Rob Thurman - Grimrose path

The angel I'd shot at lowered his sword as a warning hole appeared in the wall just to the right and another to the left of his head. I gave Griffin a quick approving nod for his shot that paired mine. He was not an atrocity, and he wasn't taking this lying down-his face, much less forgivingly calm and reasonable than it had been seconds ago, said as much.

Zeke, however, had not gotten the memo and neither had the angel to the right of Azrael. Not as quick as his fellow angel and not as wary of our abilities, he lunged at us. Then there was the sound of a shotgun firing, followed by that of bells as glass cascaded, touched here and there with gold, downward to the floor. Church bells-those that rang mournfully for the dead. Attacked, Zeke took the head shot. It was justifiable to him; he had a clarity of vision in this area that Griffin and I lacked. He held angels accountable to the same standards as everyone else, and who was I to say he was wrong? You make the wrong move-attack, and if you end up as a heap of margarita salt, you have only yourself and your tiny angelic brain to blame.

"Thou shall not kill. He should've known that. I know that. Thou shall not kill-unless it's in self-defense, for protection of the innocent, exterminating demons, or someone taking the last donut. That's the rule." Zeke finished reloading with a speed that would make a drill sergeant dab his eyes joyfully with Kleenex and went on to accuse. "You order us around as if you matter. You expect us to eat up your heavenly commands like fucking candy. Now let one more of you sons of bitches call Griffin an atrocity. Just one goddamn more." Zeke grinned and it was a grin that never would fit on the face of an angel. He aimed at Azrael again. "Because if there's any here, it's you, and since you don't like them all that much, I'll be happy to blow the rest of them apart for you. Really fucking happy. An eye for an eye, a bullet for a bastard."

I didn't know if Azrael heard that. He was lost in the sight beside me. "An angel. You killed an angel," he said as he knelt to sift a perfect hand through flakes of crystal. I saw disbelief and outrage as his hand clenched into a fist, but mourning? That I didn't see anywhere. Brothers-in-arms, but there was no camaraderie, no affection, no personal loss. As with learning free will from humans, some angels learned how to care as well… most often the ones who went on to retire as peris. Azrael had learned free will, but not how to care. That didn't make him the flip side of a demon at all-it made him worse.

"You might think because Zeke was only an angel, not a high and mighty archangel, that it doesn't make a difference that he was used as if he were nothing, ordered about like a slave by one of your kind." I extended my shotgun and tapped Azrael on the shoulder. "But guess what, doll? That don't fly, no matter how many wings you stick on it. It matters, Prince of Heaven. If you treat your own as expendable, they will treat you the same." I tapped harder. "As for trying to kill us, it's not only boring, but a waste of time. Cronus killed your other angel, and if you think I have any control over Cronus, you need to check out if they have a heavenly rehab, because delusional doesn't begin to cover it."

"Zeke's right. You are no better than demons and I should know," Griffin said, and suddenly his wings were there and as bright and blazing gold as Zeke had described. They were brighter than when he'd first become a peri. Of everything and anything that was in this room, they were the only truth and purity that there was. No matter what he said or believed, Griffin didn't have an ounce of demon in him.

Shit. But wings were still wings and whether they had been transmuted into something completely new or not, Cronus could still sniff them out. "Put them away," I told him urgently. "Put the wings away. Cronus barely cares enough to tell the difference between angels and demons… between demons and peris, so let's not give him the challenge."

The wings spread until they almost filled the room before disappearing. "Sorry," Griffin apologized. "They sort of… slipped." I hoped they didn't slip like that in the future. It was the same as having his fly unzipped. XYZ… your ex-Hell-spawn heritage is showing. Azrael had narrowed his eyes at the sight of them, but then looked back at the glittering shards beside him. Ex-angel-on-angel violence and being lectured about it from a far more ex in the ex-angel field to top it all off. Surprisingly enough, it did get through to him-enough so that he didn't try to attack again. I didn't chalk it up to logic or a shred of good sense. He was more likely biding his time until Cronus was handled, and then he'd bide his time until the perfect moment to take his vengeance on Zeke and rid the world of the first ex-demon peri, Griffin. Then there was that annoying mouthy trickster. An upstart paien who didn't know my time had passed. He very well might start there.

Now that was the thinking of an archangel… and a demon.

"Tell us what you would not tell Ishiah." The sword in his other hand sputtered to flickers of flame and disappeared. "Those who sent him are satisfied to stay in the dark for a while longer, but others of us are not. Tell us and we will go." His tone turned suspiciously mild. "For now."

The angels were disagreeing over how to face the Cronus crisis. That was interesting but not surprising. God had withdrawn from them, present but silent, and given them free rein to develop free will at their own pace and make whatever decisions they wished with that will. Some of those decisions had turned out to be not so different from the ones humans or demons themselves would make, and being an angel didn't mean you automatically agreed with your canary compadres. Heaven's history was full of strife. That free rein God had given the angels, sooner or later, would end up the rope by which to hang more than a few by.

"Fine. If it'll get you out of here. I didn't tell Ishiah because I didn't want to ruin what could be his last days. You, sugar, I don't have that problem with at all." I kept my shotgun pointed at him. He might come over mild as milk and smooth as syrup, but he wasn't called the Angel of Death for passing out lollipops. He killed; that was his sole purpose, and from his history, he was more than pleased to do it-a very righteous and enthusiastic work ethic. Didn't that just figure. "Cronus wants Lucifer's power."

"Obviously," said the other angel, not nearly as impressed by the two bullet holes beside his head as he should've been. I shot him in the leg to reinforce the point.

"Don't they teach you manners in Heaven?" I asked, dropping the shotgun and pulling the Smith from its holster. The angel, leg already healing, started to move toward us until Azrael dropped a hand on his shoulder.

"Go," he ordered. "Now." The angel didn't hesitate, vanishing. Some angels were disagreeing with Azrael, but the ones with him didn't have that kind of guts. "I apologize." He didn't bother to try for a hint of sincerity. "Continue."

It was the best and quickest way to get rid of him… besides shooting him, and while Zeke had nailed the one angel, Azrael was far quicker and more clever than his companion had been. "With Lucifer's and Hell's power, Cronus will start taking over every world that exists. He'll have Hell. Then there's Heaven, Earth, Tartarus, the Elysian Fields, Hades, Tumulus, thousands of worlds, dimensions, and afterlives. They'll all fall like dominoes. Who knows in what order? You might get lucky and be far down on the list. But as closely as you are related to demons?" I pretended to give it consideration. "I don't think so."

"He is paien. Why do your gods not stop him?" Azrael demanded, his wings reminding me more and more of a cemetery's weeping angels, the color their wings would turn when Cronus blotted the sun from the sky and ashes would fall instead of rain.