Gabriel edged down into her pond, taking the long chain links down into the murky, cold depths. The disturbance cut off the scene from below, giving her aching heart relief from all that she knew was happening. With a simple thought from her mind, the waterfall released from its frozen state and plummeted down, pulling her in and dusting her face with a cold spray. A chill seeped through her long robe to attack her skin, but she barely noticed it. Anticipation mingled with foreboding at what she was about to do and whom she would soon be standing face to face with.

After Michael’s unwanted visit, it was late the following night. The realm was quiet while all that marched on below was ready to be unleashed. She had waited as long as she could stand, hoping—but never praying—that despite the eternal light above, the darkness below would shield her until she reached him, and that the veil that concealed him would hide her presence too.

Intermittent sparks strobed overhead.

While God and hopefully all the angels were occupied, she had to act fast.

Diving under the dirty water, the taste found its way into her mouth and stung her eyes. She kept kicking, fighting the surface that dragged her up—until the chain pulled tight. Spinning underwater as the plunging waterfall dragged her back, the glowing loops lent light to her wet surroundings. She caught the damaged link with both hands and tugged. She felt the link groan in resistance as lacking air squeezed her lungs. She tugged harder. The link shifted—not enough to get the chain free. She tugged again. Her lips pinned together, fighting her body’s need to breathe. Another tug. Spots dotted her vision. She screamed with one last tug, unable to keep her mouth shut.

And then she was free.

The chain fell as the waterfall’s rush sucked her back and shoved her down. Water invaded her mouth, filling her lungs—as she clicked her fingers.

Traversing from the Realm of Light and her garden prison, Gabriel materialized amongst the stars. Her wings flared out to keep her aloft as water sprayed from her mouth in a coughing fit.

She had done it. She had escaped.

And now she had to get to Lucifer—before it was too late.

There was no time to catch her breath and relieve the burn that squeezed her lungs. There was no time to hesitate. Repositioning her wings, Gabriel dove from the heavens and down at the earth. She had no power to instantly relocate to where he and his army had been marching to. She had to fall, plunge through the darkness until the orb below rushed up and water and land took shape. Until she reached Lucifer’s location.

Her fears of being watched, or caught, or stopped were constant, but they paled to her fear of failing Lucifer again. If she did not get through to him this time, what would happen to the angel she could not rid from her thoughts?

How much further could an angel without wings fall?

With fear of the unknown pushing her onward, she finally left the stars and shot through the thick clouds. The grainy insides attacked her with a shiver, but then she was free.

Gabriel’s retracted wings flung out as detail reached her eyes. With her robe now dry from her long fall, she hovered way above in the sky, so high that any onlooker to gaze up could mistake her for one of the glittering stars that surrounded her. Finally she was taking the leap she had been desperate and fearful to take for so long now. The leap Michael had made possible. Her heart ached while her strong wings kept her aloft as she followed the movement down on the ground. Desperation grew like a coiling ball of energy in her chest.

The enemy camp that came into view crawled with lurking men. Lucifer’s creatures. They had gathered and set up over the past weeks, gaining on Babylon to stop the threat before it returned to their kingdom. They would never make it. There was nothing she could do to stop the events that were about to unfold. Yet, even though she had not been given the approval to be here, she knew she would do something.

She had to.

Great white wings slowing, Gabriel descended lower. Her sight of the action rose up fast. The first of the creatures slipped inside enemy tents—and then the screaming started.

The sound shot through Gabriel, and she dropped faster. The air fought with her robe until she landed with a thump amongst sheltering trees. Beyond the secluding darkness, she stared helplessly as humans escaped their tents and scrambled to get away. Except there was no escaping. Not for any of them. The monsters moved as fast as she could. They caught and clawed into their prey until one after the other fell quiet. She scanned the red-eyed faces and terrified people—

From only a hundred yards away, she felt a sensation that stole her breath. Like all the ambush attacks to gain new recruits over the years, Lucifer was here. And if she could feel him—he could feel her.

And then she saw him.

As with every ambush since his first creature was created, Lucifer did not join in on the initial attack. His battle armor was free of blood and would remain that way. His hands were never used in battle as instruments of pain and death. At least not until the time came to turn these unsuspecting soldiers into his own. Staring up at the heavens, terrified men scampered around him. His strong chin lifted and his arms opened wide as if in invitation. An invitation to God that to this day had never been answered. Gabriel had seen it all from the Realm of Light above. She had watched how each refusal to act had turned Lucifer’s damaged heart darker while provoking his ambition.

Now she only hoped she would be enough—to stem his hatred and fill the void he felt.

A tear rolled down her cheek, and Lucifer’s head snapped down. He stared straight out in her direction. The silver intensity of his irises was so bright she was sure he could see her. His lips curled back from his teeth in an expression that was too cruel to be a smile. He struck out fast, grabbing a young male soldier around the neck.

Gabriel watched in fear as the boy screamed and struggled to get free, but Lucifer didn’t break his neck. Instead, he stalked toward her and away from the camp, dragging the boy whose screams failed with the tightening of Lucifer’s grip.

Shrieks and cries continued to split the air as he closed in on the sheltering trees ahead. “You finally grace me with your presence. To see firsthand what your most prized possessions, even above your angels, truly are.” Lucifer thrust the boy down to his knees and freed his sword to cut open his forearm before re-holstering the weapon. His smile dared retaliation—from God. “How perfect they are in their freedom.”

As Lucifer stared into the darkness beyond the thick line of trees, something was horribly clear. He thought she was God. Gabriel’s heart sank like a stone. “You know better than to taunt Him.”

Lucifer’s eyes widened, a rare flash of happiness stealing away that hard edge. But then the expression fell with grief and he shook his head. “I suppose I should have known better after all this time. I along with this Godforsaken Earth may as well be dead for all He cares.” When he glanced back up, he looked as lost as the time they had been separated—her to be chained in her ruined garden and him to be trapped under Michael’s rule. Gabriel came forward, remembering how he had fought for and advocated for humans in the beginning. She remembered how he had desperately wanted to be like them.

Free.

Moving around the thick trees, Gabriel’s bare feet padded over the leaf-mulched ground. The gentle light that surrounded her intensified as if she were a white flame burning brighter because of their closeness. Lucifer regarded her face, his lips parting as if mesmerized at the sight of her. Yet on glimpsing her saddened expression, his morphed with the same pain that had resonated on his face the day he’d fallen. “Lucifer, please. Let the boy go.”

Seconds went by, his expression unchanging and body unmoving. When his arm had almost healed, he blew air through his nose and tugged the shocked boy up by his neck, shoving him back in the camp’s direction.

For a moment, Gabriel’s heart soared. Perhaps she could get through to him. At the same time, the pained expression on his face dampened her hope, as did the clenching of his fists. His eyes that screamed of internal torment did not leave her face for a second. “It has been almost three decades.”

And yet, he looked exactly the same as he had all those years ago. As did she. Timeless and eternal.

But still, so much had changed.

They were no longer who they used to be. From the look in his eyes, she was no more than a stranger he was cursed to remember.