Reaver

given Reaver the sheoulghul. He’d suspected that the idiot might try to rescue Harvester, and now it was only a matter of time before he paid dearly for that stupid move.

“What kind of backup plan?” Lorelia asked.

Raphael swallowed his distaste at what he was about to say. Regret was the price of being an archangel, of setting aside personal feelings in order to do what was necessary to win a war.

“I need you to perform a fetaelis mortcaesar on Limos.”

“Limos?” The color drained from Lorelia’s face in an almost comical rush. “You… you can’t be serious.”

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“But the risks—”

“Limos is the only person I’m aware of, in any of the three realms, who can do this. She’s immortal, so she’ll survive. She’s pregnant, which is critical. She’s farther along in her pregnancy than Gethel by a matter of a couple of weeks, which is a bonus. And Satan’s blood has run through her veins since she was betrothed to him as a child. Also a critical requirement. Can you think of anyone else who matches those prerequisites?”

“Of course not, but—”

“Are you arguing with me?”

She swallowed audibly. “No, my lord. But it’s against Watcher rules. Even with your orders, I’ll be punished. Unless you’ve spoken to the Watcher Council.”

“No. This is an archangel matter. I told you this was going to be dangerous. I’ll do what I can to ensure a light punishment, but ultimately, it’s up to both Heavenly and Sheoulic Watcher Councils.”

He just hoped his plan worked. He’d be the hero who saved Heaven. If it failed, he’d end up before the Archangel Council and face punishment of his own.

Lorelia shifted her weight as she chewed her bottom lip, and he knew she was going through all of the pros and cons.

Pros: Save Heaven.

Cons: Too many to list.

She needed an incentive. “Tell you what,” he said. “Do this, and I’ll assign you to the FCU.”

Her astonished breath told him he’d both hooked her and reeled her in. “You’d really do that? You’d assign me to the Fabled Cities Unit? I know people who have been trying for a thousand years to just get on the waiting list.”

Everyone wanted to be assigned to FCU detail and rightly so. Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to visit lost cities and mythical locales? And not just visit them, but go back in time to experience the rise and fall of entire ancient civilizations, some of which had been erased from human and even angelic knowledge.

“There’s an opening if you want it.” Besides, once the task was done, she’d have to avoid the Horsemen for the rest of her life. They’d kill her for what she was going to do.

Suddenly eager, Lorelia wrung her hands like a villain from an old silent film. “When do you want this to happen?”

“As soon as possible. We might not be able to kill Gethel, but with your help, we can make sure that Lucifer’s birth takes place under our control, where we can kill him before he takes his first breath.”

“How do you think I should handle it? Revenant isn’t going to let me just walk up to Limos and rip the child from her womb.”

True. The Horsemen’s Sheoulic Watcher existed to give the Heavenly Watcher trouble. And to keep Heaven from stealing an advantage in the ever-present tug-of-war between Heaven and Sheoul.

“You’ve got powerful anti-Horsemen weapons. Start a fight. Make them take the first swing so you can use self-defense as an argument with the Council. And be sure to demolish them all so they’re out of commission for a while. We need six Earth hours to complete the ritual.”

“What about Lucifer? How are you going to take him from Gethel?”

“We need the physical presence of only one of the infants to perform the ceremony. Lucifer’s soul will be forced out of Gethel remotely.” He lowered his head, hating that it had come to this. But war was war, and Heaven would do what it must to win. “Do your job right, and Limos will have no way of knowing we switched her child with Gethel’s, and that the life we put back inside her is Lucifer.”

At least, no one would know until he was born. Then the horse shit would hit the fan. The Horsemen had wreaked havoc upon the Earth once—badly enough that history had been erased and rewritten. The archangels had done it before, and they could do it again. The Earth and its inhabitants might suffer, and that was regrettable.

But Heaven would be safe.

Thirteen

Reaver stared at the beast Harvester had become, his mind torn between focusing on the fact that he was glowing and the fact that while she’d been latched on, connected to him in a way that seemed more intimate than anything he’d ever done, he’d remembered things about his past with her. Yenrieth’s past with Verrine. The memories had been fleeting and broken, as if they’d been whirling inside a tornado and he could catch only bits and pieces as they flew by.

Harvester stared back at him, her normally green eyes as black as the oily pools dotting the landscape around them. Black and blue veins ran like a road map of evil under her gray skin, and her lips, usually lush and as smooth as a fine merlot, had blackened and peeled back to reveal a mouth full of sharp teeth. She was taller. Larger. And two horns jutted from her skull like railroad spikes.

“We’re going to slaughter you down here, angel.” She charged him, swiping at his face with claw-tipped hands.

“Shit.” He spun, caught her from behind, and threw her to the ground.

His blood had strengthened her, but she was still no match for him. Not yet. Once she was fully healed, they’d be on even footing. He knew from experience that she was his equal in almost every way.

She popped to her feet with a hiss. “You’re going to die.”

“Verrine!” His bellow rumbled through the cave, breaking free rocks and dust that pelted them and swirled through the air. “This isn’t you. My blood did something—”

“It is me!” she screamed, and he swore the air pulsed around her. “I’m not Verrine. I’m hell’s daughter. Evil runs through my veins. You wasted what was left of your pathetic life to rescue a monster.”

“You aren’t a monster.”

“No?” She took a few steps toward him, her hips swaying in that dangerously seductive way she had that drove Reaver crazy with lust. “Want to know what’s going through my head right now? Because I guarantee you’ll change your mind.” She whirled around as Calder burst into the cavern.

“I found the way out!” Calder gave Harvester a double-take. “Damn, bitch, you’re ugly.” He gestured to the tunnel he’d emerged from. “Come on, I’ll show you. We can be in the human realm in an hour—”

Calder’s head exploded like a balloon full of strawberry jelly and cream cheese. Gore splattered on the cave walls and dripped down the stalactites to form gooey puddles on the ground.

“What the fuck?” Reaver leaped away from Harvester, whose finger and thumb pointed like a gun at the demon’s remains.

Smiling, she brought her hand up and pretended to blow smoke from her finger pistol. “Bang.”

Still stunned, Reaver choked out, “He was going to get us out of here.”

“Whatever,” she said with a shrug. “He was an asshole.”

Yes, he was. But he was an asshole they needed. “He was our ally!” he shouted.

“Ally?” Harvester laughed, a crackly, paper-thin sound. “Do you know how many good guys I’ve killed since I fell? Thousands. Humans, demons, angels.” Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply, as if inhaling the scent of her victims’ misery. “I fucking loved it.” She shivered and opened her eyes.

To survive Sheoul and earn a place as Watcher, she had to do things that hardened her heart and blackened her soul.

Raphael had called it. Reaver wasn’t sure what he’d expected from Harvester post-rescue, but this wasn’t it.