were just a random event of evolution,” she continued. “If we’re Nephilim, then we’re condemned to extermination as a reminder of how even angels can go wrong. If we’re a product of evolution, then we fall under the protections and privileges that the human race holds.”
Angels took forever to decide these kinds of things. It was likely this guy was just some vigilante, but he could have supporters who agreed with him, who were likely to turn a blind eye to his actions.
“Wait,” I interjected. “Is this Althean the angel we saw in the bar?”
Maybe the angel in the bar was looking for Candy and not me. That would make my life so much better.
“No, based on my information, I suspect that the angel in the bar is one named Gregory.”
I let that sink in. I knew where this was going.
“So who is this Gregory angel?” I asked with a growing sense of doom. Cue the scary music.
“He’s over all the enforcers and takes on anything serious that’s beyond the lesser angels.” She looked at me sympathetically, “He’s the angel who takes out the demons. If the others sense a demon presence they think they can’t kill, they defer to Gregory to handle it. Gregory has killed pretty much every demon that has been killed in the last eight thousand years. From what I’ve been told, he has a sword he uses to kill demons. The sword sucks the power from them and reduces them to a pile of sand.”
I felt rather sick.
“What does any of this have to do with the service you are requesting?” Hopefully if we changed the subject I wouldn’t be dwelling on the ever increasing likelihood of my being turned into a pile of sand.
“I want you to kill Althean. “
I stared at her. This was not within a mile of what I’d expected. What an insane request.
“You’re fucking kidding me. My eliminating an angel, which no one has done since the war, somehow equates to the life of a crazy vagrant?”
“It’s genocide. He’s on a rampage to kill off our species. If he’s not stopped, we’ll all die.”
“And that matters to me why?” Did I look like the Lone Ranger or some kind of super hero? Demon Zorro to the rescue?
Candy switched tactics.
“You’ve got Gregory on your trail right now. He was there in the bar for you. You know this. You’re going to need to go home real soon. Imagine going home with this feather in your cap. What would this do to your position in the hierarchy? There’s a reason the angels end up deferring to Gregory when it comes to demons. None of them can handle more than the weakest among you. You could take Althean out and go home a legend.”
Now, that was tempting. It was also absolutely insane to even dream that I’d be strong enough to take out an angel. Plus, I was hoping I could lay low and Gregory would go hunt down some other demon. A huge battle with another angel wasn’t exactly laying low.
“We’d be blameless, and there wouldn’t be any retaliation on us. That’s important because we have to live here. You can go back and forth. You can take the blame and the fame. And the other angels would believe it was you who took out Althean and not us because they truly fear you. That’s why you were banished.”
We weren’t really banished. It was a stalemate with a division of realms. Kind of like North Korea and South Korea.
“You’ll just get another angel assigned to you,” I told her. “Maybe a worse one. If this is their grand plan to exterminate your species, this will only delay that not prevent it.”
Candy looked pained.
“I hope that the other angels don’t care as long as we follow the rules. If this is a segment of a larger campaign though, then killing Althean will buy us time. Give some of us a chance to try and go underground or prepare to take as many of them out as we can until we’re dead. I’m hoping the former.”
I snorted. This whole thing was insane.
“What makes you think I could possibly take out an angel?”
Candy smiled
Angels took forever to decide these kinds of things. It was likely this guy was just some vigilante, but he could have supporters who agreed with him, who were likely to turn a blind eye to his actions.
“Wait,” I interjected. “Is this Althean the angel we saw in the bar?”
Maybe the angel in the bar was looking for Candy and not me. That would make my life so much better.
“No, based on my information, I suspect that the angel in the bar is one named Gregory.”
I let that sink in. I knew where this was going.
“So who is this Gregory angel?” I asked with a growing sense of doom. Cue the scary music.
“He’s over all the enforcers and takes on anything serious that’s beyond the lesser angels.” She looked at me sympathetically, “He’s the angel who takes out the demons. If the others sense a demon presence they think they can’t kill, they defer to Gregory to handle it. Gregory has killed pretty much every demon that has been killed in the last eight thousand years. From what I’ve been told, he has a sword he uses to kill demons. The sword sucks the power from them and reduces them to a pile of sand.”
I felt rather sick.
“What does any of this have to do with the service you are requesting?” Hopefully if we changed the subject I wouldn’t be dwelling on the ever increasing likelihood of my being turned into a pile of sand.
“I want you to kill Althean. “
I stared at her. This was not within a mile of what I’d expected. What an insane request.
“You’re fucking kidding me. My eliminating an angel, which no one has done since the war, somehow equates to the life of a crazy vagrant?”
“It’s genocide. He’s on a rampage to kill off our species. If he’s not stopped, we’ll all die.”
“And that matters to me why?” Did I look like the Lone Ranger or some kind of super hero? Demon Zorro to the rescue?
Candy switched tactics.
“You’ve got Gregory on your trail right now. He was there in the bar for you. You know this. You’re going to need to go home real soon. Imagine going home with this feather in your cap. What would this do to your position in the hierarchy? There’s a reason the angels end up deferring to Gregory when it comes to demons. None of them can handle more than the weakest among you. You could take Althean out and go home a legend.”
Now, that was tempting. It was also absolutely insane to even dream that I’d be strong enough to take out an angel. Plus, I was hoping I could lay low and Gregory would go hunt down some other demon. A huge battle with another angel wasn’t exactly laying low.
“We’d be blameless, and there wouldn’t be any retaliation on us. That’s important because we have to live here. You can go back and forth. You can take the blame and the fame. And the other angels would believe it was you who took out Althean and not us because they truly fear you. That’s why you were banished.”
We weren’t really banished. It was a stalemate with a division of realms. Kind of like North Korea and South Korea.
“You’ll just get another angel assigned to you,” I told her. “Maybe a worse one. If this is their grand plan to exterminate your species, this will only delay that not prevent it.”
Candy looked pained.
“I hope that the other angels don’t care as long as we follow the rules. If this is a segment of a larger campaign though, then killing Althean will buy us time. Give some of us a chance to try and go underground or prepare to take as many of them out as we can until we’re dead. I’m hoping the former.”
I snorted. This whole thing was insane.
“What makes you think I could possibly take out an angel?”
Candy smiled
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