“Twelve?” Luke's diamond eyes started to glint, and his and matching wings whooshed open with deadly—and really sparkly—intent. “They sent a Sacred Squadron after you?”
“A Sacred Squadron?” I asked.
“The number twelve is holy in our pantheon,” Az explained. “As is three. Both hold magical power. So, if someone within the pantheon does something in amounts of three or twelve, the act is strengthened.”
“So, even though the Virtues were weaker than you—” I started.
“They had an extra boost of magic on their side,” Luke finished angrily. “I'm going to destroy Jerry. There won't be anything but an oily smudge left on his shiny chair.”
“Dad, I had a friend with me,” Az said. “We handled it just fine.”
“What friend?” Luke asked as his eyes roamed the Squad.
“My daughter, Macaria,” Hades answered. “I'm relieved that she was with him.”
“I am as well.” Luke went over and shook Hades' hand. “Thank you for raising a warrior goddess.”
“She's another reaper,” Az said. “Mac was giving me some tips on my retirement when we were attacked.”
“Ah.” Luke nodded. “That's nice, Son.” He turned and started walking back toward the tracing room.
“Dad, where are you going?” Az asked.
“To the Seventh Heaven,” Lucifer said calmly. “It's about time that I cleaned house. I built it after all.”
“Mom.” Azrael looked to Holly for help.
“Luke, you can't attack anyone without knowing exactly who is behind this,” Holly said. “We need to make sure that we eliminate the threat against Azrael, and if it isn't Jerry, then all you will do is create more danger for our son.”
“The angels on Jerry's side will riot if you kill him without good reason,” Azrael jumped on the Maybe-it's-not-Jerry bandwagon.
“There would be another war in Heaven,” Michael whispered.
“At least then you'd have a chance to choose the right side,” Luke narrowed his eyes at Michael. “Never mind; stay with Jerry. We don't want you.”
“You were in the wrong, Luke,” Michael growled. “Both of you.” He glanced at Holly. “You betrayed your friendship and your marriage vows. Those are the facts. None of us wanted to get in the middle of your private business, but we were forced to, and I had to choose judiciously.”
“You know how Jerry treated Holly!” Lucifer snarled.
“And she had every chance to leave him,” Mike said calmly. “Instead, you both deceived him. You created secret paths into Heaven and continued to deceive Jerry even after the war was over. He drinks because of you two. You were supposed to be his friend, Luke, but you betrayed him and stole his wife. Tell me where the honor is in that?”
We all gaped at Michael.
Lucifer's eyes were glowing white hot when he took a step toward Michael. Holly put a delicate hand on her husband's shoulder, and he stopped as if she had pulled back on his chain.
“You're right,” Holly said to Michael. “We both know that what we did was a betrayal. We fell in love, and we were afraid that Jerry would react violently if I left him. I made the decision to stay, and it was the wrong one. But no matter how we try to justify our actions, the fact remains that we mistreated a friend, and other friends died because of our choices. It would be hypocritical if we held your choices against you, Michael. So, we don't blame you for taking Jerry's side. Do we, Luke?”
Luke sighed deeply but finally shook his head. His eyes toned down, and we all relaxed.
Michael blinked in shock and then nodded. “Okay; let's just move past this for Azrael's sake. All of us care about him.”
“You're right; this isn't about Holly and me,” Luke growled. “This is about Azrael. Jerry feels wronged, and even if it is justified, it's still a motive to hurt my son. He's taken his anger too far this time.”
“Dad.” Azrael sighed. “No one wants another war in the Heavens; especially not Jerry.”
“So, I'm just supposed to believe that a Sacred Squadron of Virtues attacked you without Jerry knowing about it?” Luke huffed.
We all just stared at him.
“Yeah; okay; he's not the most present god.” The Devil deflated. “Someone better get me a glass of Chardonnay, then, because I'm not leaving until we come up with a plan to uncover the truth.”
Chapter Fifteen
Something most people don't know about the Jewish-Christian-Islamic Heavens (Yes; they're all the same place and there are seven levels to them) is that they were built by Lucifer Morningstar. The Devil built Heaven, and he was the perfect man to sneak us inside the Seventh Heaven—Jerry's territory—undetected. In fact, Luke had created secret passages into the Seventh Heaven so that he could continue his affair with Holly after Jerry had found out about it, and those passages were about to come in handy once again.
Since it was a covert mission, we were only taking a few people with us. Luke—of course, Odin, Re, Mike—after going home to change, and I were going. Luke also called in his demon friend, Cid, to help us. The rest of the Squad was staying behind, and that included Azrael—who was not happy about that.
“If we get spotted, and you are with us, it could be playing into their hands,” Luke pointed out to Azrael for the fourth time. “I need you to stay safe here while we investigate.”
“I have to stay behind but my wife gets to go?” Azrael whined.
“Az,” I chided.
“Your wife is one of our most powerful allies,” Luke said. “I want her with me.”
“Thanks,” I said with a note of surprise.
“Vervain, it's not my opinion; it's a fact,” Luke said simply. “The things you can do are impressive.”
“You changed the future,” Holly said gently. “That's beyond impressive. And I'm glad you'll be there to watch my husband's back.”
