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The Heartstring Symphony	By : Esequell Category: G through L > Legion Views: 1651 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Legion and I'm making no money from this fanfic.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
A/N - Hello folks. Chapter 3 for your delectation and delight.
Extra points if you can find the obvious Vasiliy Fet moment, thrown in there for The Strain fans like me!
Now, I can't guarantee the next chapter will be any quicker than this one, because of other commitments, but it's already cookin' so here's hoping, eh? :) Enjoy!

3. The Heartstring Prelude
Gabriel perched like a bird at the breezy edge of Michael's unfinished Stratosphere tower, his boot toes on blue-black evening sky. He'd put his back to the wall where he was sheltered from the wind. He frowned at the growing city. Surrounded by legions of angels all loyal to Michael's New Eden project, he worried that when Father's patience finally ran out and the hammer blow fell, his lone, loyal voice would be drowned out and he'd fall with the rebels. Far from light and far from Audrey.
She had been playing on his mind a lot lately. He kept thinking about how her waist looked from behind. About how she trusted him. Just thinking about the smell of her hair made him warm and needy for sensations he hadn't craved since Mary. That kept the night time chill at bay.
Thud. Gabriel spun, his fingers around the hilt on his dagger but it was only Michael. Gabriel wondered how he'd crept up unseen.
'What do you want?' he asked.
Michael licked his lips nervously. 'Your love and trust again, Brother. The righteous humans are coming. They'll be here in a day, two at most. I need you with me.'
Gabriel knitted his fingers together, fantasising that it was Audrey's hand he was holding.
'I told you. I want no part of this.'
Michael perched beside him. Gabriel could smell his skin and feathers. It reminded him of the old days when things had been simpler. Gabriel dreaded the hammer blow, and the grief that would follow if Michael was cast down.
'You always did like the higher perch,' Gabriel said resentfully.
'It lets me see my enemies on the ground.'
'Not all of your enemies are on the ground,' Gabriel said. He saw the distant mountain range, turning grey and purple before a blanket of emerging stars. He wanted to fly far away, but there was nowhere as safe as the oasis for Audrey, and he wouldn't leave her behind.
'Perhaps one of them is sitting beside me,' Michael suggested quietly.
'I can't turn my back on Him Michael. You shouldn't either. You'll make an enemy of Him and He won't forget. Neither will I.'
'What if Father is wrong?' Michael asked, scratching at an eyebrow. 'What if He sees what He's done to His children, and regrets it when His anger abates? Lucifer has been trying to gain dominion of Earth since her fall. Why would she give up her prize so easily unless she believed in New Eden?'
'Because she wanted to make Him angry, Michael. And she has. You can be sure of it.'
'No, she believes. Lucifer is never straightforward. You know her better than that.'
Gabriel huffed in frustration. When Michael got an idea in his head, he was as stubborn as a pit-bull. There'd be no way to dissuade him from his zealotry now.
'It's not our place to question, Michael. We are angels. We simply obey.'
Michael didn't seem intimidated by Gabriel's whiplash tone of voice. He shook his blond head sadly.
'That's not my place. Forgive me, Gabriel, but I'd rather leave the blind obedience to you, and listen to the guidance in my heart. A heart He made.'
'And you'll be damned for it,' Gabriel promised. 'As Lucifer was. You were lucky last time, Michael. This time He won't be so merciful.'
Aeons of feeling swirled in Michael's eyes. Gabriel shivered, intimidated by the weight of their shared history. Secretly, he wished for the good times again, but things had changed. God had changed.
'Would you like that?' Michael asked. His voice was a bit too even, a bit too calm. Gabriel knew Michael was hiding his feelings about this. It was unbecoming to wish for revenge but he couldn't understand why Father had spared Michael but condemned him. Gabriel roused himself with a puff of nearly frozen, foggy breath. The cold air winkled under his wings, making him shiver.
'I've said my warning. The rest is up to you.'
Michael stopped him. His grey eyes were moist. 'If you want your pound of flesh because Father forgive me and not you, then ask Him for it. Don't blame me, Gabriel. I only did was I knew was right.'
'You're not the one who's exiled, Michael,' Gabriel snapped. 'Nothing has changed. You still refuse to see. Did you stop to think I might want his forgiveness? Hmm? I'd take the collar and my punishment for the chance to just go home!'
There was a deep silence after his raised voice. Michael looked surprised.
'You only thought about your own glory,' Gabriel went on more calmly. 'You've dragged me in, and Audrey too.'
'We both know you're not going home,' Michael said. 'Not without her. You love her.'
Gabriel felt like he'd been walloped with his own mace. His mouth was dry and he wanted to scream at Michael but he couldn't breathe for the ache in his heart. It was Audrey. She was alive inside him, her roots wrapped snugly around his core. Her scent, her skin, her little hands in his hair! He wanted more of her. He wanted all of her.
All the things he wanted to say to Michael teemed on his tongue.
'I do not love her,' he hissed, and trembling with rage and fear, he launched himself into the sky. Darkness caught his open wings and sucked him up into her dark embrace.
He was torn. Audrey on one side, Father on the other. Gabriel had lied. There wasn't a thing about Audrey he didn't love, or a thing he wouldn't do to protect her.
The eyrie door hung open, the knotted rope dangling. It must have come loose in the wind, he thought. The fire had burned down to hot embers and the air inside was only a bit warmer than out. Audrey curled on her side in the foetal position, her river of brown hair spread over the furs. Gabriel tugged the door shut and fed the fire, then lay down to watch her sleep. The ache he'd carried since he'd left her abated now that he was close to the source of its nourishment. Audrey opened her eyes and smiled.
'It's only me.' Gabriel loved her smile, and the trust in her sleepy eyes.
'What time is it?' she whispered. Her breath smelled like sleep. He even loved that.
'Well before dawn. Go back to sleep.'
'It's freezing!' she fussed. Gabriel enfolded her, chuckling. He tucked her head under his chin, his hand on the back of her skull protectively, and breathed her in. All the pain and worry went away. She made him feel complete. He didn't want to let go. Not in the morning. Not ever.
He drifted away, his breathing slow and deep, when the warning horn shocked him awake. He surged up, instantly on guard. He heard shouting in the distance, then fire bloomed beyond their woven screen.
'What's that!?' Audrey yelled.
Gabriel smelled sulphur. A high-pitched screech made all his feathers stand up on end. His aeons of training had honed his senses to a knife edge. He knew what was at the walls. It had come for Audrey. He had to keep her alive, because if she died, a part of him would die too.
Audrey opened their screen door to look. The smoky, dragon-sized Firebird scratched and clawed through the armoured angels, belching fire and smoke as they jabbed spears as its face. Gabriel's blood ran as cold as the frozen waterfall that decorated the cliffs of heaven in winter.
There was nothing he hated and feared more than hellfire. The Firebird turned its predatory beak inexorably towards them, as though it could see the eyrie. Napalm drool dripped from the glowing slit of its beak and ran down its armoured neck where it set the grass on fire. Then the wall tumbled and the bird slithered like spilled guts into the oasis and surged purposefully towards them.
'Gabriel!' Audrey sounded tremulous, frightened, just like him. She was even less equipped to deal with a Firebird than he. Gabriel grabbed her by the waist.
'Hope you trust me,' he said.
'What do you-' her voice morphed into a yell of terror as he thrust them both into the air. He rose to the precipice of the rock-pile and set her down on the jagged boulders.
'What the fuck is that thing!?' she yelled, trembling. She does trust me, he realised. She's holding on to me because she's scared. The wind blew her hair into his face.
'It's a Firebird,' he said around his dry throat. 'Big, hot soul-muncher. He's opened Hell to get to you.'
'Why?' she asked quickly. 'Why would God do that?'
Because when angels desire mortal women, God gets nervous, he thought. It's not about nephilim either. It's just a distraction from duty.
'I don't know,' Gabriel lied, swallowing a bolt of sudden resentment. He'd never really thought about it before but jealousy on God's part did seem more like the action of a spoiled child than a responsible father.
'Be ready,' he warned her, choosing to shelve his personal realisation for now.
'Jesus!' she cried, as the Firebird crashed through the camp, sending up sparks. It thumped the base of their rock-pile like an unstoppable, conscious inferno.
'It's fucking looking at us!' Audrey yelled.
Gabriel felt the moment of vacuum silence as the bird inhaled until its nostrils flared and glowed. He grabbed Audrey and thrust them both straight up. She screamed. He felt the flames graze his calves as he climbed away into the dark, his heart thumping. Audrey clung to him with her eyes shut. He could smell her fear. He stopped at a decent altitude, riding the high wind, his wings wide and still.
'It's OK,' he whispered to her, afraid she'd panic and tip their balance.
The Firebird crushed his eyrie with a single stamp. Coiling on the apex, it turned its ugly, pointed face up.
'What's happening!?' Audrey screamed over the wind.
'Quiet!' he commanded. 'I need to think.'
The bird spread its wings and jumped. Gabriel dived for the jagged shadows. Audrey strangled him. The bird snapped at his feet. He felt the heat of its throat and yelled, certain he was about to burn. Swerving into colder air, he spotted an overhang in total darkness and plunged into it. His body pressed to close to hers, he could feel her warmth in the back of his throat.
Audrey panted. He could feel her arms were taught with fear. 'It's OK,' he whispered.
'Fuck, fuck!' she hissed.
The smell that wafted up from her exposed throat was her own perfume. It made his balls go tight.
He heard bony claws scrape on rock. Wing beats terminated suddenly. It appeared, backlit by moonlight, nothing but two flaming eye sockets until it opened its mouth, and heavy fire rolled down the rock face. It licked its nose with a whiplash brand and drew a gust of air into its cavernous chest.
Gabriel dived out of reach. The fire hit the rocks behind him. Shooting over the rock pile, he clutched Audrey so tight he worried he'd bruise her. The new buildings were on fire. He dodged trees and skidded to a stop behind Michael. Audrey made an urgent, wordless little noise. Gabriel let go, and he was glad he had. She threw up.
'Breathe, Audrey,' Michael advised, weighing a silver sword in his hand. 'It's going to be OK.'
The Firebird trailed their fall like a smoking comet. It crushed palm trees as it landed, flaming out of control. Gabriel's courage shook like the visceral movement of his split belly, making him nervous in exactly the same way. His fingers were cold. His heart beat hard in his ears. He was sweating all over, and his buckskin trousers were singed. He didn't have the power of God's Word to defend them any more. He felt like a little boy playing soldiers.
He unsheathed his mace and twisted the handle until the blades clicked free. The bird turned its pointed nose to Audrey, its rattling loud breaths deep and even. His fear melted into useful anger.
oOo
The bird lunged at Michael, infernal beak open. Dancing aside as it twisted to bite, he drove his blade into its chest. He wrenched his hands back with a cry as fire spurted through the hole. The bird screeched and thumped a flaming tree. The sword, wedged between its prominent ribs, rose far out of Michael's reach. The Firebird shook its head, sending flaming droplets of drool over Lucifer. She yelled, clutching her forearm, her silver blade dangling from her fingertips as her skin sizzled.
The bird twisted to look at Audrey. She felt the heat of its mouth as it inhaled. She ducked, clutching her head. As the air ignited, Gabriel blocked her body from the fire. Audrey looked up into his big, blue eyes. They shone with tender feeling as his hair burned away. His feathers blew wildly in the hurricane, then began to spark.
The bird ran out of fire. The heat dissipated so quickly that Audrey felt dizzy. Smelling burning hair, as foul as the stink of an old tractor tyre burning on bonfire night, she reached for Gabriel, who swayed. His wings glowed red hot. Then his feathers turned to ash, spattering the red and black skin of his broiled shoulders with fresh, healthy tissue. He burned for a few seconds like a star, until his wings were bare.
Her finger met his chest plate and the Firebird opened its mouth for the final breath. Gabriel spun away from her touch, his mace hefted high.
Crunch. Audrey winced.
Then the oasis was suddenly quiet.
Audrey smelled paraffin, which reminded her of the ancient heater they'd used one winter in the downstairs loo to keep the pipes from freezing. It made her nostalgic for home.
Extinguished, the Firebird was nothing more than a giant, walking skeleton with crinkled packing paper for skin and no flesh. Its head reduced to shards of tic-tac white bone and ash, its beak popped open in death. Flaming liquid dripped from ducts under its tongue and pooled, turning the sand to glass.
She heard the soft compaction of sand under angel feet and the distant crackle of fires as everyone gathered around to look.
Gabriel's eyes rolled back. He dropped his mace and sank smoothly to his knees, his eyes closing. As he pitched forwards, Audrey grabbed him, but he was too heavy to hold up alone.
'Michael!' she yelled. Michael lunged forwards to catch Gabriel's head with blistered hands before it could thump the ground. Lucifer emerged from the shadows. Her arm was red and raw.
'Why isn't he moving?' Audrey sobbed, stroking what was left of Gabriel's hair. 'He's an angel! Why the fuck does fire hurt him!?'
'He's not dead,' Lucifer said quickly. She glanced at the burning tents.
'What's wrong with him!' Audrey yelled. She felt sick as they peeled off his shirt to check for injuries, but his broad, pale back was perfect and whole. His feathers had completely healed him.
Her tears went cold on her face and dripped off her chin. She trembled as she knitted their fingers. There was a splash of bare scalp at the nape of his neck where the fire had taken away a chunk of his hair.
'He'll be OK,' Michael said. 'When we're cast down, and we lose our place at His side, we lose our ability to wield His power too. Hellfire was designed to burn all creatures. Even angels.'
Audrey's eyes filled with fresh tears that burned.
'This is my fault. He did this for me. He told me he hates fire!'
Audrey watched the skin on Gabriel's naked wings goose pimple.
'Yes,' Michael agreed, 'For you. For us.'
'For me,' Audrey said, coldly, feeling as though Michael was trying to apply a meaning that supported his personal cause. Michael gazed her up and down but didn't argue.
'Is he going to wake up?' she asked.
'Yes,' Michael said. 'But it's going to be a while before he can fly again.'
oOo
Audrey spent every free minute with Gabriel but as the days ground by, she began to wonder if he'd wake up at all. He hadn't slept this long even in the desert. Raf assured her that Gabriel was medically OK, but Audrey felt she had to stay close. Maybe talking to him would bring him back faster. She watched his eyes flickers promisingly. By the time he finally cracked his eyes, his chin was covered in dark stubble and his hair had turned greasy.
'Hey,' she smiled as he sat up like a zombie, groaning and scratching his stubble. He looked rough. He reached for his naked wing, where dark quill points had begun to emerge all over. He looked like a porcupine.
'Were you hurt?' he asked. Audrey heard a nasty sucking noise as his wings retreated into the skin of his back. Without them he could easily pass for human.
'No. Not a scratch. You could have died,' she said, her throat suddenly full of tears. 'Why did you do that?'
Gabriel looked exhausted.
'I couldn't watch you burn,' he shrugged.
Audrey closed her eyes as though her lids could stop her tears escaping.
'What's wrong?' he asked, giving her that secret half smile she loved so much.
'I thought you weren't going to wake up,' she confessed. Audrey knew there was a very fine line between caring and loving. She also knew she couldn't face the sunrise without him.
'I'm not dead,' his smile grew. His fingertips tickled her chin. 'Not yet.'
Audrey threw her hands up expressively, feeling stupid for crying, but Gabriel pressed his thumb to her lips. That little crease between his eyebrows came back. It meant he was thinking. Audrey wanted to know what about. Then he moved his thumb, leaving her lips cold, and he studied her with such intensity she felt like she'd stop breathing. His heavy gaze landed on her mouth.
Yes, she thought dumbly. Please, please.
He hovered, his lips close. Then his eyes drifted shut and he kissed her. He tasted like sleep and his stubble prickled her skin. Normally she hated stubble, but this time, it just added a lovely contrast to the softness of his lips. He slid a warm, exploratory hand into her hair and she parted her lips encouragingly, seeking the first tentative touch of his tongue. He pulled away, taking his heat with him. Audrey felt bereft and disappointed. She never wanted it to stop.
'We can't,' he said.
Audrey felt like she'd been punched in the guts.
'O-OK.' It came out all wrong, a sad, hurt little breath.
'That doesn't mean I don't want to.'
'It's fine,' she lied. 'I understand.'
'He wouldn't like it.'
Audrey didn't need him to explain who He was. Suddenly she was intensely angry with God again. She separated herself quickly. She didn't feel like being so close to Gabriel when he'd roundly rejected her, even if she did understand why. He was slipping away, and it hurt.
'He'd send me to Hell, right?'
'Much worse.'
'What's worse than Hell?'
'He gets jealous. Of anyone that we...' Gabriel licked his lips uncomfortably. 'Anyone that distracts an angel from loving God. You don't know what it feels like to live without Him.'
'I've been without him my whole life.'
Gabriel stood. His shirt hung off him in singed tatters, offering an excellent view of his muscular back and shoulders. Audrey felt like a sinner for looking.
'No. You haven't.'
Audrey didn't know what to make of that. Her eyes burned.
oOo
Raf stilled Audrey's hand on the spoon as she stared at the broth going round and round. She must have been there for some time but Audrey couldn't remember how long.
'If you're going to cry into it, I'll leave out the salt,' Raf smiled.
Audrey put her head down on her arms. The longer she was away from Gabriel, the more it hurt. She felt like she'd just been dumped.
It was just one kiss, she told herself. I'm being irrational.
A prickly sensation of awkward finality washed over her. The tears she'd been holding back spilled out, making her eyes burn and her throat clog. Raf stared at her in sad understanding. Outside, Audrey leaned on a palm tree which was growing back rapidly after the fire and let her tears soak into the cuff of her shirt. She felt like something inside her was dying. She knew it was a bad idea to fall in love with an angel, but she couldn't stop herself. Gabriel was special. He was different to anyone she'd ever known.
Audrey spun at the sound of footfalls, expecting to see Raf, but it was Lucifer standing between the trees, radiant in elegant shadows, her thin, white hand wrapped around an apple. She smiled at Audrey in a way that suggested intimate knowledge of heartbreak and a near psychic awareness of Audrey's condition.
'The Dog has been at your heart,' Lucifer said, with her familiar straightforwardness.
'Please don't call him that.'
'Why not? Does it remind you of what he is? Father's Dog, forever begging for scraps from His table,' Lucifer approached, biting a chunk off the apple with a flash of very sharp incisors. 'What did he do?' she sounded more curious than concerned, but with all the pain and stress, Audrey couldn't find the will to resist her.
'Let me guess,' Lucifer laid on a particularly girly voice. 'Oh, Audrey! What will we do! Father will be angry with us!'
Audrey guessed her expression said it all when Lucifer gave a genuine, unladylike cackle.
'What a tired old tune. He was given free will, a fact he, and Father, often forget. Perhaps he should marry you. Then who could argue?'
'What!?' Audrey sputtered.
Lucifer's face split into a lascivious, playful grin. 'We even have a priest,' she gestured to herself.
'You're crazy,' Audrey shook her head, as though it would dislodge the image of Gabriel in a suit from her mind. 'I don't want to marry him. I hardly know him! And even if I did, he doesn't want me. He wants God.'
Audrey couldn't believe how much it hurt out loud.
'Don't be ridiculous,' Lucifer scoffed, unfurling her deadly wings in a hush of sound like sand rolling off sand. She disappeared vertically into the sky. Audrey scraped her hair out of her eyes.
'Audrey?' Raf came calling through the trees. 'Are you OK?'
oOo
Audrey put her head down on the wooden table recently carried in by three burly carpenters. Her huff dispersed what was left of the wood dust. With Raf bent over his cooking, Audrey decided to distract herself from her woes, as well as from the worry of what Lucifer might do with the information she'd gleaned.
'How come you and Lucifer?' she asked. 'You two seem like total opposites.'
Raf smiled at her. He had the sort of smile that engendered instant trust. 'Lucifer and I are like two halves of a coin. She completes me. She's everything I'm not.'
Audrey groaned softly. So much for a distraction, she thought.
'Audrey,' Raf put the spoon in its cradle beside the pot and slid into the opposite chair, flipping his wings easily over the low back. 'An idiot could see something's wrong between you...and someone special.'
'God, I'm so obvious!' she moaned into her arms.
'It's Gabriel, isn't it?' he added.
She pressed her nose to the tabletop in defeat. 'Yes,' she mumbled.
'Does he know how you feel about him?'
'Yes,' she said. 'I think. Well...I haven't actually told him but it's not like I can. He's made it absolutely obvious he's not interested in me.'
'That doesn't sound like Gabriel.'
'He doesn't want to get in trouble with God. Or whatever asshole passes for one.'
Raf toyed with a whorl in the wood, his slender fingers playful and conscious. Audrey watched them move, suddenly feeling very relaxed.
'Perhaps you shouldn't worry so much about what God thinks,' he suggested quietly.
Audrey jumped.
Rattle. Thump. Gabriel thrust the tent flap open. Snatching Audrey off her chair he checked her all over with his eyes, then his face morphed from white fear into fury. He spun to grab Lucifer by the throat and pushed her so hard against the centre tent pole that the structure leaned.
'What were you trying to do!' he bellowed.
Lucifer choked, her fingers going white on his wrist-guards. 'You were always simple, Dog.'
Gabriel thrust his face so close to Lucifer's that Audrey had trouble hearing what he said.
'Say that again...dare you.'
Raphael cut in.
'What did she do, Brother?'
Lucifer smiled. 'I told him Audrey fell off the wall...into the trench. You should have seen his face. Like a roadmap of grief.'
Gabriel had come running because he thought she was hurt? Audrey felt suddenly grateful for Lucifer's direct way of solving the problems that other people tip-toed around anxiously. She was starting to understand why Lucifer ruffled Gabriel's feathers. His answer to problems was a good bashing, and Lucifer's was an emotional battering ram. They were an incendiary combination.
Lucifer squeezed Gabriel's wrist hard. Audrey knew there was a pressure point there because Gabriel had used it in the desert to take the switch-blade off her. He let go, rubbing his wrist agitatedly. As Lucifer wisely retreated, Audrey stepped in the way. Gabriel's chest was warm and solid.
'It's my fault. She was just trying to help.'
'She doesn't know the meaning of the word,' Gabriel muttered darkly.
'Please,' Audrey said quietly. 'No more fights.'
Gabriel's eyes turned misty. Audrey's skin flushed with goosebumps as he bent to look at her more closely.
'I thought you were dead.'
'I'm fine,' Audrey promised.
'Did you cook this up with her to test me?' he asked, looking suddenly hurt. Audrey's heart flipped.
'No!' she protested, but Lucifer cut her off.
'She had nothing to do with it. God knows, I'd hate to see yet another domestic quarrel today. I just wanted your little songbird to stop crying.'
'Keep away from her, Lucifer. Or I'll make you sorry.'
Lucifer plucked a few off a bunch of grapes spilling from a recently turned bowl. She didn't look intimidated.
'You hear me!?' Gabriel raised his voice. 'Leave her alone. And me.'
Lucifer folded her arms, chewing like a bored dairy cow. Her eyes said she couldn't care less. Secretly, Audrey admired her courage. Gabriel tugged her into the light. Once they were clear of prying eyes, he raked his hair back agitatedly.
'If she interferes again, I'll kill her.'
'I'm fine,' Audrey promised.
'You were crying,' he said, gesturing to her pink eyes. 'How's that being fine?'
Audrey shrugged. She wasn't ready to confess those feelings out loud yet.
'I thought my heart was going to stop,' he said.
'Now you know how I've felt all day,' Audrey said bitterly.
Gabriel bowed his head, looking defeated. 'You know that...I never meant to hurt you. Right? I wouldn't do that.'
'I know,' Audrey folded her arms uncomfortably. 'But it hurts anyway.'
'I want it to be different,' he said quietly, searching her eyes in a way that made her feel he was looking for courage. Or maybe an answer.
'So do I.'
Suddenly his body blocked out the sun. Audrey looked up.
'If I took it back, would it stop hurting?'
'Yes,' she managed breathlessly. His eyes went dark. His lips parted and she felt his attention land on her lips.
'I take it back,' he agreed suddenly, bending to kiss her. Audrey grabbed him, her arms around his neck so fast she surprised herself. This time, she wasn't letting go so easily.
The pain of the last few hours rinsed away. She'd expected innocence from him but he didn't feel innocent, just gentle and patient. She imagined he'd probably tease his way into her mouth if she resisted a bit, like some fairytale God of sex made flesh. She couldn't be bothered to play coy. She licked his bottom lip invitingly, and instantly he mated his tongue with hers. Her illusion of an asexual creature of light spread its wings and flew away as he tasted every bit of her mouth he could reach, leaving her legs muddled and soft and her panties suddenly soaked through. The hands she'd feared when they first met, the same that wielded the mace she could barely lift, applied themselves to cradling her waist. With his thumbs on her belly and his fingers wrapped around her hips, she felt like he was mapping the bit he wanted access to next. He put his warm, wet lips against her ear. She felt his teeth graze it lightly. He was toying with her sexual reactions in a way she'd never have expected. She loved it. His fingertips traced the line of her neck reverently, then retreated.
'If I could fly I'd take you far away from that snake. What do you think? Just you and me and no-' he grabbed her by the middle and grinning, lifted her into his arms to spin her around. '-Meddlers,' he finished.
'It's a date,' she smiled. 'But...how long do feathers take to grow back?' She touched his rough cheeks with her fingertips.
'Much too long,' he said darkly.
oOo
The rough rock face tugged at Gabriel's shirt whenever he moved. He skinned an apple with his dagger. Audrey lay on the sand, most of her body in the shade of the rock, her head on his thighs. Thankfully, she was far enough away from his suddenly ravenous and over-sensitive cock not to torture him. He knew he'd welcome more than a kiss, but he wasn't sure Audrey would yet, so he'd deliberately designed more innocent time spent together. She was watching the sky darken gradually as the sun sent down. They'd have to move back inside the safety of their walled city soon, but he wanted to give her long enough to see the stars come out. They were clearer away from the lights. He dropped occasional slices of apple into her waiting mouth. Every time he saw its orchid pink interior, he wanted to taste it again.
He wondered how he'd manage to sleep next to her tonight, now that it was obvious how much he wanted her. He wondered if praying for the girl not to reach for him would be a contradiction, or a piece of wisdom.
'I never thought I'd see green again after the crash,' she turned her head to look at him. Her hair fell over his hand. It was so soft, it made him shudder with pleasure to touch it.
'Yeah, well,' he murmured back, 'When you were strangling me in the car, I didn't think I would either. You're much stronger than you look.'
She laughed. 'Blame my ex. He carried me, practically kicking and screaming into the gym.'
'He did a good job,' Gabriel said, tossing the round, perfect reel of apple skin into the sand. He sheathed his dagger as he ate the last slice.
'Michael's calling it New Eden,' Audrey said, gazing at the walls. 'I'm not sure if that's tempting fate a bit.'
Gabriel nodded. 'Well, you just ate the apple.'
Audrey's beatific expression grew nervous. Gabriel chuckled.
'Only teasing.'
She put her head back down on his legs. 'You know what's weird? I don't really know anything about you. Your favourite colour...your favourite food.'
'Blue,' he said, running gentle fingers along her hairline. She smiled at his touch. He loved that about her. 'Burgers.'
'Burgers?' Audrey laughed. 'Seriously?'
'Mmm. What about you?'
'Pink,' she giggled, burying her face in his stomach in apparent shame. 'Milkshake. Banana flavoured.'
'Oh, really,' his eyebrow arched. 'Now it all comes out, doesn't it?'
Audrey had gone pink. He loved that about her, too. He opened his mouth to lay it on a bit thicker, to see if he could make her turn a darker shade, but an angel landed in front of them.
'Archangel,' the boy bowed. He clutched rolled parchments to his chest. He was tall and skinny, with a pretty, androgynous face. His gold-tinged wings were folded neatly behind dusty slacks and stained apron. He hung back nervously until Gabriel gestured him forwards, recognising him as one of the apprentice architects.
'What is it?' Gabriel asked, slipping seamlessly into the voice and face he used at work. He'd realised just that morning that he didn't behave this way when he was alone with Audrey. She wasn't work, not in his head anyway. The boy fiddled with his papers.
'I'm Ramiel, Archangel. Apprentice...architect...by trade. I have a...proposal. For your new eyrie.'
'I didn't commission an eyrie.'
'I know,' Ramiel nodded quickly. 'But it would be unfitting to build the Stratosphere tower for Michael, and nothing for you. The Atrium is a mountain fort...almost impenetrable except by air. And well defended.'
Gabriel thought about his pin-feather wings. They itched terribly under his skin. He wondered if Ramiel knew he couldn't fly. The boy unfolded plans that showed an immense, reinforced door to a network of mountain caves. The paper rolled itself up in a gust of warm sunset wind. Ramiel fumbled with a couple of rocks, weighting it down.
'Michael's Stratosphere will be the tallest...but the Atrium will be even grander,' Ramiel twitched a smile. Gabriel could see a hint of pride in his young eyes. Then Ramiel leaned in. 'We follow you, Archangel. Most of us defected because of your banishment.'
Gabriel's stomach dropped. He wanted to grab the lad and shake sense into him, but his earnest eyes were so innocent. Gabriel could only think of one bad influence that could have swayed his natural loyalty to the Father. His frustration with Michael bubbled. He kept his voice even and his anger in check.
'Do yourself a good deed, son. Return to Father, bend the knee and beg forgiveness.'
Ramiel shook his head.
'Not until my Lord does the same.'
Gabriel leaned in. 'You're mad to follow my sin. Did Michael put you up to this?'
'It was our choice,' Ramiel said. 'We can't go back now,' he let the paper roll up and picked it up in both his slender hands. 'I'll have the builders start work.'
With Ramiel gone, Gabriel stewed. He felt like his heart was full of acid, eating at him like guilt. He spread his wings. Folding one over his shoulder, he scratched at the growing quills until their little keratin jackets came flaking off like dandruff to land on his buckskin trousers. Tiny, black steel feathers spread their soft tips over his skin. His flight feathers were only eight inches long. Even with the superior healing power of an angel, he knew he wasn't getting airborne yet.
'This is Michael's doing,' he breathed furiously. 'I won't have them encouraged to follow my sin.'
'Maybe they're right to.'
Gabriel shook his head. 'You don't understand. 'You never will. You're human.'
Audrey's gaze fell. Her warm hands left his wings, where they'd been exploring his pinfeathers curiously. Gabriel knew he'd gone too far, but when he tried to touch her in apology, she pulled away. His heart constricted. He envisioned another day alone with his heartache, without Audrey at night and all his anger drained away into exhastion.
'I'm sorry.'
She looked up in surprise. He felt his pride submerge under love. He offered his folded wing, smiling. 'Don't stop.'
'Fine,' she said quietly. 'If it keeps you from going after Michael, I'll do it.'
He picked up her fingers and showed her how to pinch the little jackets off the quills. She went to work.
'Does this count as preening?' she teased.
'Yeah. Like a big bird. Stops them itching.'
'Will it put you in a better mood?'
'Mmm,' he nodded. 'He's still not getting away with this. He's going to start a war between angels.'
'You're going to get into another fight,' Audrey said quietly. 'Then what happens if the dogs come back, or something worse happens?'
Was she worried he'd get hurt and be too sick to protect her? He couldn't help but find that sweet.
'Hey,' he caught her chin and smiled. 'He's my baby brother. He can't hurt me. Mostly because he punches like a girl.'
'Please no more,' Audrey said quietly. 'You're tired...you still look ill. I hate watching you get hurt.'
'I'm built for it.'
'Maybe,' she conceded. 'But I'm not.'
'You worry about me,' he smiled softly, leaning in to kiss her closed lips gently. Her taste, her scent, they were addictive. 'You've got no idea how sweet that is. Been an awfully long time, since anyone did.'
oOo
Audrey was dreaming about her childhood home, but then, the familiar, comforting smell of her Dad's old, oak-panelled study was suddenly replaced by a more recent pleasure - Gabriel's warm skin. He settled next to her in the dark. Trying to be quiet about it, she thought fondly. His breathing sounded odd and congested. She sensed something was wrong and she reached for the light.
'Leave it,' he said thickly. 'I need some sleep.'
Audrey ignored him. Their tent filled with flickering orange. Gabriel winced. He was sporting a black eye, a bruised temple and a split lip.
'Did Michael do this? What the hell did you say to him?'
What is it between them? she wondered. They fight like the worst of enemies.
Gabriel shrugged. 'He came off worse.'
He really does have an enviable tolerance for pain and punishment. It's kind of cute.
'Do you have a brain under all that testosterone?' she asked with dry scepticism.
'Somewhere,' he smiled, leaving her breathless. He opened his arms. 'Do I get some sugar, then? Since I'm a poor, wounded soldier.'
'Sugar?' Audrey eyed him playfully.
'I mean a hug,' he clarified quickly.
Audrey settled into his arms.
'You shouldn't worry about me,' he said, a smile in his voice. 'This is nothing compared to what a pack of demons can do.'
Audrey let his steady heart lull her back towards sleep. She was nearly gone, her head rising and falling like she was taking a nap on the sea, when she surfaced with a jolt. She couldn't hear the campfire or the generator. The lights were all out, even her oil lamp. She sat up, her fingertips buried in the soft, woven mat they slept on. There was a strange purple glow outside that made her nervous. She shook Gabriel by the arm, her insistent fingers barely denting muscle.
'Something's wrong!' she breathed at him as he opened his eyes. He looked exhausted as he sat up. He healed so fast from all his injuries, it was easy to forget he'd been roasted alive recently.
'What happened to the fire?' he grunted.
'I don't know,' Audrey whispered back. 'I woke up and it was gone. What's that purple light?'
Then Gabriel grabbed for his mace one-handed.
'What's wrong!' she hissed, as a sudden gust of wind thrust the tent flaps open. Then it lifted all four panels, wrenching the tent pegs clean out of the ground. Audrey screamed. Seven tiny, black-skinned men stood around their tent. Their twisted, glowing crowns looked like natural extrusions of bone. Their skulls glowed purple from inside and their beady, lidless little lizard eyes rotated to look at her. Gabriel hefted the mace.
They lunged for Audrey, grabbing her by the hair. She yelled. Gabriel smacked the closest so hard that Audrey heard its neck snap. It flopped face-down into the sand. They approached from either side, holding nooses made of thin blue cord that reminded Audrey of thin nylon rope. It didn't look strong enough to do any damage. Grabbing Audrey by the back of the neck, Gabriel pushed her down, his free hand on her back as he swung for their ugly faces. As one lunged to grab her, Audrey seized a handful of sand and threw it into his eyes. He screeched, clawing at his gace as his light popped and crackled. Another took up his position, wrenching Audrey away with unnerving, inhuman strength. He dragged her on her back over the sand until her top was so full it rode up to her bra. He stopped at the treeline and produced a long, thin knife.
Audrey scrambled back, booting sand at his face, but the spray didn't go high enough. She twisted to a heavy thump. Gabriel's mace had hit the sand. The creatures had him ropes by both hands and both unfeathered wings. The ropes looked so thin, but Gabriel's muscles bunched as he fought, his knees deep in the sand.
Audrey looked up. The skinny creature was wearing a strange, oily dress with the barest hem that only just revealed itself at the knee. Audrey realised with a sickening jolt that it was female. Her tiny, lifeless dolls eyes rolled horribly as she mounted Audrey's chest and raised the knife over her heart to strike. Gabriel bellowed something, distantly.
Lucifer fell out of the sky, wielding a silver sword that sliced the lizard-woman in two. Her stringy black guts and blue blood spilled onto Audrey's bare belly. Screeching in disgust, Audrey thrust them onto the sand, scrambling away from the twitching body. Lucifer grabbed a second creature by the head and crushed his skull with one squeeze. She hurled the body at the men holding Gabriel's ropes. Wrenching free, he swung to punch his captor. Crack. The little man fell over backwards like a log, flat in the sand. Gabriel wrenched his wings free as the treeline filled with purple faces.
'Get out of here!' Gabriel commanded, hefting his mace. 'Take her. NOW!'
'Audrey, climb into my back,' Lucifer ordered her.
'You're kidding,' Audrey hesitated, wondering how Gabriel would get away. The purple men had already beaten him once, surely they could do it again?
'I seldom kid,' Lucifer said, brandishing the silver sword threateningly. Reluctantly, Audrey did as she said. Lucifer's skin was warm. Despite her smaller frame, Audrey could feel she was strong as she stood up easily, tucking her free hand under Audrey's bent knee. She took off vertically. Audrey choked on a mouthful of her streaming white hair.
'What about Gabriel!' Audrey yelled.
Lucifer's feather-tips stroked the open sky effortlessly. They rose over the precipice where Gabriel's eyrie had been. It was just a fluttering, shredded tarp and a pile of broken sticks, now. Audrey expected her to land, but Lucifer kept going. Flying didn't seem like much of a task for her, even with Audrey on her back. Audrey could feel her steady, strong heartbeat echoing through her ribs.
'Where are we going!' she yelled over the wind.
'Ease off the throat,' Lucifer tugged on Audrey's arm. Her fingers felt like pincers. 'Or we're going down, and not by choice.'
They were a few miles into the desert when Audrey realised Lucifer wasn't turning back.
'Put me down,' Audrey demanded, tightening her grip on the Devil's throat threateningly. 'Gabriel didn't mean this.'
Lucifer dived. Audrey yelled all the way down, her ears popping painfully. When Lucifer skidded to a stop in the sand, she grabbed Audrey off her back and swung her into view, her feathers rustling irritatedly. Audrey fish-mouthed in shock, amazed at how easily Lucifer manhandled her. It made her feel like a weak little kid.
'I'm saving your life,' Lucifer said, her eyes cold. 'He knows you're living in the oasis. I'm taking you to Gabriel's new eyrie, which is much harder to storm by force than a damned flat desert at night!'
'Why?' Audrey managed, shivering now. She hadn't bought a jacket and the desert wind was cold. 'Why are you helping me?'
Lucifer looked her up and down. Audrey had the feeling that Lucifer didn't often explain herself.
'Because Michael's right,' Lucifer straightened. 'New Eden is the best way. Once, God, Man and Angels intermingled freely. We were one country. He ruined that paradise out of jealousy. He stole...our loved ones...because He can't stand to share our affection,' Lucifer bent down to look Audrey in the eyes. 'And I will not have it any more.'
'What loved ones?'
Lucifer sighed like a long-suffering mother explaining the obvious.
'Humans. Gabriel isn't the first archangel to love one...but you live such short lives.'
Audrey felt like the pieces of a jigsaw were finally fitting into place.
'You loved one of us, didn't you?'
Lucifer's blue eyes were as sharp as Gabriel's dagger. She shifted about, looking uncomfortable, then she nodded.
'I was the first to choose a man...over God. And look at the price I paid, Audrey. An eternity without Him. You can't imagine the pain.'
Audrey couldn't quite pinpoint why, but she suddenly wanted to cry.
'That's what he's going to do to Gabriel, isn't it? If he loved me.'
'Don't be stupid, girl. He already loves you.'
Audrey swallowed the lump in her throat, her eyes burning.
'I don't want that for him.'
Lucifer put a slender hand on her hip and shrugged.
'Neither do I. There might be a way to stop this, Audrey. Now that dominion of Earth is given back to angels. But you'll have to swallow your suspicion along with your tears...and trust me.'
Audrey folded her arms, wondering uncomfortably if she and Gabriel had been unfair to Lucifer. She didn't seem to mean any harm. The opposite, actually.
'OK,' Audrey said quietly.
Lucifer looked surprised. Then her lips lifted.
'Now. Can we go? I have two of these journeys to make tonight.'
Audrey watched the desert melt into scrub, then greenery. Finally, when she was frozen to the bone, Lucifer soared around the feet of a mountain. Snow fell, dancing its delicate ballet from an overbearing cloud. Audrey felt the flakes melt on her skin as Lucifer landed in a flurry of wings on the vast, flat entryway, before a towering, Gothic door. It was so big that Audrey couldn't see the details of the pointed apex.
Lucifer shook out her deadly feathers and strode arrogantly inside. Audrey followed, eager to be out of the cold.
Inside, angels used strange, glowing tools that lifted rocks and peeled away stone like plasticine. They made almost no noise at all.
'Under construction,' Lucifer pointed to the scaffolds, then to a stone staircase supported by ornate columns that descended into darkness. It lead up to a balcony and rooms. 'But some of the living space is finished.'
'This is Ramiel's design,' Audrey recognised the vaulted ceilings and location. 'He only brought the plans to Gabriel today. How have they done this so fast?'
'We don't waste time,' Lucifer said idly, as she mounted the steps towards the living quarters and pushed open a heavy wooden door which was reinforced by diagonal metal bars. 'Make yourself comfortable,' she said. 'The Atrium is a fortress and it's already well guarded.'
'Thank you,' Audrey said quietly.
Lucifer quirked a lopsided, wry smile at Audrey. 'Let me guess. You judged the book by its cover.'
'Yes,' Audrey admitted.
'I'm not such an easy read, girl.'
oOo
The caverns were lit by a low, soft light. Audrey couldn't find the source of it. She reasoned it had to be something high-tech, like the angel's building tools. She could smell fresh wood, as though the bed itself had only just been carved. She lay on one side on top of the soft bedspread. The caverns were a lot warmer than she'd expected. The wind chill slowly left her bones but even though her eyes stung with exhaustion, she couldn't sleep. She was too worried about Gabriel.
Once she managed to snatch a few minutes rest, but she dreamed about the zombie hounds again and woke up sweaty and shaking. An hour crawled by, maybe two. There wasn't a clock in the room and Audrey's phone was long gone. It was probably in pieces on the desert floor after the crash. Then she heard familiar, low voices. Gabriel's was resonant enough to cut under any ambient noise. Audrey jumped off the bed as the door swung open. Gabriel and Lucifer pressed their palms to each other's hearts. Audrey wasn't sure exactly what the gesture meant, but she'd have bet money it was friendly. Was their animosity healed?
'Thank God,' Audrey went to him, keen to make sure he was still in one piece. He looked alright, if a bit pale and tired.
'You OK?' Gabriel asked, his keen eyes travelling everywhere as though he was looking her over for injuries too.
'I'm fine,' Audrey nodded.
'Come here,' he held his arms open. Audrey tucked her head under his chin. He rested his heavy skull on hers tiredly.
'I was worried. I didn't know what to think,' Audrey admitted, smelling the familiar scent of his hair. It felt like coming home.
'I'm fine,' he gave her temple an affectionate peck and pulled away, taking his wonderful smell and body-heat with him.
'Do you think this place is safe?' she asked.
'I saw sentries on the walls. So...I'd say as safe as we're gonna get, tonight anyway. I need to give Ramiel a promotion.'
Gabriel shed his armour onto the floor and looked at the bed. 'Bed never looked so good.'
'W-Where am I sleeping?'
Audrey wasn't sure why she suddenly felt so shy. She'd slept next to Gabriel for days now, but there was something about the presence of an actual bed in the room that made her feel weird and nervous. She felt like she'd be breaking unwritten rules by sharing it with him, even innocently.
'Right here,' he patted the sheets, wearing the little half smile that suggested teasing was coming. 'Where I can keep an eye on you. What? You suddenly think it's too weird?'
Audrey flushed. She tried to shrug her embarrassment off, casually hiding behind her hair. 'I don't know.'
'You want me to sleep on the floor?'
'No,' Audrey said quickly. 'Of course I don't. I don't want to be alone...either way.'
'I don't want you to be alone either,' he arched an eyebrow playfully.
'OK,' she shrugged, and crawled in beside him. He wrapped her in his arms.
'I promise to be a gentleman.'
Audrey wasn't sure if she wanted to blush or kiss him senseless. She grinned against the pillow as his body-heat soaked into her back, relaxing her like a hot bath.
'Why so nervous?' he whispered.
'I don't want you to get into trouble...for me.'
'Maybe it's worth it,' he exhaled gustily into her hair. Audrey finally relaxed. The unfamiliar fresh-hewn rock smell of their underground fort and the strange, ambient light melted into her background awareness. She listened to his breathing. Her anxiety slowly abated now the danger was gone, and her body and mind crashed.
'Sleep, sweetheart,' Gabriel murmured. Audrey drifted, not sure if she'd heard him...or dreamed him.

TBC...
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The Heartstring Symphony