Chapter 15: Angel

Zadkiel watched Alix climb the spiral stairs in the corner of the room and disappear. Then he turned to the remaining very large Hellhound and hoped like the other two he'd met that this one would be friendly toward him. 

"Hello," he did his best to keep the tremor from his voice as he reached out, if hesitantly, toward it. The Hellhound scented the air, eyeing him as if he was gauging the threat before he pressed into Zadkiel's hand. Zadkiel let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in his relief. 

"Are we safe now?" Marie was the one to break the silence, distracting Zadkiel from marveling at the strange, silky texture of the Hellhound's fur. 

"Yes," he paused as he thought it over, "well, you did trespass on the Angel of Death's house." Marie and Nathaniel exchanged shocked looks.

"She's the Angel of Death?" Zadkiel smiled with something dangerously close to pride.

"She is a lot of things: various gods, queen of Hell, the original Death," he trailed off as their expressions twisted into something like fear. It was a reasonable reaction. 

"And who are you?" Zadkiel's smile eased into something softer, more angelic.

"I am one of the Lord's Watchers," he said simply. 

"You seemed awfully close with someone you just said was the queen of Hell," Nathaniel muttered and Zadkiel's smile vanished into a blank expression that simply seemed otherworldly and vaguely threatening. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to defend himself—to justify the fact he'd enjoyed her contact just as much a moment ago as he had all those centuries ago.

"She was an angel first. Even if the Caretaker didn't accept her," he paused, "the only difference was that she was born with free will." It wasn't the only difference, but that was the only acceptable explanation he could think of.

"The Caretaker?" Marie trailed off, confused, "Do you mean God?" Zadkiel nodded slightly in confirmation. "Why do you call him the Caretaker?"

"Because that's his purpose. The Corvid Prince created him to take care of the Earth while he was working on other planets. I assume each planet has one like him."

"So God doesn't like her."

"That is correct. Unfortunately for him, Azrael is favored greatly by the Corvid Prince so he can't actually do much without incurring the wrath of the true god."

"Then how did she end up here?" It hadn't been that long, maybe an hour or so, but Zadkiel felt Azrael's presence on the stairs behind him.