Seven Archangels: Annihilation by Jane Lebak Read Free Book Online

but the reprieve was only momentary.
    "We're holding," said Mephistopheles-Beelzebub.
    The clamor of Michael battering their Guard filled all the room as he forced the living web with the point of his sword. Gabriel called for him, tried to reach upward with his soul but then recoiled because the effort left him exposed. Parts of himself slid away like a cliff-face during a landslide.
    Raphael and Israfel were ready to flash him outside the room if given a chance, and Gabriel thought they might be encouraging him: Not far now. But maybe that was only his yearning.
    It had grown difficult to think. He ached to tell God he loved him one last time, but the words wouldn't form. He had grown so cold. Dull ringing swelled to absorb every sound while queer patches of grayness soaked the fabric of reality. He tasted metal. Then nothing.
    The ring on Mephistopheles' hand gave one spangled burst of light that rippled the entire fabric of the Guard. Lucifer channeled a last burst through Camael. Light exploded through the entire cell, and then it was finished.
    The chains dangled empty.
    Camael collapsed.
    They stood silently, the four in the room. The walls glowed as if with phosphorescent lichen, uneven but able to shine: Gabriel's spiritual residue.
    "Oh, God," Mephistopheles whispered. "We did it."
    "Michael's still on the ceiling," said Beelzebub.
    Lucifer didn't spare him a glance. "Are you strong?"
    "We're holding."
    "Good." Lucifer stepped forward to where Gabriel had been. "There's nothing left at all. It worked just as you predicted."
    Mephistopheles sounded shocked. "Annihilated."
    Shuddering, Camael tried to stagger to his feet, and Lucifer took his hand and pulled him upright, then let him lean with his arms wrapped around his stomach until he could support himself.
    "Do you suppose he's aware right now," Beelzebub said, "listening?"
    "There's nothing after this," Lucifer said. "He's non-existent, not aware at all. It's as though he never was."
    Mephistopheles fingered the sigil on his hand. "Other than the memories."
    Lucifer said, "I want to scan the room for anything that might remain. Destroy whatever you find. Figure out how to burn the glow off the walls." He bent and lifted a four-leaf clover off the floor. "Well, what do you know? It's our lucky day."
    He incinerated the clover on his palm.
    They scanned the room for residue. Beelzebub seared every inch of the walls, floor and ceiling. When they were done, Lucifer declared the job finished.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Lucifer flashed Camael, along with Mephistopheles and Beelzebub, into another lab area chamber, an easy feat of translocation for someone with enough willpower to lasso three souls and carry them away regardless of—or despite—their own intentions.
    Unable to be seen, still Camael tried to contain his gag on breathing an antiseptic odor covering a musty scent and the hint of smoke. Lucifer was pacing the room. As he moved, the chemical burn smell faded and intensified.
    This must be Lucifer's own chamber, his office, a place so secret that even Michael had never located it, let alone broken in—and yet here was Camael, carried inside like the closest of friends. For one mad moment Camael dreamed of exploding the place, shining light over all the dark corners, maybe for the first time since Hell's creation. He didn't.
    The scrape of a chair and a rustle of feathers. "I want a full account from all of you."
    The next scrape sounded different, wooden, a tall bench at a work station: Mephistopheles' slighter form on a stool. Beelzebub's deep voice came from Camael's other side, at a height that meant he remained standing. "Why do you need an account? You were there."
    Camael slid down the wall and drew his ankles close.
    "It's an analysis," Mephistopheles said. "We have to ensure we did it right."
    "He's not there anymore. Of course we did it right!"
    For two hours, Lucifer debriefed Camael and the other two, one hundred twenty minutes of pure fright having