Rebellion

held her gaze for just long enough to make his point, and then nodded goodnight. She closed the door behind her.

ADRIEL SHUFFLED HIS papers again and sighed, listening to her footsteps heading down the corridor, and to the door banging as she let herself out.

“You not done with all that paperwork yet? You’ve been fiddling with it long enough,” said a voice from the corner of the room.

Adriel glanced up. “I find paperwork soothing. Particularly when talking to Alice. She’s... struggling.”

“She’s not.”

“I beg to differ. That... girl” – Adriel paused – “is in free-fall.”

“She’s fine.” The angel who had been standing unnoticed in the darkness stepped out into the room, his leather jacket creaking as he flopped into the chair across from Adriel and swung his boots up onto the desk. Adriel scowled at him pointedly, and he swung them back down again. “She needs to find her feet again. That’s all.”

“I’m not sure it’s that simple.”

“I didn’t want her to know I was here, Adriel. It would defeat the point of all this.”

“I understand. But...”

“It was for the best, but you’re right. Things have changed, haven’t they? And whether you believe it or not, I do appreciate you calling me. She’s pissed off. I didn’t think for a second that she wouldn’t be. Frankly, if I didn’t think she missed me, I’d be pissed off. I’m the kind of man you’d miss, don’t you think?” He cracked a grin, burrowed down into the chair, and this time, when he swung his feet up onto the desk, Adriel simply rolled his eyes.

“Now. You got anything to drink around here?”

CHAPTER SIX Dancing on Pins

“YOU CAN LET him go now, Zak.”

Michael was pacing the floor. Behind him were a half-dozen angels, all standing to attention and blocking the doorway, and in the middle of the floor between them was Zadkiel, his boot firmly placed on the back of one of the Fallen, pinning his chest to the floor and his wrists to his spine.

“You sure? Because I’m good here.”

“Zadkiel, let him up. He’s clearly of no use to me.” Michael snapped his fingers and a very small flame appeared on the floor, an inch in front of the unfortunate Fallen, whose eyes crossed and then widened as he tried to focus on it. “Unless, of course, he happens to remember something I want to know...”

“Wait!” The Fallen thrashed, trying to turn his head away from the rapidly growing flame. Michael snapped his fingers again, making the flame vanish, and dropped into a crouch directly in front of the Fallen. He tipped his head sideways to look at him.

“Yes?”

“That half-born! The one with the fire!”

“Yes?”

“She killed Murmur.”

“Did she now?” Michael sat back on his heels and glanced up at Zadkiel – who shrugged, then took his weight off the Fallen’s back and stepped away.

The Fallen sat up, slowly at first, and was obviously about to scuttle into a corner when he spotted the other angels, and thought better of it. He met Michael’s calmly inquisitive gaze.

“So... what’s your name?”

“Astorath.”

“Astorath. You look familiar. Have we met?”

“I don’t...”

“Frankly, I don’t really care either way. And I don’t have to tell you how this will go, do I? You’ll tell me whatever it is you know, because I want to know it.”

“And you’ll let me go?”

“Yes, yes. Something like that.” Michael waved a hand vaguely. “Now. Tell me about Murmur.”

“He was... in a warehouse. The Earthbounds came. They had the half-born with them and she...”

“She burned him, I imagine. Well, well. Look who’s all grown up. Murmur, you say?” He frowned, and looked up at Zadkiel, who made a looping motion with his finger across the lower half of his face. Michael got the message. “Ah, him. Mmm.”

He rocked back on his heels and stood up, running his hands through his hair as he turned away. Behind Astorath, Zadkiel took a quiet – but exaggerated – step back.

“That’s it? That’s all you wanted to know?”

“Why? Do you know more?”

“No. No, no. I don’t know anything.”

“Well, then.” Michael had stopped with his back to Astorath, and the Fallen clambered to his feet, one eye on the door.

“I told you what you wanted to know. I can go now, right? You said you’d let me go...”

Michael was back across the room, eyes blazing and wings unfurled, in a heartbeat. He swung one of his wings at the unfortunate Fallen and knocked him sprawling onto the floor. “Let you go? For what? To go snivelling back to your master? Vermin,” he hissed, and suddenly his sword was in his hand. He raised it high... and then stopped. Astorath – who had curled into a ball and wrapped his arms around his head – peered out between his elbows. He watched as Michael lowered his sword, then smiled. When Michael winked, he drew his arms away from his head... and then burst into flames. Michael stood and watched as the Fallen burned away to nothing – not even ash – and he folded his wings behind him.

Zadkiel shook his head from his perch on the windowsill. “You’re a mean old bastard, aren’t you?”

Michael waved the other angels away, and as one, they turned and marched out of the room. As soon as they were gone, he scowled back at Zadkiel. “Would you care to elaborate on that?”

“Not really.”

“He was looking for Lucifer.”

“So that would be exactly what I said would happen, then, wouldn’t it? I really don’t care if you kill them, but there’s no need to get their hopes up before you do it. And if it were up to me, I’d weigh Lucifer down and drop him into the ocean.”

“It isn’t that simple.”

“You sure about that? Because from where I’m sitting it looks pretty fucking simple.”

“And that is why you are not the leader of this army. You’ve made your point, Zak,” Michael said, placing his sword on the floor alongside the throne. “Now, I suggest we move on.”

“You want to talk about Alice. There’s a surprise.”

“She killed one of the Twelve.”

“Funnily enough, I got that. Has it occurred to you that you should be thanking her for it? I mean, it’s just a thought, but aren’t we all supposed to be on the same side?”

“How can I keep order if she wilfully disobeys, and then does... this?”

“Aaand we’re back to that.” Zadkiel dropped his head into his hands; his fingers rubbing at the corner of his eyes. “Again.”

“She needs to be brought into line.”

“Why? Let her run for a while. She scares the Fallen and, to be honest, that’s what you need her to be doing. And, besides, don’t you have other things to be worrying about?”

“There is nothing more important than...”

“... order, discipline, boring, boring, boring. Whatever. I’m telling you, Michael: if you don’t act, before long