16. Colt
“So it’s finally here,” Colt sighs, spearing his fingers through his hair and turning towards the academy in the distance. There’s an ominous white glow over where the school should be, the lights of the Grigori glowing so bright it turns night to day.
“Maya and Kalisha,” Gabby gasps, stepping next to Colt and holding his arm with both her hands. Colt wraps his arms around her and sets his chin on her hair.
“They’re strong, resilient.” He sighs, kissing her hair gently. “Besides, the Grigori aren”t so foolish as to think they can hurt someone you care about and live to tell the tale.”
Gabby sniffles, but her shoulders straighten and she stands a bit taller. “You’re right, they won’t do anything to make me angrier right now, but I still worry.”
“It’s nothing we can’t handle, angel,” he says, his bravery meant to bolster her confidence. “You have the Spear under control now. The Grigori don’t know what they’ve done.”
“Let’s go to Veritas,” Gabby says, hurrying away from him and down the steps of the building. “The others will want to know and help.”
Their wings spread, internally conscious of each other and not jostling as they take to the sky. Colt brushes the tips of his wings against Gabby’s as they soar above the trees and level off. The spell to hide them from the unassuming humans is like second nature to him now.
Below them, everything goes on as it should. The humans move about, going to their mundane jobs or heading home. It’s clear they don’t see the cosmic battle about to unfold, and Colt envies that peace. His eyes pull back to Gabby as his heart squeezes. Maybe, after this, they’ll get a little taste of that peace and get to live as a couple.
“Looks like they’re expecting us,” Gabby says, breaking his internal thoughts.
Colt looks ahead, and on the roof of the library are their friends and people gathered to support the cause. Blaise, her hair red and up in braids like a Viking, storms around the roof shouting orders to people like a general.
In unison, Colt and Gabby land on their roof with barely a sound. Lydia sees them and runs up to meet them with a flustered look on her face. “I’m so glad you’re here, we were about to call but—” She gives them a nervous smile and shrug, signaling that the pair of them are here before they could summon them.
“What do we know?” Gabby asks, putting the woman back on track.
“Right, straight to business! I like that about you!” Lydia grins and turns to face the people milling about. “This is where we set up headquarters, so we can see the school and know what”s happening. Also, so Blaise doesn’t burn any of the books with her…anger issues?” Lydia points at a scorch mark on the ground.
“I do not have anger issues!” Blaise shouts, coming over to our side and blowing a loose strand of red hair from her eyes. “I have insubordination issues, which is rightful for someone with authority to correct.”
“Blaise, he was asking if we wanted coffee…”
“And we did not, in fact, want coffee.”
“That’s obvious!” Lydia smirks and shakes her head at the woman. “She’s been like this since the school lit up. Captain of the Veritas strike force!” Lydia wiggles her fingers at Blaise as if she’s casting spells.
“I’m just making sure everyone survives this, whatever it will be. If I have to take leadership to do that, then?—”
“Then roasting the leather of a pixie’s shoes when he’s trying to be nice it is!” Lydia laughs, and walks away shaking her head. Over her shoulder she says jovially, “I’ll make sure no oneslacks off, ma’am!”
“She’s not taking this seriously,” Blaise grouses, turning to face the angel and demon.
“That’s because she knows they won”t win,” Gabby says, her voice so sure it seems undeniable.
Smirking, Colt puts his arm over Gabby’s shoulder and tucks her to his side. “That’s right, they won’t win. We’ll defeat them and they won’t ever be a threat to us again.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself!” Gabby agrees, placing her hand on Colt’s chest and smiling up at him.
“That’s all well and good, lovebirds, but what about them?” Blaise waives her hands away from the building, signaling all the innocent humans facing extinction unbeknownst to them.
“If we do this right, they will never know they were in danger,” Gabby says bravely.
“And we will do this right. Has anyone heard from the school? Do we know what their plan is?” Colt asks.
Blaise nods, taking a deep breath and trying to ride on their confidence and not be so worried. “They sent a message,” she looks around, and when her eyes land on Sierra, she smiles and waves her forward.
“You guys made it! We weren’t sure if you’d go to the school first or what,” Sierra says as she runs up to meet them.
“Do you still have the message?” Blaise asks.
Sierra nods, digging in her pocket for a piece of tattered parchment with burned edges. She hands it to Colt, who shifts it closer to Gabby so each of them can hold one side.
“This is Maya’s handwriting,” Gabby says, a whoosh of breath leaving her lips as they start to tremble.
“They want to make sure you know what”s at stake,” Sierra says, a sad, knowing look in her eyes.
“It’s at stake either way, especially if they win.” Colt says grimly, scanning the message with his jaw working in irritation.
“It says that if I release the Spear, no one will be harmed. If I don’t, they’ll destroy the academy and everyone in it.” Gabby is breathless, fear making her eyes well up. “Will it really come down to saving my friends or saving the world?”
“No, it won”t. Because they’re all about to be wiped from existence by a badass angel and her devoted demon.” Colt folds her against his chest, lightly squeezing her. “We have the Spear, and the whole word to fight for. They don’t stand a chance.”
“Let me show you the plan,” Blaise says, waving them over to a table covered in maps and floor plans of the school.
Colt and Gabby follow, hand in hand, and look at the map as Blaise points to the school.
“They have the whole place warded, no one can get in or out. As far as we can tell, they have the students and teachers locked up here, in the gymnasium.” Blaise sets her hand on the gymnasium where Colt taught Gabby how to fight.
Gabby squeezes Colt’s hand as she listens, and Colt runs his thumb over the back of her hand comfortingly. They both have good memories all over that school. The thought of losing it, of losing the people inside, has them both silent in thought.
“We should find a way to lure them away from the academy,” Gabby says, her voice strong. “Tease them, maybe? Say…” she trails off not sure what to do from there.
“What if we tell them I switched sides?” Colt suggests. “That I’ve got you held prisoner somewhere and that I’ll give them the Spear myself, for a price.”
“I don’t know,” Gabby says hesitantly, but a clap from Blaise draws their attention and cuts her off mid-sentence.
“That’s brilliant! Just a thing a demon would do, no offense, so it’s believable! This could work! But what would you want?”
“What every demon wants, to live. I’ll say if they take Gabby and I with them, if they let us live after the world is reshaped, I’ll give them the Spear.”
“A sacrifice of true love!” Sierra sighs, her eyes sparkling as she looks at the pair of them.
“Colt, I—” Gabby takes a deep breath, pulling him to the side and away from the other women as they start planning everything out.
“Angel, I know,” Colt whispers, pulling her behind a chimney and hugging her close. The semi privacy sends a thrill through him, and maybe it’s the thought of impending death or the excitement of battle, but he can’t hold himself back. He tilts Gabby’s face towards his and kisses her lightly on the lips.
“Whatever happens, I want to be in your arms in the end,” Gabby whispers against his lips, eyes fluttering closed.
“Always. It’s where you belong.” He stills, realizing the question he’s been wanting to ask for what feels like forever is now demanding to be spoken. That this moment is one he has to grasp. “When this is over… Gabby, when this is over, will you marry me?” Colt stills, waiting for her answer with trepidation.
Gabby’s shoulders shudder, and when she looks up at him again, a single tear drops from her eye. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve never been surer about anything in my long, long life. I lived so many years, and it wasn’t until I found you that I knew all this time and torture and loneliness was for a reason. My reward was waiting for me in the form of my most dire enemy, an angel. Now all I want is to spend my life with you. From this day until our last day.”
“Even if this day is our last day?”
“Especially if this day is our last day,” Colt smiles, holding his hand out between them. A flash of hellfire forms in his palm, and then darkness pools between his fingers and centers in the middle. “Celestial fire, my angel?” he whispers.
Gabby closes her hand over his and releases the slightest burst of celestial fire so it doesn’t scald him. When she lifts her hand away, a twist of smoke curls up, revealing a band of twined black and gold, with a sparkling diamond in the middle. It’s round, small, but it makes Gabby’s eyes light up with delight.
“The darkness of Hell, brimstone and lava,” Colt says, tracing the twisted black part of the ring. “The light of Heaven, bright and brilliant, like you…”
“And the diamond?” Gabby asks, breathless.
“Forged under cosmic Armageddon-level pressure, bonded by our love.”
“Yes!”
“Yes?” Colt’s not sure he heard her right, and his heart is ready to burst.
“Yes! I will marry you!”