“It’s not your fault,” I said. “Why did they want to talk to me? I already told you everything about Purgatory.”
Uriel hesitated. “It’s not my place. I’m not a member of the Council anymore, remember? I shouldn’t—”
“I think we’re past that garbage, aren’t we?” I crossed my arms over my chest, watching him expectantly.
With a sigh, he said, “Fine. But if I get more fired for this, I’m holding you personally responsible.”
Chapter Eight
“The night we rescued you from Purgatory, we recovered a pregnant female,” Uriel said as we walked through the sterile, white halls of the infirmary. “She hasn’t given birth yet, but she’s getting close. We’re doing all we can, but her body is rejecting the pregnancy. She’s growing weaker as the fetus strengthens. Whatever Lucifer was doing to keep her stable isn’t working here. Technically, she shouldn’t even be pregnant. We thought maybe it was a fluke because they had you there to study, but then we found more of them.”
I dodged a small group of healers in scrubs, pressing into Uriel’s side. Jai and Noel trailed behind us, neither happy about my foray to the infirmary, but not stopping me. I had a feeling they’d known about the Council’s requests and had agreed with Gideon to hide it from me. I hadn’t asked them yet because I was pretty pissed and didn’t want to talk to them.
“You found more what?” I asked as Uriel stopped at a closed door.
Chewing on his bottom lip, he eyed the keycard access pad next to the door before pulling a keycard out of his pocket. “I’m so getting extra fired,” he muttered under his breath as he swiped the card through the reader.
There was a beep, and a green light flashed. The lock disengaged, and Uriel pushed the door open.
“We found more females,” he said, waving me inside the room.
Curious, yet terrified, I joined him in the quiet room. The blinds had been opened, letting bright sunshine into the large hospital room. Flowers and green plants were dispersed throughout to bring cheer to the room, but it was a farce.
Five beds stood in the room with five females lying unconscious on each one. They looked like the woman I’d found in Purgatory—shaved heads, pale skin, thin bodies. And they were all pregnant.
“Oh my God,” I said as I approached the closest one. She was a wisp of a thing, with pointy Virtue ears. I recognized her, though I couldn’t for the life of me remember where I’d seen her face before. “I destroyed Leviathan’s lab. I killed him. How—”
“That wasn’t his main lab, and it’s naïve to believe he kept all his research in one place. He’s not the only Fallen capable of this. Leviathan wasn’t the only intellectual we lost when the Fallen were cast out of Heaven. Someone else took up his work, or maybe he was already collaborating with other scientists.” Uriel shrugged. “We don’t know. What we do know is that Lucifer is succeeding.”
“Where did you find them?” I asked as I moved away from the sleeping Virtue.
“Styx, though our informant told us they’d been moved there from Purgatory. Given how far along some of them are, it makes sense.”
“Lucifer is taking advantage of the time difference,” I said, and Uriel nodded.
“The Council is making plans to somehow evacuate Purgatory and then destroy the entire sector. It’s the only way to ensure Lucifer doesn’t get the time to create an army of hybrids.” As Uriel spoke, Jai and Noel cautiously entered the room, their eyes growing big as dinner plates. “That’s one of the reasons they wanted to talk to you. That and they had medical questions. They’re trying to keep the girls stable, but it’s… female angels weren’t created to conceive or bear young.”
Jai stood over a tall woman, shock and worry carving wrinkles into his brow. “Is that why they’re asleep?”
“Yes,” Uriel said. “It’s not ideal, but we’ve never been faced with something like this. Our science is lacking.”
“I thought Margo died,” Noel said as he came to a stop beside Jai, placing a hand on his shoulder. “She just disappeared.”
“Yeah, we all thought…” Jai took the woman’s hand, his jaw clenching.
“Apparently, they’ve been taking more captives than we thought,” Uriel said somberly.
Outside in the hallway, there was a commotion, and I turned as Gideon barreled into the room followed by Gabriel and a man I didn’t know. I ignored the two latter and glared at Gideon.
“You knew?” I accused. “And you didn’t tell me?”
“Riley—” Gideon started, and I held up a hand. Surprisingly, he stopped, swallowing his excuses.
“You can’t keep cutting me out of things,” I said, keeping my voice low and controlled. “I’m a part of this, and I’m tired of being left in the dark.”
“We didn’t know about them,” Jai interjected softly. “It wasn’t just you. Sometimes, you need to accept that you can’t always be in the loop.”
“Sometimes, it’s just above your pay grade,” Noel added.
I ignored them as the unfamiliar man stepped forward. He had short hair and a severe face. His pale eyes were guarded but not unkind as he studied me.
“Riley, isn’t it?” he asked, and I nodded. “My siblings and I have heard much about you, but we haven’t had the pleasure.” He extended his hand. “I’m Matthew, current sitting councilman.”
We shook hands as I eyed Gabriel warily over Matthew’s shoulder. The former councilman looked a bit worse for wear since the last time I’d seen him. He was thinner, his skin paler. His auburn hair was dull, and he had dark bags under his piercing blue eyes. Stress had left permanent lines etched into his face; he looked decades older and tired. But when our gazes met, his lips curled in a sneer.
Okay, so Gabriel still hated me. Why was that not a surprise?
“Not that we wanted to keep this”—Matthew waved at the unconscious angels—“a secret from you, but it’s not ideal for us to be here. It’s already hard enough keeping our sisters stable. Us being here will only stress them.”
“They’re aware?” Jai asked.
“I think they can hear us, yes.” Matthew held out an arm as if to usher us out of the room. “Please, let us discuss things further out in the hall.”
“You shouldn’t have brought him here,” Gabriel snapped at Uriel, giving me the evil eye.
The mousy angel rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because he’s a real threat.”
As we filed out of the room, Gideon placed a hand on my back, and as juvenile as it was, I shrugged him off with a glare. His lips pinched into a line, and his eyes narrowed.
Once we were in the hallway, Gideon stepped around me, taking a protective stance between me and Matthew. “I’m taking Riley home.”
“We need to speak with him,” Matthew said. “And time is short.”
Gideon shook his head. “You know my stance. When Riley is ready—”
“You’re not in a position to make demands,” Matthew said patiently.