Page 55

One minute Gabe was standing with Az in his kitchen while Grams blocked Grandfather, who was holding up his sword threateningly. The next moment, Grams was shouting, Michael was throwing a vial Grams must have sent him for, and Az must have done something as well, because there was white smoke and black smoke and swirling and Gabe had the craziest sense of vertigo ever.

He closed his eyes and grabbed onto Az’s hand, which was still firmly resting on his shoulder, as he felt like his stomach was moving outside of his body. It was not a pleasant feeling at all. When he finally felt the vertigo pass and he didn’t think his stomach was going to eject itself through his mouth, he opened his eyes.

He was in… a tea room? Some fancy hotel restaurant? There was a plush gray carpet under his feet, beautiful landscapes all over the walls, although there was something off about some of them, and a single large, long, rectangular table with chairs in the center of the room. It was set with a fancy tablecloth, and in the center was a beautiful china tea pot with a collection of cups surrounding it. Six, to be exact.

There were three chairs on one side of the table and two on the other.

Grams stepped forward, and Gabe realized that she and Grandfather were both here, along with him and Az. He was gripping Az’s hand, which was still on his shoulder, and he let it go and turned to face Az. He looked surprisingly calm. He was almost smirking, in fact, which put Gabe at ease.

Grams grabbed the teapot and started pouring tea, like this was the most normal thing in the world. She set a cup down in front of the furthest chair and motioned to Grandfather.

“This is absurd,” Grandfather hissed. “He cannot be here. It isn’t permitted!”

“Oh do shut up and sit down. Drink your damn tea and stop complaining, you old fart. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the hilt of your sword was rammed so far up your ass—”

“Grams!” Gabe chastised.

“Yes, yes, I know my dear. You do hate it when we fight. I’m being perfectly civil though. He’s the one who’s waving swords about and starting trouble,” she said, continuing to pour tea. She put two cups in front of the chair at the other end of the table as she said this.

Grandfather looked about ready to murder someone, most likely Grams.

“I wasn’t the one who ended up transporting a living mortal soul to Limbo!” shouted Grandfather. Gabe didn’t think he’d ever heard the angel shout.

And… Limbo?

“Did you kill him?” Grandfather fumed. “I’ll see you punished so severely—”

“I did not,” interrupted Grams. “I merely called someone forth. As did Az. Why we were instead transported here is beyond my guessing, and obviously beyond yours. So for just once, Sit. Down. And. Shut. Up,” enunciated Grams, pointing to the far chair with one tea cup in front of it.

Grandfather gave her a nasty look but did as she asked. She then motioned Gabe and Az over to the chair at the other end of the table with two cups in front of it. Az calmly walked over, pulling Gabe with him, sat in the seat, and pulled Gabe onto his lap.

The seat hadn’t seemed big enough a moment ago, but it held them both quite comfortably. Grams then sat between them with her own cup of tea, even though it put her next to Grandfather. Gabe appreciated it, because he wasn’t sure what Grandfather would do to his demon.

“Drink, drink,” she insisted to all of them, so Gabe looked down and picked up a cup, as did Az, and they both drank. He closed his eyes in bliss. It was cinnamon and vanilla and some other spices that he couldn’t place, but it made him think of old bookshops and libraries and sitting in warm sunlight and turning the pages of some old and dusty but precious tome. It was lovely.

When he looked up, though, he gave a little squeak and almost dropped the tea cup, because the other two chairs were suddenly occupied.

The chair across the table from Grandfather held the most aesthetically beautiful person Gabe had ever seen in his life. They were like a work of art. He had no idea if it was a man or a woman, because they looked completely androgynous. They wore a shining white robe that flowed around them like water. Their face was sharp and angular, their hair looked to be white in color, and their blue eyes were the lightest shade, yet they seemed like an infinite sky or vast ocean. They had a pure white tea cup in front of them; it was so bright it practically glowed, and it seemed both delicate and unbreakable all at once. It was almost as lovely as the being was.

The chair across from him and Az held a gorgeous man with sharp, high cheekbones, pitch black hair, full, luscious lips, and dark eyes. He (for this person most decidedly did look masculine) was wearing a suit that was made of material so black it seemed to pull light into it, and it fit him like a second skin. He held a tea cup that was also as dark as a windowless room, yet when you looked closely, it was almost like clouds or shades of colors were swirling within it.

“Ah, if I had known you were both coming, I would have made more tea!” smiled Grams. “So lovely to see you both! It has been quite a few centuries, I think.” She sipped at her tea, smiling at both figures. She looked positively delighted with herself, which put Gabe at ease quite a bit. He knew Grams always had his best interests at heart. He also knew placing their tea cups together meant that she approved of him and Az.

Really, what else could she do, since this was all actually her fault to begin with. She was technically the one who had cooked the summoning up.

He’d have to remember to thank her later for that.

“I am afraid there has been a grave mismanagement—” began Grandfather, but the dark figure cut him off.

“Oh do shut up, Michael. We are quite aware of the situation. Or do you forget yourself and in whose presence you sit?”

Gabe saw Grandfather’s face, and he, once again, did not look pleased.

“I still think you chose the wrong place,” the dark figure stated. “You probably hardly ever get to use your sword upstairs. I told you that you’d have far more occasion to swing that thing around in the underworld. If you weren’t such a prick, I”d ask you if you wanted to switch teams.”

The light figure gave a subtle clearing of the throat, and the dark figure turned toward them with an affectionate look on his face. “Of course I wouldn’t steal any of your people, Yah, but I’m sure he probably gives you about as much trouble as he’s worth. He’s gotten a bit high and mighty as of late. I keep telling you that I could have everyone upstairs in better shape in a few short years. They all take advantage of you, love.”

“Yah?” squeaked Gabe. This couldn’t be… Surely this wasn’t… Az gave him a tight squeeze, and the dark figure directed his attention to Gabe.

“Hmmm,” he said, looking closely at Gabe and then at Az. He squinted his eyes a bit, smirked, and then looked back at Gabe. “Yes, of course, introductions. I’m Lucifer, but you may call me Luce. And that is Yahweh, and you may call them Yah, although never upstairs, as it calls them forth and they’re entirely too overworked as it is.”

Gabe just stared. He was sitting and having tea with god and the devil? And the devil called god ”love”?

What. The. Fuck.

“Luce, it’s lovely to see you. I apologize for the summoning, but as you can see, we had a bit of a problem,” Az stated.

He then turned towards Yahweh and inclined his head. “I apologize, as I had no part in calling you forth, and I am sorry to have involved you in such a trivial quarrel,” he said, shooting a dirty look at Grandfather with the last two words.

Ok, so Grandfather could be kind of a dick sometimes, but he had always been nice to Gabe and his siblings, and he had come around frequently when they were growing up to check in on them. He’d fostered their interests, and Gabe had some pleasant memories of talking about old books and authors with him.

He was still pissed off, but he did logically understand that Grandfather had come in order to try and protect him. He was more angry at his brother for deciding that Grandfather’s interference was necessary in the first place.

“A trivial quarrel?” Yah questioned softly, and Gabe squirmed in his seat. Yah was staring at Az, and they seemed to glow a bit brighter, their voice carrying a hint of thunder and roaring oceans within it.

“Exactly,” said Grandfather smugly. “A demon taking advantage of a human is no trivial matter and requires action.”

Gabe had to resist the urge to go over and whack him across the head.

Grams, however, apparently could not resist the urge, because she reached over and did smack him across the back of the head.

“Dammit, woman!” he thundered.

He started to rise, but Yah’s voice cut him off, merely saying, “Michael,” with such power that Gabe practically felt the room shake. Michael stiffly sank back into the chair, and he looked like a sullen kid.

“Perhaps Michael should spend some time in the underworld,” Yah stated coldly, looking over at Luce. “He seems to have forgotten his place.”

Grandfather paled considerably at that. “My lord, I have not—” he began, but Yah again cut him off.

“Do you, for even a moment of time, begin to imagine that I do not know exactly what is occurring? Do you, for even the span of a breath, think that there is anything that happens anywhere that I am not fully aware of? Have you come to doubt my infallibility?” Yah questioned, and even Gabe felt his insides quake with fear in the face of that voice.

Michael slipped out of his chair and fell to his knees, his head bowed. “My lord, I most humbly apologize. I do not doubt your infallibility.”

Yah’s voice softened. “I appreciate that you look after your offspring and seek to be a protector, but you have become overzealous in this situation. Your prejudices color your vision. Rest assured that Gabriel is safe and under no one’s power but his own.” Yah’s voice hardened again as they stated, “Your presence is no longer required. You are dismissed.”

Michael’s head practically touched the floor he bowed so low, and then he spread his wings around himself and was gone.

“He has only gotten more insufferable,” sighed Grams.

Luce chuckled, but Yah merely sighed in what Gabe assumed was agreement.

“Lilith! How are you, my dear? It’s been decades at least!” Luce said, turning his attention to Grams.

“Oh, you know, no complaints,” she replied. “Other than that ass,” she muttered as an afterthought.

“I certainly didn’t expect to see both of you today,” she went on. “I’m sorry about the calling, Yah, but Michael was really being quite a dick. My dearest Gabey is happy, and I had no intention of letting Michael ruin that.”

Yah merely gazed at her, and she back at him. Gabe was intimidated, but Grams boldly soldiered on after a pause.

“He does, after all, have less than a century of life before he finds his way to the afterlife. Surely a single demon can be spared for such a paltry time,” she continued sweetly.

Yah had their hands folded together in front of their face, and the gazing simply continued. Luce smirked at Yah and chuckled, and Gabe could hear fondness there.

“You do badass so well, Yah. You really would manage quite well in the underworld. I’d be superb upstairs,” he boasted. “It’s a lovely plan.”

Grams looked scandalized. “You cannot possibly… that would cause a full revolt!”

Luce merely raised one eyebrow at her. Gabe frowned. Could everyone but him do that? Seriously?

“All will work out as it is meant to,” Luce stated. “After all, Yah is infallible,” he added, winking over at Yah.

Grams stuttered, but with some finger motions and a wave of Luce’s hand, Grams was gone. Gabe stiffened, but Luce said, “I’m sure she’ll be barging into your apartment later, have no fear.” He chuckled then. “Or perhaps do have fear. She can come up with quite a few interesting schemes.” Then he winked at Gabe.

Gabe had the urge to pinch himself.

Sure, he’d grown up with demons and angels and Lilith as his grandmother, but on no planet did he think Lucifer would be winking at him while sipping tea.

He knew they were next in line for this intervention or whatever it was, and he wasn’t going to be whisked back to his apartment without having his say.

“I’m not going back without Az,” Gabe vowed. He looked back and forth between god and the devil, both of whom were giving him their full attention.

Gabe swallowed before plowing on. “If it means I have to die, then so be it. I’m not leaving him.”

“No!” Az whispered behind him, clutching him tighter.

Gabe leaned into him then, and whispered, “Yes. Whatever it takes. I love you. I will give up an Earthly life and even my family if it means I can be with you.”

“I would never ask for such a sacrifice,” Az whispered back. “I would never accept such a sacrifice. I would give you up before seeing you lose everyone and everything.”

“The fact that you wouldn’t ask is what makes it possible for me to offer, Az,” Gabe murmured, turning in Az’s lap to look into his eyes. “You are worth it. You are worth everything. You have value. Beyond sex, and lust, and all your demonic powers, you have worth to me.”

Gabe leaned down, kissing Az on the mouth softly. “You make me a better person, Az. I won’t give that up.”

Gabe then turned around, facing down both god and the devil, ready to do battle for the love of his life.