The Crystal Lake Read online

  Michael pulled a simple blue and white wrap-around tunic to him with his power and tugged it on. “You are very kind,” he said as he dressed.

  “Not kind often enough, I reckon, but I try,” Gabriel said. “So.”

  “You have news?”

  “Aye. It ain’t good,” Gabriel said.

  Michael shrugged. “I fear that until we find and contain Naamah and return the Grail to its rightful place, there will be little news that is good.”

  “Probably true,” Gabriel said. “Raz is still upstairs with God, and I just got a call from Max. He and Minnie found something, and they think we should take a look. He didn’t go into detail, but I got the feeling he wants us there sooner rather than later.”

  Michael pursed his lips. “I see. That does not bode well.”

  “Yeah, it gave me a feeling of impending doom, too.” Gabriel looked out toward the sea. “It’s so peaceful here,” he said, almost to himself.

  “Come,” Michael said, his voice gentle. “Let us attend to things, and then we may find a few moments for more peace.”

  Gabriel looked back at his lover. “You’re a poet, baby.” He squared his shoulders. “All right, let’s go.” He placed his hand on Michael’s arm and, with his power, moved them.

  The outside of Minnie and Max’s house looked just the same as it had when Gabriel and Michael had last visited only a few days before. It felt much longer to Gabriel. So much had happened, and he was worried, weary, and angry. He opened the gate and gestured for Michael to precede him, following his lover through and turning to latch it closed.

  Minnie was standing on the doorstep, looking at the pair of them. Her expression was worried, and she gestured to them to hurry.

  “We came as quickly as we could,” Gabriel said.

  “I know. Get inside, fast,” Minnie said, looking toward the street. “We don’t know who’s watching.”

  Gabriel and Michael exchanged a look and went into the house. Minnie closed the door behind them and locked it and then ran her hands through her hair.

  “It’s safer in here,” she said. “Max is waiting for you. This way.”

  Michael and Gabriel followed her down a corridor to an open door. As they entered the room, they saw that it was full of computers and tech, wires and cables strewn over the floor, some taped to the wall with duct tape. A large, ginger cat snoozed on top of a box with flashing lights, and Gabriel wondered what all of this instrumentation was for.

  Max was leaning forward in his battered chair, glaring at a computer screen. “Shut the door,” he said without turning. “Lock it.”

  “I am,” Minnie said with some asperity in her voice.

  “Okay, so why all the cloak and dagger?” Gabriel asked.

  Max sat back and turned. He looked as though he hadn’t slept for days. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his clothes were rumpled and stained. He grabbed a can of soda and took a long drink, shaking his head. “There’s a lot of weird shit going on,” he said. “And we’re being watched.”

  “By whom?” Michael asked.

  “That”—Max set the can down—“is the million-dollar question. They’re invisible. I can’t see them, but the sensors are picking up movement and shapes. There’s body heat involved, too. Minnie can’t get any sort of information about them with her magic.”

  “It’s like casting a spell on a rock,” Minnie said. “I know it’s there, but I don’t know what, exactly, it is or what its intentions are.”

  Gabriel let out a slow breath. “We’ve had the same problem with some of the individuals involved in this thing.” He told them of the Order of Midnight and their shields, and of the shifter, Arkady, and the demons that had attacked the Order of Midnight and the angels Gabriel had sent to follow them.

  Max was frowning so hard that his eyebrows seemed to be knitted together. “I need more power,” he said.

  “Another feather?” Michael asked.

  Max shook his head. “I’m afraid that won’t do it. I have a hypothesis.”

  “Let’s hear it,” Gabriel encouraged.

  Max grinned. “I’m getting to it. Where’s Raz?”

  “Heaven,” Gabriel said.

  “Oh.”

  “You know he’s not on call as our personal scientist,” Minnie said.

  “I know, I know.” Max took a deep breath. “All right. As near as I can figure, whoever it is who’s watching us has some sort of magic. It must be from this plane of existence, which is why Min’s magic can’t penetrate their shields. But it isn’t strong enough to block technology, which is why we know someone’s there, just not who or why. It suggests to me that whoever it is who’s watching knows little about technology. It also suggests to me that as you guys spend so much time on Earth, they planned for that so that they could block you too. After all, your magic and Min’s magic is born of the same thing, right?”

  Gabriel and Michael stared at him and then looked at each other.

  “Forgive me,” Michael said. “I fear I do not know what you mean.”

  “Okay, well, it’s like this. The more time you spend on Earth, the more your powers are… touched by this plane. As you were created by the same power that created the planet, it stands to reason that it’s basically the same at its core, its energy matrix. But if we got power from something or someone who isn’t so attuned to Earth, we might be able to get a reading on these watchers.”

  Michael and Gabriel looked at each other again. “Is Ondrass still in Yerevan?” Michael asked.

  “Aye, as far as I know.”

  “Max, Minnie, would you allow an Archdemon to enter your property?” Michael asked.

  Max’s eyes went as round as saucers, and Minnie swore.

  “Which one?” she asked.

  “Ondrass.”

  “Archduke of Hell, Lord of Chaos and Despair.” Minnie whistled. “I’ve heard of him.”

  “He’s an ally—for the moment,” Michael said. “I would strongly advise you to restore any shields you might lower to permit him entrance once he has left.”

  “You can count on that,” Max said. “Holy crap. Ondrass.”

  “I’m calling him now,” Gabriel said, fishing his cell phone from his pocket. “And I’m making sure he comes on his own and leaves Markus and Adramelek in Yerevan.”

  “Adramelek?” Minnie had gone as pale as a bed sheet. “The leader of the Order of the Fly? The right hand of Lucifer Morningstar?”

  “That’s him. He thinks he’s clever.” Gabriel rolled his eyes.

  “Yeah, no.” Minnie shook her head. “Ondrass can come in, but not Adramelek.”

  “I’ll tell him,” Gabriel said. “And if Adramelek insists, I’ll send him off to scare our watchers.”

  “Would he do that?” Max asked.

  Gabriel shrugged. “Probably. This ain’t a normal day, after all. Hell, it ain’t a normal month.” He punched in the number for Ondrass’s cell and waited for the Archdemon to answer.

  “Ah, Gabriel.” Ondrass’s voice was silky in Gabriel’s ear. “How lovely to hear from you. To what do I owe this honor?”

  “Spare me the hyperbole,” Gabriel said. “I need you in Australia.”

  “Why?”

  Gabriel ground his teeth together. “We need your powers to figure out who’s watching us. Leave Markus and Adramelek behind. This is your mission.”

  “And this call will self-destruct in seven minutes? How very Mission: Impossible of you.” Ondrass sighed. “Give me the coordinates, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  Gabriel did so and then ended the call without waiting for an answer. “I’ll go and wait for him in the garden,” he said.

  “He’s coming alone?” Max asked.

  “He better, or I’ll be pissed,” Gabriel growled.

  “Language,” Michael said.

  “I’ll drop the shield enough for him to come into the garden,” Minnie said, “but I’d really rather he not come into the house.”

  �
�Will that be workable?” Michael asked.

  Gabriel shrugged. “Aye, for me. But what about you, Max? You’re the one calling the shots on this.”

  Max nodded. “I can rig what I need so I can show him on the laptop.”

  “Okay.” Gabriel moved to the door. “I’ll go and welcome our Archdemon.”

  Ten minutes later, his expression profoundly skeptical, Ondrass stood with his hands resting on the handle of his cane. “Let me see if I understand this correctly,” he began. “You want me to use my power to see who these hidden watchers are because my power is not connected to Earth or to those who made it?”

  “Yes,” Max said.

  “And why am I the one to have this honor?”

  “’Cause Adramelek’s a Fallen One,” Gabriel said, “and Markus ain’t powerful enough.”

  “What about Melcherisa or Lix Tetrax?” Ondrass asked, arching an eyebrow.

  “They are not as powerful as you,” Michael said.

  “I am flattered,” Ondrass said with a smirk. “So what do you wish me to do? Saunter down the street like an Archdemon of leisure and confront those who are spying on you?”

  “Pretty much, yeah.” Max suddenly laughed. “Are you an Archdemon of leisure?”

  “From time to time,” Ondrass said, buffing his nails on his leather coat. “Gabriel, come with me. I assume you delightful humans have surveillance set up to be able to watch what we’re doing?” he asked, turning to look at Max.

  “Yes, but I’ll go with you, too,” Minnie said.

  “Are you certain that is wise?” Michael asked.

  “I’ll be with the Archangel of War and the Archdemon of Discord. Only an idiot would interfere with them. A dead idiot, I’d bet,” Minnie said.

  “You got that right,” Gabriel said. He concentrated for a moment and blurred into his armor. Resting his right hand on the pommel of his sword, he looked at Ondrass. “Do you need anything?”

  “For this? Hardly.” Ondrass sniffed. “Come along, then. Let’s take our little walk.” Without further comment, he marched toward the gate.

  Gabriel shook his head in amusement and followed him with Minnie at his side.

  Ondrass was walking down the street, looking for all the world like a prosperous Chinese man on a Sunday afternoon stroll with friends… one of whom wore full chain mail armor. Gabriel shook his head, the hilarity of the situation not lost on him.

  “Gabriel,” Ondrass said, “stop laughing. I’ve spied our spies.”

  Gabriel was instantly alert. He drew his sword from its scabbard. “Where?”

  “On the other side of the road.” Ondrass turned, his dark eyes glittering with red fire. “Miss Minnie, I ask you now to close your eyes and keep them closed. My true self is not the sort of thing a human can see and retain their sanity.”

  “You’re going true form?” Gabriel was startled.

  “Yes, unless you’d like to dodge arrows. They’re preparing to fire on us.”

  Gabriel rolled his eyes. “You couldn’t say this earlier?”

  “I could, but where’s the fun in that?” Ondrass smirked at him. “I’ll find out who they are and who they work for, never fear. Just keep back, and let me do my thing.”

  Gabriel hesitated for a moment before answering. “All right. If they’re human, though, try not to kill them.”

  Ondrass sniffed at that, and Gabriel chose not to question the noise, instead unfurling his wings and curling them around Minnie, providing a barrier of feathers.

  “It’s a good thing I’m not allergic,” Minnie said.

  “Aye. Close your eyes anyway,” Gabriel said.

  “I have.” She paused. “Is his true shape really so awful?”

  “More than you could imagine,” Gabriel said.

  Ondrass had crossed the street, and as he stepped up onto the pavement, his human shape melted away to be replaced with his Archdemon form. Gabriel’s upper lip curled as he watched; he couldn’t help it. It was easy to ignore what Ondrass was when he appeared in human form, but when he was his true self, Gabriel’s inbuilt urge to kill all things from Hell reared up. It took all of his control to stay where he was and not march up to Ondrass and decapitate him.

  Now eight feet tall, his body vaguely humanoid—in that he had two arms and two legs—Ondrass’s head was that of an owl. His eyes glowed orange, and he held a wand in his left hand. With a flick of his wrist, energy surged out of the tip of the wand and struck a large cluster of bushes two feet away from him.

  The bushes exploded, leaves and twigs flying everywhere. Suddenly, Gabriel could clearly see the four individuals who had been hiding there, revealed by Ondrass’s power. They were not, he was relieved to see, human; they were definitely demon. Lesser demons, too, by the look of them; the signature of their powers in their auras was low. Ondrass sneered and reached out one talon-tipped hand to grasp the nearest demon.

  The demon battered at Ondrass’s arm to no effect. Ondrass was too strong and too powerful, and as Gabriel watched in sickened fascination, Ondrass lifted the demon from its feet and snarled in its terrified face.

  “You foolish child,” Ondrass spat, his voice colored with the hooting tones of an owl. “Did you truly think to hide yourselves from us forever? Now I know who you are and who you work for.”

  “You can’t stop what’s coming, Lord Ondrass,” the demon spluttered. “No one can.”

  “We’ll see.” Ondrass hissed, the sound carrying a hint of fury. And then as Gabriel watched, Ondrass raised the demon even higher. His beak opened so wide that it defied the shape of the owl’s head, and before Gabriel’s stunned eyes, Ondrass bit the head off the demon and ate it.

  The sound of a giant beak breaking down the skull was awful. Gabriel looked away, toward the other three demons who clung to each other with naked terror on their faces. Ondrass continued his ghastly feast, throwing the remains of the carcass of the demon away onto the road, where it landed with a loud, wet splat. Then he lunged for the other three.

  “Is he eating them?” Minnie asked. Her voice trembled.

  Gabriel growled. “Aye. Block your ears, Minnie.”

  “I am.” She clapped her hands over her ears, turning to press her face against his armored chest. Gabriel tightened his wings protectively around her, cushioning her in black, gray, and white feathers.

  Ondrass took his time with the three demons, eating them and mocking them. Gabriel wished he’d hurry up. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Ondrass waved his wand over the remnants of the corpses of the dead and they caught fire, burning with black flame until nothing was left but ash. A wind blew up, and then even those last fragments of the demons were gone, blown away.

  Ondrass crossed the street again, returning to his human form. He dabbed at his lips with a silk kerchief. “A bit thin,” he observed to Gabriel, “but one does have to make do, sometimes.”

  Gabriel furled his wings and gently pulled Minnie’s hands away from her ears. “He’s decent now,” he said.

  Minnie’s face was very pale. She turned and looked at Ondrass and shuddered. He grinned at her, wide and bright.

  “You’re awful!” Minnie said.

  Ondrass bowed. “Thank you!”

  “Come on,” Gabriel growled, “let’s get back into the garden.”

  Chapter Two

  “THEY WORKED for Naamah,” Ondrass said once they’d gathered in Minnie and Max’s front garden. “She gave them the power to hide themselves from anything—anyone—that has ever been touched by Heaven. Of course, she forgot that not all Archdemons were Fallen Angels first. Myself, and a few others, were not created by Lucifer. We were brought forth out of the primordial ooze of Hell. Some demons were human once, like my dear Markus and our lovely Lix Tetrax, and some, like good Melcherisa, were created by Lucifer in the first moments of his rage when he was imprisoned in Hell. She forgot about the rest of us.” He sounded smug.

  “You should return to Yerevan,” Michael said. He looked thoughtful. “Perh
aps also a visit to Hell to ensure that you will not suffer any ill effects from your… meal.”

  Ondrass gave Michael a florid bow. “I’m touched by your concern, Prince. I will do that, just to make sure I don’t have any demon indigestion. Oh, incidentally, Uriel asked me to tell you that Raziel is due back in Yerevan this evening. We should all strive to be there when he returns.”

  “You’re a bloody goldmine of information when you want to be,” Gabriel said.

  Ondrass laughed. “I try. But that was a very informative afternoon. I will go to Hell and then return to Yerevan. I’ll let them know you’re on your way.”

  “Thank you,” Michael said.

  To Gabriel’s surprise, Ondrass turned to Max and Minnie. “We did not meet under the best of circumstances,” Ondrass said, “but I wanted to give you both my respect for the work that you do. It’s rare to meet humans who understand that the divide between Heaven and Hell is not cast in black and white but is, in fact, shades of gray.”

  Then he was gone.

  Max let out an explosive breath. “He’s a very strange being.”

  “Even for an Archdemon,” Gabriel said. “Now, you’re not going to watch the footage from your surveillance cameras of what he did, are you?”

  “Fret not, Gabriel. I have already erased it,” Michael said.

  Max sighed. “I admit, I’m curious to see what he looked like, but I can live without it.”

  “Yes, you really can,” Minnie said. “I couldn’t see him, but I heard enough to give me nightmares for the next six months.”

  Gabriel quirked an eyebrow at his lover. “Any Venatores in the area?”

  Michael caught his meaning immediately. “I should have thought of that myself. Yes, there are three squads and two pairs.”

  “A pair, I reckon,” Gabriel said.

  “What’s this?” Max asked.

  “You need some help,” Michael said. “So, I will have a pair of my Venatores come to stay with you during this crisis. As it stands, you will not be able to leave the grounds of your property, not for anything. Naamah and her allies know you now, and you will be in danger.”

  Minnie groaned. “Great. Oh well, at least I’ll have help in the garden, I suppose.”