Pulling Audrey up with him, Gabriel got to his feet and signalled to the door as he moved them towards it. Jenny and Eli followed suit.
"Where are we going?" Audrey asked, taking his hand as they exited the little left chamber and headed down the steps of the chancel.
"Outside," was all he gave her, striding swiftly down the kaleidoscope-coloured nave while Audrey practically had to jog to keep up.
The refugees scattered among the pews looked up, their eyes following the archangel to the door, where he reached up to unfasten the barricades. Bright light filtered through the growing crack between them until they were bathed in the warmth of the mid-morning sun.
The shadows of the palms lining the pathway stretched directly towards them as Audrey, Jenny and Eli followed Gabriel out into the archway, watching the clear, cerulean skies; for what, they didn't know, until three winged figures appeared from behind a wispy streak of cloud.
Audrey heard Jenny's breath hitch in awe as they drew closer: Michael touched down before them, folding his great, jet wings in unison with his two companions. The one on his left was only slightly shorter than Gabriel, with fiery red hair ruffled to one side that blazed vividly in the desert sunshine. His features were Roman in shape: a strong brow and a straight nose with virtually no bridge, rosy, rounded lips and a charming dash of freckles beneath his sparkling, hazel eyes. The angel on the right had a slightly more chiselled countenance, with wavy, jaw-length hair as black as his ebony wings and a warm, chocolate gaze that was almost as dark.
"Michael," Audrey greeted her previous protector in surprise.
"Exactly how many angels do you know?" Jenny whispered to her, though unable to look away.
"Only the two," she replied with a slightly embarrassed smile as she added, "so far."
The two newcomers offered radiant smiles, and Gabriel moved Audrey forward slightly, with one hand at the small of her back, the other introducing their guests.
"These are our brothers: Raphael," he gestured towards the redhead, then turned to the right: "and Uriel."
The archangels bowed their heads to her respectively, their hands patiently clasped in front of them over their gleaming armour.
Gabriel squared his stance before Michael and let his hands fall to his sides, pain seeping from his sapphire eyes.
"My brother," he whispered, his penitent gaze dropping to the concrete floor.
"Hush, Gabriel," Michael interrupted softly. "You are already forgiven."
Audrey watched the exchange, frowning slightly in confusion, but couldn't help the fond smile that wound its way up her cheeks as Michael reached out and pulled her love into a strong, brotherly embrace that made her heart swell with satisfaction.
Michael pulled away, cupping Gabriel's cheek, and looked at him as only a sibling could.
"Fratrum amorem non moritur," he murmured.
Catching Audrey's eye with an equally warm smile, Raphael repeated his brother's sentiment in English for her.
"Brothers' love never dies."
Her smile widened in understanding: his reference was not only to Gabriel, who straightened up to address all three of them.
"Then you know why I have called upon you?" He supposed, enclosing his fingers around Audrey's.
"Elatio Divina," Michael nodded once. Meaning nothing to Audrey, the foreign words rolled off his tongue, reminiscent of a time long past.
"He believes 'the key' refers to the solution. He fears his destruction."
"How do you propose we summon him?" Uriel spoke for the first time; his voice was deep and velvety-rich.
When Gabriel paused to think, Audrey seized her chance to join the conversation, having had enough of it flying straight over her head.
"I'll do it." The four archangels regarded her with surprise, but only one commanded her attention.
"It's too dangerous, you discovered that the hard way last time," Gabriel refused.
"I'll have you guys to watch over me though... and am I right in assuming I can call you into my dream in the same way?" Reluctantly, he nodded. "It makes perfect sense, Gabriel. He seems to... trust me, a little. I mean, he's the Devil, why would he have hugged me, otherwise?"
"It would give us an advantage," Michael admitted. Gabriel sighed, lifting his gaze to the skies.
"Alright," he conceded, "but don't linger, do you hear me?" His order left no room for compromise. "Ask him to meet you here, in front of the cathedral, and get out. Remember you are in control at all times; you can wake whenever you choose by simply thinking it."
She nodded in accord, and he lowered himself to sit on the steps. Shifting his feet to the bottom one, he levelled out his knees and held his arms out to her. Acutely aware of the three sets of divine eyes upon her back, she sank somewhat self-consciously to sit across his lap, where he cradled her neck and shoulders with one arm and raised his other hand to brush a wispy, errant strand of her hair off her forehead. The last thing she was aware of was his cool fingers running along her brow, then darkness swam before her eyes.
She was vaguely aware that she was looking down – she could see her brown, leather cowboy boots dangling below. Looking up, she realised with a horror-struck, expletive-filled gasp that she was sitting on one of the topmost branches of a tree so tall she could see no discernible base. It was broad enough that she could arch back over it quite comfortably and not fall, but she threw her arms around the rough bark next to her, all rationality lost.
"Lucifer," she called out to the dark, desperate for a pair of stabilising arms. There was no reply or appearance as she looked through the thick forest around her; the trees reminded her of the cathedral's pillars, and their leaves formed a shadowy canopy overhead. "Lucifer," she cried louder, turning slightly to look in the opposite direction.
Her sharp scream rang out through the silence as she almost fell from her treacherous post, upon discovering a familiar thatch of ash blonde hair and a pair of astonishingly vibrant, green eyes beside her, looking just as surprised to find themselves there as Audrey was.
Lucifer's arms shot out to steady her, and she closed her eyes briefly in relief.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, avoiding her eyes.
"For what?" Audrey shot back automatically; "Almost killing me last time or just now?"
To her utter disbelief, he looked up at her earnestly.
"Both."
She tried hard not to gape, but it was exceedingly difficult knowing precisely who he was and what he stood for. When she finally managed to respond, he seemed equally as shocked as she had been at his apology:
"It's okay," she dismissed in wonderment; "you failed on both accounts, anyhow."
After a moment of awkwardness, Lucifer peered down between his bare feet.
"Ever the master of lucid dreams, I see," he quipped, sounding more like his normal self. "Can't we ever just talk on solid ground?"
"It's not by choice, believe me," Audrey retorted.
"You're the one in the saddle; just will it and it will be so."
She glanced at him sceptically, before concentrating hard on being closer to the ground. On her unspoken command, the tree began to shrink rapidly in height, eliciting another scream from Audrey as they were sent plummeting towards the hidden forest floor. Lucifer's body pinned her to the wide branch as he clung to it, his cheek pressed against the back of her neck as her hair whipped upward with the speed of the descent.
About a metre short of the ground, it stopped dead, and they were thrown, tumbling, to the damp moss below. Winded by having softened Audrey's landing, Lucifer wheezed beneath her as she clambered to her knees.
"Your methodology... needs a little work," he gasped.
She loomed over him, taking her weight off his torso, and covered her mouth in sheer, giddy relief that she was still alive.
"Shit, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She worried, dismounting him, and to add to the already fairly lengthy list of things to have surprised her that day, he began to laugh – somewhat disjointedly, between struggling to draw breath, it was a laugh nonetheless.
Reflecting briefly on his sarcastic wisecrack, she eventually joined him, rolling to the spongy earth beside him and resting her head upon his outstretched arm. As he regained the ability to breathe properly, he pushed his hair back off his face with a sigh.
"Alright, seriously now." He turned his face to Audrey, who propped herself up on one elbow to meet his droll gaze. "We need to stop trying to kill one another," he entreated. "Truce?"
She paused, considering, before her snort triggered another bout of helpless laughter. By the time they'd fully recovered, Audrey was using Lucifer's stomach as a pillow, curled up and facing him in the space between his arm and side.
"I wanted to ask you something," she began, "but maybe we should get out of here before a grizzly bear shows up and mauls us." He chuckled in response, and she grinned back, finally certain he was not the Devil he was believed to be. "Meet me in front of the cathedral opposite the store where we met."
Pushing herself up on his chest, she willed herself to wake and hoped fervently that it didn't turn out as disastrously as when she'd willed for solid ground.
Opening her eyes to bright sunlight and a fraught-looking Gabriel watching over her like a hawk, she found herself chortling again. She sat up, pulling on his shoulder for support, and as she did so, he saw that her back was wet and slightly smeared with green, and a dried leaf or two fell from her hair. A stab of irrational jealousy burst through his chest, but he said nothing.
It was Raphael who quirked a heavy brow at her giggling, dishevelled appearance, his smirk carefully restrained in front of his brother.
"We fell from a tree and I squashed him," she explained, her eyes still twinkling with mirth, and Raphael seemed to deem it a worthy justification as he let his amusement show.
Gabriel stood up behind her, and his words instilled a flutter of panic in the pit of her stomach.
"Get ready."
"Get ready for what?" Audrey interrogated as the archangels arranged themselves into an arc, in which she was the centrepoint. "Guys, this isn't an ambush..."
What was it they said about his destruction? Her eyes widened in alarm as she watched a barefoot figure materialise, walking up the pathway towards her. She started forward, her heart thundering in her chest, arms outstretched to protect the Devil, but she'd barely taken two steps when a blinding light, brighter than the sun itself, washed over the entire vicinity.
For the second time that morning, Lucifer fell, winded, as the breath was stolen from his very lungs and his body yielded to the power of his brothers' divinity. Audrey's fingers landed just short of his concrete-grazed wrist, and his heartbroken voice was the last thing she heard before true exhaustion conquered her.
"You tricked me."