Gates of Death - Rae Foxx Page 0,34

forever," I said after washing the soap off. "We need to get moving." I worried I'd crash, and either be very tired or worried about Ariel. At the moment I felt like I could handle anything.

"Can you unlock my powers?" Luc asked.

"I can try." I finished rinsing and stepped out of the shower so Gabe could hop in. As soon as I was dressed, I turned to Luc in our bedroom. He'd stripped the bed while I grabbed clothes.

Focusing on his aura, I watched it flare to life. Oh, the many colors of his soul. The majority of the cloud around him was gold. Golden auras were exceedingly rare. White was the rarest, and I'd only ever seen one other angel with a white aura. My Michael. Silver was as rare as gold, and Gabe was blessed with one. So was Raphael, though now I had no idea what color his might be.

I regretted not seeing the color of Ariel's sweet little aura but pushed the feeling aside to focus on Luc. He, unlike Michael and Gabe, had many other colors weaved into his soul. He'd killed. He'd maimed. He was the Lord of Darkness. Like me, he was more than one color.

My aura was also gold, but just as flecked with the rainbow as Luc's.

I traced his aura to the center, where the core of his power lay. But something blocked me from reaching it. I probed, cut, hammered, and pushed at the core with everything I had. Finally, panting, I had to stop.

When I let go of the magic showing me Luc's aura, I realized my efforts had pained him. He'd collapsed on the bed with a tortured expression on his face.

Michael and Gabriel stood beside me, shouting, with their hands on my arms. Their towels had fallen off their waists.

"Luc." I ran forward. "Are you okay?"

He groaned and sat up. "Yeah, I am now." He shook his head as I yanked him into my arms.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I didn't realize I was hurting you."

"It's okay." He disentangled himself from my frantic hug and put his hands on my face. "Thank you for trying." I looked on in shock as he pressed a kiss to my lips. Definitely Lucian behavior. Not Lucifer.

"If I'd been in my real body it probably wouldn't have hurt, but it is what it is. Now. We've got work to do." He clapped his hands together. "We have three names. Gabe, you and Lilith go look for one, and Michael and I will look for the other two," he said.

"Actually," Michael said. "It's not that simple. I'm pretty sure Uriel is in heaven. And his betrayal will be an enormous blow to the angelic forces." Uriel was another Archangel. "It will take both Gabriel and me to bring him to heel."

"I want all Raphael's followers in that barn. I'm giving them to my Queen." He looked back at me with dark admiration in his eyes.

Oh, I liked that. A shiver of desire trickled up my spine.

"Any idea where we might find Genevra and Ezekiel?" I asked.

"On Earth, almost certainly. Genevra is a Principality and Ezekiel is a Throne. They're charged with economic interference, sometimes war if God notices something he wants shifted or changed. Politics. Originally a Throne was charged with guarding God's literal throne, but he never uses it. He prefers to move about undetected." Michael explained our other two targets as he and Gabriel dressed.

"It would be better if the two of you went after them since you have your powers and they're nowhere nearly as powerful as you are. We can go after Uriel," Gabe said.

I looked at Luc and shrugged. "Okay with you?"

He nodded. "Absolutely. Any chance to see you at work again."

I snorted and took his hand. "Let me see if I can sense them."

With my newly unlocked magic, I funneled it out of my body so it could stretch and roam. Gabe and Michael felt it blanket over them and sucked in deep breaths. "I've always loved the feel of your power," Michael whispered. "Like coming home."

It amazed me how I could be so many different women. To Vincent, I was the formidable Queen of Abaddon, the stuff demons had nightmares about. Then an hour later, I'm comfort for Michael.

I was a damn enigma and it was about time I remembered it.

Throwing out my power, it lifted into the air and stretched. "This will be a beacon, unfortunately," I said. "Every angel will know I'm doing