Chapter 14
So, this was the infamous Underworld General Hospital.
It looked exactly as Gabriel had imagined, with Sheoulic words and symbols painted in blood on the flat-gray walls, gutters carved into the obsidian floors that ran with what he thought was blood, and chains and hooks hanging from the ceilings.
The only thing that surprised him was that it was clean. Chaotic, but clean.
Gabriel was aware of all the eyes on him as Raika ushered him—dragged him, really—out of a Harrowgate, past a registration and waiting area, and into an empty, curtained room.
Eidolon, the Seminus demon who, along with his four siblings, ran the hospital, strode inside just as Raika shoved Gabriel onto some sort of examination table.
“They called in the big guns for me, I guess,” Gabriel said, because of course they had.
Even without his wings, he was a legend, an ageless warrior with the knowledge of the universe and the Creator’s supremacy woven into his DNA. His presence would make waves and strike fear into the hearts of demons.
“I was actually just heading home,” Eidolon said, tossing his white physician coat over the back of one of the chairs, “but I got stuck treating you because no one else wanted to.”
Well, that burst his self-important bubble. “No one?”
“Angels give most demons the creeps.”
Yeah, well, right now, angels gave Gabriel the creeps too.
“I’m not…” He cleared his throat. It wasn’t easy to say the words. Even after all that time in Lilith’s chamber of horrors, it was only now finally sinking in. “I’m not an angel anymore.”
Eidolon snorted. “You still reek of all that sanctimonious goodness.”
“Takes a while for the holier-than-thou stench to fade after losing your wings,” Raika said.
He shot her a look. She’d propped her hip against the counter, its polished metal top catching glints of the row of jeweled cuffs around the shell of her ear.
“Interesting take on it,” he said, “given that your parents are angels. Which makes you an angel. I’d think you’d be a little less hostile toward your own kind.”
“I was born in the underworld. Tainted, according to your kind.” An aura of darkness bloomed around her, undulating and twisting like a living thing.
A few seconds later, it faded away, leaving a lingering sense of malevolence in the air.
“My parents run the netherworld, and my father is the Grim Reaper. They’re hardly angels.
” She raised her chin, her amber eyes glinting with arrogance. “And neither am I.”
Her argument was valid, much as he hated to admit it. But they weren’t fallen angels, either.
“They occupy a gray area,” he conceded. “You all do. But I don’t.
” Anger flared at the memory of being betrayed by his Celestial brethren.
Of being called a traitor, when they were the ones who had led a coup to wrest control from the Archangels.
“My wings were torn from my body, and I was cast out. Me. An Archangel. The last time an Archangel was booted—”
“It was Raphael.” Raika shoved away from the counter. “And it wasn’t that long ago.” She started toward the door, her black-as-night hair billowing around her shoulders as if blown by a ghost breeze. “Compared to what happened to him, you have it pretty good. So, stop whining.”
“Raphael deserved it. I didn’t.”
“He said, whining.” Raika swept out of the room like a queen discarding her lowly subjects.
What an infuriating female. She truly was the female version of Azagoth.
“I’m going to channel some healing energy into you,” Eidolon said, now that she was gone. “There’s a chance your angelic genetics and my demonic power won’t play nice, but Unfallens usually respond well.”
“What happens when they don’t respond well?”
Eidolon reached for him, the markings on his right arm glowing. “It’s not important.”
Gabriel begged to differ, but the demon didn’t give him a chance to protest. Eidolon gripped his shoulder, and instantly, a hot, oily sensation spread through him.
Nausea flipped his stomach, and bile flooded his mouth.
He’d never thought he’d ever let a demon channel its evil into him.
Sure, he’d cozied up to many demons over the millennia, but that had been part of his job.
Heaven had to win the battle between good and evil, no matter the cost. And if the price meant working with demons from time to time, then so be it.
But this was different. This was a demon injecting power into him. Could be helping. Could be doing the opposite. Seminus demons could make a heart start…or stop. They could stanch bleeding in the brain, or they could explode brain matter.
The only thing that comforted Gabriel was knowing that Eidolon was reportedly not a complete scumbag. In fact, he and his siblings were credited with helping to save the world once. Maybe twice.
Whatever.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Eidolon peered closely into Gabriel’s wrecked eye. “Are your injuries a result of your expulsion from Heaven?”
“Angels took my wings,” Gabriel growled. “Everything else is the handiwork of Lilith and her merry band of evil skanks.”
“Lilith?” Eidolon’s voice dipped low as he channeled energy into Gabriel’s eye. “If it’s the Lilith I think you mean, I have a lot of friends who’d be interested in any information you can provide.”
Gabriel was counting on that. They’d also be interested to know about the fallen angel who worked with Lilith.
Fearr, once a high-ranking commander in Satan’s armies, had taken the number-two spot on the Horsemen and Underworld General staff’s must-die list after a violent encounter in UG’s parking lot.
Apparently, her two accomplices had already met gruesome ends at the Horsemen’s hands, but they’d been looking for Fearr for three decades now.
Eidolon frowned. “You’ve got multiple injuries in various stages of healing. Damn,” he breathed. “Some of them must have been excruciating. How long were you—?”
“A million years,” Gabriel broke in. That’s what it had felt like, anyway. “A million damned years.”
Gabriel had to give the demon credit. He took a hint and stopped asking questions about something Gabriel wanted to put behind him.
Angels were highly resistant to severe mental trauma and skilled at compartmentalization, which meant locking shit away.
And every time you opened the door to access a little information, you risked letting everything out.
Shadows flickered on the edges of his vision. “Doc? My eye—”
“It’s almost healed,” Eidolon said. “Just one second…”
There. Gabriel could see out of that eye again. He glanced around at the skulls and jars of grotesque things on the shelves and mounted on the walls and decided it had been better when his vision sucked.
“We done, doc?”
Eidolon nodded. “Find a safe place to hole up for a while. You’ll probably fall into a light coma. You’re only partially healed, and your Unfallen body needs time to adapt to its new status. Once it does, you’ll be as good as new.”
“Good as new would mean having wings,” Gabriel said.
“True.” The doctor reached for a clipboard hanging nearby. “You never said what happened to get you booted from Heaven.”
“You’re right.” Gabriel left it at that.
The demon probably already knew far too much of what was happening inside Heaven than he should. Again, it appeared that Eidolon and his family were trustworthy, fighting on the side of Team Good. But while Gabriel wasn’t beneath allying with them when needed, he refused to trust them.
Once again, Eidolon didn’t press. That was the thing about this particular demon. He was calm, cool, and smart enough to know when to push and when to let go. Gabriel knew angels with worse temperaments and lower IQs.
“So, what’s the plan?” Eidolon asked. “You don’t strike me as someone who wants to enter Sheoul willingly, and once word gets out there’s an Archangel Unfallen on the loose, you’re going to be hunted to the ends of the Earth.
So, how are you going to avoid being caught and forced to become a True Fallen? ”
Gabriel had thought a lot about that. A lot.
There hadn’t been much else to do while he was being held prisoner, and right now, survival was his number-one priority.
He’d resisted coming here, to this hospital run by evil degenerates, but Raika may have unknowingly provided him with exactly what he needed.
“Actually, I was hoping you could help me with that.”
One black eyebrow cocked up. “You want a job? Reaver was a physician here back when he was Unfallen. Kept him safe for decades.”
There wasn’t a Celestial in Heaven who didn’t know that story.
Reaver was a legend among angels, loved by many, hated by more.
Once an Unfallen with either no memories or false ones, he had been one of only a handful of fallen angels who had earned his wings back.
His mate, Harvester, was the only True Fallen to earn hers, and together, the two formerly fallen angels made a formidable team.
Until a coup in Heaven resulted in Reaver being taken captive and Harvester being killed.
“I don’t want a job,” Gabriel said. No, it was not the time to hide.
Right now was the time to fight. Heaven was in trouble, ruled by an extremist faction, and Gabriel had to find a way to take it back.
That wouldn’t happen if he buried himself in work—work healing demons.
“I want you to help me get in touch with one of the Four Horsemen.”
“Why would you think I can do that?”
He gave Eidolon an are-you-kidding-me look. “Don’t bullshit me. I know you’re all tight. You run in the same circles, and your kids all hang out together. Ares’s daughter is practically chained to two of your nephews. So cut the shit.”
Eidolon snorted in amusement. “Fair enough. Who do you want me to contact?”
“Ares.”
“Why?”
“It’s none of your concern, demon.”
“You’re pretty demanding for someone in your…diminished…position.”
Gabriel growled. “I am the Archangel Gabriel, Lord of the Kingdom of Chrystalis, Destroyer of Demons, Builder of Realms, and over two hundred other titles of such significance that your puny demon brain can’t even begin to comprehend. You will contact him for me.”
“I see. How about this?” Eidolon wadded up a sheet of paper and tossed it into the trash bin. “Show me your official Center of the Universe credentials, and I’ll shoot Ares a message right now. Or, you answer my question and tell me why you want to talk to him. Your choice.”
Insufferable fiend! But the fiend held all the cards, and Gabriel wasn’t in a position to do anything about it.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
So humiliating. “I want him to grant me asylum.”
“Interesting.” Eidolon spun back to him on his stool. “What makes you think he’ll allow you to stay on his island?”
“I’ve helped train his children—and yours—in battle. I can help the Memitim on his island in their dealings with Heaven. And,” Gabriel added, “I have information he wants.”
“Lilith.” Eidolon’s dark eyes sparked with hatred as he stood. Everyone despised Lilith. As they should. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Good. Gabriel had a plan B named Stryke, but Ares was in a better position to help him. Besides, if Heaven learned that Stryke was in any way aiding Gabriel, they would destroy him. But they would think twice about starting shit with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
As Gabriel shoved himself off the exam table, Eidolon’s sister-in-law, Idess, stepped in, her eyes glued to Gabriel.
“It’s true,” she whispered, awe making her voice tremble. Finally, someone was revering him as he should be. “You’re really here.”
“Greetings, Idess.” He’d only seen her a couple of times, back before Azagoth destroyed his realm, but she’d always been gracious. And adequately adoring.
“I can’t believe it.” She glanced at Eidolon, excitement sparking in her eyes. “We need to take him to Eva.”
“Eva?” He frowned and then remembered Azagoth and Raika telling him a while back that the female—Logan’s wife—was hosting Harvester’s Grace. “Why do you want me to see her?”
Idess’s eyes glistened with emotion. “She’s dying.”
Frankly, Gabriel was surprised that Eva was still alive.
The human body couldn’t withstand the radioactive power of an angel’s Grace for long.
Harvester had died months ago, her blood raining down on Earth, coating the Temple Mount and a small beach in Hawaii in splotches of crimson.
Most in Heaven had considered it a suicide.
Others, like Gabriel, called it murder, no matter that she’d entered an unsurvivable portal with intent.
If she hadn’t been forced to, she’d still be around, advocating for her imprisoned mate and stirring every angelic pot she could.
He sighed. “What do you want me to do about it?”
“We need your help to expel Harvester’s Grace. And as far as I know, only an angel can do it. A powerful angel, like an Archangel.”
Powerful? Gabriel almost laughed. He’d lost his wings, his power, and his dignity when those bastards booted him from Heaven. Bitterness coated his tongue and his words. “I can’t help you.”
“Can’t you at least try?” Idess pleaded. “I’m not an angel anymore, but surely you can draw Harvester’s Grace—”
He cut her off with a frustrated curse. “I said no.” At the devastation in her expression, he tempered his tone. “There have been instances of dead angels being brought back and reunited with their Grace, as long as their Grace hasn’t returned to Heaven.”
“So, it is true?” Excitement bled into Idess’s voice. “Aleka found an ancient ritual she thinks will do that, but we’ve had no real evidence.”
Of course, Aleka had found the ritual. Ares’s eldest daughter was useless with a weapon, but she could wield knowledge against evil as effectively as any blade.
“You’ll need Harvester’s blood. Just a drop will do.”
Idess nodded. “Aleka’s been trying to find some, but I fear we’re running out of time.”
“You say Eva is here? In the hospital?”
“She was brought in a few hours ago,” Eidolon said. “She’s weak. Her body is caving in on itself.”
Damn. “Have her eyes turned white?”
Eidolon looked startled. “An hour ago.”
Double damn. “She doesn’t have much time.”
“What are we talking here? Weeks? Days?”
“Days. She might rally and seem like her old self, but she’ll crash fast after that,” he said grimly. “Tell Aleka to hurry.”