“You scared me,” I whispered as Odin released my arm and quietly left.
“I'm sorry, Carus,” Azrael said gently as he pulled me into an embrace. “I wanted to feel free for a minute.”
I stiffened.
“What?” He leaned back to look down at me.
I swallowed roughly before I asked. “Do you feel like I've trapped you here?”
“I don't hold you responsible for this mess.” He sighed. “But I do feel restricted.”
“I don't want you to feel as if I'm imposing my will on you.” I stood back from him. “If you really want to leave the territory, you can, Azrael. You're a grown man; able to make your own decisions. I trust that you'll make the right ones.”
“What?” Azrael blinked at me. “You won't try to stop me?”
“I'll worry, and I'd like to go with you if you decide to leave, but I'll also support your decision,” I said. Then I lowered my voice, “I can't watch you fall again, Az. The Battle of Olympus still haunts me.”
Azrael closed his eyes as if he were in pain. “I didn't think about that.” He opened his pale blue eyes to stare at me apologetically. “I didn't think at all; I just needed to feel.”
“It's okay; you didn't know that I was watching.”
“I should have sensed you.” He scowled. “I'm just so wrapped up in myself lately.”
“And that's okay too, Az.” I took his hand. “It's about you this time; you're allowed to be wrapped up in yourself. It's my turn to be supportive of you. Let me do that; tell me what you need.”
“I...” Azrael squeezed my hand as he thought about my question. “I don't know, Carus. I agree with you; I shouldn't leave this territory. But the cowardice of hiding here is haunting me, and the inaction is driving me insane. Ironically, I felt more alive in Jigoku than I have in days.”
“It's not cowardice,” I said. “It's prudence. You have no idea what you'll have to face next. First it was the Virtues, then the Principalities; what if it's a band of archangels next? I'm sorry you feel freer in Hell than you do at home, but it's only temporary.”
“I know all of this,” he said. “But the feelings persist. And there's something else; I can't get rid of the doubt.”
“Doubt about what?”
“That this isn't about me,” he said. “I know you said it's all right to focus on myself, but I think that's what our enemies want. They want us to focus on me so that we miss the bigger picture.”
“That wouldn't surprise me.” I grimaced. “But we've been looking at every possibility we can think of, and still, we can't find a connection between these incidents... beyond that of death magic.”
“We need to investigate more death gods,” Azrael started to say, but he was interrupted by Ted, who came running out onto the balcony.
“Someone set the Grigori free!”
Chapter Fifty-Two
The Grigori, who had been imprisoned by Jerry, were rampaging through the Heavens; reveling in their freedom. But instead of heading upward toward the Seventh Heaven and Jehovah—as you'd expect angry angels would do—they had moved downward toward the Third Heaven: Shehaquim.
The angels who lived in Shehaquim were already armed for battle; gathered around the Garden of Eden to protect the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge which grew in the center of the garden. There were two tracing points into Shehaquim; one was within Azrael's palace—behind the Garden of Eden, and then there was a public access point within the mountains that separated Shehaquim from Hell. The latter was the point the Grigori were marching through.
“Put out a call to all angels,” Azrael shouted to Michael as we raced down the steps of Azrael's palace to join the other angels.
“I already have,” Michael said. “The tracing point is being blocked by Grigori.”
“I'll unward my tracing point; redirect them there.” Azrael hurried back inside.
I stared out across the expanse of open field between the eclectic homes of the angels. Rivers of wine, honey, oil, and milk flowed down the center of the vast meadow; straight into their respective pools inside the Garden of Eden. The Garden's seasonal quadrants surrounded the golden Tree of Life with its plum-colored, soul fruit, and the silver Tree of Knowledge with its crystalline, tear drop shaped fruit. Both trees shivered with the approach of the Grigori as if they knew they were in danger.
“Put out the call,” Michael said to Raphael. “I'm going to try to reason with them.”
“Reason with the Grigori?” Raphael's black eyes went round.
Michael didn't bother to argue; just shot up into the sky. He flew a few feet beyond the Garden, and then called out across Shehaquim in a roaring voice, “Samyaza! Stand down; we are not your enemies!”
“This is the cost of our freedom, Michael!” A booming voice answered. “We will not hesitate or apologize for paying it. Your kind have kept us in chains for centuries!”
“At the Jehovah's command!” Michael shouted back. “Take out your fury on him, not us.”
“You could have had our allegiance, had you been the one to cast off our chains!” Samyaza cried. “But another has claimed our debt, and we shall pay it here before we destroy the Atlantean who calls himself God of Gods.”
“Someone sent them here,” I said to Thaddeus.
“Yeah; I heard him,” Ted growled as he looked at the other Horsemen.
“The tracing point is open,” Azrael declared as he joined us.
Several angels strode out behind Azrael and joined their brethren before the Garden of Eden. Swords were grimly pulled free of their sheaths, and wings were outstretched as the angels prepared to take the battle to the sky. So far, the Grigori were walking, and that gave me hope.
