“Look at her, Ram,” Shem said, gesturing to the little threesome that stood before us. Lilith was animatedly explaining her pumpkin carving process to Jezebel. Jez was critically looking over her own pumpkin, as if trying to determine how she would apply Lilith’s tips to improve her own work. Gabriel was leaning against the table next to them, listening attentively to Lilith with his hands in his pockets and an amused expression on his face.
“Does that look like someone who’s unhappy?” Shem asked me, and if I didn’t know any better, I would say he was trying to comfort me.
I glanced at my friend, and he gave me a reassuring smile. “She loves you, Ram. We’re both dicks, and we’re not perfect, but she loves us. She always will.”
“I hope you’re right,” I sighed.
“Ramel! When does the dancing start again? I want to celebrate my victory.” Lilith bounded up to me, a giant smile painted on her beautiful face. She threw her arms around my neck, and I felt my eyes widen in surprise. Dropping my hands to her waist, I tugged her in close and greedily accepted the affectionate kiss she dropped on my lips. I glanced at Hazai, who raised an eyebrow at me as if to say ‘see?’
“If you’re ready to dance, then the dancing starts right now,” I promised her. She beamed at me just as there was a massivebang!The hall shook suddenly, and I threw myself on top of Lilith as the entire far side of the dining hall exploded inward. Sharp chunks of stone and obsidian rained down around us.
Demons scattered as they attempted to take cover, but the floor began to collapse near where the wall had once stood, and several demons disappeared into the hole.
Lilith was screaming beneath me, and I shifted into my Reaper form on instinct. Shem’s fingers were tipped with curved claws, and black cat ears had bloomed through the crown of his head. They were laid flat back against his head, and he hissed as several angels flew in through the hole in the wall, all of them brandishing golden scepters.
“What the fuck!” Shemhazai shouted. Gabriel looked furious and pale. He glanced at Shem.
“Where is the scepter I gave you?” he barked, and Shem narrowed his eyes at him.
“You think I’m going to trustyouwith that information?” Shem’s tone was dangerous. His hellcats began to manifest in the dark corners of the room. Shadowsmorphed into angry, smokey feline shapes, and soon we were surrounded by hundreds of feral cats, born of night, their red eyes glowing with the might of Shem’s bloodlust.
“We don’t have time for this!” Gabriel snarled as I stood, dragging Lilith off the ground with me. I tucked her safely behind me, manifesting the scythe. It was fully charged with death magic. If Yahweh was declaring war here and now, I was fucking ready.
The invading angels began to descend on our people. My hands gripped the scythe in rage as I watched them bring their scepters down on several demons who were too injured to get away. Black sludge exploded from their mouths as they were unmade. Lilith wailed in agony behind me as we watched them take their final breaths.
Gabriel roared in pain and rage as a pair of ebony angel wings exploded from his back. He didn’t transform fully into his angel form, but the wings were enough to make my lip curl. He was one of them—I couldn’t trust him.
“Give me the scepter, Shemhazai!” he snapped. Hazai glanced back at me, and I snarled.
“Come on, Ram, his wings are fucking black.”
I hesitated. The only other angels I had ever known to have black wings had been Shem and I. It had to mean something that Gabriel’s wings were black too. But still, it was a huge risk, trusting him with something so important.
“You can’t give him our only fucking scepter,” I snapped.
The invading angels continued to murder the demons that were too injured from the explosion to escape. Some of the partygoers were members of our cavalry and had shifted to their demon forms to join the fray, but as the brutal screams of battle filled the night air, Lilith became more and more inconsolable behind me.
“Do something! They’re killing them!” she screamed, and I could feel her pain grate against me like it was a living thing.
Jezebel rushed forward. “We need to get Lilith out of here! They’re here for her!” she cried, and I knew she was right. The angels were attempting to cut a path toward us.
“Shemhazai! The fucking scepter!” Gabriel shouted. Shem stared at me, waiting for the okay, when Lilith screamed at me to give it to him. Finally, I nodded, and Shem manifested the scepter, handing it to Gabriel.
To my relief, the angel tore the scepter out of Shem’s hands and darted into the air, an unmistakable look of vengeance painted across his face.
He made it to the first angel in seconds, drawing the scepter back like it was a baseball bat. We watched in awe as he slammed the golden weapon down into the center of the angel’s body, and black sludge exploded from its many eyes. Two more quick swings, and the angel was unmade. Gabriel ripped the dead angel’s scepteraway from its feathery grip and hurtled the stolen weapon back to Shemhazai, who caught it easily.
Without pausing to admire his work, Gabriel moved on to the next angel, ruthlessly going to work, unmaking him just as quickly. He was insanely fast and moved through the air like a dancer. His violent swings were somehow just as graceful as they were deadly.
“Holy fuck,” I breathed, staring at the glittering golden weapon that Shemhazai now held in his hands.
“Holy fuck is right,” Hazai agreed. He was watching Gabriel, his green eyes burning with something more than just lust. There was respect there too. The archangel had impressed Shemhazai, which was no easy feat.
“Ramel! They’re coming, look!” Jezebel pointed through the massive hole that had been blown into the side of the House of the Fallen. Thousands of angels were floating down the bridge into the city of Hell. Reality flickered in and out suddenly, exposing the holes in the veil. I watched in horror as even more angelic bodies flooded through the gaping holes that had torn between worlds for Samhain.
“We need to get Lilith out of here, now!”
“We can’t leave them!” Lilith cried. Shemhazai and I both glanced at her. I wasn’t even sure my heart was beating. I was so terrified for her. If she had been immortal, this would have been nothing. Shemhazai and I could have focused on eradicating the invasion. She would have been able to hold her own. As it was, she was fucking human and defenseless. We couldn’t protect her and deal with this many angels at once.
