The Redeemable

Part Four

By

Grace McGinty

            Copyright © 2018 by Madeline Young

Writing as Grace McGinty
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the author
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

First Printing, 2018

Chapter One

Ace

I reached for my sword, then realized I was naked. No shirt, no pants and definitely no sword. I screamed in frustration as Azriel plunged his hand into Arcadia’s chest and tore out her soul.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! I jumped toward him but my body was as weak as a fawn’s from decades of stagnation.

“Lucifer!” I yelled, feeling a little ashamed that I had to call for my lover to take care of Azriel.

“Too late now, Acerezeal. It’s over,” his smug voice grated against my nerves. Weak or not, I stumbled toward him, keeping one eye on Arcadia’s soul as it drifted upwards.

“You better get out of here before I gain back enough coordination to kick you where your balls should be!”

He just laughed, and I silently vowed revenge. He must have seen murder on my face, because he quit laughing.

“Lucifer!” I yelled again. “I’d go if I were you; he isn’t going to be happy that you snuffed his Redeemer.” I let out a humorless laugh. “You know what, stay. I’d love to see him pummel the shit out of your smug angel face.”

Azriel narrowed his eyes. “It’s good to have you back, Acerezeal. I look forward to separating your body and your soul again, hopefully permanently this time.”

I grinned as a knife came from behind him and pressed against his throat.

“Threaten her again, Azriel, and the only thing being separated will be your head from your body,” Luc growled. My heart beat faster. I’d forgotten how sexy he was when he was threatening our enemies with decapitation.

Azriel disappeared in a flash, the coward. Luc just stared at me in awe. I wanted to run to him, wrap my arms around his body and feel his touch against my skin. But first…

“Quick, Arcadia’s soul!” I pointed to the luminous soul getting closer to the roof.

Luc shot out a hand and whispered in Latin. Angels like me could do a lot of things, but manipulation of souls was strictly an Archangel thing. And despite his fallen status, Luc had once been an Archangel.

He called it back to his hand, like a puppy to heel.

“Acerezeal, I cannot place this back in her damaged body. She will just die anyway.” I took a moment to watch the humans work as they desperately tried to save Arcadia. I trusted that they would ensure she lived, but I needed to keep her soul safe until they fixed her physical form.

“Put her soul into my body. She shared her body with me for so many years, it’s time I returned the favor.”

Luc raised his eyebrows. “You want to put a human soul in your body?”

“Yes. Now let’s do it before anything else goes wrong.”

He leaned down and kissed me. “I have missed you, my love.” I relished the feel of his lips on mine. I would never take his kisses for granted again. I would appreciate every touch, every embrace. “This might feel a little uncomfortable,” he said as he jammed his hand at my chest and I felt my body’s confusion as another soul settled beside mine. It was like a heart attack, or maybe a panic attack. Living with Arcadia had taught me what both of those sensations felt like. It would adapt. My body was angelic. I could carry Arcadia with me forever, if need be.

As Cady's soul settled in my body, the screeching of the human vitals machines stopped, and they stabilized her body.

Arcadia?

I could feel her confusion. What’s happening? Where am I?

Ugh. I forgot the soul amnesia. We needed to kick start her memory ASAP because this whole thing was going to be way too hard to explain. I walked out of the operating theater, taking Luc’s hand. His strong fingers threaded through mine, and I wanted to weep with joy. But fallen angels don’t weep. Hell, angels don’t weep at all.

Am I naked? Arcadia asked, outraged and a little embarrassed. She must have caught a glimpse of me in the glass windows.

Technically I’m naked. But don’t worry. No one can see us unless I allow them too.

We made it to the waiting room, and there were Arcadia’s Seven, looking like utter shit. Oz was sitting with his head in his hands, his eyes bloodshot red. Ri was beside him, worry and fear fighting for prominence on his face. Lux was standing in the corner, his face a hard mask to keep in the emotion. Sam kept running his hand through nonexistent hair as he paced back and forward. Valery was leaning against a wall, wiping tears on his sleeve. Tolliver was at the nurse's station demanding answers. And Eli looked… devastated. He looked as if his soul was being put through a meat mincer.

Oh. There was such pain in Arcadia’s single, whispered word. Oh, my guys. I’m so sorry. A huge wave of sadness flowed through my body. I remember. Azriel, that motherfucking asshole. Angel or not, I am going to shred him when I see him next. Wait until I tell Lux.

“He’ll have to get in line. Azriel was lucky I didn’t have my sword.”

Luc gave me a lopsided grin. He was so happy, and I was so torn. I was ecstatic to be back with him, always, but not at the cost of Arcadia’s life. I wouldn’t be truly happy until she was back in that weird poly lovefest she called a relationship.

What are we going to do? Arcadia asked, her voice suddenly small.

We're going to fix this, but first…

I uncloaked myself and so did Luc.

“Luc? What’s going on?” Eli asked

“Who’s the naked angel?” Ri joined in, though there wasn’t anything remotely lascivious about the question.

“Arcadia?” Lux asked, but his face said he already knew.

Luc looked at me and I shrugged. “They’ll take it better from you.”

He shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to me. It had slots for my wings, and I put it on and zipped it up. It fell to my upper thighs, but covered all the important bits. It was still warm from Luc’s body, and smelled like him. God, I’d missed his scent.

“You should explain, my love. You were there.”

“My love? Ace?” Oz gaped at me, and I could feel Arcadia’s desire to reach out and stroke his cheek.

“Yep, it’s me. Acerezeal. I got my body back, though it was touch and go there for a second. The Father sends his regards by the way,” I said to Luc.

“Arcadia?” Lux prompted again.

I grimaced. “It went badly. The babies are both fine, I imagine they’ll both be in neonatal about now, but there were complications for Arcadia. She… died.”

Nothing could have prepared me for the look of utter devastation on their faces. Each one. It was like a sucker punch to the heart.

“Azriel came, separated her soul from her body, and then Luc turned up and stopped Arcadia’s ascent. We decided it was best if we placed her soul into my body until you,” I looked at Eli, “can fix her body enough that she won’t die as soon as it’s returned.”

Tolliver slumped down on the chair. “So she’s there, with you now? She’s the voice in your head?”

I gave him a small smile. “The irony isn’t lost on me. But it’s okay, we are used to sharing now.”

Arcadia was beginning to cry. I didn’t know a soul could cry. Wail yes, there were plenty of wailing souls in hell, but not cry.

I’m just a passenger. I didn’t realize how frustrating this would be. I’m so sorry you had to do this for so many years, Ace. I miss them so much already. And my babies. I’ll never get to hold my babies.

I firmed my jaw. You will. I will make sure of it. She deserved her happiness, and I was determined to help her get it. Now, suck it up. I don’t want to listen to you cry for a month.

Arcadia let out a soft laugh. We needed to get used to this as the new normal, because shit was only going to get weirder.

“How will this work?” Eli asked, sinking down into the chair beside Tolliver.

“You work on getting her body better. I want her to be able to skip out of this hospital and never come back except to have Casanova’s pretty babies.” I poked a thumb towards Ri. “I’m going to find a way to get her soul from my body and back into her own without involving Azriel the Dickhole.”

“Can’t he do it?” Lux asked, his voice a combination of pain and promised retribution that made my skin prickle. The dude was gonna spiral without Arcadia.

“Luc can put a soul back into a body, otherwise deathbed deals with the Devil wouldn’t be a thing. But he can’t take one out. That is the strict purview of very few of our kind. Just the big three, and Azriel the Douche Canoe.”

The big three?

“The big three are Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, in case you are wondering.”

Maybe we can try Michael? He showed an interest before.

I looked at Luc. My sexy, short tempered lover. He was as beautiful as the day I first saw him, when his wings were still milky white and he hadn’t yet fallen. He liked to pretend he was okay with his new role, but deep down being cast out still hurt. Especially being cast out by Michael, who he’d considered a friend. I’d considered him a friend.

Yeah, we’ll probably keep a visit to Michael as a last resort.

Lux stood in front of me, towering over me even though I was back in my willowy 5’9 body and no longer in Arcadia’s vertically challenged one.

Hey!

“I’m going with you,” Lux said. It wasn’t a request, or even a demand. It was a statement of fact.

“I’m sorry, but we are going places you cannot go. Well, places you would never return from,” Luc said with something that almost sounded like compassion. From the Devil. Today was a strange day all round.

Lux let out a frustrated grunt between his teeth. “I need to do something.”

I put my hands on his cheeks and did something I hadn’t done in centuries, since I fell. I sifted with another person.

I sifted him to the fourth floor of the hospital, into the neonatal care unit. I checked him over to make sure all his molecules came with him. Arms, legs, only two eyes. Okay, we were good. Apparently moving people through time and space was just like riding a bike.

In the nursery, in two humidicribs side by side, laid Arcadia’s babies. Tiny, pink and defenseless.

“They need you. All of you.”

Lux stared at the babies; Estrella was small but still bigger than Hope, who would have fit in one of Lux’s massive hands.

“Do you know who’s they are yet?”

I stared at him. “Does it matter?”

He shook his head, sadness dragging down the lines of his handsome face and for a second, every one of the two thousand years he’d lived was etched on his face.

“No. They are hers, and I will love and protect them with my life.”

Arcadia was so quiet, but I could sense her awe of the babies. I wasn’t going to lie, they were the most perfect creations I had ever seen.

I turned back to Lux to find him staring at me. Not at me, past me, as if he could see into my soul like an angel.

“You will come back to me, Arcadia Jones.”

Tell him I love him.

“She says she loves you.” We turned back to the babies. “I’ll bring her back, I promise.”

Committing their tiny faces to memory, I knew it was time to go. I walked to the window and slid it open, spreading my wings wide.

“By the way, congratulate Oz on becoming a Papa for me, yeah?”

With that, I fell into gravity’s calm embrace and for the first time in decades, I felt the wind beneath my wings.

Now that song was going to be stuck in my head. Damn you, Barbara.

Chapter Two

“I thought I’d find you here,” Luc’s rough voice washed over me like a balm. I fought the wussy voice in my head that screamed “hug him now!”

It must have been the other wussy voice in your head, because I didn’t say any such thing, Arcadia said primly.

“I’ve always liked it up here. It has good harbor views. Plus, I’m a fan of extravagant gifts, you know that.”

He sat beside me, atop the Statue of Liberty's crown, our feet dangling down.

Luc grinned. “Yes, the view of New York Harbor is pretty good from the middle of the water.” He picked me up, and sat me across his lap, my wings spread out behind me. The hard knot that had sat in my gut for the last two decades, a twisted ball of anger and doubt and pain, finally relaxed as the heat of his body settled into mine. His scent wrapped around me and comforted my soul. I was back where I was supposed to be.

I ignored Arcadia’s sniffling.

“What am I supposed to do here, Luc? I need ideas, a plan, anything. Do I go beg Azriel to put her back? Do I trust him to do that?”

Luc snorted. “I wouldn’t trust him to reanimate a cat.”

He made a good point. Azriel was a good angel but a shitty person. He’d deliver Arcadia’s soul to the pearly gates himself if he got another opportunity.

I stood and ruffled my wings. It was still weird being back in my body. “There’s only one thing to do.”

“Have sex in Lady Liberty’s torch of freedom?” Luc winked and grinned. I’d forgotten his grin was my kryptonite.

“Okay, two things.” He leaned in to kiss me, and I dived into the kiss like a starving woman, which I was. Sure, watching Arcadia have sex with her guys was fun and all, but it wasn’t the same as feeling Luc’s mouth on mine.

Hey we had a deal! No watching! Both Luc and I chuckled. Never make a deal with a fallen angel.

“I have no problem with you watching, Arcadia Jones.”

Ugh, I’m fine thanks. We aren’t all giant perverts.

He kissed me again, and then bit my lip hard. “Damn it, what was the second thing you had to do?” Luc hated not knowing things. It was his pet peeve.

“Go home,” I said, a genuine smile splitting my face. How I’d missed the place.

Luc stroked the hair from my face with such tenderness that I wondered what the humans would think if they could see him now.

“Home it is, my love. Lady Liberty can wait.” He grabbed my hand, and together we sifted.

Home. The landing room in Luc’s palace looked just the same.

That is a lot of white marble. The awe in Arcadia’s voice made me smile. This isn’t how I imagined hell at all. I thought it would be more…

Dark? Fiery? I suggested.

Stinky. Where’s the sulphur smell? And is all that gilding real gold?

I looked around and tried to see the room from Cady’s perspective. The milky white marble was struck through with only the palest grey marble, as close to the color of clouds as you could get. Every corner, every edge, and the entire domed ceiling was gilded. With real gold. So the whole room was lit with this luminance. It was as close as you could get to landing at the pearly gates, minus the choirs of heavenly song.

“Where are my Princes of Hell?” Luc shouted, and I grinned. “Princes?” He shouted again, so it echoed through the room.

The giant golden door opened, and a figure clad only in black camo pants walked out, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “Luc, dude, you know he hates it when you call us…” his words stuttered to a stop and his mouth swung open.

“Acerezeal?” He rubbed his eyes, almost comically, and whispered, “Ace?”

Holy shi… Cady whispered.

“Gusion!” I smiled as I ran to my old friend, and he wrapped me in his arms.

“Ace, it is really you. How? Luc said that all his Sins weren’t redeemed yet. He was worried that the Redeemer wasn’t going to make it.” He pushed me away a little and his eyes ran an inventory of my limbs. “You look great!” Then he pulled me back into his arms again. “We’ve missed you so much, it hasn’t been the same around here. Mostly because Luc has been a giant asshole for two whole decades.” He squinted a little, as if he was looking at the sun. “Uh, Ace, do you know you have two souls right now?”

“I missed you too, Gus. It’s a long story. Let me introduce you to Cady. Cady, this is Gusion, Angel of the Past, Present and Future.”

Former Angel. It is nice to finally make your acquaintance, Arcadia Jones, Lucifer’s Redeemer and Saviour of the Damned.

Uh, just call me Cady. It’s nice to meet you too, Gus. You’re very… um…

“She thinks you’re hot, Gus,” I finished for her. She wasn’t wrong. Of all the fallen, of which there were only three, including me but not including Luc, Gus was the most ethereal. He had long, golden hair that hung down to the center of his back, and a body that was a beautiful pale gold, rippling with muscles like every teenage girl's wet dream.

Gus looked down at his body, as if seeing it for the first time. “Hey, I guess I am.” He grinned at me, a naughty grin that reminded me why we had all fallen in the first place.

“Where’s Memphis?” I asked.

“I’m here, Acerezeal.”

Memphis was inky darkness where Gusion was golden light, although Memphis’s hair hung down his back also in a long black braid. His dark ebony skin meant the deep blue of his eyes were startling in their shining brilliance. Gusion and Memphis’s visual differences only mirrored their personality differences.

I went to Memphis, wrapping my arms around his body although it remained stiff under my hands. That was just Memphis’ way. He was stoic. He made Arcadia’s Lux look like a CareBear.

“Let me introduce you to my, uh, passenger soul? Memphis, this is Arcadia.”

Nice to meet you, Memphis.

“No one calls me Memphis except Acerezeal. My name is Mephistopheles.”

The Mephistopheles? I thought you were a figment of some old poet's imagination.

“It suits me to be seen that way.” His face was as scary as he could possibly be while with such beautiful lines, but it was enough to strike fear into most mortals. But my Arcadia wasn’t a mere mortal

Okay. What kind of nickname is Memphis for a fallen angel anyway?

“A good one! Have you tried screaming out Mephistopheles during climax? I can tell you from experience that it seriously kills the mood. Now Memphis? The home of rock’n’roll? That’s enough to make you wet just thinking about it.”

I could feel Arcadia mulling over what I said. I hope she didn’t short circuit something important.

So you and Memphis-

“Mephistopheles,” the angel in question growled.

Sorry. You fallen angels are really touchy about your names. Anyway, so you and Mephistopheles, you know…

“Fuck?”

Uh yeah. And Luc is okay with that? she whispered, even though literally every person in this room could hear her no matter the volume of her mental projection.

“I am fine with the arrangement, Arcadia. Acerezeal’s heart belongs to me, this I know for sure. But this is also Hell. We didn’t all fall to spend eternity alone and as chaste as monks. We have already been judged and been found wanting. May as well make our banishment fun.”

“Me too,” Gusion added, grinning, his perfect straight teeth as blinding as the gilded marble floors.

Uh huh, Gus too? You never get to call me a hussy ever again, down here with your own little fallen angel harem, Cady crowed and I laughed.

“We should move from the landing room,” Memphis grunted, and moved toward the double doors. We all followed behind.

Do all souls land here? Cady asked, though I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or the rest of the room. It was Gus that answered.

“Yes. Everyone who passes into Hell, or the underworld, must do so through this room. One way in, one way out, even for angel kind.”

So people who say they say a white light at the end of the tunnel, it doesn’t mean they are going up top?

“Unlikely,” Luc said, holding the door open for me. I ran a finger down his abs. He still hadn’t replaced his shirt, but no one was going to hear any objection from me. He looked incredibly sexy with his V leading down into tight leather pants.

A wave of sadness hit me, and I knew it wasn’t my own. I sent a silent apology to my vagina and straightened my shoulders.

“Let’s go to the billiards room. We need a plan. I need Arcadia to go back in her own body so I can have sex without her virginal judgement killing my orgasms.”

I love you too, Ace.

We walked through Luc’s palace, as huge and ostentatious as he could make it. The floor was gradually darkening marble, so by the time you've reached the large double doors that opened up to the courtyard, the floor was a pitch black onyx. That’s when you realized you weren’t in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.

Chandeliers hung from every ceiling, all the furnishings the finest money could buy. Not that money purchased any of this stuff. A lot of fine craftsman ended up in the pits of hell, and were more than willing to bargain for their skills for a moment's reprieve. You think they would have learned about making deals with the Devil, but some people just didn’t learn.

The Billiards Room was the kind of room you’d find in a hunting lodge built by an eccentric, rich weirdo. Chesterfield lounges sat below huge canvases of unicorns mating. A teak bar sat in front of a bar shelf, packed with bottles of every shape and color. There was only one shelf because every liquor we owned was top shelf. Sitting on the bar was a six inch hula girl bobble head and the disembodied spirit of a bartender given semi-corporeality.

“‘Sup Frank?” I said. He was only semi cognizant, kind of like a walking, talking Nespresso machine. He could fulfil your drink order, but couldn’t give you life advice.

“Miss Acerezeal. The usual?”

“Thanks, Frank. Two umbrellas.”

I sat down on the Chesterfield, and relaxed back against the soft leather. It was nice to relax.

“I need to know if there is another way to get a soul back into a body without asking any of the big guys, or Azriel.”

I looked Memphis, his high cheekbones pressing against his ebony skin. He was a scholar by nature, if anyone would know, it would be him.

“There is no other way, without the intervention of the Father himself,” Memphis said, his deep voice lacking inflection but I knew him well enough that I could tell he regretted his answer.

I wasn’t so easily deterred. They should know that by now.

“I don’t accept that.” I jutted out my chin and stared into his beautiful midnight blue eyes defiantly. Luc sat beside me, his hand wrapped around my thigh. “We will find a way, my love, but first you need to rest, adjust to your body again. Celebrate a little. Arcadia would not begrudge you a moment of happiness. She is not that kind of person.”

My jaw flexed. He was right, she wouldn’t. She was kind, and thoughtful, and had thought of my happiness at all times, even to the detriment of her own. I could do the same for her.

Arcadia let out an unflattering splutter. Don’t be an idiot. My problem isn’t going to be an easy fix. It will all still be here tomorrow. Enjoy your redemption. Drink your cocktail, kiss your pretty boys-

“Men. Pretty men,” Gus interjected.

Arcadia sighed. There’s no such thing as a private conversation with angels about, is there? As I was saying, kiss your pretty men. Feel joy. I owe you everything. You deserve this moment of happiness.

Mephistopheles huffed out a laugh. “You are going to regret your generosity later.”

I reached over and punched him in the arm. “Gus is the fortune teller, asshole.”

Despite myself, I could feel my face curve into a smile and happiness swell in my chest. Home. No one could have predicted that I would be just as happy in the bowels of hell with three fallen angels as I ever was in heaven among the heavenly choir and the pompous attitude of my fellow angels.

“I missed you guys so much.”

Gus, who’d been sipping his moonshine at the bar, came over and squatted down, his spun gold hair falling over his bare shoulders. Fuck, I’d forgotten how radiantly magnetic he was. He kissed my forehead.

“We have more than missed you, Ace. We have been incomplete without you.”

I ran my forefinger down the hard lines of his face. “I’m sure the demonesses have been soothing your pain.”

He laughed and shrugged guiltily. I screwed up my nose. Ugh, demonesses. I hated those bitches, with their wailing, their stupidly big breasts and their grossly long talons.

I looked at Memphis. He rolled his eyes at Gusion, as he did a hundred times a day.

“You too?” I asked him, already knowing the answer. Memphis didn’t mess around with the demonesses like Gus. Memphis didn’t mess around with anyone, except me. Not out of loyalty, though I knew without a doubt that he had my back until the End of Days. Memphis had his own demons, but they were the demons of memories long past.

“No.” He maintained his scary expression. He had a bad case of Resting Bitch Face. Luc batted Gus away from me.

“He can continue with the Demonesses for one more night, because I am not ready to share you yet.” He pulled me onto his lap, turning me so we were facing each other. His hands slipped into the slits in his jacket, running up the bare skin of my back and under the arch where my wings met the muscles of my back. I moaned. That felt better than I remembered. “Tonight, my love, you are mine, and only mine.”

And then he kissed me. His fingers wrapped in my hair as his mouth plundered mine, his tongue branding me as it tangled with my own.

“That’s my cue to leave,” Memphis muttered. “Come on Golden Boy, unless you wanna see how long it takes to grow back something important.” He stopped at the door. “Good luck, Arcadia.” There was a smirk in his voice, and I flipped him the bird over my shoulder, but I was smiling against Luc’s lips.

I don’t need luck. What I’m going to need is therapy.

In the same way that Arcadia had been doing to me for years, I could block her out. Only, I could do it a little more effectively. I could probably trap her soul so far down inside my own that she would float in blackness forever more, but I wouldn’t tell her that. She would definitely freak if she knew that I had that much control. I let her have free rein. I wanted her to be comfortable.

“You are thinking far too hard, Acerezeal. Apparently, I am not doing my job, if you are able to form coherent thought.” With that, he flipped me over onto the couch, and put his arms either side rib cage.  He unzipped his jacket, slowly revealing inch by inch of my flesh to his gaze. Achingly slowly.

“Fuck, I’d forgotten how beautiful you are. You steal my breath.” His jacket was a little big on me, ending just at the top of my thighs, and when the cool air reached my soaked pussy, I sucked in a breath. Luc finished zipping and pushed the lapels apart, baring me to him. He inhaled deeply. “The scent of your desire, however, is forever etched into my memory. You are so wet for me.” He ran his tongue across one nipple, then the other, before trailing his tongue down my stomach, dipping into my navel and then over the swell of my pubic bone. I bucked into his mouth, and his tongue dipped to my clit, striking it hard. I moaned. My body was electric.

Luc sat up and unzipped his pants, his cock bouncing out as if he too was ready to greet an old friend.

I can’t wait to tell Oz that Angels are definitely not smooth like Ken dolls down there. Arcadia let out a long, low whistle.

“I rescind my earlier offer, Arcadia Jones. You may not watch. Do not panic, I will undo this when we are finished.” He waved a hand, and Cady went quiet.

“That was mean. She’s going to freak,” I said as I used my flight feathers to stroke down his back.

“I do not want to share you tonight, not even with your Redeemer.” He snapped his fingers and the jeans that had clung so tightly to his thighs were gone. He had unlimited control in Hell. He could build a mansion of gold, so getting rid of his pants was child’s play.

I forgot about talking as I took in his body, every hard line, lightly shadowed dip and sharp angle. The long gash that ran from his left shoulder down his torso to his left hip was a constant reminder of falling, and the searing edge of Michael's sword. I’d run my tongue over it many times over the centuries, and my mouth watered to do it again. But Luc had other ideas as he practically dove between my thighs, kissing my pussy with as much intensity, and tongue, as he’d just kissed my mouth. I writhed against him as his tongue stroked up and down my folds in long, hard strokes. He sucked my clit, then swirled his tongue around it, before giving it a careful nip. He did that over and over again until I was screaming his name so loudly that they could probably hear me in the Elysian Fields. I came in wave after wave of pleasure, and I’d barely finished my orgasm when he picked me up, and pulled me against his torso and then impaled me on his granite hard cock.

“Fuck, Luc!” I screamed as he stretched my pussy wide. I wrapped my legs around his waist, drawing him tight against me, so every little movement shot waves of pleasure through my body until I was on fire with electric heat. His hands on my hips, he pulled my hips up and down, moving in the rhythm as old as time itself, muttering in the angelic tongue. I couldn’t even concentrate on what he was saying, but I knew it was probably an ode to me. It was probably a little sacrilegious to use the language during sex, but fuck it. We were already fallen.

My orgasm crashed over me as Luc wrapped his onyx wings around me and caught my screams against his lips.

“I love you, I love you,” I panted, a pledge and an ode.

Luc roared as he reached his own climax, thrusting deep into me, edging the pleasure with pain. We rode it out, and I collapsed against his body.

“It’s better than I remember,” I gasped out.

“It’s exactly how I remember,” he said as he kissed each of my cheeks and then my forehead. I snuggled into his arms, still wrapped in the blackness of his wings, and slept.

Chapter Three

Arcadia’s red hot rage woke me. Ten hours. I’ve been trapped in the abyss of nothingness for ten hours. Who has sex for ten-freakin’-hours?

Whoops.

“Sorry, Cady. Trust me, it was better than watching me tongue Luc’s balls. Well, for you anyway.”

Ew.

I rolled out of bed, the one Luc and I shared, and slipped on a T-shirt from the walk in robe. The bed was massive. Arcadia and all seven of her guys could sleep in it, comfortably. Hell, maybe even me, Luc, Gus and Memphis could fit as well. Like one big happy orgy.

Um, nope! Never going to happen. I don’t share.

I laughed as I brushed my teeth in the ensuite. Ensuite might be a bit of an understatement. It was larger than all the apartments Arcadia’s lived in combined.

“Lucky for you, I share very well.”

I walked along the stone floors that were beautifully warm. The bowels of Hell; it was the most efficient underfloor heating ever.

I strolled into the kitchen to find everyone already there. Memphis was reading a book  that’s title was in Greek, Gus was still drinking moonshine, though in consideration to the time of day he was mixing it with freshly squeezed orange juice. Luc was sitting at the head of the table, in his hand carved mahogany wingback chair, reading a newspaper.

When I saw the last person in the room, I resisted the urge to groan.

“Gus, you didn’t?” I whisper-yelled, and he had the brass balls to grin. I shook my head. “I thought you loved me?”

Unfortunately I hadn’t been quiet enough, because the person cooking pancakes turned. I hated pancakes.

“Acerezeal! It’s so good to have you back!” Bacciria gave me a huge fake smile, all teeth and big hair. And boobs. Bacciria was my least favourite demoness. She was practically my arch nemesis.

“Baccy!” She curled her lip at the hated pet name. “It’s good to be home and back in my own bed.”

She continued to give me the snarly version of a smile. “I bet. I made you your favorite. Pancakes. I’ve been taking such good care of the guys while you’ve been away.” Her voice was saccharine and I was about two seconds away from stuffing the pancakes somewhere a person shouldn’t have baked goods.

I walked over to Gus and sat down on his lap, kissing his cheek. “Thanks, Baccy. I really appreciate you keeping them in such good, mmm-” I ran my finger down between Gus’s pecs and over his abs, twirling my finger in the golden hairs just above his waist band. I waggled my eyebrows. “Health.” Gus’s body shook with contained laughter. Asshole.

“Tired of Lucifer already?” She wasn’t even trying to keep up the sweet charade now. I sucked in a breath through my teeth.

Uh-oh, wrong zinger there, Baccy, Arcadia groaned. She got it. But unfortunately, Demonesses weren’t known for their large intellects.

Luc stood, and spread his wings wide, their onyx hue casting the whole room in shadow. He appeared to grow and he became the imposing King of Hell that he was. Only fools forgot that he was scary as fuck, even when he was sipping juice and reading the sports pages.

“Bacciria, you forget yourself,” his voice boomed, shaking the walls of the palace. “You dare speak of me in that manner? I am you Master, your creator! You do not speak to me or my consort with such disrespect.”

Baccy fell to her knees and prostrated herself on the floor. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she wailed over and over again.

Holy hell, I’m glad I’m not corporeal right now, because I would have wet myself. That’s one scary mofo, Arcadia whispered. She had no idea. She’d only seen the warm, loving side of Luc. Even when he was angry at us, I was his beloved and she was his Redeemer, and we were never at risk of the full extent of his wrath. I had seen Luc when he was in full Devil mode. It wasn’t a sight easily forgotten, unless you were a vapid demoness with more cup sizes than sense.

“Be gone from the palace. If you return, I will send you to the seventh circle for eternity.”

Bacciria blanched and scurried out the door.

What happens in the seventh circle? Actually, don’t tell me. I’ll probably never sleep again. “They peel your skin off you flesh inch by inch, and then when the process is complete, they stitch it back on, let it heal and then peel it back off again. Over and over, for eternity,” Memphis answered from the stove, where he was removing the burning pancake from the heat.

I’m going to throw up. I said I didn’t want to know!

Memphis shrugged. “I always maintained that if the humans had a better understanding of what awaited them, they’d try harder to be good.”

Gus scoffed. “Good. Bad. Those definitions are what led us all here in the first place. You need to let go of your notions of good and bad. Hell has its place. But we need to embrace the shades of grey and talk about it in terms of harm. To their fellow humans, to the world that they live on, to the other inhabitants of the earth-”

“Someone stop him before he devolves further into his rant. We are all here because we agree with you, remember?” I said, hugging is beautiful blonde head against my chest. “We all fell because we had questions.

I don’t know. I liked his rant. I appreciate the shades of grey. All fifty of them, Arcadia laughed and I chuckled along with her, though the guys just looked confused.

I kissed the cute little frown lines on Gusion’s otherwise ageless face. “I’ve missed your passion, Gus. And your beautiful face.”

Gus dipped me backwards and kissed me like the star he was, before nibbling my neck until I giggled. Legit giggled like a freshman in a sorority. I’d spent way too much time in the earthly realm watching teen rom-coms with Arcadia. I looked over at Luc, but he was back to sipping his coffee and reading the Algerian news. I waggled my eyebrows and he winked.

He didn’t banish Bacciria because her statement hit too close to the truth; the guy knew he had all the moves that make me go boom. He banished her because she disrespected us all. We were angels, fallen or not. Gusion continued kissing down my neck to my collarbone.

“Uh-uh, I’ve been distracted by sex once, now back to my problem.”

Gus sighed and sat me back up straight. “This is why I appreciate the demonesses. They are always clamoring to climb onto my angelic staff.”

I held a finger up to his lips. “Ew. Just ew.”

I stood and poured myself some juice. “Are there no other deities who have soul manipulation? What about the Norns?”

Luc shook his head. “Decide a soul’s fate, but can’t move them around.”

“There’s gotta be someone? Another angel or a human shaman? The disembodied soul of Nicolas Tesla must be hanging around here somewhere?”

“Tesla is out on the Elysian Fields. You know how the Greeks loved their men of science. But I do not think he could help you anyway,” Luc argued.

I sat on his lap and sipped my juice. “You know who could help?” I stroked his dark hair.

He flicked his eyes to me and unconsciously rubbed the scar on his chest. “Not Michael,” he grunted and went back to his paper. “Try Raphael. Or even Gabriel. But I will not be beholden to Michael.”

Arcadia wisely knew to stay quiet, despite the burning need she had to argue. I felt her frustration, but apparently I didn’t hide it as well because Memphis jumped in to help.

“I’d try Raphael first. He’s always been a bit of a softy for a good sob story. And he had a soft spot for you in particular. He might be able to do it, and if not, he might know who does.”

I kissed Luc’s cheek, and then bit his earlobe hard.

“Ow!” He rubbed his ear as I stood, wandering over to Memphis, but not before Luc swatted my ass with the back of his fingers. “You shouldn’t bite, my love. You never know where I will bite back.”

I threw him a saucy wink. “Who says I wouldn’t like it?” I purred. I stood in front of Memphis. “I’m going to go find Raphael. Do you know where he is?” Memphis nodded. “Wanna come with?”

Indecision ran across his face. He’d always been a bit of a hellbody, loathe to leave the palace. “Come on, it’ll be fun. I’m pretty sure he’ll be in Afghanistan or somewhere equally as bloody. When was the last time you went to a conflict zone? Maybe we can help save a few guys while we’re there. Maybe even ensure a few of the baddies get an express pass to hell. Do not pass go, do not collect two million dollars. What do you say?”

“He’s in Syria,” Memphis said as he pushed off the bench and headed toward the doorway. I followed behind him, blowing Luc a kiss and winking at Gus.

It’d been a long time since I’d travelled with Memphis, and I was kind of looking forward to it. But first we had a stop to make.

How are they so big already? Arcadia’s melancholy musing broke my heart.

Time moves differently in the underworld. It’s hard to predict. If Luc and the Father are opposite sides of a chess match, then time would be the board. It plays by its own rules. Next time we come up, it might only be minutes from this moment. I’m sorry. If I’d known, I would have come back earlier.

Two weeks had passed topside since I’d returned home. The babies had almost doubled in size, and although they were still in the neonatal unit, they were happy and healthy. We stood invisible in the corner of their room, a lumpy armchair in the corner holding a snoozing Valery. A nurse was helping Oz hold Estrella.

“Skin contact helps build a bond. Perhaps if you remove your shirt, I can place the baby on your chest,” the nurse said hopefully. I resisted the urge to laugh. I was invisible, but not silent. Arcadia was fuming.

I died two weeks ago, and already people are trying to crack onto my guys? Do people have no shame?

Her outrage was beginning to color my own feelings. I moved into an empty hallway and dropped my invisibility, well except for the wings. I made sure I looked like a bombshell.

Memphis appeared beside me, looking like a sexy vision in tailored black pants and a crisp white button down open to the second button.

We walked into the room, and the nurse nearly swallowed her tongue. I didn’t know if the cause was me or Memphis, but it was the reaction we wanted.

Oz stood, baby Estrella still clutched gently to his naked chest. “Ace!” He turned to the nurse. “Could you just give us a minute? Thanks.” His beard was looking scraggy, there were deep bags under his eyes, and his man bun was slipping to the left.

But he still looks damn good, Arcadia murmured.

“Valery! Ace is back. Is Arcadia okay? Have you made any progress? Eli hasn’t left his office in a week and I’m pretty sure more than one cardiothoracic surgeon has put out a restraining order on him, but we are getting there.” It all tumbled out at once, but I only half listened as Arcadia and I were both transfixed by the tiny little human pressed sleepily against his chest. Oz dropped his eyes to where we were looking.

“Sit. You can hold her. I’m not very good at passing her around. I’m still convinced that I’ll drop her or break her or something. It’s even worse with Hope. My finger is literally bigger than her little legs.”

I sat, because what else could I do? I wasn’t good at this, but the urge to hold them poured from my body. Arcadia’s longing was consuming me, and quite frankly it was scaring me. But her need for the babies, for her Seven, was an overwhelming force. And when Oz placed the baby into my arms, I could feel Arcadia’s soul pushing against mine, battering futilely to take control, so she would be the one who could stroke the down soft fluff of Estrella's head. So she could wrap her arms around Oz, and Val, who was fixing me with a bright eyed stare full of hope and longing.

I inhaled deeply. That new baby scent still lingered.

“Ace, why is a Prince of Hell standing in the same room as my daughters?”

I hadn’t heard Lux come in, he moved with eerie silence, and he stood in a fighter’s stance behind Memphis, ready to attack a possible threat.

Memphis whirled, very few could sneak up on the naturally cagey angel, and he pinned Lux with a cold stare.

“Come on Lux, you know he hates that.” I resisted the urge to laugh. That would not defuse the situation.

“Lux.”

“Mephistopheles.”

They had a macho scary stare off, and I went back to the baby. Her eyes had closed as she listened to the steady thrum of my heart.

My sweet baby, Arcadia cooed, and the baby blinked, her eyes shifting slowly around as if she could hear her mother’s voice. My little warrior. Mommy loves you, and she’ll get to hold you soon. Estrella’s little face scrunched, and if she hadn’t been so very young, I’d say she looked confused. In reality, she probably had wind.

Memphis, who could hear Arcadia’s soft words, turned to look at us. He walked to the other humidicrib, and turned to look at Lux.

“May I hold the baby?”

Lux looked like he was going to say no, pinning him with a deadly look that promised severe pain if he so much as made her cry, but eventually nodded.

Memphis reached in and picked up Hope, her whole body fitting into one of his large hands. She smacked her lips and then opened her eyes. She looked up at Memphis, and stared him directly in the eyes, as if she could see into his soul.

Memphis looked like he’d been slapped as he just stared back.

“This is the first time she has opened her eyes,” Val whispered, careful not to break the moment.

Memphis was shaking his head. “It is not possible. They are not Nephilim, nor Angel, yet they aren’t entirely human either. Their souls have been shaped by the divine and it’s left them something other. Something… beautiful.” I’d never heard Memphis sound so awed. So at a loss for answers.

“They’re special; I knew it from the moment their souls took root.” I kissed Estrella’s head. “I think they can hear the voices of other souls. Estrella could hear her mother just now, I know it. She knew that there was another voice in the room.”

Memphis raised the baby closer to his face, his hands strong and sure, though Lux took a step closer.

“Be still, Lux. I swear on my immortal soul that I will not harm this child or her sister, as long as I am a part of the fabric of existence.”

“You know, they’ve racked up a lot of blood oaths from a lot of powerful people in their short lives. Luc should be worried about being overthrown by the time they are five,” I chuckled, although no one else was laughing.

Do you think that Lucifer will see them as a threat? Arcadia sounded legitimately worried.

“Seriously guys? That is one Big Bad you don’t have to worry about. Cady gave them their beautiful humanity, and Oz gave them that strawberry fuzz sprouting on their heads, but their angelic traits are all me. As much as we have skirted around the topic, these babies are as much mine as they are yours. Part of my life force shaped their own. And Luc, for all his faults, loves me with a passion that burned through the heavens. He will love these two because they are an extension of me. In Lucifer, they have the protection of the Devil himself. No one could ask for more than that.”

Lux nodded, and Memphis was still transfixed by Hope.

Ask them how the rest of the guys are coping?

I relayed Arcadia’s message.

Valery shrugged. “They are surviving. Barely. We take turns at being here with the bebes, and one of us is usually with Arcadia. We take it in shifts, though Eli does not rest. As Oz said, he is searching constantly for a foolproof way to mend her body quickly. Tolliver has pulled every string money can buy to get Cady to the top of the transplant list. They have started her on radiation therapy, but the cancer has spread throughout her body and it makes it difficult. But Eli will find a solution. Sam is keeping everything else afloat. Ri is taking the whole thing the worst. He blames himself for her death. Half death, whatever we are calling it. He can hardly look at the bebes, just sits at her bedside and mourns, despite our assurances that she will return to us.” He sounded so stubbornly resolute that it was tough not to believe him.

My poor Ri. He is always so eager to take the blame for every wrong that happens in my life, and he has the bad luck to be there every time things go to shit.

“One problem at a time. We will soothe Orion’s troubled feelings next time we are in town. Right now, we need to see an Angel about a soul.”

Oz reached out and carefully removed Estrella from my arms. The baby let out a small, desolate cry that threatened to crack my black little heart wide open.

I will be back, Little One. Be good for your daddies. Ace, I want to hold Hope, even just for a moment.

“Of course,” I answered Arcadia, and Oz gave me a startled look.

“She’s really in there then?”

I nodded.

“God, I just wish I could hold her, or hear her for myself. It’s killing me,” his voice cracked and I couldn’t help but reach up and stroke his cheek. It may have been Arcadia’s impulse, or mine, but I wasn’t sure.

“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you can do both of those things. I’m on my way to see Raphael now. By this time tomorrow, we may have a solution.” I walked over and held my hands out to Memphis, who was still entranced by the tiny life in his hands. He whispered to her in the Angelic tongue, and she gurgled happily. He passed her over with confidence, and I took her awkwardly. She was so tiny and delicate. It was hard not to treat her like spun glass.

She is just perfect.

She was, with her tiny rosebud mouth and her tiny little nose, and her-

Ugh. I shook myself out of the mush spiral. Hope's eyes seemed knowing. Older than her sisters, as if she were an old soul.

“We should go,” I whispered, though I could sit here and catalogue Hope's tiny features all day. I placed her back in her Humidicrib. Lux stood beside me as we looked down at the baby.

“Will Raphael help?”

I wanted to lie to him and tell him it was a sure thing, but he wouldn't appreciate empty platitudes designed to make him feel better.

“Maybe. It is in his nature to heal the broken.”

I was secretly worried that we may be too broken to repair, but I didn’t say that out loud. Words spoken had power.

Aleppo, Syria.

I’d been here several decades before Arcadia had even been born, and even then it had been a city that seemed to tremble on a knife edge. Now it was a ruined shell of humanity, a nightmare of rubble and smoke. Raphael would be here. He was drawn to the places of unimaginable suffering, where the weary had rightly lost their faith.

I had no idea… I mean, I knew, I’d seen the passing news coverage, but this. I had no idea… she trailed off, and I didn’t press her. It was a lot to take in, but I had seen wars. All the Wars of Man since the beginning of time, and the Wars of Heaven and Hell. Not even Luc had a hand in this mess, though. Sure, in the beginning, he’d gotten markers against souls on both sides, but this giant clusterfuck was beyond the dealings of Heaven or Hell. This was strictly the purview of man and their failings.

Memphis shook his head. “There is violence in the air. Something is about to happen.” We were both cloaked, our wings held above the ash and dust that littered the ground. I could sense the violent intent in the air. I tilted my head. Air strike.

I looked toward the market across the street, where people still managed to live despite the constant threat of death and destruction.

“I’ll get the people, you get the missile.”

Memphis nodded, and lifted into the air. You couldn’t see anything more than his huge midnight wings as he pushed the missile off course as if it were an annoying insect rather than a piece of equipment that could kill dozens of people. It exploded in the air, shrapnel falling down over the heads of the people in the market. I spread my own wings wide and caught the main flurry of falling steel. I’d miss a little, but a few cuts and bruises were better than death. I hissed against the pain of the debris hitting my wings, but it would all heal instantly.

I stood and shook out my wings as the crowd stared up at the sky. I could hear murmurings of misfiring missiles, and a couple of people praising their deity.

If you guys can stop the missiles, protect the humans, then why doesn’t The Big Guy send down more angels to help these people? Arcadia, with her warm, empathetic soul sounded enraged. I understood her rage all too well.

“It is not the purview of heaven to interfere in the quarrels of men, or their results. As Azriel likes to say, balance must be maintained,” Memphis spat Azriel’s name.

If you interfere in the workings of the world, outside the preordained, you doubt the Father's plans and you fall. It’s a small club so far. You’ve met all four of us. There’s not enough of us to make a difference in any war. We’ll do what we can, but while we aren’t human, we aren’t robots either. We would go mad, or become the heartless demons that Humans believe us to be. Gusion is especially sensitive to the needless death and destruction in the world around him. Each death he’d witness, he would also witness the life the person would have had, had they not been a victim of the war in which they died, I explained to Arcadia privately. Memphis had his own reasons for not crusading for the innocents in every war the humans cooked up, and they weren’t my reasons to share.

“Let's find a field hospital, that’s where Raphael will be,” I said, walking past the oblivious humans. Memphis stopped near a child, no more than two, clutched to the shoulder of his mother, and kissed the top of his head. The baby looked around, and then met Memphis’s eyes. He gave Memphis the warmest smile, and my heart swelled. I was getting plucky or something. That baby would probably be another tiny shroud wrapped corpse before this was over, but hopefully the kiss of an angel, fallen or not, would help ward off destiny. I kissed his tiny, hollow cheek. Two kisses were better than one.

We walked along the remnants of an avenue toward the outer edge of the city. I could sense Raphael’s light, the heavenly beacon still calling me despite my status. Arcadia was quiet, shell shocked.

Memphis looked… worried. “What’s wrong?”

He just grunted and pointed to a squat white building. One wall had a blown out hole in it. “He’s there.”

I reached out and grabbed his arm, halting him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t seen Raphael since we fell. His was the last face I saw before we landed in hell,” he mumbled.

“You told me yourself that Raphael is a softie. There’s no animosity in his heart.”

We stepped into the building, and for all intents it looked abandoned, nothing but a shell with hints at its previous occupants. A cross still hung on the wall. A child’s stuff toy lay dirty and forgotten in a corner. But in the dimness of the corner, faint light glowed between the floorboards.

“Down,” I mouthed, and looked around for some kind of latch or finger hold to lift the boards. Beneath a roughhewn piece of concrete was a single knothole, and Memphis reached past me to lift the large square of boards that opened to reveal stairs. We could hear voices, and we followed the stairs down to a large open room, with several kerosene lanterns burning and an old wooden table placed in the center. The smell of blood, desperation and hopelessness hit my nose. I lived in hell, I knew the scent of death well. This was the most rudimentary of field hospitals. A last ditch stop before you left the mortal plane forever. A tall man, with nondescript features and a blood soaked button up shirt, was operating on a child. The lower half of the boy’s leg was a mess of torn muscle and shattered bone. The kid was thankfully out of it.

“Acerezeal. Michael said you’d probably drop by. Come, I need you to hold these.” He waved the handle of a metal clamp at me.” He hadn’t looked up from his task. I took the clamp which was holding the kid's femoral artery shut. I noticed another boy in the corner, probably not much older than the boy on the table, but he was also covered in blood. Beneath the drying blood though, the boys naturally olive skin was a deathly grey cast.

“Is he okay?”

Raphael gave a humorless laugh. “No one is okay here, Acerezeal. But physically he is unharmed. He pulled Adnan from the rubble and carried him here. His parents are dead, as well as two of his siblings.” Finally, Raphael looked at me, and I saw his clear green eyes filled with despair. His eyes flicked to Memphis and he finally smiled. “Mephistopheles. It heals my heart to see you looking so well. Please, soothe Nazir. It would be best if he didn’t see me do this procedure on his brother. He has seen enough horror for one day.”

Arcadia’s gentle sobs became white noise in the back of my mind as I went to work with Raphael, his fingers deft as he pieced the boy back together.

Memphis waved a hand over Nazir’s dark head, and the boy fell into a deep slumber. Memphis put him in a pallet in the corner, wrapping him in a heavy woven blanket.

“It is the third day of bombing in the city. Soon there will be nothing left to claim in victory. They will be claiming a country of corpses.” There was a thread of steel in Raphael’s voice, one that I’d never heard before, even during the angelic wars.

“Do you want us to stay? We could help,” I whispered, though I didn’t know why. The only people who could hear us were both out of it for the foreseeable future.

Raphael was silent as he used the bone saw to cut away the kids mangled leg just below the knee. We worked quickly to seal off the blood vessels and nerves and sealing the wound with two flaps of skin.

When it was over, Raphael wrapped the leg in dressings, but the kid still looked pale. Blood was being transfused, so he wasn’t that deathly white, but he wasn’t far off.

“You didn’t use any angelic healing,” I said, trying, and probably failing, to keep the accusatory tone from my voice.

“No. I’m not meant to be here, in an official capacity that is,” he said as he stripped off his blood-stained shirt and threw it in a pile in the corner. He slumped down on a wooden chair near the head of the impromptu operating table. “It’s all part of the plan. But it means I can only work with human medical advancements in a rather rudimentary setting. But still, I save as many as I can.” He closed his eyes against remembered horrors. “Make your request, Acerezeal. I need a nap.”

I knelt at his feet. “We need you to put Arcadia’s soul back into her body. She doesn’t deserve her fate.”

He stroked the hair from my forehead, so he could look into my eyes. “She would live a few more decades at most. With you, she could live for eternity. Is it so necessary to put her back in a failing body?” I nodded vehemently. He stroked a finger down his angular jaw. “Would you have me put Arcadia’s soul back at the expense of your own?”

“Yes.”

No! Arcadia shouted vehemently.

Raphael smiled. “Michael was right. Your time with Arcadia did redeem you. I thought the Father must have been mistaken. But then, the Father does not make mistakes.”

Memphis huffed. “Can you really mean that, with this going on around you?” He indicated the two sleeping boys and the sounds of gunfire and missile blasts in the background.

The smile slipped from Raphael’s face. “I do mean that. At times, I don’t understand it, but there is a plan. I do what I can, and I must be okay with that.” He turned back to me. “I regret that that is also my answer. The Father has made it clear that the fate of your Arcadia is out of our hands. I’m sorry, truly.” He seemed genuinely remorseful, and that was the only thing that kept a cap on the simmering rage I felt in my gut. I knew the feeling helplessness when your hands were tied.

What will happen to the boys? Arcadia asked.

Raphael smiled. “Michael was right about you too, Arcadia Jones.” He shook his head. “The boys have no family left. Adnan is only four, Nazir is twelve. They are two of many Syrian orphans that will be cared for by international aid foundations.”

I could feel Arcadia’s refusal at that sentiment. The boys would not be one in a multitude of orphans, not if she had anything to do about it.

Can Adnan be moved? Teleported or phased or whatever it is you guys do, back to the US? The guys will care for them, Eli will make sure Adnan gets the proper aftercare.

Raphael smiled. “I hope Acerezeal is successful in the quest to return you to your body. The world needs more of you. I will arrange it, the proper legal way. If you are sure?”

He needn’t have asked. The Seven would do anything for her, and despite their gruff ways, they were softies too. Except Oz. He didn’t even try to hide his gooey center. They’d love the boys and help them heal.

I had my own healing to do first. “If you can’t help us, do you know of any way we can get Arcadia back to where she belongs?”

Raphael was silent for a long moment, and the noise momentarily quieted. It felt like Aleppo was holding its breath, waiting for the answer too.

“There are rumors of rituals that can temporarily move a soul from one body to another, but I do not know of anything permanent. The Father can do it of course, as can Michael. Gabriel will not, he is even more steadfast to God's word than I am. He disapproves of my actions here.” A tiny quirk of his brow said volumes about Raphael’s thoughts on that. “Uriel might be able to, but he would not do so easily.”

I rolled my eyes. Uriel was an asshole. He was like Azriel, but worse. He’d been promoted when Lucifer fell, and he had a chip on his shoulder about being the booby prize ever since.

“You know I can’t go to Michael.”

Raphael nodded sadly. I could tell the rift in angelkind hurt the Archangel, but it was what it was. The universe needed balance. It needed the believers and the non-believers. It needs Angels and Demons. Those that follow and those that question.

“Thanks, Raphael. If you need help with any of this,” I waved a hand around the room, with its overpowering stench of blood and antiseptic, “you only have to ask. We will come, won’t we Memphis?” I looked at my compatriot, this dark demon of German folklore, who was staring at two small orphans and bubbling with contained rage at the fate that befell them because of greed for power. I knew that's what he was thinking, because that consuming need for vengeance burned in me too.

“Of course.”

“The irony of our circumstances is not lost on me, Acerezeal. The people of this city pray daily, but it is the Devils who offer to save them. Thank you for your offer, I will keep it in mind, but for now this is my burden to bare.” He stood and began wiping down the table.

Memphis and I took our leave, waiting until we were in the bombed out building above to sift back to the landing room in Hell.

Chapter Four

I needed a nap. I needed to decompress from the turmoil of Raphael’s chop shop hospital, preferably in the arms of someone who loved me.

Unfortunately, Luc was off rubbing shoulders with the world’s superpowers at the U.N. Summit. I walked into the living room, which was kind of an ironic name for any room in Hell, and flopped down onto an overstuffed couch with a pale blue floral pattern that was completely out of place in this realm. It made me laugh, but damn it was comfy.

Gusion walked in carrying a bundle of herbs that stunk.

“I would like to speak to Arcadia, if she’s receiving?” He asked like a 19th century gentleman.

Hi Gus, what’s up?

“I was looking into your, err predicament, and while I can’t find a way to put your soul back in its rightful body, I did find a way for you to spirit walk into someone else’s dreams. I found it in a text I received from the wise woman of a tribe of Pictish warriors that ceased to exist long before civilization advanced enough to stop believing in magic.”

I loved Gusion. Sometimes you were fooled by his good looks, his charming manner or his manwhore ways, but underneath that was a scholar with a genuine compassion for the plight of man.

That would be so amazing. It's just, I need them, you know? Would Ace be there? No offence Ace, but I’d like to have sex once in my life without you waiting in the wings, filling out  scorecards.

Gusion laughed and I winked. I only ever scored them once or twice. Spoilsport.

“Unfortunately, Ace is the link to keeping your spirit on the earthly plane. She goes where you go by necessity, but she is more of a tether than an active participant.”

Arcadia sighed dramatically, but I could feel her excitement bubbling inside me. I can live with that. When can we do this?

Gus waved around his bundle of greenery like a sceptre. “Now, if you’d like?”

Arcadia let out a squeal of delight and I winced. That was not a pleasant noise inside someone else's head. “I think she would like that.”

Gus sat next to me, and I swung around so I could lay my head on his thighs. He ran his fingers through my ebony locks, and I resisted the urge to purr.

“Stop making that noise, I have to concentrate,” he mock chided. “Otherwise I might turn you into a goat rather than sending Arcadia’s spirit anywhere.” He grabbed his bundle of herbs, and I noticed golden string tying the bundle at each end. I could smell sage and rosemary, but couldn’t identify some of the more pungent scents. One smelled like the river Styx. It wasn’t pleasant. He snapped the bundle in half with ease, even though it was probably as thick as my wrist. He wrote an unrecognizable rune on my forehead, and I screwed up my nose as the scents got stronger. Arcadia better appreciate this. Gusion chanted in a dead language that I couldn’t decipher, and then I was being tugged out of my body and through the spirit realm at breakneck speed. In a fraction of an instant, we were standing in Eli’s bedroom, staring down at his sleeping form.

“Ace?” Cady whispered, and I looked at her. She was whole and in beautiful Technicolor, but still a little off, as dreams have a tendency to be.

“I’m here.”

“I can’t see you. Or feel you. It’s like you’re gone.”

Huh. This must be what Gus meant about me being a spectator.

“I’m definitely here. Don’t worry, I’ll just hang outside the door until you’re done. Have fun.”

Arcadia smiled radiantly. “I will.”

I walked toward the doorway and stopped. Not because I wanted to, but because I was physically unable to leave the room. Dammit. Gus was being literal when he said we were tethered.

I went and stood in the corner, between Eli’s dresser and the wall. If they couldn’t see me, I could at least give them the illusion of privacy. Arcadia climbed into bed with Eli, wrapping her body around his until she resembled a naked jetpack.

“Eli.” She ran her fingers down his bicep. “Eli.”

Eli rolled over and wrapped his arms around her waist, snuggling his face into the crook of her neck, still sound asleep. Then his eyes slowly opened.

“Arcadia?” He blinked rapidly. “How are you here?” He pulled back so he could see her, every tiny line, and every freckle.

“I’m not really here. Gus sent me into your dreams.”

“Gusion? The prince of hell?”

Arcadia nodded. “They don’t really like being called that, you know.”

Back in my hidden corner, I held in a laugh.

Eli reached out and touched her face, his fingers tracing the curve of her cheek. Then he reached out with the other hand and dragged her close to his body, tucking her head beneath his chin. “I thought I’d never get to hold you like this again.”

She kissed the hollow of his throat, her hands rubbing soothing circles on his back.

“I’ve been trying-" Eli started but Arcadia hushed him.

“I know. I know you are doing everything you can. That’s not why I’m here. I want you to make love to me, like it might be the last time.”

Eli shook his head in denial. “It won’t be.” His voice was firm, but Cady was gently shaking her head too.

“I know. But let’s just savor it anyway, okay?” She tilted her head back for a kiss, and Eli’s mouth covered hers with a ferocity that held too much desperation. His hands roamed everywhere, tearing off her imaginary clothes, until there wasn’t an inch of her skin that he hadn’t stroked.

I was going to give him a ten for enthusiasm that was for sure. I felt bad, voyeuristically staring at them. I turned and faced the corner. I could probably give them that much privacy.

“You promised to tie me up, remember?” Arcadia’s husky voice reached my ears.

“I did indeed, Miss Jones.”

Well. That changed things. Privacy be damned, I wasn’t about to miss fifty shades of Doc McBuffins.

I turned around in time to see a length of silk rope appear from thin air. Looks like they were embracing the dream realm.

If only I could magically conjure up some popcorn.

He tied her hands together with the ease of a sailor and secured her to the headboard. Her feet were spread and secured to the end of the bed. I was glad I was off to the side. As much as I was enjoying this, I didn’t want to see what she had for breakfast.

Then I watched the good doctor get to work. He slowly teased her body, a rough bite here, a tender whisper of a kiss there, working down her body until she was writhing as he reached the junction of her thighs. Then he stopped, and moved toward the base of the bed. Arcadia whimpered with need.

“I am yours, Miss Jones. Are you mine?”

“Yes.” He knelt back on the bed. A finger reached out and circled her clit.

“Only mine?” She hesitated, and he withdrew his fingers.

“Eli…”

Arcadia seemed to be struggling to form coherent sentences.

“In this room, Miss Jones, in this bed, you are all mine. Outside, I can share you with the rest of the world. But here, I am your master, and you are my everything.”

He leaned forward and gave her pussy a long, slow lick.

Dirty tactics. I liked it.

“Say it, Miss Jones.”

“I’m yours, Eli. Only yours.”

“Perfect,” his murmur was content, as he slid up her body, and took a nipple in his mouth. He sucked hard as he thrust into her body. She screamed his name.

Then there were no more words, just the soundtrack to vigorous sex. Hmm maybe an eight for technique. But then I’m a little biased. Once you go Luc, you never go… err back? I looked at the ceiling, at Eli’s thrusting ass, pushed his change off the dresser just to see if he’d notice and basically killed time until Arcadia was done. But then Eli stopped. Oooh, this was about to get good.

She was whimpering, pulling against the ropes. “You don't get to come, Miss Jones, until I say you can.” Acadia frowned grumpily. How adorable. She was still lifting her hips, grinding against Eli trying to change his mind, or at least get his dick to overrule him. Given the way he was sucking in air, it was a good tactic. “Be still, Miss Jones, or I will punish you.” But Acadia, bless her heart, would never make a good submissive. She kept straining and grinding until Eli let out a moan. He moved back and untied her feet. “I warned you,” he growled, as he flipped her over and dragged her onto her knees. He positioned himself behind her, rubbing his cock over her slit. She let out a long happy moan and then SLAP! Eli’s hand connected with her ass as he slid inside her in one hard thrust. He pumped in and out hard, and I was glad we were in the dream plane because the noise of her happy screams would have woken the dead, and even they would be aroused. He slapped her other cheek hard as he came on his own growled yell.

They lay beside each other panting, two glowing handprints like brands on Acadia’s ass and I decided I could really use a cigarette. Even though smoking was bad, mmkay.

An uncomfortable tug began to pull at my chest, a little like indigestion, but as this was a dream it was probably more mystical than my lunchtime burrito.

Our time was up.

I passed on whisper soft feet back to the door and rattled the knob like I was just returning from the hall.

“Arcadia.”

She sighed and rolled into Eli’s arms.

“I have to go. Tell everyone that I love them. Kiss the babies for me.” She kissed him gently, and his eyes were wet. Despite his words, deep down he thought this was it. This would be the last chance he’d get to hold her.

We were drifting out the door, into the swirling nothingness beyond Eli’s room. “Oh I forgot, Raphael will be bring-“

We were sucked out of the dream realm with a snap. My head was on Gus’s lap, and he was stroking the silky lengths of my hair rhythmically.

Eli is going to get a surprise when Raphael shows up with the boys, if he hasn’t already.

I was resisting the urge to purr like a cat in heat as Gusion’s nails scraped gently on my skull with each pass. Mmm.

“Memphis told me what you did for the children of Aleppo. You’ve changed the course of their lives.”

Is that a platitude or a prediction from the Angel of the Past, Present and Future?

Gus chuckled deeply. I always thought his laugh was the most marvelous thing. It was like the rumble of thunder in an electric storm. It made you feel alive.

“A bit of both, Arcadia Jones.” He leaned down and kissed me with reverence. “I’ve enjoyed the ability to stare at your beauty for a few hours. I’d forgotten how magnificent the curves of your face are.”

I punched him in the shoulder. “Save the lines for the demonesses, you suave bastard. I just think you watching me sleep is creepy.” I batted my lashes at him with faux coyness. “Although, I will take another kiss.”

He leaned down and kissed me again, this time with more passion and way more tongue. This was why Gusion fell. No angel should know how to kiss like that.

A throat cleared in the doorway.

“I came to see how your meeting with Raphael went. As you still possess Arcadia’s soul in your body and you are currently, as the humans would put it, sucking face with Gusion, I am going to assume it didn’t go well.” I shrugged and Luc shook his head bemusedly. “Also, I’ve had a message from Lux. Apparently Raphael dropped off two small children from a war torn country this afternoon. I assured him that it had nothing to do with me. Does anyone want to explain?”

Uh oh. Busted. Why does this feel like I’ve been summoned by the principal?

“Reminds me of this time when Luc bent me over his desk and caned me like a naughty schoolgirl.”

Arcadia made a disgusted noise. All that tells me is that A) you’ve never been to high school and B) you and Luc watch way too much porn and C) I am going to need a butt load of therapy after this.

“Ha, butt load. That reminds me of a time when-“

Argh enough! Lucifer, did Lux seem mad?

Luc was barely containing his mirth. He relished making people uncomfortable. He liked it even better when his sexual exploits were the cause of people's uncomfortableness.

“Confused, yes. Mad, no. From when I gathered, Eli had a visit to the dream realm last night and he knew to expect Raphael, but not the reason why.” He came over and stroked my face, but didn’t try to move me from Gusion’s lap. If there was a man more confident in his own appeal, I had yet to meet him. Maybe one of the Greeks, those guys literally had a god who liked to stare at his own reflection.

“Cady is a bleeding heart. She couldn’t leave the boys to the subpar medical treatment of a country in turmoil.”

Luc smiled. “Careful, my love, or we’ll get confused about which soul is the angelic one come time to divest you of your extra soul.”

I rolled my eyes, but maybe Luc was right. My battered old soul would not have thought twice about those boys beyond saving their lives from the immediate threat. As angels, we become immune to the daily suffering of the individual.

Unlikely. Her heart is bigger than any of you give her credit for, Arcadia argued. Bless her heart. I was going to miss her.

Luc nodded his head in acquiescence. “Touché, Arcadia Jones.” His eyes focused back on my face. “So Raphael was a bust.”

I nodded. “Yes. He suggested that Gabriel would be a dead end also. He is all about The Word, that one.”

Luc scratched the dark stubble on his jaw. “That leaves Uriel.”

“Or Michael,” Gusion added, with an obvious lack of care for his physical wellbeing. Fortunately, Luc just ignored him.

“Uriel is in Kentucky.”

In the States? Arcadia seemed shocked that an archangel would be hanging out in Kentucky.

Luc rolled his eyes at her question. “Well, there’s no Kentucky in Mongolia, so yes.”

Gusion smiled and clapped his hands together once.

“Looks like we are going to Louisville. I’ll get my suit!”

Chapter Five

I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s weird for an archangel to hang out at the track, right?

People milled around, talking loudly, drinks in their hands and hats a mile wide on their heads. The cacophony almost drowned out the sound of Arcadia in my head.

“It’s a den of mortal sin, really. Liars, fornicators, those who have eaten shellfish. Besides, Uriel is…”

“A dick?” Gus so helpfully supplied.

I nodded. That seemed right. Though I did like the excuse to wear my very favorite red silk sheath dress for the first time in two decades. It’s true what they say. Chanel never goes out of fashion. I looked like sex wrapped up in a pretty package in this dress, at least that’s what Luc whispered in my ear as he kissed me goodbye. By the way the human punters were ogling me, he was probably right. Or maybe it was Gusion, in his perfectly tailored grey morning suit, a matching blood red carnation. His long hair was braided into hundreds of tiny strands and then piled into a man bun on top of his head. He looked hot. Women literally stopped and stared as he walked past, some men too. Hell, if there’s been a conveniently shadowy nook, I would have fucked him in an instant. Between us we probably made a few humans question their sexual orientation.

We are on a bit of a time crunch, you know, so if you could stop making fuck me eyes at Gusion, that’d be great.

I realized she could see me in the reflection from the plate glass windows. I poked my tongue out at my reflection and she chuckled.

“Uriel will be in the VIP tent.” I knew it for a certainty. Always with the illusions of grandeur, that one.

We threaded our way through the Derby crowd which was in the thousands. Security didn’t even try to stop us as we walked into the roped off VIP tent of some corporation or another. Given the amber liquid being served by snappily dressed men in penguin suits, probably one of the whiskey companies. I spotted Uriel immediately. Not even trying to shield himself. He had flaming red hair, in a color that was not found in human hair naturally, but might come out of a bottle. His skin was alabaster pale, similar to Gus and my owns. Actually, we could all be part of a matching set. Similar, but different. His eyes went straight to mine, and his lip rose in a sneer.

Ugh.

I resisted the urge to turn around and go home. Arcadia needed me to exhaust all avenues, even if the avenue ended in a giant dildo factory like Uriel.

“Ah, if it isn’t the B Team. To what do I owe the displeasure of this visit?”

I rolled my eyes. “The Father sent us to see if we can’t remove the giant stick from your ass, but I’m pretty sure not even the big guy himself could do that.”

Fiery brows lowered. “This isn’t the way to garner my aid, Acerezeal. I’d definitely prefer you to beg, I think.” His face twisted in a smile. I wanted to punch it.

Screw this. I’ll stay with you for eternity before begging this jackass for anything. Let’s go, Ace.

I wanted to do as she said, but if I was honest, I would beg if it meant that she got back to where she belonged. But I had a feeling that Uriel was just fucking with us.

“Ah, Luc’s Redeemer. You are as disrespectful as Azriel described.”

I miss being able to flip the bird.

“Will you help us, Uriel? Without the posturing and grandstanding and the jostling for who has the bigger dick. Just give it to me straight. Will you help?”

Uriel pretended to ponder. “Let me think about it. Hmm. No. I wouldn’t lift a finger to help you traitors to the creator if you were on hellfire.”

Gus scoffed. “What he means is he can’t do it. He thinks we are the B Team, but he is Luc’s poor substitute. A booby prize. The runner up in the Miss America contest.”

Red tinged Uriel’s cheeks. “And what of you, Gusion? What were you? You were just some cheap angel who fell for a daughter of man but was too useless to save her when the time came. You couldn’t save her, or her tribe, from the invasion of modern diseases, and now her people are completely forgotten. You won’t be able to help this daughter of man either, Gusion. Because you are useless. You were useless as an angel, and now you are useless as a fallen. You are a waste of celestial power.”

Gusion’s face blanched. Oh, that was too far. No one, not even Michael himself, got to speak to my loved ones that way. I pulled back my fist and felt a painful satisfaction as my knuckles cracked into his face. Sure, it would heal almost instantly, but I’ll have made my point. Plus, he couldn't hit me back. It was against the rules, really. But luckily, I no longer played by the rules.

The Big Guy would be so disappointed in you right now, Uriel. I’ve only met him once, but even I know he wouldn’t condone your words.

True that!

I turned my back on Uriel, and on Arcadia’s last chance at getting her soul back where it belonged.

“I’m sorry,” Gusion murmured when we’d left the VIP areas, more subdued then I’d seen him in years.

Not your fault, Gus. It’ll be okay.

But I heard her voice break, I felt her pain. It wasn’t alright. She needed her guys right now, even if she couldn’t be with them. The babies would make Gus feel better too. And if I was honest, I needed them as well. I took their hands and we sifted to SoHo.

Luc must have sensed something, because he was there when we arrived outside the doors to the Sevens apartment building. He was leaning against the wall, his tight dark jeans did little to hide the fact he had Mount Dickerest in his pants. He did that slow, judging appraisal thing he does when he’s analyzing a situation, or weighing up a soul.

“Uriel said no?”

I nodded, and entwined my fingers in his as we walked into the apartment. Arcadia was eager to see her men. And her babies. I hustled my guys into the lift and pressed the button to Oz’s floor. Call it a hunch.

We knocked on the door, polite like, as if it wasn’t as easy as breathing for us to just appear in any room in this apartment. Ri opened it, his face drawn and haggard, white colored spit up staining his black shirt.

His eyes lit up when he saw me. “Ace! Do you have good news?”

Ah shit. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Now I can feel guilty on all fronts.

I just shook my head sadly. As Orion’s face fell, the combination of everyone’s sadness, Ri’s, Arcadias and my own, threatened to sink me. Luc and Gus both placed a hand on my back, Gusion on the curve of my spine and Luc’s just above the slope of my ass. I felt their love, and their resilience through their touch, and it bolstered me.

Hug him for me. He needs it, Arcadia said softly. We all did. I stepped out of the grasp of my guys, and wrapped my arm around one of Arcadia’s Sins. The tension in his body thrummed against my angelic senses, and his pain, his guilt, was overwhelming. So I did something that I hadn’t done in years. Long before I lost my body, not since I fell. I sent some of my angelic light into his body to soothe him.

“She wants to be here,” I whispered in his ear. He nodded and pulled back. His face held less strain, but I couldn’t chase away all the sadness.

“Come on in. The babies came home yesterday. We are adjusting.” He pointed to the spit covered shirt. “Plus, Eli has been gone all day with your little surprise delivery.”

“Don’t blame me. It was all your Lady Loves idea.” I followed behind him as he walked into the apartment. He gave Luc and Gus a cursory glance.

How can they be home already? It was a rhetorical question. We could both felt time slipping through our fingers. Both babies were asleep in the one cot, and I reached out to trace a line down Hope's tiny cheek. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared into my eyes, deep down into my soul. To her mother.

Hello, my Sweet One, Arcadia cooed. Her tiny pink lips formed an O, and she gurgled softly, like she didn’t want to wake her sister.

“Memphis was correct, they are something special,” Luc said from behind me. Hope’s face changed, turning into a frown as she tried to discern where the voice came from. Luc stepped forward to peer into the cot. Hope stared at the Devil with a concentration that belied her 21 day old age. She should be asleep, or eating, or pooping, but instead she was taking the measure of Lucifer’s soul.

She’d managed to unswaddle a single arm, and she reached toward Luc. He reached into the cot, and Hope wrapped her tiny hand, no bigger than Luc’s thumbnail, around his finger.

Luc laughed with delight. Such a pure happy sound, something I hadn’t heard from him in centuries. Sure, we laughed a lot, but there was always a dark undertone of bitterness or sarcasm. This was just pure joy.

“I am so happy to meet you too, Little Hope,” he whispered softly.

Is the baby talking to him? Arcadia sounded equal parts aghast and jealous.

Luc just raised an eyebrow. “Of course not. She is an infant, she does not have language yet. But she sent me a wave of happiness, and I took that to mean she likes me.”

Hope's eyes fluttered closed, and we crept out of the nursery.

Where’s everyone else?

I repeated Arcadia’s question out loud to Ri.

“Not here, thank god. If Lux had seen Luc reach into the cot, he would have lost his shit. The guy has gone into super watchdog mode since the babies came home yesterday. He’s like Robocop or something.” He flopped down on the couch, putting his head back on the headrest and closing his eyes. “Eli, Tolliver and Sam have taken the boys to get checked out. Nazir looks fine, but hasn’t said a word since he arrived. Adnan is pretty perky for a kid that just had his leg blown off. Eli said that Raphael did a good job given the circumstances of the surgery. It’s healing nicely, and the kid is already a superstar on crutches, considering that it’s been only a couple of days. Lux is at your bedside. Valery is at work. Oz has gone to get groceries. And they left me to babysit. The most unqualified one.”

I shrugged. “They were both asleep and breathing when we got here, I’m pretty sure that makes you qualified. Congratulations Daddy-o.”

Ri looked like he’d been electrocuted. “What?” I asked, looking at my hands just in case I'd developed the ability to shoot lightning bolts from them. It was possible. Stranger things have happened this week alone.

His brow wrinkled. “It didn’t occur to me that I kinda am. I mean, not biologically of course, but I’m kinda their dad. It just seems so unreal without Cady-Lady you know? Like I couldn’t be their dad unless she was here, tying us all together. We all know Oz is biologically their father, but I can be their dad too.”

I resisted the urge to smack my forehead and say “duh”. I was saved by an unholy caterwauling cry from the bedroom. Instinctively, I ran into the babies’ room, ready to slay any threat, my sword already in my hand. Luc swaggered in behind me at a leisurely pace. There was no threat, unless the threat of a hungry belly counted.

Estrella was awake, her little face scrunched mid-cry as she looked around at the strangers in the room. Then she looked at my sword, fascinated. I put it away, making it invisible at my side again. Her face scrunched back up and she howled the most awful noise I'd ever heard, way worse than the wailing of the demonesses. Panicking, I drew my sword again, and she stopped. Huh.

Gusion was laughing his ass off. “Arcadia is going to have some serious problems with that one.” Luc was laughing too as he made a tiny stuffed sword appear from nowhere. It looked like mine, but baby safe. Estrella took the sword in her tiny hands, admiring it. The she put the end in her mouth and gummed it.

“We’ll have a talk about sword safety when you’re old. Rule one though, don’t eat your sword.”

I made my own weapon disappear again, and this time there was no high pitched yowl.

Hope just looked on, unaffected by her sister’s theatrics.

Gusion came over, and reached down to touch Hope's head. I held my breath, as did Arcadia. I didn’t know if his power would work on the babies, being the strange mix of human and angel that they were, but I was nervous all the same.

Gusion’s face folded into a frown. He reached across and placed the other hand on Estrella’s head. And then he laughed. A loud, booming, joyful laugh.

He looked at me, a smile wide on his face. “We are all in so much trouble. These two will be a handful. But I see them living long, happy lives filled with adventure. Estrella especially will give you a few grey hairs. Hope…” He bit his lip, looking off into the distance. “Hope will change things for us. She will tread roads that no human has. She’ll change the status quo.”

I stared down at my tiny Hope, no bigger than my forearm.

I’m not sure if Gusion’s premonitions make me feel better or worse, Arcadia whispered.

I didn’t either. Part of me wanted the babies to grow up and live nice, boring lives with a husband and two kids and a career they liked. But I guess I’d doomed them to a life of the extraordinary.

Chapter Six

We hung around until all of Arcadia’s seven returned home. I hadn’t seen them all in the same room since I told them that she was dead. At Arcadia’s request, I hugged each and every one of them. They all looked haggard. Like attractive zombies. I guess redemption, and the inevitable human frailty that came with it, had its downsides.

Eli, Sam and Tolli arrived home with the two little boys. Orion had been right about them. Adnan, the littlest one, raced around on crutches speaking too fast in his native language and bumping into things. He didn’t look like a kid on death's door literally days ago. He also didn’t speak a scrap of English, but the guys made do with an elaborate game of charades.

“Mac’n’cheese!” He yelled. I lied. He spoke one word of English. I sat on the couch between Luc and Gus, holding Hope in my arms.

The rest of the guys say across from me except Valery, who was making the aforementioned Mac.

“So that’s it? We are out of options?” Tolliver asked, his tone angry.

“Essentially yes.” I was prepared for their wrath. This was my fault.

We’ve tried. They know that.

“That’s unacceptable,” Lux growled. “It is unacceptable that she will never hold her children, or those who love her ever again. There must be another way.”

Arcadia sniffled in my mind.

“What happens now?” Eli asked. He was the only one who didn’t look like he’d run a marathon, because he wasn’t yet redeemed.

“Her soul stays with me until her body dies. When that connection is lost, she will ascend to heaven.”

I don’t want to go to heaven with the likes of Uriel and Azriel. I’d rather stay with you guys.

Luc scoffed. “You know not what you say. You aren’t a fallen. You wouldn’t be in the palace.”

“Why couldn’t she be?” I asked. “You are the Lord of Hell. She can go wherever you send her. She’s as sin free as you can get in the age of Tinder and Hedge Funds.”

Luc gave me a disapproving glance and I resisted the urge to kiss the look from his face. “That is not the agreement. It is not how the division of souls works.”

I looked toward the corner where Nazir watched me intently. I had a feeling he remembered me from that room, and although he hadn’t spoken to me yet, I was interested to see how much he comprehended about what went on down in that blood soaked room.

I stood and walked over to the boy. He watched me with dark eyes that were older than they had any right to be.

“Hey Nazir.”

The boy just slow blinked.

“Do you remember me?” A nod. “Are you afraid of me?”

He paused this time, thinking hard. None of that childish bravery that demanded everyone knew he wasn’t scared of anything. He’d known real fear. Finally, he shook his head.

“That’s good. You have no need to be scared of me. Do you know what we are?”

This time his long lashes lowered as he frowned. “Angels,” he whispered.

Hmm, well kinda. I wouldn’t overwhelm him with the semantics. “I was once. But I will never hurt you, and these guys,” I pointed at the men around the room, “they will care for you and Adnan, and love you if you let them, as long as you need them, or forever. Whichever comes first. Do you understand?” Another nod and I gave him a smile. “Do you want to see my wings?” He cast a look at Luc, who had a kind of scary aura, even when he was trying to be as nonthreatening as possible. “Don’t worry about him. He’s a big pussy cat.” I threw Luc a saucy grin and his raised eyebrow promised retribution. “Okay, ready?”

I spread my soft grey wings wide in the room, thankful for the open plan of the apartment. Nazir’s eyes lit up and he reached out to touch them before stopping himself. “You can touch,” I smiled as Adnan barreled toward me from where he was playing with Oz’s LEGO in the corner. He was going so fast that he tripped on his crutches and I had to catch him with my left wing, curling it gently around his body to cushion his fall.

“Look, Naz, an angel. Her wings are so soft and she’s so pretty. Do you think she’d let me have a feather? Eli said when I get my new leg I’ll be able to run like the wind. Do you think he could get me wings too?” I laughed, and realized I’d switched my speaking to Arabic.

“I’m not sure if you’ll be able to have wings, but there are plenty of other ways to fly.”

“Even with one leg?”

“There is nothing you can’t do, even with one leg,” I replied.

The boys stroked my feathers a bit more, and then Adnan looked at Luc and Gus. “Are they angels too?”

I nodded. “They were once.”

“The big one is scary.” The kid had good instincts.

“Yeah he is, but he shouldn’t be scary to you. You’re a good kid, you have nothing to fear.”

Adnan took me at my word and raced his way over to Luc and Gus.

“Can I see your wings?”

“No,” Luc said, and I sent him my best ‘do it if you ever want to get laid again’ look. “Fine.”

He stood and spread his onyx wings as wide as the room allowed. His wingspan was bigger than mine, given his status. Not even Adnan dared to touch them, which confirmed he had good survival instincts. Luc tucked them away again and sat back down.

Gusion was more than happy to spread his wings, because he was a show off and they were truly beautiful. White with threads of silver, they shimmered in the sunshine. The colored wings were something we got when we fell. Normal angels have pure white wings. Archangels have white wings with golden flight feathers. Even after all this time we hadn’t been able to ascertain why we all got the colors we did.

Gusion plucked out a silver feather. “You will both grow to be good men, now. Do not be afraid to feel. Your loved ones would want you to be happy again.” He directed this at Nazir, whose eyes welled up before he blinked rapidly. He didn’t acknowledge Gusion’s words, and I could only hope they both took them to heart.

They need a mother. Arcadia was right, but I was in no position to be a mother figure.

“Where’s Clary?” I asked.

“She went home for a funeral. Great Uncle Seamus died last week. She thought it would be okay while the babies were still in hospital to see her family and tell them about Arcadia as well. Apparently they are quite fond of her. She should be back tomorrow, now the babies have been released and Seamus is in the ground,” Oz said.

Aw not Uncle Seamus. He was such a nice old man.

Luc scoffed again. “Guess it depends on your definition of nice. He was an enforcer for the Mulligans for decades. The true miracle is that he lived to 85.”

He was nice to me, anyway. He used to tell me stories about growing up in Ireland and all their folk stories.

“There is good and bad in everyone, Arcadia Jones. Even in you.”

Balance, as Azriel so aptly put it, was the center of all things and must be maintained.

“Can we get back on topic?” Sam asked.

Seriously, he makes scruffy look good. Like some kind of Nordic Lumberjack. I’d give anything to kiss him again.

“Me too. I mean, for you to kiss him again. Even scruffy, he’s still too pretty for me.”

Sam looked confused and Arcadia laughed. He shook his head. “What do we do about getting Arcadia home?”

I shrugged. “I’ve exhausted all my options.”

I looked at Lucifer, my one true love in this world, the other half of my soul, and gave him the stink eye. Gusion stared at him too, until he sighed.

“There is one more option, but just know I hate you all.” He stood, his demeanor getting icier by the second. “I’ll go and see Michael myself.”

I handed the baby to Gusion. He wasn’t going anywhere without me. With a clap of thunder that scared the kids and woke the babies, we left.

He always had to make a dramatic exit.

One of the perks of being an archangel is that they always knew where the others were. They knew where all of angelkind were. Where they gathered, if they were injured, all of these things flooded the archangel’s psyche every day. They were quite as omniscient as the Father, but close. It was no wonder they were all a little kooky in my opinion. Luc was no exception, but luckily he let his freak flag fly. It was the ones that were buttoned down that were the problem.

Michael was in his Cathedral. Luc and I stood on the steps, unable to go past the heavy wooden doors, or even look through the beautifully rendered stain glass windows. We could not step foot on the hallowed ground.

“Michael knows we are here,” Luc muttered under his breath.

“Of course, old friend. I always know when you leave your domain and come to earth.” A voice said from behind us.

I saw Luc tense, resisting the urge to whip around. Instead he turned with slow deliberateness, as if Michael was no threat to us. Well he wasn’t, not anymore, but the large scar on his chest said that he hadn’t always been this harmless.

Luc met his eyes.

“Michael.”

“Lucifer Morningstar. I have missed you.” Michael had no artifice on his face. He looked like the pleasant man Cady had met at the Lego store. “Acerezeal. You are a sight for sore eyes. Come,” he beckoned me closer. I went. You didn’t turn down Michael’s requests, no matter how congenial he seemed. He cupped both my cheeks, his face shining with genuine happiness. “Ah, Arcadia is here too,” he said, looking past me.

It is nice to see you again, sir.

“Psh. Michael, if you please.” He looked toward Lucifer. “Shall we sit?” He indicated a park bench under an old oak tree.

We followed behind the Archangel, and you could see the warrior in his stance. In the corded muscles of his back, in the way he held his wings poised. The way he accommodated for the Sword of Heaven at his side. He radiated power. We sat down on the bench, and I perched on the fence a few feet away.

“They all refused your request then?”

Lucifer nodded. “Despite her worthiness, none were willing to defy God’s word.”

Michael nodded sadly. “I did not think they would. Though I wondered if perhaps Raphael would. He is going through a period of doubt, as we all do from time to time, though he never voices this. It would break the Father's heart to have another of his Archangels fall. He still laments your loss, daily.”

Luc gave a non-committal grunt.

I went and knelt at Michael’s knee. A sign of respect that we afford all Archangels. I still knelt at Luc’s knee, but usually he wasn’t wearing pants and my mouth was busy.

Seriously? You are thinking about that now? Givin-

I interrupted her. Everyone can hear your thoughts. Zip it.

Both Luc and Michael looked amused. I can only imagine what they thought she was about to say. I looked at Michael, and then bowed my head in reverence.

“Archangel. Would you consider righting this wrong? She does not belong in the body of an angel, but she does not deserve for her life to be cut short either. Please,” I begged. I wasn’t above begging anymore.

Michael looked to Lucifer, although he put a finger beneath my chin to lift my face. “Stand, Acerezeal. Lucifer. Do you request this also?”

Luc nodded. “There is little I wouldn't do for Acerezeal, as you know.”

Michael’s lips twisted into a smile. “Indeed.”

Luc was unapologetic. “And I feel that Arcadia has been caught up in something she had no control over. Her fate was not preordained, it has no use in the wheel of fate. She needs to be returned to live out her life.”

Michael looked out into the distance. It was a perfect day. The sun was shining, and everything seemed to be teeming with life. I watched his face as he contemplated. Then he shrugged. “Okay.”

He punched a fist toward my chest. The pain was incredible as Arcadia’s soul was torn from my body.

ACE!

Then Arcadia was gone. I stood, looking around to see if her soul was ascending, but it was gone. She was just gone.

“What did you do!?”

Michael shook his head sadly. “What you asked. I put her soul back in her body. Her fate is once again up to human medicine. But if she dies, there is no last minute deals with the Devil this time. She dies, she goes straight to heaven. I will not be tested again.” His face turned from serene to scary.

Scary Michael was just as terrifying as Lucifer on a bad day. No one wanted that shit.

Still, Arcadia was back in her body. I threw myself in Michael’s arms. “Thank you. I know that this was a more difficult decision than you let on,” I whispered in his ear.

He squeezed me back. “I owed her one for returning you to the light, even if you chose to stay down in that cesspool of sin with Lucifer.” He was smiling, and there was no malice in his words. He was...teasing me? Today was a weird ass day all around.

Luc stood, moving towards us. “I owe you one, Michael.”

Michael appraised him much in the same way Luc appraised others. “Yes. I may collect one day. But then, maybe not. It is not good to make deals with the Devil, no?”

They shook hands as I bounced on my toes. I needed to see if Michael was telling the truth. Not that I thought he was lying, but I needed to see it for myself.

Michael laughed. “I know, I know. Off you go now. Tell Arcadia I shall be by to see her sometime. Maybe I’ll bring her flowers. That’s the human gesture, isn’t it?”

I laughed and waved as I sifted to the hospital.

Some of my good humor seeped away when I got to the hospital and saw her lying there in the hospital bed. She still looked grey and small against the white sheets, as close to death as you could get while still making the heart monitor beep. All her hair had fallen out and she had tubes and cables hooked up to nearly every part of her body.

Eli was at her bedside, his hand wrapped in hers.

“Eli.” He turned at the sound of my voice. “I did it.”

He stood, the hard plastic chair scraping against the linoleum floor. “She’s back in there?”

I strode forward, putting my hands on her head. She was in a hazy dream land, her consciousness not as alert as it had been inside me. She was comatose, but her soul was in her body.

“Yes. She’s in there. We did it.”

Eli’s smile slipped. “You did it. I’ve failed.”

That was when I noticed his red rimmed eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

“She’s dying.”

Chapter Seven

“Well, duh. She’s been dying most of her life. You are meant to be fixing her,” I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, but failed. It was weird not having Arcadia there, in my head, chastising me for my harsh words, or trying to get me to soothe Eli’s obviously wounded heart.

“I can’t find her a heart. Oz insisted that she would hate getting one from the black market, and no matter who we bribe, we can’t get her to the top of the list. She has an uncommon blood type which is making it hard to match her. The cancer is responding too slowly to the chemo and it's going to come down to taking the risk on her whether her body can take it if we operate too early or with a make-up heart. A gamble. The life of my love rests on a gamble. Too soon and she dies. Too late and she dies. I just can’t.”

Dude was spiraling. I didn’t know what to do. WWAD? What would Arcadia do? I was probably going to hell for that one.

Whoops, too late.

“You will do it. You have to. I will help. Clary will help. The guys will help. You aren’t in this alone.”  Ergh. Probably not quite as empathetic as I should be. “You need to go home. Take a break. Have a shower, because you smell like old feet. Then we’ll make a plan. I’ll stay here with her so she isn’t alone.”

I didn't want to tell him that I was feeling a little weird without her. We’d been two halves of a whole for so long. He nodded and left, and I moved his chair back towards the bed. I touched her head, now devoid of hair, and ran my thumb over her temple. I wanted to rely on modern medicine, on Eli’s medical knowledge and Tolliver’s money. I wanted to have faith. But I didn’t. I closed my eyes and laid my head on the edge of her bed.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled against her shoulder. “This is all my fault. If it hadn’t been for me and my big mouth, my inability to follow any rules, you wouldn’t be in this position. Sure, you might have been a bank teller with a drinking problem, but your life and death would have been of your own making.”

I sighed and let my thoughts roll around and around in my head until I fell asleep. That was how Memphis found me. Sleeping alone for the first time in twenty years.

I woke up in heaven. Well, it was actually hell, but I was surrounded by the naked bodies of three extremely attractive fallen angels, and if that wasn’t heaven, what was?

We were in Luc’s bed, and the man himself was acting as my pillow. Somehow Gusion was asleep on my thigh, my other leg thrown over his ribs. He was literally five inches from giving me a very good morning.

Memphis was next to me, his hand on my hip. When I looked up into his face, I realized he was awake too.

“Hey,” I whispered, and it came out rougher, sexier, than I’d intended.

“Good morning, Acerezeal.” With his eyes hooded like that, his hair all tousled, he looked delicious.

“Did you bring me home?”

He nodded. I moved my head off of Luc’s and scooted closer to Memphis. I pressed myself closer to him, my chest against his. “Thank you.”

He shrugged, then kissed me. It was so unlike him that I was momentarily shocked. I mean, we’d had sex numerous times before, but I always initiated. Always made the first move. It made me wonder what had changed.

“I’ll always bring you home, Acerezeal.” His deep voice was fervent, and I pulled back a little to take in his face.

“What’s going on right now? Have you been body snatched or something?” Seriously, I was confused.

A small smile curved his lips.

Yep, it was official. He was possessed. I leaned back and jabbed Luc in the ribs.

“Wake up, there’s something wrong with Memphis.”

Luc opened one eye. He looked between us both and closed it again.

“He looks fine to me, my love. Call me if he starts bleeding from the ears.”

Memphis’s body began to shake as he held in a laugh. A fucking laugh.

“Seriously, Luc. He’s laughing now. And smiling. Gus wake up, there’s something wrong with Memphis.”

I jiggled my leg and Gus sat up. His abs flexed and light blonde hair pointed its way down to his morning wood. I almost swallowed my tongue, but then Memphis laughed out loud again and brought me back to my point.

I pointed at him. “See!”

Luc opened both eyes and stared at Memphis. Then he closed them again and sighed. “He’s just happy, Ace. Go back to sleep.”

My mouth swung open. “When is Memphis anything but dark and brooding? Have I missed something?”

Gus climbed up my body, bracketing me with his arms. He leaned down, his body pressing into mine, his nose pressed against my nose.

“Everything has changed, Ace. It’s a brave, new world. You’ll see.”

Then he kissed me, and I momentarily forgot about how strange they were all acting as I pulled his body close to mine, raising my hips to grind against the hardness of his cock.

“Wet already? We’ve only just started.” He made a mock disapproving sound as he headed down my body toward the V of my thighs. I looked at Luc and he was watching on with a hot look in his eyes.

As Gus buried his face between my thighs, Memphis leaned over me, catching my gasps with long, hot kisses. His hand reached up and ran along my ribs, moving over to cup my breast. He bent down and sucked my captured nipple into his mouth, and I bucked against the sensation of their mouths working in unison.

Gus’s tongue swirled and flicked, teasing my clit until I was soaking his face with my juices. Memphis moved on to my other breast, and I wrapped my fingers in his long dark hair to hold on for dear life.

I threw a desperate look at Luc as my orgasm built. “Please.”

He leaned over, kissing me then biting me firmly on my lower lip. “You’re going to come all over Gusion’s face, aren’t you my love?”

His words pushed me over the edge, and my body was helpless to resist fulfilling his words. I came on a banshee scream, but they weren’t done yet.

Luc reached out and dragged me onto his body, not giving me time to adjust before he was sliding his cock into me, filling me. I moaned his name as he held my hips, thrusting hard and shooting waves of pleasure all over my body as I rode him.

I looked over my shoulder as someone settled behind me. Gusion dipped his fingers in my wetness, than ran it up to circle my ass. He slid a finger inside and I let out a guttural moan of pleasure. He slid it in and out in time with Luc’s thrusts, stretching me until he could replace his finger with his cock. Luc stopped, his control absolute, as Gus slid in inch by inch, until I was completely filled by the two of them. Luc held me still, even after my arms collapsed, as they moved in synchronization. One in, one out. In, out, in, out until I lost all sense of reason and orgasms crashed into me one after another. I screamed their names, clenching hard until Gus let out his own guttural yell, coming on hot, hard thrusts.

He collapsed to the side as Luc continued to pound me, his movements getting uncoordinated as he got closer to his own ending. Finally, he slammed my hips down, burying himself deep inside me, growling my name over and over as he came.

I collapsed on his chest, breathing heavily. But there was no rest for the wicked. Memphis lifted me gently off of Luc chest, and placed me back on the bed.

I stared up into his heated dark eyes. “I’m not sure I can go again,” I whimpered pathetically.

He brushed my hair back from my sweat covered forehead. “I know you can.”

He kissed my mouth softly, then on both cheeks, down my neck and across my collar bones. He kissed every inch of me with soft reverence, like he was memorizing the sensation of my skin, cataloguing my responses.

I mewled when he reached my breasts, kissing and sucking them with tenderness. His hand traced over my hip, the curve of my stomach, dipped into my navel.

“Are you ready for me, Acerezeal?”

I nodded as he settled between my thighs, placing one of my legs over his shoulder. Then he slid home in one controlled, firm thrust. Then another.

That had always been Memphis’s way. Slow, deliberate, and thorough until you were a screaming mess and he was an instrument of pleasure. Each stroke hit my g-spot every single time, and I was clawing at his arms trying to keep myself anchored, so I didn’t shatter and blow away on the next orgasm.

“Memphis!” My yell echoed around Luc’s bed chamber as I came again, but still, Memphis wasn’t finished. He hooked my other leg over his shoulder, settling into me deeper and hitting spots that made my eyes roll back in my head and my moans turn in to feral noises. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, I’m going to come again,” I panted, and Memphis upped his pace.

“Come with me,” he growled, his movements getting faster and faster. My pussy clenched around him as I held back my orgasm, waiting for his word.

“Now,” he grunted and I let myself slip over the edge, wave after wave of pleasure kicking my ass.  

I was wrung out.

Gus got me a drink of water and a washcloth, cleaning up the combined fluids running down my thighs. I raised my eyebrows in thanks and he blew me a kiss. I couldn’t do words right at the minute.

Silently, we all laid back down in bed, and dozed off into a satisfied sleep.

Something was different, I just didn’t know what.

Chapter Eight

The second time I woke in a bed surrounded by sexy fallen angels, I refused to be tempted by hot bodies and hard cocks. I had shit to do, and being down here in hell with its wobbly laws of time wasn’t going to help.

I stretched, rubbing my butt against someone’s groin and petted the abs of whoever I was curled around. Given the blonde hair, probably Gusion.

I sat up and crawled out of bed on my hands and knees.

“I can see you have somewhere to be, but you should be careful of waving such a delectable ass in my face. I might just lock you away in my dungeon and have my way with you whenever I please,” Luc murmured huskily.

I blew him a kiss from the end of the bed. “I’ve been to your dungeon, lover, and I can’t wait to go again.”  

I looked at my imaginary watch. Probably time to hustle. With one last blown kiss, I had the world's quickest shower and headed up top, straight to Arcadia’s hospital bed.

It was weird without her. No one was in her hospital room, which was odd. Then I realized it was 4:20am. I shouldn’t be here either. But I didn’t want to leave.

Memphis sifted in behind me, and he came up and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He didn’t give me meaningless platitudes about how it would all be fine. I loved that about him.

I rested my head against his shoulder. “What’s going on with you?”

I hadn’t forgotten his weird behavior.

“Gusion had a premonition for me.”

I was so shocked I pulled away. “What? Gus doesn’t have premonitions about other angelkind.”

He shrugged. “He seemed pretty certain.”

“What was the premonition?” I was desperate to know. If Gusion could make correct predictions about other angels, then it really would change everything.

“He said I would know a love as deep as my love for…” he went silent and I squeezed his forearm. We didn’t talk about her. The reason he fell. The reason he is now the man he is.

“Anyway, he said I’d know that kind of love again. And I’m ready for that. But I wanted to feel you one last time. To make you happy one last time, before I waited for the person I will love.”

My heart felt a little bruised, but happy too. What an oxymoron. Or maybe I was just a moron. But I loved Memphis. Not the way I loved Luc, but more than you would love a friend. A love that comes with knowing someone intimately.

“She better be worthy of you, otherwise I’m going to kick her ass. And it better not be Baccy!”

Memphis laughed, and even though it was just a premonition of a possibility, I was happy for him.

I looked back at Arcadia and horror dawned on me. “It’s not Arcadia, is it?”

Memphis laughed. “Gusion didn’t say. But I do not think it is Arcadia.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness, because I’m pretty sure her snatch is at max capacity.”

Plus she might not survive. That would be doubly heartbreaking. I didn’t need another of Arcadia’s lovers looking at me with accusing eyes.

The door to Arcadia’s room opened and a huge bunch of flowers walked into the room. Seriously, it must have been three feet wide. The flowers walked to the nightstand, revealing Clary, who jumped two feet in the air when she saw us.

“Who are you?” she snarled, going into full honey badger mode, putting herself between us and the bed. I love Clary. We must have both topped her by a foot, and Memphis was scary as fuck, but she was still ready to take us on.  

It occurred to me that we had never met in person. “I’m Ace. This is Mephistopheles.”

“Ace? As in Cady’s Ace?” I nodded and flashed my wings for a second.

“And this is the Mephistopheles?” He nodded. “Huh. That never gets less weird.”

I laughed. She was the shiz. “Sorry to hear about Uncle Seamus. He was one of my favorites.”

“Because he boozed, cracked skulls and womanized?” she asked, arching an eyebrow primly.

“Pretty much. He had the best stories.”

Clary opened her mouth to reply, then hesitated. “Is he?” She pointed toward the floor.

“In the gift shop?” She scowled and I laughed. “He is almost definitely in Hell. Trust me when I say that’s as much as you wanna know.”

She went over to Arcadia and settled her in the bed, her gentle yet firm grasp repositioning Arcadia to prevent sores, fluffing pillows and making her as comfortable as possible.

I watched on as Clary fussed over her best friend. They were both such great examples of the capacity humanity had for good.

“Eli told me you managed to get her soul restored. It’s how it should be.” She sat down on the hard plastic chair as if she were defeated. Perhaps she was.

“You talk as if she isn’t going to recover.” I sounded more accusing than I intended.

She heaved a sigh. “I’ve seen a lot of death. I sometimes feel like I’m part Banshee. I can smell it. She’s gonna die if something big doesn’t happen soon.” She wrapped her fingers in Arcadia’s and I could see her facade cracking. She would hate crying in front of strangers, I knew that much from my years as her pseudo-bestie. I reached over and squeezed her shoulder.

“Don’t lose faith yet, Clary Mulligan. We have a lot of fight left in us; me, you and Arcadia.”

With that, I left her to her grief.

We sifted to the apartment to find it in chaos. There were babies crying, Adnan was howling hysterically and Nazir was standing over him, teeth bared. It was barely 7am.

“What the hell..?”

Lux was trying to get Nazir out of the way, as Eli attempted to get to the crying Adnan. Oz held Estrella, rocking, and was using the other hand to soothe Hope.

“Enough!” I boomed, taking a page out of Luc’s books. The room went still, even the babies stopped crying, for about two seconds. Memphis went over and picked up Hope, and the baby instantly calmed. Once her sister stopped crying, Estrella settled in Oz’s arms. I strode over to the other occupants in the room.

“What’s going on?” I asked in a calm voice.

Eli stood beside me, his voice just as neutral. “Adnan tripped on his crutches and opened the wound slightly on his leg. Nazir saw the blood and is having a moment of PTSD and won’t let us near him. I don’t have any sedation here, and I don’t want to manhandle the boy.”

I nodded. I took in the wide-eyed feral look in Nazir’s eyes. He wasn’t in an apartment in SoHo. He was somewhere much worse.

I pushed some of my angelic light toward him. “Be still, Nazir. Eli is going to fix Adnan.” I reached out and touched his head, and his body slumped on contact. Lights out. Lux caught the boy before he hit the ground. He picked him up as if he weighed nothing and cradled the boy with gentleness that belied his rough exterior. I noted the bite marks and crescent gouges in his arms. He walked down the hall to the boy’s bedroom.

Adnan was still sobbing, but it was probably more from fear than pain.

“Hey now, tough guy. It’s okay.” Eli lifted him up and set him on the bench. “It’s not too bad at all. We’ll just put some stickers on it and cover it back up.”

Eli went to work, and I stroked Adnan's dark hair. Poor little guy. Eventually, he nodded off to sleep too. “Whoops. Must have still had a little juice in the tank,” I said, as he listed to the side. Eli caught him up and walked him down the hall on silent feet. The boys shared the second bedroom.

A minute later he crept back down the hall and flopped onto the couch. “Who’s with Arcadia?”

Lux handed him a beer, then gave one to Oz and Memphis. “Clary’s there. Just got back from Boston.” He offered one to me. “It’s not even eight in the morning.” Lux raised an eyebrow. He made an excellent point. I took the beer.

“Where's everyone else?” I asked. We all needed to talk.

“Ri is at the bar, Valery has gone to chase down some weird medicinal herb that he is sure will cure her cancer according to the Internet, but Eli will veto immediately. Sam and Tolliver are hiring a management team to take care of the foundation while we figure this whole thing out,” Oz said, sucking down half his beer in one gulp.

Lux’s phone rang. I didn’t need angelic hearing to pick up Clary’s frantic words.

“She’s crashing!”

I’d never sifted with three humans before, but we had no time to waste. Memphis offered to stay with the kids, and it was a testament to Lux’s fear that he didn’t even protest.

I sifted us into a supply closet, and the effort made my knees buckle. Lux and Eli were out the door in a flash, but Oz bent down and hoisted me to my feet, a hand around my ribs keeping me on my feet as we ran towards Arcadia’s room. The doctor was there with the crash cart, trying to shock her heart back to life, the eerie whine of her machine threatening to break my world apart.

“Clear!”

The thumping pulse of electricity hitting her chest rocked me. But it was followed by the modulated beeping of her heartbeat on the monitor.

I released the breath I was holding. And Oz. I hadn't realized I was clutching his forearm like a lifeline. It was a wonder I didn’t snap his arm.

The doctor spoke in a low voice to the nurses, before turning toward our fragile little group. He placed a hand on Eli’s shoulder. “It’s too late, my friend. There is no time left to wait for a viable organ.”

Lux growled a low, ominous sound. “She can have mine.”

Eli shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. Besides I had us all tested. None of us would be a match.”

The doctor had on his warm compassionate mask. “It’s time to say goodbye.”

With that, he left us alone with Arcadia. Clary went back over, and straightened her skewed gown, placed a pillow back under her head.

Eli walked over and laid his head on her chest. And cried. He cried until his body shook with the force of his sobs.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he just repeated it over and over. “I wasn’t enough. I couldn’t save you, no matter what I did, and I’m sorry. I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t something I couldn’t do, that your death was preordained. My fucking pride wouldn’t let me believe that and now I failed you and I’m so fucking sorry.” The force of his pain tore at my skin, at my soul.

Lux sat in the chair and covered his face with his hands, letting out a feral sound of pain that was only partly muffled by his palm.

Clary was surprisingly calm. She moved to Oz and took the big man in her arms, stroking his back as he cried silent tears of pain.

I was numb. Battered by their pain, I knew this wouldn’t be the end for Arcadia and I. We would see each other again. But I still mourned the life she could have had.

“Please, please,” Eli was beginning to sound more desperate, and I was glad that I didn’t have Arcadia’s soul with me right now. She’d be ruined seeing these three in that sort of pain and unable to soothe them.

The door opened and closed, and I ignored the sounds of nurses fussing around. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from tragedy playing out before me.

Another nurse slammed into the room, the sound of the door hitting the wall making me jump and whirl around to look at her, my irrational anger flaring to life.  We wanted to mourn in peace, how hard was it to give us just one moment?

The newcomers cheeks were flushed red and she was out of breath. “A heart has just become available, right in this hospital. We have to get her to theater now.” She stopped what she was doing and just blinked at us, wide eyed. “It’s a miracle.”

I raced out into the hall, and watched a man wrapped in the world's ugliest poncho walking down the hall, completely unseen by the humans around him. He raised a hand in greeting, but he never turned around and met my eye.

My smile threatened to crack my face in two.

Chapter Nine

“Would you please take it easy,” Sam chastised as he took the basket from Arcadia’s hands.

“Nope,” she said, rising up on her toes to kiss her Viking.

A puked a little in my mouth at the sweetness. Cady looked at me and laughed. “The expression on your face is priceless. It’s not that bad.”

I toed the corner of the picnic rug until it was straight.

“It’s not that bad, maybe once or twice, but seriously you lot totally overkill it with the public displays of affection. It’s so sweet it’s giving me cavities.”

Arcadia snorted. “Says the person who had sex in the middle of the town square in an Italian village. I shudder to think where else you have gotten it on in the public eye.”

She eased down on the ground, and I passed her Estrella. It had been two months since her surgery aka the longest seventeen hours in history aka my new version of hell. But she lived.

I don’t know if it was Eli ditching his pride and begging that changed the Big Guy’s mind, or if it was the fact that he was the last redemption, or if the Father was just having a good day. I didn’t care. The important thing was that she lived.

A month after she came home from hospital, they decided to move from SoHo to a massive estate outside of Boston. The rural lifestyle wasn’t as fun as New York in my opinion, but hey, if this was what made them happy, so be it. And it was closer to Clary and all those crazy Mulligans. Besides, the kids probably needed a yard.

I watched Adnan race around the yard on his new prosthetic. It was state of the art, of course, and the kid adapted to it since day one. He was being chased around the yard by Nazir and his therapy dog, Muffin. When Tolliver had suggested a PTSD support animal, I’d been all for a support chicken. But apparently a Labrador was a better fit for a 12 year old boy. I’d only pouted for a week.

I looked over and caught Arcadia staring at me. Again. “What?”

“I just can’t get used to you sitting beside me. Speaking out loud. Sometimes in the middle of the night, I wake up to tell you about this really weird dream I had and I’m halfway through explaining when I realize you aren’t in my head anymore.” She smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. I knew the feeling, it had been a little like losing a limb there for awhile. I looked at Adnan. Probably the wrong turn of phrase.

But I wasn’t going to tell Cady that. “Toughen up. It’s not that bad.”

She laughed. “It has been nice having sex without the peanut gallery, though.”

I wanted my eyebrows. “I’ve seen all your guys naked. There ain’t any peanuts in those galleries.”

Tolliver came over, Hope in his arms. He passed her to me and sat down behind Arcadia, his whole big body wrapped around hers. Ugh, more PDA’s.

“Is Luc coming?” he asked, and I shrugged.

“I think so. A coup broke out in one of those tiny Middle Eastern countries so he’s pretty busy, but he said he’d pop in. Gus and Memphis should be here soon though.”

Oz walked over to us too, carrying a cooler. He handed me a beer. “Like this party wasn’t a big enough sausage fest.” He clinked his bottle to mine and sat on the cooler. It groaned a little ominously.

Arcadia and the guys were having a housewarming potluck. I was just here to see the fireworks when the strict Roman Catholic Mulligans realized that Arcadia was a partner to all seven of the guys.

Arcadia was staring again.

“I love you, Acerezeal, you know that right? Even though we are two people now, you are still a part of me.”

I turned away from her earnest face and nodded, blinking rapidly because I had an eyelash or a twig or something in my eye.

“You too,” I squeezed out. Apparently near death experiences make people prone to throwing deep and meaningful things out there in normal conversations.

Oz slapped me on the back. “Luc’s here. Saved by the Devil.”

I watched Luc stop and talk to the boys halfway across the lawn. He made a football appear in his hand and the kids whooped with joy and the dog barked happily. That ball was gonna last two seconds if Muffin got hold of it.

“You know what I think has been the most romantic thing about this whole experience?” Arcadia asked, and apparently it was rhetorical because she just barreled along anyway. “This whole thing, from start to finish, has been your love story, Ace. Your happily ever after. A fairytale about how far a man would go for the woman he loves. It’s beautiful,” her eyes misted up and I resisted the urge to roll mine. No more Nicholas Sparks books for her. I was putting a blanket ban on it.

I'd never admit it to her, but she was right. Through all the pain, the arduous journey to get the guys redeemed and then to save Arcadia, Luc’s love for me was a force in the background, unwavering in its intensity. I laid Hope on the picnic rug and stood, walking toward my heart. He met me halfway.

“Good afternoon, my love. You look beautiful, as always.”

I turned my face up for a kiss and he was all too glad to supply me with a one that made my toes curl.

“I love you, Luc.”

“I know, Acerezeal. I love you too, with a force strong enough to tear the heavens apart.”

Sheer happiness, finally, made my face stretch wide in a smile.

My smile turned mischievous though, when Grandmammy Mulligan, eighty year old Matriarch and all around Irish Catholic badass, arrived and was mentally doing a headcount of the ratio of men to women. This was gonna be good.

Let the fireworks begin.

Chapter Ten

22 years later…

It wasn’t often that I got to mix work and pleasure, but today was one of those days. I stood in the back of the large auditorium, invisible to the world leaders that filled its seats, but not to the woman on stage. She saw me all too well, and her smile lit up my heart like a Christmas tree. She looked beautiful on the stage, her deep red hair ethereal under the lights pointing at the lectern. Hope. That tiny baby had turned into this beautiful, strong, intelligent woman, and I couldn’t be more proud.

I gave her a thumbs up as she began to speak.

“Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed leaders of the world, I thank you for inviting me to speak at the World Humanitarian Summit. I know that you wished for my father to speak here tonight, but unfortunately they are caught up in hurricane Katherine in Polynesia, where they have been building clinics and schools in the poorer island nations. But as the director of the NRH foundation for the United States, I can assure you I am more than qualified to speak in his place.

“As many of you know, NRH started as seven people with an idealistic idea to use their wealth to better the lives of others by dressing as ninjas. Hence the Ninja Robin Hood name.” There was a muted laugh from around the room. “Since then, NRH has spread across the globe, teams of people working on the ground to better the services and facilities available to all. My parents were the first team on the ground, and they will continue to do so until they can do no more. Luckily, between them all, they make quite the team.” There was another small chuckle from those who knew the story, who’d read the tabloids that ‘exposed’ them as a polyamorous group. Hope continued.

“Our mission is to globally raise the level of healthcare and education to a standardized level, so everyone can have an equal opportunity to survive and thrive. And whilst we are doing that on the ground, we also want to do that on a much larger scale. We want to eradicate viral diseases that can cripple whole countries. The pharmaceutical wing of NRH has purchased half a dozen patents to crippling diseases such as the vaccines for aids, hepatitis and the omega virus. We have also purchased the patents for the new cancer cure for 27 billion dollars and intend to distribute it at cost price plus 1%. Our working model is that if it pays itself off before the patent lapses, which is unlikely, we will make the patent public for free use by other companies. We do not want to make money, we want to eradicate needless deaths.”

Hope continued, and I dragged my eyes away as I felt a presence beside me. I almost started when I realized it was Michael. I nodded my head in respect. “Archangel. What brings you here?”

He smiled at me, in that beatific way, but his eyes stayed on the stage. “She speaks beautifully, does she not?”

I nodded warily. Michael laughed. “Don’t look so worried, Acerezeal. I am just touching base? That’s the human phrase, no?”

I nodded again. “How are they doing? Your Arcadia and her redeemed Sins?”

“They are well, bettering humanity as Hope said. Banging like monkeys in their down time. Seriously, if they don’t cut it out, one of them will have a heart attack.”

Michael frowned at me disapprovingly, but he couldn’t hide the shine of amusement in his eyes.

“I am glad it all worked out in the end. There has been too much animosity through the ages and it has led to attitudes like Uriel and Azriel’s, though I think Azriel may be tested soon.” He looked back at the stage, and I didn’t blame him. Hope looked magnetic. Michael continued. “Lucifer, for all his faults, fell because he cared too much not to question the Father. There is so much heart in him, more than he gives himself credit for. But there’s a faction that believes in following the Father's word to the letter, and twists it to go down the path of near cruelty.” Michael sighed.

“Uriel is an asshole,” I agreed. Being the top archangel had to suck. “You’ll bring him to heel, Archangel. Without more of us falling. Though, if they do fall, I promise that Lucifer will squash the cruelty right out of them. Fire meeting fire, and all that.”

We watched the crowd, their attention transfixed on the stage also. Hope definitely had a little extra oomph that wasn’t entirely human. Her eyes glanced our way and she startled slightly at the sight of Michael. He smiled and gave her a wave and she raised her hand back, before continuing her speech, the consummate professional.

“I fear she’ll be tested too, soon enough,” he murmured. “And the other twin? Estrella?”

“She joined the Boston Police Department,” I smiled, still remembering the Mulligans horror that she was going to become a cop. Hilarious.

“Aiding humanity too,” Michael nodded. He placed a hand on my shoulder. “You did a good thing all those years ago.”

“I know.”

As the rapturous applause echoed at the end of Hope's speech, I realized that Gusion had been right all those years ago. They had changed everything. They'd certainly changed me.  

A note from the Author

Hey, thanks for reading. So, that's the end of that.

Just kidding. Get ready for my two favorite words in the literary world. Spinoff. Series.

The story of Arcadia and her Sins might be over, but Hope and Estrella's stories are just beginning.

Feel free to email gracemcgintyauthor@gmail.com or find me on Twitter at @McGintyGrace. You can also message me on my FB page: fb.me/GraceMcGintyAuthor or through instagram @gracemcgintyauthor. I also accept CandyGrams and professional mimes.

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