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Her eyes widened, and she felt like her personal space had been invaded, but now wasn’t the time for a conversation about that. She trusted. She followed. And she was more than a little bit aware that she was running with her butt crouched in Death’s face the entire damn time.
“Hang back!” the angel shouted. Connie skittered to a halt, causing a traffic jam behind her as Bunny and Death did the same. Thunder boomed ahead of them, and Bunny peered past her mom to watch the angel take a run-up at a big iron door set into solid rock.
She knew he was an angel and all, but even with him looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 80s, this didn’t seem promising.
And now they had another problem. A weird chattering sound began to build in the distance. Bunny glanced over her shoulder at Death, who let his head fall back in exasperation.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
Another boom of thunder as Mike tried to bust in the door.
“What?” Bunny asked, knowing full well that she wasn’t going to like the answer.
Death met her gaze briefly, his eyes skipping between hers. “He released the fucking imps.”
No sooner were the words out of his mouth, a sea of garden-gnome sized demons poured around the bend of the tunnel. But that was where the similarities ended. These little terrors were all mouth, constantly biting the air with a metallic chomping sound as they moved.
“Open the damn door, Mike!” Death shouted, grabbing the lapels of his coat and tugging them up before adopting a fighting stance.
Another boom of thunder shook the tunnel as the angel’s tank-like shoulder hit the door behind them. “I’m trying!” he grunted.
Death popped his neck in anticipation as the imps came rocketing toward them. “Try harder!”
The first few imp scouts skittered up to him. He booted one like it was a soccer ball and he was trying to bend it like Beckham, while another managed to dodge him and head straight for Bunny.
“No you don’t, you little—” she grunted, aiming a kick of her own. She managed to kick it into the wooden wall, hard. The plank splintered and the imp tumbled out, down into the lava below.
“Mike!” Death shouted, as the imps continued to swarm.
Another boom sounded, but this time it was accompanied by a deafening screech of metal scraping against rock. The door buckled inwards just enough to admit them, and the group scrambled to get through ahead of the imp horde.
The angel had hold of Connie’s hand, and without even thinking, Bunny reached back to grab Death’s as they sprinted for questionable freedom. She felt Death jerk on her hand, and she doubled her efforts, not wanting to think about what had made him pull back like that.
They made it through the door at last, stumbling into a huge bright space that was immediately disorienting. Bunny wheeled to look back at the door as they fell through, her hand still clasped tightly around Death’s. An imp had clamped onto the back of his calf, but as they exited the tunnel, it crumbled to dust in the light. Seconds later, clouds of dust began to pour through the door as the rest of the horde raced to their demise.
“What the—” Bunny gasped, watching.
“They don’t have passes,” Death replied. He wasn’t panting, but only because he didn’t need to breathe to begin with.
“Neither does Mom,” she pointed out, worried.
“But you have me,” the angel said with a boyish grin. “I’m your trump card—just this once. Michael.” He gave a slight bow.
She gaped. “The Michael?” Her eyes flicked to Death for confirmation. He nodded.
“Nice to meet you,” she said, awestruck. It wasn’t every day a gal got to meet an archangel who looked like Mr. Universe, after all.
“Nice to meet you, finally,” Mike smiled, his eyes twinkling with kindness. “Your mom told me lot about you.”
“It’s a shame she never told me much about you,” Bunny said accusingly, raising an eyebrow in her mother’s direction. “Either of you.”
Death looked at Michael, and Michael looked at Death. Then both celestial dudes chose to wisely step away and give the women some privacy.
“I had my reasons,” Connie sighed, linking arms with her daughter as they began to walk around the cathedral-like space.
“What were they?” Bunny asked, not leaving any stone unturned.
Connie pursed her lips, as though telling herself that she should have seen that question coming. “First and foremost—I wasn’t allowed to tell you.” She shrugged helplessly. “It’s forbidden for a celestial to talk to a mortal about their purpose. It’s why Death didn’t just come straight out and ask you if you were replacing me. He had to know the torch had been passed on to you before he could risk it.”
