“You don’t know Shemhazai at all, Yahweh, if you think he would pass up an opportunity to poke something off a ledge,” I remarked dryly.
Shem gave me a dazzling smile, though it didn’t reach his eyes. I didn’t miss the way his gaze kept dropping to Ramel’s corpse at my feet. I could nearly feel his pain like it was a living thing.
Their love for each other was beyond friendship, even beyond brotherhood. They had been two sides of the same coin. Twin flames, bound and destined to change and push each other for all eternity.
“Bring Lilith to me, or I will fuck you both so hard up the ass you’ll shit blood,” he threatened, still smiling at the angels who held me.
They exchanged a look and glanced at Yahweh, clearly trying to decide who they feared more. However, with the fate of the universe dangling over Yahweh’s Sorter of Souls, their fear of Shem won, and they dragged me by my arms through the clouds and around the pit, tossing me at Shem’s feet.
He grinned at them and cocked his head to the side.
“Thank you.” The angels looked confused for a moment at Shem’s politeness. “Gabe... Kill them,” he said it so cordially that it took a moment for the angels to understand that he had just ordered their deaths.
So quickly I barely saw him move, Gabe slammed his scepter through their skulls. He hit them hard enough that it only took one strike for them both to crumble to their knees.
Their brains splattered across the clouds in clumps of black, and my eyes widened in surprise.
Shem crouched down to help me to my feet, his green eyes cataloging the damage to my hands and my ripped dress.
He kissed me softly on the lips, cupping the side of my face.
“I’m so sorry I was late. I will fix this. Do you trust me?” he asked so quietly the others wouldn’t hear.
A hot tear slid down my cheek, and he wiped it away as I nodded.
“I trust you.”
He smiled at me and dropped another kiss on my head.
“That’s my girl,” he murmured. Frowning, he suddenly looked at something over my shoulder. I turned to see what it was he was looking at, but there was nothing there. Just the empty, bloody bridge to Hell behind us.
“What do you see?” I asked, but Shem just smirked at me.
“One thing at a time, Lilith,” he said cryptically before turning back to face Yahweh, Art, and the one remaining angel.
“How much more time do we have?” Gabriel asked, and I frowned.
Time for what?
Shem pretended to check the non-existent watch on his wrist.
“We have a few more minutes.”
“Enough time to kill Art?”
“Yeah, I think so.” Shem turned to me. “Would you like to do the honors, sweetheart? He did crucify you after all.”
I looked across the pit of golden gears at the demon who had murdered my Reaper.
My husband. My lover of a thousand lives. Art had fucking taken something from me that could never be replaced, no matter how many more lifetimes I lived.
“Yes. I want to kill him,” I whispered, and Shem ran his fingers through my hair, tucking it gently behind my ear.
“Go ahead, sweetheart. Take out the angel too; we don’t need him.” He gave me one of his most vicious smiles. “Make it hurt.”
“Shemhazai…please,”Art begged, tears suddenly spilling down his beautiful face. “I love you,” he whispered. Shem looked at him like he was something disgusting he had found beneath his shoe.
“It’s not me you should be begging, Arteqoph,” he hissed. He rolled his sole over the hilt of the scythe, causing it to twirl precariously along the edge of the pit. “Though I don’t know that begging will help you now. I have the feeling Lilith is in no mood for mercy.”
