Page 4 of The River of Hatred

Sariel seems to hear it though, because his grin widens as he steeples his fingers in front of him. “Perhaps I merely wish to make sure my oldest friend is safe? After all, I have lost a friend to Belial already.” His face darkens with his last words and Ithuriel’s mouth closes. It is a hard one to counter unless you’re a complete asshole, I get it.

What I don’t quite get is the relationship between these two. It’s obvious they were friends before Sariel’s descent, but what happened there?

The two couldn’t be more different. They’re like yin and yang. Sariel, whom I’ve seen a few times before, but never talked with, has coal-black hair styled in a fauxhawk. His eyes, also black, are scary as fuck – no white, no colored iris, just completely black. His tall frame is incredibly muscled, but not in a pumped-with-steroids kind of way. More like he spends ten hours a day practicing with heavy weapons.

In contrast, Ithuriel’s hair is a gleaming pearl white and shorter than Sariel’s. His eyes are normal-looking, but they’re the palest gray with a dark, smoky ring. His skin is a couple of shades lighter than Sariel’s and he’s also a couple of inches shorter. While I can’t tell exactly how muscled he is under his gleaming armor, he does have broad shoulders. I try to picture what he’d look like without that armor. Does he have any hair on his body? If so, would his happy trail be white?

I flush, chastising myself for fantasizing about an angel. It’s just wrong. Like fetishizing a hot priest. As I quickly avert my gaze from the male who’s been making me feel so flustered, my eyes snag on Sariel. He’s watching me, his gaze coldly assessing. As he notices my attention, he graces me with a wicked smile and a wink. My heart stutters.

“How can we trust you to have their backs when it comes down to it, Sariel?” Maalik’s question breaks the awkward silence and I’m relieved. What the heck is going on with me? Abaddon is full of gorgeous Fallen, why am I suddenly reacting to two Celestials like a teenager?

“Hey!” Lana protests. “You seriously think I’d let him near Jess if I thought he’d let her get hurt?”

“Aw, thanks, mom!” Sariel quips and Lana throws him a disgusted look that just makes him laugh.

“What did I say about you calling me that?” Lana’s voice is low and threatening. Sariel gives her an affectionate kiss on the cheek and flutters his thick black lashes at her. If he gave me a kiss like that, I’d probably faint. Lana just rolls her eyes.

“I think it is an excellent idea to have Sariel join, if he is willing,” Daniel speaks up for the first time since this meeting began.

“Wasn’t the point to blend in once we head Above, though?” I ask tentatively and wave a hand toward the black-haired fallen angel. “He’s gonna stand out with those eyes.”

Sariel gives me a tight smile. Why is he being cold one moment and then flirty the next? I mean, he’s flirty with everyone, but I’m the only recipient of these strange, calculating stares. “I’ll wear opaque sunglasses.” It’s all he says and I nod then flush again. Maalik’s the one who takes trips to the human realm for supplies for us Elioud, after all, and his pupils are vertical, like a snake’s. If he manages to interact with humans without causing mass hysteria, then so can Sariel.

“Right,” I mumble, then look at my lap. Lana, who’s sitting catty corner to my left, kicks me under the table. I snap out of my slouch and look at her, one eyebrow raised.

“You’re being weird,” she accuses.

“Just feels surreal to be heading up there, you know?” My answer seems to satisfy her and she gives me a sympathetic look and gently squeezes my arm.

I wasn’t fully lying; it is really fucking weird to know I’ll be back topside soon. Most of us made peace with having to be here years ago, knowing it’s the right thing to do, protecting everyone in the realm of the living. But with the number of manifestations going down somewhat after Belial’s imprisonment by Lucifer, a lot of us have also been asking if we could visit Above sometimes. It hasn’t exactly been a simple and straightforward dilemma – everyone we know likely thinks we’re dead. What would we even tell them? Could we trust them to keep the existence of Celestials a secret? Would they accept that we’d always look the same while they aged? Doubtful. And that’s just a few of the considerations.

But I’m mostly just unnerved by my reaction to the two males I’ll be spending my time with for the foreseeable future. Belial’s domain is where we’ll start and it’s likely going to take weeks for us to find the rift. Thanks to Lana’s Ashtaroth, we know it’s not in Belial’s stronghold.

I shiver at the thought of the archdemon who attacked us a few months ago and nearly killed my team leader. Her now-husband showed up in the nick of time, being warned by their little imp, Puck. Belial truly looked like a demon from a nightmare; glowing orange eyes, horns and protrusions on his head, serrated teeth in a lipless mouth, and a flat goat-like nose.

At my shiver, the angel Ithuriel scans what he can see of me as we sit at the table and I flush again, making his Fallen counterpart, Sariel, snort.

“Do you have a problem with our Nephilim?” Ithuriel asks him, his voice cold. I hate that his innocent choice of words – our Nephilim – makes my legs clench in response to the pulse of heat between them. Since I look at Sariel after Ithuriel’s question, I notice the way one side of his mouth curls into a cocky smile.

“No, no,” Sariel drawls. “She’ll be just perfect.”

Maalik throws a rolled-up map on the table between the six of us and interrupts whatever new argument between the two former friends was about to evolve. We unroll the parchment – a handmade map – and Maalik places a finger where a fortress among sand dunes is drawn in black ink. He drags that finger across the map to the mountain ridge which marks the closest border of the archdemon’s domain.

“According to intel confirmed by both Corson and Ashtaroth’s assassin-spymaster, Aim, the rift could be somewhere in the northeastern part of Belial’s lands,” Maalik begins. “You can shave two weeks’ worth of travel time if you use the ether to get there.” He looks at Sariel with his brows raised, who shakes his head.

“I’m not strong enough to carry all three of us that far. And if we asked Ash for help, with such a distance, it would either require multiple stops or one long jaunt. I’m afraid our pretty poppet’s brain would leak out of her nose and ears if we attempted it.”

He’s giving me a snake’s smile and Lana elbows him in the ribs while reminding him to be nice. As Sariel feigns outrage, my face is once again on fire. I really need to stop letting them affect me like this; I’ve been an Elioud soldier for nearly four years – I’m not the hapless twenty-five-year-old equipped with only a camera anymore.

“Before you suggest we simply leave her behind,” Ithuriel cuts into the ribbing that’s happening across the table from him, “know that I will not allow an archdemon to transport me anywhere.”

“Of course you won’t,” Sariel sneers. “Wouldn’t want to get Hell cooties on you. And I wasn’t suggesting we not take her. We are most definitely taking her.” His smirk is pure mischief.

The color on Ithuriel’s cheeks rises a minuscule amount and this time Daniel intervenes. How will these two spend what could possibly be months together? How will I? “Over the years, the Elioud residing here have proven to be more sensitive to the presence of demonic, possibly also angelic, creations and manifestations. More so than full-blooded Celestials.” He tilts his head to Ithuriel, sitting beside him. “Though we can compare it to an angel’s senses now as well. While Lana’s senses are the strongest,” he nods at my team leader, “the archangels demanded the chosen soldier be Nephilim. Liam is Lana’s second in command, now that she no longer spends the entirety of her time here, and he was our first choice. In light of his injury, however, any soldier under her command is among our finest. Jessica is vital to this mission.”

Now both Lana and I are blushing, touched by his praise.

“I will fly her,” Ithuriel decides. “It will take less than half the time, taking into consideration breaks to sleep and rest my wings.”

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