Samael wanted nothing more than to consume the entire world at that moment. His rage demanded nothing less - fueling his firestorm until every wall, every surface, save the body of the woman before him, was devoured by his flame.

On the precipice of destruction, he grasped at justification.

If he destroyed this world, the dark child might be destroyed.

If he destroyed this world, his father might understand his pain.

If he destroyed this world... they would know him no more as Lucifer.

How he hated that name. How he hated the one who had come before him. How he wished he could stand before that cursed fool now and split his atoms into dust!

The fire roared with the thought. With the desire for destruction.

With a moan, the woman at his feet fell limp. Blood welled from the cuts on her arms. Her skin was red and covered in sweat.

Samael blinked, the brilliant white light of his eyes shuttered briefly.

What was he doing?

Destroying the world?

Or simply this woman?

No. No more.

Samael snuffed the fires, drawing the heat back from the woman's body, restoring the air for her lungs.

Which she drew in with a coughing breath.

He frowned deeply, the flames receding from his form.

This had been wrong.

Had his sister been right? That he was broken, just as the other had been?

For would not only one so broken harm an innocent in this way?

With a sound of disgust, Samael drew the woman from the floor, pulling her back up to the bedroom where he had first brought her. Everything was black now, charred, seeping thin, dancing wisps of smoke, but the bed would still hold her. Perhaps this time the healing would work as it should?

It had to.

He placed his hands atop her head and over her singed shirt and he willed her body to heal.

And this time, absolutely nothing happened.

Closing his eyes tightly, he called upon every reserve he had, seeking to force the knitting of the woman's sliced skin and the cooling of a body pushed to its limit.

But his efforts bore no fruit.

Samael turned slowly and sat down beside her, folding his wings against his back. He stared out at the room - at the destruction he had wrought.

He had failed to save his sister.

He had failed to stop the child.

And he had harmed a human woman out of anger.

Shame welled within him.

"You... you hate him so much," came a dry voice beside him.

Samael twisted. The woman had turned her head slightly to look at him.

She was in pain. He could see it in her eyes.

He had done a terrible thing here.

Gently, he grasped the woman's hand.

"Do not speak. I have hurt you and I cannot seem to heal what I have done."

The woman's eyes were bloodshot and wet.

"Why do you hate him so much?"

Samael shook his head. "It is unimportant. I am sorry for what I have done, I-"

"He wasn't a bad man, Samael."

He watched her for a moment before leaning in to speak. "He was not a man at all. He was as I am."

Her eyes rolled oddly and for a moment he thought she might be losing consciousness.

But she merely made an irritated sound and kept talking.

"He wasn't a bad angel," she said, her voice lowering.

Her fingers squeezed his own.

Samael could only frown again.

This one's mind was still unwell. He had failed her so utterly.

"He Fell from Heaven, human. He was driven out and ruled over sinners."

"Yes, but-"

"He is the literal interpretation of a 'bad' angel."

The woman raised a slightly singed eyebrow.

"Is?"

Samael stared at her, his frown deepening. "Was." He released a heavy sigh and withdrew his hand. "It does not matter. He is gone. Father destroyed him to create me. I do not expect you to understand that, but-"

With no warning at all, the woman's face crumpled, and she began to cry.

He took her hand again. "I understand, the pain must be great, perhaps if I try again I-"

"Wrong kind of pain," the woman managed through gulping sobs. "A bad sunburn and cuts I can handle." She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, and the sobs grew. "I can't handle the loss of my friend."

And she cried as he sat and watched her numbly, not understanding at all.

"Why would you love someone so terribly wrong?" he finally whispered, without truly meaning to say anything at all. The impulse had gripped him oddly.

With an aggravated sound, the woman pressed her head back against the charred pillow.

"He wasn't bad, and he wasn't 'terribly wrong'," she cried through sniffles. "He was just..."

Samael waited, then offered what he could.

"Destructive? Selfish? Rebellious?"

The woman gave him a gentle look and squeezed his hand again.

"Human."

"I am not," Samael said, withdrawing his hand.

Those eyes rolled again, and it became somewhat clearer it was an expression of irritation.

"No, I meant HE was."

"He was not. Did we not discuss this before?"

"Oh my god," the woman groaned, driving her head back against the pillow again. "I don't mean literally! I meant that he made mistakes, Samael. That he was flawed, just like all of us." She smirked. "Just like all of you."

Samael stiffened, straightening where he sat.

"That is incredibly insulting," he said firmly. "To call an angel flawed, is-"

"Accurate, mister," the lady snorted, gesturing emphatically. "It's accurate! I should know!"

He stood to his feet quickly, his brow drawing down hard.

"You're not going to 'flame on' again, are you?" she whispered, pressing back into the bed as her eyes grew wide. "Because I'd like to point out that I am very fragile - I'm owning it now. Extremely fragile human here, do not toast!"

Samael took a long, slow breath, tempering the fires of his anger.

"You use the strangest words, human."

"Linda."

"Yet another strange word. I should have healed this damage, I do not-"

"It's my name, Samael. I prefer it to 'human'."

"Ah. My apologies." He bowed slightly, his hand at his chest. "Well met, Linda."

A flash of movement caught his eye to his right. Turning to look, he locked eyes with himself.

A mirror.

Frowning, he studied himself. Tall. Black hair with a slight curl. Dark eyes holding a storm of emotions he wanted nothing to do with.

Quickly, he looked away - at the gentle arcs of his folded wings, luminescent in the small space. At the long luxurious cut of his robe. His hands, slender and strong, curled at his sides.

Beautiful.

Haunted.

"What are you looking at?"

He glanced down at her, then back.

"I am looking at myself."

A small smile tugged at her mouth. "Interesting."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

She shrugged, then hissed, pulling up an arm to study a cut.

Frowning, he looked back at the mirror, turning slightly towards the bed to lift his robe.

"Uh," Linda stammered, eye level with his pelvis and watching as he lifted the robe higher. "What are you doing?"

Ignoring her, he turned further and drew the robe from his well-defined buttocks completely.

"Oh my god - ARE YOU FLASHING ME?! WHY ARE YOU FLASHING ME!?"

And there it was.

The dimple.

He let the robe slip from his fingers and he stared back into eyes bereft. Behind his tall form, his wings sagged towards the burnt tile.

"Oh," she said in a low voice. "Oohh. You were checking... ah. That's upset you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so incredibly rude."

"I am a copy of another," he whispered, his gaze still caught by his own eyes. Dark eyes that were beginning to smolder. "A poor copy who can no longer heal, who-"

"You keep mentioning healing," Linda said abruptly. "Lucifer couldn't do that."

Samael stared down at her in confusion.

"He could not?"

"No. He had this intense desire mojo - and hoo-boy," she said, her eyes widening as she fanned herself, "was it intense."

She smiled at him then. "You don't have that. Which means you're not an exact copy."

He slowly lowered to sit beside her. "I do not understand. I should have all of the gifts of the first Samael. You say he did not heal - you are certain?"

Linda snorted. "Oh, yeah. If he could heal, he wouldn't have asked me to kill him when Chloe got sick."

Samael blinked.

"He ended up stopping his own heart though, because I was too chicken to do it." She looked towards the window and shook her head. "It was scary. We couldn't get him back at first, so that was terrifying." With a small smile, she looked back at him. "But he came back finally and saved her."

It was all a revelation, but the name she had used stayed with him, pausing in his mind as if held there. Chloe. Remiel had called the mother that. Chloe Jane Decker?

The name was followed by the phantom of a voice, oddly cut off.

Chloe Jane Decker, I lo-

Running.

He was running from something.

Why?

"Samael?"

Blinking again, he looked down at her.

"Yes?"

"Where did you go?"

Tilting his head, he frowned. "I have been sitting here beside you without moving."

Linda laughed. "My God, you're all so literal!" She tapped her temple. "I meant in your head. You were thinking about something."

"Running," he said softly, his breath leaving him in a drawn-out sigh. "I feel as if I am running. But I do not know why. It has come to me before. Fleeting."

Linda was nodding, her eyes narrowed.

"Weird."

"Indeed."

"The healing that you're talking about though. You can't do it now?"

He shook his head, his gaze darkening.

"But you could before?"

"Yes."

The woman winced as she sat up slowly, resting her back between two metal rings set in the headboard.

Grasping at her head again, she squeezed her eyes closed. "Ow."

Samael looked at her in sympathy. He had done poorly by her. The matter of her mind was still wounded.

She straightened and looked at him intently.

"Okay, one more celestial patient it is. What's changed?"

Samael raised an eyebrow. "I beg your pardon?"

"You could do it before," she said, pointing to the left. "But you can't do it now." She drew her finger to the right, then swung it back and forth. "What's happened between now and then?"

Frowning deeply, Samael watched her hand, then looked back at her.

"Much," he said flatly.

Linda rolled her eyes once more.

It was definitely a sign of irritation. He was quite pleased with himself for learning this.

"Can you elaborate? Start from when you last healed, to now. Go."

The request brought an uncomfortable feeling he could not quite label. He sat back and crossed his arms.

She smiled. "I get it. You don't want to talk about this. It'll help, though. Please."

So prompted, and with a heavy sigh, he did. Explaining how he had brought the mother - Chloe - back from the brink of death after the birth of the dark child and how that healing had been flawless. He was trying to continue, but the woman kept making strange, sputtering sounds.

"Chloe had A BABY!?" the woman squawked once more. "But... but... but she wasn't even...?! How did...?!"

"May I continue?"

Linda covered her mouth briefly. "I'm sorry, I'm very confused... and shocked! I had no idea!"

"I healed her and she acted oddly towards me, and I-"

"Oh god," the woman whispered. "Poor Chloe. She didn't know you weren't..."

"She did not."

Raising his fingers to his own lips, he pressed there briefly. "She... kissed me."

Linda winced. "Oh... Chloe."

"I did not mind it."

"I'm sure you didn't," the woman said with a little lilt to her voice. "Your predecessor liked it very much."

"She was confused then. She asked me what they had done to me, how had they made me forget."

"Same mistake I made."

"Indeed."

Samael's gaze dropped to his shimmering robe. He did not want to tell her of hurting Chloe by yelling at her in his tongue. It simply brought back his shame.

"My sister, Remiel, came and I learned the truth," he said, in a voice low and tired. "I healed a few at the hospital afterwards but it was not the same. I could not find the child and I went back to the meadow of my birth."

"I'll ask about the 'child' later, because WOW, but, tell me, how did you feel there? When you went back?"

He looked past her out the window. At the dull, oddly yellow-ish sky.

"Angry."

"Talk to me about that."

He sighed in response, tracking a bird with slender white wings descending from a rooftop.

"Why were you angry?" she persisted.

His gaze snapped to her, molten.

"Would you not be angry if you found out that your face, your name, your very being, belonged to someone else? One who had been hated? Reviled? One who had borne a terrible threat to this world, that even your Father feared? Would you not be angry?!"

Linda reached out to grasp his hand.

The flames sank from his eyes as he looked down at her small fingers, wrapped over his own.

"Yes. Absolutely. You have every right to feel that way."

Mollified, he nodded, clearing his throat and sitting up straighter.

"Indeed. I like this talking that we are doing. You are confirming that I am right. That is good."

"Mmm-hmm. So you're angry at God right now."

Samael's gaze widened.

Of course he was angry. He had admitted this to his Father. But a simple human could not know such a thing. It could lead them to doubt the will of his Father, lead them away from Him, and that was a terrible thing.

He shook his head. "My Father is the creator. He is the wisest of all, above all of creation. I am merely..." his lips thinned, "somewhat upset at the choice that was made."

"'Somewhat upset'?" she echoed, her voice rising. "Well, that's diplomatic."

"It is appropriate."

"But inaccurate. You were livid. I could see that in your eyes a few moments ago."

Samael's nostril's flared as he glared down at the charred bed between them.

The fabric, already singed, started to smoke.

"Samael," the woman said softly, squeezing his hand to draw his gaze up. "Please be honest with me... and please stop starting fires."

Squeezing his eyes shut, the corners of his mouth digging down deep, Samael tried to be honest. But it came with a such an upswell of emotion he felt on the edge of losing control again.

"I am... finding it hard," he finally managed. "I am... unable to stop what is happening. I cannot stop the child. He restores himself effortlessly. And I cannot turn my thoughts from that woman. She mourns for me, for what was lost, but it is not truly for me, but for the other one. The one my Father destroyed, then remade, cursing me with his form. A form hated, despised; he spawned the one who will end it all, and I carry that burden now - I carry it! I brought this child into the world! I am the hated one! I AM DESPISED!"

Eyes blazing, he turned his head sharply and words shot from him like lightning, no longer restrained by the woman's weak language.

I HATE MY FATHER FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE!

The woman's scream barely rose above the sound of shattering glass, as the windows along the entire wall of the suite exploded outwards, joined by a flurry of clutter forced out into the void.

Squeezing his eyes closed, he caught the fires of his rage just in time, pulling them back from expression before they could consume the woman, the room, and the entire city beyond the thin barrier of the building's bounds.

And when he opened his eyes again, he felt... somewhat better.

At first he did not know where the woman had gone, but then he spotted her, wedged between the bed and the thin stretch of wall, cowering beside a window frame lined with broken glass and open to the hazy air. The sounds of screeching tires, horns and sirens rose from the streets below.

Her eyes were wide, her mouth open in shock.

And she flinched when he next spoke.

"I think I am fixed now, Linda," he said calmly, giving her a small smile. "You are very wise. I think I have addressed what was wrong."

"...oh dear..." she whispered, in a voice so soft a sudden breeze sweeping into the room almost overwhelmed it.

The smile faltered, but he pressed on, needing to be right. Needing what he had expressed, the terrible thing he had said, to be gone from him.

"I should be able to heal now, should I not?"

Linda shook her head in an almost imperceptible motion.

When she spoke the word was drawn out and low.

"Nnnno..."

The fear in her eyes was twined with a terrible pity.

"...I don't think so."

We leave these two and visit someone else for the next chapter. Been a bit stalled with writing this week, mostly because work has been intense. I'm about 10 chapters ahead though and writing the big confrontation that's to come. More chapters will wrap up things after that. No idea how long this beast will be after all is done. %)

Thanks for reading, and thanks for all of the comments and reviews. It brightens my day considerable to hear everyone's thoughts on the story so far. :) Take care!

Edit: uh... just realized this chapter is 3k... wow. Sorry. XD I write long.