Not who I thought you where

DATE | 27 december 2019
TIME | Around 7 pm
PLACE / AREA | the ally ways in Oakheart
WEATHER | Its starting to be under freezing degrees with snow.
ATTIRE | A worndown leather jacket, dark grey jeans and black Doctor Martins boots.

Snow, Elena stopped her walking for a bit, as her piercing blue eyes looked upwards to the sky. Well, it was starting to get cold this time of year, but she never did like the white soft ice falling from the dark clouds. It would turn into that brown horrible slush that would seep into your boots and, yes Elena did indeed not like it, then rather be out in a pour down than this.
As she started to walk again, she felt like someone was falling her, that feeling of eyes that was staring at you, but when she turned around nobody was there to see. “You are starting to get paranoid Ahlers” she whispered to herself, before she turned around again, but even though she tried to convince herself that, she couldn’t help herself grabbing her bag a little more tightly and upped her pace. Quickly turning around a corner before her walk turned into running, it was after five hundred meters that she finally let herself walk again, her pulse and breath telling her that it had been too long since she last had a workout. But when she turned around again, she could swear that she saw a shadow and some familiar scent was filling the ally.
Her hand slowly creeping down into her pocket, and grab her knife, before she turned around another corner where she was meet with smiling faces standing around barrels with fire in them. All homeless men, that all had a sad story on why they didn’t have a home or family to go back to.

“Elena!” one of the men shouted, a dark-skinned tall man, that when he put her arms around her almost swallowed her whole body. “How are you?” he asked, as her hands on her shoulders pushed her away from him so he could have a better look. “Alright Beton!” her British accent laughed, as she started to pull out sandwiches from her bag. “Got food for all of you!” Tim a grey haired man standing with his hands close to the fire nooded behind her. “Who’s your friend?” his rusty voice asked, as Elena slowly turned around looking at a man starting in the ally way where she just walked in form. “I don’t know, maybe he could answer that himself?” she asked, as her arms slowly folded over each other, after giving away the last sandwich in her bag.

Michael had walked the streets of Oakheart for a while, occasionally patrolling cities to check for suspicious activity. It wasn’t long ago that a body had been found in one of these alleyways, so he walked the surrounding neighborhood in hopes of catching the perpetrator. Before long he noticed a woman turn down a corner into a smaller alleyway. A demon. He stopped for a moment, just to see if she had noticed his holy aura and would come back. But when she didn’t, he slowly continued his walk, following the same path as her. Michael figured that there was a good chance that she was the demon that had taken the innocent soul the other night and that she currently was on the prowl for her next victim. The moment she turned her head he’d made himself invisible, so the only thing she’d see behind her was the empty street. He continued following her with a longer distance between them so she wouldn't get paranoid. But it seemed that she still sensed that someone was following her as she started to run. Michael sped up his pace as well, thinking that the running made her seem more suspicious, even if it was a very natural reaction for someone if they thought they were being followed. As she started walking again, he made himself visible and was about to call out to her when she turned another corner. He followed her but stopped abruptly at this corner once he saw the homeless men around the fire, raising his brow in confusion. The men seemed to recognized her, even knowing her name, and smiles could be seen on their faces. Elena. Was she homeless too? He stood close to the wall in the shadows as he watched them for a moment, and once she took out the sandwiches, he realized that he’d been wrong about her. He had rarely seen a demon be this charitable, and this empathy didn't align with the careless way the other demon had murdered the human and thrown them off to the side in the alleyway. He was just about to leave when one of the men had taken notice of him, asking the demon who he was as he must have presumed that they’d gone together.

Michael stepped further out of the shadows as the woman looked back at him as well, stating that they didn't know each other. “I'm Michael,” he introduced himself as he slowly approached them, stopping a few meters from the fire, but close enough for his face to be illuminated by the light. He looked around at all the men, stopping his gaze at the woman. “I am here because I was hoping to find someone. The murderer who walked these streets the past week,” he said earnestly, keeping his gaze with her as she’d know he’d suspected her because she was a demon. Which explained why he’d followed her. He slowly moved his gaze back to the men. “You fellas haven’t seen or heard anything strange in relation to that?” he asked, thinking there was a good chance that they’d seen or heard something that night, and it felt foolish to not take the opportunity and ask.

At first, she didn’t even notice that the man standing in front of her, was not just a simple man but something else entirely. She was frightened to the very core of her being, it was not the fact that his holy aura was strong, but that he was a holy man, period. Glimpse of her past started to flash in front of her eyes, how her father a priest a mere human had brought her through hell on earth, in the name of the god that the Angles looked up upon with such awe in their eyes, and most of the time without even questioning the very fought of a man being a god, and also so cruel at the same time. She swallowed hard, and her eyes flickered at the men starring between them both, given that he had been so forthcoming about who he was, and why he had followed her, it didn’t seem like they were all that effected by it. “Oh just this past week, did you hear that Beton?” he cuffed and put his arm over the other, “Yes of course, because it was that pretty boy – rich father yes? Well I’ll tell you something mister! We have been picked out as the target long before that kid died! But nobody cares about the rats of the city, better just to look away than acknowledge that we are here!” he continued, Elena rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. And even though everything screamed in her head to run, to flee as the puny demon she was standing is his shinning holy light, she stepped towards him.
“Look they don’t trust strangers, and I’m sure they know more than they let on, but it’s cold and this might be the first dinner they have gotten all day, they are not going to trust you just like that.” she said with a low voice, so the others couldn’t hear it. Deep breath, she looked over her shoulder before she found the man’s eyes, mostly to see if he was capable to strike down an unarmed demon, just because of the race she was. “How about I’ll buy you a drink, and you tell me about why you followed me, and I might be willing go back here, and ask them what they’ve seen?” she asked, chocked herself that she would even suggest that. Buying a drink to her mortal enemy.

He didn’t look at her with much kindness in his eyes, so the signs of fear in her expression weren’t unwarranted. But it was as if there was more to it. That his presence reminded her of something, and that it wouldn’t be the first time that a holy being had treated her with ill will. Or looked at her with contempt. Michael looked at the man who replied to him. Of course, he wasn’t lying. Men like them were in a much higher risk of being victims of such crimes, or maybe even being accused of said crime. Michael saw equal value in all humans, so he would have targeted the demon regardless of who the victim was, but he understood what he meant. This separation of classes that humankind had. “And there is nothing right about that, but so isn’t it that anyone should be brutally murdered regardless of fortune.”

His attention then got reverted from the man as the demon stepped towards him. He lowered his gaze to her as she said that they didn’t trust strangers. But he was an angel. His mere presence made people feel as if they could trust him. But if one had been failed enough times, naturally, they weren’t going to just trust him right away. At the mention of them being cold, he glanced at a skinny man by the brick wall with a blanket around him, sending a stream of warm air to surround him, helping him temporarily against the cold. He then looked back into her eyes as she offered to buy him a drink. His expression changed subtly as he was slightly surprised at this. Demons didn’t simply offer him drinks unless they saw some benefit from it. Perhaps for her, it was to deter his suspicion or avoid persecution. A slow smile appeared on his lips, satisfied by her cooperation. “I know just the place,” he replied. Of course, he wasn’t going to let her pick the place and potentially ambush him with more demons. He then looked from her to the men. “Have a good night.” And with those words, he turned in the direction of the main street to a bar where mostly humans went. “I must admit, I have rarely seen a demon deliver food to the homeless,” he said, giving her a sideways glance before he looked ahead of them again. “It’s very charitable of you. Most humans wouldn’t even go to that extent,” he continued as they walked. He’d seen how many humans that easily could give a coin or two away, would ignore the homeless or others in need of it. “Is any one of them in your family?” he asked. It would give the whole scene more sense. He then reached the bar he’d intended for them, opening the door for her before he himself walked inside. It wasn’t the largest place, but it was popular amongst the citizens of Oakheart. Already being half filled up at this hour. He took off his hat and coat to hang on the coat stand by the entrance before he walked to a corner of the bar and sat down. A waiter quickly coming up to ask what he’d like to order. “Whiskey on the rocks, Irish,” he replied him before he turned his gaze from the waiter to the demon.

She froze for just a second as he said he knew just the place, what was she trying to do, really? In which world would this make sense, as an Angel and a Demon was walking towards a bar, maybe in a really bad joke it would, but now I real life she couldn’t really make much sense of it, even if she tried. Again, he asked her a personal question, and even though she hadn’t answered or acknowledged the first two times, he had said something about it being rare, to see a demon do something, with a good hard. But when I finally asked her something directly it was if he had prided her mouth open with a prybar, words started to spill out. “No” it was short and to the point, as she looked at him briefly before staring straight ahead, as if she still tried to make sense of it all. How he had looked at her, and then how he so quickly had accepted her offer to buy him a drink, her whole body was on edge and she couldn’t really pinpoint why.

The warm air that hit her face, as she walked inside the bar with a small thank you, when he opened the door for her, was a welcomed thing. She stood still for a moment or two, while he was taking his hat and coat off, before she walked beside him over to the corner of the bar, taking note that most of the persons in the bar, was all normal, humans.
As if she was taken out of a trance she quickly looked up and saw both the angel and the waiter, waiting for her; to say something? Oh, what was it he had just ordered? “The same for me please but hold the ice” she finally replied before looking back into the other man’s eyes.
“I don’t mean to be rude” she licked her lips and tilted her head ever so slightly “You just remind me of someone I use to know – but then again all you holy boys look the same” she laughed and smiled for the first time since she had laid her eyes on him. “To clarify, I lived in a cloister around twenty years"

His words didn’t seem to get much of a response from the demon, but his question did get a clear no. She had no family amongst the homeless men she’d provided food to, giving certain truth to his statement about her charitability. He thought that she might be regretting her offer of getting him a drink. That he might lead her into another event of the night entirely, but if anything, he’d just gotten more curious to know more about the demon. Having rarely met anyone like her.

Inside the pub, he noticed how she seemed to think of something else, before finally giving her order to the waiter. He leaned back in his seat as she said her next words, looking at her with anticipation of what rude thing she might say. “Who might that be?” he asked. He was depicted in some churches and biblical paintings, but he doubted that this was the reason why she found him familiar. Perhaps, it was his aura or way of behaving. However, he regardlessly sensed that it was someone she’d been close to once. Her smile made him change his expression slightly to a faint smile. She then revealed she’d lived in a cloister. “Really? You must tell me how you became a demon then,” he said before he folded his hands and placed them on the table, leaning slightly in. Twenty years was a long time, so something terrible must have happened for her to turn from such virtuous ways to a demon - if it wasn’t a possession, nonetheless. He looked up as the waited came back with the drinks, leaning slightly back as he’d placed his whiskey in front of him before he raised the glass to his lips and got a taste of the strong liquor. “Was your father a priest?” he then asked.

Now that got his attention, especially on how she became a demon, a common mistake, since demons wasn’t allowed inside church grounds, well that said it wasn’t impossible. “Yes, or adoptive father, he took me in after he burned my mother at the stake for being a witch” she said and took the whiskey from the waiter that looked like he had swallowed a entire lemon, Elena couldn’t blame him it was a very weird conversation to come back too, but it didn’t look like it bothered the demon that he had overheard her or them, but before the waiter managed to get to far, Elena had already thrown back the entire drink she had ordered “Another one if you please” the waiter nodded and just as sudden as he had appeared, he was gone again, with one empty glass in his hand.

“So to answer your question, I was always a demon, which made it very uncomfortable for me to live there, always weak, always hungry – always sick. Well, I didn’t take them long to find out something was wrong – so a lot of years was me locked behind clothes doors, because when it came down to it, he rather keep me, than kill me” she told her tale as if it was a children’s book she was reading out loud, maybe this would tell the angle why she hated everything holy, and had a good reason to – but still couldn’t hide that she also had a caring side, even though her race usually would dictated otherwise. Another drink was placed in front of her, this time she took her time, taking a small sip before she put it on the table again. Why the hell was she even telling him all that? Like an angle, and a very strong and old one at that, would really care about a simple lowlife demon like her? Her eyes narrowed while she looked at him, had he put some kind of holy spell on her? Making her trust him? No, that would be weird, very weird.
“Why do you even care? And why where you following me?” she finally asked, and leaned over the table, not taking her eyes of him.

He didn’t really know what he’d expected her to say. But out of all possible reasons for her living in a cloister, it had not been that. He suddenly felt a sting of empathy as he imagined how awful it must have been for her - to have no choice but to live with the man who’d just murdered her mother. Even if he had convinced her that her mother was evil and that it had to be done. Even if he was a holy man, only doing what was most saintly of him. Even if he by all means shouldn't feel pity for a demon. “I’m sorry for your loss.” His voice didn't sound utmost sincere. After all, he had many times murdered demons and witches without as much of a second thought to their families. He couldn’t preach his usual words about her mother being in a better place either. But it was the most proper response, nonetheless. The memories of her past seemed to aid in how quickly she downed the first drink. He gave the waiter a quick glance as she asked for another one, raising a slight judgmental brow. Of course, with the ability to instantly regenerate every cell in his body, he hadn't grasped that part of drinking. The indulging. The intoxication. The amnesia. And it was most certainly for the best that he didn't. He'd experienced it enough times by other means and it always distracted him from his duties. Something he simply couldn't allow.

He looked at her as she continued her story. He couldn’t really blame the priest for not knowing that she’d been a demon. But it didn't sit right with him that they'd decided to lock her away. If they truly thought she was ill, perhaps it was fair, for the sake of healing... But in the end, he believed that she should have been brought up by demons. As was the natural order, after all. He had a long time given up the hope of demons being capable of much good. He had met a few who managed such ways, of course. But it stayed at that. A few.
“Because I need to be certain that you aren’t the killer,” he replied frankly. Answering both questions. He swirled his drink before he took another sip of it. And it wasn't every day he stumbled upon a generous demon. No, most of the time their instinct was to attack him. Not inviting him to a drink. And perhaps the reason for this was simply that she’d been brought up by Christians. So, perhaps it hadn’t been all bad. “And if you are not.” He returned his eyes to her. “Then I was hoping you might know who is.”

Her hair fell over her face as she looked down at the table, the voice that told her that he was sorry for his loss – it wasn’t hard for her to hear, that it was almost like a robot saying something, that it was programmed to say, and would she have had it any other way? No, if he had tried to mean it, then she would have raised to her feet left with money on the table, and not looked back. But for the sole reason that he just said it like that, like a fact that it was sad for anybody to lose their mother at such a young age, but also that he stood by the belief, that there had been a reasoning behind the murder.

Her blue eyes finally looked up; the dirty blond curly hair was pushed back behind one of her ears, so she him better. “Its funny, isn’t it?” she cooed, and leaned back in the chair she was sitting in, her eyes fell from his face and looked where his heart should be. “A world build to be cosmos, but mankind threw the cosmos away and chaos started all over, rules set on how one should act, what we should despise, frown upon ect.” the tip of her tongue liked her lip, before she looked him in his eyes again, the feeling of throwing up came back. Was it an archangel? She met on, but that had been ages ago, same feeling that rose in her chest.
“But no, I’m not the killer you’re looking for, even though I can’t say I’m innocent. By all means, I’ve been forced to commit murder” But never because I wanted, but because I had too, to survive. Words that didn’t leave her lips; “And I’m afraid I don’t know who you’re looking for, even though I’m on the hunt for a demon myself, but he stalks – does the description match?” she tired, because the Angle hadn’t really given her much to go on, other than a ‘killer’. She would be very surprised, if there wasn’t a shit ton of killers in Gaia, or Moonlight falls – in general, there was a lot of killers in this world.

She caught him slightly off guard with her question, not possibly guessing what she deemed funny. Michael tilted his head as he listened to her philosophical ponder. He couldn’t help but notice that she lowered her gaze to his chest - his heart - as if she was referring to him either despising or frowning upon her. Or perhaps just angels in general. Michael had long ago accepted that Good and Evil were names of sides and that God had intended the world to have both. Those sides gave people a chance to earn a place in God’s realm. And for those who didn't, there'd be no salvation. One could of course argue how fair it was for demons and angels to be placed on opposite sides of that spectrum. But demons were just as guilty of despising angels as they were of them. That hostility had existed ever since their creation. “That’s what makes God’s creations so unique. They have the choice. They can choose to follow God’s law, or they can choose not to and suffer the consequences… But we all make mistakes. The difference just lies in how we deal with them.” After all, angels could stray from the goodness and turn fallen.

He searched her expression for the hint of a lie, but she seemed to tell the truth. The corner of his mouth curved into a vague smile as she openly admitted to not being innocent. And although he was used to people being frank with him, or even confessing secrets or sins, he still found it peculiar of a demon to be so open with him. For her not to be afraid of him using it against her. She then said that she’d been forced to commit murder. Forced. Now, he could only assume she meant that she needed to murder in order to survive, but most demons wouldn’t use that phrasing. “Do you disapprove of murder?” He hadn’t met many demons who did, nor many with pacifistic tendencies, so if she did, he only found her more intriguing. She was a soul demon, after all. She lived off reaping the souls of the deceased, so shouldn’t it also be in her nature to not care for the life she took? Michael had never cared much for demons taking already corrupted spirits, but the ones who took a soul away from their rightful place in Heaven, like the one who’d murdered that victim in Oakheart, those were the ones he was after.
“You are?” he asked with a confused tone, but he was equally curious to hear what that was about. Why she would be hunting another of her kind. Looking for, he’d understand. But on the hunt for. It could only mean that a demon had crossed her. “As regards to who I’m looking for, I only know that it’s a soul demon and that the person likes to stalk lone victims in the night... I’ve not gathered much of a pattern yet. And so when I saw you tonight, I thought that maybe you’d provide me with more of an answer.”

But we all make mistakes, at that the demon slowly let her eyes meet the angles, did he really mean that? And could there down the road be salvation for all, even those that had been forced down the patch of darkness? A deep breath was drawn in, and she felt how her chest rose almost to the point, that pain was shouting threw her body. As if it was not uncomfortable enough sitting there in presence of an angle, something so holy.
The air left her mouth as the blue eyes glided over the patrons of the bar, they were in. As he asked her if she disproved of murder, she again let herself take him in. He was special, she felt as if he really wanted to know, if she meant or what she had meant. “Yes” the word slowly left her mouth, as if it were hard for her to let it pass through her lips. What demon with self-respect would say that, for her it was life to kill, and she would slowly wither away if she did not take souls from others if they were innocent or not?

Her fingertips slowly glided over the ice-cold glass, and for a moment she though about Jack, a man she had not let herself think about for such a long time. But just now again, he would pop up, and she would be reminded that she was neither good nor benevolent, and therefore she would never be good enough for a place beside their god.
“Hm, the description you have sounds like most of the soul demon that I have meet.” she said after thinking for awhile “The man I’m looking for is a man, that I’ve been seeing for the last forty years or so.” she liked her lips, and let her head slowly tilt to the side. “You say that all god’s creations have a choice, and they can follow his laws. And that we all make mistakes, so if a demon wanted to make amends, and try to be good – even though it goes against their entire nature, is that still to follow his laws? Because, if that were the case, then could god exist without their being evil? And could there be a world if there weren’t opposites?” she quietly asked, being very sincere, it had always been a question that she though she could never get an answer to, but maybe she would this evening. If the angle would have something he could offer as a satisfied answer

He followed her gaze to the people in the bar. All of them were humans. Unaware of the rare occurrence of the angel and demon conversing near them. His eyes reverted to her once she replied to his question. He’d gotten the feeling that this was the case. That was the whole reason he'd asked. But it was still very atypical. Usually, demons not only approved of murder, but they also cared little for the consequences thereof, even finding pleasure in it due to their satanic disposition. He assumed this meant she was one of the few who waited around senior homes or hospitals, avoiding the killing part altogether. And if she did this until the point where she had no other choice, that would render her weak. “It’s not common for your kind to carry that belief.” He raised the whiskey to his lips to take two sips as he contemplated this. He supposed it meant she disapproved of war as well. He didn’t know if she’d figured out who he was. That he, most likely, was the angel who’d murdered more than any other. But he figured she hadn't. And it was probably best if it stayed that way, considering how much she'd already told him about herself. “What do you do for a living?” he asked. She'd only surprise him further by telling him she actually worked at a senior home or hospital, taking care of the sick and weak. But he couldn't quite imagine what her profession instead was.

The corner of his mouth tilted up as she said his description fit most soul demons. After all, that was why he’d been shadowing her. The first demon he’d found in proximity to the crime scene. Not having any better clues to start from. “Who is he?” he asked curiously. He probably didn't know the person, but he’d met quite the amount of people throughout his lifetime, and so there was always a chance that he’d either heard or met them in passing once. “It is,” he replied to her first question. “God is the most forgiving of all, but one can’t expect pardon for sin without repentance. Demons, however, are unique in the sense that they could never belong in Heaven, so your reward for doing what’s right would simply be to be free of our persecution. Free to live your life on Earth undisturbed, without punishment or your return to Hell.” Because of the natural law of who they were, he didn’t see any disparity in this. In fact, he believed most demons to belong in Hell and not Earth. But he didn't believe God wanted him to condemn any being, regardless of nature, if they lived a life of goodness. Besides, most demons wouldn’t ever consider such a path in life, so it hardly ever happened. “My Father intended there to be both good and evil. All opposites, in fact, as they are what balances out the universe, so no, I don’t suppose there could be a world like this without that. After all, how are we supposed to know what’s morally good if we didn't know what is morally bad?” he said rhetorically.

“I guess its not, call it sentiment, or call it weakness – but the fact I would rater wait around for a man who shot a lot of people and died of his injuries, makes me vulnerable, and sometimes its out of my control when the hungers gets the better of me” she said in a casual manner, of course she had been clouded by hunger and not knowing what she had done, but the moral complex of it always stung like she was being eaten up from the inside out. Not a very nice trait for someone who would die, if she didn’t eat – “I would have fought that you would tell me, that even my eating souls what a crime against what you are standing for, souls going to heaven and hell, natural order and all that?” she asked softly being bolder every moment, he didn’t seem to have the intent of actually killing her, not at this very moment at least. She laughed when he asked what she did for a living, should she lie? “I’m an artist, you could say I’m the modern day robin hood, take from the rich and give to the poor?” she said with a smirk forming on her lips – “For a time I was working in a senior home, it was a - good way for me when I was younger to take the souls from them when it were their time to say goodbye – luckily for me, there was a lot of bastards back in 1955 in Germany.” she purred “But I’m afraid I’m not that straight and narrow anymore, trouble has a very effect way on finding me”

She pulled her shoulders “If God is the all-knowing being, he would know what would happen the day he condemned Lucifers actions and took his wings, sending him to hell – it was out of that hate and anger that demons was born in the first place, so in that philosophical sense, God intended there to be demons. I might hate you because its in my nature, but I do not hate God and I do not hate my father for locking me away – there will always be injustice, someone must pay the prize for a point to be meant. And the balance or fate, what ever you would call it. Sometimes I still just wish that I shouldn’t be paying the prize for what my forefathers did – do you never wish for a simpler life for yourself?” she had glided around the topic about the other demon, that man was hers to deal with, and an angle shouldn’t take that pleasure from her. But she was very intrigued to here about his answer. Her fingers glide around the glass and she took another sip.

He tilted his lips upwards at her comment about what she'd thought he'd tell her. “Normally I would. Back when Hell had a ruler who kept its souls in check. But as I am sure you are aware, Lucifer is gone and corrupted souls have invaded Earth. So yes, I’d much rather prefer it if demons like you helped me purge the world of those who don’t belong here.” Ever since Lucifer’s disappearance, havoc had wreaked Earth, and it wouldn’t be until a new proper leader replaced him that it’d get somewhat under control again.

She was an artist who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. This demon didn’t cease to baffle him. Openly confessing her crimes to him. Michael had never cared much for petty crimes such as theft. He had far more important matters to be concerned about. But it still amazed him how she trusted him enough to tell him. “Why not just find a law-abiding job and give away your surplus to charity?” he asked, testing her morality regarding this. Especially since she apparently had a normal job once, which had helped her find souls without the means of killing. He couldn’t know what she meant with trouble either. Not besides the stealing part. But he doubted that she thought she’d be able to have that occupation without there eventually being consequences.

He listened patiently to her words and took another sip of his whiskey. She then expressed that she didn’t see why she should pay the price for something that had happened before she was born. But that was how destiny worked. However unfair it may seem. Michael rarely questioned the course of fate because he needed to have faith that everything would play out the way it was supposed to. That there was a meaning to it all. If there wasn't, he'd only start questioning his own purpose and existence. And that had never ended well for him. He placed the glass back on the table, considering it for a moment. “I suppose that is the challenge of life. But there is nothing we can do to change the past. All we can do is learn from it and move on. And unlike many demons who followed Lucifer's ways, you try not to. I think that's an admirable thing.” he admitted, letting his gaze linger with her for a moment before he moved it towards a live band who was getting ready at a small scene in the corner of the bar. He'd met countless demons, but it was very few who tried to fight the darkness within them. Or simply possessed another set of morals altogether. He then replied to her asking if he'd not ever wished for a simpler life. “I have a long time ago. But I’ve since come to terms with the fact that such a life wasn’t ever in the cards for me. And my life. Serving God and humanity. That’s what brings me peace and happiness. Every day I try my best to make the world a better place. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

“So balance is what you seek?” She asked and didn’t really believe him, it might be what he wanted right now, but as soon as demon and angles again were equal a new eradication of demons would begin. And there would always be angles out there killing demons simply because they were that, and demons of course taking pleasure in killing angles just because they hated the sight of them.
And then there were people in the grey area, the creatures that didn’t really now were to put themselves so they tried to even everything out as good as they could.
Law-abiding job? She chuckled at the idea, he was right maybe but she would never do that, she liked the chaos and she was of course still in slaved by her demonic impulsive. “That would be a slippery slope, and you know that. I like the freedom not being tied to anything, I can do what I want, go where I please. I can be the good guy, and I can be the bad guy, but I choose to stay in the shadows for now, believing that my grandplan for this world will be revealed, by either a helping hand towards the light or someone pulling me the wrong direction, nobody really knows what’s going to happen” besides she had tried to be a good person, but living in the cellars of a church for the better of 70 years, was more than enough to make her believe she deserved the freedom to choose everyday what she wanted to do.

She smiled and put her head in her hand, took a deep breath. He really did smell just like that church, and even though it woke some memories she rather be without – there was also something oddly calming, though his mere presents also made her feel, exposed, vulnerable and uncomfortable.
“Must be nice finding their path in this life, and being happy with it – so you don’t want anything to change? That also.. sounds very boring, and not really living” she poked, took a new sip from her whiskey, almost being done with the second glass.

“The way I see it, balance is the minimum requirement. What I seek is for good to prevail.” He wasn't going to hide the fact that once a balance was restored, he'd go back to sending as many wicked souls back to Hell as possible. Perhaps God had sent him on Earth to serve humanity by balancing out the evil that roamed it, but it had always been Michael’s goal to rid it of as much evil as possible. He’d prepared for a war between Heaven and Hell for as long as he could remember, and he wanted nothing more than to put all demons to Hell since he thoroughly believed it to result in a better world. To minimize the corruption of demons on Earth entirely. Even if that harbored its own consequences. Even if a war between the two sides inevitably would murder innocents. The question was just whether it would resolve anything or create the world he so longed to see, or if it’d just end up destroying the world and be the cause of an Armageddon. And that uncertainty was the only reason he hadn't pushed forward with his plans. He probably wouldn't either. Not unless God commanded it.

Michael didn’t know what she found amusing. He thought it was a valid question if she truly wanted to help the poor. Living on the edge of the law was only going to drag her away from that eventually. So, he could only assume that she liked the danger of it. And that her demonic instincts dragged her towards that. However, her words made him believe, that much like himself, she was a firm believer of fate. But if she felt in-between turning to a darker side or being led towards the light. He certainly hoped for the latter. “In that case, I hope you’ll meet someone who can help you reach the light.” Of course, she couldn’t expect much else of an angel to wish this upon her. But she was right. In the end, it was up to fate where her path would end. Michael had never been free in his life, there were always consequences if God didn’t agree with his actions, and so he was always tied to Heaven in that way. But he knew that he’d bestowed free will to people for a reason, and he had to trust in that being the right decision.

“Trust me. I’ve strayed from my purpose many times. But I could never be free like you or humanity. I was created for a specific purpose. And I am completely content with that. Besides, I don't see what possibly could make my life more enticing.” He leaned slightly forward as he looked at her, wondering how she could possibly see his life as boring or anything less worth living.

Her smile didn’t vanish as he answered her question, it was as she had predicted or thought, most angles would always go for the god to prevail. But weren’t most angles jealous when god created the humans? She just thought it was funny, that if it wasn’t because of the angles none of the evil would be on the earth, or at least not the demons.
“Of course, god should prevail, other than that chaos would destroy this earth, and then the demons wouldn’t have any were to go but hell – and I rather be here in down there” she said with a small chuckle, she nodded, and her smile disappeared for just moment as he said he hoped that she could meet someone that would draw her towards the light, and then it was back like it had always been there. “Me too” she said quite honest and took a deep breath, maybe she had already met that person, but because of her cowardness she had pushed the person away. Maybe demons were just not meant to be good, no matter how much they tried. In the end, it would be the same to change a leopard spots, and for a while she just looked down in her drinks amber colored liquid.

She looked up again when he started talking about his own life, not in detail but more than enough – strayed from his path? The corners of her lips drifted up into a smirk when he asked, what could make his life more enticing. “Not being created to a specific purpose, and let me ask you another question then, if you are so content with that – why did you strayed from your purpose so many times?” it just didn’t make sense to the demon, if he was okay with not having his own life but was dependent one someone else to make the decisions for him to carry out. Then why did he even have the urge, to forsake his lot in life? Because that was almost what he told her. “Well I’m just a mere demon, and I would never truly know what burdens that are on your shoulders, but why did god create angles to have one purpose, and mankind to have so much power and free will? Almost sounds cruel to me – but if you’re content, then I would never really understand, because I’m not you” maybe she was the lucky one, she had free will – she could be good, she could be evil it was her choice. He didn’t have one, and even though he seemed content with his lot in life, she still pitied him. Maybe her life wasn’t that bad after all.

Michael had been prepared for the day of Armageddon ever since its revelation. He was building his army because of this. But he hoped that earth wouldn’t be destroyed or become a playground for a war between demons and angels. Many innocents would fall in such a war, and so he fought every day to prevent it. For the demons to never gain that kind of power, to begin with. He could tell that she hoped she’d be met with more light in her life. Which wasn’t so odd, considering her tragic backstory. “If you have faith then you will receive it. And you should not be afraid to welcome it into your life either. Even if it goes against everything you are. And who you are… Your morality. You wanting to help the homeless. You meeting me and choosing to have an open mind rather than resent for who I am, or for the fact that I was following you with a means to accuse you. That’s what you got to hold on to.” He genuinely hoped that she’d choose to go down that path. It would make the world a much better place if demons were capable of that. But he'd also met enough demons to know how rare that was. He raised the glass to take another sip of his drink as he contemplated just how much she’d been through. Because it was clear to tell that she had been through a lot. That she felt sympathy for those guys outside because she had been through similar situations of pain where she was the one needing someone to show care or decency.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as she poked to his slightly contradicting statement. “I don’t know why, exactly. Perhaps because I was weak - allured by vices or the idea of a simple life.” He folded his lips as he looked from her to the people in the bar. Just because he was an angel, it didn't mean that he hadn't tried different aspects of life. Besides, how was he supposed to know that it wasn't for him unless he had tried to push his boundaries and gained those experiences first? “God created angels to desire a greater purpose, that way ensuring they’d always work hard and put others before themselves. That’s why many fallen angels become lost.” He swirled the drink in his hand before he downed the rest of it and placed the glass back on the table. He looked into her eyes for a moment at her next words, because in many ways it wasn’t fair at all. But they also had a privilege and a responsibility that no human could ever understand. This so-called burden on their shoulders.
“I can't speak for others, but it has always been worth it to me because it meant that I was saving lives and helping people. And that is my peace and joy. But I suppose if some angels didn't feel that way, they'd prefer the life of another being.” There weren't many like that from his experience, and he'd lived this way for so long that it was hard for him to imagine what that would be like. Especially because of his higher status.

Elena became quiet as she listens to his words, she could almost hear his thoughts few people had looked at her like that, contemplating just how much pain had this creature actually endured in her short life period, or short considering many other creatures in this world. A lot even had lived longer than the humans had inhabit this earth, which for her was a little hard to grasp, the war between angels and demons had been so long that this was where the hatred often came from, angels had seen it with their own eyes painting every demon over with the same brush, demons being born with the same hatred that their peers had felt. No wonder that humans kept fighting each other, they didn’t really have the best role models.
But from her father locking her away for years, her husband leaving her from one day to the other, being tortured by a soul demon she couldn’t remember, to being corrupted by the antichrist, Samael. She was not a lucky individual, and as he kept talking her pity started becoming a purer form for sin, envy.

He had a purpose and he had found peace with that, she hadn’t she didn’t know what tomorrow would bring and she was afraid of that, afraid to let people close so they could leave her, afraid that her next step would land her in another predicament that would take another piece of her still shrinking good heart, that pure light she so desperately wanted to hold on to, but the stronger and tighter she gripped around it, almost destroying it herself. Her brows knitted together, as a burning sensation started by her eyes, and slowly she realized that she was crying, if his light around him, or what he had said, she didn’t know, maybe it was merely the fact that he remembered her of a time where she believed that she was one of god’s creation, only to realize that she was something unholy, dark and hated.
“Sorry” she whispered and looked down into the half finish drink, her fingers quickly wiped away the salted tears “maybe I don’t pity you, I almost envy your resolve, and that you have found peace in something – my father, never gave up hope that he thought that I was a new prophet send to help his church against the evil raging in the lands, so even as I got out of the prison after the whole congregation had parish I somehow still held on to the hope that I wasn’t all evil, that I could rid myself of this curse, but as time went by the more I realized that it wasn’t something in me, it was me. It’s hard to be two parts of a world, and never fitting into a box” she quietly explain, as if she was sitting in the confessions stool, confessions the sins she had committed.