Page 31 of When Shadows Dream: Shadow Hounds

“My agents couldn’t infiltrate Blessed Reaper headquarters, for obvious reasons?—”

“Their wings and mist?”

“Yes, Marco, I thought that was a given?”

“Sorry, continue,” Marco murmured sheepishly.

“Anyway,” Ramiel continued sternly, “It just so happened, that at around the same time Michael went AWOL, a good friend of mine also lost everything that mattered to him and went off the deep end for a while. Renounced his position and hid himself away. After a while he came to me at the insistence of someone else. We hatched a plan, and he has been my greatest asset to date. Through him, we have built up a case. We know Gabriel is guilty of many crimes. My friend’s contact is sporadic because he’s playing the long game. Because Gabriel is certain of his loyalty, he has access to certain information. Unfortunately, until we weed out the traitors in our midst, and learn the extent of his plans we cannot make an outright move against him.”

“Why not just use the Hand of Truth?”

“The Almighty has refused to release it to me for this purpose. I have been given some BS line about events still being in play that require free will, it needs to play out as it will, and it will all make sense when the dust lands, or something like that.”

They both grunted at his words. The Fates and the Almighty always used the same excuse when they were fucking with the lives of other beings.

“I cannot stay much longer. Currently, Shamsiel and I are staying with the Reapers, and trying to find out what we can. Gabriel is spooked, but we need to do something to shake things up. Things have been stagnant for too long. We will be arriving here next week for the same purpose, though here we will mostly be amongst friends, I hope. Not like the seething viper’s nest the Reaper Headquarters has turned into.”

As quick as a flash, the High Chancellor of Justice vanished through a portal, taking him out of the Realm of Shadows, aka Hell. Leaving behind one very confused, and unnerved Shadow Hound worrying his bottom lip as his anger increased at the thought of a traitor residing in the only place he’d ever called home.

By the time they made it back home, they were not only exhausted and a little drunk, they were also a seething mass of questions and agitation. Well, Luc was. It was just rubbing off on all of them as they tried to get a handle on everything the dragon chief had discussed with them. Deus felt the steel wool of a migraine scrubbing away behind his eyes.

They’d sat and they’d talked, broken bread and drank a fair amount of Dragonfire Ale. Admittedly the latter probably hadn’t been their best decision. But, in the name of diplomatic relations sometimes you needed to get hammered in order to fix your fuck-ups, and an all out war with the dragons would have been an absolute disaster of epic proportions.

What they’d learned in return had been concerning to say the least. The dragons were notoriously private. Kind of a ‘what happens in Réimse Na Dragan, stays in Réimse Na Dragan’ culture. So, it was somewhat of a surprise they’d been so open, honest, and shared about what had been going on there lately.

A few thousand years ago the Goddess of Time got pissed and took four of the five clan heirs in order to stop the wars from decimating the dragon population. This, they already knew. The Almighty had assigned the last dragon heir to a period of service. Someone, knowing all five dragon heirs were not residing within the realm, had seen it as an opportunity to try to control the Hordes. The God of War himself being the prime suspect. So far, it hadn’t worked. But, according to the chief, they’d been so caught up in avoiding War’s traps they’d allowed an even more sinister and pervasive enemy to infiltrate their city.

The mage Luc’s ‘woman’ had liquefied, was apparently a fetid, evil spy, according to the witch who’d calmed Luc down. What the fuck was with that anyway? The mage must have been working for someone other than War. War wasn’t all that clever; brute strength and ego plays were more his style.

The meeting room was empty as they’d stumbled through the portal. With every step forward, Luc’s turbulent feelings pulsed their way through the room. Athon and Roth, subconsciously rolled their shoulders, cracked their necks, and moved into a combative stance. Some of the others backed off, the others froze. As Luc turned around, his eyes flicked frantically around the room. He was a wild animal in a cage that made no sense to him.

Roth growled, and stepped in front of Athon. For a split second Athon’s eyes softened as he took in his lover’s protective stance. It was quickly replaced by an eye roll as he growled equally as aggressively and stepped to his lover’s side with a shoulder bump.

Like a powder keg, the tension in the room exploded and everyone was picking fights. Except him. Deus was the only one not affected by whatever was going on.

Before they could attack each other en masse, Deus saw a fine mist start to settle over them. He quickly closed his eyes and covered his nose and mouth.

“It’s okay, Asmodeus, all is safe now. Not an ideal situation, but better than it was going to be.”

Looking about, Deus found the rest of his team from the mission, including the General, splayed out in various positions around the room. He raised his brow at a defiant looking Mrs Briars.

“Would you rather they’d turned the room into a WWE arena?” she sassed at him.

“How long will they be out?” he asked, resigned.

“As long as it takes for the residual spell to wear off. Some faint magic was clinging to Lucifer, and with the telepathic connection he has with each of you, he was sending it unknowingly along the link. Even to you, Deus, though not as strongly. They should only be out a day or two at most.”

“What do we do with them until then? I need to figure out what’s going on and how magic like this is affecting us at all, let alone residual magic.”

“It’s a good thing I have a big, strong, hulking angel here to help me move them to their rooms then, isn’t it?” she huffed. “Marco can help too, he asked to speak to you when you get a moment alone. I figure while you’re both getting this lot to bed is as good a time as any.”

Deus’s head dropped as he contemplated the carpet. Honestly, all he really wanted to do was strip naked and fall into bed for the next week. Unfortunately, he knew his friends couldn’t be left on the floor. Not only would they be pissed, but they’d undoubtedly also find a way to pay him back. So, with a deep breath he squared his shoulders just as Marco entered the room. Before he could explain any of what was going on, Mrs Briars gave one last forceful instruction.

“Azaroth and Leviathon stay together, either room is fine. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight, boys.” The smile on her face showed how much she was enjoying herself at their expense. The laughter buried in her voice trailed after her as she waltzed out of the room through the door Marco had left open. Marco looked at the bodies on the ground, then up to Deus, over his shoulder at the already gone Mrs Briars, and back to Deus. The confusion was justified, and so too was the thin veil of fear. Whether he was afraid of his friend’s reactions when they woke, or of Mrs Briars, was yet to be determined.

Chapter 18

Nithe beckoned her over to the wall separating them with a crook of his finger and a wink. Despite what she’d told him earlier, she’d found him impossible to ignore. He was funny and clever. It didn’t hurt he was kind of a hottie too, especially with most of the grime washed away. They’d been chatting on and off for a few hours. Nothing deep and meaningful, nothing personal. A few chuckles here and there. Mostly they’d surreptitiously stared at one another when they’d thought the other wasn’t looking. Which had led to more embarrassed chuckles. She felt much the same way as when little Danny McGuire had asked to hold her hand at the county fair when she was nine. All butterflies and bubbles. Except, this time she saw the heat banked behind his stare, and her own horny, dirty thoughts as they flitted through her brain didn’t help with the thrum of desire that begged her to go to him. To touch him, to find a way to push him to the ground and claim him. WTF? Okay, so apparently she desperately needed to get laid.

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