“If you kill me, Shem will never forgive you, and this will all have been for nothing!” I snarled, and Art narrowed his eyes at me in anger.
“We don’t know if the arrow will kill you, but we know it will certainly make it easier to get you on the damn cross,” Art hissed. “Bring me the scythe,” he snapped, and one of the three surviving angels snatched it up from where it had fallen next to Ramel’s corpse.
I strained against the hold of my captors as the angel moved to bring the scythe to Art. He stepped over Ramel’s body as if he were nothing, and a long, piercing wail of sorrow erupted from my throat before I could stop myself.
Art laughed as he reached for the scythe, but his laughter was abruptly interrupted as the angel’s head exploded in a mess of black sludge. There was a blur of black, gold, and auburn, and suddenly Gabriel was skating through the clouds—the scythe gripped in one hand and his bloody scepter clutched in the other. Art spun, aiming his arrow at the dark angel, but Gabriel was so fast my eyes could barely track him. He flapped his midnight wings and was instantly on the other side of the Soul Sorter before the unmade angel even hit the ground.
Yahweh roared in anger as Gabriel landed gracefully behind Shemhazai, who stood at the edge of Yahweh’s pit-like machine with his hands in his pockets and a look on his face that promised murder and mayhem. Gabriel handed Shem the scythe, and he took it without taking his eyes off Art. Shem dropped the weapon at his feet, balancing it precariously close to the edge of the celestial machine. The corner of his mouth tilted up as he nudged it closer to the pit with his boot.
Everyone froze.
If the scythe went into the pit, the natural way of death would be severely altered. The Soul Sorter would likely break as the gears chewed through the Aetherium blade, making it impossible to sort the constant influx of souls.
Shemhazai’s gaze fell on Ramel’s corpse, and the brief look of devastation and pain that flashed through his eyes told me that he didn’t care about the consequences—he would do it. He would push the scythe into Yahweh’s Sorter of Souls and throw the entire universe into chaos without a second thought.
“Well, it seems we missed the party,” Shem purred, toeing the shaft of the scythe idly with his boot.
“Shemhazai…” Art said, his voice tight. “Move away from the Soul Sorter; you don’t want to do this.”
Shem’s eyes snapped to the snake demon, and an angry hiss escaped his lips.
“You dare to assume to know what I want, Arteqoph?”
Art looked like he was in physical pain. He took a step toward the Soul Sorter and Shem pushed the scythe another inch closer to the pit, causing Art to stop in his tracks.
“I know you don’t want the world to end, Shemhazai. You love fucking with the humans too much.”
Yahweh made an angry sound at this, making it clear what he thought of Shem’s continued antics in the human world.
“I did this for us, Shemhazai. With Lilith and Ramel out of the picture, I will rule Hell with you at my side. You will have free reign of the human realm. Yahweh just wants his vengeance, and then he has agreed to leave us in peace.”
Shem laughed, but the sound was not joyful. It was an angry laugh and was somehow filled with a bleeding sort of anguish. I shivered against the sound, my heart breaking for my demon lover, who was clearly as devastated as I was to have lost Ramel.
“You think I care about mankind? You think I care aboutyou?”Shem chuckled as if the idea were ludicrous. “Theonlyfucking reason I ever gave a shit about mankind was because the thought of innocent souls suffering upsets Lilith. Theonlyreason I ever keptyouaround was because you’re a warm hole for my cock to fill.” His cruel words drained the color from Art’s face.
“You don’t mean that…” Art whispered, and Shemhazai sneered at him.
“Oh, but I do, Art. You’renothingto me, and now that you have hurt my family, you are less than nothing, and I will personally unmake you for betraying us.”
Gabriel slung his scepter over one shoulder and stepped closer to Shemhazai, a nefarious grin plastered on his lips. He leaned in close to Shem’s ear, looking directly at Art as he spoke.
“Things have been soboringwith everything running so smoothly… Think of how exciting it would be to fuck everything up a little bit? Do it, Shem. Push it in.”
Shem grinned and reached up to stroke Gabriel’s face. “Now, this is a male who understands the way to my heart,” Shem said, kissing the angel sensually. He slowly ran his tongue over Gabriel’s lips, and the angel parted for him. Art and Yahweh could do nothing but watch as Shemhazai explored Gabriel’s mouth so thoroughly I nearly felt I could taste the angel myself.
They broke away from each other and turned to look at Art and Yahweh.
“You’re an abomination,” Yahweh snarled at Gabriel. The dark angel just grinned and licked his lips.
“You never told me sin could taste so sweet, Yahweh,” he sneered.
“Release Lilith,” Shem snapped at the angels who held me. “Release her, or I will end this now.”
The angels that flanked my shoulders moved to do as he ordered, but Yahweh hissed at them.
“I give the orders!You will stay where you are. He will not do it. I created him. I know him better than he knows himself.”
Shem laughed and punted the scythe hard enough that the blade hovered right over the edge. It dangled so precariously that a gentle breeze could have sent it plummeting into the machine.
