No Shadows Fall (16 page)

“Be with God,” Ahijah said to the young man.

“Go with God, Father,” the young man said in reply.

Ahijah smiled and gestured to the angels to follow him. He walked quickly out of the vestry and toward a rear door. Outside, he took a deep breath. “All right, shall we go?”

“Won’t your parish flock be confused that you just disappeared?” Tzadkiel asked.

“No.” Ahijah smiled faintly. “They’re used to miracles here.”

Raziel and Sophiel exchanged a long look that spoke volumes. Raziel turned back to Ahijah and nodded. “Then we’ll move.”

The four angels placed their hands on Ahijah’s shoulders and moved them straight to the island of Iona.

T
HE
CHANGE
of climate was like a slap in the face when they emerged in the rear garden of the cottage the Archangels had rented on Iona. Raziel shivered, pulling a coat to him with his power and tugging it on as fast as he could. The others, he noted, did the same.

“I forgot how cold it would be here,” Tzadkiel admitted, his teeth chattering.

“So did I,” Raziel admitted. “Go inside,” he urged Ahijah, noting the man’s lips were starting to turn blue.

Ahijah did, the angels following him quickly. The interior of the cottage was warm and comfortable, and Raziel let out a huff of relief. “That is so much better.”

Ahijah looked at Raziel. “Lord Raziel,” he began in a deferential tone, “where is Mother?”

“She’ll be in the living room. Down the hall, the front room,” Raziel pointed in the direction of the front door.

“Thank you.” Ahijah inclined his head politely and started down the corridor.

Raziel sighed. “We need to talk with the others,” he said without preamble. “In private.”

“There’s a bar here, isn’t there?” Tzadkiel said. “Why don’t we all go there? Give Ishtahar and her boys some privacy and us a space to be warm while we talk.”

“Good idea. Go get the others, would you? I’ll meet you there.” Raziel blipped out before waiting for an answer.

The bar was a small Scottish pub, and the barman smiled as he called a cheery greeting to Raziel. Raziel was relieved to see that the pub had a dining room as well as the barroom.

“Good afternoon,” he began, “I was wondering if I and my Brotherhood could commandeer your dining room for the rest of the day? We need to talk in private, you see, and—”

He was cut off by the barman. “Of course you can, my lord. My humble establishment is yours for as long as you need it.”

Raziel gave the man a relieved smile. “Thanks. We’ll be needing beer… lots of beer, probably some wine for two of us and water for one of us. Michael doesn’t drink,” he explained.

“All right, that’s fine.” The barman made a note on a small pad of paper. “Anything else?”

“No, I think the others can order food and more drink if they want it. They’ve got legs; they know how to walk to the bar.”

The barman laughed. “No worries, my lord.”

“Raziel. Just Raziel’s fine.”

“Raziel, then. I’m John, owner and bartender. My wife, Molly, she’s the head cook and bottle washer here.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you, John.” Raziel held out his hand, and John took it, shaking it with a firm grip.

“I’ll see to the dining room, and tell Molly that you’ll all probably want something to eat. How many of you will there be?”

Raziel smiled broadly. “You’re very kind, John. I really appreciate this. There’ll be ten Archangels and four of the regular kind of angels. Two were originally Ophanim; they’re second-in-command to Tzadkiel. One was a Seraphim; he’s second-in-command to Gabriel. And Agrat is one of a kind.”

“So fourteen of Heaven’s finest.” John clapped Raziel’s shoulder companionably. “Not a problem at all, Raziel.”

“Thank you. I’ll just go set things up, if that’s all right. The others should be along any moment.”

“Of course. Go right ahead. I’ll show them through myself when they arrive.”

“Cheers, John.” Raziel headed into the dining room and, with his power, began pulling in various things he’d need for this meeting. Then he sealed the room so any shouting—for he had no doubt there would be a lot of that, considering the personalities of his Brotherhood—wouldn’t be heard beyond the dining room walls.

G
ABRIEL
FILED
into the dining room of the pub close behind Michael. He was curious, turning his head this way and that as he took in Raziel’s setup. There was a laptop, several folders, and a projection screen. Gabriel guessed the screen was so Raziel could show them photographs without having to pass them around and listen to squabbling.

Taking a seat beside his lover, Gabriel leaned in and murmured, “This is all very cloak-and-dagger, don’t you reckon?”

Michael smiled. “It is a little. I am sure Raziel has good reason for it.”

“Raziel has damn good reason for it.” Raziel was grim. “Close and lock the door, would you please, Remi?”

“Okay.” Remiel did as Raziel asked and sat down between Haniel and Samael.

Gabriel quirked an eyebrow at the youngest Archangel. “So what’s so important to warrant all this shielding and stuff?” He waved a hand vaguely at Raziel’s collection of papers and the computer.

“I’m getting to it.” Raziel scrubbed his face with one hand. He looked tired, Gabriel thought. Uriel obviously had the same thought, for his face contorted into a scowl, and he moved to Raziel.

“Can’t this wait while you have a rest?”

“No, Uri.” Raziel gave him a tired smile. “It can’t, I’m afraid. I’ll rest later. Work now.”

Uriel’s scowl deepened. “I don’t like it.”

“Duly noted.” Raziel kissed Uriel’s cheek, a gesture that didn’t lessen the scowl at all. “Take a seat and I’ll get on with this.”

“Fine.” Uriel did as he was told, sitting close and watching Raziel like a hawk.

“All right then,” Raziel said by way of calling the meeting to order. “This is both a report and a collection of suspicions. I’ll get the report out of the way first.

“Uriel told me that Hiwa was in Russia, in a prison, having been arrested for murder. He’s covered with Russian prison tats, which are a language all of their own, and I don’t have time to read them all and figure out exactly what his story is, but from my quick glance, I would say that he is quite high in the echelons of the crime bosses in Russia and one of their go-to hit men. He is, however, devoted to his mother. From what Uriel said, Hiwa was prepared to set aside his life of crime outside of prison to go to Ishtahar. I count that as a good thing. She’s glad to have him here, isn’t she, Remi?”

Remiel nodded. “Yeah, really glad. She hasn’t spoken about it, but she’s missed the boys. Seeing them, regardless of circumstance, makes her happy.”

“Okay, good.” Raziel picked up his mug of beer and took a long drink. “Mm, good beer,” he murmured, and then he went on with his report. “Tzadkiel, Brieus, Sophiel, and I went to South America in search of Ahijah. All reports I had indicated he was somewhere down there, so we followed the signature of his half-angel soul. Surprisingly, he managed to trick us—a lot. It took us nearly a week to find him, when I gather it took you guys less than a day to find Hiwa.” Raziel nodded to Uriel, Samael, Shateiel, and Agrat.

“Yes, it was quite easy to find Hiwa,” Agrat said with a nod. “I mean, he was in jail, and it’s not as if he could really hide too well in there.”

“Well, he might have, if he’d had knowledge to suggest that it would be prudent to do so.” Raziel took another deep breath. “We caught up with Ahijah eventually, in Bolivia. He’s a priest now. Says he’s been one for some centuries, ended up in Bolivia when the Spanish invaded. I’m not entirely convinced, actually. There were a lot of incidental things that, taken by themselves, would mean nothing, but taken together as a whole, are alarming.”

“Such as?” Gabriel asked.

“I think he’s sheltering Nephilim.”

Silence met that statement. Then Uriel burst out laughing.

Gabriel blinked, startled by Uriel’s reaction. He wasn’t the only one, Michael’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline and Raziel looked at Uriel as if he’d gone mad. Uriel pounded his fist on his knee as he guffawed.

“Oh, that’s a good one, Razzy,” he said between his laughter, “damn good joke!”

“Uri?” Raziel was looking at Uriel with bemusement. “I’m not actually joking.”

Uriel stopped laughing. “You’re not?”

“Ah, no.” Raziel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why me?” he muttered, and then he looked at Uriel. “I believe a few of the Nephilim managed to survive Gabriel’s genocide and your little Flood, and Ahijah is protecting them.”

“Bullshit.” Uriel glared.

“If you please, sir,” Sophiel said in a diffident voice, “Lord Raziel is right. We saw traces and Ahijah himself said some things that gave myself and Lord Raziel pause.”

“Yeah, well, it’s still bullshit.” Uriel stood up, resting his hands on the table and glaring at everyone. “I’m going to go and drag Ahijah out of that house and hit him. I’ll keep hitting him until he tells me what the hell is going on.”

“Oh sit down, Uriel,” Michael said. “You will do no such thing. Huff and puff to yourself, and to your beloved if you must, but you will not assault Ahijah in such a way.”

Raziel blinked. “Well now. That’s a turnaround. Am I missing something?”

Michael sighed heavily. “I fear that you are correct. There are some few Nephilim surviving from the days of the Flood and Gabriel’s… chastisement of them.”

“You say chastisement, they say slaughter,” Brieus remarked.

“Be still.” Michael glared at him, and Brieus cowered back behind Tzadkiel. “I spoke with God. Metatron will back me up on this. Any survivors who are Nephilim are to be left alone. As you suggest, Raziel, there are not many. They are not mating or breeding. They are simply living. Until they try to breed, God is at peace with them. So, yes, Uriel, you will do nothing.”

Uriel looked aghast. Gabriel thought that Uriel looked rather a lot as if Michael had taken away all of his toys and locked him in a room. Pouting, Uriel sat back down and slouched.

“Fine,” he grumbled, looking like a petulant child.

“As you say.” Michael turned back to Raziel. “Please continue your report.”

“Wow. Right. Yes.” Raziel shook himself. His eyes suddenly narrowed. “Wait just a cotton-picking minute. I didn’t come down in the last shower. You’re up to something, Michael.”

Michael did not meet Raziel’s gaze, and Gabriel suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

“You’re using them,” Raziel said in astonishment. “As bait for Semjaza!”

“Yes,” Michael admitted. He looked down at the tabletop. “It is not admirable. If necessary, I will use these surviving Nephilim as a means to get to Semjaza. It will be only as a last resort, however. I will not use them unless there is no other option.”

“Holy crap,” Tzadkiel said. He looked as stunned as Gabriel felt.

“You got that right,” Gabriel agreed. “Why didn’t you say something, Mishka?”

Michael shot him a quick look. “I was going to,” he admitted, “but then Raziel called this meeting, and… here we stand.”

“Wow.” Gabriel shook his head. “Well, that makes this game a little more interesting.”

Uriel huffed. “If you fucking say so.”

“Uri,” Gabriel said, “if Michael ends up using the Nephilim as bait, that means that sooner or later, you will be able to slice and dice them.”

Uriel blinked. Then he smiled. “Okay. I’m all for this, then.”

Raziel rolled his eyes ceilingward. “Oh, Uriel,” he sighed. “Aren’t you over this yet? You didn’t want to do it back in the day, and you were pissy about having been ordered to do it. So you decided—in typically Uriel fashion—that since you had no choice, you might as well enjoy it, and now you sound like a bad villain in a D-grade gore film.”

Uriel rolled his eyes. “I do not,” he said. After a moment, he added, “Maybe a B-grade gore film. The rest… I don’t want to fucking talk about it.”

Raziel threw up his hands. “Whatever—”

“I have not decided that they are to be used as yet,” Michael said, raising his voice to cut off Raziel and Uriel. “It may be that I do not need to do so. However, I am not ignoring that the possibility may yet arise.”

“Wow,” Gabriel said again, leaning back in his chair. He chuckled ruefully. “This is turning into an interesting meeting.”

“And I haven’t gotten to the best part yet, either,” Raziel said. He hesitated and Gabriel could see that Raziel was dreading saying what was to come next. Curious, Gabriel leaned forward, clasping his hands together on the cool surface of the table.

“What is it, Raz?” Gabriel asked.

“I met with Penemuel,” Raziel said. “Twice. And once with Kokabiel and Baraqiel.”

Gabriel was speechless. His astonishment was mirrored on every face in the room as all eyes locked on Raziel.

“Yes. Well, I was summoned by a little human girl to meet with her, her mum, and Penemuel. She wanted me to protect Penemuel from Semjaza. Apparently, Semjaza called the three Grigori to a meeting. I had to go upstairs and talk to God because this is a whole new situation and I had no idea what to do.”