"There is a complicated answer to that question, I have so many mixed emotions. I don't know what to feel anymore." She said.

Abe was silent and Angela knew she had to tell him; it could be the most important information she offered to him.

She took a deep breath and sighed before continuing. "I met my husband when I was very young. But there was no naiveté involved in our love. It was the most I had ever felt for another person. Our connection surpassed anything words have ever been able to express. I was home; there was nothing more I desired. nothing I would ever need accept him. I was never so at peace, even in heaven, as when I was with him." She stopped, and looked down. As though she was trying to hide her sadness.

"You miss him terribly." Said Abe, placing his webbed hand to the glass. "You are remembering a time when you were alive. When you…. the day you met him." He said seeing into her mind. He suddenly removed his hand from the glass, feeling as though he was prying. But Angela placed a hand on the glass and looked up at him.

"No, its alright, it is comforting, to know that someone understands how much I love him." She said before wiping the tears from her eyes.

"After he died I was terribly sad that I could not speak with him but Gabriel would not tell me anything…."

"Gabriel?" asked Abe.

"There are three different tasks that angels perform. There are angels of death, who guide the souls of mortals who have died to their afterlife. There are angels of mercy, who help heal and comfort those in pain or suffering. And there are guardian angels, who guard mortals from demons, they also hunt and kill demons." She said. "Gabriel oversees the angels of mercy."

"Were you an angel of mercy?" he asked.

"Yes. And a guardian angel. Gabriel was the angel of death for me as I died." She said. "All angels are Guardians, we all kill demons and protect mortals from them. But angels are either those of mercy or those of death, we must be one or the other."

"Has an angel ever been both or gone from being an angel of mercy to an angel of death?" asked Abe.

"Yes, but it was over three hundred years ago, her name was Sydney, their were special circumstances. Her brother was dying, he was only a boy and she had raised him since he was an infant. He was frightened and alone, shot by an arrow in the woods. She was an angel of mercy but went to him as an angel of death, to comfort him through the process. Though it was not her job she was allowed."

"So as you were saying, Gabriel would not tell you where your husband was, why not?"

"I am sure he had his reasons, but it was painful none the less. I was patient for many years, I never knew where he was and I was seeing the aftermath of world war 2, I became so filled with anger and pain, missing my husband, not understanding why he was killed. Or why so many others had to die, I began to doubt my place, my purpose as an angel. And then…"

"I committed the greatest sin any angel or mortal can commit." She said.

She was silent for a long time and Abe could feel a mixture of shame, anger and guilt filled satisfaction from her.

"I killed a mortal." She said. "A human. Who was powerful, who I felt such anger and hatred for that it overwhelmed me."

"Who." Asked Abe. "Who did you kill?"

Her lips curled and her eyes furrowed in anger as his name rolled like poison off her tongue.

"Adolph Hitler!" she said with disgust.

"You killed him." Said Abe surprised.

"Yes, I was condemned to hell."

"But what of angels of death, don't they kill, it could not have been that egregious."

"No, angels don't kill at all, even angels of death only guide those who have already died." She said. "I lost myself that day, I lost my soul. Gabriel pleaded to in my defense but in the end it was he who had to order me to hell, it was he who took me there. I have never seen him so sad as that day." She said.

Abe looked at her, recognizing something in her expression. "You were more than friends, you and Gabriel." He said.

"Yes, briefly, though I never forgot my husband, he was comforting to me." She said with a small smile.

"Do you regret it?" asked Abe. "Your decision to kill Hitler?"

Angela looked as though she was going to say something like of course but stopped herself. "Honestly, No, I have never enjoyed suffering, but I can remember seeing very little humanity lift in him at the time of his death. In fact he was more demon than human when I killed him."

"So no one had ever killed a mortal before you?" asked Abe.

"No. I have been the only angel ever to be sent to hell." She said.

They were silent fro some time, Just absorbing the conversation.

"Do you mind if I ask you more questions? I know this is hard." He said. "But anything you can provide could be of great help."

"Of course, it is alright, I knew things would have to come out sometime." She said.

"What do you know about the ritual?" he said.

"I have heard it mentioned…." He breath became quick as fear gripped her chest.

"Its alright." She said. "Take your time."

"It must be performed by a demon who has more power than any I have ever encountered." She said. "it has never before been performed that I know of. I am sorry but…I just don't know anything very specific."

"That's alright, but when you said before about the blood letting…." He asked.

"Yes, well it is theorized that the two participants…that would be me and Rasputin, must connect with one another during many different rituals. It helps fuse the souls. Bring them together. Have you ever heard of soul mates?" asked Angela

"Yes. A myth about lovers whose souls are intertwined." He said. "Like destiny."

"Well they do exist. It is a natural phenomena created out of love when the two souls know to join. It is the strongest bond on earth, or in heaven or in hell. The two souls are a part of eachother and through the years, being an angel I have watched soul mates find eachother over and over again. It is a powerful force." She said before pausing. Angela got up and removed the book on angels from the stand where Abe had been reading it and sat down again, skimming the pages. " The ritual Rasputin wants to perform is designed to recreate that bond between him and myself. It would allow him to have my soul. But duplicating soul mates is a twisted and dark thing, it is the most violating and forbidden thing to do to another. It steels the essence, the very being. It will transform us both." She said.

"How will it transform you?" Asked Abe.

"It is said that I will become a husk of my former self or that I will become evil, but nothing is known for certain, there are so many theories on what will happen to each of us. Some say the ritual will create goodness in Rasputin's soul with the addition of my own. Others say it will make the evil that he embodies stronger and he will become an even more powerful demon." She closed the book and stared at Abe for a moment, thinking about the horrors of what could happen. "Nothing is known for certain."

Abe looked at her and placed his other webbed hand on the glass. "You are afraid."

It was clear how scared she was, and with good reason he thought. He was surprised at how stoic she had remained over the last two days but inside he could sense how terrified she truly was.

In his heart Abe knew if Rasputin wanted to have her he would haven no trouble, even with in the BPRD. He had read about Rasputin, he was a demon of terrible power and deception. If there was any way to stop this from happening, Abe knew he had to find it fast.

Abe had seen a lot of demons, a lot of battles, but for the first time he questioned weather they would be able to win this time, Hellboy might not be able to defeat this enemy.

"Thank you Angela, this had been a great help. I will do every thing I can." He said.