Page 66 of The Morning Star
He took a swig of beer and dug around in the Cheetos bag. “I’ll admit I wasn’t too impressed with you until I found out you were actually banging my brother. I mean banging. How in all of Aaru did you get him to put aside nearly six billion years of ridged assholery and actually fuck you? An imp. He fucked an imp. I thought it was a lie until I got close enough to sense his energy all over you. More than all over you. Somehow you got the bastard to give you a chunk of his personal energy.” He shot me a significant glance. “You do realize other demons can be angels too if they do the same, right?”
All the rebuttals fell away and I stared at him agape. “No. You’re lying. I got that portion of his spirit-self when he tried to bind me. I’m an angel because I’m a devouring spirit and he got too close to me. It’s not… It’s a one in a million thing. That’s not true.”
“Of course, it’s true.” He looked me up and down. “Idiot. You really are stupid, you know. I’ve got no idea how you’ve survived this long.”
Yeah, me either. “That aside, you can’t seriously be willing to stand by and watch while this faker tries to kill every last angel?”
“Don’t care.” But there was a flicker of something in his eyes that told me he did.
“How about the humans? You’ve spent the last several million years roaming among them. Do you really want to see this place turn into a lifeless rock while you do nothing?”
He smirked. “You do realize there are seven billion humans here, right? They outnumber the angels and the demons combined by a huge percentage. The demons might take out the angels but when it comes to the humans, they’ll get frustrated with how difficult killing them all is and wander away from the fake Samael, like they always do. They’re not like Angels of Chaos. They can’t be led for long. They’re too independent. It’s like trying to herd cats. You can make them run in one direction by shaking a treat can or shining a laser pointer, but five seconds later they’re all over the place. And the angels would be wise to remember this as well. The humans are more like demons than they are angels, and they’re far from helpless. Piss them off enough and the angels will find out what a pain in the ass these humans can be.”
“In the past angels have threatened to destroy all the humans and start over,” I told him.
He laughed. “Gabe has threatened that. He and a few of his whack-job purists occasionally make that threat. Seven billion people. Yeah, it’s easy to flood the planet and destroy all but a handful of chosen back when it was only a few thousand of them, but there’s no way the angels can wipe out seven billion people. Not without destroying the rest of life on the planet, and none of my siblings would go that far.”
Interesting how he had a note of pride in his voice at that statement.
“Help me,” I urged him. “Help us get rid of this fake Samael and create a stable world here for the humans, the angels, and the demons. You’ve got the leadership skills and the charisma that I lack. You could make this happen.”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “Are you trying to give me that sword back? Because the answer is no.”
Damn it.
“Then at least see your brothers. And Uri, who’s now decided to be female for some reason.”
He blinked and a surprised laugh escaped him. “Uri is female now? Good for her! I’d always hoped she’d find the strength to buck the trend. She’s stronger than she thinks. She just needs to get out from under Micha’s shadow.”
“See them. They’ll want to see you, to make amends. They’ve missed you all these years. They’ve regretted what happened, especially Micha.”
“No.” The word was sharp and final.
“Wounds that are not healed fester and grow,” I told him.
The angel shook his head. “Where the fuck did you get that wise old chestnut? Sometimes wounds grow layers around them, like nacre around a pearl. The irritant is always there, but softened and smoothed with time until it’s barely noticeable and easily tolerated.”
But still there. It wasn’t my place to force a reconciliation if Samael wasn’t ready, and I couldn’t exactly compel him to help either.
“At least act as my mentor? Give me pointers and tips?”
“Yeah. Don’t get killed.”
“I didn’t know you cared,” I shot back.
“I don’t.” He munched thoughtfully on a Cheeto. “You definitely liven things up, though. I haven’t been so entertained in a long time.”
I shook my head, but before I could say anything more, that connected feeling flickered on briefly before fading away. Demons. Ten thousand demons, and they were on the move. I yanked out my phone and sent Gregory a text, then hopped off my bed.
Gimlet-Samael pulled the bag of Cheetos over on his lap and reached for another beer. “Oh, one thing before you go.”
“Yeah?” I hesitated, hoping for some word of advice that would make this all go right.
“Where’d you put those oatmeal raisin cookies?”
Chapter 21
I’d gotten used to teleporting large groups, but not when they were scattered all over the place. It was incredibly disorienting to pull Lows from my guest house and from my homes in Hel, Terrelle and Nils from halfway across the fucking globe, and other demons from Eresh and Dis. Then I overshot our destination by about five hundred feet and dumped us all right in the middle of a firefight.
