They had Maria. They fucking had Maria! His Maria!
Sela stood in front of him, blocking his path. “Calm down, Raphe.”
“I can’t,” he snarled. His body was too pumped full of fury for him to calm. “They have her.” Raphael looked at Gabriel, who was watching him closely. “We’re getting her back.” Raphael hit his chest. “We’re fucking getting her back.” His voice dropped dangerously low. “And I’m killing Father Murray. Finally, I’m gonna kill that cunt for taking Maria from me. For touching a hair on her head.”
Gabriel held out his hands. “We have contacts who can go in and get her—”
“No!” Raphael said, cutting him off. He shook his head and pulled at his hair. He was coming out of his motherfucking skin. In that moment, he was death. He was the evil the priests had accused him of being every single day for years. And he embraced it. Devoured the darkness flooding his veins. “I’m getting her.”
“Raphe, listen—”
“No!” Raphael stepped forward and pointed at Gabriel. “I’m sick of hiding from the Brethren. This time they’ve fucked with what’s mine, and I’m going in and getting her. Not your contacts, not the men, not the mercenaries who got us out years ago. Me. I’m going in.” Raphael took a deep breath and felt a vicious smile pull on his face. “And I’m going to kill them. I’m going to kill as many as I can . . . then I’m killing Father Murray, slowly, staring straight into that motherfucker’s eyes.”
“Raphe—” Gabriel began.
“He’s right.” Bara came to stand beside Raphael. “They deserve to die. I’m going with him.” He smirked and licked his lips. “You have no idea how many times I’ve envisioned walking into that place with a flame thrower and going to fucking town on those sadistic fuckers. They love all that fire-and-brimstone shit. I’m happy to deliver it.”
“I’m in too,” Diel said, and looked at Gabriel. “Collar off.” His eyes shone. “I’m about due for some uncontrolled fun.”
One by one Raphael’s brothers stood beside him, creating an army of killers. Finally, Michael came to stand by his right side, his arm brushing against Raphael’s.
Raphael’s chin lifted as he looked at Gabriel. “We’re going in.”
Gabriel inhaled a deep breath, then slowly came to stand beside his brothers. Raphael tracked his every move. When Gabriel was standing beside Uriel, he looked at Miller. “Get transport ready. Extra cars too. If they have kids in there, we need to get them out and take them somewhere safe.”
“You’re going too?” Miller asked him.
Gabriel met Raphael’s eyes. “We are the Fallen. A brotherhood. Where one goes, we all go.”
Raphael felt that unfamiliar tightness in his chest again as he looked at his brothers beside him. They’d been with him in Purgatory. They’d lived side by side in hell. Now they were following him back into the dark.
Gabriel turned to them. “Get whatever weapons you want. And get plenty. We have no idea what we’re walking into.”
Bara rubbed his hands together. “This day just got a whole lot more fucking exciting!”
Before they went to the arsenal in the basement, Gabriel said, “You know there’s a chance we won’t all come back.”
“We will,” Uriel said with a knowing smirk. “Your God surely wouldn’t deny us the right to fuck these assholes up once and for all. Not after everything they’ve done. He can be wrathful too. Maybe he needs a bit more violence in His life. All that holier-than-thou shit is just boring.”
“Don’t worry, Angel,” Bara said, smiling. “I’ll have your back if it gets messy.”
They raced down to the arsenal. As Raphael strapped knives and guns to his body, he kept Maria’s face in his mind. He’d get his little rose. He’d get her and bring her back to their home. And maybe the tightness in his chest would disappear. He didn’t like it. He didn’t understand it. All he knew was that he wanted her back. Needed her back. Had to have her back so he could once again fucking breathe.
Then he’d kill her. And he’d keep her in his room forever in the coffin that made her look so, so beautiful . . .
Then she would never ever leave him again.
*****
The Fallen waited in the shadows until night was at its darkest. From the cover of the trees, Raphael watched the entrance of Purgatory. There was a strange buzz in his blood. A heady tension in his veins. He felt someone watching him. Turning to his right, he saw it was Gabriel.
Raphael didn’t understand the strange feelings that were dominating his body. Every time he thought of Maria being with Father Murray, him hurting her and fuck knew what else, the tightness and breathlessness consumed him until he didn’t think he could stand it. Raphael closed his eyes. When he opened them again, just needing to get the fuck going, to storm through the metal door that they’d left through so many years ago, he felt Gabriel still watching him.