26. Medusa

I was learning way more about supernatural weaknesses than I ever wanted to. I’d long known silver weakened us, but until the Coalition, I hadn’t known of anything that could completely take away our magic like that. Angel tears didn’t work on angels, but Pax figured out how to turn the tables in a fit of rage.

He could have turned their entire bodies to sand or just vital organs and killed them. He was mad enough to. Pax wanted them to suffer like we had suffered. They’d taken something important from all of us, so he took their wings.

And I couldn’t speak for everyone else, but I didn’t know how I felt about them getting their wings and magic back five minutes later. They’d hadn’t exactly promised to join or help us in exchange for that. Michael had been truthful about everything he’d said so far and Gabriel did way more than we expected with their message.

But these angels? I could get that they were scared and had an impossible decision, but I was pretty sure there were angels that disagreed with what was happening on both sides of their war. If enough from one side had joined or helped the archangels, I’d bet some from the other side would, too. And if enough of them took a stand, they might have ended things long before it spilled over to my home.

I wasn’t there, so it was easy for me to think all of this, but I was looking at multiple victims of their inaction and I was also one of those people that got hurt. Unlike these angels who hadn’t met a single god, I’d actually met several. I really hoped he knew what he was doing just giving these angels their magic back.

Dionysus just sighed because this fight damaged parts of his front yard and there were scorch marks on his house. He could just wave his hand and put it right, but I knew it was the principle of the thing with him. Also, even though I knew how much he loved meeting other gods, his family had given him a healthy mistrust of them. I’d known Dionysus long enough to be able to read him like the back of my hand. He was wondering and hoping this was a good idea.

“You might as well come inside since you were planning on breaking in anyway.”

Dionysus had hung back and let everyone who was directly hurt by the angels get their pound of flesh, but if they’d actually broken into his home, Pax wouldn’t have even gotten the chance to take their wings. Dionysus would have drowned them with wine or snapped their necks with vines.

“You fuckers got names?” Benji asked. “Because I promise you won’t like the ones I give you.”

“I’m Ramuel and this is Danel, Azkeel, Asael, and Turel.”

“Yeah, I’m calling you Butt Nugget, Fart Wings, Grump Master T, Spanky Feathers, and Peaches because I’m not even going to bother remembering that,” Benji huffed.

“You’re right. We don’t like that,” Turel growled.

“Tough shit, Grump Master T. You could have grown a pair and joined the resistance.”

I mean, we were all thinking that and Benji’s nicknames had a way of sticking, so they were going to have to get over it. I was pretty sure Athena would have been Sugar Tits forever, but she came through in more ways than one. They were going to have to do something big to earn their names back.

Cas put his hand against Ramuel’s chest before he could come into the living room.

“Are you intending on helping us?”

“Yes. Believe it or not, some of us just wanted justice for our friends and to change the system. It just escalated from there. You have no idea how brutal things got back home.”

“I think we have an idea,” Pax snarled.

Michael looked right at Pax. Pax couldn’t see him, but he could sense him, so he turned his head.

“I’m not discounting what any of you went through, but angels are just as cruel as humans when they go bad. Both sides took prisoners of war. I know you blame them, but they saw what the other angels did to us and their people. They were scared. There was a group of them who was kinder to those of us who were captive, at least in my case, and they are all in this room.”

What in the fucking Stockholm? I wouldn’t be so easy to forgive. If someone had been semi kind to me when the Coalition had me, I wouldn’t have asked anyone to spare them. They were still my jailer. If they wanted to truly be kind to us, they could have broken us all out or filmed what was going on there and exposed them.

“One of the fake priests who thought he was curing me was kind to me sometimes,” Benji said. “I used that to escape and then waited until he was away from that awful place and ate him.”

Cas wrapped a protective arm around Benji.

“We all helped. When we infiltrated the Coalition to break Medusa out, we weren’t particularly interested in who was a little bit kinder to the people they were keeping prisoner to torture.”

“Listen, everyone has been through some shit and dealing with it differently. Let’s hear them out. Is Anane still alive and which side is she on?” Kat asked.

“You know Anane?”

“We were together when the Watchers came to live here the first time. I was there for the bloodbath when a bunch of innocents were slaughtered.”

“I’m sorry. Anane was grieving, and she wanted the hierarchy gone. She took up with Jeqon at first, but he lost some support after he sent angels here to start the Coalition. Some of the Watchers took human lovers, but some took up with supernaturals. The angels that interacted with supernaturals the most were the ones who had the biggest problem with the Coalition.

“Some of us were more vocal than others, but we learned those that spoke out the most got sent on the most dangerous missions to die. We learned to shut up for the most part. We were sent to take out the furies and the archangels. At least, that’s what they told us. They knew damned well most of us were going to die. That was the point.”

“Ugh. Look, Fart Wings, I owe some angels a graphic, painful death for what they did to the people I love, but it’s going to be my idea. I’m not killing them to do your dirty work,” Benji snapped.

Fart Wings looked like he was ready to throw down with Benji and I already knew how that was going to go. Unless he decided to glow and banish Benji, Benji would tear him apart.

“Listen, before this turns into a brawl, you need to realize that we have every right to be pissed. We might be less pissed at you if you could help. What do they want? Michael said they started all of this because they wanted your Father’s attention. What did they intend to do when they got it?” I asked.

“At this point, they just want to watch it all burn.”