CHAPTER 22

The dark, damp, vulgar smelling and far too confined tunnels of the underground made Logan want to puke for the hundredth time. Even his own sweat acted against him, burning his skin and charring the hair on his arms.

"You do know I'm a guardian angel, right? Not a warrior, I'm a guar-dian aa-ngel." He emphasized the word to bring the point across. "And neither are you, by the way – just saying." But he was grunting to deaf ears. Kael was like a machine on a mission. Nothing could distract him. Logan suddenly wished he were Cupid. Then he could darn well shoot his brother with an arrow in the ass. Not that Cupid was real, rather an unfortunate fantasy in his opinion, but the image still managed to bring a quirky smile to his lips.

"You know what, I'm taking off this suit jacket if you don't mind. I know we have rules regarding our dress code but seriously, just look at this. I will ever be able to wear it again," Logan complained heavily as he removed the torn jacket from his steaming torso. He glanced down at his expensive, what used to be a crisp, white shirt – now charcoal in colour, torn and sweaty and moaned, "Just great."

"Good, it was too expensive for an angel anyway. Now keep it down. This is supposed to be a surprise rescue," Kael growled in a low whisper, glaring hard at his brother, hoping that even if he could not see his glare, he would feel it burn a hole through him.

"We're more like a surprise barbeque," Logan complained, touching his raw burning skin. "I thought you said they knew we were coming, being a trap and all to lure us here. Just remind me, why are we here again?"

"Their plan isn't in place just yet. We're early, thanks to my visions. They're not expecting us now. So stop talking and hurry up."

"Now I see why they put you in charge of the Kingdom, you just love giving orders, don't you?" Logan joked.

"Shut up, Logan."

Logan grinned. He loved yanking at his brother's stiff and super-serious temperament.

They continued walking – if you could call it that. It was more like hunch-back crawling. Logan frowned. The tunnel ceiling was so low that neither of them could walk upright without brushing the ceiling with their hair. Luckily, he didn't have dandruff, or he was certain the demons wouldn't take it lightly if he left their ceilings white. He wanted to share this amusing thought with Kael but decided against it. He had had enough deadly glares from his brother to last two lifetimes. So instead, he refrained from speaking for a while.

Much to Kael's relief, Logan had stopped talking for a while. After a while, Kael suddenly just stopped dead without so much as a warning and Logan hit him in the flanks.

"Jeepers, couldn't you just give me a heads up before stopping," Logan protested.

"Hush. Someone's coming." Kael pushed Logan against the dank wall keeping him out of sight and listened carefully. "It sounds like three demons if I'm not mistaken. Could be more."

"Great – a guardian angel in a fistfight. What next?"

"Hush."

"It's not like they're going to miss us, Kael. One small tunnel, one direction, your big build. Just saying."

Kael gnawed on his inner cheek deep in thought for a moment "You're right. Get ready to fight."

"Using what? My charming smile?" As much as he would have liked to add a grin to his stretch of humour, the idea of having to fight demons constrained his features to that of concern, or was it, terror? Yep, he was pretty sure if someone could see his face right now, they'd run. With a little luck, maybe the demons would too. Probably not. With a disparaging sigh, he leaned deeper into the wall. Not much good that would do, though.

Kael withdrew two blades from his jacket pocket and handed one to Logan. "I always come prepared."

"Lucky us," Logan replied sarcastically, taking the blade in his right hand while he sucked in a deep breath of stale air. What was he supposed to do with this? The only time he used a knife was to chop up vegetables. "Well at least dying here couldn't be worse than sitting in purgatory for a thousand years awaiting judgment," Logan added, trying to be enthusiastic.

"Always a silver lining. That's it, keep up the good spirit."

"Spirit? You know, I might turn to alcohol after this." But before Kael could reply to Logan's remark, the first two demons appeared. They were carrying torches and strangely creative-looking weapons that promised fun-filled torture. Just great. Logan flinched.

Before the demons could be surprised at seeing intruders, Kael smashed them both to the ground in one swift blow with the mere side of his arm. Two more appeared, this time they were well aware of their presence. Their weapons were drawn and pointed directly at Kael which did nothing to displace his cool confidence as he easily sliced away at demon flesh as if they were but grass in a field. A fifth demon cunningly avoided Kael and made a beeline for Logan instead, with the sixth demon in tow.

Within seconds Logan was devoid of a weapon and lying flat on his back. Heated stone seared through the thin shirt, branding his flesh.

Three more demons joined the battle, dangling their weapons near Logan's face. "A little help here big brother," Logan urged.

Once Kael had effortlessly sliced his way through a few more demons and a dark angel, he started to tackle Logan's demons. By the time he finished off the last of them, Logan was choking on his own blood.

Kael ran his right hand over Logan's injuries and immediately a mass of healing energy light protruded from his hand and lit up the dark tunnel. Within minutes Logan was as good as new. Sadly, the same couldn't be said about his apparel.

"You should join Michael's army. You're astonishingly good at this," Logan stated.

Kael ignored him, grabbed him by the arm, and helped him to his feet. "Get a move on, we're running out of time."

"Just saying. You know, in case you're looking for another job." It was just Logan's sordid attempt to lighten the situation, so Kael ignored his jabbering,

They walked on for what felt like another mile downward before they finally reached a section where the tunnel split into two. One tunnel had a light at the end of it while the other was pitch black, promising a never-ending, and perhaps tortuous journey ahead.

"Which way?" Logan was worried.

"Obviously towards the light." Kael replied quickly as he began heading down the tunnel.

"I was hoping you'd say that because the other tunnel – not so appealing."

As they hurried down the tunnel, which was much larger than the one they had come through, they came across some empty caves, which were single chambers cut out in the rock. Some had doors, some not. Only a few had lights. Kael streamlined towards the one where the light was radiating the brightest.

He threw Logan a look of caution as he kept close to the wall, blade ready in hand. When they arrived at the entrance of the lit and doorless cave, Kael gingerly peered inside.

James was dangling in chains by his arms and legs, just as he had seen in his vision. Thankfully he was alone. Kael hurried inside and approached James. The angel was clearly in a bad state. Torture weapons and instruments lay sprawled out on a piece of leather, right beside a wooden tree stump, probably used as a chair. It was clear they had tortured him, for who knows how long. Kael felt a twinge of guilt rise within him, remembering his accusation that James had betrayed them.

Kael ran his healing hand over most of the serious wounds first. James had many.

"Kael? Is that you?" James's throat was dry and scratchy, his eyes bloodshot.

"Hush. Everything's going to be okay. I've got you," Kael assured him.

Logan spotted a set of keys lying on the ground beside the torture instruments. He grabbed them and helped James out of his chains. With Kael's help, they laid him gently on the floor.

"Kael…"

"Shh, we've got you," Kael repeated. "Don't speak. You need to reserve your energy. We need to get out of here soon."

"No, I don't deserve your help. This is all my fault. I'm so, so sorry." Tears streamed down James' bruised and dirt-stained cheeks. "I shouldn't have been here, but…"

"It's okay. You can talk later, let's just get you out of here."

Kael wanted to lift him in his arms, but James pointed shakily to a clay bowl that stood in the corner of the cave. "Water."

Logan ran to retrieve the water and gently put it to James's lips so he could drink. The water was warm, but it would have to do.

They then helped him to his feet, Logan on the one side and Kael on the other, and half dragged him out of the cave and back into the dark tunnel.

Suddenly a screeching alarm sounded, followed by shouting and stomping of feet.

"They know we're here. Hurry." Kael lifted James into his arms and ran back down the tunnel until they reached the split.

Then they started running, hunchbacked, down the dark gloomy tunnel that Logan had no desire to go down.

"No, no, no. I thought we weren't going down that tunnel," Logan stammered. That tunnel gave him the creeps, blacker than black and filled with an eerie silence.

"It's another way out. I saw it in my vision," Kael assured him.

"Now you tell me. I was imagining all sorts of crazy down that tunnel."

"Shut up, just run." Kael was panting, not only from the extra weight he was carrying, but because he was still recovering from the fight, he had had with the dozen evil minions.

Fortunately, although the tunnel was quite a steep ascent, it wasn't long before light graced their way as they neared the end of it. Soon the fresh aroma of flowers and grass filtered in and filled their lungs. That could only mean they would be back on the earth shortly. Logan would have cried out with joy if he hadn't almost walked into Kael, who suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, again – almost dropping James.

"What is it?" Logan blurted, anxiously.

"It's Julia."

"What about her?"

Kael growled angrily. "Custo has disobeyed my order. He never took her to HQ. Damn him. If I wasn't an angel, I swear…"

"How do you know?" Logan grew worried.

"The vision. Jules is still in danger. It's all coming true. If we don't get to her soon- ". Kael's voice broke, "-she's going to die. Why the hell didn't he just obey my orders!"

"Put me down Kael. Go to her. Logan and I will head back to HQ. Go, we'll be fine," James insisted as he wriggled out of Kael's tight grasp.

Kael grunted. James was in no condition to fly, and Logan would never be able to carry him. "I'm not leaving you." Kael was adamant but James wrapped his hands around Kael's arms and squeezed them.

"I was disobedient. I broke the law. I came down here of my own volition. It was Lilly, I've been lying to you all. After I chased her away from the pearly gates, I couldn't bear the thought of her, here, suffering. I have been trying to keep her safe down here in the underworld. But it's only because I love her. I just couldn't let her…"

"I know," Kael replied.

"You know? How?" James was flabbergasted.

"He knows everything," Logan mocked.

"Well, I do. I saw everything. It's okay, James. At least now I know you're not a traitor, and you still have a heart." Kael attempted a feeble smile.

"Wow, thanks," James uttered, but with a smile.

An idea struck Logan. "I have a better idea. I'm Julia's GA, she's my responsibility so I'll go and get her and fly her to Angel Headquarters myself. You can fly James there."

"Are you crazy? You can't fight those two demons on your own. You're not a warrior – your words not mine."

"Touché. But just trust me, I can do this. They won't even see me coming and we'll be gone before they realise it. So, I won't be doing any fighting."

Just for an instant, Kael was about to object when he realized Logan was right. He had been placed in the guardian angel position for a reason. And he was Julia's guardian angel after all, not him. Besides what choice did he really have? "Okay, fine. Just get her to HQ asap. Then we can deal with the rest of hell's demons and angels once and for all."

"Hey, you forget who you're talking to. I'm no ordinary GA, I'm Super Angel." Logan waited for their smiles, but none were forthcoming. "You know – like superman?"

"Yeah, we got that." Kael shook his head, frowning. "Now get the hell out of here. Pun intended."

"Lol, I'm rubbing off on you, big brother."

"Just go!"

A few more steps and they came to the end of the tunnel. Logan spread his wings, flew up into the sky, and did a few summersaults while shouting, "Wahoo, look at me, I'm superman."

James frowned. "Are you sure the two of you are related?"

Kael shook his head, a half-smile threatening to erupt on his face despite the dire circumstances surrounding them. "Let's get out of here before the entire army of hell ascends upon us."

"You don't need to tell me twice."

Kael was about to take him in his arms, but James pushed him aside. "I've got this."

"Are you sure?" Kael asked, worriedly.

"You have that magic healing touch. So, yes, I'm sure I'll be fine. If I fall, you can catch me," he winked at Kael.

"Or maybe I'll just let you fall," Kael replied, with half a grin. "You know, for old times' sake."

James gave him a heartfelt look. "Thank you, Kael."

"Don't mention it."

They spread their wings and took off just as a bunch of demons and a horde of dark angels ascended from the underground tunnel.