Bloody Wings [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

White boots left no imprint on the muddy ground beneath them. Not a soul noticed then, since not a soul was out wandering that night. There had been attacks lately by a pack of wolves which kept the people inside, except for the lone wanderer.


She was not half as good at blending in among humans as some of her siblings, though that was due to her apathy towards it. Even so, she at least had the decency to keep her wings hidden. They were as tattoos on her back, not that any could see it. She was covered, though not in attire anyone of the time would have thought decent for her gender.


Of course, an angel of God didn’t play by the rules of humans. The white skirt did go to her ankles, but had slits up either side to allow for ease of movement. A golden rope was tied around her waist as a belt of sorts, holding a simple cloth bag which contained a few items that tended to come in handy. The top was as white as the skirt and laced up the back, with no sleeves. Sleeves got in the way. She did wear gloves, though they were tight along her pale flesh.


Following in her tracks were those wolves, feral and deranged, diseased but completely in Gabrielle’s control. Though they growled, they did not dare attempt to bite the angel, although one did have a mouthful of white feathers.


They weren’t Gabrielle’s.


Her fists were clenched, but it was the only outward sign of stress. “Come out, Samael.”


Her violet eyes narrowed on the doors of a church, and she tilted her head back to look up towards the steeple, just in case. She felt her silver hair tickle the back of her neck. It was presently pinned up in a bun to keep it out of her way.


The once-seraph had retreated into the church after their brief encounter. He had hindered her plans to sic the wolves after a drunkard, and now he had stolen her horse. Haizum was no ordinary horse, of course, but a gift of the Father to allow Gabrielle speedy travel between Earth and Heaven, and anywhere in between. Gabrielle had many titles, after all, Messenger well known.


The other was lesser known.


Angel of Death.


No lamb’s blood on the church doors would stop her today, though. “Very well.”


Up the stone steps, and through the wooden doors. A touch blew them open and almost off the hinges. Samael stood all the way up at the altar, and had Haizum tied up quite nicely, and sleeping. The Seraph crossed his arms over the altar and grinned as he leaned forward. His wings were out, never subtle, and pure white except for the one that was bloody.


With a motion of her hand, the wolves all ran by Gabrielle and lunged at the seraph, but the seraph did not seem perturbed. If this were not his normal behavior, Gabrielle might have felt ill at ease. Unfortunately, it was, and so she did not consider the source of that smile.

 

[Syrrus]

Slithering around one of the old oak trees he did, trying his best to look down upon the two below him. He saw himself not fit enough to simply show himself, nor was it his way of doing things.


Some would be surprised by his dusky skin, the ash like darkness shimmering like black gem stones upon his dermis. Sheizir made sure not to carve into the wood with his long and pearly white horns which grew out of his forehead, growing longer and longer until they had curled around his head like a thorn-like crown. His black hair fell down over his face, curling itself up by just an inch.


He was dressed much like any mortal would, as he didn't care much for appearance, and it was easier to hide in crowds when you looked like a human and seeing as his magic ability wasn't intended for cloth-making he would continue to wear normal attire. A hooded red shirt and a tight sitting black belt which kept his dark, but one size too big, trousers up. He had even had to tuck the legs into his high boots, to avoid stepping on them when he walked.


The ones he watch was nothing but heavenly creatures, something he often stayed far away from. They were clearly up to no good as well, awful immortals and their disgusting habit of making his existence miserable. Just so they and their Father would be loved by the strange creatures walking upon the earth.


They were plotting something and Sheizir felt a tickle as he fell into old habits of mischief and trickery. It was just harmless trickery, nothing to be dislike for but enough to find annoying. To think that humans once thought fairies was hiding their trinkets from them. Or that gnomes was the ones eating the food they left out for good luck.


He would need more than a little bad habit to deal with Angels however. Something he hadn't used for many years. His own keeper, his master and the one who fell in flames so many millenniums ago cared little for the hate the Angels spread, and even less for the fact that he was the one that got the blame. His so called children did care however, they who also had fallen after him.


Sheizir could still feel as if the hellish fires were licking his body and disintegrating his beautiful wings and as he remembered he had to try his very best to not let what was left of his once beautiful and pure wings grow out of his back. He hadn't let them grow out in years, disgusted by his own reflection when they sometimes did. Bloodied and tattered limbs, horrible not only for the sight but for the touch as well. Blackened and whitened feathers, not enough to cover what now looked like morphed stumps.


The demon crawled closer, feeling how is snake like tail was aching as it grew, due to his trousers. He had to concentrate something awful to make it grown down, slither around his right leg and hide in his boot.

 

[Lucyfer]

Samael had reason for his arrogance, and it lied completely in his wings. He had retained his angelic nature to near-perfection—far better than their fallen leader. He was clever, enough to rival Gabrielle.


The wolves struck a barrier and bounced off. They rolled but found their feet quickly as Samael began to laugh. “Did you expect it would be that easy, pigeon?” His pet name for his once-sister. The two no longer saw each other as siblings.


“I am allowed hope.” Gabrielle returned and stretched her hand out. Normally, a tear in the fabric of the material realm would manifest, but it did not. Gabrielle masked her confusion, but didn’t need to ask what was going on.


“I called on a favor or two,” Samael was still not moving from behind the altar. He was arrogant, but he was also smart. “I had the area…sanctified.” Gabrielle was not amused by his terminology, though her hand lowered. She stepped back, and Samael waved his hand. The doors shut before the angel could back out. “Prayers won’t be heard here. There’s no escaping the material realm, or calling on things outside of it.” Now Samael felt safe enough to step away from the altar, though he drew a few daggers from inside the podium out and into his hand. As he stepped by the barrier, it shimmered. The wolves lunged, and each one found a dagger through its skull. “So calling for Michael won’t save you now, and your scythe won’t come, nor your wings.”


In other words, a very uneven playing field.


Gabrielle didn’t hesitate. Pride was not only the vice of the fallen. She walked forward, towards Samael. The dagger he threw was caught between two fingers.


Gabrielle was still the fastest angel in heaven, and she used that. As soon as the dagger was in hand, she ran by Samael, passing him to the left and hearing his next dagger hit his own barrier as she moved through it. It didn’t keep angels out, amusingly enough. He was one, still, after all.


As such, she didn't think a less angelic creature would also be behind that barrier.


When she reached Haizum, someone caught her hand before she could try to undo the ropes around her horse. “LET ME GO!” She kicked back and struck the knee of the creature behind her, but it didn’t bend. Armor shielded it.


Not disarmed, she cut the creature with the dagger she had and freed herself of its grip before it could get a good one on you.


It spoke through gritted teeth, “Damn you, Samael.” This creature was more demonic in form, and drew a blade on her then, a long sword of sorts. Gabrielle eyed it, decided she’d prefer that to the dagger if she could disarm the demon.


“Already am,” Samael said. “Honestly, I don’t know how you forget. I was with Lucy.”


There was a grunt of irritation at the casual use of ‘Lucy’. Another demon stepped out from the confessional. “You’re outnumbered, pigeon. Throw down the dagger and we might give you a quick death.” Samael had no intentions of killing her, but he wanted Gabrielle to think that. No, the Archangel was far more useful alive. God wouldn’t care about Gabrielle’s fate, but Michael would…and that was enough.

 

[Syrrus]

Sheizir continued to watch from above, he knew he should have joined his brothers and sisters in their... battle, if he could even call for such a thing. Unfortunately, for them, he wasn't too interested no matter if it meant him cutting down and hurting one of the pure. He enjoy sin so much better, almost as much as mortals seemed to.


Jumping down and landing on top of an altar he pierced through a small hole in the back of his trousers so he could swipe his skinny tail like a knife through the air. He sat like a feline, knees high and hands low, watching them in silence with his yellow and narrowed eyes. This was hardly fair but not even God played fair so who were there to blame? He certainly wouldn't be the first to stand and speak of peace.


What did annoy him a little though, was the fact that they probably didn't plan to kill the Angel from the heavens, they probably intended to keep her. Not that he was sure if there were such a thing as murdering something that light. He sure hoped so, but he wasn't certain. He was wondering for a moment if he could trick them all, just for a bit of fun. He quickly realized that such thing would be unwise, seeing how tense even the fallen seemed to be now a days.


Sheizir watched on, eying them all up but avoiding to get involved even though he knew, by being what he was, he already was very much involved. All he could think about was the local farm girl who was so easily tricked that he could spread glorious sin by simply touching her, and there was nothing else he craved. Sin wasn't bad. It was simply God who had made it such, a sin. To enjoy life to its fullest, it was all sin and therefore every mortal that walked the earth sooner or later would become a sinner. It was almost impossible not to and he did not blame them. How could someone expect him not to eat when the forbidden fruit tasted so deliciously sweet?


He slowly crawled down from his new nest and even slower stood up, on his toes as he seemed to be rather short. He tilted his head and watched the fight, if he could even call it a fight and something bright was lit within him. If he enjoyed sin so awfully much, it was like a drug to him, perhaps something as pure as she would enjoy it as well.


"I can take her." He said, just as slowly as he moved. Looking between them who he should have stood next to when all of this started. He pulled his hands down the pockets of his trousers and bent his knees, he enjoyed standing hunched. "I can keep her safe for you."

 

[Lucyfer]

Another demon manifested itself, tailed and horned, a true creature of hell. Gabrielle eyed it, and noted the way Samael looked to it as well as it interrupted things. It was not a creature he was bidding, then, for Samael showed little recognition. “Keep?” Samael voiced his evident confusion.


But then, he chuckled. Gabrielle tensed as Samael’s posture relaxed, “I suppose the game’s up. I’d hoped to have her waste her energy first.”


“Keep?” Gabrielle now repeated it. It sounded like a much worse fate, actually.


“Killing you would only earn Michael’s ire, but keeping you….” That would make Michael desperate, and perhaps desperate enough to negotiate. The other angels would follow Michael’s lead, even against God’s word. Or at least, a good enough number of them would. “I already had my plans, Sheizir, but…convince me.” Samael was willing to humor whatever this demon had to say on the matter of keeping the angel.


Gabrielle apparently was not. She took another step back towards Haizum and knelt down to attempt to undo the ropes while she hoped the others were distracted by their parley. Though that was where the focus one, the demon with the long sword noticed and pointed his sword at her.


Gabrielle smiled up at him, “Go ahead,” she dared. The demon, of course, didn’t. He had his orders. “Thank you so much, Samael, for promising not to kill me.” She had very little to fear in the way of combat, then. Her knife found the rope, and it cut through one. Haizum didn’t stir, though, which was unfortunate. The horse was in a deep sleep, but Gabrielle intended to fix it just as soon as the ropes were undone.


The demon looked to Samael for direction, or help, but Samael was waiting for Sheizir’s words.

 

[Syrrus]

Sheizir looked over at Samael for only a second before his eyes fell upon the female again. "I want to keep her." He said again, this time speaking louder than he originally had done. "Her kind puts mine in blame for things she simply cannot understand..."


In a puff of smoke the horned demon vanished out of sight and reappeared straight in front of the angel in question and his hands grabbed hers, in a attempt to stop her from fighting the ropes.


"I wish to teach her about it." He continued, staring her straight in the eyes. Something the little demon never thought he had the courage to do, however, it seemed terribly simple now.


The demon didn't smirk, he didn't show any expression at all in fact because he was lost in thought. This angel was different from the ones he usually saw, walking the earth. Not different in the way of speak or body language, not even the wings was different. But there was something else, something he was far to familiar with. Pride. The worst sin of them all. Or at least he thought he saw pride. Perhaps there was more to discover underneath the angel's skin.


Sheizir licked his lips with a snake link tongue, it slithered over them quickly before vanishing back in to the blackness of his mouth. It was going to be very pleasing indeed to watch her fall into his care. In fact if the others had anything against it, he would simply steal her from them. He could do it with trinkets and gemstones so why not a whole angel?

 

[Lucyfer]

Samael arched a single black brow, finding the scene before him rather entertaining. “Samael, this is our one chance!”


“Hush, we have centuries to plan again if need be.” It took time to prepare the church to hold the angel this way, without her power. “And we’ll keep the horse. That ought to disturb Michael enough to consider.” And when he needed to return Gabrielle, Samael could use his influence in hell to find this demon again and get the angel, if he refused to hand it over.


Besides, this was…interesting.


Gabrielle would have cut more ropes, but her hands were grasped, both this time. She met the eyes of the demon who dared and held that gaze. He was a nameless entity to her, and so she did not expect Samael to agree to any of what he said.


Even so, when the demon licked his lips she pulled back and attempted to push the dagger down into his hand to get one of her own hands free. That was when Samael said, “Very well, keep her,” and snapped his fingers to discard the barrier, “I’ll take the horse though.”


“You will not!” Gabrielle yelled immediately. Samael’s two demon cohorts looked at him uneasily, apparently not liking his decision, but they were unwilling to argue with him. One didn’t argue with someone who called Lucifer, ‘Lucy’, and lived.

 

[Syrrus]

Pleased to have his will acquiesced to the demon grabbed further hold of his angel and pulled her close with inhuman strength. "I do not fear you. Just as well as I don't fear your father. By the end of this, you will however fear him yourself." Grinning he vanished in a puff of smoke and as he still held her hands in a very tight grip, feeling the dagger cut into it with little care, so did she.


Next Gabrielle would notice as the smoke cleared was that they were alone and Sheizir did not hold her hands any more. He was standing underneath a golden tree which bloomed red roses in the greenest of fields. It was a beautiful landscape, something only dreams could create, which was why he felt so at home.


The demon turned his head towards her, showing her no kind of emotion what so ever. Hiding his excitement rather well.


"Welcome" He said. "Welcome to my realm of oblivion." He gestured towards all the beauty that took shape around him. This was his home, his creation and were he took them who wished to taste life properly, without judgment. Of course most of them who did join him there died rather quickly, it was not a realm for mortals.


"Make yourself at home, for I believe you will be here for quite some time." He added, grinning at her as he began to walk closer. Angels and their pride, how they pained him.

 

[Lucyfer]

Gabrielle struggled all the more as she felt herself being shifted into another realm. The dagger didn’t seem to do anything so far as getting her released. She didn’t relinquish it, though. The church around her dissolved, and the realm before her was unfamiliar. That was a rarity in and of itself. Gabrielle knew the majority of the realms in the universe, since she went to them as both Angel of Death and Messenger.


It was still rather earth-like in its beauty, roses and green grass. It wasn’t the golden roads of Heaven and all its mansions.


Her hands were released, though, and she lowered them, looked for the demon. His voice soon gave him away. Her violet eyes narrowed and she shook her head at his words, extended her hand out, and tried to open another rip in time/space.


It didn’t work, of course. ‘You have got to be kidding me.’ Samael she understood. Samael knew her talents quite well. This individual, she didn’t understand. How could he block her ability to escape. She tried to push her energy out again to open the hole, but it didn’t happen, not even to the hammerspace that kept her scythe. ‘Absolute, complete—’


Gabrielle wasn’t as prone to wrath as Michael, but it certainly existed. “You will let me leave.” She told the demon, “I have no intention of remaining here. Do not force me to kill you to depart, I’d much rather spend my anger on Samael.” Who had her horse, and who was doing God only knew with her horse.


Probably eating it.


Or perhaps crippling it.


The thoughts were not pleasant.

 

[Syrrus]

The demon tilted his head as he walked closer. So she could murder him? Interesting. Perhaps Angels weren't as perfect as they were painted out to be. Or maybe it didn't count because he was a demon and not a mortal, or another of God's creations.


Sheizir continued to walk forward in silence, pondering on this and that. It was perhaps silly of him to hope that she would be fun toy to play with. Perhaps his trickery mattered little, for she seemed to be as full of sin as he was.


"Are you a sinner, then?" He asked, deciding that it was better just to get to it than waste any more time. If she had no purpose or interest to him, then he would just send her back to Samuel, because he didn't wish to cross him. Not because he was afraid of him, but because it seemed rather wasteful...


He sat down on the grass, studying her with his big and yellow eyes, pulling his knees up high and his hands down low, just like always when he decided to sit upon the ground. He patted the ground next to him with his long tail before slithering it around his waist like a second belt. Waiting for her answer, without answering her.

 

[Lucyfer]

The demon didn’t seem afraid. Perhaps she should be cautious because of that, but too often it didn’t work out for the demons. His question was ridiculous, though, and her face even showed her surprise that he would dare ask. “I’m an angel,” as if that should be enough of an answer. “Not fallen.” Not like Samael, or Lucifer.


Of course she was sinless.


“I have never been stained by sin, unlike you,” was he ever an angel? She thought she remembered them all. She knew there were new demons among the ranks, some humans, and some who were the creations of birth and thus, never knew the light of heaven. They still forsook God with their actions, even if they did not deny him the way Lucifer and Samael had.


She did not move to sit. “What is it you even want?” Samael had made his intentions plain enough, but this one had not. Just that he wanted to keep her, which was strange enough without a plan. Calling down the wrath of Michael didn’t seem to be the intention of this demon, though.

 

[Syrrus]

Sheizir tilted his head as he watched her sit down and decided to create a pearly white chair for her, so she didn't have to sit upon the hard ground that he had come to love all too much.


She was sinless. Or at least that was what she had told him. Sinless. It was quite a funny thought. It only proved that the creature of light and heaven knew very little of how to live a life and how to cheerish every moment.


"That cannot be true." He said. Again ignoring her question towards him. He didn't owe her anything, and especially not answers. She was there to answer him, not the opposite. He assumed he could become nicer and actually make things clear to her as soon as he got the answers he wanted.


"You threatened to kill me, to spill blood. You have pride in both your grace and your eyes... And you lie." Ah yes, lies. He enjoyed them much. A white lie here and a white lie there could easily get him out of both trouble and into situations he so much desired. The amount of men and women he had lied to just to get into their bedchamber, or the amount of Kings of old he had tricked just to get into their treasure room and rob them of their life blood.


"How can you be sinless when your kind throw blame upon us who has done nothing? Or when you act and walk as if you are better than the mortals who lives their lives under you, and demons like me of course... How can you threaten to take my life and not call it a sin?"


Probably because she was a child of God. If someone was going to be called a monster it was that self loving deity. The amount of people Sheizir alone had managed to turn away from the path of God made him smile to himself though, a toothy and blissful smile.

 

[Lucyfer]

Gabrielle eyed the chair, but did not accept the luxury. She remained standing, wished then she’d let her wings out but knew in this realm it was not possible. Then at least she’d have the excuse that her wings would be uncomfortable.


She’d gotten used to standing by that logic alone.


When he first spoke that it wasn’t true, Gabrielle let out an unnecessary sigh and shook her head, preparing for the litany of reasons why she was full of sin. Pride was not uncommon. The fact she had killed, or threatened to kill, was also on the list, as was the fact she was a liar. Gabrielle listened with clear boredom on her face until it seemed like he was done. “You have never been one of us, have you?”


Rather than answer his accusations point by point, she came to that conclusion. Otherwise, he’d know how foolish his questions and statements were. “You know, that means you can repent of your sins, since you have not seen my Father. You still could live by faith.” It was something Samael could never do, for he had committed the greatest sin of denying God while knowing God existed. He had seen God’s face. He had spoken to God. His denial was complete.


Sheizir’s was not. “Why have you chosen this path and not the path of righteousness?”

 

[Syrrus]

"I find that to be highly hypocritical." He said, smiling at her with one eyebrow highly raised over his forehead. This female was interesting indeed. He stroke his chin in thought, wondering for a long while how to word his next sentence but instead decided to just wing it, as it wear. "I find it funny that mortals feel that they will be forgiven only depending on how much gold they carry... And in the case as you say, you can get rid of your sins... Why are you causing trouble around the globe, which you later blame on me." Not him only, obviously, he wasn't that dull. "And still believe yourself higher standing than my kin."


Sheizir stroke a long nail over his chin while he eyed her up and down. She was acting rather stroppy. He assumed it had something to do with the whole 'you may not leave' business, but he still thought it to be awfully rude. It wasn't his fault that angels were bastards.


She continued to poke the fact that she thought he had never been an angel, which he ignored completely. She was silly, funny even. It mattered little if she thought he had been born as a demon or not, he loved being one more than he ever had loved souring through the air anyhow.


"Oh I do believe God is real, I don't deny that." He said, getting back up on his feet. "I simply deny the fact that he is just that, a god. A farmer calls himself a king and will be hanged, a king calls himself a god and he will be smite by holy fire. As I see it..." He tilted his head, still keeping his eyes on her without even blinking. "There just happens to be no one powerful enough to strike your 'father' for what he calls himself." He swung his tail through the air and started to balance on his toes, back and forth. "But I hope I am still around for a day when this will occur, that could be funny."

 

[Lucyfer]

Mortals were wrong about the gold part. God didn’t care about indulgences or paying away sin. He cared about sincerity of the heart, and true regret and shame. These were not feelings that Gabrielle knew, for she had never had reason to feel regret or shame. Humans, however, had plenty of reasons. Demons such as Sheizir had plenty of reasons.


He continued to bring up the dead horse of the so-called lies. Gabrielle did not see them as such. While it was true that the demons were not behind the plagues, the existence of demons was still to blame. It was a cause-and-effect. “Your view is incorrect. There is nothing more powerful or more knowledgeable than my Father. There never will be. One day you may come to accept that your views and understandings are flawed, because they are not as perfect as my Father’s. You are unfortunately blinded by the lies others have told you, and your own pride in your imperfect knowledge.”


“I will enlighten you on the dead horse you wish to continue beating, since you seem to think I am lying when I blame demons for the plagues and issues in humanity. These plagues would not be necessary, were it not for your ilk seducing and deceiving humans into sin. Sin needs to have material consequences, since humans are short-sighted. If people wish to commit adultery, they are running the risk of diseases. If they wish to cheat someone, they run the risk of war. At times, we must intervene to make this so, certainly with diseases,” though humans were learning to create these things on their own, “It all goes back to the fall, though, and your need to deceive creatures that God loves. The plagues manifest to remind humans of the consequences of sin, and to keep them near the path of righteousness. Were it not for your kind, these plagues would be unnecessary, and so I am not lying when I place the blame on your kind. You are at the heart of it.”


Such was how Gabrielle understood it. Such was how she never saw herself as lying. There was no need to lie when the truth served her purposes just as well.

 

[Syrrus]

"But man was created in God's image... Man succumbs to Sin... And the rules they fail to follow are rather silly, don't you think? They want to become something greater, the need of something bigger, the act of love. They were all given to man as a... test?" Sheizir started to snicker to himself, he had already given up on the idea of turning this Angel away from God. It wasn't his job to turn anyone away from anyone, he didn't care if people followed her Father with blind eyes or if they rather spent their life in joy.


"All great religions are indeed built around and on top of shame." He said, though more towards himself than anyone else really. He had been pondering over this for quite some time.


Sheizir tilted her head. "Your father is God because he created the world in.. six days and rested during a seventh, correct? Well... I could do that. In here, in my realm." He looked around. This was his imagination, if he wanted it to rain fire or frogs, it would. If he wanted to create life he could do that too, this realm was eternal, though he wasn't certain it was real. To him it was and to everyone who stepped inside it, so the thought occured on occasion that perhaps that's what the outside world was, too. God's twisted imagination. "But I am not here to stop you from believing in your father's so called goodness and you are not here to try and make me believe in something so sickening."


He walked up to her, hands in his pockets and his knees just a little bent. "I am simply questioning how good your father actually is. The way the poor and the ill die without help while the more important get bigger and bigger." He created a image now, they were standing inside a church where a priest was promising a man in black that he would be walking the path of God and have the right to enter heaven - a human's promise; it meant nothing granted.


They changed image again and not stood upon on an ice-cold beach, and a little girl was clawing at the ice which lay harsh and strong upon the halted waves. Her dress was broken, tattered and stained. She was screaming, crying and trying her best to destroy what was below her because below that, the ice, was something else. A face and a body, a face of a woman that must have fallen into the ice from somewhere, a hole or a crack. The little girl was crying, begging that her mother would come back up, but nothing happened.


They stood back in the field, Sheizir looking away from the Angel, stroking something off of his cheek. "All lives are stories, they are being told with time and they are always looking for gold, be it love, riches, travels or something as simple as a good life. Judgment however thought them that their hearts were wrong, their want was wrong and they are the ones we all are looking down upon." He said, and as he spoke something grew out of his back. Something grotesque, dead and stringy. They were but stumps, but a disgusting and decayed memory of what they once had been.


"To your father everyone is making enemies, every day they knock upon our devil's door... But how can you seriously accept me not to eat when the forbidden fruit tastes so godblasting sweet? But then again, if we are all sinners it truly feels like heaven to me." He turned his head towards her, believing showing her what he once had been perhaps would have been for the best. "I prefer to be a sinner than a saint, a winner due to all my mistakes. Blame me for the sins the humans make, sure... But don't you dare blame me for the sickness, the loss and the broken." He stepped closer to her, his eyes burning. "For those things were given as a gift from your 'divine' father, it had nothing to do with me."

 

[Lucyfer]

Sheizir could talk a lot. A villain's monologue. Playwrights were picking up on this idea. His points were pointless, though. Man was created in Father’s image, but then a demon deceived them into eating a certain fruit. Man had been perfect before that time, as Father was. Man had been young and too naïve to accept the knowledge bestowed upon them.


She did not see how the rules were arbitrary at all. Not committing adultery instilled in humanity patience and loyalty. Not murdering showed humans the value of life. All of these things were good for humanity. These were not tests, these were rules to help. The punishments that came occurred because humanity could not do what was in their best interest, because demons had corrupted them. They needed the punishment to remember the way towards rewards. “My father is wholly good.” She informed Sheizir again when he questioned it, because some bad people got what they wanted. Did he not see the good who also did, and the bad who got their just desserts?


All of this she knew, and the sights that came next did not bother her. “I am the Angel of Death, Sheizir. This is not going to shock me,” she had witnessed many human tragedies and the unfairness of life. She didn’t step back from him, refusing to let his closeness bother her.


One hand came to rest on her hip as the images left the girl and the woman under the ice, and they were in the fields once more. Sure, some angels had fallen because of the harsh conditions humans lived in, and the pity they felt.


Gabrielle was not so easily swayed, or else she would not be charged with taking humans to their final resting places. “Wants in excess are wrong.” Gabrielle told the demon as his back produced wings. She arched an eyebrow. She still did not find him familiar, so she assumed he had been born with them. It was possible.


Again he stepped close, and tried to order her. She met his burning gaze with hers, cold as ice, and said, “I blame you for the sickness, the loss, and the broken,” without so much as blinking as her pale eyes, without so much as a doubt in her mind.

 

[Syrrus]

Sheizir sighed and shook his head. "It wasn't shock I was looking for, you dull excuse for a woman. Are you surely that thick, that you believe I give a bloodied damn to what you think, your belief or even your father's existence? " He looked angry now, she was starting to get on his nerves, but not because she refused to see things his way but because she lacked everything he loved in mortals, compassion, passion and other wonderful emotions. The ability to cry when they see something horrible as well as something beautiful. She didn't seem to have any of that and it made him want to throw her back to Samuel and never to see her again.


"So you are a child then." He stated, nodded. It all made sense. So he created a room made out of toys and candy. In case it would make her lighten up at least a little, even though she seemed to lack the ability to do anything that wasn't her father's wish. "Either that or you're just stupid... I suppose I can deal with them both. In fact.. yes, yes I can. I don't meet many grown mortals who run to their daddies side, telling on a play-mate for a toy they broke themselves." He actually felt better with this, letting his wings fade and vanish as he walked back and out of his vision he had created for her, to sit beneath his tree, lean against the bark and breath the freshness of the air.


It was easier to have her around now, when he saw her to be little but a child. Children could be ignored and accepted for they way of seeing the worlds, for they were naive and was going to be thought, one day. It made his heart feel a little better at least, for that meant her blame was worth nothing to neither him or anyone else.

 

[Lucyfer]

Gabrielle actually arched an eyebrow when she was referred to as a woman. ‘I am not mortal.’ Feminine, yes, but she never really considered herself a woman. Usually the insults were that she was too much of an angel. How it was an insult, Gabrielle didn’t know. She didn’t understand him, either. Earlier he claimed he wanted her to consider if God was truly good, now here he was denying that by denying his interest in her beliefs.


Then again, that was the problem with demons. They were full of hypocrisies.


He decided she was a child, and she almost laughed. Almost. The smile cracked her lips, disbelief in her eyes that such was his conclusion about her, but she didn’t protest. The room altered to contain toys mortals would play with. ‘I have never been a child. I’ve never been mortal.’ It seemed that was all he understood, which further solidified her belief that he had been born and was not from the angelic choirs. If he had been, then he was horribly disfigured.


It did happen. Samael was one of those rare exceptions who took care with his beauty. Narcissist.


He left her there, and Gabrielle glanced at all the toys, then simply took a seat on the now-carpeted floor. She shut her eyes. Without his presence, Gabrielle could begin to focus on tying her mind to Haizum, and making the jump out of this realm to where her horse was. She looked meditative then, at peace, as she forgot the environment behind her closed eyes, save to remember it was hindering her escape.

 

[Syrrus]

It was then Sheizir realized it was time for him to go and without a word he left the angel to herself. Of course, would she open her eyes she would see everything he saw, like a theater, scene by scene, very well choreographed. Like how he appeared in the church, climbing out one of the broken windows like a eight legged spider and how his dusky skin turned pale and pink like a mortal's, as well as his horn grew back into his skull, hiding his demonic nature completely.


He walked into the village just around the corner, avoiding the guards and the carriages rolling down the streets before climbing up another wall, towards a open window. He had come there every evening at the same time for months on end, conjuring the same looking flower with only four petals, reaching inside the open window towards the girl that sat there in her bed. It was a little girl, an adorable thing, even to him. A blond haired little pretty, not older than ten years old. Her attention had fallen upon the window long before he had appeared, clearly waiting for him to appear, like he always had, nights just like this one.


Her big and blue eyes fell upon him as he appeared, his hood up and his flower between two fingers, reaching out for her. The little girl would grab his hand, causing the demon to twitch and almost lose balance. Mortal's hot skin against his always made him feel so fragile, like broken glass. She took the flower gently from him, holding it between to sickly pale and shaking hands. "Why are you hiding your pretty horns?" She asked as she leaned back against the big pillows, this caused him to smile and he nodded all too slowly. "I simply didn't wish to frighten you, nor your mother. How do you feel?"


"Good." The girl said, but her stronger gaze failed her and the cough proven her words to be lies. They talked, Sheizir sitting upon the window, looking down upon the little girl, telling her the stories of princes that she loved so very much, showing her magic that he could conjure with a snap of a finger, burning butterflies turning into sparkly dragons before falling upon her bed like glitter and snow. He would make her laugh and smile, but every time she coughed he would turn his gaze away, out towards the street. It was then she asked, like so many times before, if she was going to hell when she died, because she had been so mean to the neighbor boys who had been throwing rocks at a frog in the garden. Sheizir would look at her, not certain what to say. He could spend the entire night there, explaining to her what would come to happen, but he did not. "Of course not. A princess like you will be safe, where would you like to go? Perhaps I can carry you there." She would bit her finger, thinking hard about this question, scowling to herself with her little face before looking up at him. "Mother says I will go to papa in heaven, with God." Sheizir leaned back. "Is that what you want?" The little girl nodded and Sheizir would smile. "Then that's exactly what will happen, don't you--"


"Will you be there? I want you there too." She had interrupted him, causing him to frown. "No, I do not belong in heaven." The little girl told him like many times before that he was good, he belonged in heaven too, with her and her papa. Sheizir wouldn't try and explain, religion was suppose to be used as hope and if the little girl saw safety in the tales of God and Angels, then he would not rob them off her.


She would fall asleep, with Sheizir laying there next to her like a big and skinny teddy bear, she would play with his tail, till her eyes grew heavy and she fell asleep against his shoulder. He would watch her, for a short moment before getting up, giving her a peck on the cheek and leaving her in her bed, closing the window behind him and leaping of the wall.


He would find a safe place and then reappear underneath the heavy apple tree in his own realm and watch the sky which had opened up, like if the heavens were crying down at him.

 

[Lucyfer]

Gabrielle never opened her eyes.


There were few things in the entirety of the universe that Gabrielle could say she cared for. Her father was first on that list, and following that, her siblings. Then there was Haizum, a horse that had been with her since the beginning, practically like a sibling to her.


Noise was tuned out in the focus. Gabrielle sought the paths out through her strong connections to those outside, and started to locate the cracks in the realm. It was always to be this way. Only God himself could create a realm from which Gabrielle couldn’t escape. ‘You are not God.’ Though Sheizir had tried to state he was since he had ‘created’ this realm.


No, he did not have the might for that.


It was sometime before Sheizir returned, that Gabrielle was able to reach out and access her hammerspace realm. From within, she took hold of her scythe, and rose from her sitting position. The tie to Haizum was strong, and she didn’t dare open her eyes to remove the sight of her horse from her eyes. A slash through the air tore open a rip in the fabric of the realm, and she stepped through.


When she opened her eyes, she was standing before Samael, who did not look happy to see her at all. Haizum was still bound, and now bloody, with one wing missing from her left side. It was off to the side, on a table. “Gabrielle,” Samael managed to greet her, stepping back, “I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”


Samael expected retaliation, and instant at that. Gabrielle was predictable in some respects, and she wouldn’t question why Haizum was harmed. She’d simply try to kill him, as per usual. The scythe cut at air as the woman swung the hulking thing—for how dainty she appeared, it ought to be a feat, but of course, angels were much stronger than they looked.


Samael let his wings spread out, and enwrap him. In an instant, he was gone. He would not fight Gabrielle. It was never in his favor. The demons followed suit, smart enough to avoid the archangel’s wrath. Gabrielle let out a frustrated cry, before stifling it and using the scythe to cut the chains on Haizum.

 

[Syrrus]

Appearing shortly after the demons had left Sheizir would tilt his head as she watched her, sitting like the feline he was. He wouldn't say a word, merely observe, he had never thought of her attempt to leave his realm, she was a fool, he should have counted for it. A fool who left a trace, like a red thread behind which was why he had managed to get to her so quickly. He wouldn't do anything though, not because he was afraid of fighting her but because he didn't fight anyone. He would look up, pondering. "That horse seems awfully important to you. Wonder if that is a sin too, to care for something so simple as another life. I would think so." He said, mainly to himself. He was going to return to his home, shortly. This devil-woman - hah, devil-woman, that was a funny one - was of little worth. She contained nothing. No love, no care, no hate, no rage, nothing. He hated nothing. Bliss was nothing, bliss was death.


Not that he cared for death either, it was a blessing he could not afford. He slithered with his tongue outside his mouth, conjuring lights into what to him felt like a empty darkness. Flowers would appear from his palm and fly into the air surrounding him before bursting into yellow lights, comforting him in a way nothing else could.


Was he a fallen angel from her home? No, he wasn't. Of course not, that would have been silly. He peered over his shoulder, more interested in himself than her, he had just found the trail of her interesting but as it ended up in such a obvious place the interest quickly faded.

 

[Lucyfer]

Ripping open time and space with a scythe wasn’t subtle, but then, Gabrielle never had need of it. She was an Archangel, after all. Sheizir spoke from behind her as she let her energy flow into the horse, healing some of the wounds, before walking to where the wing was and bringing it to Haizum.


She ignored Sheizir entirely as the energy began to mend the wing. Haizum had bowed its head and it let out a soft whinny as it shook its head, blue mane falling over its eyes. This was as ‘normal’ as Haizum ever looked. Usually, it was hardly corporeal, a vision of white and blue flame in the shape of a horse.


It was not until Gabrielle was certain that Haizum was well did her attention turn. Haizum remained, of course, as Gabrielle looked to the demon playing with his lights. He was truly nothing to her, except an irritant who had locked her in a realm while her horse was being tormented. Perhaps if he had just been an irritant, she might have walked away from him, but the circumstances made her decision for her.


She swung the scythe right at his neck to severe it from his body.


Unlike Sheizir, Gabrielle did fight.

 

[Syrrus]

Being far too used to both mortal men, angels and demons wanting to kill him and being fairly skilled in mischief which often resulted in the former; Sheizir dodged but slamming his body down against his sitting spot and sliding down the back of it. "What in the world did I do to deserve death?" He asked, actually curious as he peered up over the edge and then leaped like a frog towards the wall. "I admit having a father who fell in love and marrying a mortal was a bit farfetched, but it made me what I am today. Adding a few ticks here and there, surely it's already been paid out? ...Don't say my skill in shape shifting is so good I managed to trick an Angel of god?" He couldn't help but to smile at her, that playful smile only he could muster with one eyebrow slightly raised and his nose twitching like the one of a cat.


He wasn't too surprised that she hadn't known. After all, being a Nephilim, giant and all, with a bit of lovely magic from his mortal mothers side, or was it his father's? He couldn't tell. His mother could just as well have been a witch for all he remembered, they didn't live for very long., wasn't too easy to look for, especially if you didn't care. He was a monster, a demon, perhaps not a demon like them who he called brethren , but close enough, for his care anyhow. This form was the form he was the most used to and the most comfortable in, the big horns, the dusky skin and the arrow like tail. Never mind the fact that he had fallen in love with tales of old, as merely a babe, the ones he had gobbled up like forest fire and taking a liking to the Norse gods, which resulted in his playful and treacherous nature.


"Come now, I never wished to fight you, I simply wanted to talk. Get some answers sorted out, is that really so bad?"