Jegudiel (Deadly Virtues 2)

“That’s just what I was thinking.”

Gabriel and Maria turned to find Dinah leaning against the doorway, looking around the recently refurbished space. Gabriel caught the shine in her eyes, the air of disbelief that radiated from her as she drank in the high-spec finishes and all the room the boys would have to enjoy.

Freedom. Finally.

“Dinah,” Maria said. “What do you think?”

“Exceptional,” Dinah replied through a tight throat. She pushed off the doorway and approached Gabriel and Maria. She stopped right in front of Gabriel. “You did it,” she said. “Everything you said you would, you did.”

“Of course,” Gabriel said, understanding why Dinah seemed so surprised.

“No one outside of my sisterhood has ever stayed true to their word before.” Dinah looked behind her to the kitchen. The cook they had hired had begun cooking that evening’s meal for the children.

“Come this way.” Gabriel led Dinah into a private living area off the main room. Dinah followed, shutting the door behind them. Gabriel moved before the unlit fire, Maria taking her place beside him.

Dinah assessed the room, then looked at Maria and Gabriel. “We’re stronger together. Don’t you think?” She ran her hand over the dresser that sat against the wall.

A flare of relief fired through Gabriel. He didn’t know what the Coven wanted to do in regard to staying at the manor. In regard to fighting alongside the Fallen. Long-term plans had never been decided upon.

“I do,” Gabriel said, feeling some part of God’s bigger plan for him slotting into place.

“Definitely stronger,” Maria echoed.

Dinah walked closer. “There are more children to be rescued, to be saved.”

“There are,” Gabriel agreed.

“And you will need my Coven’s help in retrieving the Shunned, in taking the Brethren down from the outside.” Dinah smirked. “Especially since we apparently have a sister covertly on the inside.”

Gabriel nodded. Priscilla. The sister who was just like his brothers. “That’s true.”

Dinah huffed a laugh. “And now that Noa and Diel are soldered to one another’s sides, it seems there’s no separating the two of them.”

“I know that feeling,” Maria said. A blush coated her cheeks.

Dinah smirked at Maria’s reaction, then said to Gabriel, “So it appears that our two worlds have permanently collided.” Gabriel nodded, knowing where this conversation was headed and instantly feeling lighter inside. Dinah took a deep breath. “It also seems like you guys need a third musketeer in your leadership group.” Dinah shrugged, but there was a playfulness to her tone. “Someone who knows what it’s like to be under Brethren control. Someone who can fight and plan and scheme.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Someone who is used to planning missions to retrieve the children stealthily and successfully.”

“That does sound exactly like what we need,” Gabriel said.

Dinah held out her hand. “Then what do you say? Shall we continue this Coven and Fallen alliance?”

Smiling, Gabriel placed his hand in Dinah’s, and they cemented the deal with a handshake. Next, Dinah shook Maria’s hand. When they broke away, Dinah seemed brighter.

“You are welcome to stay in the old housekeeper’s home,” Gabriel said. “Or there are plenty of rooms in the main house.” Gabriel thought of the two factions sharing an evening meal each night, thought of them training each day. Although their handshake had secured the alliance, he, Dinah and Maria already knew that, somewhere along the line, they had already become family found. The rest was just semantics.

“I’ll put it to my sisters,” Dinah said. “And I’ll leave a voicemail for Priscilla, so she knows that even though she’s on her own path right now, there’s a ready-made fucked-up family and safe home waiting for her whenever she’s ready to return.” Gabriel nodded in agreement, not for the first time wondering about this Priscilla, the sister who had both saved them at the meeting house and helped them when they retrieved Noa.

As Dinah went to leave, Gabriel said, “We’ll see you and our new sisters at dinner soon then, yes?”

Dinah winked, and waved as she left. “That you will, Goldilocks.”

Gabriel looked around the orphanage once more, a small victory in the hellish war that was bringing down the Brethren.

“See?” Maria said, linking her hand through his arm. “God is slowly pushing us onto the right path. You’ll see.”

Gabriel closed his eyes at those reassuring words and sent a silent prayer to God for resilience, and for strength for the new task before them—rescuing Cara and Destiny and giving two of his brothers their loved ones back.

Then he opened his eyes and guided Maria from the orphanage and back to the manor, back to his brothers and sisters …

Back to his family.

Chapter 32

Auguste stared out of the window at the lake, a glass of scotch in his hand. The anger that had been all-consuming for weeks still coated his skin like a suffocating blanket. He brought up the heretical witches’ faces in his head and dreamed of what he would do to them when he found them again. Because he would. And this time he would make sure he wiped them all off the face of the planet. Them and the fucking Fallen, who the witches had banded with. Heathens, heretics and sinners, all in one fucked-up herd.