Page 12 of The Morning Star
“At the time I did want that. And although I delivered my banishment in anger, you delivered yours in fear. With such great emotion, I’m sure there were circumstances not covered that will reveal themselves in time.” He gave my shoulders a squeeze. “You’re an imp, an Angel of Chaos. That banishing should have more holes than the metal thing you use to strain water from cooked noodles.”
“Colander,” I told him. “And Chaos means that my results are frequently unexpected. The banishment shouldn’t have worked. It should have been flimsy with the kind of conditions that let angels who master the skill of chewing gum while walking on their hands back into Aaru. But just like I’ve managed to kill angels and demons far more powerful than I, just like I’ve been able to devour half a mountainside in Alaska then recreate it without a flaw, I’ve somehow managed to construct and deliver an airtight banishment. You all are stuck here. You’re stuck here forever. And while I know you don’t want to announce that to the angelic host, maybe you should give them a heads-up and bring them up to speed on how life works here before half of them die by drowning in the bathtub or getting their wings caught in an escalator.”
He winced. “That was…it was unfortunate. But if those angel deaths were connected to this one, then I’m afraid no onboarding seminar is going to rectify the situation.”
I looked down at the sand once more. “Why do you think they’re connected?”
Gregory stood. “Intuition. Come with me. I want to talk to the gate guardian about this, and I’d like your insights on the matter.”
“It’s not who you think it is,” I told him again, standing. “The others got hit by a bus, and this one got dusted by an Ancient or possibly an angel with a weird energy signature. Or a human.”
He turned, his one eyebrow raised. “A human? Did this?”
“They did manage to blow up one of the main angel gates,” I countered.
“This angel didn’t die of a nuclear blast, and as far as I know, no human has a weapon that could do this.”
“Could be,” I insisted because I’d been watching far too many comic-book based superhero movies lately. “Some human guy gets bitten by a radioactive gamma-filled jumped-up possum and develops mad skills. Some human guy is a braniac son of a high-tech weapons developer and figures out a way to copy my sword. Or some guy is a demi-god from another planet or plane of existence and thought an angel chasing down a demon was the one who was the bad guy.” Gregory stared at me. “What? Could happen. Totally could happen.”
“Those scenarios are completely improbable.”
“Improbable? Like an imp banishing the entire angelic host improbable?” I waited a moment for that to sink in. “There were artifacts missing from Aaru, and now that none of us can get in, we’ve got no idea what may have also been taken before everyone got dumped out on their ass. Could this be a human, or a demon, or an angel with an artifact?”
Gregory narrowed his eyes in thought. “There are artifacts that could kill an angel in this way, even in the hands of a human. But how could a human get a hold of them? And why was there Sa— Why was there that energy signature?”
“Coincidence.” I told him. “Let’s say a rebel angel stole an artifact. He gets banished here. He’s barely able to walk, let alone do things like navigate the transportation systems, and culture of the human world. He takes a nap, completely bewildered that he even has to nap, and when he wakes up, some junkie has stolen the artifact. It gets sold to a pawn shop, then resold to some nutjob who accidently uses it on that weirdo with wings who won’t stop going on and on about how he needs to give up carbs and pray more, then realizes what he’s got and goes on a rampage.”
The archangel was actually taking that seriously. He frowned for a second.
“But why kill through dismemberment and fire with lesser angels only to turn to this method now?”
I shrugged. “He couldn’t figure out how to work the artifact properly until now? Or the deaths are unconnected and those other angels really did get hit by a bus or died trying to start their gas grill.”
Gregory slowly shook his head. “Okay, Cockroach. I’ll consider it. But before we go any farther down that twisted improbable pathway, let’s first talk to the gate guardian.”
Chapter 4
The gate guardian was a sullen teenage girl texting on her phone and occasionally flipping her hair over a shoulder. I blinked in surprise because the angel watching the Seattle gate had always been either a hippy playing a guitar or a homeless guy begging for change. I’d known what he’d done with that change too. For some reason, this type of angel had a thing for fast food—especially sweet and sour pork from the cheapest Chinese takeout they could find. Extra sauce.
The angel jumped to her feet as we approached, shoving the phone in her back pocket and watching Gregory with apprehension. I wasn’t completely sure this wasn’t the original gate guardian with a new look, so once we got close enough, I felt her up.
“Hey!” She glared at me. “Get off me, perv.”
It wasn’t the same gate guardian, although this one seemed to have gotten the slang to match her physical form down pat.
“Where’s the other guy?” I asked Gregory. “He’s been here for the last sixty years, give or take.”
“Dead.” Gregory turned to the other angel. “Please tell us about the demon who slipped through. The one you called Humiel to assist with.”
“Whoa. Wait just a damned minute. Dead? Dead?” I grabbed Gregory’s arm. “What happened?”
I’d spent a good part of the last century sneaking past that guy as well as annoying him whenever possible. We weren’t as close as Beatrix and I were, but I still felt as if an old childhood friend had suddenly been ripped away from me.
Gregory shrugged. “He chased down a demon who came through the gates a few days ago. They fought. The demon killed him. Now, if you’ll—”
I shook my head. “No way. That guy struggled to catch Lows. We all just ran away from him. No one would have killed him and risked you putting in a gate guardian that might actually be competent enough to do his or her job.”
The new gate guardian snorted. “Yeah he was a bit of a screw-up, wasn’t he?”
