No Surrender, No Retreat Read online

  The power of Mysteries and Secrets had been used too much, Uriel thought grimly as he ordered Raziel’s food. While he couldn’t argue that much of what Field Marshal Michael and General Gabriel needed was what Raziel’s power and knowledge could provide, Uriel still worried. As he paid for the food, Uriel decided to tell Michael that Raziel was going to be off duty for a month. Maybe two. Michael would argue, but Uriel wasn’t going to let him—or anyone else, for that matter, save for maybe God—deter him. Raziel needed a break.

  They all did, Uriel realized as he moved back to Raziel. The fighting had been hard, and they had lost many people. Humans and monsters had died, angels too, and demons by the score. That it had taken seventy years to end did not sit well with the Archangel of Fire and Judgment. Uriel preferred short, bloody battles, and a lot of the fighting had required guerrilla tactics that were more the department of Tzadkiel and his Ophanim and Dominions.

  “Here.” Uriel sat down beside Raziel and held out the paper bag with the burger and fries and the large Coke.

  Raziel sat up and took them. “Thank you.” He hesitated a moment and then smiled. “And sorry for biting your head off.”

  “It’s fine.” Uriel lay down on his side, propping himself up on one elbow. “You’re on a month-long break, by the way.”

  Raziel quirked an eyebrow at him as he slurped down Coke.

  “I’ve decided.” Uriel nodded. “And you won’t argue with me because you love me.”

  “Since when has loving you stopped me from arguing with you?” Raziel looked incredulous. “That’s a ridiculous notion, Uriel.”

  “Obviously.” Uriel rolled his eyes. “But you’ll do it, Razzy. Take a break, I mean.”

  Raziel started eating his burger. Between mouthfuls, he nodded. “Okay.”

  “Good.” Uriel fell silent, looking out at the sea as Raziel ate. It was peaceful here, he thought, no sign whatsoever that only very recently had there been a war that had encompassed the entire globe and changed the face of human society forever. There was no sign here of the poverty or food shortages; of the destroyed countries, towns, and cities; of the collapse of economies. Recovery was going to take a long time, he thought. Possibly longer than the war itself had.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” Raziel said.

  Uriel turned to look at him. Raziel had finished his food and sent the trash away with a thought, and Uriel hadn’t noticed. He smiled. “Good food?”

  “Good food,” Raziel agreed. “What’s on your mind?”

  “The world’s changed a lot,” Uriel said. “If humans thought they knew suffering before, they now know they had no idea. Their lot is a hell of a lot worse than it was before the war.”

  “And you care about this because…?” Raziel’s expression was confused. “You don’t like humans.”

  “No, but I hate seeing strong spirits downtrodden.” Uriel frowned. “Things are hard for them now. Harder than ever.”

  “And they’ll bounce back.” Raziel touched Uriel’s shoulder. “They’re resilient, Uri. You’ll see. You’ll be amazed at how much humanity can rally together to help each other in times of crisis.”

  Uriel grunted. “Maybe.”

  “It will be okay.” Raziel smiled. “I have faith.”

  “Glad one of us does.” Uriel shook his head. “I think I need a break too.”

  “So we’ll stay here for a while.” Raziel gestured at the beach and the Gold Coast. “There’ll be houses and such. We’ll rent one and just spend the time on the beach.”

  “I hate how ridiculous this makes me sound, but that is a very good idea.” Uriel chuckled ruefully. “Peace and quiet and watching these carbon apes of yours prove me wrong about them sounds like a damn good way to spend a month or so.”

  “There, you see? Things are looking up already.” Raziel tugged Uriel down for a gentle kiss. “We’ll swim and relax and have loads of sex. It’ll be good.”

  “I can live with that.” Uriel ended the kiss and gently brushed Raziel’s messy dark hair back from his face. “And you can dazzle me with your tenacious humans and their response to tragedy.”

  “I expect to be eating a lot of expensive meals.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  Raziel smirked. “Because you made me a bet, centuries ago, that you’d take me anywhere I wanted for dinner whenever a human surprised you.”

  Uriel laughed. “Okay, okay, lots of expensive meals. Maybe.”

  “No maybe.” Raziel kissed Uriel again. “Definitely.”

  “Brat,” Uriel muttered.

  “I absolutely am,” Raziel said, stretching like a large, contented cat. “And I find that I can endure that with astonishing fortitude.”

  “I’m so proud.” Uriel rolled his eyes then laughed.

  “SHATEIEL!” Agrat raced out of their house in Indonesia and down the few steps to the lawn and the figure of her armored bondmate. He grinned at her, wrapping his arms around her as soon as she was close enough, swinging her around as he kissed her soundly.

  “You’re okay?” Agrat asked, a little breathless after the kiss. She rested her hands on his shoulders as Shateiel set her down on her feet.

  “Yes. I am uninjured.”

  Agrat took his hand in hers and led him inside. “You should get changed,” she said. “And also shower.”

  Shateiel laughed silently. “Do I smell?”

  “A little.” She grinned at him. “Go.”

  Shateiel bowed elegantly to her and headed off to wash and change out of his armor. He returned to the living room half an hour later with damp hair and wearing simple blue robes. Gracefully, Shateiel sat down on the sofa with a contented expression on his face.

  “The doors and portals are closed?” Agrat joined him, tucking one leg beneath her as she got comfortable.

  Shateiel nodded. “Not without loss, though. We lost many good souls in the fighting. Many humans and monsters, many of those who work for the Field Marshal. Many of our kind. But the portals are shut and sealed now. The General has given me time off for rest and recuperation.”

  “As he should.” Agrat sighed. “I’m glad it’s finally over. It wasn’t an Apocalypse, no, but it was close enough.” She bit her lip, thinking hard before continuing. “I’m worried about Raphael.”

  Shateiel quirked an eyebrow in surprise. “Why?”

  “His lover was injured in one of the battles. He has not stopped fretting over him ever since.”

  Shateiel blinked. “Raphael has a lover? I did not know that.”

  Agrat shrugged. “Few do. I don’t think anyone did before all this—except for Haniel—but things got hectic. So when Israfel got injured, Raph was… not happy. Heartbroken is probably closer.”

  “Israfel… Angel of Music?” Shateiel’s expression was one of complete astonishment. “Raphael is involved with Israfel?”

  “Yes.” Agrat laughed softly at his reaction. “Surprised, huh?”

  “Very.” Shateiel shook his head in wonder. “I would not have thought they were compatible. Israfel is… not the most intelligent of beings, and he is overfond of his liquor and his music-filled parties.”

  “Israfel’s a rock star, you mean.” Agrat grinned as she reached over to run her fingers through Shateiel’s hair. “And yet, he and Raphael are very well matched. They adore each other. It’s very cute.”

  “Remarkable.” Shateiel shook his head once more. “Who else knows of this?”

  “Ishtahar, so probably Remi as well, now. Haniel, of course, as I said. Raphael’s assistants do too. Tabbris, Angel of Free Will, because he’s Israfel’s best friend. The humans we worked with over the years. I think that God would know too.” Agrat pursed her lips. “I always thought Michael was the most private of the Archangels, but I think Raphael outdid him here. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I saw the two of them together and realized they were involved and in love with each other.”

  Shateiel opened his mouth in a soundless chortle. “I can ima
gine. Well, well. How about that.”

  “Now things are over and everyone can start to heal and move on, I hope that those two will be okay. I think Israfel is likely to get impatient and frustrated if Raphael confines him to house arrest.” At Shateiel’s confused look, Agrat shrugged. “He didn’t want Israfel doing anything until the war was over. He said that Israfel’s tendency to go into the worst-hit parts of the planet and play music got him into more trouble than not. Israfel argued that music helped uplift the spirits of people and they needed it, so Raphael’s injunction was harming more than just him.”

  “I am surprised Israfel was able to come up with such a good argument, considering.”

  “He’s not an idiot,” Agrat said. “He’s just young and impetuous. He’s right about music, though. It’s his gift, after all. All music comes from him. Music does lift people’s spirits. But I know how Raph feels—having your beloved be injured and not be able to do anything about it except watch it heal and wait is frustrating.”

  Shateiel touched her cheek. “I am uninjured now, wife.”

  “I know.” She smiled, leaning into his touch. “But you haven’t always come home to me whole.”

  “That is true.” Shateiel ran his fingers through Agrat’s long dark hair. “But I always come home.”

  Agrat nodded, smiling. “And I am always grateful and glad when you do.” She moved closer, crawling into his lap. “Always,” she murmured against his lips, and Shateiel wrapped his arms tight around her.

  2

  IT FELT good to be clean. Gabriel hummed in contentment as he turned beneath the spray and tugged Michael into his arms, kissing him. Michael kissed back, running his hands over Gabriel’s shoulders, and Gabriel pulled him closer.

  “So,” Gabriel murmured between kisses, “shower sex?”

  “If you say so.” Michael still sounded unconvinced, and Gabriel grinned, kissed him once more, then lightly slapped Michael’s ass.

  “Turn around,” Gabriel said. “Brace your hands on the wall and lean forward a little. Spread your legs and I’ll do the rest.”

  “As you say.” Michael did as he was told, and Gabriel took a moment to gaze at Michael’s back and ass, his gaze traveling downward to strong thighs.

  “You are so gorgeous,” Gabriel said as he stepped close, caressing Michael’s body.

  “Love blinds you, da bao,” Michael said, rocking into Gabriel’s touch.

  “Love lets me see clearly, solnyshko.” Gabriel slicked himself with a thought and moved, slowly pressing his cock into Michael’s body. “Oh fuck, yes.”

  Michael let out a strangled groan, half of surprise and half of pleasure, as Gabriel thrust into him, the moan growing louder as Gabriel wrapped one arm around Michael’s chest. He slid his other hand down Michael’s stomach and groin to his cock, wrapped his fingers around that straining hardness, and began to stroke in time to his thrusts.

  They rocked into each other slowly, enjoying the feeling of touching and being touched, of being fucked and fucking. Gabriel mouthed at the nape of Michael’s neck, and Michael reached behind him to grip Gabriel’s hip in a bruising hold. The water sluiced over them in a constant warm stream, and Gabriel groaned as Michael flexed his muscles around Gabriel’s cock.

  “Michael,” Gabriel muttered against wet skin as he rocked faster into Michael’s body. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Gabriel,” Michael said, his voice breathy with desire. There was no more talking after that, only the sounds of passion as their movements gradually sped up, and they cried out as they came, one after the other.

  Slowly pulling out of Michael’s body, Gabriel kissed Michael’s shoulder. Stroking Michael’s thighs with one hand, he faced his lover. “Okay?”

  “Yes.” Michael turned and kissed Gabriel gently. “I confess I did not see how this shower procedure would work, but now that I do, I find that I approve.”

  Gabriel laughed. “I’m very glad to hear that.” He reached for the soap and lathered up his hands. He washed off the last of the grime and sweat from his body as Michael stepped back. Finally clean, Gabriel turned the shower off and stepped out, then grabbed a towel and dried himself.

  Michael followed suit, and Gabriel quirked an eyebrow as he felt his lover watching him. Michael usually watched him; that wasn’t unusual. However, the expression on his face was not one Gabriel had seen for some time.

  “What’s the problem?” Gabriel put the towel back on the towel rail and pulled sweatpants to him with his power. Dressed, he ran his hands through his damp hair, pushing it off his face.

  “Nothing, forgive me.” Michael shook his head as he got dressed.

  “Then why the staring?”

  Michael blinked, frowned, and then sighed. “Gabriel, it… it concerns me that you do not wish to see the graves of your children.”

  Gabriel felt his mouth compress to a thin line. “Why?” The word came out in a harsher tone than he intended it to, but Michael didn’t seem to notice.

  As Michael took his hand, led him unprotesting from the bathroom back into the bedroom, and pushed him gently down onto the bed, Gabriel could feel himself tensing. The gentleness in Michael’s touches, the compassion in his eyes, was only making Gabriel feel more and more defensive.

  “The war lasted seventy years,” Michael began as he sat down beside Gabriel, “and you were fighting for most of it. You did not get to spend much time with them before they died. Do you not want to properly bid them farewell from this beautiful creation that is Earth?”

  In a tight voice, Gabriel said, “I did that already.”

  Michael frowned and looked down at the floor. “Forgive me. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  Now Gabriel felt guilty. Scrubbing his face with his hands, he sighed and stood up, needing to pace, to move. Sitting still only made him feel more agitated. As he strode back and forth, his gaze everywhere but on Michael, Gabriel said, “I couldn’t save them. I fucked up, Michael. It’s ’cause of me that they died when and where they did!”

  “It is not your fault, Gabriel.” Michael moved to stand in front of him and rested his hands on Gabriel’s shoulders.

  “Aye? Then whose, pray? They left the boundaries of the state, left the protection of it, for what? To forage. As if there weren’t enough land in Oregon to forage in without crossing into Iowa!” Anger and hurt colored his voice, and Gabriel stepped away from Michael and resumed his pacing.

  “John went out, thinking that we were fighting up near Washington, by the Columbia Gorge. So he thought demons’d be all up there. The moment he stepped past the boundary, they were on him.” Gabriel whirled on Michael, shaking with emotion. “It took him three days to die, Michael. Three days. And even then, it would’ve been longer if I hadn’t heard him yelling for me. He died in my arms, and the last thing he said to me were that he were sorry. Sorry for failing the mission by foraging for food. As if that were what I cared about!” Gabriel turned away and headed outside. His anger and grief were too great to be contained by the walls of the house.

  He could tell Michael was following him and wasn’t surprised when he felt a light touch on his shoulder.

  “He did what he thought he had to,” Michael said gently. “It was not your fault, Gabriel. He made the decision on his own. You could not have stopped him. He had free will, after all.”

  “Fuck that.” Gabriel growled, a sound that was filled more with anguish than with rage. He buried his face in his hands, trying to block out the memory of John’s bloodied and broken body, those bright-blue eyes caked with sulfur, filmy in their blindness. For the demons had tortured John, blinded him, poisoned him, and when Gabriel found him, they had made sure that there was no way that John would live, that his death was inevitable and not even the healing arts or powers of Raphael would save him.

  That had been their downfall, for once John was dead, a broken thing in Gabriel’s arms, Gabriel had laid the body down on the ground and hunted down the demons that had taken
away his son’s life. John was avenged many times over by the time Gabriel returned to his son’s corpse.

  Samael had waited for him there, Remiel too, and the two Archangels were weeping. Gabriel knew that Samael had loved John and Mira deeply, cared for them more than any other human being.

  “I could not save him, Gabriel,” Samael had said, and Gabriel had screamed his fury and his grief at the sky, his power shooting upward and ricocheting from horizon to horizon in sheets of silver lightning that made humans pause and demons flee.

  “We should bury him,” Remiel said, and Gabriel had shaken his head.

  “I can’t… you… I just….” He had not been able to finish, but Remiel had understood, and Gabriel had been grateful.

  It had been Samael who had told Mira, and Samael who had found her sitting at the foot of John’s grave, her cheeks stained with tears and a gun in her hand. It was Samael who had disarmed her, Samael who had told her in no uncertain terms that she was not to cross the border and hunt the demons herself; that Gabriel had slaughtered the ones responsible for John’s death; that if Mira left the safety of Oregon with its Archangel-made shield protecting all within the state, she would end up being used as a tool to manipulate Gabriel.

  “Mira didn’t listen to Sammy,” Gabriel said in a soft voice. The echo of all the sorrows of the world back to the beginning of time colored his words. “She waited a week, stole one of John’s horses, and rode out.” Gabriel sighed. “She took a good number of demons with her, though.”

  “Gabriel.” Michael reached out and took Gabriel’s hand. “I am sorry.”

  “’S not your fault.” Gabriel gave him a tight, sad smile. “It was bound to happen, right? They ain’t my blood children—obviously—they were human, and humans have finite life spans. They were going to die sooner or later.”

  “Yes, but knowing it is inevitable does not make it any easier to bear.” Michael gently squeezed Gabriel’s hand. “Come. Let us walk a little, by the sea.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Gabriel followed Michael’s lead down to the beach. “Samael tends their graves.”