20. Colt

"The bastards can wait!" Colt shouts, swooping down to land beside Gabby. "Let's get these people out of here, then we can worry about the Grigori."

"One step at a time," Gabby says, taking a calming breath as she lays shaking hands on his chest.

He covers her hands with his, offering a gentle squeeze before he turns to the people on the roof.

"I'll go last, make sure everyone else makes it!" Maya says, her face set in a determined, if not terrified, expression.

"Thank you," Gabby says, giving her a quick hug before pulling Kalisha into her arms and hugging her too. "Kalisha, I'll take you first. You know the grounds pretty well, right? We'll fly you to Colt's cottage where you can regroup and flee from there. We still have a big battle on our hands."

As if to prove the threat all around them, the sky booms and a bright white light fills the night, battling the glow of the fire below. Colt quickly grabs another student and takes to the sky with Gabby and Kalisha right behind him.

Time is of the essence, now more than ever. Somehow this feels different than all the other times Gabby and Colt have fought the forces of evil. It feels different than Heaven, different from Hell. It feels like…the end of days.

As Colt lands and sets the student down, he watches Gabby's every movement. As soon as Kalisha is out of her hands, he grabs Gabby and kisses her passionately on the mouth.

"I love you, Gabrielle. If you know anything you need to know that."

"I know," Gabby whispers, leaning in and kissing him softly back. "We're going to be okay."

"I just need you to know that if we fail?—"

Gabby cuts him off with a finger to his lips, a smile dancing on the corners of her own mouth. "We've faced the apocalypse before, Colt. Together, nothing can stop us."

They both, angel and demon united, save the rest of the students and Maya and safely get them to the cottage. They stand hand in hand as they watch their friends and classmates flee the battle.

Gabby squeezes Colt's hand as she pulls the Spear out of her bag and stands it upright between them. "It's time to face the Grigori."

"Let's get this over with." Colt cups her face with his free hand, eyes searching every inch of her face. He wants to memorize her at this moment, darkened by soot but the glowing angel he fell in love with despite everything shining through.

"We have waited long enough!" The booming voice of the Grigori speaking as one has Gabby and Colt covering their ears.

Once their overwhelming sound wanes, Colt straightens and watches them land around him and Gabby in a perfect circle.

"Hand the Spear of Destiny over!" they roar, stepping forward as one and steadily closing the circle.

"Together?" Colt asks, pressing his back to Gabby's and letting his wings stroke in what may be their last embrace.

"Together," she agrees, spinning the Spear in her hands with a flourish.

Colt and Gabby lunge at the same time. Gabby swings the Spear low, attempting to take out the feet of the Grigori directly in front of her, but it hits only the angel's robe.

Cole roars, jumping and attacking from above. He weaponizes his wings, spinning so fast that each feather is more like a sharpened dagger as he dives into the shrinking line of Grigori. Colt feels the blow hit, but doesn't feel the sensation of flesh rending from bone or the warm splash of angelic blood on his skin. He's stopped mid-flight as if he's collided with them, but the Grigori only laugh.

"Did you think we would not be prepared?" they say, their hands extended and palms facing Colt and Gabby.

Colt reaches out and his hand lands on a cold, invisible surface that seems to be bubbling around both of them. "They shielded!" Colt roars, warning Gabby.

"I've broken their shields before," Gabby says with determination.

Colt backs away from the Grigori until he feels Gabby's back against his as well.

Gabby takes the Spear in both hands and jams the pommel into the ground. The moment the Spear connects with the earth, heavenly fire spirals from the bottom and blasts out of the obsidian at the top. The beam of fire hits the shield above them, splattering like lava as it falls all around them.

The Grigori are laughing as they close in, unconcerned.

"Is it working?" Colt cries out as he takes a fighting stance. If the Grigori want the Spear, they will have to go through him to get it, and to do that, they'll have to drop the shield.

"Almost!" Gabby grunts, the amount of power she's channeling obvious in her tone.

"Gabby, no!" Gabriel cries from above. The archangel dives, his white wings stained red with blood. He barrels into the Grigori, knocking a few over and thrashing them into the ground. He turns, hands extended, and blasts the shield with his own angelic fire.

"Dad!" Gabby cries, her voice breaking as if she thought he wouldn't come.

"I'm here, daughter. Direct your flames here!"

Colt moves with Gabby, protecting her back as she turns to face her father. He can feel her energy shift when they lock eyes, and when she angles the Spear toward her father, the immense power of them working together nearly knocks Colt off his feet.

"It's working!" Gabby cries.

"Do not let up!" Gabriel roars. "Focus on me, eyes only on me, daughter!"

"They're recovering!" Colt cries, spinning around Gabby and materializing his swords in his hands. Behind Gabriel, the Grigori he had taken out are rising. Colt watches as the dual flames from father and daughter finally shatter the shield and he lunges forward as shards of what looks like glass fall all around him.

"Be gone, foolish angel. You will not succeed!" the Grigori shout. They turn toward Gabriel and their jaws seem to come unhinged as they roar a cry in unison.

Gabriel's eyes grow wide a millisecond before the soundwave from the Grigori hits him and flings him into the air.

Colt can hear Gabby screaming as her father is flung into the sky and beyond. "He'll be alright, Gabby, he's an archangel."

"He's my dad!" Gabby cries.

Colt sees her for a split second before her entire body is engulfed in heavenly flame. The Spear becomes an extension of her arm, an unbreakable flaming weapon that she swings with intent to kill. Taking her cue, Colt summons his hellfire and steps up beside her.

Together, they attack the Grigori, determined to finish this.

Except no matter the ground they gain they can't seem to touch the enemy angels. Their white gowns stay white, their gleaming white teeth bared in their terrible smiles.

"Why can't we hit them?" Colt roars.

"I don't know, but I'm not stopping until they're dead or I am!"

All around them the battle wages on, angel against angel, witches casting spells, and all manner of creatures both human, demon, and shifter banded together to try and stop their own extermination.

Meanwhile, the battle that will stop all of this seems futile.

"We have to figure out how to hit them!" Colt shouts.

"Not if I set the entire world around them on fire." Gabby curses loudly, holding the Spear above her head with both hands as she utters an angelic spell.

The ground beneath their feet blossoms in flame, giving Colt only a split second to take flight and avoid getting burned himself.

"You like shields? Get out of this one!" Gabby spins in a circle, creating a tornado of flame that engulfs her and pulls the Grigori into the wind tunnel one by one. "Die! Die, you betrayers of life!"

Colt thrusts his hands together, wrist to wrist, and shoots a beam of hellfire at Gabby's flame tornado. The green flames mix with the angelic gold, both fires fighting for dominance but working together as they spin and burn everything in their path.

The Grigori are no longer laughing. "We will not fall to a half-breed angel and a turncoat demon!" they roar.

"No, you will not fall to that! You will fall under the power of Heaven and Hell combined! You will fall because I will kill you!" Gabby declares.

The Grigori are silent after that, the only sounds to be heard are the crackling flames and the screams and shouting of fighting all around them.

"Are they dead?" Colt asks, hovering just above and behind Gabby.

Together, they let their fires die. As the smoke and wind settle around them, there's nothing but charred Earth. There's no sign of the Grigori, no sign that they were ever there or if they died.

"What…" Gabby whispers, her voice hushed with disbelief.

Have they won?

Above them, the sky flashes bright white and stays that way. The glaring heavenly light turns the night to day, illuminating everything around them as if they've stepped through the pearly gates and entered heaven itself.

"Humanity was a mistake, God's creation is a failure. Give us the Spear so the Grigori will right the egregious wrong here and now! All who oppose our great power will die!"

Colt grabs Gabby from behind as fast as he can. He wraps her in his wings and crushes her to the ground, shielding her from the Grigori as their blast from above comes raining down.

The screaming escalates around them, the battle pauses as friend and foe look up at their demise.