Gates of Death - Rae Foxx Page 0,4

smiled at me in relief, glad to hand off the job.

Gabe walked in a while later, toweling his hair. "What about The Scythe?" he asked. I turned from the stove with the spatula in my hand and watched Lucifer's face light up.

"That's an idea," he said. "But it's so hard to get to."

The Scythe was the weapon Cain used to kill Abel. It marked the beginning of the end for Mankind, and Cain became the first demon in Abaddon upon his death many years later.

He now controlled one of the lower levels of Abaddon and helped with rehabilitation, but the weapon he'd used to murder his brother had been imbibed with a significant amount of magic during the act.

Dark magic.

"It's not easy to use," I said.

Michael shook his head. "I can't. Neither can Gabe. But it has Abel blood on the handle to this day. If we can get to it, it will tell us where to find Ariel, I'm sure of it."

Lucifer sent Michael an appraising look as he added his two cents. "I hadn't considered that. I thought we'd find a witch to do a location spell. The Scythe would be much more reliable and accurate. Cain's Scythe was found many years later and passed among the world's leaders until Raphael found it and hid it.”

"Why didn't he put it with the rest of the Relics in Heaven?" I asked. "I never was clear on that."

With a smile of thanks, Gabe took the first plate of sandwiches from me and set them on the table. "It's too powerful. Attempts were made to break it, and lessen its power.”" he said.

"Do you know where it is?" Lucifer asked. "I don't."

"No, you wouldn't. Raphael didn't want any Fallen or demons getting ahold of it. The temptation is too great," Michael said.

Luc gave him a dark look, but Michael shrugged. "I don't know either, don't get your panties in a twist."

I chuckled before I could stop myself, then cut it short and shot Lucifer a look to see if he was going to blow up again.

But he was also laughing. Lucian's influence was still helping to temper the anger inside him. I only hoped when he returned to his ethereal body, which was far more capable of handling all his power, he would keep part of Lucian with him.

"Who knows where it is?" I buttered more bread and put in the skillet. These guys ate like teenage boys sometimes.

Michael's face went from somewhat jolly, chuckling with his friends, to forlorn. "I'm not sure. Raph chose one angel to hold the key to the location, and nobody but that angel and Raph knows where it is.

"Why do you say it'll be difficult to get to?" I asked. I didn't know much about Relics, most of them being created and captured by the angels long after Luc and I Fell. Contrary to popular belief, demons and Fallen spent relatively little time in the Earth realm, except for our Earth cycles, but that was in human bodies. We didn't have much opportunity to harass and tempt humans. They did a good job of that all on their own.

"It's almost certain Raphael has the Scythe behind traps," Michael said. "Once the layers of spells are removed, we still need a key to get to it. There could be angels guarding it for all I know. Raph is a pretty inventive dude."

I sighed and put the second plate of sandwiches on the table, snagging one for myself. "Are there any other options? What about the Relics the humans have?"

They went quiet and chewed. "Mostly fake," Luc said. "The Lignum Crucis you used on me is probably their most powerful. What did you do with it?"

"Put it back," Michael replied. "The humans don't have much like it, not real, anyway. I felt bad taking it from them."

And that was a big reason I loved him. He thought about stuff like that when most would've left the fake with the humans and not worried about it.

I reached out for Michael’s hand and squeezed it. "What else?"

"There's still the witches," Luc suggested. "They're not to be discounted."

Witches existed and used the limited magic in the world for good or evil. For the most part, they were nothing more than herbalists with a sweet, honorable religion, but a small handful existed in the world that were real. They had something in them that let them connect to magic, whether it was the everyday magic that coursed through everyone's veins, that