Chapter One
Ace
I reached for my sword, then realized I was naked. No shirt, no pants and definitely no sword. I screamed in frustration as Azriel plunged his hand into Arcadia’s chest and tore out her soul.
Fuck, fuck, fuck! I jumped toward him but my body was as weak as a fawn’s from decades of stagnation.
“Lucifer!” I yelled, feeling a little ashamed that I had to call for my lover to take care of Azriel.
“Too late now, Acerezeal. It’s over,” his smug voice grated against my nerves. Weak or not, I stumbled toward him, keeping one eye on Arcadia’s soul as it drifted upwards.
“You better get out of here before I gain back enough coordination to kick you where your balls should be!”
He just laughed, and I silently vowed revenge. He must have seen murder on my face, because he quit laughing.
“Lucifer!” I yelled again. “I’d go if I were you; he isn’t going to be happy that you snuffed his Redeemer.” I let out a humorless laugh. “You know what, stay. I’d love to see him pummel the shit out of your smug angel face.”
Azriel narrowed his eyes. “It’s good to have you back, Acerezeal. I look forward to separating your body and your soul again, hopefully permanently this time.”
I grinned as a knife came from behind him and pressed against his throat.
“Threaten her again, Azriel, and the only thing being separated will be your head from your body,” Luc growled. My heart beat faster. I’d forgotten how sexy he was when he was threatening our enemies with decapitation.
Azriel disappeared in a flash, the coward. Luc just stared at me in awe. I wanted to run to him, wrap my arms around his body and feel his touch against my skin. But first…
“Quick, Arcadia’s soul!” I pointed to the luminous soul getting closer to the roof.
Luc shot out a hand and whispered in Latin. Angels like me could do a lot of things, but manipulation of souls was strictly an Archangel thing. And despite his fallen status, Luc had once been an Archangel.
He called it back to his hand, like a puppy to heel.
“Acerezeal, I cannot place this back in her damaged body. She will just die anyway.” I took a moment to watch the humans work as they desperately tried to save Arcadia. I trusted that they would ensure she lived, but I needed to keep her soul safe until they fixed her physical form.
“Put her soul into my body. She shared her body with me for so many years, it’s time I returned the favor.”
Luc raised his eyebrows. “You want to put a human soul in your body?”
“Yes. Now let’s do it before anything else goes wrong.”
He leaned down and kissed me. “I have missed you, my love.” I relished the feel of his lips on mine. I would never take his kisses for granted again. I would appreciate every touch, every embrace. “This might feel a little uncomfortable,” he said as he jammed his hand at my chest and I felt my body’s confusion as another soul settled beside mine. It was like a heart attack, or maybe a panic attack. Living with Arcadia had taught me what both of those sensations felt like. It would adapt. My body was angelic. I could carry Arcadia with me forever, if need be.
As Cady's soul settled in my body, the screeching of the human vitals machines stopped, and they stabilized her body.
Arcadia?
I could feel her confusion. What’s happening? Where am I?
Ugh. I forgot the soul amnesia. We needed to kick start her memory ASAP because this whole thing was going to be way too hard to explain. I walked out of the operating theater, taking Luc’s hand. His strong fingers threaded through mine, and I wanted to weep with joy. But fallen angels don’t weep. Hell, angels don’t weep at all.
Am I naked? Arcadia asked, outraged and a little embarrassed. She must have caught a glimpse of me in the glass windows.
Technically I’m naked. But don’t worry. No one can see us unless I allow them too.
We made it to the waiting room, and there were Arcadia’s Seven, looking like utter shit. Oz was sitting with his head in his hands, his eyes bloodshot red. Ri was beside him, worry and fear fighting for prominence on his face. Lux was standing in the corner, his face a hard mask to keep in the emotion. Sam kept running his hand through nonexistent hair as he paced back and forward. Valery was leaning against a wall, wiping tears on his sleeve. Tolliver was at the nurse's station demanding answers. And Eli looked… devastated. He looked as if his soul was being put through a meat mincer.
Oh. There was such pain in Arcadia’s single, whispered word. Oh, my guys. I’m so sorry. A huge wave of sadness flowed through my body. I remember. Azriel, that motherfucking asshole. Angel or not, I am going to shred him when I see him next. Wait until I tell Lux.
“He’ll have to get in line. Azriel was lucky I didn’t have my sword.”
Luc gave me a lopsided grin. He was so happy, and I was so torn. I was ecstatic to be back with him, always, but not at the cost of Arcadia’s life. I wouldn’t be truly happy until she was back in that weird poly lovefest she called a relationship.
What are we going to do? Arcadia asked, her voice suddenly small.
We're going to fix this, but first…
I uncloaked myself and so did Luc.
“Luc? What’s going on?” Eli asked
“Who’s the naked angel?” Ri joined in, though there wasn’t anything remotely lascivious about the question.
“Arcadia?” Lux asked, but his face said he already knew.
Luc looked at me and I shrugged. “They’ll take it better from you.”
He shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to me. It had slots for my wings, and I put it on and zipped it up. It fell to my upper thighs, but covered all the important bits. It was still warm from Luc’s body, and smelled like him. God, I’d missed his scent.
“You should explain, my love. You were there.”
“My love? Ace?” Oz gaped at me, and I could feel Arcadia’s desire to reach out and stroke his cheek.
“Yep, it’s me. Acerezeal. I got my body back, though it was touch and go there for a second. The Father sends his regards by the way,” I said to Luc.
“Arcadia?” Lux prompted again.
I grimaced. “It went badly. The babies are both fine, I imagine they’ll both be in neonatal about now, but there were complications for Arcadia. She… died.”
Nothing could have prepared me for the look of utter devastation on their faces. Each one. It was like a sucker punch to the heart.
“Azriel came, separated her soul from her body, and then Luc turned up and stopped Arcadia’s ascent. We decided it was best if we placed her soul into my body until you,” I looked at Eli, “can fix her body enough that she won’t die as soon as it’s returned.”
Tolliver slumped down on the chair. “So she’s there, with you now? She’s the voice in your head?”
I gave him a small smile. “The irony isn’t lost on me. But it’s okay, we are used to sharing now.”
Arcadia was beginning to cry. I didn’t know a soul could cry. Wail yes, there were plenty of wailing souls in hell, but not cry.
I’m just a passenger. I didn’t realize how frustrating this would be. I’m so sorry you had to do this for so many years, Ace. I miss them so much already. And my babies. I’ll never get to hold my babies.
I firmed my jaw. You will. I will make sure of it. She deserved her happiness, and I was determined to help her get it. Now, suck it up. I don’t want to listen to you cry for a month.
Arcadia let out a soft laugh. We needed to get used to this as the new normal, because shit was only going to get weirder.
“How will this work?” Eli asked, sinking down into the chair beside Tolliver.
“You work on getting her body better. I want her to be able to skip out of this hospital and never come back except to have Casanova’s pretty babies.” I poked a thumb towards Ri. “I’m going to find a way to get her soul from my body and back into her own without involving Azriel the Dickhole.”
“Can’t he do it?” Lux asked, his voice a combination of pain and promised retribution that made my skin prickle. The dude was gonna spiral without Arcadia.
“Luc can put a soul back into a body, otherwise deathbed deals with the Devil wouldn’t be a thing. But he can’t take one out. That is the strict purview of very few of our kind. Just the big three, and Azriel the Douche Canoe.”
The big three?
“The big three are Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, in case you are wondering.”
Maybe we can try Michael? He showed an interest before.
I looked at Luc. My sexy, short tempered lover. He was as beautiful as the day I first saw him, when his wings were still milky white and he hadn’t yet fallen. He liked to pretend he was okay with his new role, but deep down being cast out still hurt. Especially being cast out by Michael, who he’d considered a friend. I’d considered him a friend.
Yeah, we’ll probably keep a visit to Michael as a last resort.
Lux stood in front of me, towering over me even though I was back in my willowy 5’9 body and no longer in Arcadia’s vertically challenged one.
Hey!
“I’m going with you,” Lux said. It wasn’t a request, or even a demand. It was a statement of fact.
“I’m sorry, but we are going places you cannot go. Well, places you would never return from,” Luc said with something that almost sounded like compassion. From the Devil. Today was a strange day all round.
Lux let out a frustrated grunt between his teeth. “I need to do something.”
I put my hands on his cheeks and did something I hadn’t done in centuries, since I fell. I sifted with another person.
I sifted him to the fourth floor of the hospital, into the neonatal care unit. I checked him over to make sure all his molecules came with him. Arms, legs, only two eyes. Okay, we were good. Apparently moving people through time and space was just like riding a bike.
In the nursery, in two humidicribs side by side, laid Arcadia’s babies. Tiny, pink and defenseless.
“They need you. All of you.”
Lux stared at the babies; Estrella was small but still bigger than Hope, who would have fit in one of Lux’s massive hands.
“Do you know who’s they are yet?”
I stared at him. “Does it matter?”
He shook his head, sadness dragging down the lines of his handsome face and for a second, every one of the two thousand years he’d lived was etched on his face.
“No. They are hers, and I will love and protect them with my life.”
Arcadia was so quiet, but I could sense her awe of the babies. I wasn’t going to lie, they were the most perfect creations I had ever seen.
I turned back to Lux to find him staring at me. Not at me, past me, as if he could see into my soul like an angel.
“You will come back to me, Arcadia Jones.”
Tell him I love him.
“She says she loves you.” We turned back to the babies. “I’ll bring her back, I promise.”
Committing their tiny faces to memory, I knew it was time to go. I walked to the window and slid it open, spreading my wings wide.
“By the way, congratulate Oz on becoming a Papa for me, yeah?”
With that, I fell into gravity’s calm embrace and for the first time in decades, I felt the wind beneath my wings.
Now that song was going to be stuck in my head. Damn you, Barbara.