Thank you for reading Gabriel’s Gambit! Here are a few extra scenes that take place after the Epilogue. Two from Azrael’s point of view and a couple from Gabriel’s! I hope you enjoy them!
~~
Azrael
“Az? I love Willow with all that I am. I’m going to live. You can fuck right off.”
Gabriel’s soul rises into the air, gives me one last look, and dives for his corporeal body.
He’d died. I’d stretched the truth a bit when I’d told him he was hovering on the precipice of death. He was firmly over it. I should have taken his soul directly to the afterlife. But after he beat the shit out of me on that train, I couldn’t let him give up his one chance at real, human happiness.
So I offered him a second chance—something the Angel of Death is never supposed to do.
Gabriel’s soul reunites with his body, and his blue lips turn pink almost immediately. He wakes with a wheezing gasp, looks around, and shouts, “Willow!”
If I’m lucky, Seraphiel will do nothing more than lecture me for a day—or a year—for what I’ve done. If I’m not…he’ll take my wings. But as Gabriel tackles the evil being who stole his angelic power, I realize I do not care.
“Good for you, Gabriel. Get your happy ever after.”
***
I keep watch over the battle until it is clear Gabriel no longer needs my help. Willow is safe. The weapon they were attempting to destroy is no longer a threat.
As much as I enjoyed my time in San Francisco, I will not shirk my duties as Gabriel has done. I must return to the celestial realm. My thick, black wings beat—slowly at first, then so quickly, they are nothing but a blur—as I rise from the realm of Purgatory and ascend through the clouds to my home.
The celestial realm is quiet. Always. Peaceful. Glittering in its beauty.
But…also boring. So very boring.
Until today.
Sariel’s wings are rumpled, and her curls brush her shoulders as she rushes over to me. “Az, where have you been?”
“With Gabriel. Why?”
Her bright gray eyes widen. “Is it true? He…died?”
If I admit the truth, Seraphiel will banish me to the Underworld. But nor can I lie. So I opt for a safe answer. “His heart stopped. It started up again. He is with his lover in the earthen realm now. We may see him again. Or…perhaps not, if Seraphiel has anything to say about it.”
The Angel of Punishment—and of Healing—snorts. “Oh, Seraphiel won’t care one bit about Gabriel for at least a few thousand years. Maybe longer.”
“Sari…? Why not? What happened while I was gone?” This is not what I expected when I flew back up here, and I wish Gabriel were here. I suspect he would enjoy hearing this.
“Lucifer got that audience with the Almighty he’s been asking for,” she says, practically skipping along beside me as I head for my private chambers. “He…didn’t hold back. Seraphiel’s eons of superiority and general…dickishness? Lucifer laid all the twat’s secrets bare.”
I struggle to find my words for several seconds. “What did the Almighty say?”
Sari laughs with her whole being. Head thrown back, eyes crinkled at the edges, shoulders shaking. I think she even snorts.
“No one knows for sure,” she says and swipes the sleeve of her robe over her damp cheeks. “But Lucifer is currently in the earthen realm living it up in Las Vegas while Michael dragged Seraphiel down to Hell and locked the gates from the outside!”
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Now this should be interesting.
***
Gabriel
I do not like leaving Willow at UCSF. I wish I could stay at her side for the rest of her life, but that is not practical. An angel in the classroom would be a distraction at best—even with my wings hidden.
If anything were to happen—if Willow is frightened or in danger, I will know instantly. I can sense her emotions even over a distance, and while using my unique talents to reach her may be frowned upon, I don’t give a fuck.
As I turn the corner, my phone buzzes.
Sinclair: You are perilously close to being late. On your first day.
With a chuckle, I shove the phone into the pocket of my leather jacket. The half-breed knows I could simply appear in front of Commander Grayson Eve at any moment. But I am trying to blend in.
The wards around the Bureau of the Occult and the Other part for me as I reach for the door handle. Inside, the bullpen would be plain if not for the beings sitting at the various desks. A leopard shifter stares at me, his slanted eyes flaring with an intensity I have rarely seen in an earthly creature.
One of the vampires streaks across the room toward the break room. The ghouls whisper to themselves in the corner. And in the center, Sin and Zoe sit across from one another, sipping from matching travel mugs.
“Gabriel. I didn’t expect you to show up,” Commander Grayson Eve says, leaning against the glass wall of her office with her arms crossed over her chest.
“I am an archangel.” Straightening my shoulders, I peer down at her. “I do not lie.”
She runs a hand through her blond hair. “I should have thought of that. This…will be an adjustment for both of us.”
***
Three hours later, I have a Bureau email address, access card, and even a desk next to Sinclair and Zoe.
“What am I supposed to do with a desk?” I ask Sin.
“Sit at it?” The half-incubus demon is amused at my confusion. I should not be surprised. My lack of experience with the earthen realm has been a constant source of conversation whenever Willow and I share a meal with him and Zoe. Or Mad and Killian.
The warlock, in particular, loves to hear about my…missteps. I fear he is writing them all down and will one day publish them for the world to read.
“Sinclair. Zoe,” Commander Eve calls from her office. “One of the Other medical clinics down on Grand had a break in this morning. Someone stole their entire supply of O-neg. Might be connected to the orgies that keep cropping up on Sunday nights that you still haven’t managed to stop. Get down there. And take the newbie.”
Newbie?
Is she referring to…me?
“That’s your cue, Gabriel,” Zoe says and slings her messenger bag over her shoulder. “Time for your first case as the Bureau’s most junior agent.”
***
By the end of the day, I am exhausted and vaguely nauseous. Sinclair has what Zoe calls “a lead foot” and I must ask Willow if she can teach me how to operate a vehicle. If I am forbidden from flying or simply appearing wherever I am needed, driving will be necessary.
The stench of vampire blood lingers in my nostrils. I cannot meet Willow without a shower. Her time as the vampire-fae bitch’s prisoner still gives her nightmares.
Inside one of the Bureau’s conference rooms, I close my eyes and picture our apartment in my mind. The very fabric of the universe bends to my will, stretching and folding around me. In an instant, the soles of my feet touch the polished tile floor of our kitchen.
I am pressed for time, and my long hair is still wet when I knock on Willow’s office door.
“Is it raining?” she asks, frowning.
“No, deliciae. But my first day at the Bureau was…messy. And there was much more sweat than I had anticipated. I thought you would appreciate me more freshly showered.”
Willow winds her arms around my waist and inhales deeply. “Can we go home now? I can show you just how much I love the scent of your shampoo. And…other things.”
“Yes. Yes, we can.”