Page 69 of Hellfire & Tinsel
He opened his eyes and turned to face them with quiet defiance, meeting the angel’s glare last. He flinched back a little.
“You have corrupted him,” Peter said, wings flaring in agitation. “The brightest soul for a century! He was going to be the purest in paradise. Sainthood! Do you understand what you’ve done?!”
“Us?” the twins said, aghast and offended as Peter rounded on them with the last question. “We didn’t fuck him into Hell. Go talk to the virgin defiler who tempted him in.”
Peter gasped at the vulgar language. “You took his life! And if that wasn’t enough of a subversion of the natural order, you dragged his soul to Hell instead of allowing its ascension to the heavenly plane! Don’t think we don’t know!”
“Well if G can do it…” Azoth said.
“… why can’t we?” Tarik finished. “He isn’t the only one who can play matchmaker.”
“Seems like a double standard to us, featherbrain.”
“Featherbrain!?”
“They are kinda right,” Zorun chipped in. “It’s kind of bullshit.”
“Hush, you!” Peter said, struggling to find his tongue through his apoplexy. Sparks of golden lightning were beginning to crackle in the air above them. “God is the creator of all life! He makes the rules, not you.”
“Ooooh!” the twins chorused together, sneering and dramatic before Tarik continued. “Now he’s getting all high and mighty again with creator this and creator that. That only works for so many centuries, you know. He needs to stop beating a dead horse.”
Another arc of lightning crackled through the air, and Beau gasped from the sheer power of it, feeling the static electricity cling to his skin.
Oren stepped forward at this point with his hands up placatingly. “How about we calm down? We can work this out peacefully. Big G owes me for the whole matchmaking me without my permission thing, so how about Beau stays here and we call it even?”
“You’ve more than cashed in that favor,” Peter ground out between his teeth. “The only one still falling for that is G himself.”
“I would watch your tone when talking to him, feathers,” Luc said casually, but there was murder lurking in every word.
Peter’s lips flattened. “This isn’t negotiable. Beau is leaving with me.”
Kassel growled, wrapping an arm around Beau’s waist.
“Why don’t we call him?” Luc said, slapping a hand on his throne. “It was all in the name of true love anyway. G loves that shit, he’ll understand.”
“Love? They just wanted an excuse to murder an innocent!” Peter accused.
The twins put on their best innocent expressions. “We have no idea what you’re talking about. We acted in the name of blood… uh… love. We acted in the name of love.”
“Heathens!” Peter spat at them. “It doesn’t matter what you say in your defense. God has left this matter entirely to my discretion.”
Beau broke away from Kassel before the demon could react and stepped over to the angel, who was glowing so brightly he looked like he was about to go supernova.
“Beau,” Kassel called, and he could hear the fear and uncertainty, but he didn’t turn back.
Beau laid a gentle hand on Peter’s arm, feeling otherworldly comfort and hearing a choir singing in his ears.
The angel startled, blinking over at him in shock.
“Are you okay?” Beau asked. “Do you want me to get you a glass of water to calm down?”
The request knocked some of the glow out of him, his confusion overtaking the anger momentarily. “No… thank you.”
Beau nodded, holding his gaze and trying desperately to translate his feelings. He prayed in his head, loudly, desperately.
Please. Please. I don’t want to go. I won’t go. Don’t make me. It’s not Heaven without Kassel. Please. Life has been so hard. I tried my best. Didn’t I try my best? Please. Let me stay.
Peter stared at him for a moment like he was hearing every word, tears beginning to fill his fathomless eyes before he beganto cry, like he could feel every emotion in Beau’s heart. All the pain and suffering of his life.
