24. Asmodeus

Gabe was Nephilim. His whole family was Nephilim, for that matter. Az should have realized. He should have asked more questions. He had become so consumed with figuring out Gabe's sexuality, and then with thinking about staying with his human, that he had forgotten to think about why Gabe and his family were immune to Az's powers.

His lack of foresight was going to cost them now.

A regular angel wouldn't have been a big deal. A hassle, yes, especially if the leadership team got involved. An archangel, though? They were one step below Yahweh. Yes, he was an Infernal King of the Underworld, and they were all one step below Luce, but there were more of them. He wasn't exactly sure who would be more powerful.

He didn't want to place bets on it, that was for sure.

He needed a window. Or a mirror. He needed to see Luce. They both needed to see Luce.

He stood up, looking around the kitchen, which of course had no windows, when he heard a key in the front door. Gabe looked up and started to stand when they heard the door burst open.

"Where is the closest mirror?" hissed Az. Dammit, why couldn't Gabe be vain? He needed a mirror now.

"The bathroom?" Gabe answered, looking perplexed.

Before Az could head that way, Michael walked into the room. Az almost breathed a sigh of relief, but behind Michael was another figure.

Gabe wasn't kidding when he said angels glowed. If this was what he was used to, no wonder he had questioned Kushiel's angelic nature. Az put his hands up to shield his eyes. He could barely make out the figure who walked into the room, but he wasn't going to let that intimidate him.

"Mind turning it down there a bit, Rainbow Brite?" Az asked. "Or would you like me to pull out the full demonic form? Not sure the kitchen or the house would survive it, but if we're going in blazing, so to speak…"

He heard a hmph from the angel, and then he was looking at a strikingly handsome man. His skin was still glowing, but it was manageable now. He was also in full battle regalia of shining silver with white wings folded behind him.

He also had a rather large sword in his hands.

Az almost groaned out loud. He had forgotten which archangel Michael was (not really his fault; he didn't usually concern himself with angels, after all). Of course Gabe had to be related to the warrior and protector archangel; he couldn't have been related to the messenger, the healer, or the wise prophet? It would have made Az's life so much easier.

"Nice sword," Az smirked. "Although maybe overcompensating a bit?"

"Az!" Gabe gasped. Then he giggled. It was a bit hysterical, but Az was still glad to hear the sound.

"If I'm going to face down an archangel, I might as well have a bit of fun doing it, my love," Az said. He saw both Michaels stiffen at the endearment.

Fuck them. He wasn't going to hide how he felt.

He glanced around the kitchen again. Not even an itty bitty mirror anywhere. Although…

"You are an abomination, and you do not belong here," archangel Michael intoned. "I have come to return you to your rightful place."

Az raised an eyebrow. "I'm an abomination? I wasn't the one running around making little Nephilim offspring, though, was I?" Az sneered. "Pretty sure that was outlawed, and pretty sure you guys aren't supposed to be the rule breakers."

Archangel Michael looked pretty pissed off at that, while human Michael was kind of standing there and wringing his hands, looking all sorts of nervous. Archangel Michael took a step toward Az, and Gabe stepped in front of him, barring the way.

Gabe looked at human Michael and hissed out, "Call Grams. NOW!"

He then turned his attention to archangel Michael. "You have always let us make our own decisions. It was my decision to summon this demon and keep him here."

"According to leadership, the summoning was revoked," archangel Michael stated. "I have come to take care of the problem." The archangel stepped forward again, Gabe stepped back into Az, and Az took a slight side step. If he could make it over to the fridge…

"I revoked the revocation!" Gabe yelled out. Archangel Michael had his sword at the ready, and it was clearly making Gabe nervous. Hell, it was making Az a bit nervous as well. He wasn't sure exactly what an archangel's sword, especially this archangel's sword, would do to him.

"He has clearly brought you under his thrall," archangel Michael replied. Human Michael had skedaddled, the coward, and it was just the three of them in the room now.

"I did not. They are immune. So put the sword away and let's talk like civilized afterlifers," Az declared, holding his hands up and stepping back and over so that he was standing in front of the fridge.

Gabe, thank demons, moved as well to stand in front of him again, and Az put his hands down, letting one rest on Gabe's shoulder.

"I am immune. I was never lustful with Az." Gabe stopped and blushed then. "Well, I was never lustful because of Az's powers," he continued.

Az tried his best to listen with half an ear, but most of his focus was on his hand that was currently touching the fridge.

The stainless steel fridge.

Not quite a window or a mirror, but Gabe kept that fridge shiny enough that you could almost see your reflection in it. Az could only hope it was enough.

He noted that Gabe's voice had taken on a pleading tone, and that dickhead archangel still sounded grumpy and stiff as fuck.

He finished the runes, but nothing happened. It took him a moment to realize that his back was to the fridge and he had done the damn things backwards.

Fuck.

He started again, but his concentration was interrupted when he heard the door open again.

Everyone stopped and looked at the kitchen doorway; it appeared human Michael hadn't ditched them after all. He had, in fact, gotten Grams.

"Michael!" she said, walking over and giving the archangel a huge hug. Right over the armor and everything. Michael, meanwhile, looked like someone had just stolen his favorite toy. Disgruntled didn't even begin to cover it.

"I can assure you I have this well in hand," he stated coolly. Az noticed he did not hug Grams back.

"Hmph," she said, then walked over to hug Gabe and whisper something in his ear.

Then, much to Az's own bewilderment and shock, she walked around Gabe and enveloped him in a hug too.

Az stood there sort of stiffly, having no clue what to do. She smelled like home, which was really weird, considering home smelled a bit like lava and poisonous flowers not found topside (they had a lovely odor that made Az think of sex, but then most things made Az think of sex).

Az looked up and saw Michael's face, and the archangel actually rolled his eyes, as if to say, Can you believe this? She's interrupting a divine war!

Well, he certainly wasn't going to be in agreement with the dickhead, so he reached around and gave Grams a big hug right back.

She was warm and plump and motherly and made him feel safe, and Az took a moment to revel in the feeling. They should bottle this essence up. It was all things warm and homey that Az didn't even know he had been missing.

"You keep writing," she whispered in his ear, giving one last squeeze before she pulled back.

Az had no clue how she knew what he was doing, but he wasn't going to disappoint her, so he put his hand back down and tried to carefully think through the runes backwards in order to summon Luce.

He didn't think Grams was enough of a back-up, although surely it would buy them a little more time.

Grams positioned herself in front of Gabe, blocking archangel Michael. Human Michael was gone again, but Az couldn't worry about that now.

"Michael. I don't recall getting in touch with you," Grams stated coolly. Az was a little surprised; he didn't know she did anything other than warm and bubbly.

"My namesake called me forth, and I have come to rectify an afterlife issue that does not concern you," he stiffly replied. For whatever reason he did not appear happy to have her here.

"Well," she countered, "Az comes under my protection and my summoning, and I can assure you that your interference is not required. So hurry back to your little end-of-world war planning and leave me to the job that I was entrusted with."

"I do not think…" Michael began, but Grams cut him off mid sentence.

"No, unfortunately, you do not think. It has always been one of your greatest failings, Michael. All brawn and no brains." She tsked at him after that, and Az literally stopped writing in surprise.

Michael looked like he'd eaten a lemon, and he started to lift his hand with the sword, but Grams literally put her hand on it—how she wasn't cut, Az had no idea—and pushed it back down.

"Your presence is not required, Michael. You are dismissed," she stated.

"Damn, Grams is a badass," Az whispered in Gabe's ear. Gabe just nodded, but Michael sent him a nasty glare.

"Lilith, this is really none of your concern," he sighed, letting his arm finally lower so that his sword was practically touching the ground.

"Not my concern?" she asked coldly, and even Az wanted to back up, because there was something there in her voice. It was like an avalanche of power being held behind a wall of ice. Az had the first inkling that perhaps he was dealing with someone who was far more formidable than his understanding.

She turned and glared at him, and he saw millenia in her eyes, unchecked power, lifetimes of existence… she was older than he could have ever imagined, and he was shocked into utter speechlessness.

She also looked pissed at him, which made him more than a little nervous, but she only mouthed the word, "Write."

Well shit, she had told him to keep writing. He got back to it, but not before he asked one question.

"Lilith?" he inquired, because he was beginning to have some suspicions.

It was Gabe who answered, to his surprise. "Grams isn't really our grandmother. I guess I kind of forgot to mention that too," he muttered sheepishly. "I mean, she's better than any grandmother in the world, I'm sure, and she did raise us since she took over when our parents died. Honestly, we kinda forget that she isn't technically our grams, sort of like Michael here isn't technically our grandfather."

"THE Lilith?" Az asked, but he did start writing on the fridge with his finger again too. "But… Lilith is a myth. The first creation of Yahweh who then refused to take orders from Adam and was banished."

Grams harrumphed. "Leave it to men to rewrite history to suit their needs. I was most certainly not banished. I left. My powers were beyond those of the mortals created, and my place was not with them. I wandered the Earth amongst humans, angels, and demons, never quite fitting in with any of them."

"Although many tried to procreate with me, I was not interested," she said tartly. She looked over at Michael then, who was most decidedly not looking at her.

"Grams! Not with the sex talk please!" Gabe groaned.

Az was astounded that Gabe had no fear whatsoever of this woman. She-demon? Immortal? Az didn't even know what she was. Lilith wasn't supposed to be real. She was an afterlife bedtime story for demons about a badass woman who wouldn't take shit from anyone and broke out on her own.

"The angels were bitter, and as those who are rejected are sometimes wont to do, they started rumors about me. I wanted children, so of course someone began the rumor that I killed my children. Rest assured they are no longer corporeal," she added.

Shit, Grams was super badass. Grams was Lilith. Az could still barely wrap his brain around it. But he kept writing, figuring she was buying him time.

"When the Nephilim came to be," she continued, "neither the humans nor the angels wanted them. They fit nowhere, like me. I wanted children, so I implored Yahweh to give me ascendancy over this race, and I was granted my request. Nephilim were outlawed, since neither humans nor angels would take care of them, and I raised them as my own children. I follow the remaining bloodlines and watch over them. I protect them. I am Mother to them. Mother to all who need it." She looked over at Gabe then, and with a wink added, "And Grams to some."

Az was almost done. One last rune. As if sensing something was amiss, Michael raised his sword arm again. "It matters not. I am the Archangel Michael, Warrior and Protector, and I have come to claim a demon on the call of my offspring."

"Offspring you rejected," Grams hissed.

"I did not!" Michael countered. "I could not take them with me to battle; I could not bring them to heaven. I left them in your care, but I am their creator."

Grams harrumphed again. "You donated sperm. You didn't create them. You didn't raise them."

"Wow," Az couldn't help interjecting. "It's like a daytime talk show where everyone is waiting for the paternity test results."

Gabe snorted. "Right? Grams and Grandfather never did have the best relationship. We try to meet up with Grandfather when Grams isn't around."

"ENOUGH!" roared Michael, and he raised his sword above his head.

At that moment, though, human Michael charged into the room, distracting archangel Michael enough that he didn't do whatever he was about to do.

"Now!" yelled Grams.

Az thought she meant him, so with a twist of his fingers, he finished the final rune.

Human Michael must have also thought the statement was for him, because he threw a vial down between them all at the same time.

Az felt the fridge behind him swirl and melt away, but at the same time he saw white light and vapors rising from the vial.

Well shit.

When you summoned both Lucifer and Yahweh to Earth, what would happen?

Az sincerely hoped they hadn't just started armageddon.

Ooops.