Authors: Stephanie Jackson
“Do you want him to leave or would like to kill him
,
as well?” Michael asked Gabriel.
“I’ll allow him to live…just for
the act of
showing some common sense,” Gabriel allowed. “Take him back to Tartarus.”
Michael vanished with Gadreel and Gabriel turned his full attention back to the angels, “Are you sure that you want to continue with this?”
“We know you no longer have the power you used to have, Gabriel. Rashnu told us you lost your power to smite. That means you’d have to defeat all six of us with only your sword,” Orobas said. “Just accept your death.”
“Right…Rashnu,” Gabriel said. “He paid me a visit three days ago. You won’t be seeing him again. But just to set the record straight, my powers to smite are fully intact.”
“
You
killed Rashnu?” Mastema asked with fear rising in his eyes. “That’s not possible.”
“I’d tell you
to ask him for yourself, but he’s
dead
,” Gabriel taunted. “I took his head with one swing.”
“It matters not, Gabriel,” Abaddon declared. “There are six of us and only one of you.”
“You seem to think that matters, Abaddon,” Gabriel said, holding his
sword in his right hand. “You are
foolish.”
Gabriel held his left hand out and beckoned the angels forward.
All of the angels rushed him at once. This did not concern Gabriel in this least. He made sure to keep Dani at his back as he laid
waste to the angels. Not one of them got the opportunity to reach out for her.
It was over in a matter of seconds. Orobas, Semyaza, and Abaddon lay headless on the ground. Bernael and Mastema were simply gone; smote by Gabriel’s hand. The only one left standing was Mephistopheles.
“You
will
bow down before me, Mephistopheles,” Gabriel commanded. “As you were created to do.”
Mephistopheles threw down his sword, dropped to his knees before Gabriel and touched his forehead to the ground.
“Who is sending the angels of Heaven down to Earth to interfere in my business, Mephistopheles?”
“Raphael,” Mephistopheles said softly.
Gabriel nodded, “I thought as much.”
“Forgive me, Gabriel,” Mephistopheles begged.
“I forgive you,” Gabriel said, and then drove his sword through Mephistopheles back and into his heart.
Mephistopheles fell dead at Gabriel’s feet.
5.
Gabriel and Dani were sitting on the newly repaired front porch
when Michael returned from returning Gadreel to Tartarus. Michael listened in disbelief as Gabriel told him what he’d learned from Mephistopheles.
Michael shook his head, “You can’t be serious. I knew Raphael didn’t care for you, but to do
this
? I just can’t believe it.”
“Be happy, brother,” Gabriel said. “I had moments when I thought it may be
you.
”
Dani was surprised by this. She had never seen any signs from Gabriel that he’d doubted Michael’s allegiance to him.
Michael looked surprised as well, “
Me
? Why would you ever think I’d turn on you?”
“I had my first suspicion when the demons converged on
the restaurant.” Gabriel said.
“Then again when Jehoel and Rashnu made their appearances. I didn’t say anything to you then because those events could have been brought on by
any
high level angel.
“But when Mephistopheles and the others showed up here from
Tartarus,
I
knew
that I was dealing with an
Archangel
; or God himself.”
Dani interrupted him, “How did you know it had to be an
Archangel
and not Rashnu?”
“Because only God or an
Archangel
can open the entrance of Tartarus. God could end all of this at any time if He so chose to do so. There would be no reason for our Father to release Warrior Angels onto the Earth,” Michael said. “The only other option was an
Archangel
.”
“I didn’t want to believe it was you, but the only other two options were Lucifer and Raphael,” Gabriel said. “Lucifer is locked in the pit until he rises to fight me, and I just didn’t believe Raphael had the stones to pull something like this.”
“So what saved me when I showed up in the yard today?”
“It was
that
you showed up that saved you,” Gabriel said, smiling at Michael. “I could see on your face that you had no idea how those angels had come to be here. You were ready to kill them all if I asked you to do so. You w
ouldn’t have come down here
if you had been the one that set
them
free
.”
Michael laughed, “Well then I’m
very
glad that I came down.”
“You know what you have to do, don’t you?” Gabriel asked Michael.
Michael nodded and stood up from the living room chair he'd been sitting in, “Yep, I have to go find Raphael. Do you want me to kill him or would you like the honor?”
“Bring him to me,” Gabriel said. “I don’t want you to have to kill one of your brothers.”
“After what he’s pulled, I wouldn’t mind killing him one little bit,” Michael said.
“I already have to kill
one
brother,” Gabriel said. “I might as well make it two.”
Michael nodded again, “I’ll try to find him. I’ll bring him to you when I do,” he said and vanished.
6.
“What does he mean he’ll
try
to find him?” Dani asked after Michael was gone. “I thought you said you could find anything in Heaven.”
“No, I said we could find anyone on
Earth
from
Heaven,” Gabriel said. “Finding an angel
in
Heaven is
a bit more difficult. Heaven is
the size of the universe, but that’s not really the problem. It’s usually easy to find the angel
you’re
looking for because other angels are willing to point the way.
“But that get
s
more difficult when the angel you
r
looking for is powerful. In that case
,
most angels aren’t willing to get involved for fear of repercussions from the angel they helped you catch. And in this case, Michael is looking for an
Archangel.
“Very few
angels will be willing to help Michael
. Raphael may be a weak
Archangel
, but he
is
still an
Archangel
. If an angel pointed him out
,
and Raphael managed to defeat Michael, then it would most likely cost the angel that helped Michael their life.”
“It sounds kind
of like trying to find a witness willing to testify to seeing a violent crime here on Earth,” she said. “People are just too afraid for themselves and their families to get involved.”
Gabriel nodded, “It’s exactly like that. Even the h
ighest ranking angel in Heaven w
ouldn’t stand against Raphael.”
“If the angels
know
they don’t stand a chance against an Archangel, then why do they keep coming down here to stand against you?”
“There wasn’t much said at my trial before God except I wa
s to be banished.
Some seem to be under the impression that my Father somehow reduced what I am. That
he changed what I’m capable of, Gabriel said.
“
He did not.”
“But Michael said that you are what God
created
you to be. That if you were created as an
Archangel
that you will
always
be an
Archangel
.”
“And that’s true,” Gabriel corroborated. “But the angel’s in Heaven don’t know that. Most of their knowledge pertaining to Archangels is that we are the ultimate weapons of God and that we are something to be feared. It’s all they
need
to know.”
“But won’t they keep coming?”
“I don’t expect to see anymore. Not after they saw me smite some of the angels today,” he said. “But if they want to keep coming, then so be it. I’ll just keep killing them until they realize that I’m ever
y
bit the
Archangel
that
I always was.”
“So what happens now?”
“Things will happen pretty quickly now,” Gabriel said. “Lucifer will soon realize that he’s lost his Heavenly assistance and be forced to make his final move.”
“So he could rise at any time?”
“Yes, it could be now or a few days from now, but it will be soon.”
“I don’t know whether to be relived or terrified,” she said. “It would be nice for this to be over so we can get on with the rest of our lives, though.”
“Soon,” Gabri
el repeated. “One way or another, this
will be over soon.”
Chapter Twenty
“I can’t find Raphael anywhere. No one will even
talk
to me about him,” Michael said when he returned later that evening and flopped onto the couch. “Wherever he is
,
he’s dug in like a tick.”
“Gabriel said you’d have a hard time finding him,” Dani said.
“That’s an understatement,” Michael said. “It’s more like he vanished from existence.”
“He’ll turn up eventually,” Gabriel said. “He can’t hide forever, thought I bet he wishes he could.”
“Will he show up when Lucifer rises?” Dani asked.
“I highly doubt it,” Michael said. “If Gabriel see
s him
he can pin his feet to the ground. Raphael would have no chance of escape.”
“Let me guess,” she said. “Pinning angels to the ground is something else
only
Gabriel can do?”
Michael winked at her, “You got it, babe. He’s also the only
Archangel
that can bind another angel.”
“What does
binding
an angel do?”
“It just freezes them,” Gabriel said. “But I have to touch
them to do it. I’ve only done it
to a few angels. I bound all of the angels that I killed today. That’s probably why Raphael chose them. He knew they’d be really angry at me for leaving them that way once I got them to Tartarus.”
“If only you can bind them
, the
n how did Raphael set them free?”
“Only I can
bind
them, but any
Archangel
can
unbind
them,” Gabriel explained. “It was nothing for Raphael to walk into Tartarus and release them.”
“How did Michael get Gadreel back to Tartarus if he couldn’t bind him?” she asked.
“There was no need to bind Gadreel,” Gabriel said. “He
wanted
to return to Tartarus.”
“He wanted to do
anything
to get away from Gabriel,” Michael said. “Gadreel became very talkative on his trip back to jail. He told me that Raphael had released all seven of them separately four days ago.
“They
had
talked to Rashnu after their release, but had no idea that Gabriel had killed him. The poor thing was honestly shock
ed
when he found out that he was expected to
kill
Gabriel.”
“
Damn it!
” Gabriel hissed
,
and grabbed his sword from where it leaned against the chair.
Dani jumped to her feet, “
What now
?”
“Demons,” Michael answered, “A
fuckton
of demons.”
Gabriel ran from the house. Michael and Dani followed closely behind him.
Dani was terrified by what she saw. There were demons for as far as she could see, many more than she’d seen that night they’d come to Potter’s house. Michael never hesitated. He ran out to fight the demons and Gabriel grabbed Dani and shot into the air with her.
They rose
so high and so fast that she felt pressure pop excruciatingly in her ears
,
and it was hard to catch a breath. Gabriel didn’t stop until he reached what she thought must be the approximate cruising height of jetliners.
Gabriel gave her a quick kiss…and vanished.
“
SHIT!
” Dani screamed, but there was no one around to hear her as she fell
,
at terminal velocity
,
towards the ground.