Prologue

Lafayette:

2 Years Ago

Screaming as he grabs the sides of my head, he knees me in the head before using his telekinesis power to push me back. I scream again as I fly through the air. Rocketing through the air, I would have fallen back into the moral world but luckily, Jacob catches me in time.

Flying through the sky myself, blasting and destroying some demon minions on his way, Jacob pushes against the wind and shoots up, grabbing me.

"Lafayette," Jacob says, slapping me over and over. "Lafayette! Come on! Wake up! Wake up! Lafayette!"

"I'm awake," I say, pushing Jacob away. "I'm awake! I just..have a massive headache."

"I think we all do," Jacob replies. We turn around and see the sky filled with other angels and demons. In the middle of a raging war, Jacob, I, and the rest of us angels are doing our best to guard the gate of Heaven. However, the demons appear endless, and their leader seems almost invincible.

The demons' leader, with dark red skin, two massive horns, and dead eyes, knocks back a group of angels as they attempt to attack him. With a simple swing of his wings, he shoots out a wave of hellfire that pushes all the angles back. Screaming as they catch on fire, Jacob and I fly over to help them.

"Help the others," Jacob yells. "I'll hold him off!"

I nod my head and leave Jacob's side. While Jacob crashes into the leader and enters a fistfight with him, I fly toward the angles.

"Hold on," I say, reaching them as fast as I can. Their once white wings are now black and burning. Moving fast, I reach into my pocket for a bottle of holy water. I basically rip the cap off and then start to sprinkle their wings with the holy water. Their wings return to their original color, and the angels stop screaming.

"Are you okay," I ask. The last angle I helped didn't answer me right away. It takes a few minutes, the whole time, he's struggling to catch his breath.

"He's too strong," the angle pants. "I'm...I'm not sure how much longer we can keep them back!"

As I pat the back and try to comfort the angle, I hear a dinging sound and look up.

"Oh no! The gate!"

The demon minions, with similar red skin but smaller horns and no wings, had reached the gate leading to Heaven. Gathering together, they bang against the golden gate over and over.

"Stay here," I say, leaving the angle to recover. Flying to the gate before the demons can force it open, I shoot my hand into the sky and transform.

As a shining holy light overtakes my body, I feel myself grow in power. Beautiful white wings shoot out from my back and my shirt and pants are gone, replaced by a stunning white grown. Around my head, a golden crown appears. Once the transformation is complete, I use all my power to banish the demons.

Now shooting both my hands at all the demons, I unleash a beam of pure holy light. As it shines, it burns the demons, turning them into dust before the wind blows them away.

Dropping a little after using all that energy, I snap back up when I hear Jacob screaming.

"Jacob!"

I turn my head and see Jacob now flying through the air myself. Even in his upgraded form, a white knight with shining wings, Jacob isn't strong enough to defeat the leader. I watch as the leader flies toward Jacob. He grabs Jacob by the throat and strangles him.

"Noo," I yell. Placing my feet against the golden gate, I shoot off it and toward the leader. About to punch him, he shoots out his hand and grabs me by the throat. Now, the demon leader is strangling Jacob and me.

We both try to get out but no matter how hard we try, we can't break the leader's grip. Squeezing my fingers in between the leader's hand and my throat, I try to pry his hand off but it's no use.

"You cannot beat me," the demon leader states. Despite his mouth being sealed shut, his voice sounds like thunder as he talks. "Give me what Lucifer seeks, or I will bring more demons. Do you want to see your fellow angels harm?"

"We will never give it to you," I struggle to say. "It stays with us!"

The demon leader tightens his grip and now, I can't even talk anymore. Feeling the breath being squeezed out of me, I look the demon leader in his eyes.

"Angles or demons," the demon leader says, angling his head as he looks back at me. "Immortal or mortal. This will hurt quite a lot--"

Before the demon leader can finish, Jacob pulls something out from behind him. The thing turns out to be a dagger with a cross at the end of it. Rising the dagger into the air, Jacob stabs the demon leader in his arm.

He screams and lets both of us go.

"Lafayette," Jacob shouts. "Quickly! The holy water!"

While catching my breath, I reach into my pocket and pull out the bottle of holy water.

"There are only a few drops left," I say.

"It'll have to do! Come on! Throw it!"

I nod my head and throw what's left of the holy water at the demon leader. As the water hits him, he screams and skins as his red skin burns.

"Now," Jacob says. "Blast him with everything you got!"

Once more, nodding my head, I shoot out both my hands and focus as much holy light between them as I can. Jacob doing the exact same, focusing much more holy light than me. Together, we both blast the demon leader.

As we blast the demon leader with our combined attack, an explosive erupts that forces both of us to fly back. The demon leader screams as a bright light swallows him whole. It eats his wings, his horns, and turns him back into his human form. The bright light dies down a few minutes later and the demon leader starts to fall.

"Catch him," Jacob yells.

"On it," I yell, flying after the demon leader. Diving through the air, trying to catch the demon leader as he falls, something starts to happen. I feel myself grow tired. The world around me becomes blurry and very soon, I can't see anything. I try my best to ignore it but as I do, everything turns black.

"Ahh," I moan. I open my eyes and see color. It's all blurry and mashed together but it's still color. Rubbing my eyes as I push myself up, I'm surprised to see Jacob and me in our human forms.

"Jacob," I say. I start to push myself up but fall back down.

"Easy there," Jacob yells, running to catch me. Catching me in time, he slowly sets me down. As he does, my vision returns to normal and I see the two of us are in a city for some reason.

"Jacob," I say, shaking my head. "Ahh. What happened? Are we on Earth? Why are we here?

"You pass out," Jacob answers. "That blast we did took a lot of our powers. Luckily for me, I still had just enough to grab you and carry you down here."

"Down to Earth? Why Earth?"

"Because while trying to save you, I was also trying to grab the demon leader. However, I lost sight of him, and now I have no idea where he is."

"Shoot," I say, slamming my fist down. "We lost him."

"We lost him," Jacob sighs. Jacob lets me rest for a few minutes before helping me to my feet. "Come on. We should get back to Heaven and help the others."

Jacob jumps and hovers in the air. About to fly off, he stops when he sees me.

"Lafayette. What are you doing?"

"Go ahead of me," I say. "I'm staying behind."

"What!"

Hearing this, Jacob falls back down, his feet hitting solid ground.

"What do you mean you're staying behind?" Lafayette. You can't stay behind."

"No, I need to stay behind. It was my fault that we lost the demon leader. I need to fix this."

"Lafayette, we will fix this but not this way. You know the rule. We angels cannot stay here on Earth. It's too dangerous."

"Yes, yes, yes, I know the rule and the danger but the demon leader is a bigger danger. Even in his human form, he's incredibly powerful. Listen, Jacob. You're needed in Heaven. I'll stay here and see what I can find. I'll report to you daily. Okay?"

Jacob doesn't answer me at first. He shakes his head all over before finally saying it.

"Fine," he cries out, "You're right. The demon leader needs to be taken down before he can do any major damage, but promise me you will be careful. Here, on Earth, we angels or demons cannot harness our full powers. You'll be at a disadvantage if you fight the demon leader."

"Even at my full power, I'm still at a disadvantage."

"You're not exactly giving me confidence," Jacob says.

"Just go," I say, pointing up. "And don't worry, I'll be fine. Talk to you soon."

"I hope."

With that said, Jacob flies back up to Heaven. Meanwhile, I look over the city.

"Okay," I think, "Where to start?"

For the rest of the day and many days afterward, I wandered around the city, looking for any sign of the demon leader. I walk and fly and teleport all over but no matter how hard I look, I can't find him anywhere.

"Maybe he went back to Hell," I think as I walk down a busy street. "But no. If he had, then Heaven would be under attack, and Jacob would have called me. Maybe he left the city. No, that can't be it. Why would the demon leader leave this city? I mean, it's not like he had anywhere else to go. Come on. Think. Think!"

As I hit my head over and over, trying to think of any possible answer, I stop when I look up and see the setting sun.

"Shoot," I say, my hands falling to my sides. "Another day lost. I guess I should try and find a place to rest for the night."

I sigh as I look around for a bench to sleep on. When I see one and head straight for it, I accidentally bump into someone holding some bags. As I bump into her, her bags rip and all her stuff fall out.

"Oh shoot," the girl, medium-height with long black hair with tanned skin, says. She drops to her knees and grabs some rolling cans.

"Oh my god," I say, dropping onto my knees as well. I grab some boxes and some rolling cans myself and give them back to the girl. "Oh my god. I am so sorry!"

"No, no, no," the girl says. "It's fine. It's fine!"

We both scramble to grab everything before it can either roll away or be stepped on. Luckily, since it's the two of us, we manage to grab everything in a few seconds.

"Sorry," I say again, handing the girl a box of macaroni.

"No, it's fine," the girl says again. She smiles and takes the box of macaroni. "It was my fault. I brought a whole of food but only two bags. I was practically asking for this."

I laugh when I hear this. The girl laughs too.

"Hey, thank you for the help. I really appreciate it."

"Don't mention it."

I nod my head before leaving for the bench. Laying down on it as soon as I reach it, I jump when I hear a familiar voice.

"Wait," the girl says, suddenly appearing in front of me. "Do you...not have a home? Are you homeless?"

"Uhh," I start. "No, no, no. I'm not homeless. I just... can't go home at the moment."

"What?"

"I'm here to do something really important, I mean, really, really important, but I guess in my 'haste', I never thought of finding a place to stay. Oh wow. I can't believe I just now realizing that."

"Hmm," the girl says. As she says this, I see a smile grow across her face.

"Would you like to stay with me and my friends," the girl asks. "I mean, we're renting this apartment building but even with the three of us, we're still short a few hundred dollars. We need at least one more person. Care to fill the spot?"

I open my mouth to say something but strangely, nothing comes out.

"I'm sorry about this," the girl says. "I know this may be a bit sudden but you seem like a decent person."

"A decent person," I repeat. "I hope so."

The girl smiles as she offers me a handshake.

"My name is Alieen," Alieen says.

I don't know why but, for some reason, I smile and shake Alieen's hand.

"I'm Lafayette," I reply. "So how much is the rent?"