Only one more chapter to go after this one, or more like an epilogue rather, which will be up soon. Just in time for me to start working on my term-end assignments for school and exams next month. Yuck.
We're standing in the middle of what looks like it could be a study in a big ass mansion. Thick volumes of books are lining the bookshelves by the walls. All the furniture in here looks expensive. Really fucking expensive. Even the carpet under my bare feet feels expensive. I begin to fidget because I feel so out of place here. I glance over beside me at Angel, who's standing with his hands clasped behind his back, looking overly calm. Why am I so nervous?
"Shouldn't we be wearin', ya know, shirts? And shoes?" I say quietly to Angel, so the guard standing by the door in the corner can't overhear us. He's been glaring at us the whole time with his holier-than-thou attitude. Jackass. Okay, I guess if I want to be literal, he actually is a lot more holy than I am, but that's besides the point.
"She doesn't really care too much about these things," Angel replies with a grin.
"So, God is a woman, huh?"
"Yeah--Actually, more like a big ball of light, but takes the form of a woman often," he explains, "Probably because it's familiar and easier for humans to connect with."
"So why do humans think God's an old guy with a beard?"
"Humans get a lot of things wrong," he quips, "They're all worried about Martians and werewolves, when it's the gremlins they should really be worried about."
"Gremlins?" I echo. What the hell?
"Nasty little buggers, they are," he says with a straight face. I actually believe him for a moment until I see his lips twitch and then I know he's lying.
"Very funny," I say dryly.
"Just trying to loosen you up," Angel murmurs and discreetly rubs a hand over my lower back out of the line of sight of the guard, "You were looking kinda tense."
I take a deep breath. I guess I am kinda tense. "So we just wait now?"
"Yep."
He turns his head back to face forward and an laugh escapes my mouth when I notice the hickey that I put on his neck earlier. I reach my hand out to touch it, but the guard clears his throat loudly. I turn to look at him. He's glaring down his nose at us. Why the hell are all the guards so uppity around here? I scowl at him and have to stop myself from going over there and punching him in the face. Probably not a good idea. We're in the house of God, he's got a very large and pointy spear, not to mention divine back-up. Yeah okay, definitely not a good idea.
"Don't mind him. He's just doing his job," Angel murmurs and turns me around to face him. One corner of his mouth turns upwards briefly before adding, "Doesn't mean we can't make it difficult though."
He pulls me closer and his lips meet mine, thrusting his tongue into my mouth immediately. I wish I could see the look on the guard's face now, but this feels too good. My cock twitches and I moan when he begins to suck on my tongue.
I see a flash of light out of the corner of my eye and hear the guard boom, "AHEM!" followed by the sound of his spear thumping on the ground.
"Oh, let them have their fun," a female voice says, "You may leave now."
Feeling more than a little heady, I pull away from Angel, just in time to see the door close behind the guard as he leaves. It isn't until then that I notice we have company. There's a beautiful woman standing there. She's wearing a white dress with a gold trim, looking like one of those Greek women in those paintings at the museum.
She smiles at us and I'm instantly overcome by an intense feeling of warmth and love, something I'm not used to. It's something I haven't felt since I was just a kid, and even then it was never this strong.
I fall to my knees and my gaze drops to the ground. I hear her approach me and the bottom of her dress comes into my field of vision, the white material swirling just above the floor. I feel her soft hands on my shoulders and my heart rate speeds up.
"Rise, my son," she commands gently.
I get up but keep my eyes pointed towards the ground. She moves her hands from my shoulders and cups my face with both hands, forcing my head up to look at her. Everything about her is just breathtaking. I swallow hard when I look into her eyes. There's one thing that blatantly clear in her eyes--She loves me and always has loved me. I don't know how I know this, but I do. I can't believe I ever doubted that there was a God. All those things that I did to people, people that I hurt...
"I don't deserve to be here," I whisper.
She gives me a soft smile and places a kiss to my forehead. "Of course you do, Mark. You wouldn't be here if you didn't. You're just here sooner than originally expected."
Her eyes look over my shoulder at Angel. My eyes are transfixed to her face but I hear him come closer to stand beside me.
"Angel, my dear," she says and cups his face with one hand before moving it to brush her thumb over the hickey on his neck, "This is an interesting look for you."
"Mark thinks so too," he smirks at me.
I shoot him a look before returning my eyes to her face. I open my mouth but no words come out. Am I supposed to talk about these things in the presence of God?
She laughs and I can't help but think it's the most beautiful sound in the world. I'm instantly put at ease. She turns to me and gives my shoulder a squeeze.
"Don't worry. I know how much you humans like sex."
"But Angel's not human," I blurt out, and rub a hand over the back of my neck when I feel the blush creeping up on it.
"Ah yes," she smiles, "But he does enjoy the human realm very much. He spends more time down there than up here. Isn't that so, Angel?"
"Not anymore," he mumbles.
"Now Angel, fifty years is a light punishment. You did get Gwen involved too, after all."
Gwen. Wasn't that the girl outside? Angel's neighbour? Then it hits me. She was the one Angel wanted me to protect.
"I know," he sighs, "But Mark told me he killed people. I wasn't sure if Lucifer--I had to make sure Gwen brought him to us first."
And she had something to do with my death. That's why she seemed familiar. I still can't remember exactly what happened though. Wait--What does Lucifer have to do with me?
"Very well, but I'm not going to lighten your sentence."
"I know," he says quietly.
"I think I already know the answer to this question but was it worth it?" she asks him, running her hand over his hair as if he was a little kid.
He turns to look at me and grins. "It was."
She smiles and places a kiss to his forehead. "You may leave now, Angel."
He nods and gives me a quick kiss.
"Have fun down there. I'll see you when you come back up here," he whispers to me before exiting the room quietly.
She places one hand on my lower back and guides me to one of the sofas to sit down. Her hand moves along my arm, seemingly examining the tattoos. She traces over the one of a demon thinking.
"This is very realistic," I vaguely hear her comment but my mind is elsewhere.
"What does Lucifer want with me?" I can't stop myself from asking.
"There's a war slowly brewing, as much as I hate to admit it," she explains with a sad smile, "Lucifer is building up his army, and he will take anyone he can get--Even the souls that don't truly belong to him. However, I know he won't start anything until he has his army ready. It could take hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. It's nothing for you to think about now. What you do need to think about is where you would like to be sent back to. Any requests?"
"Well, I do like to fight…"