Page 55 of Legacy of Chaos

Azagoth’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “I haven’t heard it mentioned in thousands of years. But I do know it was rendered inoperable when the Gaiaportal was shut down.”

“You heard about Harvester, I assume.”

Azagoth’s emerald eyes turned troubled. “She went through the Gaiaportal and was killed. But why?” Azagoth asked. “The gate was inoperable. It was inoperable whenIwas in Heaven. I don’t ever remember it being in functioning order. So why would she go through it? And why have several of my sons and daughters been missing since that day?”

“I can’t tell you that.” Zaphkiel had ordered Gabriel to keep his mouth shut about any and all Heavenly matters.

“Is that so?” Azagoth’s voice was low. Dark. Roiling with malevolent undercurrents. “Then I can’t tell you more about the Gehennaportal.”

The glass in Gabriel’s hand shattered. The shards pierced his palm in a dozen places. One thick piece penetrated all the way to the back of his hand. The whiskey must have been made from hellfire because itburned.

“You know better than to come to me for anything empty-handed,Jim Bob.”

Yeah, he did. Gabriel watched his hand heal, the bloody bits of glass falling to the floor. “I was hoping you might want to help me out of the goodness of your heart.”

Azagoth laughed. “You sound like my wife.”

“I hope you don’t stabherwith glass shards.”

“Never. I only like seeingotherangels bleed.” He walked back to the bar and poured another whiskey bomb. “Tell me what’s happening in Heaven, Gabriel.”

If Gabriel hadn’t been desperate, he’d have told Azagoth to shove that glass up his evil ass. He’d been dealing with the guy for thousands of years, and they’d mostly been on equal footing. But right now, Azagoth had him by the short feathers, and when Azagoth spied any opening, any weakness, he pounced with the ruthlessness of a hellhound after its prey.

Gabriel accepted the lowball—gingerly—and considered Azagoth’s request.

Zaphkiel would be furious if he found out that Gabriel had spilled Heavenly secrets to Azagoth. He might even consider it treason.

But what would they do to him? Kick him out of Heaven? Not a chance.

“Heaven’s gates are closed,” he said. “Your children, and every angel who was in Heaven when the realm was locked down, are stuck there. I was only allowed out to talk to you.” Gabriel’s gaze drifted to the pool again, and he snapped his eyes back before Azagoth started looking for toothpicks.“The Thrones staged a coup. All Archangels and Reaver are imprisoned.”

Azagoth was rarely surprised, but he stilled with his tumbler at his lips. “The Archangels areimprisoned?”

Gabriel nodded. “The battle to capture them is what led to Harvester escaping through the Gaiaportal, which activated the Gehennaportal.”

Azagoth frowned. “The Gehennaportal was built at the top of Agony Peak at the south end of the Mountains of Eternal Suffering. The peak collapsed into the Demented Sea a thousand years ago. Maybe more.”

“So, it was destroyed?” That was a relief.

“I don’t know. But if it wasn’t, any demons using it, at least at first, would be aquatic.”

Gabriel thought about that. The Heavenly portal was connected to Temple Mount, while the Sheoulic portal had transported demons to a once uninhabited area of southern Norway.

“As far as I know,” he said, “there haven’t been any reports of dying aquatic demons in Norway, so it must not be active. If it is, it’s either inaccessible or demons haven’t found it yet.” That was also good news.

“No,” Azagoth said, his dark brow furrowed, “but the Genhennaportal’s Sheoulic gateway moved when the mountain collapsed. What if the human realm’s gateway location moved too?”

Well, that was a dropkick to the gut. Gabriel did not like the direction of this conversation.

Azagoth moved to his media display and brought up a 3D rendering of a news story.

“The day Harvester disappeared,” he said, “an oil company reported a disturbance at one of its North Sea platforms. There haven’t been any follow-up stories about it, but within a week,StryTech struck a secret deal and bought the platform. Very few know about this. They’re trying to keep humans from freaking out.”

Gabriel didn’t have to ask how Azagoth knew. He had an extensive information network that had probably shrunk since he was no longer running Sheoul-gra, but he also ran in Stryke’s family circle.

“You think the oil company drilled into the Gehennaportal? At the bottom of the North Sea?”

“I know they drilled intosomething. StryTech thinks it might be a weak spot in the barrier between the human and demon realms. Last I heard, Stryke had sealed the breach. But if what they drilled into was the Gehennaportal, their seal might not hold.”

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