A huge thank you to JoVersify for pre-reading and making this much more coherent!
Issa fumed as she headed towards the direction of the gates. She was going to wait there until they left tomorrow. The very thought made her want to pull her hair. Instead of doing the sensible thing like waiting for his father, gathering support from Eden, and getting rid of the obviously dangerous hell-bound creature who'd wormed her way into his limited pool of glory, what did Edvardiel want to do? He wanted to leave Eden with her. He wanted to abandon his only home and beg help from archangels who were worse than the queen of Hell.
Issa stomped through the dense forest, shoving her way through the thicket when she collided with someone. There was a cry of surprise as something heavy clinked to the ground
"Watch where you're going!"
It was Rosalie. Her choppy hair looked even more dishevelled than before and she scowled at Issa, bending down to pick her fallen things from the ground. They were chains. A chain whip. It gleamed an unnatural gold, the same unusual shade as the gates.
"You watch where you're going," Issa snapped, her aggression rearing its head before she could consider how it came across.
To her surprise, Rosalie snorted. "So you do have a backbone. I was starting to think you were nothing but vapid arm candy."
Issa had been going for forgettable and harmless but she supposed vapid eye candy worked as well. She brushed the fallen branches from her hair and hoped her angel dress had absorbed the mud. "I'm allowed to have bad days too, you know."
"Oh, I know." Rosalie wrapped the chains around her forearm absent-mindedly. "You've been watching them try to steal your boyfriend from right under your nose. It would drive anyone up the wall."
Issa opened her mouth and closed it again. Denying it would do no good. As far as Eden was concerned, Edvardiel was her lover.
Rosalie gave her an appraising look. "You should be careful. You're beautiful and Eden's son loves you. They're going to screw you over."
Eden's son loves you.
Issa's heart clenched. Whatever Edvardiel felt for her, it was going to get him killed. She changed the subject.
"Don't you have enough weapons?" she asked, nodding at the chains in Rosalie's hands.
Rosalie smirked. "There's no such thing as too many weapons." She pulled the chains taut and held them up so that they glittered in the sun. "This baby's made of Edenium. It burns angels."
Issa studied the chain whip. "I thought Eden loved their angels."
"Wrong," Rosalie said. "They love their part angels. A full angel is the most feared thing around here. Eden was made to keep them out. They tried to kill us, remember?"
Great. And Edvardiel and her were going to try and open Heaven's gates. Issa was starting to wonder how wise that was.
"Good thing Earth is crawling with demons then," she said flatly. "No angels to worry about."
"This works against demons too. Anything that isn't human or part human."
Issa frowned. "Where did you get that?"
Rosalie's smirk turned coy. "What are you going to give me if I tell you?"
Issa narrowed her eyes. "A dry pullover."
Rosalie blinked and then burst into laughter as she no doubt remembered their first encounter. "I can't believe it. You're going to be one of the few people I can stand around here."
"You have issues," Issa said.
"I have many issues. Being a bad judge of character isn't one of them."
Issa doubted it but she wasn't going to correct Rosalie.
"Why don't you come with me and I'll show you where to find Edenium?" Rosalie asked.
Issa hesitated. She didn't want to go anywhere around Eden, but this opportunity was too good to miss. If Edenium really worked against demons, maybe they could use it to end Lilith.
Rosalie took her through the thick undergrowth, past the hot springs, and near a tall waterfall. The rushing water roared as they climbed up the rocks, the cool spray dampening their clothes. Higher and higher they went, the air growing thinner and thinner.
"I didn't realise Edenium grew on mountains," Issa muttered.
Rosalie's only response was to climb faster, moving so swiftly that Issa was actually pushing herself to catch up. Rosalie didn't seem to have the same stamina problems as Edvardiel, Issa noted. Did her human side help with walking or was Edvardiel hiding more injuries from her? The damn empath.
Lost in her own thoughts, Issa didn't realise they'd arrived until she nearly walked into Rosalie's back. The mountain peak had an unusual sight: a glacier frozen in time, scintillating in its thousand sharp angles that reflected the sun. A giant tree grew in its centre, roots burrowing deep in the ice. The tree seemed to be in a state of eternal autumn, raining leaves in warm shades of reds, golds and browns. They floated down to the ground, carpeting the diamond glacier.
A gust of wind blew through the wide open space, the sunlight streaming colourfully through branches and an unexpectedly powerful wave of nostalgia swept through her. The falling, colourful leaves turned into fiery feathers in her vision.
It's been a long time, my friend.
The words were a sigh, the voice familiar, but before Issa could figure it out, one of the feathers landed on her nose. Suddenly, she was standing in front of a mirror again, gazing into Michael's flaming, furious eyes. The vision disappeared as soon as it came.
"Everything all right?" Rosalie asked.
"Fine," Issa said, her heart hammering. How many times was she going to hallucinate today? How long before Lilith regained control of her mind? "Where are we?" she asked, trying to distract herself.
"This is Samael's final resting place." Rosalie gestured at the enormous tree. "The books weren't entirely wrong about Samael being a demon. In his final moments, he was one."
Issa bent down to touch the tree, tracing the rough trunk down to its roots. "I didn't realise Eden kept demon tombs."
Rosalie barked out a laugh. "Oh, our graveyards are full of them. Gives you a whole new meaning of demons in our backyard."
"What about the angels?"
"We've buried exactly zero angels," Rosalie said.
Issa was silent as she pressed her palm to the frozen earth. She was thinking of the first wave of empath deaths. Her first few Keepers—the faceless demons she'd never mourned, the ones whose emotions made the Keeper bond excruciating for her. She remembered asking Edvardiel how empath demons existed in the first place. What place did empathy and altruism have in Hell? How did hell-bound creatures come to possess such things?
"Strange. You aren't asking me why," Rosalie said.
Issa swallowed as she looked at the falling leaves. She thought she was going to throw up again. "The demons," she said. "They used to be angels, didn't they?"
Rosalie's nostrils flared. "Fallen angels. An angel's wings are their one connection to Heaven. Without it, they're untethered. They don't belong in Heaven. They don't belong on Earth. There's only one place left after their glory runs out: Hell."
The feathers were raining again, except this time they were bloodstained and blackened.
She's right.
The voice was so familiar.
"Who are you?" Issa asked.
Did you forget the favour you owe me?
It was her dream angel. She'd officially gone mad.
Luckily, Rosalie thought the question was directed at her. "Someone who knows a thing or two," she said. She reached into a groove in the tree and pulled out a golden dagger. "Here. Your own mountain-grown Edenium."