Chapter 55
Present Day
“If there is a God, He will have to beg my forgiveness.”
—UNKNOWN
“ M aybe we shouldn’t have tied her up,” I said as we approached the pearly gates. Shem shot me a look.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I think I feel… I think I feel guilty,” I said, feeling unsure. Guilt was not something I was particularly familiar with.
Shem rolled his eyes. “It’s for her own good. At least this way, even if she fails, it’ll be a pain in the ass for someone to remove her.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I know you’re right, but still.”
We passed through the gates to find Yahweh standing over the Sorter of Souls. He had His hands clasped behind His back, and He slowly paced back and forth along the edge of the sorter, frowning down at the machine.
Behind Him, Mike hovered in his angel form. It struck me as odd that Michael was with Yahweh for this meeting and not Rafael.
I exchanged a suspicious look with Shem and gripped my scythe tighter.
Finally, Yahweh looked up at us. It was always jarring to be in His presence. The weight of His age bore down on us, making it impossible to forget that He was the creator and we were merely His creations. I narrowed my eyes and gritted my teeth. No matter how true that was, I was no longer His. I was Lilith’s, and it was time this fucker accepted that.
“Ramel, Shemhazai. Welcome home,” Yahweh said, smiling at us with His ever-changing lips.
Mike shuffled one of his many wings. I glanced over Yahweh’s shoulder, frowning. Mike blinked one large eye at me, and I frowned. He was trying to tell me something.
“This is not our home,” I growled, anger already stirring in my gut. I looked around the blinding white abyss and shuddered. To live here would be my own personal form of torment. Now that I had my memories back, I could remember how out of place I had always been here. How merely existing had felt as if my skin were being scraped with sandpaper.
“We have come to negotiate Lilith’s renewed citizenship in Hell,” Shem drawled, putting on his most bored voice.
“Lilith has always been a citizen of Hell; it is the two of you that do not belong,” Yahweh replied, examining His cuticles as if He weren’t a godly being with perfect nail beds.
“Enough, Yahweh,” I snarled. “Let it go. We will never willingly return to serve you. Unless you wish to start another war, you will need to agree to new terms.”
“You forget yourself, Ramel. I created you! You are my creation to do with as I see fit. You are an archangel, not a demon. I knew Lilith would be a problem when she refused to obey her husband, but I never thought she would go so far as to corrupt my Watchers.”
“She hasn’t corrupted us. If anyone is corrupt, it’s you. You’re being unreasonable. You have more than enough angels to serve you without us. You have the power to create as many servants as you want. Let us live in peace with Lilith and allow us to move on from this feud,” I said, hoping he would be willing to finally see reason.
“It is not for you to decide what is best, Ramel. I am all-knowing and all-seeing. I work in mysterious ways, and you must trust in me .”
Shem yawned. “You would think after a million years or so, He would come up with a better spiel.” He nudged me, grinning.
Yahweh looked like He wanted to smite Shem where he stood, but the cat demon just slid his hands into his pockets and smirked.
“Go ahead. Smite me, almighty smiter.”
Both God and I looked at him in confusion.
He sighed. “I wish Lilith was here. She would have gotten the reference,” he grumbled, kicking an invisible pebble into the Soul Sorter. “You know, for someone who claims to be all-seeing, you would think you would have at least seen Bruce Almighty.”
“Enough!” Yahweh bellowed as His pristine heavenscape flashed with thunder and lighting. Mike shuffled his feathers nervously behind him, and I made eye contact with one of his many eyes. He glanced down, his many pupils dragging my attention to where my feet disappeared into the wisps of cloud.
Was he trying to get me to look into the Soul Sorter? Why did he keep looking down?
“Once again, Ramel, you have failed. You leave me no choice. I was clearly premature in Lilith’s release. We will need to try again. This time, perhaps I will send her to purgatory with Rafael so he can work on her until she understands you are mine.”
I glared at Him. “You cannot touch her. She is a citizen of Hell and my bride. Even you must respect the sanctity of marriage,” I snarled.
“I must do nothing! I am Yahweh! The rules you follow exist because I make it so. I have the power to sever the marital bond and renounce citizenship if I so choose. If I wish to punish your little hell bride for her sins, then I will do it.”
I laughed. “You cannot remove her from Hell against her will.”
Mike shuffled again, shifting his eyes more and more urgently to our feet. Slowly, it began to dawn on me. He wasn’t trying to get me to look at the Soul Sorter. He was looking down to where Hell was. He was trying to warn us.
Yahweh gave Shem and me a cruel grin and chuckled.
“Oh, Ramel. When Rafael is done with her, she will leave willingly.”
My death magic exploded from me and rippled through the bright white expanse of Heaven, turning white clouds black beneath my feet, but it was Shem’s magic that forced the Soul Sorter to slow. The golden gears began to grate and grind against each other beneath the might of his fury.
Shem was not quick to anger, but once he snapped, there was no going back.
“If you touch one hair on that mortal girl’s head, I will fucking bring Heaven down to Earth,” Shem snarled, and Yahweh laughed.
I grabbed Shem’s arm, suddenly panicked.
“We don’t have time for this; we have to go back,” I hissed, and he nodded, still glaring at Yahweh like he wanted to unmake the creator.
I made eye contact with Mike, letting him see how grateful I was for his warning.
“I will not forget this,” I said. I was speaking to Mike, but it was Yahweh who responded.
“You will if I force you to, Ramel.”
Shem hissed, but I pulled him away. I would deal with Yahweh later. Right now, I needed to make sure my wife was okay.