“Michael knows that when the being returns he will be punished, that he will most likely be destroyed, but he realized the rest of the archangels had to know what she truly is.”
“Because you would not have come to Earth for just Lucifer’s offspring,” I murmured.
Raphael gazed at me, torment evident in his eyes. “Yes, I would have,” he finally admitted. “It was unfair to expect you to pay with your life for the numerous mistakes we’ve all made over the years. However, knowing what I did about you made my decision easier.”
“You really are the first true World Walker,” Magnus murmured. “It all makes so much more sense now.”
“You would think the angels would still want me dead,” I said. “My children will carry on Lucifer’s line.”
Kobal released a sound that set my hair on end and caused most within the room to step back. My mother slapped her hands over her ears and started shaking. He cast her a loathing glance before focusing on Raphael again.
“We do not want you dead. You would be the end of Lucifer’s line, but Michael’s line continues, and so do the lines of some of the other fallen angels,” Raphael said. “The children of the angels have become entangled with the fabric of this world. I will not take out a woman who is stronger thanallthe other angel lines and who is willing to sacrifice herself to stop Lucifer. I am here to help save humanity, not kill anyone. Without humans, weallperish.”
“I…” Words failed me. I had no idea what to say.Lucifer and Michael.Adam and his children. I didn’t ask about Cain and Abel; I preferred not knowing. It was all too much. Turning back to my mother, I blinked at her as I tried to comprehend everything put into motion millennia before I was born.
“Michael istheone who threw Lucifer out of Heaven,” Caim said.
“I know,” Raphael replied.
“Do you not understand what it meant to those of us who were driven out of Heaven?” Caim demanded, drawing my attention to him. “How hypocritical it is for Saint Michael to be the one to do such a thing?”
“I do, but he was determined to obey the laws set down after his transgression.”
“And when Lucifer started questioning things, Michael saw his opportunity to become the favored son by evicting Lucifer.”
“No,” Raphael said. “Michael knows he can never be the favored one. He will forever be a constant reminder of the first failure of the being. The being always had a soft spot for Lucifer, and no matter what he has become, he will probably remain the Morning Star to the being. When Lucifer started questioning things, Michael had no good intentions or bad ones; he only saw what needed to be done and did it.”
“How do you know that?” Caim demanded.
“Because I have discussed this with him. He is not proud of what was done with the fallen angels, and he is not ashamed. He carried out his duty.”
“Wonderful,” I said, cutting into their discussion. “They all did their duties, but Lucifer is still on Earth.” I focused on Raphael. “You said Michael’s line continues without me, you meant my brothers?”
“Yes.”
“Does this mean my brothers will one day become immortal too?”
“It does,” Raphael confirmed.
“Oh.” I had a feeling I would be Kobal’s age and still not have absorbed all the things heaped onto me these past five months. “My brothers have no abilities,” I stated before glancing at my mother. “But then I never knew she did either.”
“You have not seen any manifested abilities from them,” Raphael replied. “Perhaps they are drawing from the Earth too. Not as strongly as you, but enough that they would have stayed alive until a hundred and something before the gateway opened. Perhaps, they can do something else, or perhaps their abilities are latent. Because Michael’s line was cloaked, many of his descendants haven’t shown their abilities.”
“We have to find them and the rest of this town,” I stated.
“Dead,” my mother said, and my blood ran cold.
“Who’s dead?” I managed to choke out.
“The town.” Her fingers digging into the ends of the chair caused bits of stuffing to fall around the filthy ground. “The town is dead. Killed.”
CHAPTER 51
River
“What?” I gasped. “Why?”
Before I could think, I grabbed her arm. She yanked it away from me and slapped me so fast and hard that I never saw it coming before it staggered me back. “Devil spawn!” she spat.
