A Touch Menacing (57 page)

The building was oddly quiet. No one fought anywhere that she could see. She and Gabriel took the stairs up a floor, had to climb over a body on the landing. A knife stuck out of the chest. Eden pulled the weapon free and took it with her.

He stopped them at the base of the stairwell. “Ready?” he asked, but she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to be ready for.

She kept the knife at her side and followed him down the balcony. Another body blocked the way, and suddenly she realized Jarrod and Sullivan weren’t with them, that she hadn’t seen them since the brief glimpse over the balcony railing. “Gabe?” she called softly.

He raised a finger. Barely audible voices came from a room ahead.

As they got closer, she could hear muffled whacks. “Release her to us!” someone yelled.

“No!” The voice that answered was so full of venom, she almost didn’t recognize it as Jarrod’s. Gabriel’s hand was on her shoulder, anticipating her reaction.
Hurry,
she thought at him desperately.

Gabriel burst across the threshold. “I demand cessation!”

His voice thundered through the room. Eden couldn’t see past him, but she heard the shuffle of feet, the rustle of fabric as the angels turned toward him.

“What have you done?” Gabriel demanded. Eden squeezed past him. Jarrod was the first thing she saw. Doubled over on his knees, he’d been stripped of his coat. A wide V of Bound spread out from him on either side, packed into the room. His white shirt was striped with dirt and grime. A few of the streaks were red at the edges where blood had soaked through. Even from the door, she could see the way he trembled. Under him, protected from the worst of the blows, was Sullivan.

The angel closest to him held a baseball bat–sized chunk of wood.

“Who allowed this cruelty?” Gabriel snarled. “Let them up! Now!”

“No one will do such a thing,” a voice called out.

“Gabe.” Eden held up a shaking hand when she spotted Michael. The angel swiveled to her, his gaze heavy and without pity. “He killed Az,” she said.

Everyone’s eyes were on her.

On the floor, Jarrod uncurled, his face contorted. Every movement was stiff, his shoulders pulled back in pain. He dropped his head again as if he couldn’t take the effort, whispered something to Sullivan. To Eden’s relief, she stirred.

Gabriel moved slowly toward Michael.

“It’s true,” Michael said simply. “Azazel offered me his life in a promise Upstairs. When that promise went unfulfilled, Azazel was ended by my hand with mercy in my heart.”

Eden waited for some sort of reaction from the other angels, didn’t understand when no one moved. “Why aren’t they doing anything?” she cried.

Gabe kept his eyes on Michael. “Is that how he got out of the cell you all were keeping him in?”

Michael’s crimson irises lightened, yellowed. “And now I fear our Gabriel has been tainted by these cursed creatures.” His voice rose and sharpened. “Gabriel chose to surround himself with temptations. He has a history of giving in to sin. He failed a mission he never should have been trusted with!” he said, glaring down at Eden. “He is impure and unloyal. The Sider plague is being eradicated, and Gabriel consistently stands in our way.”

Gabe’s arm shot up, pointed at Michael. “I accuse you of having hands that shed innocent blood,” he spat.

Michael gave a dramatic sigh. “Innocent blood! Azazel was not innocent.”

“Not Az,” Gabriel said. “Another.” He trembled, but kept going. “At Kristen’s, you found a girl on the back stairs. Do you remember her?”

“I do.” Michael broke eye contact as a silent tear ran down Gabriel’s cheek.

“Her name was Madeline,” Gabriel said to the crowd, “and she’s the one who helped me when I was Fallen. When every other abandoned me, she stood by my side. We learned so much about the Siders from her, and from Kristen and Eden and her friends, whom you’ve
beaten
.” He paused. “Did you kill Madeline?”

A murmur passed through the crowd.

Eden felt a presence behind her just as Kristen’s hand touched her shoulder, her sympathy silent.

Gabriel’s voice boomed. “I accuse you, Michael. Do you deny it?”

Michael said nothing.

Luke gave a low whistle from beside Kristen. “Formal accusation? I haven’t seen one of those since . . . mine.”

“What is it?” Eden tightened her grip on the knife at her side.

Luke slid closer. She could smell the metallic tang of the blood drenching him, but couldn’t look at him. He smelled the same as Az had. “Sins need to be spoken,” Luke said. “Gabe accuses and then Michael must answer.”

Michael sneered. “I was sent to exterminate the Siders.”

“That wasn’t an answer,” Gabriel said. “Luckily, I wasn’t finished.” It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Gabriel’s gaze was trained on Michael. “I accuse you of shedding innocent blood. Of savagely ripping Madeline, sinless and innocent, from a path she’d just started upon.” The words strained out. “And doing so knowingly. You knew she was mortal, did you not?”

Even from where she stood, Eden could see the betrayal sink in, Michael slowly shaking his head. “Gabriel, why?”

“You could Fall for that alone,” Gabe said. “But I have more. How did the Siders start, Michael?”

The color drained from his face.

“You were always stubborn,” Gabe said. “Jealous. But the last few years, you’ve become cruel and hateful. Sometimes you hide it well. Others . . .” He gestured to Jarrod, the bloodied dirty shirt he wore. “Not so much. I know how it felt to keep my sins inside for mere months before I Fell. I can’t imagine what it feels like to keep them for years.”

Raphael pushed his way through the crowd. “Gabriel, what’s the meaning of this?”

Gabriel didn’t waver. “The Siders aren’t just some plague that happened into being. I met the first Sider today. A girl who told me about a chance meeting with Az.”

The annoyance in Raphael’s
tsk
wasn’t reserved to him alone. Others grew restless. Eden shifted the knife.

“And again, Azazel had gotten involved when he shouldn’t have. It does not bode well to speak ill of the dead, Gabriel,” Raphael scolded as if Az hadn’t been any more than an acquaintance to Gabe, instead of his best friend.

It took Gabe a second to recover. “You wanted a way to get rid of Az, make it so he didn’t need me anymore. And so you stole away the path of a girl you thought was in love with him. You took her future. But that potential, that life force built in her still. You thought she was dead, so you left her body to rot, but she became a Sider. She spread Touch on to others until their own futures became so confused and crumbled that their paths, too, disintegrated. Michael, I accuse you of starting the Sider plague.” He turned to Michael and uttered two words. “Deny it,” Gabriel said, his face dark.

The room took a collective breath. Disbelief fluttered through the gathered angels when no denial came.

Michael glanced away for a split second before he struggled back, like looking at Gabe was a punishment he endured, a penance.

When Michael finally spoke, his voice was small, like that of a child. “I loved you, Gabriel. Always more. And
never
was I chosen.”

Eden saw Gabe’s cheeks flare red. “That’s not true.”

Heartbreak shone on Michael’s face. “Azazel kept you away from me, don’t you see that?” he said, reaching. Gabe shook his head, moved his hand behind his back. Michael grimaced, but went on. “He made you believe only you could save him from Falling. I tried to give him a girl who wouldn’t leave, wouldn’t die, because then you could come Home. Then you could come back to me.”

“The terrible part was, she didn’t even know Az. You made a mistake, Michael. You stole her life,” Gabe spat, shaking. “Just like you stole Madeline’s. I accuse you of taking mortal life, Michael.”

Michael closed his eyes for a beat. “Even dead you choose Az, and now I’m nothing.” He turned to face the crowd, his head held high as his voice rang out, loud and clear. “I stole the path of a mortal girl. I did so for my own selfish gain. For love. And I took a mortal life. I am guilty.” His voice fell. “Forgive me, Gabriel.”

Eden watched as Gabe pressed his lips together.

“Forgive me. Please. Give me this one kindness.” Michael clutched at him, but Gabe stepped back.

“No,” Gabe whispered. “Your choices were your own.”

In front of her, the dozen Bound angels all spoke at once. “He killed the girl? She was a mortal? He stole their lives. Then he’s Damned. Damned.”

Michael pushed through the crowd, past Eden, and broke into a run. Eden watched as he stumbled away, his shirt tearing apart as wings sprouted from his back. His scream curdled as the wings smashed against the metal railing and then shed their feathers. He writhed toward the stairs, his back a lacework of raised pink scars, the wings gone.

Kristen’s words were a whisper: “(‘When the rest of Heaven was blue)/Of a demon in my view.’”

Eden stared in silence as he crawled. She wanted to feel vindication. Relief. Anything. She didn’t realize she was collapsing until Kristen caught her, leaning her against her shoulder.

While she’d been watching Michael, Gabe had gone on speaking. “All they need is time,” he was saying from the room. “We can help Rachel find the Siders, and she will cure them. They’re no longer a risk to the mortal paths.”

Sounds of agreement filled the air.

“Are you all right?” Kristen asked.

It’s over
, Eden thought. The Siders, the strange life she’d carved out for herself. Az. “I don’t know,” she managed.

CHAPTER 32

E
den kicked hard, but one of the Bound had her by the ankle and was dragging her down the hall. Skin scraped off her back where her shirt had pulled up. Splinters gouged into the heels of her hands as she tried to gain some hold on the uneven floorboards. She grabbed for one of the ornate metal spindles lining the walkway that surrounded the empty center of the building. Nine floors down, she saw Jarrod and Sullivan cross the open space in a mad dash before they ducked out of sight under the first tier.

The Bound let her ankle go, and she scrambled to wrap her arms around the spindles. A hand clamped down on her neck and pulled her up.

“Please, no!” she screamed as he pushed her against the railing. The open space seemed to spin as it yawned before her. She’d taken enough Touch from Rachel to survive a few injuries, but a fall like that would end her.

“Climb over or be thrown,” the Bound said, his voice oddly calm.

Her lip quivered as she searched for Az and found him across the way, two floors down. Michael swung on him, Az’s knife coming up just in time to block the blow.

“He’s not likely to help you,” the Bound said as he read her thoughts. “Now move.” Shaking, Eden lifted first one leg over and then the other, keeping a death grip on the railing. A dozen scenarios burst through her mind of swinging wildly onto the balcony of the floor below her and to safety. Movie stunts.

The Bound exerted just enough backward force on her that her foot slipped. She scrambled, her heels hanging over into nothing. He gripped her upper arm.

“Please,” she begged. “Cured. We can be cured.”

“Gabriel!” the angel bellowed.

Eden hadn’t seen Gabe, but a moment later he appeared next to the angel that had her, his hands held out in front of him. “Let her climb back over, Raphael,” he said.

Raphael turned to him. “We burdened you with opportunities to kill this Sider. You used a promise against us, turned the words into protection for this girl.”

“Exactly!” Gabe said. “She’s just a girl. If you’d listen—”

“No. Long past is the time for excuses. Take my place and let her fall. Look away if you must. The drop will be enough to end her.” Raphael adjusted his grip, and Eden let out a choked cry. “If she dies by my hand, your promise is broken and—”

Gabe sucker punched him. “Not happening!”

Raphael managed to stay standing for a moment before his eyes rolled slowly back. His hold on Eden weakened. Her toes slipped as the angel let go and went to his knees.

“Help me!” she screamed. The barest tips of her fingers curled for purchase on the railing as Gabe dove for her.

“I’ve got you!” he yelled, grabbing her forearm. She swung wildly as he clasped her arm. “Give me your other hand!”

His grip slipped to her wrist. Eden flailed to reach him, afraid to look down. “Don’t let me go!”

She was level with the floor as he fought to hoist her up. She saw Raphael on his knees, shaking off the punch. He took in the scene, joy flooding his face.

“She’ll die at your hands yet, Gabriel.” He leaped for Gabe’s legs and knocked him aside.

He lost his hold. “No!” Gabe screamed.

Eden fell.

Her ankle hit the next floor down, sending her into a somersault. Just before she smashed into the ground, a blur of white slammed her.
Wings
.

Az.

She groaned in pain. Everything hurt, but he’d taken the brunt of the landing. “Are you okay?” she asked, shuddering. Her ankle throbbed, but shock and adrenaline numbed the worst of it. Under her, she felt his heart beating wildly.