A/N: Hey everyone I really hope that y'all like this chapter. I would like to thank everyone for your awesome reviews. You guys really blow my mind. I really appreciate y'all taking the time to review when I know it's so much easier to just close the chapter and move on. Your reviews are like the fuel needed to keep going.
I have a few other things to say but they will be better served at the end of the chapter. So without further ado, please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters that appear in ANY of the Charlaine Harris books, everyone else is mine.
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ATL CH 25
"Step away from him Pam." Gabe and Briel said at the same time. "Now!" They said more forcefully when she didn't move.
Pam was lost in Gabriel's eyes but was slowly coming back to herself. "I can't." She managed as her purpose flowed back into her.
Gabriel smiled brilliantly at her. "Go away you second rate warrior. Pamela is mine."
"I told you." Pam began as she took a step back from Gabriel. Her eyes flashed dangerously but Gabriel didn't see it because he was concentrating on staring down Gabe and Briel. "Not to call me Pamela!"
Gabriel looked down at Pam with surprise to see her twirling around. He reached out to grab her but as his arm extended, so did hers. Before his hand could make purchase on her arm, Pam slid her sword directly into Gabriel's heart. She pushed until the hilt of her sword clanged loudly against Gabriel's breastplate.
His eyes darkened and changed from a soft emerald to pure black and then a vibrant blood red. His face contorted with pain and he grabbed the hilt of the sword that protruded from his chest.
"Pam, MOVE!" Gabe and Briel yelled at her but it was too late. Faster than she could even see, Gabriel's left leg raised and was bent at the knee and he kicked her with all his might squarely in the chest.
Pam sailed backward through the air. The shock held the pain of the kick away from her. Before she could wonder what she was going to hit two arms encircled her flying body. She glanced to the side and saw that she was just inches away from hitting Eric's golden enclosure. Grateful she looked to see who had caught her. She didn't feel any breasts in her back as the arms hugged her to its chest so she was inclined to believe it was Gabe. She didn't have time to dwell on it because movement in front of her caught her attention.
Pam looked back at Gabriel to see him pulling the sword from his chest and hurling it at her full force. She tried to move out the way but Gabe held onto her tightly and flung them both into Eric and Sookie's enclosures. The gold and silver welcomed them both like old friends as they stood next to her master's bed. The sword made contact with the golden enclosure not even a half of a second later and was completely disintegrated.
"Stay here." She heard Gabe and Briel say only the voice came from directly behind her, where Gabe was still holding her. She didn't respond and he didn't wait for a response.
Gabe let go of her and then stepped out of the gold and silver enclosures. Pam watched as she saw two Gabriel's face one another. She saw that the Gabriel she had stabbed in the heart, as beautiful as she thought he was, was a woeful comparison to who she now knew to be the true Gabriel. He was absolutely hideous as they stood a few feet from one another. Somehow he no longer looked anything like Gabe and Briel like she had though and she wondered how she could be so blind.
"You dare impersonate us?" Real Gabriel seethed. Again she heard both Gabe and Briel's voices come from Gabriel. Gabe and Briel...Gabriel. She wanted to smack herself upside the head for being so obtuse.
"Believe me it took a lot for my Mistress to convince me to debase myself in such a humiliating way." Imposter Gabriel replied. Pam wanted to smack herself again when the imposter spoke. Where she thought his voice sounded similar yet somewhat off before, now sounded like scratches across a chalk board when compared to the real Gabriel.
The real Gabriel growled harshly and flicked his hand; in the next moment there was a brilliant sword in his hand. "It was a mistake for you to come here tonight." Real Gabriel said as he sank into an attack position. "It was a mistake for you to even think that you could get to our brother or our sister; though you should be glad that it is us who will kill you."
"You think so Angel?" Fake Gabriel sneered.
"Yes, because if our brother knew how you dared to touch his child, we can assure that he would teach you a whole new meaning for the word torture."
Fake Gabriel's eyes flicked over to Pam for a second and though they were still bright and blood red she thought she saw something else there too; but just as quickly as it was there it was gone.
"It will be an honor to finally kill you Gabriel. You can no longer hide behind the skirt of Michael." Fake Gabriel said. "Now is your time." Fake Gabriel reached over his shoulder and though there was nothing there, it didn't stop him from pulling a large sword from absolutely nowhere.
Fake Gabriel sank into an attack crouch and they both prepared to face off. So many things swirled in her mind. Pam wanted to wake Eric but she knew that she would be unsuccessful. She could feel through their bond that there would be no waking him anytime soon. She wasn't sure how she knew but she knew that Sookie was just as much of a lost cause as Eric. She would think on how she knew that later, she had never had any of Sookie's blood and Sookie and never had any of hers but if the theory of Sookie's tears working in the same manner as vampire blood they may have the strings of a new bond forming between them. Now, however was not the time to think about it.
She kept seeing that odd look in Fake Gabriel's eyes when he looked at her and the question that she had been wondering about left her lips before she even gave it permission to. "You, imposter, who are you?"
It was not the imposter who answered her but the real Gabriel in his silky two toned voice, that still sounded like pure beauty even though he was fighting mad...literally. "He is Dragxin (pronounced Drag-sin). A dragon demon and the right hand of Lilith." When Pam didn't respond the real Gabriel turned his head towards her and looked her in the eyes; "The demon that is trying to kill Eric and Sookie."
Pam's eyes grew big as saucers and her mouth gaped opened. How could she kiss the man who is trying to kill her, her master, and her mistress (because if you try to kill them then you had to kill her too) the way she did? She turned her head away from the real Gabriel and looked at the imposter, who was already watching her intently.
He didn't stand from his crouch but, as they locked eyes on each other, she saw the same look there that she couldn't identify before. Suddenly he was groaning, and his silky skin was darkening rapidly. His hair pulled back into his skull until he was completely bald. His arms and legs and chest began to rapidly bulk up. In the next second he was nothing like the Gabriel he pretended to be. Even though he was still crouched in his attack position Pam could tell that he was just as tall as Eric was and was definitely bigger and more muscled. His skin was dark ebony but as smooth as glass. His lips were thick and full and his had a broad nose and high cheek bones. He had two silver hoops in his left ear but that seemed to be the extent of his body art. He was striking and yet the word beautiful didn't seem to cover what he was.
Pam was completely stunned and she didn't know what her face showed but she saw a small smirk cross the ebony god's face before both his face and eyes shut down and hardened as he turned back to Gabriel. "It is your time." He repeated simply. This time his voice was a deep bass that was beyond words to Pam. She didn't even get to think about it because in the next moment both Dragxin and Gabriel disappeared. She could hear the loud booms as they clashed and she could hear the thunderous sounds of their swords striking each other but her eyes couldn't move fast enough to see their actual bodies.
This pissed her off. This was probably one of the best fights she would see in a long time and here she was unable to watch it. She sat in a huff on the bed next to Eric's legs. She looked up at her Master and Mistress and she wondered how disappointed they would be in her. How could she let herself be so wrapped up in a complete stranger that she forgot her duty to protect them...hell she forgot her own name when he was kissing her. If her irritation at him for calling her Pamela she probably would still be with him...she was ashamed of herself. She doesn't know what came over her. She wasn't some weak, air headed, Barbie princess vampire. She was Pamela, child of the great Viking Eric the Norse Man. She was born a fighter from a master of war. She knew to look for the big picture; and for the undead life of her she couldn't figure out why she didn't.
The clashes of the fight between Gabriel and Dragxin became louder and louder and Pam wondered how the shifters could possibly disregard such a ruckus. She listened for them and she didn't hear anything. She didn't hear them talking or breathing, or even their hearts beating. There was absolute silence, and she couldn't believe that they had left? What kind of guardians were they? She knew that she better make room in her closet because she was going to have an excess of fur clothing.
She realized that when she was concentrating on listening for the shifters she could hear Gabriel and Dragxin clearer. She turned to where she thought that they were fighting and she concentrated on seeing them. She'd had Sookie's tears and every other sense was boosted, maybe it was enough to where she could see them. After a few moments she could see flashes. Dragxin lunging for Gabriel but Gabriel catching him by his enormous wrist and breaking it. Gabriel dodging a roundhouse kick. Gabriel disarming Dragxin and with a powerful kick Dragxin was on his back.
They were still moving too fast for her to catch everything but she got the gist of what was going on, and that was that Gabriel was kicking Dragxin's ass. Engrossed with the battle and channeling all of her energy so that she could focus and not miss anything, Pam didn't realize that she had got up from the bed. She took a step forward as she watched Gabriel bend in an impossible angle in order to dodge the sword of Dragxin. She was hypnotized by the violent dance before her and she couldn't believe the level in which they both were fighting on. She had never seen anything like it before. When she watched Eric and Sookie fight at the banquet and again here in Vegas it was so one sided. It was impressive but still one sided, and if she didn't inherit anything else from Eric she inherited the love of a good fight.
"Don't Pam!" Gabriel yelled as he pinned Dragxin to the ground firmly with his boot on his chest. Pam froze at her name being called during such a dangerous fight. She looked down and saw that she was in mid stride and was at the edge of Sookie's enclosure. She hadn't even realized that she had moved forward. All the same she stepped back to the bed.
Dragxin gripped Gabriel's ankle but was unable to remove his foot from his chest, despite Gabriel being half his size. Desperate he swung his sword at Gabriel, who moved in order to avoid the blade. Dragxin took the opening and quickly got to his feet. In the next second they were fighting again. Dragxin was bigger, by far, than Gabriel but Gabriel was faster and stronger. Gabriel remained focused while Dragxin became angrier and angrier that Gabriel wasn't an easy win. He began making mistake after mistake. He was barely able to deflect kill shots and he knew that he had to get out of there but he wasn't being given a big enough window to disappear in.
Gabriel attacked Dragxin fiercely. He knew that Dragxin was no match for his ability but he didn't want to just out and out kill him. If he could capture him instead, then they could extract the location and plans of Lilith. No, this wasn't about personal glory, or even about his ego; there were greater things at stake than just him. It wasn't long before he saw the opening he needed. Dragxin was still wearing the Roman military uniform, but that didn't stop Gabriel's sword from slicing through it like it wasn't even there. Dragxin was a strong demon but that didn't keep Gabriel's sword from slicing into him also. Gabriel felt the slight jolt as he cut through two of the demon's ribs. He pulled his sword back to see it covered in the thick black ooze that was the demon's blood...or the equivalent of blood.
Dragxin's eyes grew in disbelief as Gabriel carved into his thickly muscled torso. He touched where the wound was and pulled his hand back to see his ebony hand drenched in his own blood. His knees went weak and he crashed into the ground with a resounding thud. He put one hand forward and caught himself before he could fall completely face down on the ground.
Gabriel, satisfied that Dragxin was wounded severely enough he couldn't escape but not die, held his free hand out and a white glowing rope appeared. It was something he had made himself; it would weaken and bind demons. He stepped forward but before he could put the rope in place Dragxin gathered the last of his fleeting energy and disappeared. Gabriel roared in frustration.
He stood there for a minute, chest heaving and just looking at the spot that a severely wounded Dragxin disappeared from. Pam had moved as close to the enclosures as she could without actually passing through them watching the same spot as Gabriel, and then at Gabriel himself. Gabriel soon turned to face her and he didn't look happy at all. He had black splotches all over himself where Dragxin's blood splattered on him during their fight, though he himself didn't seem to have any wounds at all. They locked eyes and, though she would never admit it, Pam was scared. She wanted to look away but couldn't break Gabriel's penetrating stare. Then without warning his eyes turned completely white and began to glow brilliantly. A moment later the rest of his body was enclosed in a brilliant white light that Pam couldn't see through at all. Pam took the moment to look away and step back closer to where Eric lay.
When the light went away she was able to see that he was completely clean. He also was no longer wearing the Roman military armor, but instead was wearing a pristine white knee length kilt that tied over his right shoulder. There was a round disk hovering over the front of his shoulder with a mark that Pam didn't recognize and he had on leather sandals. His chocolate locks were impeccably placed and his emerald eyes shined. He looked as if he had never been in a fight. Pam quickly took all this in, also noting that he did not look happy...still.
"Are you injured?" He asked in a careful voice. Pam got the feeling that he was trying to contain his temper.
She felt her chest, where Dragxin planted his foot. There was a dull ache but nothing more, and even that would disappear soon. "I am not." She replied.
"He could have killed you." Gabriel stated. "His foot should have broken through your ribcage. You shouldn't still be here. We should be rousing my brother and sister and explaining to them why, instead of regenerating like they need, their child is no more."
"Sorry to disappoint you." Pam drawled.
"Don't take that tone with us Pamela." Gabriel snapped. Pam winced at the use of her full name. She really hated that. Her parents called her that and she despised that and Eric only called her that when she'd crossed a line. No one called her that ever, but she didn't think that pointing this out would be a good move at the moment. "You acted irresponsibly and you are lucky to be alive. Speaking of why are you still alive?"
Pam looked down. She had already knew all of this, but hearing it out loud made her feel all the worse. She never regretted anything and yet if she would have taken herself away from Eric, she wouldn't ever be able to forgive herself...though she'd highly doubt she would care if she were dead (finally) but the sentiment was still there. She knew that there was nothing worse for her to do to him.
Gabriel stepped closer to the enclosures and she looked up to see him examining her with a critical eye. When he passed through Eric's enclosure, it disappeared; the same thing happened when he passed through Sookie's silver enclosure. He stood in front of her and inhaled deeply.
"You've had Sera's tears. This must be their effect on vampires." He stated, because it clearly wasn't a question. Whatever he smelled made him certain of that fact. He could distinctly smell Sera's essence within Pam.
"That's the second time I've heard her called Sera." Pam stated. Since he seemed to be on a different avenue than anger at her actions, she would at the very least get some of the answers that have been raging through her mind. "Her name is Sookie; why do you call her Sera?"
"Because Sera is her true name. The name she held before she came to this earth. She is our sister." Gabriel responded. "We are Gabriel, but we will let Sera and Eric explain our connection to you. They will tell you in their own time. The important thing is to know that you are to trust no stranger at all. As you just saw, your enemies can change their shape."
"Then why should I trust you?" Pam asked. She was getting a little sick of his holier-then-thou attitude. She was not a child and she would not be spoken to like one.
"You mean besides the fact that we can move through Eric and Sera's shields without disintegrating?" Gabriel asked sarcastically. "What did you feel when you first saw the imposter?"
She thought a moment before she answered. "That he looked like Gabe and Briel, only...not. There was something off; and then I felt as if I shouldn't trust him. Then I felt I should kill him."
"You wanted him." Gabriel stated, again not an actual question.
"Yes." She responded; she didn't see the point of lying.
"We're glad you think we are so attractive." He jibed as he fluttered his eye lashes. "We know we are beautiful but you really should think before you kiss. We are not that type of angel."
Pam rolled her eyes. "Angel?" She asked.
"Don't try to change the subject Pam." Gabriel teased her. "What no more kisses for us?"
Pam growled. "Why are you talking in the plural? There is only one of you, and that one is very annoying. Where are Gabe and Briel? I think I prefer them." She hoped that she had phrased her question right enough for him to answer it.
"We know what you want to know Pam; you don't have to indulge us. If you want to know just ask." Gabriel said as he smiled innocently at her. You would've never guessed from his happy demeanor that he had just fought, much less had been mad at her. "I am Gabe. I am Briel."
Pam didn't speak. This is what she had thought before, and yet she still wanted to know more. She wanted to see him...well, she wanted to see him do whatever it is he did to become Gabe and Briel. He said to just ask what she wanted to know so she did. "Show me."
Gabriel smiled at her like she had gotten the million dollar question right. White mist gathered around him and then there was a blinding light and a slight whooshing sound. In the next moment there were two Gabriels in front of her though this time one wasn't an imposter. She recognized them as the two beings that she had met up with earlier in the night before the went to Felipe's hotel. This was Gabe. This was Briel.
Pam was completely shocked. She stood there taking them both in and trying to process the fact that she wasn't dreaming. This was so unreal.
"It's okay Pam." Briel said in a gentle tone. "You can relax."
"Give her a minute." Gabe spoke. "If we wait long enough we will see her have a cow."
Briel's musical laughter is what broke Pam out of her shock. She had the feeling that she was going down the wrong rabbit hole and that she was completely over her head. "What the hell am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to defend against this?"
"We will help you." Gabe spoke as if it were the obvious thing.
"Why hasn't anyone burst into here?"
Briel raised her hand. "Guilty. I may have frozen them so that they won't be the wiser."
"We thought it best when we saw Dragxin here with you; the less that were involved, the better. He would have used them against us and we couldn't have that." Gabe said with an easy shrug.
"By the way, aren't you the least bit tired? The sun is fully out." Briel looked at her appraisingly.
"No," Pam shrugged. "I feel fine, wide awake, and strong. I have never felt so great."
Gabe chuckled. "It's Sera's tears. They make you feel this way, but you should sleep."
"I'm not tired. I don't even feel the pull of the sun."
"We can counter act that."
Pam looked at them dubiously. She didn't want this feeling to go away. She didn't want to lose her strength and speed. If this is how Eric and Sookie now felt then she never wanted to go back.
Briel began laughing this time. "You won't lose the other effects of Sookie's tears. You will just sleep until Eric and Sera wake. When they wake you will too."
"Who will guard us then?" Pam asked. "Dragxin just proved he didn't have to use the front door to get in here."
"We will guard you" Gabe answered "especially after this attack. We would prefer you weren't left unguarded while Eric and Sera are regenerating."
"We definitely are going to have to talk to them about proper regeneration." Briel said.
"Indeed." Gabe agreed.
"I think that you should sleep now Pam." Briel said.
Pam pouted. "I never get to have any fun. Ever since Eric met Sookie he's been such a stick in the mud."
They both laughed at her. "Go on Pam. We promise that you will feel better than you do even now."
"Fine." Pam huffed and walked over to her coffin and climbed in. "You guys are no fun at all."
"We will have the chance to change that thought I promise." Gabe assured her.
Pam rolled her eyes and lay back in her coffin. Gabe placed his hand on her cheek. Pam felt a slight jolt before she was whisked into a peaceful oblivion of sleep. They closed the top of her coffin and locked it in place. When she was safely asleep and secure Gabe and Briel closed their eyes and focused on everything two floors above and below them. When they saw the demon with Pam they knew that there would be a fight so they didn't only freeze the shifters outside, but everything on the floor, plus two floors above and below. It seemed that it was good thinking because there were no signs that anyone had heard anything; there were no alerts to the ruckus from his fight.
As they scanned everything they felt a faint trace of Dragxin's power still lingering. They unfroze the floors and then followed the power signature. It seemed to not only be on the same floor but in this same room. It didn't take them long to surmise that it was coming from Bill's coffin. They opened it to find Bill there dead to the world. There was not a physical mark on him but there was no denying that he had been touched by darkness. Gabe placed his hands on both sides of Bill's head while Briel laid her hands over his non beating heart. They were instantly engulfed into the darkness of Bill's mind. They were not sure when Dragxin planned on Bill waking, but if Bill woke in this state he would murder half of Las Vegas.
Briel and Gabe looked up into each others eyes, Briel in horror and Gabe in anger, and together they began to chant. The words that they spoke were in a language that had been dead since before man set foot on the earth. No one used it, not even the other angels, no one except Gabriel, Michael, Zeus, Hera, Odin, Freyja, and Sera. It was their language; a language that no one understood but them because it was of their creation. They let the dead words roll and rasp out as they flowed easily from their lips. It was as fluid as water, and more beautiful than a symphony. It was jagged and smooth at the same time and it fit perfectly around the personalities of each speaker.
Bill's body glowed as their words flowed over him and washed the evilness of Dragxin away. But Bill was damaged; and though he was not conscious his unconsciousness had accepted part of Dragxin's essence. There was no way for them to purge it from Bill unless Bill willingly let it go...and he wasn't. They continued to speak their powerful words, pouring their peace over his corpse but it lay over him like a blanket. Their peace isn't what Bill wanted. Frustrated Gabe and Briel let go of Bill and watched as their peace rolled over Bill's body like water on a hardened ground. Perhaps like the hardened ground, if left upon Bill, the peace would slowly penetrate and absorb. They closed and locked Bill's coffin, hoping for the best, and let him rest under the blanket of their peace. They knew it was a long shot. Bill was in a dark place so it's easier for him to give into the darkness rather than the light.
"We can't put this off anymore." Briel said as she turned to face Gabe.
"I know." He responded. "I'm just not in a rush to hear his mouth. Michael is not going to be in a happy mood."
"True, but it will be worse the longer we let it sit." Briel reasoned. "Besides you know that anything to do with Sera is the quickest way to get that protectiveness quirk of his going."
"Fine, but you are going to be the one talking." Gabe sulked. "If his mood is anywhere near where I think it will be, I don't want to be anywhere around him."
"Yes because you can really just up and leave me." Briel smiled.
"You annoy me." Gabe glared at his other half.
"Don't talk about yourself like that love," she teased. "Say it with me, 'I am somebody'."
Gabe rolled his eyes at her, knowing that any comment he made would be turned against him. He had a fleeting thought about whether or not hitting her would be considered self flagellation...too bad that he would never find out. He would never hit a woman...even if she were a part of him but maybe, just maybe he could talk Freyja into it...she was always up for a fight.
"Go ahead lesser half." Briel said with a growing smile. "I'm sure that Zeus would be happy to take you out for me."
"Ooo I am so scared." Gabe taunted.
"No you're just procrastinating so that we don't have to face Michael's anger."
"You think that hanging out with us would mellow him out." He mused.
"Nope," She shook her head slightly. "That stick is firmly stuck-"
"Exactly where would that be Briel?" Michael said. He appeared out of nowhere next to Sera's side of the bed. He was not looking at them but at Sera.
"I don't know." Briel said quickly. "Gabe was just about to tell me." She smiled innocently as she threw her other half under the bus.
Michael laughed. "Aren't you supposed to protect each other instead of throwing one another to the dogs?"
Briel shrugged. "It depends on the day."
Gabe smirked. "Would you be calling yourself a dog? You really should have more confidence in yourself brother. What is it that the humans say?"
"Self esteem is everything." Briel answered for him.
"And you both should know that I know you two well enough to know when you are avoiding a subject." He brushed his fingers lovingly over Sera's cheek. She was at peace; completely worn from all the events that has kept her charged up in such a short period of time. He wouldn't be surprised if they slept a few days. They were already sleeping twelve hours or more but this time they really overdid it.
Gabriel watched over them on the earth but he couldn't help but watch the events play out from afar. He was proud of them both but he knew that they were running on nothing but fumes and even that was running out.
"I'm waiting." He said when neither Briel nor Gabe answered him. He took a deep breath and inhaled the sweet perfume of his sister, the masculine musk of his newest brother, the nervousness of Gabe and Briel, and the scent of demon. "Tell me why I smell demon in this room where our sister and brother lay unprotected when you were supposed to be watching over them? Who is that I smell? It seems familiar."
"Dragxin." Briel said soberly.
"We were here." Gabe began. "We watched the entire thing from above. We gave a frozen Sera the inescapable pull to be next to Pam when Felipe slashed her throat."
"And we stayed and watched Felipe's death." Briel picked up where Gabe left off. "We watched as Pam healed and as the war broke up. We even saw Sera care for a small boy, even after all she had been through."
"We watched them all the way back to this room and watched as Pam twitched with excitement at not being tired even though it was day. Sera and Eric pretty much passed out as soon as their heads hit the pillows."
"They were safe here, surrounded by security in the front room." Briel paused, seeming to want to phrase her words correctly, and Gabe didn't interfere with that. "Our assignment ended so we went home to report back to you but you were not there. We looked and neither were the others."
"We asked around and one of the troop angels told us that you all had a lead on Lilith and you took a small regiment to follow it. He said that Freyja, Zeus, Hera, and Odin refused to be left behind. We were focusing on finding you but then we felt Eric and Sera's shield go up."
"We were just keeping an eye on them because we knew how deeply they were out and we just wanted to ensure that nothing got to them." Where she was speaking carefully before she was speaking more rapidly now. "We locked back onto Sera and Eric, but found nothing but their shield, they were too far gone. We did, however, hear the frantic thoughts of Pam. She was thinking about how beautiful we are but how we just didn't seem right to her. She was marking us as a danger. We looked down to see an imposter standing there with Pam so we went back."
"It was Dragxin." Gabe spat. "He was impersonating us to get close to our brother and sister, but their shield wouldn't yield for him. He found Pam still up, because of Sera's tears by the way, and he was going to hurt her in order to get to them."
"But he didn't hurt her." Briel chimed in perplexed. "They were making out when we arrived. They didn't even notice when we arrived so we froze the surrounding floors of the hotel and stomped with thunder. Only then did they seem to unwrap from one another."
"It was quite weird." Gabe admitted. "I have watched Pam do some odd and crazy things but I have never seen her so wrapped up in a stranger."
"Although it didn't last long because Dragxin kept calling her Pamela." Briel snorted. "That earned him a sword through the heart."
"He seemed just as enamored with her as she was with him." Gabe continued in a confused sort of voice. It was like having two pieces of a puzzle but not having the common piece they share to link them together. "He soon came to and tried to kill her. He kicked her in the chest with all his might and if she hadn't been outfitted with Sookie's tears I believe that she would have met her final death."
"We defended what was ours." Briel stated. Gabe looked at her to see that she still had the spark of battle in her eyes. Briel loved nothing more than a good fight. She was the aggressor of them and he was the passive. "We fatally wounded him, but not to the point where he couldn't be saved in enough time."
"We thought that we could use him to find Lilith." Gabe said though now his face darkened. "But right before we could bind him he gathered what strength he could and disappeared. He may have gotten to Lilith in time to be healed, though it would have been a close call."
Michael didn't speak at first. He was satisfied that there was nothing more wrong with Sera besides fatigue. He walked around the bed to Eric's side and touched his palm to Eric's forehead. He determined the same for him. He was thrilled that no harm came to them; even though they were unconscious their enclosure seemed to instinctively protect them. He focused for a moment on Pam's coffin and then on Bill's. "Why do I feel your power pulsing from Bill's coffin?" He asked as he walked over.
"Dragxin touched him and his power seeped into Bill, he willingly accepted it." Briel explained. "We were able to remove most of it but the last bit Bill holds onto it."
"So we settled our peace over him in hopes to counteract the evil."
"Show me." Michael demanded. They walked over to Bill's coffin and they raised the lid for Michael.
Michael could feel both the good and bad coming from Bill. He reached in and placed his hands on either side of Bill's head and closed his eyes and focused on the vampire. Despite the way he'd been acting through the battle, Bill was still deeply tormented and broken. Sera would have to do something about this soon. He wondered what she had planned and wished he could just ask her, but that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. The peace that Gabriel had tried to cover Bill in was useless; he wasn't in a place where it would be beneficial, even in his unconscious...especially in his unconscious state.
"Remove it." He said as he removed his hands.
"But maybe if we left it, something could seep into him." Briel protested.
"No, it won't work." Michael said. "Remove it."
Gabe sighed dramatically and placed his hand over Bill's chest and with a few short words he removed the peace from him. "Will he be a threat?" Gabe asked.
Michael focused on Bill for another second. "No, Dragxin's influence is not great. Bill will retain his own mind. Though I think that when Sera and Eric wake, they should be made aware, we won't know how he will deal with Dragxin's influence until he wakes."
"Perhaps they could all use a little rest." Briel murmured.
"Perhaps you are right." Michael said thoughtfully.
"But that's impossible." Gabe commented. "I know that they have been through the ringer, more than anyone deserves to be, but there's no way around it. Time stops for no man."
"Technically they are three vampires and an angel." Briel chimed in.
"It doesn't matter." Gabe snapped at his other half. "We can't freeze the world for them. All we can do is be here to support them."
"Or, you could take their place for a while." Michael said eyeing both halves of Gabriel.
"What?" Briel and Gabe spoke simultaneously.
"We can't stop time for them, but we can give them time to fully rest or regenerate."
"But it will take Eric and Sera days to fully regenerate." Gabe pointed out.
"That doesn't matter." Michael insisted. "We need to stay close to them, especially with this latest attack. You and Briel can take the place of Eric and Sera. I know that Freyja wants to be close to Eric, so she can take the place of Pam. We can replace Bill with Zeus, he's been too long in the tracking of Lilith and he needs a break before he snaps."
"Yeah we know what happened the last time he snapped." Gabe said with a small laugh.
"Hey Chicago only burned for two days." Briel defended with a smile. "And to this day no one suspects it was his wayward lightning bolt."
"Yes the poor cow got all the blame."
"Enough you two." Michael said. He knew that if he didn't cut in that they would keep this up for hours. "Change."
Gabe and Briel faced one another and in the next second they shimmered and it was no longer Gabe and Briel standing there, but Eric and Sookie. "How is this?" They asked in unison.
"You have the look, but you need to tone down the shine." Michael said. Every angel had an inner light that shined from within. Though they looked like Eric and Sera, they still glowed like angels and there's no way that that would go unnoticed. He watched as Eric and Sera went from looking other worldly to a more accurate depiction of the originals. "Great."
"You've never looked so great." Sera-Briel said as she eyed Eric-Gabe.
"You know I could say the same." Eric-Gabe said and Sera-Briel stuck her tongue out at him.
"Enough you two." Michael huffed. "Will you ever grow up?"
"Well you know you're only as young as you feel...Grandpa." Eric-Gabe said as Sera-Briel laughed.
"And just because we get older, doesn't mean that we have to be old." She piped in.
"Whatever." Michael said. He didn't want to get into this discussion with them, especially here. It never ended in a pretty manner and frankly they didn't have the time to waste.
He called Zeus and Freyja down and explained the plan to them and Zeus was visibly relaxed. Freyja was just happy for the change of pace. She had never spent large amounts of time on earth and she was glad for the new experience.
Once Zeus and Freyja were changed into Bill and Pam, Michael called on three of their troop angels to come. Evan, Tennyson, and Murphy were all good soldiers. They were all eager for the job too. They had been fond of Sera, and they too missed her when she left for earth. She seemed to have a unique connection with everyone that she encountered. Tennyson, Murphy and Evan took her protection as more than a job; they took it as a personal responsibility. They were often referred to as 'The Triplets', not because they looked alike but because they preferred to spend their time together, it was rare that you saw one without the others.
"You must remain invisible, and allow no one but us in this room, understood?" Michael asked. "Do whatever you must to keep them safe. They are our top priority."
"Understood." They all repeated in unison.
"When they awake reveal yourself if the others are not back; be sure to signal them to alert them." Michael continued. "It is imperative that they don't leave this room. We cannot have two of them walking around. Bill and Pam should awaken when Eric and Sera do. Any questions?"
"No sir." They all responded in unison again.
"Good." Michael replied as he turned to take his leave. Sensing his immediate departure they all balled their right fist and touched it to their left shoulder in their salute. Their movements were identical and practiced and precise. They bowed their heads to their commander and felt his departure from them. When they raised their heads, they were greeted with his absence.
For a few moments they all stood there, unknowing about what they should be doing but Gabe-Eric soon took the reigns. "Tennyson, Murphy, and Evan since you will be here when we are not you should learn every part of this hotel. Go invisible and acquaint yourselves with this entire building while we stay here on guard." They nodded their heads and were gone in the next second.
"Tell us." Freyja demanded as soon as the triplets were gone.
This was expected. Gabe and Briel retold the events of the night. Zeus and Freyja looked on with rapt attention. When they were talking about the fight with Dragxin their eyes glowed in excitement.
"You know if you went for the kill instead of capture, he wouldn't have gotten away." Zeus pointed out.
"But we wouldn't have been able to use him to get the info." Freyja defended.
"But we still don't have any information." Zeus replied.
"But he had to take that chance."
"Indeed." Zeus relented after thinking on it a while.
"Anyway I believe that we need to make a plan." Gabe said. "This is going to be the most instrumental time in their rule, and we need to figure out how we will handle this."
"I think that we should only decide things that can't wait." Freyja said. "Business plans, meetings where general vampire introductions are made can all wait until Eric and Sera are awake."
"Definitely." Zeus agreed. "Emergency business only."
"Fine." Gabe said. "We need to see if Sandy is still here so that she can begin setting things up before she leaves for Louisiana."
"We can handle that." Briel followed. "Eric told her to lay low, but not to leave so she should still be here."
"We should go on and order a count of all of Felipe's holdings. That should take a little bit to gather." Zeus suggested. "Especially with his ostentatious tendencies, there's no doubt a lot to account for."
"Okay, so an account of Felipe's finances and holdings," Freyja began to count off. "I believe we should setup a temporary office/headquarters too."
"Yes, the palace is a little too heavily decorated in rubble for my taste." Gabe quipped.
"Which reminds me; we should oversee the search and rescue there, as well as try to recover what we can from the rubble also." Zeus stated.
"See, I think that we can find enough to keep up busy while Sera and her bonded rest." Briel said with a smile. She liked that they were able to handle some of the menial things that would take some of the pressure off of their shoulders. They needed a break desperately but, if she knew Eric or Sera at all, she knew that they would drive themselves forward. They both were hard workers that believed in pushing themselves to get their jobs done. It's an admirable quality but sometimes it makes it hard to realize when enough was enough. After what they had been through in such a short period of time...it was definitely enough.
They continued to discuss things that could and could not wait when the first test of their new facade came. There was a light knock on the door. They realized that it was no longer morning but afternoon and the shifters would expect Sera to make an appearance at some point or another.
"Sookie, it's me." Sam said through the door. "It's late and I wanted to see if you were hungry."
There was no answer from within. Sam looked back at Alcide and Calvin for a moment before he turned back to the door. He had camped out last night, figuring that there was really no place to go. It didn't matter to him because he loves to camp or do anything in the great outdoors, but now that it was a respectable time in the morning...afternoon, he wanted to check up on his favorite waitress. Although, if he were being honest, he would admit that it had been a while since he'd seen Sookie...without the weapons and silver hair and eyes and enclosure. He wanted to make sure that his friend was still alive and well in this new powerful being.
Calvin and Alcide said that she hadn't made a peep all morning, and that they were refraining from going inside because they knew that Eric, Pam, and Bill were at rest in the room; they figured that Sookie would come out when she was ready to do so. Donovann was leaving to check on the rest of his pack when he was arriving. They exchanged a few pleasantries but Sam could tell that he was preoccupied with getting his pack home. From the piece of conversation that he had overheard, Sam gathered that Donovann's pack had been systematically moving out and it seemed that this was the last stage of their disengagement.
Sam thought that he and Sookie could maybe have brunch together. So much had happened and it would be great if he could talk with her about it so that he would understand it himself. So many questions swirled in his mind. He also just missed his friend too. He missed that camaraderie they seem to share so easily. He knew that when they got back to Louisiana their relationship would change drastically, especially with her being a Queen now. It's not exactly like she can be a vampire queen and still wait tables at the bar. What if she didn't come back to Louisiana? What if they decided to stay in Vegas? His chest tightened at the thought that he wouldn't see his friend again. He took a deep breath to calm himself. They really needed to talk. He was planning on leaving sometime today to get back to his bar, but he would like to see Sookie before he left.
"Sookie?" Sam called again. This time Sam was turning the knob on the door. Gabe, Briel, Zeus and Freyja all looked at one another as Sam began opening the door. They had a split second to figure out what to do. As much as Sam was used to in the supernatural world, if he opened the door to see two Sookies and two Erics there would need to be one heck of an explanation...and even then it wasn't guaranteed to go well. How would they explain why Pam and Bill weren't asleep since it was daytime. He pushed the door open further. "Sookie are you awake in there?"
He stepped into the quiet room and his eyes immediately fell on Sookie. Sam couldn't help the gasp that escaped his lips as his eyes fell on his friend.
"Oh Sookie." He whispered.
TBC
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A/N: Alright everyone I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know you are probably missing our favorite couple but they really do need to rest for a while. Besides, I have some interesting things planned for our favorite angels....
I thought that it was funny that no one seemed to see how out of character it was for Gabriel to be kissing Pam. In fact most of you were rooting for them. I didn't want anyone to guess that that wasn't the reak Gabriel and I guess I got my wish. So what do you think of Dragxin? He was a new development and I can't wait to see what kind of evil he does, because he has to be some kind of bad to be Lilith's second.
You all know that I couldn't get rid of Pam, who would tease Eric if she were to die? No worries about Victor, he will get what's coming to him. Eric is particularly excited about it and if Vikings did a happy dance he would be doing it now.
Pleas note also that Gabriel only speaks in the plural (or is supposed to) when he is Gabriel, when he's seperated into Gabe and Briel he does not.
Thanks again for all your reviews. Please keep them coming. Reviews are better then laying next to a regenerating naked Viking. So review review review!