To Hell and Back by L.B. Gilbert

Chapter Forty-Five

Slank appeared at the door. “Master says go to your room.”

Valeria frowned from her position on the bed of her chamber. “I am in my room.”

She was finally mobile again, but it was difficult to get up and down the stairs, so Michael had allowed her to continue her studies from the comfort of her room. Slank would usually deliver her the books she needed, but her hands were empty this time.

“Ssstay inn rooom,” Slank hissed, shuffling to the window. She pulled the curtain closed and left without clarifying further.

Frowning, Valeria went to the closed curtains, tugging them open again. She poked her head out cautiously, wondering if another former angel or feudal lord had come calling.

For their sake, she hoped Michael was in a good mood.

But she couldn’t see anything from this particular vantage point. If she wanted to see what was going on, she’d have to disobey Michael’s orders.

That was no longer as dangerous a proposition as it had once been. Yes, he was still sulking after their failed attempt to open the door to Earth, but his burgeoning feelings for her hadn’t let him do it in isolation.

Thanks to her repeated attempts to snare him, he came to visit her in her room, sometimes three or four times a day, on paper-thin pretexts.

Once, he had swept in, demanding she give back a book he had sent with Slank. Another time, he had wanted to make sure she knew his preferences for dinner, although he had already eaten and there was no chance she could walk down to the kitchen to help.

“You can come and talk to me for no reason,” she’d pointed out after he’d woken her from a nap to check if she were resting adequately.

For the first time in their acquaintance, Michael hadn’t sneered or swept off in an offended huff. He’d simply shrugged before sitting in the only chair in the room to ask about all the movies she’d ever seen.

So if he were telling her to stay up here because he wanted her out of sight, it was for her safety. But the monotony of her days was enough motivation for her to get off her bruised butt to try to find out what was going on.

Valeria made her way to the ramparts, a little surprised to find them empty. She couldn’t hear the thunder of angelic voices either, so it appeared she was wrong about the reason for Slank’s message.

Or the servant was just being weird. Slank did shuffle to the beat of her own drummer—on a drum made from an animal she had skinned herself.

Valeria was about to begin the trek down the ramparts stairs when she caught movement in the sky.

She couldn’t make them out very well, but that movement was unmistakable. It was wings.

Oh God, the other angels had found out about Camael. Had they banded together to kick Michael’s ass?

For a split second, Valeria was elated until she realized that Michael’s enemies would kill her, too.

“GET DOWNSTAIRS.”

Startled, Valeria clapped her hands over her ears.

“Now,” Michael ordered in a less destructive volume.

She pointed at the fast-approaching cloud. “Are we under attack? But I thought you were the last angel left?”

Camael had lost his wings, she remembered. But those weren’t birds coming at them. They were too big for one. Also, there were no birds in Sheol.

“I am,” he snapped. “It’s not the Host. My old enemy has returned. I don’t know how, but they must have learned that the rest of the Host are gone. They’ve come back to strike at me now that I’m the only one.”

He spread his wings, then put his fists on his waist. “They are fools if they think they can best me. Even alone, I can best a legion of their kind.”

But Valeria heard the doubt in his voice. “I’ll go, but before I do, can you tell me where they come from? Has your enemy been hiding in Sheol all this time?”

He gave her an arrested glance. “It’s not likely, but I don’t know where they went.”

“So there could be a door open to somewhere?”

Michael spread his hands, the lightning playing between his fingers. “You are right. They could not have been hiding here all this time. But if there is a door open somewhere on Sheol, chances are it leads to a place no better than this. Sheol is not the only hell dimension. We must learn all they know. I will make sure to leave a survivor. Rest assured, I will make him speak.”

Nodding because it was expected, she started to go down the stairs. Valeria was just about to cross the point where she could no longer see the approaching wings when Michael yelled a challenge.

Covering her ears again, she crouched, holding on until her ears stopped ringing. But her hands weren’t enough to muffle the answering roar that returned.

A familiar roar.

Valeria scrambled back up the stairs. “Rhys.”

It was Rhys and all his men. They had come for her.