And so marks the beginning of the end.
Brace yourselves, my friends. Things are about to rapidly spiral out of control.
My apologies for being a day late on this. I've been spending my last few days unbearably ill (still am) but yesterday I just couldn't bring myself to get onto the computer. I apologize. But here's the chapter. Would really appreciate feedback on this one. Thanks!
XXV
Lailah's walk from Turiel's small little townhome to the devil's district felt longer than normal.
As heartbroken and furious as she was, she kept herself together fairly well, all things considered. She had bravely swallowed her tears after leaving her father's house and had managed to successfully bury everything until her mind felt devoid of feeling. It was a simultaneously terrible, yet comforting experience – that desperate refusal to address what she was going through as she fought to stay focused on the task at hand.
The second she got back, she'd bury herself in that library until she found that stupid jewel. She'd overturn every stone, book, shelf, statue, and tile if she had to. And after getting Eva and the others to safety, she'd come back and tear Azazeal into tiny little pieces starting with his deceitful tongue.
She almost couldn't believe how foolish she had been, trusting him as she had. And what had possessed her to even tell him about the location of the angel stone in the first place? It was extremely out of character for her and not knowing why she had done it, why she had felt so uninhibited around him – it made her terribly nervous.
Lailah was only grateful that Michael, Raphael, and the others didn't know – although just the thought of those angels made her all the angrier. How could they have kept her in the dark for so long? Why would they keep her in the dark for so long? Why wouldn't they tell her the truth about Azazeal? If she had known the full extent of his maliciousness, she never would have entertained the idea of associating with him again, no matter how lonely she had felt.
Yes, when all of this was done, she'd sit the whole lot of them down and give them a piece of her mind!
But first, she had to find that angel stone.
She turned the corner and slipped into the back alleyway behind the bar, so lost in her thoughts that she didn't realize that something was off until she opened the backdoor and stepped inside the establishment.
Normally, the place would be empty during these wee hours of the morning – but what she found was quite the opposite. Ana, David, Eva, Freya, and Helena were all seated at a table, and standing close by but to the side were Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael – and the angels in particular did not seem too thrilled to see her. Ana was the only one at the table who looked upset – the rest looked deeply concerned; particularly Eva, who jumped out of her chair and ran to Lailah's side when she entered the room, despite Ana's quiet rebuke.
It was strange how comforting the child's embrace was to Lailah. She didn't realize how much she needed a hug until the girl wrapped her arms around Lailah's waist and held her tightly. Eva was looking over at the three archangels with what almost looked like fear in her eyes and it made Lailah curious … and extremely protective.
"How long have you been waiting for me?" Lailah finally asked, putting an end to this uncomfortable silence.
"About an hour," Michael said, his tone calm and civil.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting. I was visiting my father."
"Yes, we know."
"So what is this? An intervention?" she asked a little teasingly, desperately trying to lighten the mood, but it only seemed to make it worse. She encouraged Eva to go and sit back down with her mother and when the child was situated in Ana's lap, Lailah stood before the three archangels, hands resting at her sides as she braced herself for what she knew was to come.
"Lailah, when Raphael arrived earlier this evening, he discovered these humans, under your orders, searching for the stone of angels. He was shortly thereafter informed that despite the fact that you were expressly forbidden to do so by the council of heaven, you disobeyed orders and persisted in your search. Is this true?" Gabriel inquired.
She nodded her head once.
"Yes, it is true."
She noticed Raphael closing his eyes in disappointment, as if he had been hoping that whoever had ratted her out had been mistaken.
Gabriel continued.
"Is it also true that you have purposefully ignored the instructions you were given to find a way to break the curse over this city?"
"Yes."
"But it was only because we've been searching for the last ten years and haven't found anything," Freya chimed in, jumping to Lailah's defense, but a single look from Gabriel and she quickly fell silent again.
"It has also reached our attention that you have failed to make any significant progress where Count Dracula is concerned. Is that also true?"
"It's certainly a point of debate, but I suppose, yes. That's true."
"And you received the order to sever all ties with the vampire, did you not?"
"I received them earlier yesterday morning from Ramiel."
"And did you put an end to your association with him?"
Lailah, who had been holding Gabriel's gaze throughout the inquisition, turned her head and gazed directly into Raphael's eyes. Despite the fact that he was wearing his best stoic expression, years of study allowed her to see just how miserable he was in this moment. He looked angry, disappointed, and guilty all at once, and though she felt for him, she could not help but resent him for his part in this.
How dare they – these men – come in here and treat her like some sort of inferior!
Sure, technically speaking in reference to rank, power, and influence, she was their inferior. But she was tired of being tossed about, tired of being told what to do and what not to do, tired of the rules, the pressure, tired of feeling like she was constantly being set up to fail.
"I visited the Count this evening with the express purpose of putting an end to our association," she finally said, still looking at Raphael. But then she turned to look back at Gabriel, her eyes narrowing. "However, upon further consideration, I've decided not to sever my ties with Dracula," she announced, and the evident surprise in the room made her want to smile almost wickedly, though she refrained.
"Lailah, don't do this," Raphael began, but she would not be silenced.
"I have sacrificed almost eleven years of my life keeping these people safe," she explained, motioning over to those that were sitting at the table who were watching her every move. "I've poured my whole soul into protecting them, have sacrificed my power, my strength, my health, my time, and even to a certain extent, my dignity to ensure that they stay out from under Dracula's thumb. Yes, I've disobeyed your direct orders. Yes, the way I've gone about some things has, I confess, been a little unorthodox, but the only reason why this is the case is because the council stole any other opportunity to change this situation. They refused to help me get Eva and the others out of the city; they refused to do anything about Dracula and his witch; they refused to at least get Ana and Eva out together – which I know for a fact you can do! And then they have the gall to take away my only remaining options? First the stone, and now Dracula? I had no other choice!"
"But you had a choice!" Gabriel snapped. "You had a choice that night, over a decade ago. You were supposed to let the child die, not deliver her and then steal her and her whore of a mother away, attracting not only the attention of Count Dracula, but his psychotic witch."
David smacked the table with his hand, getting ready to stand up and come to the defense of Ana's honor, but Lailah beat him to it.
"I would rather die than have the death of that child and her innocent mother on my conscience," Lailah hissed. "Unlike you, Gabriel, I know when to draw the line when it comes to murdering women and their children – innocent or not."
The look Gabriel gave her was one of absolute shock as her comment hit him right below the belt.
"That was different," he defended. "That was not my fault and I paid penance for it all the same."
"We're getting off track, here," Michael finally said, reining everyone back in. "The point is, Lailah, you've blatantly disobeyed not one, but two direct orders now. You are already on very thin ice. Don't push it."
"But what about the other angel?" Helena interjected, catching everyone's attention, including Lailah's.
"What other angel?" Raphael inquired, clearly as confused as the others, although Lailah's complexion was suddenly a shade or two paler.
"The other angel you've been seeing – the one that's been helping us find the angel stone?" Helena clarified. "Lailah, you know which one. The tall, devilishly attractive one that's always wearing those fingerless leather gloves? He's got those red rings around his pupils? Anyway, maybe not all of the angels agree with the orders you've been giving her. Maybe you should take that into consideration?" she offered, though most of what she had said had fallen on deaf ears the instant she mentioned this "other angel's" eyes.
Michael, who had been fairly calm through this entire ordeal, suddenly appeared terribly shaken.
Raphael, on the other hand, looked positively betrayed.
"Tell me you haven't been seeing him," Raphael begged Lailah. "After everything that's happened, Lailah – tell me that this mortal is either lying or horribly misinformed."
But she could not tell him what he wanted to hear, as much as she desired to, and her silence sent everything over the edge.
"What were you thinking?" Raphael demanded, raising his voice. "Do you have any idea what you have done?"
"My father spent a good deal of breath informing me, yes," Lailah said coldly, and this only seemed to enrage him further.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he continued. "If you had told me, we could have gotten rid of him, sent him back to Hell where he belongs. Why would you turn to him and then keep it from me, Lailah? Why?"
"Because I didn't want to deal with this," she explained, motioning between the lot of them. "I wanted to avoid what is happening right now, Raphael. You have to understand, all of you have been gradually withdrawing your help from me with every passing year, when what I really needed was more of your support, the support of the council, and the support of heaven in general. For ten years before Dracula reached out to me, I begged and I pleaded for assistance, but all of that was lost in the antiquated bureaucracy of meetings and debates when the option to remove all of us from this city was clearly the only right option! And I was denied time and time again. What was I supposed to do? Turn Azazeal away when he was offering me the help I've so desperately needed? Yes, I should have been more cautious, but I was tired of having door after door slammed in my face, with no windows of opportunity opening up to compensate. If Dracula wouldn't release us willingly, I wanted to have an alliance with Azazeal as a back-up plan."
"Do you have any idea what would happen if that demon got his hands on the angel stone?" Gabriel asked, interrupting the conversation between Lailah and Raphael and bringing it back to the more pressing topic at hand.
"My father finally took the time to explain it to me, yes," she said bitterly. "Oh, and thanks for keeping me informed! Thank you for communicating to me the reasoning behind the decisions you have been making lately, that way I could understand why it was so bloody important to stay away from Azazeal or not search for the angel stone!" she snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Oh wait! That's right – you didn't tell me."
Gabriel opened his mouth to argue with her, but Michael held up his hand, silencing the two. His eyes then fell on Lailah, his expression unreadable.
The two of them stared at each other for some time in absolute silence, an inaudible conversation of looks passing between them and the company watched as Lailah's expression of angry determination turned to dread, to understanding, and then to resignation, while Michael's expression took on that of hesitancy and disappointment.
Lailah knew what was coming.
She had seen this very moment in the vision she had had the night Eva was born, knowing that it was to come, but having that knowledge didn't make the reality of it any easier to bear.
"Lailah, daughter of Turiel, because of you have broken the sacred decrees and laws of heaven, as well as your oaths as an angel, I hereby revoke all support from heaven and banish you, forthwith, here on earth, until a time that the council shall decide upon."
The words sliced through her like an icy blade in the gut and she visibly cringed, though she fought to remain as steel-faced as possible, bracing herself for more because Michael wasn't done yet.
"This means that should you find a way to escape this city and return to heaven, no angel will attend you, no heavenly being will acknowledge your presence. You will remain an outcast until further notice. Should you find yourself in need, no one shall come to your aid. All angels will be absolutely forbidden from assisting you, supporting you, or associating with you, on pain of their own banishment. Do you accept your punishment?"
"No! You can't do this!" Freya shouted, standing up suddenly.
"Freya, please. It's useless," Ana pleaded, tears streaming down her face.
"No! Lailah is all we have!" the witch continued. "If you banish her, if you refuse to help her, you will not only be sentencing an innocent child to death," and she pointed over at Eva who was already on the verge of tears, lip quivering, "but you will be sentencing Lailah to death as well! Can't you see how much she's suffered already? Are you so completely devoid of feeling?"
"Freya…" David said gently, but the witch would not be silenced.
"You can't do this to her! It's wrong!"
"Lailah has given everything she has for us," Ana chimed in tearfully. "You call yourselves angels of the Lord. I thought angels were supposed to be good and just and full of mercy. The only person who is worthy of that title is the woman before you, and this is how you treat her? With contempt and condescension, simply because she did what she thought was best for us?"
"She left her home for us," Freya continued. "She sacrificed everything to keep us safe, and I'll be damned if I see you abandon her like this!"
Lailah, clearly moved by the unconditional love and support of her friends, turned to look at Freya and she smiled sadly at the witch.
"Freya, it's alright," the angel said softly. "It's just banishment, and it's better than falling completely."
"But it's not! This is anything but alright!" Freya insisted, even when David and Helena both tried to coax her back into her seat. "Raphael, why won't you say anything? Why are you letting them do this to her?"
All attention fell on the red-headed archangel whose eyes had not left Lailah for a single moment. It was very evident that he took no pleasure in these proceedings, that there was so much he wanted to say and wanted to do – but it was as though he were bound, by honor or duty or something else entirely, to remain silent and obedient, as much as it killed him to do so.
Lailah wanted to hate him for it, but she couldn't.
She couldn't hate any of them for what was happening to her in that moment.
The only person she hated right now was herself.
"Michael, I accept the terms of my sentence," Lailah said at last, despite Freya and Ana's protestations and the head archangel nodded his head. "I only have one request," she added, much to the surprise of everyone else.
"I will hear your request," Michael said, and she nodded in gratitude.
"I know you will not agree to deliver all of them out of the city," she began, motioning over to those at the table, "but I must beg you to at least get Eva out. She is an innocent child, Michael, and does not deserve to share in my fate."
The expression on Michael's face was one of evident pain and Lailah knew the answer before he could even say it. He looked over at the child who was still sitting in her mother's lap, and for the briefest of moments, there was a look of hesitation in his eyes, as if he was considering… but then he shook his head as if to physically banish those considerations away.
"No," he answered flatly. "The council has spoken. The child has been your responsibility, and so she must remain."
The sounds of shock coupled with the desperate pleas for him to reconsider erupted from those seated at the table, but Lailah remained dutifully silent throughout, even after Raphael left rather abruptly in a flash of light and a rumble of thunder, clearly upset. Before the urgent shouts of Ana, Freya, and even David could get out of hand, Gabriel and Michael also left, vanishing as well.
Their absence was felt instantly and the noise at the table quickly died down into a horribly deafening silence as Lailah could feel the weight of their gazes upon her.
The angel wanted to cry – wanted to cry and scream and thrash and break things – but she remained composed, pulling into herself as the weight of her very real sentence pressed down upon her already troubled soul.
Lailah replayed Raphael's look of utter betrayal and disappointment over and over again in her mind and her heart slowly began to break when she realized that they would never recover from this. She had lied to him too many times, had kept too much from him, and though maybe, with time, he'd come to forgive her, things would never be the same, and that understanding crushed her heart in her chest as she became very much aware of what she had lost.
And not even Dracula himself could fill that hole inside of her.
Eva, being the sensitive child that she was, was the first to approach Lailah to make sure she was okay, but it was clear to everyone that she was not.
Her smile was broken and her eyes looked void of light.
"Lailah, I'm so sorry," Helena said, her voice full of genuine sincerity, as if the poor woman felt personally responsible for what had just transpired. Like Freya and Ana, she had tears streaming down her cheeks and though Lailah was moved by their concern for her, right now, what she really wanted was air.
"It's not your fault, Helena," Lailah finally said, her voice terribly soft. "It's mine."
"What are we going to do?" Eva asked, hugging Lailah tightly as the angel absently caressed the girl's hair.
"I'll think of something," she promised. "But right now, I think it's time for the lot of you to get some rest. You've had a long evening," she encouraged, moving towards the secret door in the hall and opening it, motioning for the others to head down below. They all stood, though rather slowly, unwilling to defy her.
"What about you?" David asked sympathetically, squeezing her shoulder after both Freya and Ana embraced her before heading down below.
"I'm going to go for a walk, clear my head a bit – and then I'll come right back," she promised.
"Would you like some company?" he offered. "Maybe I can find some of Dracula's soldiers for you. We can tie them up and you can beat them to a pulp. I know that helps me when I've got a lot of pent-up rage."
Lailah chuckled.
"Thank you for the offer, but maybe we'll save that for another day. Your wife and daughter need you more than I do right now."
"I'd suggest Freya go with you, but I think she'll have her hands full with Helena, trying to convince the poor girl that this isn't her fault."
"It's not her fault," Lailah insisted. "She was just trying to help. Was she the one who told Raphael about the stone?"
David nodded.
"Poor thing. Tell her from me that I don't blame her and things aren't as hopeless as they seem. I swore to get you all out of this city. I intend to do just that."
"I know," he said with a smile. He then reached out for her and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. Although an embrace from David wasn't exactly what she needed in that moment, she was grateful for the gesture all the same and she hugged him back before letting him go.
"I'll be back soon," she promised.
"Do you want to change first? Looks like you still have that dress on under your coat from earlier?"
"I'll worry about that when I get back," she assured him, as she headed for the back door, opening it to find the night sky lightening gradually as the sun slowly began to rise behind the mountains.
"Lailah?" David called out before she could shut the door behind her. She turned to look back at him. "Don't do anything stupid."
Lailah would make no such promise.
She merely smiled sadly before shutting the door behind her.