62
The world came back to him all at once, like being hit with a damn freight train.
Sound and smell, sight and taste. Rain and blood and stars and…more blood. He swallowed it on instinct, wincing when an ache shot through his chest. But his body was already healing that wound. That terrible wound that had been dealt to him. He gasped and coughed–and then there was a face above his. Pale skin, black eyes heavy with grief and shock, his lips parted with confusion.
Slowly, before Leviathan could even put a name to his face, his hand raised, touching the boy’s cheek.
“Levi?” The boy choked, more tears streaming down his cheeks. “I don’t understand…”
“The benefits of having an all-knowing brother.” A quiet voice said off to the side. Leviathan turned to look and saw Lucifer striding up to them, his hair and clothes–too human, those clothes–plastered with rain. It ran down his skin, giving him the strangest shimmer of light, as if the power ofheaven still pulsed in his veins.
“You brought him back?” Cullen whispered, his eyes not leaving Leviathan’s face.
Back?
The river…the wound in his chest…
He’d died. And Lucifer…Lucifer had…
“You broke a rule of life and death.” Leviathan whispered, looking at his brother even as his fingers moved to curl around Cullen’s wrist. The pulse there was steady and strong, his own life force secure again now that Leviathan was back.
“Since when have we ever cared about rules?” Lucifer grinned, ever the troublemaker.
Leviathan smiled back and then spun for Cullen, yanking him against his chest. Cullen’s arms wound tightly around his throat, a choked sob pouring from him as he pressed his face to his neck. Leviathan held him back just as tightly, whispering in his ear that he was sorry, that he was here now and it was okay.
He would tell him later that it had been his own fault, that he’d caused the mess in the first place, but for now he could not do more than hold him as Cullen cried and cried.
It wasn’t until the rain slowed, till he caught the scent of fresh blood, that he drew a little away from him, his eyes widening as he took in the courtyard full of bodies. Nearby, Dominick’s throat had been slashed open and Walker…Walker had a hole in his chest. He blinked slowly at Lucifer questioningly, but his brother shook his head and looked to Cullen.
“You killed them all?” He breathed, shocked.
“Of course I did.” He choked out, scrubbing tears from his eyes. “They hurt you.”
He cupped his face, his thumbs brushing gently along his cheeks, and then he kissed him, a feather light brush of the lips.
There was a chance that this death, this massacre, would not go unanswered from heaven, would not be forgotten as others were. But only a slim chance. God did not care for his human soldiers any more than he cared for his angels. But that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be some form of retribution.
You know we will be here to help you if it comes, brother.
He looked up at his brother and smiled. Yes, he would come if he needed to. Leviathan knew that. Had always known that. Even his other brothers, cruel and wicked as they may be, they would come as well. It was an unspoken rule among them.
Don’t be a stranger.Leviathan told his brother quietly.Cullen has some questions he wanted to ask you.
Another time.He assured him. And then he winked from existence, as if he had never been there at all.
63
He couldn’t have believed it. Wouldn’t have, if Leviathan wasn’t still whispering in his ear that he was okay, that he was here.
Cullen was still crying. As he would be for quite some time, he imagined. And his arms were still locked around his throat, his ear pressed against his skin to hear the strong, steady beat of his heart.
The bond tugged gently at his mind, restored as if it had never been torn away. Though he couldn’t imagine he would ever forget that terrible feeling of emptiness.
“How?” He whispered eventually, still not letting go of him. “You were gone. I felt it. I was dying, too.”
“Lucifer stopped me from crossing the river.” He murmured, still stroking his hair. “If you haven’t crossed yet, you can be brought back. He’s the only one of us that can reach that…in-between place.”
“He’s my favorite of your brothers now.” He choked out, his heart throbbing with an eternal gratitude for theimmortal who had stepped in, who had broken a rule that was not ever supposed to be broken. There would be a punishment, he was sure, and they would all pay it.
