“It’s a long story, but both Raum and I had our memories erased. Of each other.”
Daniel looked in danger of spontaneous combustion, so she quickly moved on. “Raphael is a threat to all of us, and I can say with certainty that there is no reasoning with him.”
“I believe that after what Eva told me,” Daniel said. “But you’re talking about destroying anarchangel.”
“We don’t have to kill him,” Raum said. “I have an idea.”
Sunshine started to ask but was interrupted by the arrival of Eva and Ash. Eva took one look at the room and screamed. The other demons entered behind them, and when they saw the carnage, they froze, their faces taking on similar expressions of shock to Daniel.
Sunshine winced at their reactions. “I’ll admit I may have gone too far.”
Belial turned his piercing blue gaze on her. “Youdid this?”
She nodded weakly. “I needed to ensure he wouldn’t regenerate any time soon. And I was a little…stressed.”
“Remind me not to piss you off,” Meph said. Even Mist looked wary.
But Belial was studying her with narrowed eyes, and when she met his gaze, he gave her a look of…approval?Goodness.If she’d known chopping an angel into pieces was all she had to do to earn that from him, well…
Then it was a good thing this had occurred, because she’d never have gotten it otherwise.
“Let’s kill him,” Belial announced with a little too much enthusiasm.
The look on Asmodeus’s face told Sunshine he wasn’t averse to the idea either. After that mural she’d seen in Heaven, she didn’t blame him.
“You can’t,” Daniel said.
“Why not?” Belial growled. “He knows too much, and he’s a threat. He would have killed Eva and my brother if he’d had the chance. I can’t let that stand.”
“The death of an archangel would immediately be sensed in Heaven. You’d been starting a war.”
“We’re already at war.”
“Not like this. They’d stop at nothing to find you, and when they did, they would show no mercy.”
Belial looked bored. “Sounds like the same old shit to me.”
But Daniel shook his head. “There are powers in Heaven that generally don’t concern themselves with Earth affairs. But if something like this occurred, I can guarantee it would spur them into action. There’d be nowhere you could hide and no way to fight. You’d be signing your own death warrant.”
Belial’s eyes flashed. “I’m getting sick of angels underestimating me.”
“This isn’t a pissing contest,” Daniel said through gritted teeth. “I’m telling you—”
“AndI’mtelling you, I’m fed up with these white-winged fucks thinking they’re the masters of the universe. It’d do them some good to be taken down a notch. And this fucker”—he actually kicked a lump of severed Raphael-flesh, which shot across the room and hit the wall with a squelch—“has fucked with me enough.”
“I’m not talking about archangels coming after you,” Daniel said. “I’m talking about angels of even higher ranks who can find anyone on Earth just by concentrating. I’m talking about angels who—”
“I don’t give a flying fuck who you’re talking about.”
“You should! Especially when you’re puttingmydaughter at risk—”
“Everybody shut up!” Raum snapped suddenly, and miraculously, they did. “We don’t have to kill Raphael to get rid of him. I have a better idea.”
* * *
Deepin the bowels of Hell, Murmur massaged his temples, purposefully digging his claws into his skin, hoping the pain would detract from the headache throbbing behind his skull.
It didn’t.
