“Now, Nadia,” Gabriel shouted.
Fortunately for Michael, he’d retracted his wings, or they’d have been extra crispy. The sudden blast knocked him into the slider, shattering the tempered glass and nicking those in its vicinity.
Gabriel staggered to his feet and wedged himself between Nadia and Michael. Groans around him suggested Luc’s guards were waking from whatever had knocked them unconscious, likely a spell from Raphael’s bag of tricks.
“Take her to Hell,” he ordered them. With that, he sketched a sigil and froze time to all but her and the daemons.
“Hell?” she squealed.
“It’s not what you believe. Go with them,” he instructed. “We can’t follow.”
“I’m not leaving you, Father. I?—”
Already the space around Michael rippled as he raised his arms in slow motion. Raphael didn’t bother to fight the hold, but his eyes locked with Gabriel’s. A silent communication passed between them—mainly regret for what had to be done.
“I am one against two, Nadia. They will kill you if you do not leave this instant. You have but a minute at best to get to safety.”
“Go with me. Please,” she begged.
“They cannot kill me without the Creator’s permission.”
“How do you know he hasn’t given it?”
He didn’t, but Gabriel wouldn’t tell her that. As an answer, he turned his back, withdrew his sword, and lit the tip.
“If you have any regard for your life, you will leave. However, the choice is yours, daughter.”
Her sharp inhale made him smile. Of course, she couldn’t see it, but he had no doubt his brothers could. And knowing he’d developed a fondness, they would also recognize they would have a bloody battle on their hands.
“Yeah, so now I get a choice,” she muttered as she tossed a throw blanket on the ground to protect her bare feet. “No goddamned cheese sandwich, but a one-way ticket to Hell.”
Seconds later, when he failed to hear the door, he risked a glance over his shoulder.
“For fuck’s sake, Nadia! Leave the angel. She cannot follow you into Luc’s domain.”
The cat gave her a sorrowful glance and bowed her head, as if in agreement with him.
“She doesn’t have daemon blood like you,” he explained before facing Michael, who was at the highest risk of breaking free. “Thirty seconds left at best,” he cautioned.
The door shut, leaving Gabriel alone with the threat of two warriors as skilled as himself. Another door slammed down the corridor, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been foolish to allow Raphael entry, and his lack of preparedness worried him. Had he gone soft in recent years with no wars to fight? In skill, Michael had an edge, along with his ruthless attitude. Rafe was the softer of them, always the first to claim he was a “lover, not a fighter.”
The spell Gabriel used to freeze time fizzled as it disintegrated.
Ariel’s cry sounded human, and a quick check of the hall mirror showed her transformation from animal to angel. If she were strong enough, she might be of use.
Michael snarled his displeasure.
“Upset your war games aren’t garnering the results you so dearly wish, Mikey?” Gabriel taunted, knowing how much his brother despised the nickname Luc foisted upon him when they were young.
“Your presence is required at a court of inquiry, brother. Will you come peacefully?”
Gabriel chuckled and spun his sword.
23
Lucifer was fucking furious.
Michael and Raphael had caged him for days, little better than a stray animal. They’d given him the barest minimum of food, a bucket for the necessary waste, and a mocking salute. After he was free, he intended to double donations to shelters and insist they hire dog walkers. Perhaps donate land with enough acreage for the pups to play.
