Page 57 of Far From Center
“It wasn’t as if I had time to do so,” Gabe commented dryly. “Not when my eldest brother jumped the gun and performed a banishment.”
Sidriel’s face twisted in anger. “It shouldn’t have worked. We had the advantage at the time of the banishment. If anything, you archangels should have been the ones who fell.”
Hopefully he’d never realize that the archangels, as well as their allieshadfallen. They all had fallen.
“But Michael has the sword, and the Iblis has its match. Together, the pair of them are near invincible.”
Sidriel snorted. “Right. She’s an imp with a household full of Lows. A monkey with a banana is more of a threat than she is. I have no idea why the sword chose…”
An odd look came over the angel’s face.Oh no.
“We have much in common,” Gabriel rushed to say. “But Job’s Tear? Sidriel, it’s a cursed object. There are better ways to accomplish a goal — ways that don’t result in a disastrously compromised vibration pattern.”
“I’m not cursing anyone,” Sidriel replied. “I’m simply releasing an object into the world and standing back while a fool of an imp seals her own doom.”
Gabe also took a step forward, putting him within two feet of the other angel. “Sidriel, we both know what’s best for Aaru. But this is assassination, and that isn’t something an Angel of Order should even contemplate. We’re not demons.”
“No, we’re not. But sometimes we need to act like them to ensure we’ll keep Aaru safe from them forever. I’d always respected you, Gabriel. You were the only one of your siblings that understood how important it was to safeguard our purity. We need to clean house, remove those from Aaru who would see our home tainted with sin. The time is now, Gabriel. Join us. With you, we can return home and make Aaru a place for the divine.”
Sidriel saw him as a key to a locked door. The sword that banished needed to reverse the sentence, but in the past an archangel or an extremely powerful being could force the door open and allow the banished to return. That was one of the reasons he’d always assumed Samael to be dead. As an archangel, he could defy the banishment and bring an army to fight Aaru, but in almost three million years, he’d not done so. He’d done nothing. And Gabe was willing to believe there were plenty of ancients in Hel just waiting for someone to let them in.
The Iblis had oddly always been able to enter Aaru, and her ability to gate in a small battalion of demons should have let Sidriel know there was more to the imp than he wanted to believe. But the angel was right. If this had been a traditional banishment, Gabe could have unlocked the door and let all the rebels return. But they were all banished. And there was no key for reentry.
“The timing isn’t right,” he argued, trying to keep from being boxed into a corner on this issue and revealing his weakness. “I need to judge the level of commitment in Aaru to the other archangels and decide the best course. To rush a change is to risk plunging us all into chaos.”
It was a good speech. But it wasn’t good enough.
“No, the time for careful evaluation is past. You need to make a choice Gabriel, and I’m shocked that you even need to stop and consider this. Those other angels, the ones who do not believe in the sacred path, theonlypath that leads us forward, should be condemned to Hel with their brethren.”
“Where do you draw the line, Sidriel? Tura broke with the treaty. Other angels have flouted our established and vetted policies and procedures to willfully break the rules that make Aaru a place of serenity and order. Even you are straying far from the path by employing the Tear to achieve your goals. The end does not justify the means. We are Order, and Order we must remain.”
“We will, once we remove the dreck and cleanse Aaru of all the impure. Then those of us who have reluctantly strayed will return to our straight, pious pathway. The end most definitely justifies the means. And if that results in Aaru under the guidance of as few as fifty angels, so be it.”
Gabe shuddered at the thought. He’d spent his life in pursuit of the pure and the divine, but he’d never betray his family to achieve that. And if the last two days had taught him anything, it was that the divine could be found outside of Aaru. In fact, the divine could be found in very unexpected places.
And unfortunately, Sidriel was pushing him to make a choice — and for Gabriel, there was only one side to be on in this rebellion.
“I do not accept that. There’s room in Aaru for all of us and I refuse to believe those who stray are forever lost or incapable of redemption. To believe otherwise would make me less of an Angel of Order.
Gabe felt the rise of energy and could do nothing but brace himself, but the attack never came. Sidriel’s eyebrows rose. The angel shook his head. “You’re not even going to defend yourself? Not even going to launch a preemptive strike? Is this a ‘turn the other cheek’ thing? Or are you so cocky that you think you can take me down without lifting a feather?”
It was neither. Gabriel was very aware that he was vulnerable, that he needed to do the very human method of bluffing his way out of this.
“I have no desire to engage in an unseemly brawl with you in an alley next to a dumpster.” He turned and calmly strode back toward the casino. “Right now neither of us possesses the Job’s Tear. The Gormand has passed off a fake to the Iblis’ household, keeping the true artifact himself. I suggest we concentrate on retrieving it before that unsavory Gormand sells it to an ancient who will use it to wipe us both out.”
A flash of light shot past Gabriel, blowing a hole in the dumpster. He stopped and tried to summon…anything. He’d managed to pull enough power together to heal Snip, to fix a book, but now he was simply a human with no angelic power whatsoever. It chilled him to realize that the next shot might not be a warning one, and it might kill him.
Sidriel appeared before him. “You have it. Otherwise you wouldn’t be walking out of here without a fight. You’re not worried about me getting to the Tear or the Gormand, because you’ve already got it.”
Gabe went to push past the angel and felt more than hands on his shoulders. Sidriel’s eyes widened.
“By all that’s holy…You’re not shielding, you’re empty. You’re human.” Sidriel let go of his and jumped back, as if he were concerned that Gabriel’s condition was contagious. “What happened?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Once more he tried to push past Sidriel. The angel grabbed him again, this time gripping him hard enough to cause bruises.
“No, you’re right. It doesn’t matter. But it does give me an idea. You’ll be useful. And you’re coming with me.”
Gabe swung his fist, punching the angel in the face. It seemed to hurt his hand more than it hurt the angel, but it did surprise Sidriel enough that he loosened his grip. Gabe wrenched himself free, then ran, throwing open the door to the casino and plowing head-first into yet another angel.
He looked down and saw Tura’s gleeful smile. “Well hello, Exalted One. So glad you’ve agreed to assist us in this little project. You’ll be very useful.
Gabe twisted, attempting to get around the angel and vanish into the casino, but Tura had him firmly in his grasp. Turning, he came face-to-face with Sidriel. He was trapped between the them, and as a human, he had no way of defending himself against two powerful angels.
