Yahweh had planned this. He knew what he was fucking doing.
“Where the fuck is Art?” Shemhazai asked.
“I’ll go find him!” Jezebel said before rushing off into the melee. Lilith gasped as large bat wings exploded from Jezebel’s back. She took flight and soared through the air in her mission to find Art.
More angels began to cut their way through our slowly growing defenses. Jezebel had been right; they were all heading right for us. Hazai’s lip curled, his ears flat against his head.
“You get Lilith out of here, I’ll deal with these assholes.” As the words left his mouth, his hellcats stretched and arched around his legs. More and more of them began to manifest in the shadows until there were nearly twice as many shadow cats in the hall as there were immortals.
“Shem!” Lilith cried. She reached out from where I had her backed behind me against the wall. He looked back at her briefly, frowning.
“Shem, be careful,” she whispered. I glanced back at her, my heart pinching at the sight of her mossy eyes so wide with terror.
I stepped out of the way as Shem stalked toward us. He pulled her into him, kissing her passionatelyon the mouth.
“I’m always careful, sweetheart,” he murmured, resting his forehead tenderly against hers. “You be good for Ramel, okay? I’m going to pluck these fuckers and send them back where they came from.” He gave her a confident smirk and a wink. Twirling the scepter Gabriel had recovered for him like a baton, he leapt onto the dance floor and began sprinting into the now raging battle of angels and demons. His shadowy hellcats tore into feathery wings and ripped out angel eyes with ease as Shem brought his scepter down on the writhing carcasses, finishing them off. He collected scepters as he went, passing them off to our own demons, working to slowly arm our own forces with Yahweh’s weapons.
I grabbed Lilith by the arm and steered her away from the battle. “Back to the room,” I ordered, but she shook her head.
“We can’t leave him!” she cried, staring out after Shem, who was gleefully tearing into angels with abandon. I snorted.
“He’s fine, deathtrap. Trust me, he’s probably having more fun right now than he ever would have at the party.”
Her eyes were filled with tears, and I softened, suddenly realizing she was afraid we would lose him.
“Listen to me. Shem isnotgoing to die,” I promised her. “But right now, we have to go. They’re here for you. We need to keep you safe until you can ascend.”
She looked so distressed that I nearly felt bad forcing her toward the door.
“Ramel, you don’t even have a scepter!” she protested, and I chuckled.
“No, but I have the scythe.”
She frowned at me. “The scythe will kill them?”
I smirked at her. “Remember when I told you there were only four Aetherium blades ever crafted?” I jerked my head up to the wicked curved blade. “The scythe is one of them.”
She gaped at me as I led her through the now mangled doors to the dining room and into the hallway. Suddenly, Jezebel swooped overhead and landed next to us.
“Art’s coming. He was in the dungeons trying to torture Raf for information on Gabriel and… well, me.” She winced at her admission. “As soon as I told him we were under attack, he rushed out. He should be here any moment.”
As if her words had summoned him, Art jogged up behind us, his face white with anger and what looked like stress.
“We need backup. Shemhazai and Gabriel are nearly single-handedly holding back the angels,” Art panted. His concern for Shem was painted clearly across his face.
“The only thing that matters is getting Lilith to safety,” I growled. Jezebel nodded.
“He’s right. If you left Lilith to help Shem and something happened to her, you know he would never forgive you,” Jezebel said solemnly to Art, her bat wingsrustling in agitation behind her. Art looked like he was in physical pain at the prospect of leaving Shem behind, but he nodded.
“Alright. Let’s go,” he agreed and fell into step behind us.
We were halfway down the hall when the veil flickered again, and my heart skipped a beat as heavenly fingers tore through the fabric of reality. I threw my arm out to stop Lilith from moving any further and forced her, Jezebel, and Art several steps back as someone ripped a hole through the paper-thin veil.
We watched in astonishment as none other than Yahweh Himself stepped through the barrier between Heaven and Hell.
“Hello, Ramel.” His many voices rang through Hell’s hallways, the weight of His power rattling the very marrow of my bones. Several angels spilled through the hole in the world and flanked Him. I snarled and pressed Lilith more firmly behind me. We were outnumbered.
I didn’t care about the angels. I could have taken out an entire choir of angels without breaking a fucking sweat.
