Chapter Fifteen
Chapter
Fifteen
Razr writhed as Jedda held
him, her soft hands stroking his hair, the only place her touch didn’t make him
want to scream in pain. Why wouldn’t she leave? They’d won the battle, which
meant she was free. If she didn’t get the fuck out of here
she was going to get caught by whoever showed up to either kill him or torture
the hell out of him, and, while he could accept his fate, there was no way he
could allow harm to come to her.
They would have to kill him if they hurt her.
He wished he could see her, but Shrike’s lightning strike
had burned his eyes, and now everything was in fuzzy grayscale. Jedda’s
beautiful face was nothing more than a blob of haze.
“I hate this.” She sniffled, and his heart ached. “I hate
this so much. I hate angels for doing this to you!”
“We’re not overly fond of you, either,” came a deep voice.
Jedda jumped, sending a fresh wave of hellish pain and dread
through Razr’s body. “Who the hell are you?”
“My name is Gadreel.”
Gadreel...Razr panted through another wave of misery as he
ran the name through his weary brain. “Gadreel,” he murmured. “Archangel?”
Jedda gasped. “You’re an Archangel?”
“Last time I looked.”
“Can you do something about Razr? Can you stop his pain?”
Instantly, the agony melted from his body, and he sagged
against Jedda in blessed relief. Relief he had a feeling would be short-lived.
At least his vision had cleared. He’d be able to see death coming.
Today, death was a big dude in black slacks, a black shirt,
and a long black trench coat. Fitting, Razr supposed. All he was missing was an
executioner’s hood.
“You two made a mess.” Gadreel looked around the castle
ruins, his long blond hair blowing in the breeze from the gaping hole in the
south wall. “And if I’m not mistaken, that decapitated head over there belongs
to Darlah.”
Razr struggled to sit up, his body feeling as weak as a
newborn’s. He blinked up at the newcomer. The angel looked familiar, but he
couldn’t figure out why. He’d have remembered meeting
an Archangel. Maybe he’d seen the guy in passing at
some point. It wasn’t as if every angel knew every other angel in Heaven, after
all, and Archangels were especially reclusive.
“I didn’t expect you to be here so soon.” Razr rolled his
head to work out a kink in his neck. “My Azdai
glyph just triggered.”
“That isn’t what drew me here.” Gadreel pinned Jedda with
his steely gaze. “The power of the activated Enoch gem did.”
Razr inhaled a ragged breath as he shoved awkwardly to his
feet. “Don’t touch her,” he growled. “Do not touch her.”
“Why would I?”
Razr blinked in confusion. Did Gadreel not know that Jedda
possessed the stone? “I don’t understand.”
Gadreel flared his gold-flecked white wings. “That’s because
you’re a lesser angel.” He sighed as if he felt sorry for those who weren’t
sitting at the top of the food chain like he was. The prick. “Your gem elf
friend here is qualified to wield Gems of Enoch.”
Jedda and Razr exchanged glances. Now Razr was really
confused. “I thought only humans could do that.”
“No, the rule is that demons and angels can’t.
Which means humans and elves can.”
Relief nearly sapped Razr’s energy right out of him. “Until
I met Jedda I didn’t even know elves existed.”
“Few do,” Gadreel said with a shrug. “They don’t belong in
our...reality, I guess you’d say. Their lives and deaths happen on another
plane of existence. But because they are neutral forces, they can wield the
Enoch gems as well as, or better than, any human.”
Jedda stepped forward. “Mr., ah, Gadreel, can I ask why the
gems don’t have exclusively ‘good’ vibes surrounding them? They’re not even
neutral. They’re hard to pin down, really.”
He inclined his head. “That’s because each contains a small
amount of demon blood.”
Well, Razr hadn’t seen that coming. “Why? Angel blood is far
more powerful.”
“Because the gems are used to fight demons. How would their
energy know the difference between humans and demons without a baseline?”
Gadreel’s massive wings folded behind his back, the tips just barely kissing
the floor. “Probably something we should have told you.”
“Yeah. Probably.” Razr couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his
voice, and Gadreel shot him a glare. But hey, it could have been worse. A lot
worse.
“Come on.” Gadreel waved his hand, erasing the demon and
fallen angel remains and sending their souls to Azagoth.
The griminions would be disappointed to have
their job stolen from them. “I’ll zap the elf back to her realm and take you
home.”
Oh, fuck that. Razr took Jedda’s hand and tugged her close,
ignoring her little squeak of surprise. “I’m staying.”
Gadreel wheeled around, his coat flapping at his calves.
“What do you mean, you’re staying?”
Razr took a deep breath and blurted, “I mean that I’m
refusing reinstatement as an angel.”
“What?” Jedda tugged on his hand. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” he said, grinning. “I am.”
The archangel stared. “No one
refuses angelic reinstatement.”
“Uh, dude.” Razr couldn’t believe Gadreel had said that. He
knew of two angels who had refused in the last few years alone. “It’s happened
a lot recently. You guys are breaking rules left and right.”
Gadreel flared his wings again, either out of boredom or
irritation. Probably irritation. “Armageddon is nigh.”
Okay, sure, as an angel battling demons, Razr had known that
Armageddon would eventually come, and every fight had been considered
preparation. Thanks to the Four Horsemen, it had almost happened. But, also
thanks to the Horsemen––as well as a few angels and demons––it had been
pre-empted. World saved. Humanity rescued. Whether that was a good thing or a
bad one had yet to be seen.
“I hate to tell you this,” Razr said as he bent to retrieve Azagoth’s crystal horn, “but we just stopped Armageddon.
We’re cool now.”
Gadreel’s eyes glowed so bright that Razr and Jedda stepped
back. “I’m talking about Satan. He’s contained, but he’ll be loose soon. We
must prepare.”
Jedda’s breath caught, and she let out a strangled squeak.
“How soon?”
“Nine hundred and ninety-ish
years,” Razr replied as he kicked aside the halberd that had nearly split him
in half. “Give or take a couple of years.”
She gave him a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding me look. “You’re alarmed now by something that won’t
happen for almost a thousand years?”
“A thousand years is the blink of an eye for angels.”
Gadreel turned to Razr. “Now stop being a fool and come with me. The Archangel
Council will want to see you.”
Razr tucked the crystal horn in his pocket and stood his ground. “I’m staying here.”
“Razr, no.” Jedda drew him aside, keeping her voice low. “I
can’t watch you be tortured over and over. Not for
me.”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Gadreel snapped. “We can
reinstate you as an angel and you won’t have to live in Heaven.” He cocked his
head and drilled Razr with a look he could only describe as cruel. “But there’s
a catch. Naturally.”
“Naturally,” Razr muttered.
“Azagoth likes your work with the Memitim. You will live in Sheoul-gra
and continue in his service except when you and Jedda are needed for battles
with the Enoch gem. And you’ll continue your search for the remaining gem and
jewelry.”
Razr’s heart pounded against his ribs as both excitement and
worry squeezed his chest. He didn’t want to lie about
Jedda’s sister, but he’d promised to protect her, as well. “What happens when I
find them?”
“Since we have the amethyst set, we’ll assign it, and you’ll
form another Triad.”
Jedda grinned. “We’ll be like the Avengers.”
Gadreel scowled. “The what?”
“Nothing,” Razr said. “I agree. To everything.”
“Wait.” Jedda pulled Razr aside once again. “What if I
don’t agree?”
His heart stopped pounding. Just seized up like an engine.
“What are you saying? That you don’t want to be with me?”
“Of course I want to be with you.” She licked her lips and
cast a worried look at Gadreel. “But I need to know you want that too. I know
you just said you did, but earlier, before the battle... It was good-bye, and
you know it.”
He pulled her into a tight embrace,
sorry he’d put her through that. “I had to, Jedda. I was afraid for your life.
I didn’t want to lead anyone to you.”
“So you really want me?”
“I’ve never wanted anything more.”
Gadreel huffed. “I give up. Come to the Archangel Council on
your own. You have forty-eight hours.”
He waved his hand, and ecstasy tore through Razr as his body
filled with light.
His wings, once strangled by rope, burst from his back in a
twenty-foot span of iridescent pearl, and power surged through his veins in a
cascade of glorious heat. A zipper-like sensation skittered over his skin as
the tattoos meant to add an extra layer of restraint on his angelic powers
dematerialized.
He was free.
“Razr,” Jedda whispered in awe as she fingered one silky
feather and sent shivers of pleasure through his every nerve ending. “Your
wings… They’re beautiful.”
“Razriel,” Gadreel corrected her.
Then he disappeared in a flash of light, leaving them alone
in the wrecked castle.
“Call me whatever you want,” Razr said as he pulled her
against him. “I’ll always answer.”
He felt her smile against his chest, and it warmed him like
nothing else ever had. “You have no choice now that we’re bonded.”
Gently, he pressed a kiss into her hair. “I had a choice,”
he reminded her. “I chose you.”