There But For The Grace by A. J. Downey, Jeffrey Cook Page A

there is a difference?”
    “To my mind there is.”
    Cahethel smirked and sighed. “You have my blessing. What more do you want?”
    “Nothing, but I do have one last question, if you don’t mind.”
    “Will you leave after it’s asked?”
    “Promise.” I smiled. I couldn’t help it.
    “Ask, although I doubt I could stop you anyways,”
    Probably not, but I wanted an answer, so I didn’t say that out loud either, “If the necklace reacts like you say it does, and I can’t take the damn thing off, how am I supposed to get through Hell pretty much blind and deaf from all the bright lights and crashing?”
    Cahethel chuckled, “It reacts that way up here , down there, it provides a different sort of worth, that is why it is so very dangerous to certain parties who,” and he looked at me pointedly, “Shall remain nameless.”
    “What, we have an Angelic or infernal Voldemort now?”
    Cahethel scrubbed his face with his hand and sprawled on his back, “Only one, the Prince of Lies, the Lord of Hell himself. Invoke any of his names, and it makes you that much easier to track.”
    “Good point. Thanks for the pro-tip. So what will this thing do for me down there?”
    “It will help you blend, make you appear as one of them. Provide you…camouflage, after a fashion.”
    “That is useful. I guess I just need to get through War and Pestilence to get there.”
    “Azrael brought you to me before his dearest War? Interesting. Have fun with that. ”
    “Thanks, I think.” I rose to my feet and stretched.
    “One last thing,” he called as I turned to go.
    “Yes?”
    “For the drink, wear these, if you get down there, they’ll protect your hands. You’re going to need that.” Cahethel tossed a pair of thin, black leather gloves at my feet. Fingerless driving gloves by all appearances. I bent and picked them up.
    “Thanks.”
    “Don’t thank me. Just because the necklace will help, doesn’t make you immune to the intelligence of some of Hell’s inhabitants. If you get caught, protecting your hands from the rocks will be the least of your worries.”
    “Still, it’s one less thing to worry about, and I appreciate it.”
    “Tell yourself that when they’re raping you, or cutting you up. You seem like a good one, as far as humans go. I fucked up and fell from His Grace. When you’re down there, you’re hidden from His Grace completely. I’d rather not have it on my conscience if you’re caught, but you’re right. Tabbris is right… you as well as any other human have a full right to choose. Just do me another favor, choose wisely.”
    I had the impression that I had done more of a favor than I’d realized by giving him a drink from the canteen, but there was seriously no going back. Not if it meant leaving Tab down there to rot after everything he’d done for me. No. Fuck that.
    I went back downstairs and found Azrael waiting in the lobby, still spectacularly intimidating in his deathbed-out form.
    “How is he?” he asked, and I sighed.
    “Miserable, heartbreaking, bleak…”
    “So the same as ever, I see.”
    “Yeah, I guess. I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. He chooses to be so. It was the basis of his Fall. His jealousy of mortal’s right to choose. So God gave him that choice. Cahethel didn’t understand what that entailed, to be outside our Father’s Grace and favor.”
    “Be careful what you wish for,” I said thoughtfully.
    “Indeed.” Azrael considered me for a long time and once again, I looked Death in the eye.
    “Where to next?”
    “So you are not deterred?”
    “Not one damn bit.”
    “Interesting. You have a will to match those fierce blue eyes.” He held out a hand to me, and I took it.
    “Thanks,” I acknowledged.
    “It wasn’t a compliment, merely an observation.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Again, don’t be.”
    “So where to?”
    “Chicago. Are you ready?”
    “As I’ll ever be.”
    And with that, the lightshow and disorientation took over, and we blinked out of