The Devil's Love

Shadow of Death: Chapter 14: Sarah

The door to the study was open, I stood across the hall and looked at it, listening to Anton and Gabriel laughing. I sneered at the sound, wondering if they were getting into something they shouldn't be.

Brannon was asleep in my arms, dry diaper and was now fed and content. Warily I walked across the hall and to the open door, looking at my husband as he chatted happily with an angel. An angel that he had been incredibly angry with earlier.

My husband was complex. He was mysterious. He was also drunk. Though to be fair, so was Gabriel.

"How is you two getting hammered finding a solution?"

Two handsome men looked up at me, smiling their stupid grins. It was a little crazy to think it, but I could see a lot of similarities between them.

"Are you two related?"

"Deities don't have relations, my pretty wife."

"Uh-huh." I murmured dryly. "You're not exactly convincing me."

I sat onto the chesterfield and looked across the short distance between us, comparing them. I could even compare the two of them to Michael.

"We could start with the square jaw line, you've got similar noses. I suppose Michael's might be a little disjointed now."

Gabriel sniggered from behind the crystal glass.

"You're both roughly the same height and frame shape; I'd guess the same weight range as well."

"Shall I get a ruler Sarah? I'd be more than happy to drop my pants for you to do a little measuring."

Anton glared at Gabriel. He shrugged and ignored him, taking another sip of his amber liquid.

"We are cast from the same mold Sarah."

"I am wounded," Gabriel said feigning hurt. "Cast from the same mold yet you try to pretend that we are not related, how is that possible Anton? I think you are being a little too flexible with your words, brother."

Gabriel turned and acknowledged my shock with a smile that I'd seen before. It was on Anton when he was amused by something.

"Yes, there are only a few of us, and the mold that your husband speaks of wouldn't be impressed at being spoken of in such a way. Anton is a deity, and all deities are an angel of some form. However, in his particular case, he is more than an ordinary angel after all, who would allow a low-rank angel to run the many layers of hell?"

"You're an archangel?"

Anton looked away, almost like he wasn't interested in the conversation. He mumbled an acknowledgment that I could barely hear, favoring the glass instead of answering properly.

"You said you weren't born."

"He wasn't, none of us are."

I frowned at Gabriel, unable to figure out how it was possible.

"We are not here one day and here the next."

His offer at an explanation did not make much sense.

"Not all of us appeared at once; some were together, some were alone. The eldest." He gestured to Anton "Was granted the right to rule over his own world, but there are some that are jealous of it, unhappy with the task granted to them and thought that making life miserable would be ideal. Personally, I would have thought that being the defender of a world would be a mighty role, but I guess I was wrong. Ah, sibling rivalry, isn't it fun?"

I huffed and rolled my eyes, muttering a no. No, it wasn't fun. It hurt, and it was a horrible life.

"Turning away from our family, the eldest was considered to be a fallen angel. Still loved and accepted but uncertain of what he would do. It makes for an uneasy life when you believe that anger will reign supreme. There are those that think that the brother would unleash his wrath upon his siblings with a battle that would end in many deaths. Then there are those that believe he would do as he always has and goes about his little schemes with a lot of secrets and misbehavior. A nonphysical retribution of sorts. Hard to believe that the devil could be so passive aggressive, don't you think?"

"Maybe you need to get to know him better." I offered.

Gabriel was stunned by my response, darting his eyes to Anton.

"I think that I know my brother Sarah." he said as he glared at me.

"Really? You seem surprised that he goes about his retribution in a passive way yet from what I've seen, it's all he ever does."

I stood from the chair, lifting Brannon to my chest. I was done with this conversation, Gabriel was no better than Michael.

"Instead of dumping him out of the way where you don't have to acknowledge him, maybe you should spend time with him. How wrong is it that he had to hide our marriage from his so-called brothers? You should have been there to be the family that he needed. Instead, we had to hide and do things in secret because you and your kind wanted to stop us. Is he not allowed to be happy? Do you thrive on pushing him into the expectation of what he should be? You come down here, break into our world and our home and pretend to be on his side but you, you are a liar. And I do not believe that your angels had nothing to do with torching my shop, you owe me the cost of rebuilding and refitting it, loss of income and stock. Make sure Anton has your email address, I'll send you the bill."

I turned out of the room and crossed the hall, wanting to find a punching bag of some sort. With a heavy sigh, I gently placed Brannon into his bed and walked to the windows, feeling angry and lost.

Gabriel was no better than Michael; he just pretended to be friends with Anton so weasel his way into a happy and compliant conversation. I could only hope that Anton would see the truth.

Walking to the window, I saw the horizon of trees and understood why Anton loved to stand at the windows and gaze upon the land.

As I stopped at the window, I felt the color drop from me, surrounding the building was a lot of soldiers. They were a dozen thick at least, wrapped in their metal armor and standing motionless.

"Anton!" I yelled.