Disclaimer: None of the characters in this chapter are mine of course nor am I affiliated with Fox, the WB, and Paramount and other agencies mentioned here.

Chapter 11

Los Angeles

Lucifer immediately changed back to his demonic shape and lunged at a shocked Gabriel with a sword hidden under his own armor. Gabriel took out his spear and drove it at him and the two demons passed and landed back to back. Raindrops continued to fall as both Archangels waited to see who would fall first. Both the sword and spear vibrated from each drop. It seemed to be a long wait but then Gabriel fell and Lucifer smiled.

"Finish it." A weakened Gabriel asked, with his hand on his stomach, now covered with blood.

Lucifer placed his sword back into his armor, "Not yet." He replied. "A warrior should die gloriously in a true battle. This time, I want Illyria to hear you scream."

Somewhere out in Los Angeles, a motorcycle comes to a stop near a Catholic Church. Angel and Spike got off, soaked from the rain which now had ended, and walked towards the church.

"Next time, we drive in a car!" Angel said, still trying to shake off the water off of his jacket.

"You poor sod!" Spike replied. "Can't handle a little dinky rain?"

Just then, the church's doors opened and a priest, around his 40's, walked out with a flashlight in his hand.

"Hello?" The man asked with his flashlight pointed at the two vampires. Both Angel and Spike were blinded for a bit. "I heard an engine running so I came out here to see what it was. Would you like to come inside and get dry?"

"Yes thank you." Angel replied softly and nodded to Spike as the two headed into the church.

"May I ask what brings you here?" The priest asked as he turned off his flashlight and walked down a long corridor flanked by countless lit candles.

Unsure of what to say, Angel turned to Spike but even the blonde vampire did not know what to say. The two have been searching high and low in a few churches and abandoned missionaries but so far they haven't been able to find anything helpful in regards to holy weapons.

In one of the books Angel read it stated a powerful weapon handed down generation to generation between priests. The last priest they met knocked himself out silly when they told him they were vampires and tried to calm him down, saying that they had souls but the guy panicked.

In another case, Spike just blurted out the vampire part to the priest so he had to put him down, the nice sorta non-violent way of course.

They would have to use a new approach.

"Uh." Angel said with a cough. "Were here to confess father."

The priest gave them a confused look.

"At this time of the night?"

With a chuckle, Angel continued. "We uh…did some really horrible things and we can't find sleep until it's been properly dealt with. We really had a rough day." 'And that's the truth so help me god. I am so lost right now.'

"Well." The priest replied and picked up a candle on the wall. "What is your name son?"

"Angel."

"Oh and I'm Spike." Spike said with his hand in the air.

"I am Father Everett." Everett pointed to a door across the hallway. "Please, this way."

As the group walked down the hallway the candles on the way began to flicker rapidly. Father Everett took notice but ignored it and continued to lead the way and opened the doors to the sanctuary. Angel and Spike took a moment to observe the awe of the sanctuary; it was simply massive with beautiful glass paintings from the bible and huge organs at the top back of the area.

"In here." Everett said in a calm voice next to the confessional. "Who would be first?"

Angel stepped forward. "Me."

"Very well then." The priest replied and stepped into one side of the wooden stall with Angel in the other.

What the bloody hell does Angel think he's doing? Spike thought to himself as he leaned back only to find himself burned a bit from the large cross behind him. Bugger!

"Forgive me Father for I have sinned." Angel said with a monotone voice. "It's just that these past years have been so full of deaths and bad decisions in my life. I just don't know how to handle it."

"Many deaths?" Everett asked. "Were many of them your friends? Lovers? Family?"

Angel responded weakly, the memories of his dead comrades still fresh in his mind, along with the pictures of his victims as Angelus. "Yes…all of them were close friends of mine and I loved one dearly. Some of them sacrificed themselves to make sure I stay alive; they were family to me."

"God works in many ways my son. In our lives God gives us free will to do what we please but he also knows exactly what we would choose. However, in each part of our lives he gives us a crossroad from which we must choose to continue our lives. And these crossroads are the major changing points in our lives."

'Crossroads? If I didn't leave home and met Darla I never would be here right now.' The vampire thought but then he also remembered something else.

But no! The fates had to step in and they made you a vampire! And with a soul too!

'And that gypsy girl Darla brought in changed me forever. My life would never the same after that.'

Everett leaned in closer to the screen. "Sometimes though, as much as we hate it, sacrifices are made for a greater cause but they must not be made in vain. Nor should they ever be forgotten. They all have bad consequences but they also have good consequences."

Doyle, gave his life so he made sure I kept on fighting.

Cordy, her last breath put me back on track.

Fred, gave her life for the final fight.

Wesley, if it wasn't for him Illyria wouldn't be fighting on our side and we'd be badly short of manpower.

Gunn, his death gave us more time to hold on.

"No one in this world is perfect Angel." Everett continued. "There will never be times when we make the 'perfect'choice no matter how good or bad it seems."

'Was coming to Wolfram and Hart the right decision?'

So not only did you strike a deal with your worst enemy to give up your son, you let them rape the memories of your friends!

"Big or small it doesn't matter. Each and every choice we make matters. Yes the world is harsh and cruel, the top dog conquers all, but we fight to make a difference, to make our existence matter. The lord did not placed us on Earth for no reason at all, he always have a reason. We each serve a purpose regardless of our status."

Angel pondered for a bit. "Then what does god do?"

Jasmine. The Powers that Be.

Angel needed some reassurance about these powers.

"God has never interfered directly with man and if he had, had always kept it to a minimum. He has also sent many prophets to guide us to the right path no matter how far we have strayed from it. If he kept coming in by himself all the time to help we wouldn't exactly be human now would we? No free will at all."

"I see…" Angel replied quietly. "So what should I do? So many people rely on me Father to help them in this world. Last night I made a decision that cost me some of the lives of my family just to hit a great evil hard."

"Let your heart guide you my son to the right path." Everett replied. "The harder you look, the better it hides, it will find you."

With a chuckle Angel replied. "My heart is nothing but a dried up nut."

"Is that so?" The priest said. "Then let your soul guide you, it is the one thing nothing can destroy."

"So I was told." Angel said, 'how I wished that was true.'

"Trust in God my son." Everett whispered through the screen. "And he'll help you in anyway he can. He'll show you the path but you must walk it yourself. Give it time."

"Yes…thank you father." Angel replied and paused for a moment to see if the priest was to say the closing ahems but he heard nothing, instead, he felt something hot. Smoke started to rise from his hands and Angel realized that there was a cross there, he withdrew his hand immediately.

"So tell me." Everett continued. "What is a vampire doing in a holy place like this?"

'Oh crap. The man is shoving crosses at me.' "Uh nothing! What's a vampire!?" The last thing Angel needed was to knock out another priest.

"I am not a naïve fool, your hand burns at the power of God vampire." Everett said and the next thing Spike grabbed and hurled him out of the confessional back into the sanctuary. The priest picked up a canteen of holy water and threw it at Spike, the water burned him and by instinct turned on his vamp face.

"Bugger that hurt!" Spike cried out. "Were not even bad vampires!"

"Liar, there is no such thing as a good vampire!" And Everett brought his forearm down on Spike. The vampire fell down facedown on the floor hard with a loud smack.

Angel popped up behind Everett. "Yeah but we got souls…" But before Angel could finish his sentence Everett punched him, really hard, like actually hard and he went flying across the sanctuary. Spike leaped at Everett but the priest was quick and backhanded him into the wall.

"Oh now I'm really angry! You don't want to see me angry!" Spike roared.

Again the blonde vampire charged at the priest but gets caught in Everett's headlock and is dumped into a nearby fountain of holy water. Spike screamed as the water burned his skin. Everett turned to see Angel up and facing him, ready to tear him limb to limb.

"Do you really want to end it like this?"

"At least I'll die fighting for God!" Everett shouted as he tackled Angel into the stands. While being human, the priest was unusually strong, too strong for a normal human actually but Angel was able to throw him off. Everett recovered quickly and punched Angel hard into the wall and rushed at him but the vampire double-kicked him back, just barely.

With his right forearm Angel brought it up in a blow that snapped Everett's head back and threw him high into the other wall with a loud crack and a thud. Everett fell down to the floor like a limpness body but to Angel's amazement he got back up and charged again.

'What's this guy made of?' Angel thought but then a quick glow of red on Everett's index finger caught his attention. Angel twisted away from another of the priest's punch and grabbed a hold of him.

"Let's see what you're made of after I take this off!" Angel said as he reached for the ring but noticed that Everett made no attempts to stop him. He continued anyways and removed the ring off of the priest and shoved him away to the ground. Everett looked back and laughed.

"The ring heeds only to those of the Champions of the Light! No creature of darkness could harness its power!"

Angel smirked. "Well then, let's try it out." He placed the emerald ring on his index finger and Everett continued to laugh but then stopped when he realized that nothing happened to Angel.

"Impossible!" Everett cried out.

"News flash." Angel held his hands out sideways. "I'm a vampire with the soul, I'm a Champion too. That's what I've been trying to tell you! Saved the world a couple of times."

"Me too." Spike said with his hand up as he lay down on the floor.

Everett examined Angel a bit closer. "I have heard rumors about vampires with souls but I never actually believed it."

"Well now you should." Angel held up the ring and observed it. The band was silver with a small red crystal imbedded into it along with inscriptions around it. "So what does this ring do? Make you super strong?"

"You are half-wrong vampire." Everett said as he shook his head. "This ring was forged long ago for a champion of the light. From generation to generation it was passed down by us ancient priests to each new champion that arises. The ring holds the spirits of past champions. It endows any user who is not evil with every champion's skills, experience, and power. Only a true champion however can bring out its true potential."

"Really?" Angel said as he continued to study the ring. Spike came up to him.

"You take it mate, had enough with wearing jewelry to fight evil."

"I'll be taking this then father." Angel said. "Unless you still do not believe me."

"Forgive me my son." Everett replied with his head bowed. "My job is to hand the ring to a worthy champion as my father before me and his father before him." He looked up at Angel. "God brought you here to this place Angel, the ring belongs to you, keep it. Use it well."

"Thank you father." Angel took a look around the place. "Sorry if we made such a mess."

Everett shook his head. "Please, the fault is mine; I should have listened to you in the first place."

The two vampires headed for the door.

Lorne took another sip of his drink. "Well wasn't that fun kids? There's always trouble wherever those two go. Now let us go back and see what our demons are doing."