“She was making Nephilim,” Michaela said finally.

“Uh, come again?”

“They have the real Nephil here as a prototype.”

“But she is nothing like them,” Clark said, frowning.

“Exactly. Lucifer is trying to manufacture something that can’t just be created. Nephilim are powerful creatures. They combine the best of angels and humans. It was a natural process between an angel and a human woman. That essence can’t just be grown in some fancy lab.”

“So why try?”

“Because the Apocrypha showed Cassie how to make an angel truly immortal—”

“Lucifer would want immortal angels for his army since you had just figured out how an angel could die with your bones,” Clark said, tugging his fingers through his disarrayed pink hair.

“Exactly. If you think about it, a human’s soul is truly immortal—it lives forever in Heaven or Hell. Not even the angels or the Nephilim have that power. I believe Lucifer found by putting a human soul into an angel, he could create an immortal hybrid, creating the best kind of Nephilim—one that wasn’t killed by bone or affected by water.”

“Why water?” Clark asked. “I don’t remember any of this from my classes.”

“Water weakens both a Nephil and a Watcher, because they share the same genetics. When I put the Watchers in the ground, I chained them in a river so that they couldn’t conduct their magic. But bone would have to kill a Watcher. Whereas, Nephilim aren’t affected as strongly by water, and angel bones wouldn’t be their weakness, because they are essentially human and would die of old age or an illness.”

Michaela leaned back against the wall, her head in her hands. Lucifer had to try something drastic at some point. Since she had watched him fall from Heaven, she knew he would do anything in his power to take Heaven back for himself. At this point, she almost couldn’t blame him. She would do anything to return home also. But she couldn’t let him get away with hurting the souls.

“I still don’t get it. How do you know Lucifer found this out from the Apocrypha?”

“I think Cassie was the only one who could read it for him, and I think she could only interpret the parts about souls. Since the time the Watchers were cast out, angels have said the Watchers had the secrets for both immortality and death for an angel,” Michaela answered, but her voice wavered.

“So, let me get this straight. You think Abel is after the Seven Seals so he can bring about the end of the world?” Clark asked.

“Yes. If my dream was a vision and not just a nightmare.”

“Okay. And Lucifer is building an immortal army to fight during the End of the Days because he wants to win control of Earth and Heaven?”

Michaela nodded silently.

“Basically, we are in the middle of a war to stop the end of the world,” Clark concluded.

“It kind of looks that way doesn’t it?”

Clark heaved a sigh. “What are we going to do?”

Michaela pushed through the double doors and stepped back into the still vacant hallway. She scanned the long row of doors. “I need to figure out what to do with these things.”

Clark’s head jerked back to the Nephil’s door. “What are you going to do to her? You won’t kill her will you?”

“I would have…before. I would have killed her without a second thought. They are abominations.” Clark tensed. “But now, I don’t understand why a creature should be killed just for existing.”

“Well…okay then. Glad that’s settled. What now?”

“I guess you’ll want to get her out?” Michaela didn’t wait for an answer. She turned away and walked farther down the hall.

Clark smirked at her back. “What kind of hero would I be if I didn’t?”

Michaela rolled her eyes. She opened a few doors, reveling cleaning supplies and a tech closet. Finally, she found the control room. She put her hand on the handle, and slowly swung the door open, peering in to the small room.

A figure swiveled around in the chair and leveled a gun at her chest. Michaela stepped inside, blocking Clark’s view of the familiar. It held a gun and was dressed in a white coat with credentials hanging off the pocket. Its eyes were dark beneath black, greasy hair. A blast of cold air washed over her, bringing the stench of sulfur. The familiar rose, releasing the safety.

Michaela was scared not of the familiar but of the creatures in the lab with souls hanging in their mouths. She was afraid of what Cassie was doing. She was afraid of the cut on her arm and Death saying he was coming for her. But her fear was conjuring more familiars, and she didn’t have time for them right now. She took a deep breath and stepped around the man.

Clark stuck his head into the room. “Whoa. Dude.”

Inside were at least fifty small monitors that showed live feeds rotating through each room. A switchboard of controls spread out before the chair.

Michaela turned to him. “Are you ready?” she asked.

Clark nodded.

“I need you to take care of the Nephil. I’m going to deal with the other ones.”

Clark watched her carefully as she positioned herself in front of the monitors. “Are you sure you can handle all this?” he asked.

Her hand settled on the controls, and she scanned through each room. Her eyes never left the monitors. She ignored his question and said, “Look, we probably don’t have much time. I doubt guards patrol down here with the familiars, but we need to be careful. As soon as I open a door, I’d be willing to bet someone upstairs will know.”

“And they won’t be happy,” Clark added drily.

“As soon as I open her door, get her out as quickly as possible. You’ll have to go up to get out. The guards will be coming down, so stay out of their way until they pass. I’ll give them a distraction.”

“What kind of distraction?” Clark grew serious. “How will you get out?”

“I have to find Cassie.”

“What are you going to do?” he asked. He crossed his arms over his chest with the stubborn expression Michaela knew so well.

“Don’t worry about that. Just get away from here. Let’s meet up at the motel,” Michaela said. She stood, backing him out of the room.

“I thought you said we should never return to the same motel?”

“I’m making an exception. Now, are you going to play hero or what?”

A lump formed in Michaela’s throat, which surprised her. She hadn’t expected to grow so attached to Clark, especially in her current situation. But she was, and she hated to see him go when it might be the last time she saw him. She forced herself to smile, her lips quivering in the corners of her mouth.

She made a mistake, because Clark instantly narrowed his eyes, skeptical of her smile. He hesitated. He wasn’t going to leave. It made her feel better to know that, and it gave her the strength to do what she had to do alone. She leaned over and shoved him out of the room, slamming the door in his face with a click of the lock.

On a monitor, Michaela saw Clark hesitate outside the door. He lifted his fist as if to pound it on the door, but lowered it. He searched for a minute before he found the camera and flipped her off. Michaela smiled, genuinely this time.

Clark turned and ran down the hall, watching the numbers on the doors. Michaela followed his progress with the monitor showing the length of the hallway. He stopped in front of one of the doors, took a deep breath, and gave the thumbs up sign.

Michaela flipped the release beneath the monitor. No alarms rang, but the guards would come. She watched as Clark caught the Nephil in his arms, his eyes glazing over as he stared down at her.

“Quit ogling and get out of here…”

Finally, Clark started moving, cradling the small Nephil in his arms. When they were past the control room, Michaela turned back to the monitors. She would give them a minute, but only one. Her palms left damp streaks across the desk.

She looked down at the screens and thought about what she would do. The old Michaela would have killed every last one. It was the honorable thing. It’s what Gabriel would have told her to do. Somewhere in those creatures were angels and souls, and they both deserved to be set free.

“But you’re not here, Gabe,” she said. The room answered with quietness.

But if she killed them, no one would know. Lucifer and his fallen would cover it up. They would recoup, try again later. Maybe it would be the same trick or maybe it would be something worse. But certainly their actions would never get traced back to the Aethere.

Michaela doubted the Aethere had any idea what Lucifer created here. The Aethere were delusional. They wanted a Heaven that was pure and perfect. They thought they understood the deal they had made with Lucifer, but they were naïve to presume Lucifer wouldn’t manipulate them. Lucifer used what they had given him and twisted it into the one thing that would be the fall of Heaven.

If she killed the creatures now, it would just be her, doing the honorable thing once again. And she didn’t feel honorable anymore. The snake within her writhed, spiraled up her spine, and coiled around the base of her neck. The minute had passed. Now was the time.

She didn’t know she decided until she heard the soft release of many doors opening at once. Instantly she regretted it, but only because Gabriel would be disappointed in her again.

She crossed to the control room door’s window and watched as the first few ambled past. Their eyes glowed a little brighter. Some even snapped their jaws at the fresh air. A few were slow and weak, fragile and failing. But many more were strong and surged forward. They appeared hungry and far more dangerous than Michaela had expected.