Rebellion

“No sign of the Fallen, no sign of Xaphan, no sign of Mallory...”

“And no sign of how they got in or out,” Michael snapped. “That’s what I’m most interested in, Zak.”

“Alice already told you that. The bus, remember?”

“No.” Michael shook his head. “That’s how they got here, not how they got in.”

“There’s a thousand ways...”

“Believe me, Zak, there aren’t. I know every stone of this fortress, and I’m telling you that I can count the ways into it on the fingers of one hand. So I want to know how they got in, and I want to know now!” The room shook as he raised his voice, but Zak merely blinked at him.

“I’ll do my best, Michael, but I think you already know what happened.”

“No. That’s not it.”

“Yes, it is. Whether you want to admit it or not.”

“Who, then? Who would you have me blame?”

“Whoever let them in.” Zadkiel shrugged and stared out of the window.

Alice looked at the two of them. “What about Mallory? And Vin? And Jester?”

“What about them?” Michael asked.

“Don’t you care what’s happened to them?”

“Not especially, no,” he snapped back at her, making her widen her eyes in shock. “Mallory and Vin are soldiers. They are soldiers who were foolish enough to be captured, and they understand the consequences of this. My priority is to keep the priory secure.”

“But...”

“No. No, Alice. You do not get to have an opinion, you do not get to criticise my actions, and above all, you do not presume to give me orders!”

“Wow. You’re a fruitcake. You know that?”

“I’m sorry... what?” Michael’s temper evaporated and Alice suddenly had his full attention. She wasn’t sure that this was necessarily a good thing.

“You know. Nuts. Mad. Bonkers. Psycho. Crazy. Two biscuits short of a packet. Not quite the full shilling...”

“You’re trying my patience, Alice. If you have a point, now is the time to make it. And make sure it’s valid.”

“You’re threatening me.”

“I don’t make threats...”

“Because that sounds like a threat.”

“No. My telling you that if you don’t have a reason for all... that, I could kill you; that’s not a threat. My telling you that I would kill you without a second thought, and then find and kill Mallory, Vhnori and anyone you’ve ever called a friend... not a threat.” He leaned forward. “It would be a promise.” He glared at her, and his eyes were liquid fire.

It crossed Alice’s mind that this might have been slightly the wrong approach. But it was too late to do anything other than carry on.

“My point is that you’re apparently happy to leave Mallory and Vin to rot while you go on some kind of witch-hunt.”

“And?”

“They could help. If you...”

“You need to stop talking, Alice.”

“I just...”

“Now, Alice.”

“You...”

“Alice!” Michael’s voice had risen to a roar again, and Alice flinched. Michael, however, was determined to make his point – and slowly, deliberately, he walked towards her, sparks hissing across his open wings and scattering across the floor. “Before you extol the virtues of two of my angels to me any further, I should remind you that Vhnori is an Earthbound, serving out punishment for his crimes. Moreover, he and his half-born have mostly been taken by the Fallen in retaliation for the unsanctioned torture of one of Lucifer’s preferred generals.”

“Unsanctioned...?”

“And while I hate to be the bearer of bad news...”

“Michael!” Zadkiel interrupted, suddenly at Alice’s side. Alice frowned as Zadkiel held out a hand towards the other Archangel. “Don’t.”

“Why? She should know, shouldn’t she? After all, this is the man she holds up as a shining beacon of all that angels should be.”

“Should know... what?” asked Alice, with a familiar sinking feeling.

Michael smiled coldly at her. “About Mallory.”

“Is he... Did he...?” She couldn’t bring herself to say it.

“Dead?” Michael laughed. “No. Not dead.”

Alice sagged with sudden relief, which was replaced almost immediately by a chill. “Wait... You think he did this?”

Zadkiel turned from Michael to Alice. “You have to admit, it doesn’t look good. Not given the circumstances...”

“The circumstances? I was there, with him. The whole time. You know that!” She could hear her voice getting higher, louder.

“It’s not that...” Zadkiel tailed off, refusing to meet her eye.

Michael laughed again. Laughed at her, this time: laughed at her confusion, laughed at her obvious fear.

“The circumstances, Alice, are that someone has betrayed us. And when it comes to betrayal, Mallory is the first one among us I would suspect.”

“Mallory? No! I don’t understand! Why...” Alice saw Zadkiel step back, his eyes still fixed on the floor. Michael smiled straight at her.

“Because he’s done it before.”

A LOUD RINGING filled Alice’s ears. Across the room, she could see Zadkiel’s mouth moving; could see him gesturing angrily at Michael, but all she heard was white noise.

Mallory. Betrayal?

The buzz in her ears receded, and she could just about make out Zadkiel shouting the word “dramatic” at Michael – who was still watching her. Watching, no doubt, to see what she would do next. He had wanted to subdue her, hadn’t he? It had worked; she had nothing to say.

“...now really the time?” Zadkiel finished. Michael continued to ignore him. Eventually, he rubbed his hand across his eyes and sighed. “Zak?”

“Michael.”

“You’re dismissed.”

“What?”

“Dismissed.” He didn’t even look at Zadkiel – who opened and closed his mouth once or twice, then gave up. With one last backward glance at Alice, he stormed out of the room, leaving just the two of them.

“You were warned about Mallory,” Michael said, circling her; his hands were in his pockets, his tone almost casual. “I know you were: I’ve seen it in your memories. That Fallen, the one you knew.”

“Rob.”

“Abbadona. That was his name. Use it. He warned you about Mallory; told you that Lucifer was afraid of him. That they all were.”

“He told me... he said that you would have to be mad not to be afraid of him.”

“A slight exaggeration, perhaps, but sound in theory. Mallory is wild, uncontrollable. Unpredictable.”

“I didn’t see you complaining about that earlier. You know, before you accused him of being a traitor.”

“Unpredictability has its uses. Particularly when your enemy is like ours.” Michael waved her comment away.