle on myself.
“Go find Lilith and make sure she’s staying out of trouble,” I snapped at Art. “Right now, I need to fucking murder something. I’m going to the dungeons. I’ll see you back in the room later,” I growled at Shem.
Shem nodded, watching me warily as I stormed out of the office. I needed to take my fear and rage out on someone, and I couldn’t think of anyone better than the angel who had tried to rape my wife.
“I am who I am. No one ever told me that I could be anything else.”
—BEV KEANE, MIDNIGHT MASS
The manor was insane. Like, absolutelybananas.I had known it was beautiful from the few times Shem and Ramel had taken me to dinner, but it was hard to take in the sights when you were constantly being fondled.
Walking through the ebony halls and taking in the incredible nighttime views without either of them to distract me was a completely life-changing experience.
The other version of me that seemed to be starting to wake up sighed happily as I floated through the hallways. My worn-out sneakers scuffed the shining black marble floors as I went.
It felt likehome.There was this aching sense of familiarity budding within me, and even though I hadn’t been to the kitchens before, it was like my feet instinctively knew the way.
The kitchens were a floor below my bedroom, and my mouth nearly hit the floor when I entered. I assumed they had to be massive to be able to crank out the amount of food that always filled the dining hall, but what I found blew me away. The space was enormous and was filled with matte black state-of-the-art industrial appliances. Everything had its place, and every surface was spotless and clean.
Each station was busy and filled with demons in all-black chef coats. Everyone worked in perfect synchronization, and there was one chef who barked orders insome sort of code. The workers responded with ‘yes, chef,’ ‘no, chef,’ and ‘thank you, chef.’ No one looked up from their work when I entered, and I suddenly had the feeling that I had walked into a Michelin-starred restaurant.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” I jumped as Art approached with a smile on his face. He wasn’t in a chef’s coat like the rest of them, but no one seemed to question his presence.
I nodded. “This is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
