Chapter 66
“Rebellion is the seed of freedom.”
—THOR HEYERDAHL
I eyed the archangel warily. Shem’s eyes were narrowed and there was a relentless hum of energy rolling off his tense form.
“What you’re suggesting is treason. You will be sentenced to purgatory along with us if Yahweh finds out you’re encouraging rebellion against Heaven. Especially with the King of Hell and Hell’s General,” I said, my tone calm but suspicious.
“Unless… is this part of Yahweh’s plan?” Shem speculated out loud. “Convince us to collude with His primary messenger only to have him turn on us at the last moment?”
“ That seems more likely,” I growled, unable to keep the rot from spreading closer to Gabriel.
Gabriel scoffed. “You’ve known me for thousands of years, Shemhazai. Have I ever given you the impression that I’m particularly fond of sucking Yahweh’s cock every time the mood strikes?”
Shem pursed his lips but didn’t respond. Art tried to hide his reaction, but I didn’t miss the way he winced from his station by the fireplace.
Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, deflating. “Listen, it’s not my fault I was made after the one responsible for giving angels the option to switch sides was trapped in Yahweh’s fucking bowl of nothing. I’ve been hoping this whole time that you two assholes were figuring out a way to get things back to the way they were before I was made. Turns out, all you’ve been doing is screwing around hoping Yahweh was just going to ‘come around.’” His eyes flashed in rage.
“Yahweh is never going to allow you to stay here with her. He may have let her continue to rule Hell if you had taken His original offer and returned as angels, but I can tell you right now that offer is off the table. He’s working to find a way to manage death without Lilith. He’ll unmake you both and trap her in the bowl for eternity if you don’t pull your heads out of your asses and do something.”
The idea of Lilith going back into purgatory made my blood turn to ice in my veins. Shem hissed, and I clenched my hands into fists at my sides. Considering the immortal nature of angels and demons, matters between Heaven and Hell had always been solved as diplomatically as possible. However, now that Yahweh had developed a means of unmaking immortals and seemed to be trying to mass produce these weapons, that was no longer the case.
I didn’t trust Gabriel, but we couldn’t afford to continue to do nothing. Not if what he was telling us was true.
“So what exactly is it you propose we do?” I asked, being careful not to let the rage and fear that were coursing through me come through in my voice.
“You need to find a way to cut His legs out from under Him. A full-blown offensive attack isn’t going to work any better this time than it did last time. You need to be smart and hit Him where it hurts.”
“Get to the fucking point, Gabriel,” Shem snapped, and he just sneered at him.
“No. I’m not fucking helping you do this, not without something in return.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “What exactly is it that you want?”
“I thought I made that obvious. If I help you overthrow Yahweh, then I want you to make Lilith change me into a demon. I want a place on the Watcher’s council. I’m done fucking around with this shit angel form. I want you to free me.”
“Oh, is that all?” Shem picked an invisible piece of lint off his black shirt. “You didn’t need to fucking blackmail us with information for that, Gabriel. All you had to do was ask.”
Gabriel straightened the cuffs on his white shirt and rolled his eyes. “You really think I’m stupid enough to take that gamble? I want your word that I will be changed as soon as your queen completes her coronation.”
I glanced at Shem and raised an eyebrow. Changing Gabriel and allowing him to live here in Hell was not a fate worse than death. If he hadn’t been an angel, I might have actually liked him. The issue was that I didn’t trust him. It was possible this was some sort of scheme planned by Yahweh to get us to trust one of his followers.
‘What do you think?’ I asked Shem into his mind. He bobbed his head back and forth as if mulling it over.
‘I think we don’t have much of a choice. If we want to protect Lilith and keep her out of purgatory once and for all, we need to assume some level of risk. He’s right. We can’t continue to do nothing.’
I nodded. As usual, he and I were in agreement.
“Alright, Gabriel. You have my word that we will relieve you of your angel form and reserve you a place on our council.” I tried not to scowl at the fact that sixty-seven Watchers didn’t have the same satanic ring to it. “In return, you will keep us apprised to the best of your abilities of Yahweh’s plans and help us from the inside in any way we deem necessary.”
“I also want your word that you’ll do what you can to lessen my… punishments when I’m forced to return to Heaven.”
I narrowed my eyes on him. “How the fuck do you expect us to do that?”
“Sending me back with something He wants would be a good start. If I come back with nothing, He will punish me, and you know it.”
“I’m not willing to part with either the scepter or Rafael. I can’t agree to that.”
“Rafael will never leave here if I can help it,” Shem added menacingly.
“I’ll bring you a new scepter. As I said, Yahweh has a ton of them and is making more every day. I can sneak one back without Him noticing, but for now, it needs to at least look like I’m doing my job here.”
“You will need to sign a deal then. I can’t just trust your word on that.” Signing a deal with the Devil was magically binding. If Gabriel failed to hold up his end, he would be condemned to an eternity of serving me until I felt his dues had been paid. If he thought serving Yahweh was bad, I had a feeling he would hate serving me even more.
“ Fine,” Gabriel gritted through clenched teeth. “I’ll sign.”
“Great.” With a wave of my hand, I drew up the contract and manifested a black quill. Gabriel drew the sharp tip of the quill along his arm, slicing it open and filling the tip with his blood before signing his life away to me.
Shem’s eyes flashed, and a feline smile curled across his lips. He manifested the scepter and handed it to the archangel.
“Well, Gabriel. Welcome to Hell. We’re looking forward to working with you.”
Gabriel scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Don’t fuck this up, asshole. I’ll return as soon as I have something of use.” With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the manor, leaving Shem and I stewing in a pit of despair and anxiety.
“We need to figure out how to weaken Yahweh enough that He will bend to our demands,” Shem muttered. Art pushed up from the wall, coming forward with a frown.
“What do you need from me?” he asked. Shem shot him a grateful look, but I could barely get a handle on myself .
“Go find Lilith and make sure she’s staying out of trouble,” I snapped at Art. “Right now, I need to fucking murder something. I’m going to the dungeons. I’ll see you back in the room later,” I growled at Shem.
Shem nodded, watching me warily as I stormed out of the office. I needed to take my fear and rage out on someone, and I couldn’t think of anyone better than the angel who had tried to rape my wife.