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Michael swiftly moved to stand beside me, Jack and Bug allowing him to pass them, although they hung close to me.
“Uriel, brother, why would you seek to stop the Key from seeing me? I’m beginning to suspect I’ve been kept out of the loop of some very important affairs. I felt Raphael’s passing. I dare suspect it is due to all of this.” Michael’s voice traveled across the clearing with ease, and I turned to stare at the angel in question. The one who had blasted Thomas away.
“Heaven has deemed her a threat, we need to deal with her,” Uriel stated as he stood before his brother, backed by a dozen angels.
“Have they just? I didn’t get a say in this,” Michael noted as he clasped his hands before him. The minor shift in stance was enough to make a shiver course down my spine.
“You retired, brother. Along with Gabriel. Raphael and I had to maintain order in Heaven,” Uriel explained, although he’d shifted his own stance too now.
“Well, now that I know what she is, and I can sense her power, I am getting involved. I wish to speak with her alone, with her companions,” he said as he cocked his head, as if he was daring his brother to argue.
“We can’t let you do that,” Uriel said, his jaw tight as he flicked his gaze to my hellhounds and I.
“And why not?” Michael’s tone was level, but even my hellhounds bristled at the tension that filled the air.
“Because Armageddon is coming, and she will halt it. This earth, this amazing creation of our father, is dying. Purging it of the human race will save it,” Uriel stated, and my hellhounds snarled.
“You believe that’s God’s will? To destroy one of his most precious creations? Whom we were asked to protect and watch over?” Michael squared his shoulders, and I steadied myself, every nerve-ending ready to fight if needed.
“God is no longer with us, he’s left us to handle matters on our own,” Uriel shot back.
“Our father left us with clear instructions, to continue his work. How could you have strayed so far from his beliefs?” Michael clucked his tongue.
“He granted mankind the power of free will. We’ve decided to embrace it as well,” Uriel said defiantly.
“Mass genocide—wiping out an entire species—I’m positive that’s not what he wanted with free will.”
I wanted to jump in, to share my own thoughts, but I knew it was pointless. The conversation between two archangels as old as time was not a debate I needed to put myself in the middle of.
“Brother, you’ve been away from the scene for too long. For over a century, we’ve watched them start wars over nothing, destroy the earth, murder, rape, pillage,” Uriel snarled. “It ends now.”
“Every creature falters as they grow, mankind is no different. I believe that they are still finding themselves and their place on the planet.”
“That may be so, but it ends here. They’re too damaging, like a parasite, sucking the very life from the planet, taking and using until there’s nothing left.”
“Last I looked, there was still kindness, forgiveness, and mercy among mankind,” Michael stated.
“Yes, but the good does not outweigh the bad, not anymore. Enough is enough.”
“Well, I won’t allow it. As my father’s right hand, I forbid such an action to be taken. I will speak with this one, the Divine Key…” He turned to look at me, and it took me a moment to realize he was waiting for my actual name.
“Lily,” I said quickly, and the corner of his mouth curled up before he focused back on Uriel.
“I will speak with Lily, and I expect you to respect my wishes, brother.”
“I can’t allow that, Michael. We’ve decided, collectively, that this is what’s best,” Uriel said as he jutted his chin out, the angels standing firm behind him.
“Do you wish to challenge me as God’s right hand?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
I shuddered as Michael scoffed, and his powerful wings exploded forth from his back.
My hellhounds snarled as they all stood before me, their wings flaring out as they shielded me with their bodies.
“Then you’ll have to be prepared to take on both of God’s first sons,” Michael roared.
I faltered as I flared my wings out, and I stiffened as an odd rip tore through the very air near Michael.
To my utter shock, a man stepped through in a pair of black pants, his feet and torso bare as he glanced around curiously like he’d just been beckoned to a bizarre meeting.
But my primary focus was on the two black horns jutting from his head that matched his jet-black wings.
“Michael, what’s going on?” the angel asked as he ran a hand through his messy brown hair. His beard was neatly trimmed, and he glanced over at my hellhounds, his expression shifting to an impressed look before he focused back on Michael.
“I’m going to need you to stand with me, Lucifer.”
