by R. W. Holmes
And that's exactly what Angelica did.
To Angelica, though, she was embarking on a mad gambit that flew in the face of everything Death had told her.
“Why are we here?” Artemis asked as they ascended the church's front steps.
“Because I need to fix myself” said Angelica.
“Death clearly stated that was impossible, though” Artemis said as he unexpectedly hurried forward to open the door for Angelica. “This is a waste of time.”
“Well, I'm going to try anyway” replied Angelica. “Maybe Death just said that because praying and repenting might rip my soul right out of his stupid skeleton hands. Did you ever think of that?”
Artemis frowned, before turning to a space in the open air and saying, “I don't think it's necessary you hide anymore. This is what she's been up to.”
Shay appeared, a bewildered look on her face. “You knew I was here!?” she exclaimed in astonishment. “For how long?”
“Since you started following us” replied Artemis.
“Oh my God! You followed me!?” screamed Angelica.
Shay shrugged. “Well... you were wandering off alone. Either it was stupid because we didn't know what you might try to do, or it was stupid because you'd be screwed if someone attacked you. Take your pick.”
“I let her follow, because she could stop your foolishness where I could not” added Artemis. “You are... unhinged.”
“Oh, it's so nice to hear you care” Angelica blared back mockingly at her demon.
“Your well being is my well being” Artemis replied bluntly. “Or have you forgotten what will happen to me if anything happens to you?”
Angelica audibly growled as she hurried in through the church's doors, with Artemis and Shay in tow. Things had already gone terribly awry, but when Shay gasped, she knew things were about to get a little worse.
“It's him!” hissed Shay, her arm outstretched towards a pair of priests talking in the center aisle of the pews stretched out before them.
“What?” Artemis and Angelica queried confusedly.
“The priest!” snapped Shay. “The one from Enterprise Island! The one that summoned an angel!”
As if on cue, a man in a hooded sweatshirt sitting in the pews beside the two conversing priests stood up and looked directly at Angelica. She gasped as she felt her heart freeze in her chest, the sight of the inconspicuous man's brilliantly luminescent yellow eyes telling her everything she needed to know.
Standing there like a deer in the headlights, Angelica, Artemis, and Shay fearfully went inert as the angel stepped over to Father Jacobs and whispered something in his ear.
“It's time...”
Father Jacobs looked to the angel in bewilderment. “What?” he queried confusedly.
“I have brought you to Eiffel for a reason” replied the angel. “It has arrived.”
The other priest bowed to the angel and turned to go, leaving Father Jacobs feeling only more confused.
“Why was he talking to me like he knew what was going on?” asked Jacobs.
“Because he does” replied the angel. “There are over a hundred churches in Eiffel. I took you to this one for a reason, and by the grace of God, a lamb lost to the horrors of temptation has wandered in as well. Go, do as priests do, and shepherd your flock.”
Jacobs blinked back at the angel dumbly, clearly oblivious to what he meant. Then, the angel turned Jacobs's head to face Angelica, Artemis and Shay, and while the two were still yet unknown to Jacobs, Shay was not.
“They've followed me...” he mumbled fearfully.
“No, I've just said this was by design” replied the angel, this time the slight hint of annoyance in his tone. “Heaven's design. Great evils have been awoken, and my coming here has not just been to assist you at the Cathedral. That young woman's very soul hangs in the balance.”
“She looks fine to me” Jacobs replied awkwardly. “And I don't think that big goat thing next to her is a body modder...”
“Her soul is still in hell” the angel added unamusedly.
Jacobs frowned. “This is my job description” he admitted drearily. “This is literally what I'm supposed to do: help people repent to save them from the damnation of an eternity in Hell.”
“If it eases thy-, your conscience, you should know that that baphomet spawn at her side is restricted from harming anyone without the girl's say so” said the angel.
“You can see all that?” asked Jacobs, obviously impressed.
“I am capable of aiding you” the angel replied dutifully. “If Heaven wills it, I shall know, so that you shall know.”
“Oh God damn it all...” Jacobs muttered as he began making his way towards Angelica.
“Father, please” the angel insisted.
“No!” hissed Jacobs. “Fuck you. You haven't even told me your name, and now I'm serving the Lord in a cryptic and deeply impersonal way. This isn't divine, it's madness!”
“You're aware you just said that to an angel, yes?” replied the angel. “And it's Sauriel.”
“Sariel?” said Jacobs, before turning to face the angel.
“There are many with my name or another version of it, father” Sauriel replied innocently. “My exploits are yet unnoticed by the texts of man.”
Jacobs shook his head and returned to the task of marching up to Angelica, who like Artemis and Shay was was still frozen in place.
“Hello!” Jacobs said in his friendliest tone. “You must be the lost one, and that's a demon, and I'm pretty sure that's a fairy. Wonderful! As you might imagine, I'm having quite the day, but my fr... well, he says it is important I try to help you. With respect to the people here who are not involved, would you be alright with taking this outside?”
“YES!” exclaimed Angelica, before tempering herself and less enthusiastically repeating, “I mean, yes. I would really appreciate that.”
Back at what was Gael, Kennedy, and Angelica's new home, Gael was stepping out of Kennedy's center floor and up into his top floor studio apartment. Emily, having just finished organizing the 'secure call' Kennedy needed to talk to his family in safety, did the same.
“Is privacy the right course of action here?” Emily wondered aloud. “I know it's his mom and dad and all, but... Gael, are you listening?”
Gael, who had stepped over the large bay window overlooking the city, turned to face Emily and shrugged. “Everything happening downstairs right now is family talk” he said dismissively. “I don't think either of us want to be in that room right now.”
Emily frowned, but nodded anyway.
“I got a call earlier” she said suddenly. “About a... thing that needs to be done right here in Eiffel.” Emily paused, as if waiting for an objection, before taking Gael's silence as agreement and continuing. “You see, sometimes people don't just 'leave' the Outcasts. They try to buy peace by stealing something from us and giving it to The Fae, or the R'lyehans. The person I'm talking about is a real weasel, and we, we meaning you and I, can't really afford to have what this person did be a possibility to other Outcasts.”
“I'm going to assume you mean the selling secrets part, and not the leaving part” said Gael.
“Yeah, you can leave whenever you want” Emily replied reassuringly. “Just don't stab us in the back on the way out.”
“So, who did this?” asked Gael. “And... Zinerva! Shit, where did she go?”
“I'm up here” Zinerva called from an elevated loft that resided in the back corner, and acted as a sort of bedroom for the apartment. “Just, you know, reading the bible.”
“Weren't you born yesterday?” asked Emily. “How do you already know how to read?”
“I taught myself” replied Zinerva. “Computers are great.”
“No one teaches themselves how to read in six hours” called Gael. “And that's all the free time you've had.”
“Well I guess that makes me no one” Zinerva called back smartly. “Also, I haven't slept yet. Sleeping is for chumps.�
�
“Cheese and crackers! She must be a genius” Emily muttered in shock. “Whatever, we found her. You said you wanted to know who did this, right?”
Gael scoffed and waved Emily away. “I'm still getting over cheese and crackers.”
“His name is Doug Gander, and he's harboring a small collection of artifacts that used to be in the Outcast's possession” said Emily. “Some of them are legitimately important to fae summoners, of which the majority of Outcasts are, and some of them are just worth a lot of money. Regardless, we need them back, and he needs to be made an example of.”
“Alright” Gael replied nonchalantly. “Zinerva! Come on, we've gotta go...” He paused and turned back to Emily, before asking, “Kill? Hurt?”
“It's kill” Emily replied gravely.
“Yeah, Zinerva, we've gotta go kill someone” Gael called out with a sigh. “Some asshole who steals from people that are supposed to be his friends.”
“Aw yeah!” Zinerva exclaimed giddily. “Punishing one broken commandment by breaking another. Let's do it!”
“Zinerva, I really hope you're reading that book to better yourself” Gael grumbled as he and Emily donned their shoes and coats. “Now do us a favor and go grab Kennedy's keys.”
“Oh, right, I guess I'm driving then” said Emily. “I hate driving cars...”
“So do I” Gael replied mischievously. “That's why I told everyone else I couldn't.”
“Oh my God! We are equals!” said Zinerva, her excitement piqued by the sudden revelation of Gael's white lie. “What other secrets are you keeping?”
“Zinerva, Shay is not here right now” replied Gael. “So you need to focus. I have no idea who this guy is, or what he has, but you need to be ready to deal with him.”
“Well...”
Angelica stared back at Father Jacobs apprehensively. She'd never spilled everything before, not to anyone, and whether the experience would be positive or not she knew had entirely to do with the priest before her's reaction.
“I must say,” Father Jacobs continued, “you have lived a surprisingly clean life. That said, consorting with demons goes above and beyond on the scale of evil... What's remarkable about it is that consorting with demons does not violate a commandment, or a cardinal sin. It's very much so greater than that.”
“Well... how much greater?” asked Angelica.
Father Jacobs grimaced. “The only punishment I can see for this is not a direct one, but rather, a natural consequence for the action. Were you baptized as a baby?”
Angelica nodded, still uncertain of what Father Jacobs was getting at.
“It is very clearly written that when one consorts with demons, the holy spirit departs them” the priest continued gravely. “For God cannot sit beside the foulness of demons, and so long as you are harboring a demon in this world, that will remain true.”
“So basically, my baptism was revoked” Angelica muttered drearily. “And to fix it, I have to sever all ties with Artemis.”
“I'm afraid it's worse than that.”
Angelica shrieked and spun around as Sauriel seemed to appear behind her.
“So long as your soul remains in hell, you will be unable to fully repent and be baptized again” said Sauriel.
The feeling of her heart dropping visibly shook Angelica to the point that she nearly collapsed, up until Artemis caught and helped her back to her feet.
“So that's it then?” Angelica said despondently. “I really am Death's prisoner until I do what he wants.”
“Death, like the other horsemen, are primordial creatures beyond the scope of good and evil” said Sauriel. “I promise you: their actions, while strange, can only be in keeping with God's plan.”
“There could be other ways still” Father Jacobs said unexpectedly. “After all, through God all things are possible. It's... hard to grasp the concept of a horsemen existing and holding someone's soul, but I can say with extraordinary certainty that if God believed it was right, he could return your soul to you at any time.”
“Bless you, father” said Sauriel, legitimately touched by the priest's words. “It is the envy of every angel that we cannot speak of Him with the faith of his most devoted followers.”
Angelica sighed and shook her head, unsure of what to do. Then, the sky began to darken, and the world rumbled with an unseen force.
“What the hell?” Angelica tried to say, but no words escaped her as Artemis, Shay, Father Jacobs, and Sauriel all appeared to become increasingly distant.
Angelica blinked, and when her eyes opened she was standing before Death in his palace.
“It's time.”
The furtive, apprehensive gasp of someone not wanting to admit they were overeager to please escaped Angelica's lips, and she found herself holding her breath as Death made its request.
“The First of you leaves to complete a task” said Death. “You will find him and join him, and I will have further instructions for you later.”
Angelica furrowed her brow thoughtfully. “The first of... You mean Gael? Gael's going to do something, and I have to go with him? But how! I'm not near him right-,”
“The princess will know how to find her master” replied Death. “And that master is with The First.”
Angelica felt her breath rush back to her as her consciousness returned to the waking world once more. No one seemed to have noticed anything wrong with her.
“Princess!” exclaimed Angelica. “I need to find a princess!”
“I'm a princess” said Shay.
“Wait, what!?” Angelica queried confusedly. “Of course! Emily! Shay, come on, we have to find Emily right now!”
Shay yelped as Angelica grabbed her by the hand and hurriedly dragged her away, despite having nowhere to go, and left Artemis awkwardly standing beside Jacobs and Sauriel.
“Thank you for your help” Artemis said as he turned to go. “Even though it may damn me to an eternity of torture...”
Father Jacobs looked to Sauriel in alarm as Artemis left and asked, “Did he say eternity of torture?”
“It is irrelevant” Sauriel replied dismissively. “That thing is a demon. Without its orders, it would be little more than a mindless, violent beast.”
“Perhaps” Jacobs warned with unexpected fervor. “But so far, your conduct has been more befitting of a demon than its! Forget not who alone holds the authority to judge, seraph.”
“Seraphim have six wings” replied Sauriel.
“Well I would love to get your ranking correct, but there seems to be a lot of disputes over how heaven works even within the bible” Jacobs replied bitterly. “Do you know how many children ask me which angel is 'best'?”
“Archangels” said Sauriel.
“That's a cop out!” snapped Jacobs. “Archangels are not a 'type' of angel, they're just the head of their respective... Oh forget it. I need a drink, do angels drink?”
“I need nothing a mortal requires” replied Sauriel.
“Yeah, you need a drink more than I do...” muttered Jacobs.
It was a frantic dash Angelica had set out on, one that had looped back around because when Shay had actually tried to use her fairy magic to locate her summoner, she found that they were going the wrong way. What made it all the more daunting was that, according to Shay, Gael and Emily were on the move.
Luckily for Angelica, it was all a bit tame for Shay, and she succeeded in calmly leading the frantic young woman around to head off Gael and Emily. This was only made easier by the fact that she had already discussed Doug Gander with Emily when they first landed on Mars.
After ten minutes of running, they arrived at a street corner where Gael, Emily, and Zinerva were pulling up to in the truck.
“Gael!” Angelica called raggedly.
Gael looked over and spied Artemis, Shay, and Angelica barreling towards the truck. “That's weird” he said from the driver's seat.
“Oh shit! Now she knows you can drive!” Zinerva added in alarm.
&n
bsp; “Don't care!” exclaimed Angelica, too out of breath to say more. “Have to... go with... you...”
“Shay, where were you just now?” Emily asked as Shay and Artemis caught up.
“We were at a church” Shay replied in disgust. “She wanted to see a priest, and guess who was waiting for us? The priest from Enterprise Island! The angel brought him there because he wanted Father Jacobs to speak with Angelica.”
“That's actually pretty amazing” said Gael. “Can you rate priests like restaurants? I want to give this Father Jacobs guy five stars.”
Angelica, still panting heavily, gratefully accepted Artemis's gesture when he opened the door for her.
“I have more news” Angelica rasped. “Summoning demons is really bad spiritually. It literally unbaptizes you.”
“Right, I guess I'm throwing my hat in with fairyland then” Gael replied nonchalantly.
“What? NO!” shrieked Angelica.
“Is everyone in?” asked Emily.
“Yes” said Artemis.
“Gael, you can't do that!” Angelica hissed vehemently.
Gael scoffed as he began driving again. “I like Zinerva” he said plainly. “I don't even know God. I'm not going to pick a stranger over my friend. She doesn't deserve that. Regardless of what I do, my options are heaven with an eternity of guilt, or fairyland with an eternity of hazy memories.”
“While I appreciate your candor, I would recommend against talking like that around the angel” said Artemis. “His presence can be very... intense.”
Zinerva scooted a little closer to Artemis and asked, “Arty, where do you and the rest of the meatheads find time to become so well spoken? All I ever see your kind do in Hell is fight and screw.”
Artemis shifted away from Zinerva and sneered. “I am atypical.”
“An extremely intelligent, but also reckless individual who always seems to be looking for a fight” mused Gael. “Angelica, I'm actually starting to see where you two have a lot in common.”
“That doesn't make any sense” Angelica murmured indignantly.