Jegudiel (Deadly Virtues 2)

Gabriel’s face paled. His brothers and the Coven. The Coven, who Diel didn’t fully know and, without the collar, would no doubt see as his prey.

Gabriel had never run so fast in his life. Pushing his leg muscles as far as they could move, Gabriel darted for the stairs that led outside to the gym. His lungs burned, and the cilice ripped into his flesh as if a tiger were tearing the muscle apart. But he had to get there. He had to warn them, protect them.

With every hurried step Gabriel made, all he could think of was Diel when the collar was switched off. The cold, wicked smile, the pure evil that shone from his blue eyes, the frenzy that followed as he struck his victims down with knives and his bare hands, his skin doused in a blanket of blood and the monster relishing the act of stopping people’s hearts.

“Run,” Gabriel whispered to himself as he burst from the manor and approached the gym. “Fucking run!”

Gabriel reached the door to the gym, hearing people talking inside. He slammed through the door. Everyone inside jumped to their feet and looked his way. Gabriel came to a dead stop, eyes searching the vast space. But there was no sign of Diel.

He wasn’t there …

Gabriel felt nauseous at the only other possibility he could think of—that his uncontrollable brother had escaped the manor’s grounds. That he was outside the Fallen’s protected walls, set loose on the innocent public and open for the Brethren to capture and kill.

“Gabe?” Uriel stepped forward; Bara, Raphe, Michael and Sela quickly followed. His brothers. Diel’s family.

But Gabriel was too busy looking at the Coven on the other side of the gym. They stood in a curved line; each one of them had bright, searching eyes and their body in a fighting stance. Dinah was watching him. Dinah, Beth, Naomi, Jo, Candace … they were all alert, an eerie calmness radiating from their bodies.

“Where’s Noa?” Gabriel managed to ask, catching his breath.

Dinah’s eyebrows pulled down. “She wasn’t in her room this morning. She goes for walks a lot. She’ll be here soon. She knew we were scheduled to meet.” Dinah smirked. “We’re not each other’s keepers. We don’t keep tabs on each other twenty-four-seven.”

“Gabriel? What is it?” Maria came toward him, her voice a center of calm as always.

Gabriel pushed his wild blond curls back from his face. “Diel’s missing.” He cast a glance at Dinah and watched her expression switch from amused intrigue to deep concern … and what appeared to be a flicker of suspicion. Gabriel looked back at his brothers and Maria. “The key and remote for Diel’s collar are missing too.”

The air in the gym grew heavy with tension, then Gabriel heard footsteps on the stairs. He spun around, backing away from the doorway, and pushed himself before his brothers and the Coven, ushering them back, his instinct to protect them rising to the surface.

He flicked a glance at Dinah, but she and her sisters were crouched and ready for any kind of attack. If he hadn’t been so distracted by the potential threat of Diel striking them down, he would have been impressed and have understood what they had said about their being a unified fighting team.

Raphael pushed Maria behind him, his arm a safety guard around her back. Sela moved beside Gabriel, and Michael came silently to Gabriel’s other side.

“There hasn’t been a dull fucking moment since the witches arrived, has there?” Bara cracked his neck, smiling wide and clearly excited at the prospect of taking Diel down and subduing him until they could get him under control.

“I’ll try and get through to him first,” Sela said. Gabriel nodded. If any of them could reason with Diel’s monster, it was Sela.

And then they waited. Footsteps echoed just outside the gym’s doors. Gabriel held his breath, preparing for the worst, when the door flew open … and they appeared. Gabriel’s body felt as though it had been doused with ice as Noa and Diel crossed the threshold to the gym, side by side, and stopped dead in the doorway.

Gabriel’s eyes fell to their clutched hands … then his gaze shot straight to Diel’s throat. A choked sound slipped from Gabriel’s mouth, and his entire body braced for Diel’s attack.

His collar was off.

Noa had removed Diel’s collar.

She had stolen the key. He hadn’t even noticed. Dinah had not exaggerated about Noa’s stealth.

“Oh, shit.” Bara’s voice dropped an octave as their fears for their brother were realized.

Gabriel felt Michael inching closer, pressing his arm protectively against his brother’s. But Gabriel couldn’t take his eyes off Diel’s neck. Gabriel’s heart ripped in two. The scar underneath where his collar once sat was deep and red and raw, and it pained Gabriel because it made him feel no better than the priests who had first chained up his brother in Purgatory. Gabriel had contributed to Diel’s scar too. He had collared his brother for years, and brought him down with electric shocks when he was poised to hurt an innocent.