Lucifer noted how Mephistopheles was not engaging this new problem with the same fervor as the previous one. In fact, he seemed to be avoiding it.

  "You mean, there's something after this?" Beelzebub whispered.

  In the same tone, Mephistopheles said, "I hope not." His voice and Beelzebub's were coming from almost the same spot now.

  Lucifer said, "Are you sure it was Gabriel? There are half a tril ion angels."

  Camael assented.

  Belior said, "When she attacked your heartstrings, or however she did it, are you sure you didn't hal ucinate?"

  Asmodeus laughed. "Maybe you dreamed it al ."

  Beelzebub said, "You were thinking of Gabriel because he's the one we annihilated, and you were upset."

  Mephistopheles said, "Be reasonable. He said Remiel responded to Gabriel. They weren't both hal ucinating."

  Belior said, "He could have hal ucinated her response."

  "We could al be hal ucinating this conversation, too, but that's hardly worth discussing."

  Lucifer paced. He realized both bonded pairs were standing next to each other, and it made his skin crawl. He could feel Mephistopheles calming

  Beelzebub, drawing off his fire and replacing it with whatever it was that kept Cherubim so unreasonably logical during a crisis. Mephistopheles stil wasn't ful y engaged with Remiel annihilating anyone or Gabriel returning to stop her. His brain stil played with the other question, the spy-hole in their bond.

  Lucifer said, "When you were rescued, what did he do?"

  There was no mistaking the inflection on the pronoun. Camael said, "He appeared, and Remiel col apsed in his arms."

  "And what did he do with Gabriel?"

  Mephistopheles gasped.

  Camael said, "He—he didn't do anything to Gabriel. And Gabriel didn't interact with him either."

  Asmodeus said, "Gabriel's back! You didn't get al of him!"

  "Don't be ridiculous," Mephistopheles said. "We got al there was."

  Lucifer said, "Let's be thorough about this. What happened after?"

  "He looked at me too, and he put me under the same way he did Remiel."

  Revolting development, that. "In theory, he might have interacted with Gabriel afterward."

  Camael assented. "When I awoke, the whole room was different. It was subtle, but things had been moved, and there was power soaked into the

  wal s. Even the windows felt 'fixed'."

  "The enemy searched for traces of Gabriel," Lucifer said. "They must have taken apart your prison."

  Mephistopheles said, "But what did Camael see? If Gabriel isn't real y destroyed, then he'd have made contact. If he was destroyed, then he

  couldn't have."

  Lucifer said, "How about a transitory state, between being and nonbeing?"

  Mephistopheles had that flat Cherub intonation again. "There is nothing else."

  "You know as wel as I do that God changes the rules when He doesn't like what we've won. No one can get out of Sheol; then His Son dies and

  voila, people can get out of Sheol. There might not have been another mode of existence until Gabriel died, but maybe now there is."

  A long quiet permeated the room.

  Belior said, "But if Gabriel were there, wouldn't he have responded to him?"

  Beelzebub said, "That means Gabriel wasn't there. Camael had to have been hal ucinating."

  Mephistopheles sighed. "We've already established that Camael didn't witness the entire scene."

  "Shut up!" Beelzebub said. "There couldn't have been anything there!"

  "Are you scared?" Mephistopheles sounded as if he was grinning ear to ear. "Maybe he's in the room with us right now!"

  A second's scuffle in the dark. Lucifer felt Mephistopheles laugh through the bond, then pul off the fire he'd just spiked up in Beelzebub,

  empowering himself and leaving the Seraph just as energized as he'd been before. The Cherub's soul sparkled.

  Lucifer checked Camael over again in his mind, chal enged him and found him whole and not Remiel, but bearing the slight distortion in his

  thoughts similar to that in their test subjects when he'd practiced grabbing heartstrings. Belior and Asmodeus he ignored for now; they had nothing to offer.

  How to defend against something that might not even be alive any longer?

  Wel , that was why he had Cherubim, wasn't it? "Belior, conscript three Cherubim of your choice and devise a defense against Gabriel if he stil has some sort of existence. Do it by tomorrow."

  Asmodeus said, "And at the same time, why not tel him to take two more Cherubim and devise a means to extinguish the Lake of Fire and

  eradicate God? You can't be serious!"

  "Asmodeus, you wil implement this defense as soon as Belior develops it, using whatever of the armed forces you require." Lucifer turned to Mephistopheles. "Your thoughts about why I can feel your bond?"

  Mephistopheles monotoned, "Gabriel detonated al over you. I must have been spattered as wel , and because you're a Seraph and he was a

  Cherub, his substance is responding to both of us."

  Belior huffed. "Then why can't Camael sense you?"

  A pause, and then Mephistopheles said, "Have we established that he can't?"

  Camael said, "I can't…but I think I did. Back when you told me… something. I don't remember. But I remember realizing I could sense your bond

  when I couldn't before."

  "You were down, crouched with your wings tucked." Mephistopheles didn't sound concerned. "With far less surface area, I'm sure you absorbed less of his substance, and therefore the effect wore off sooner."

  Lucifer said, "If this is true, then how long—"

  "—soon. I'm surprised his substance would have persisted this long. The beadlet we found after twenty-four hours was nearly dissipated, but there was a lot of him."

  Lucifer knew one question it always paid to ask a Cherub: "How confident are you of this theory?"

  "I can't test it," Mephistopheles said, "but it fits."

  "Belior?"

  "I can't comment. It makes some sense."

  The lack of criticism meant as much as a standing ovation, considering the source. Lucifer said, "Very wel , then. Mephistopheles, you have your previous assignment to finish. Get to work."

  Lucifer forced out everyone except Camael.

  "Sir?" said the Irin.

  "Were you cal ing Remiel prior to her attack?"

  He assented.

  "Had you spoken to her prior to the attack?"

  Again assent.

  "Are you aware that once she realizes you can influence her, your usefulness is limited?"

  A feeling of dread from Camael confirmed he'd revealed their link.

  "You were trying to win her?"

  Defeated, Camael assented again.

  Why God liked to do things in pairs Lucifer would never understand. Angels functioned perfectly fine alone, but these inexorable pairings

  simultaneously increased and decreased their usefulness. Split Irin, depressed Cherubim, defensive Seraphim...it was too bad he hadn't convinced

  any Thrones to join him. They were reclusive, and if he could have brought onboard even one of them, he could have fired the rest of the Maskim.

  "She's highly unlikely to leave. God has paid her enormous bribes and given her every freedom in an attempt to keep her enslaved. You realize you can't compete."

  Camael sounded defensive. "The one thing God can't give her is me."

  "Ah, but you nearly were given to her—first as a trussed prize turkey and then as a living sacrifice. You're better off avoiding her." Lucifer folded his arms and leaned half-sitting on his desk. "The other option you've failed to consider is that Remiel might ask for you, and God might brainwash you and enslave you at her side."

  Camael smoldered. "He'd have to change me."

  "I'm not sure she would care. She must feel about you as you do about her."

  Camael's voice lowered. "Yes, sir."

  "I recommend keeping your distance, but you're free to do as you wish. Dismissed."

  Lucifer enjoyed his solitude for a while.

  Mephistopheles' theory about being drenched in Gabriel's offal might have some merit to it—how else would he have heard that trumpet? Of al four

  subordinates, only Mephistopheles hadn't reacted with surprise when he said there was a funeral taking place—and there might have been, but the

  Seven hadn't made it appear that way. In retrospect, who knew why they were blowing that trumpet? Choosing then to regain Camael was useful

  enough, though. If a funeral did take place at a later time, he'd find a way to disrupt that too.

  But hearing the trumpet and sensing the bond might wel mean Gabriel-residue, and waiting for it to dissipate on its own just didn't appeal. How

  disgusting to be covered in a monument to someone else's weakness.

  Lucifer tried burning it off, tried focusing himself, tried squeezing it off with a Guard. He couldn't tel if anything had worked because he had no litmus test except for detecting Mephistopheles' bond with Beelzebub.

  What a pain. Lucifer flashed to Mephistopheles.

  He and Beelzebub were in the common area, nauseatingly honey-mooning. Beelzebub sat on one chair with his feet propped on another, and

  Mephistopheles sat sidesaddle across his lap. The pair had their wings up to form a kind of shelter, and Lucifer could feel two things: they were

  actively trading power, and Mephistopheles was talking through an idea at two hundred fifty words a minute, with occasional gusts of up to three

  hundred.

  To get their attention, Lucifer had to project an announcement.

  Mephistopheles pul ed back his wings and pivoted. "Sir!" Beelzebub sat up, lowering his legs from the chair, and Mephistopheles slipped around so he straddled Beelzebub's lap, leaning forward with his hands on the Seraph's knees.

  "Sir," the Cherub said, "I have a portion of your answer for my assignment."

  This quickly? He ought to have intervened earlier. File that away for next time. "Let's hear it."

  Mephistopheles opened his hands to create a hologram. Lucifer noted as he did so the way he balanced by hooking his feet behind Beelzebub's

  ankles and bringing back the innermost pair of wings to wrap around the Seraph's waist.

  "This is a mock-up of the soul." Mephistopheles waved a hand and made more lights. "I'm tracing through the power conduits common to most angels, and I believe if you attack a few central points rather than merely unwrapping the entirety of the heartstring you'l end up with an unlaced angel in a fifth the time."

  Lucifer seated himself in the second chair. "Go on."

  "If you notice here and here," and those points lit on the mock-up, "the various attributes cross over on themselves. The model more accurately mimics a weaving than a string of beads, I've discovered, and at these points there's a combination of important attributes. If you remember, you

  stuck momentarily at this point on Gabriel, and now I know it was due to the crossover attributes strengthening the linkage. But if you attacked al three and released them simultaneously, an important structural integrity point would be undone, weakening the entire form."

  Lucifer saw Beelzebub had worked his fingers through the shortest feathers at the back of Mephistopheles' innermost wing pair, and the Cherub

  shifted a little as if to guide him.

  "I've found three pressure points so far." Mephistopheles spoke as if Lucifer's problem were the only thing he was thinking of and the bond wasn't lit up like the New York City skyline. "I suspect there may be as many as ten, more likely six or seven. I'l require a few test subjects to map the common points, but it shouldn't take prohibitively long to develop a working model. A day, perhaps two."

  Lucifer rubbed his chin. "This stil can't be done from a distance."

  "No, sir. Someone stil needs to be in close proximity. And the subject needs to be stil ."

  Shaking his head, Lucifer folded his arms. "That won't be any use in a battle situation."

  "I'm working on it."

  "I can see that. Get me the complete list of pressure points in ten hours." He leaned forward. "Then get to work on the distance strike."

  Mephistopheles nodded, his blond curls al but obscuring the brightness of his eyes. "Yes, sir."

  "Beelzebub." Lucifer's tone went stern. "Do not distract him. I'm glad you're encouraging him, but do not become a distraction right now."

  "No, sir."

  Beelzebub had no intention of fol owing through, but in a couple of hours he would send Beelzebub on an errand and give Mephistopheles time to

  work alone. For now he was keeping the Cherub wel -fired, intentional y or otherwise, so it paid to let him stay.

  "Cal me if you need anything or anyone's cooperation," Lucifer said, standing. "Your assignment is my top priority, and I'l ensure it's also the top priority of everyone else in Hel ."

  ~~~

  Against the sunset, a pair of angels stood overlooking a lake. Swal ows darted over the surface of the water, nabbing insects from the air. A family of ducks swam out from shore, gliding across the silent water with noiseless paddles, a mother and six ducklings until one was pul ed under.

  "This absolutely reeks," said one as he watched the reduced duck family swim to shore.

  "It worse than reeks," said the other. "I told them not to attempt it, but you know how Cherubim get, and Mephistopheles convinced him he had it al figured out just because he lucked into a couple of ideas that turned out to be right." Asmodeus shook his head. "I told them not to try. I told them it wouldn't work from the start."

  Fighting a smile, Camael said flatly, "You're a foresight god."

  "Screw off."

  "Because Lucifer's treating you like a fifth wheel? I don't think so."

  "Go amuse yourself," Asmodeus said. "Or just shut up and leave me in peace."

  Camael grinned.

  They stared for a while at the bugs that made use of the last glimmers of daylight. Idly selecting a dragonfly, Camael cal ed it to the attention of one of the swal ows, which swooped low and enjoyed its dinner.

  Camael shivered as a breeze reached parts of him more used to Hel 's flames. "It's the most un-freaking-nerving thing to be taken apart." He pul ed his wings closer. "I wonder if I'd have been able to talk with Gabriel."

  "Would you even want to?" Asmodeus said. "Lay off. You've got Belior wasting his time because of your self-aggrandizement, and we al know you didn't see anything."

  "I don't have to justify myself."

  "You can't justify yourself, you mean."

  They watched as the sun finished its apparent descent and left only a residual afterglow of its glory.

  Gabriel's afterglow. No direct light, only the reflection of something too big to be swal owed al at once. Not Gabriel, just the afterimages, the

  leftovers, lacking a home and an anchor, drifting apart like a dust cloud dispersing after an explosion.

  "Quit thinking." Asmodeus glared at him. Did he look that horrified? "It's no good when Cherubim do it, and it's even less attractive in Virtues."

  Camael shrugged. "I'm bored."

  "Pul that stunt again," Asmodeus said. "Cal your sister."

  Camael squinted. "Lucifer said not to."

  "You're bored and she's crazy. You could have a little fun."

  "I'd rather go scare some minister's son."

  Asmodeus narrowed his eyes and raised his wings. "Cal her."

  Camael shook his head. "I don't want to see her like that. Enslaved. It leaves me nauseated for days." He could see Asmodeus wasn't convinced. If anything, he liked the idea even better now. "If Lucifer catches us—"

  "What wil he do? Kil her?" Asmodeus opened his hands. "Kil you? Either way, you won't have to see her enslaved again."

  Camael rol ed his eyes.

  Asmodeus turned to look again at the sunset. "Of course, if you're afraid of her, we can go find a minister's son."

  "Oh, please. She frightens me even less than you do." Camael folded his arms. "I have nothing to prove."

  "You're certainly proving something right now."

  As the afterglow dissipated, Camael said, "What would you do when you got her here?"

  Asmodeus drummed the fingers of one hand against the opposite forearm. "That depends. Last night she went crazy as far as we could tel . She

  went bar-hopping, did some online chatting, then ended up at a tattoo parlor in Australia getting pierced."

 

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