Burn her.

Burn her.

Burn her.

The phase echoed in my mind as the Originals and the onlookers filed out of the run-down old building. If it wasn't really happening it may have been poetic. The angel of death put to death by hellfire. The irony wasn't lost on me and I had the feeling that it was exactly what Sorath had had in mind when she suggested it. Arakiel- I couldn't think of him as 'Jake' anymore was pacing, his hair disheveled from running his fingers through it in stress.

"I'm going to go talk to him… I can't just let them..." He started walking way from me to head for the door, but I grabbed his wrist to stop him for moving farther. He turned to meet my gaze as I squeezed his wrist tighter.

"Please…Don't. You and I both know he's not going to change his mind. And…While I'm pretty sure I'll be fine…Well I'd rather not be alone right now." My lips pressed into a thin line. Surely the laws of nature would save me from…well myself. But everything that had happened was completely unprecedented so I had no real clue of what might happen.

His eyes softened and he turned back to me, pulling me into his arms, "Saying I'm sorry doesn't really cut it does it?"

"It's actually really nice to hear from you." I sighed, resting my forehead against his shoulder. My head ached, whether it was from being here or the new level of stress that I had achieved, I didn't know. "I'm not sorry for what I did…But I am sorry that you're having to deal with the consequences of my actions."

"Heh. You're about to be burned alive tomorrow. I'd say I'm getting off easy." He chuckled, the sound bitter-sweet and I couldn't help but smile, rolling my eyes. Lucifer in his so-called charity had given Arakiel the night to say his goodbyes. They would be coming to collect me in the morning. "Come on. I'll take you home."

"Arakiel…Why do you stay here?" His words gave me the briefest hope before I realized he meant the hotel. Home for me was an odd word. Ultimately, it was the Kingdom of Heaven, but I was never there long enough to really be as "at home" there as my siblings. And I traveled the Earth so often I never really had any reason to make any one place my own. For now, I supposed that it was #15 Byron street but when Beth, Gabriel and Ivy were recalled…

He tensed slightly, as if startled by his real name or the question, still he answered none the less, moving back to look at me, hands moving to rest on my outer upper arms, just beneath my shoulders. "Frankly there's nothing for me there. No chance of getting the things I want. It's why I fell in the first place. Why should we have been any different from mankind? What makes them so special that they get to do whatever they want with their lives and we didn't?"

"Man is without knowing his purpose. Man must make the decision to choose Father where my kind has always known Him." It was a poor answer, but I wasn't quite sure of the real one myself. It was simply the way things had always been. We had jobs to do. Personal attachments, distractions, simple follies could only pull away our attention from our purposes. ""Why don't you just leave? Let me go home and come with me. Ask forgiveness. Surely that's better than being here. I don't know how you stand it. The people here…Everyone is so awful to one another…And the way Lucifer treats you…" my gaze flicked to the now dried streak of ebony blood on his cheek.

"Azrael…I…" His brow furrowed and he turned from me.

"Surely you're not that naïve. Forgiveness is a gift reserved for mankind. And even if I left, I'd be right back where I started." His voice was cold, the sound filled with exasperation.

"Heaven is a place of joy. I don't understand how you could have been unhappy there. What was so important that you would have given all of that up?"

"For the love of… I fell for you. Quite literally. Is that what you wanted to hear? The laws in Heaven are absolute. I didn't have a prayer of being with you there. Here I can do whatever I want. Be whoever I want. Be with whoever I want. Don't you see it? All of this has been, so I have a chance. Hell, even that little mortal is closer to you than I could have ever been there!"

"Arakiel…"

"But of course, ... You don't understand. Just like he said all you care about is your job. All you want is to get away from me. Am I that awful to you? The one thing that I've asked for from you is the opportunity to be at your side! Your sister gets to be with who she wants and you just…You just don't get it…" his brow was furrowed, his eyes, dark, but held frustrated confusion…or was it bitter enlightenment? He was pacing again, moving his hands to exclimate his points. I watched him, trying to take in all that he was telling me, but it just made my heart ache.

"Beth and Xavier are a special case. And they know that they only have until she gets called back. The rules are different for her. She isn't charged with watching over the dying… I am. Even if I were to start something with you, I'd never be able to be what you want. I'm not Asia. I'm not some lovesick groupie that will let you play with me any way you want. I can never be that for you. I wish you could understand."

"Oh, I understand. That's exactly why I brought you here. I knew you'd never choose me over your job so I brought you here so you could have the same opportunities I do. If you'd just join me, you could reap whoever you wanted whenever and have the freedom to choose."

I shook my head. "I do have the freedom to choose. And I choose to stay loyal to my Father. It's got nothing to do with us."

"What do I have to do to please you, Azrael? To have a chance to make you happy? To have you think of me the way I think of you. Please just tell me what it is going to take."

"Convert. Then at least we can be on the same side." It was a genuine plea. The more I saw of him here the less convinced that I was that this was where he was meant to be. He had said that kindness was a capital offence in Hell, but despite our squabbles and the fact that I was here against my will, that was all he'd shown me. A desire, no matter how misplaced, to make me happy.

"I've lived this way for millions of years. That's not something that's going to change anyone's mind about me, nor is it going to let me be with you. Every time I've asked you it's always that you can't…But what about what you want? If we were as mortal as your friends, if all of this, " He pointed toward the warehouse doors, moving his hand in a circular motion, his dark eyes locked on mine, searching, pleading. It made me miss the vivid shade of green they had been. "had nothing to do with us…Would you want to be with me?"

I was stunned. Something about him always seemed to affect me, draw me closer despite my best judgement before the same things would push me away. How charming he could be, but how he used it so manipulatively…How doting he was, but how he always pushed too far… How all he claimed to want was my happiness with him, but how terrified it made me when I was. The man was an enigma. A riddle I couldn't seem to wrap my head around. "I…I honestly don't know, Arakiel... That's not the life we live."