Gabriel was looking at Shem like he had just found God, which I guess wasn’t far from the truth. Ramel had been right. Shem was his god now, and something told me he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ramel scooped up my spent body. “Let’s get in the shower.” He smirked down at me, and I gave him a weak smile back. My whole body was on fire, and my pussy was sore and raw. I wasn’t sure I would have been able to walk even if I tried. But I felt good, happy andsafe.
“I love you,” I whispered, reaching up to cup Ramel’s face. He smiled down at me, his gorgeous hazel eyes shining.
“I can’t tell you how good it is to hear you say those words, deathtrap,” Ramel said softly. I buried my face in the chest of my nightmare and sighed.
“I’ll have to make sure to tell you more often, then.”
“Mine, says the cat, putting out his paw of darkness.”
—MARGE PERCY, “THE CAT’S SONG”
Gabriel’s wings had been cumbersome in the shower, so he misted them away as we took our turns washing and praising Lilith. I made sure to give Gabriel a fair amount of praise as well, considering he had done everything I had asked of him without complaint.
After finishing in the shower, the four of us curled up in bed together and watched some of Lilith’s favorite spooky shows. She restarted episode one ofThe Fall of the House of Usher, so Gabriel and I could get caught up. My little bird seemed enthralled and intrigued with the show, which made me surprisingly happy.
“Yahweh never allowed us to watch TV,” he said, looking annoyed, and I nodded in understanding. My time serving as one of Yahweh’s angels had been the most mind-numbingly boring experience of my long, immortal life. The only thing that had been worse was when the asshole had managed to trap me in purgatory. I was not surprised that Yahweh had denied his angels the luxury of things like TV once it had been invented.
Lilith stroked his auburn hair out of his eyes and gave him a gentle smile. “I can promise you, you will not be bored here,” she said, echoing the promise she had made to Ramel and I, all that time ago. Gabriel was looking at her like she was themost magnificent thing he had ever seen. I knew that he, much like Ramel and I, was doomed to fall in love with her just as much as we had.
By the time the credits were rolling, Lilith had fallen asleep curled up on Ramel’s chest. Ramel was sleeping too, and I couldn’t blame him. I had to assume that dying and then coming back to life would be exhausting for anybody. Even Lilith’s Nightmare Reaper.
Resolving to let them rest, I rolled out of bed and stretched, making my way to the door.
“Where are you going?” Gabriel asked. I glanced back at him and could tell immediately he didn’t want me to leave him. I waited for the usual sting of annoyance I had felt every time Art complained about my comings and goings, but it never came. I found IwantedGabriel with me, which surprised me. Outside of Lilith and Ram, I had a very low tolerance for spending long periods of time with any one person. Even with the two of them, I usually left for several decades at a time to explore the human world and create mayhem. The only other person who had ever caught my attention for more than a few hours had been Hecate, and she was a big reason why I was feeling restless.
“I’m going to see if anyone needs any help with repairs and assess the extent of the damage to the city. Do you want to come?” I asked, and the corner of his mouth kicked up at my invitation.
“Yes,” he said, getting out of bed. He went to grab his ruined shirt, but I rolled my eyes with a smile and shook my head.
“Here,” I said, snapping my fingers and manifesting a black T-shirt for him. I watched appreciatively as he shrugged it on. The soft cotton pulled tight across his chest and swelled against the round curve of his biceps.
Fuck, he looked good in black.
“Show me your new form,” I ordered. Gabriel hesitated for a moment, looking unsure. I gave him a small, reassuring grin.
“Go on, shift. It won’t hurt,” I promised, and he looked at me with so much trust in his eyes it made my heart skip a beat. How Yahweh had hurt and tormented his followers made me fucking sick. There was doling out punishments that were earned and suited the crime, and then there was straight-up needless torture.
Forcing innocent, brand-new creations to live in pain for sins they had never committed was bullshit.
Gabriel shifted into a large raven. He let out a sharpcaw, caw!and fluttered to perch on my shoulder. I smirked at him and stroked a finger down his little head, grinning.
“Let’s go see what the damage is,” I purred, and we left Ramel and Lilith to rest.
Our people had already beenhard at work—it would take some time to repair the damage to the infrastructure of the manor, but the areas that had been affected most had already more or less been cleaned up and sorted out. Thanks to some talented healers, our wounded had been well taken care of, and our dead were being prepared for burial.
Happily, we now had a very vacant graveyard for when the burial ceremonies began.
I ordered those who had been working diligently to head home and rest as best they could. I knew we had a long road ahead of us, and our people needed space to heal.
The good news of our victory against Yahweh had spread quickly, and demons rushed to thank and congratulate me as I moved among them. Many of them asked after Lilith and Ramel. I assured them that they were just resting after the long battle and would be debriefing everyone in the morning on what had happened and what the plan was for mankind moving forward.
We had our work cut out for us. With most of Yahweh’s Voodoo locations destroyed, there was already a backlog of souls that needed to be sorted.
‘Are you going to send teams to attempt to rebuild what Yahweh had created?’Gabriel asked into my mind, as his beak did not allow him to speak human words.
I moved easily through the bustling hallways of the House of the Fallen with my hands in my pockets and a spring in my step. I was in a relatively good mood despite the devastation we had endured.
