Archangel’s Ascension: Chapter 28

Raphael felt nothing but a cold anger at the sniveling creature in front of him.

With her own confession to hang her—which she’d admitted to again in front of Raphael, this time driven by terror of an archangel’s violent power—there really wasn’t much more to it.

Vixen’s ending was a quick, brutal thing that came the next eve, held in a clearing deep in the Catskills with a somber group of witnesses: Illium and Aodhan, Navarro, Elena, Honor and Dmitri, and one steel-spined mortal. Tanika’s parents had declined to attend, but Giulia had turned up, her face stone.

All three of the parents had requested the execution not be public.

“Justice for our Tani shouldn’t be a display,” her father had said to Aodhan when this member of Raphael’s Seven went to tell them of Vixen’s apprehension. “She was a private person. And…he was, too. Not his fault he attracted that evil creature.”

From what Aodhan had passed on, Stavros continued to struggle with not blaming Marco for his daughter’s death, but at least he was trying. Raphael hoped that, together with his wife’s love, it would help him avoid the inner rot that came with bitter rage. Perhaps so, too, would the knowledge that while his child had been killed by an angel, she’d also been avenged by angels.

Now, Aodhan and Illium flanked Giulia, Navarro on Illium’s other side, while the rest of the witnesses stood slightly back in a sign of respect to Giulia’s grief, as Raphael undertook the execution. He’d asked Marco Corvino’s mother if she wished for Vixen to suffer the same torture as had been bestowed upon her son, a burning alive. For an angel, that could mean hours, even days, before true death. But Giulia had shaken her head.

“Marco was a gentle boy, a gentle man. I won’t desecrate his memory by lowering myself to her level. But her death is necessary. Evil can’t be allowed to linger in this world—especially immortal evil.”

Raphael had given her a small nod. For an archangel to speak to a mortal thus, it was unusual, but when he looked at her grief, he remembered Dmitri’s. Who stood in this forest clearing today, as did Honor, her hand in his.

, Dmitri had said privately to him, Now, as the skies began to fade into deep oranges and pinks above the Tower, far from this grove shadowed by forest giants, Vixen begged for forgiveness. Her face was blotchy with tears. Tears she hadn’t shed until it was her own life on the line. Tears she’d never have shed had they not uncovered her crimes.

No, she had taunted Tanika, then Marco—for this, too, she had confessed.

Raphael didn’t bother to respond to her begging before he ended her in a single bolt of archangelic energy. She was ash between one breath and the next, her entire existence reduced to a pitiful pile of dust, which Raphael then used his power to lift dirt and bury, so that it would not linger in the air.

“It is done.” He glanced at Dmitri. “Send a notice to Jessamy. Make sure both the crime and the punishment are recorded in our histories.”

His best friend held his gaze, what passed between them a haunting whisper of memory. “I’ll do it today,” the vampire said before moving so he could look at Giulia. “I’ll also ensure that Marco’s and Tanika’s names are noted in our histories, along with their biographies. They will not be forgotten.”

Words unspoken, but Raphael heard them all the same. The names of Dmitri’s murdered family were in no history book, but the vampire held them close to his heart, as did Raphael. He’d eaten at Ingrede’s table, played with little Misha, visited with a rattle he’d carved for the new babe when Caterina was born. He missed them, but he knew that he would never miss them as Dmitri missed them.

Honor’s hand squeezed Dmitri’s just then, and Raphael saw raw anguish in the green of her eyes as she turned to her husband. When Dmitri allowed himself to lean into her, Raphael exhaled quietly. This execution and all that had led to it must’ve stirred awake the worst memories of Dmitri’s life, but Dmitri wouldn’t spiral, not if he was allowing Honor to be there for him.

Elena slipped her hand into his.

She would worry about that, his hunter.

Her anger was a taut, vibrating thing.

“What does haunt me is the why of it,” he murmured, while Aodhan held a sobbing Giulia in his arms. “Why do we seek to take that which isn’t ours?”

“

don’t.” Firm words. “There are always bad actors in any society. The test is how we deal with them.” Her eyes were silver blades, clear and sharp. “This was justice. You didn’t let it slide because Marco was ‘only’ a young vampire, and Tanika ‘only’ a mortal. That matters.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “It matters.” He wove his fingers through hers. “Let us fly, . I think Giulia will feel more at ease with just Aodhan and Illium and Navarro.” Marco’s angel was the one who’d escorted Giulia from the car to the execution area, Giulia’s hand locked tight around his forearm.

Dmitri caught Raphael’s eye at that moment, motioned that he and Honor were heading down to where he’d parked his Ferrari.

Raphael gave a small nod before touching his mind to Illium’s.

Golden fire in Illium’s gaze.