Page 90 of When Monsters Fight
“You’re welcome.” I returned his smile. “Take care of each other.”
“We will,” the woman said. He kissed her on her head, and they slipped into the crowd.
“Does it hurt to see him?” Gabriel asked.
“Not anymore.” I turned my face up to him. “My Jamie is gone. I’ll never forget him. He taught me what love was, and I’m thankful for that.”
“In that case,” Gabriel said, “we should dance.”
He swept me into his arms and onto the dance floor, and for a few hours, I was just a woman in love in the arms of the angel that loved her back.
My summons had been clear,to report straight to Lucifer upon my return, and so Gabriel and I parted ways as soon as we got to heaven with a promise to find each other later.
My heels clipped on marble as I made my way to Lucifer’s chambers. She’d built a replica of her Gehennafortress in heaven down to the exact books on the shelves. It was her happy place, and one I knew she spent all her spare time in.
I found her curled up in an armchair with a large tome, a mug of some beverage on the table beside her.
“Don’t you have work to do?” I fell into the seat opposite and kicked off my boots. The first month that I’d been working on New Hope City, I’d come back here often enough for this fortress replica to feel like home too, and Lucifer, well, it was impossible not to love her, despite her mercurial temper.
“I’m glad you’re back,” she said. “Shemyaza has been clomping about like a bear with a sore head the past few days. He wanted to join you for the ball, but I refused to let him.”
“Why not?”
She arched a brow. “You reek of the aroma of new love and its consummation.”
She didn’t mean literally, of course, because celestials in heaven didn’t need to wash and shower; we were cleansed always.
“You wanted me to have time with Gabriel.”
“Not wanted, needed.”
“What do you mean?”
She held up a finger and canted her head, and then a slight smirk curled her lips. “Shemyaza has been alerted to your arrival. Go to him. I will speak with you all tomorrow.”
My curiosity warred with my need to see Shem.
Lucifer leaned forward and took my hand. “Take the pleasures and the freedom to enjoy them while you can, little sister.” She turned back to her book, dismissing me, and I knew better than to push her to clarify.
She’d satisfy my curiosity when she was good and ready and not before.
I slipped my boots back on and went in search of Shem.
Heaven was a vast place,filled with light and peace and training arenas where the celestials could beat the shit out of each other because, yes, we had a lot of pent-up energy, and combat was a great way to siphon it off. God had created celestials to be his warriors, after all. To protect his creations and combat any beings that threatened that.
I found Shem in the arena beating the shit out of a celestial I didn’t know, his fist making contact with the celestial’s face over and over, but he faltered as I stepped onto the viewing balcony, then stopped altogether.
The celestial backed up, hands raised. “Shemyaza, I’m done.”
Shem fixed his stunning neon blue eye on me, and my mouth went dry. He was formidable with his golden skin, and his sun-streaked hair, and those shoulders, perfect to hold on to, to dig my nails into when riding him.
His nostrils flared, and he jerked his head toward the exit before striding off.
That was my cue.
I knew what he needed, and I was ready to give it to him.
I caught up to him in the corridor beyond, and he slipped his hand into mine. We picked up the pace, our goal privacy.
