“He might,” Gabriel mused, coming to the same conclusion as Luc.
“Then perhaps you and Raphael should present me as a gift after all. It will bring this to a head.”
28
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Raphael replied from behind them, his voice muffled.
They turned.
In a blindingly fast move, two gas canisters were released. As black dots danced across his vision, he registered Raphael’s gas mask and cursed himself for a fool.
Luc held his breath, but it was too late. Beside him, Gabriel dropped to the ground.
“Goddammit!” he swore as his vision dimmed for one final time.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Raphael said. “But orders are orders.”
Luc fought against the paralysis he was experiencing. The gas could only work for so long, and they needed to secure him before he shook off the effects. He cursed again as he felt the shackles close around his wrists and ankles. From the adjoining chamber, he’d heard nothing after the initial thud of a body hitting the ground.
“Nadia!” he shouted. When she didn’t answer his call, he hollered again.
“She’s unconscious,” Raphael informed him, not unkindly.
“I will kill you for this,” Luc snarled, struggling in vain against the charmed chains.
“I have no doubt you’ll try.”
He hated to ask, but his fear for his friend was great.
“Where’s Thamiel?”
“Alive but also unconscious. I wouldn’t do that to you, Lucifer. Not after Dina.”
Though he nodded, he said nothing. The gratitude stuck in his throat because, though expected, this new betrayal regarding Nadia cut deeper than he cared to admit.
“You can’t reach her. The room is warded against our kind,” he taunted, even as he swayed dizzily.
“I don’t need to reach her. When she wakes, she’ll find instructions. She’ll know what she has to do.”
“She’s smart enough not to sacrifice herself,” Luc lied.
The fact remained Nadia was human. Although intelligent, she was a novice at war games, and if she believed turning herself over to the other side would save him and Gabriel from an eternity of punishment, she’d do it. She’d offered the solution herself a time or two.
“Take him to Michael,” Raphael ordered. “He’ll want the glory of bringing him in.”
The rhythmic thud of running feet chilled him. His helplessness was made worse by loss of sight and inability to fight back.
Inside his mind, where no one but Nadia could see, he envisioned all the things he would do to those responsible for imprisoning him a second time. Was he so soft in thought now? Why had he failed to fully anticipate Salvokos’s and Raphael’s daring? There was a time when the threat of his lethal retaliation would’ve held them at bay. For reasons he failed to consider, it bothered him to no longer be feared.
When he was free again, he’d correct his mistake. Those who had harmed him and Nadia would pay dearly, and anyone left alive would never dream of crossing him again.
The hiss from a third canister was all the notice he had before blacking out.
* * *
For one brief moment, Raphael had considered shifting allegiances, but ultimately, he was a coward. If the Creator decided to do to him what he’d done to Lucifer, Raphael would never remain sane. He enjoyed touch and adoration too much. To be held prisoner to such torture for centuries wasn’t to be born.
Regret weighed heavily on his chest for his part in the betrayal. Two men whom he loved and respected were now prisoners, all to catch a woman who would never wage war if left alone. The council idiots refused to listen to him, convinced he was wrong. Convinced Lucifer would begin another epic battle with the triscelene as his ultimate prize.
