2. Colt

Colt side steps through the narrow walkway of the airplane with Gabby's carryon thrown over his shoulder. With the help of Sierra and Blaise, they were able to get window seats near the center of the plane, right next to the emergency exit. Call it Colt's premeditated catastrophizing, call it being superstitious, but if the cult attacks this plane, then he and Gabby will have nothing between their escape but one door.

"This journal is so detailed," Gabby mutters from in front of him. She's so slender she can just walk down the space between seats without having to twist and turn to avoid bumping into other passengers. She turns to look at Colt, her blue eyes flashing with excitement, and for a moment he's lost in her ethereal beauty. He reaches out, unable to stop himself, and twines a finger through a golden curl as she points to a picture in the journal and continues.

"Blaise writes here that before the wars there were temples in Syria that were so grand, people would come from all over to see them. These temples were built over tombs, so after someone passed they could be laid to rest inside the holy place."

Colt smirks at her excited smile. She bounces on her toes as she turns to continue walking. He unabashedly stares at the way her plaid skirt sways from side to side as her long, strong legs carry her forward.

"That's what we're looking for, Colt. The ruins of an old temple." She glances back. "Like Greece, if things were different…"

If she wasn't the daughter of the archangel Gabriel and he wasn't the demon who impossibly fell in love with her. If they weren't casually strolling between tourists on the way to save the world. Again.

Then they'd be heading to any location their heart desired, just to enjoy it. Just to be together. Alone.

"One day," Colt promises. He can imagine a different trip to Greece where they would have had a moment to enjoy themselves. A quiet dinner at sunset, a stroll along the ancient buildings.

"That would be amazing," Gabby says, the truth making her voice drop. "But first, we have to be focused, prepared, ready to fight."

"I remember a time where you would have been shocked to have to fight anyone," Colt teases, holding Gabby's hand as he helps her into their row of seats. Once she's seated, she scoots back in the chair and crosses her legs, watching him put the carry-on bag in the overhead storage, eyes narrowing as his black t-shirt shows her a peek of his chiseled abdomen.

"And I remember a time when all I wanted was for you to leave me alone!" she teases right back.

"Yet every time I tried to leave you alone? You'd show up again, literally at my bedroom door."

"That was my angelic grace, and if you remember correctly, she wanted to kill you."

"I'm glad you changed her mind." Colt slides into the seat next to her, folding his long legs uncomfortably close in the small space between seats.

With a contented sigh, Gabby raises the armrest between them and slips under his arm to lay her head on his chest. "Me too. What we have, Colt, it's special." She looks up from beneath her lashes, her gaze turning warm.

Heat flares inside Colt, remembering pulling her aside in a distant aisle in Veritas and stealing a moment of passion.

"After this, there will only be nights like that," he promises.

"I don't see it,"Gabby huffs.

Night had fallen by the time they got to Syria, so they used the cover of darkness and a well laid cloaking spell to fly to the tallest building they could find and search for the telltale glow telling them where to go. Colt watches Gabby as she moves from one side of the belltower to the other, standing on her tiptoes and looking as hard as she can. He has Blaise's journal now, and as he flips through the pages, he finds the part about when the obsidian was hidden.

"It says here that the angel Uriel took possession of the shards of obsidian and hid them throughout the lands. He knew the danger they could bring. He would have hidden them a little bit better than right in plain sight." Colt taps his chin as Gabby huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Just once, once! I'd like something to just jump out and say ‘here I am, Gabby, come get me!'" She's frustrated. Finding the obsidian is a dangerous task on its own, but the looming threat that hangs in the balance makes everything so much more intense.

"Well, let's think of what we know; it's in a tomb in a ruined temple, destroyed in the war. Where we are now is the repaired and rebuilt city. See that line of hills in the distance?" Colt points towards the skyline, and Gabby rounds the bell in the center of the tower to peer into the darkness next to him. "Chances are there are temples there, in the ruins."

"What would I do without you?" Gabby smiles, turning to him and leaning on the bricks.

"You'd probably still be at the academy, learning angel lessons with your father."

Gabby rolls her eyes, taking Colt's collar and tugging him down to a fiery kiss. Her lips mold against his as if they were made for him, and Colt has to fight everything in him to focus on the task ahead and not get lost in the curves of his angel's body.

Gabby pulls away from him, a devious glint in her eye. "Catch me if you can?"

She winks and steps up on the bricks, then jumps. Like a flash of light in the darkness, her wings spread from her back and glow in the moonlight. Colt wastes no time. He slides the journal into his pocket and surges after her. The explosion of his black wings fills him with primal power.

He'll catch her alright, he'll always catch her. No matter the circumstances.

Gabby and Coltsoar as one being, flying over a war-torn land littered with ruins and debris . They twist in the sky, spinning around each other, a perfectly coordinated flight founded on love and instinctual knowledge of one another. In the distance, over the hills Colt had pointed out, a glimmer of sunrise peaks over the horizon.

"Look," Colt says, pointing ahead of them at a shadow near the base of the hills. There, hidden in the darkness, is a domed tower.

"What are the chances?" Gabby asks, flying closer to him.

Her face is serious now, hard. The face of someone willing to do what they have to do to save the world they know and love. Ahead of them the sound of splintering wood pierces the air and Colt's attention is drawn back to the tower. The door has been blown open, and inside a light glows like a beacon in the dawn. It illuminates the silhouette of dozens men as they storm through the ruined door.

Men all wearing black robes.

"I'd say the chances are good, seeing as the cult beat us here," Colt growls.

They pin their wings to their sides and dive.

The cult members waiting outside the temple have mere moments to register what's happening when Colt drops the cloaking spell and barrels into the one on the left with the full force of his descent. Gabby, on the other hand, flips at the last moment and kicks the one on the right, dropping him on contact.

"Nice move," Colt whispers fiercely as he wraps his muscled arm around the man he attacked and snaps his neck in one quick movement.

"I've got a great teacher," Gabby smiles at him.

Colt sneaks towards the ruined temple to look inside.

"Looks like they only left the two men to guard. The rest of them have already disappeared inside," he tells her, turning to look at her and freezing in his tracks. Gabby's slipping her bag off her shoulder and reaching inside. Her arm dives deeper than it should, and with a smile, she pulls out the shining Spear of Destiny and cradles it in her palms. "What are you doing, Gabby?"

"It occurred to me that Veritas could be raided. What good would it do if we did all that work just to lose the Spear because I left it on a table in the library?" She spins it deftly in her hands and grins from ear to ear. "Even if it has no power yet, it's still sharp."

Colt grunts a laugh, turning back to the temple and focusing on the task at hand.

"Let"s go find out how sharp, shall we?" he says, leading the way.

The arches of the temple stretch out before them as they enter the great room where the people would normally gather. The glow coming from underneath the mosaic stone floor illuminates the entire building. Gabby's shoes scrape on the dusty stones as she looks up in awe at the grandeur of what this place might have been.

"Shame it's in ruins," Colt says, agreeing with her unspoken admiration.

"It will probably be more ruined before we're done here."

They walk silently after that, tracking the footprints in the years of dust on the floor. The way to the crypts is no secret, not with the glow growing more and more intense the closer they get to the way below the temple.

"Are you ready?" Colt asks Gabby, and she nods. He steps forward, protecting her like he always will, and pushes open a solid wood door.

"I love you," Gabby whispers fiercely, and Colt turns back to her with one foot over the threshold. "Just in case I don't get to say it again…"

Colt reaches back to clasp her hand. "I love you too, and I"ll still love you tomorrow."

They share a smile, then refocus on the task at hand. Colt pulls her over the threshold and a chill settles in his bones. They quickly realize that there's no need to remain quiet as the spiraling staircase they face echoes with the sounds of the cult below.

"It's here somewhere. The witch's spell can't be wrong!"

"And if this is a decoy? We should have waited to see them come for it!"

"Why? So they could kill us first? I don't think so."

"I don't know. Finding you cornered in a crypt makes our job so much easier," Colt drawls.

The arguing quartet of men spin to face them. They have guns, knives, and magic in their hands. Colt and Gabby are more than ready.

One of the men roars, throwing himself at them, and Colt spins. His wings catch the man in the chin, throwing him across the room and crashing into a sarcophagus. His body crushes the old wood, sending dust and particles of death through the air.

Gabby slides beneath Colt's wings, kicking the second man's feet out from underneath him and rolling over his body. In a savage swing, she brings the leaf shaped tip of the spear down on his chest and twists, his bones cracking as his eyes bulge in surprise.

Colt sidesteps a dagger as the third man throws it. The fourth man begins chanting under his breath while a ball of crackling electricity forms in his hands.

"Gabby!" Colt shouts.

She rolls out of the way of an energy blast just in time.

"You're done!" Gabby smiles at the man with the magic, pointing the spear like an extension of her own arm.

"The Spear of Destiny? It's with you?" The shock on the man"s face is palpable, but the regret that he won't be able to share this information with the cult leader makes his face crumple in rage.

"Yep, with me, right where it's safest!" Gabby pulls her arm back and with an Amazonian throw, hurls the Spear at the man. It runs him through and pins him to the stone wall behind him. With hands on her hips, she turns to face Colt as he kicks up a rifle from the floor and shoots the last man square in the chest and he falls dead on the floor.

"Well, that Spear may not have any magical powers—" Colt begins.

Gabby yanks it from the wall and out of the man's chest. "But it still stabs like it should."

They turn from each other and face the tombs around them. They haven't had a chance to look around, too busy eliminating the threat to take in where they actually are. Besides the blood and the fresh bodies, the masonry of these tombs is astounding. Wooden and stone sarcophagi line the walls, each in their own alcove. Over every resting place are symbols indicating who's laid to rest here, while those of lower standing have had their skulls incorporated into the walls of the tomb.

"Amazing," Colt murmurs, eyes tracing the remains of some long-departed man. "The way humans keep their dead always intrigues me."

"I agree. Each corner of the world has their own practices. Learning them all would take a lifetime."

"Only one or two, honestly. What takes the longest is when humans come up with new ways to bury one another and I have something new to study."

"Look!" Gabby cries, pointing to where the first man to die fell.

Colt follows her line of sight and squints as the light seems to get brighter, bolder. "He broke the lid," he murmurs, walking forward with Gabby just behind him. He peers over the casket and a grin splits his face. "It's here!"

Gabby ducks under his arm, placing his chest to her back as she stands on her tiptoes and looks inside. Colt, unable to resist, places one hand on her hip as he grabs the dead man by the collar and moves him out of the way. Inside the casket, pulsating with brightness, glows an obsidian shard.

Gabby reaches forward, hovering her hand over the ribcage that's encasing the shard. "Uriel hid it inside a dead body."

She lowers her hand into the ribcage and as her fingers surround the obsidian shard, she jolts in surprise. Colt grabs her hips, steadying her as her eyes cloud over with a distant glaze.

"Gabby?"

She blinks. Then shakes her head, stepping back and into Colt's arms with the obsidian held up in front of them victoriously.

"We have the first shard," she says reverently, leaning her head back against Colt as he wraps his arms protectively around her. For a moment there, he was sure something had happened to her, but she seems to be fine now.

"Now, we find the other six."

Back in the open air,Colt pulls the journal from his back pocket and watches Gabby. She's cleaned the spear with a rag, and as she settles it back in the impossibly deep bag she's smiling. She turns to Colt as she places the obsidian shard delicately beside it.

"What's next?" she asks, the victory lighting her face.

Colt steps forward and hands her the journal, and she flips through the pages to her next instructions. "Blaise says that once the first shard is found, we recite the spell she's written to direct us to the next place. Like she did, we'll get a sense of its location immediately, and then we just have to go there and find the glow," he recites from memory.

"Sierra wrote a note here," Gabby says, smiling. "I knew you could do it. Now hurry up and come home to us!"

"She loves you very much," Colt says, brushing her curls away from her face tenderly.

"Let's listen to her then and get home safe." Gabby turns from Colt, moving to a space clear of vegetation. She reads the spell a few times, lips moving though no words come out. "Okay, all ready."

She hands Colt the journal and her bag and closes her eyes. Colt watches, in awe as always, as her wings expand and curl slightly around her. The spell on her lips starts quietly, and as she speaks louder, so does the power emanating from her lithe body. Her whole form seems to light up with it, her hair becoming weightless around her head like a halo.

As she finishes the spell, her eyes fly open wide.

"It's close," she declares. "So close it seems silly! Uriel is tricky, doing the last thing anyone would expect. It's only a few hours away."

Colt shoulders her bag and walks up to her with pride written all over his face. As he wraps his arms around her, her wings surround him like a cocoon as they kiss.

"Let's go get it then, shall we?" Colt says against her lips.