Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: This far, there have been six guesses as for Crowley's brother. Five of them have been correct. Seemingly you lot know me too well. Or you're just too good at guessing. Anyway, yes. It is Uriel. And yes, he is indeed bitter because he feels betrayed by his little brother.

Don't worry, they'll make up at some point.

Chapter 15:

Church Chasing

"Oww!" Crowley exclaimed. He didn't know what was wrong with the water the angels had thrown on him, but at least it hurt like Hell. And he knew what he was talking about. Of course, this seemed rather strange to him, especially as the water felt hot. He most certainly shouldn't be hurt by hot water -- if you wanted a bath Down Below, you usually had to wait until the water had cooled down enough to stay in liquid form -- and it couldn't be holy, either. If it had been, he would now be just a puddle on the ground.

The angels seemed rather startled at this. "I knew it!" wailed one of them. "We can't destroy him, he's too strong! Now he'll come and kill us all and -- and do something nasty to us!"

"Oh, shut up, Unsurel," spat another. "Something went wrong, but it won't go wrong again. Rest assured that we'll be taking down the vile beast!" He now turned to face Crowley. "Prepare for your demise, beast!" he bellowed, trying to be intimidating. "Soon you will no more be defiling the angel Aziraphale!"

Crowley raised an eyebrow. Sure, it had hurt, but there weren't even marks on his skin. If that strange water was all they had, they certainly wouldn't be taking him down. "You'll get trouble for that, kid," he said coolly. "You know, I could justify it as self-defence if I now decided to kill you all. Especially since your boss appears to have taken a liking on me, at least enough so to forbid harming me."

"Close your lying, deceiving mouth, you vile beast!" exclaimed a girly-looking angel. "Oh, my heart aches to hear your words. How dare you say such a thing? Such a -- a blasphemous lie!"

"Well, I'm a demon. Blasphemy is part of my job description," Crowley replied irritably. He was really getting annoyed with these kids, now. "Now move out of my way. For once, I am not lying, so you'd better run wailing to your higher-ups and confess it all on your own accord. Maybe they won't make you Fall. I sure do hope not -- they have absolutely no use for so pathetic beings Down There."

"How dare you!" exclaimed one of the angels -- the one who had downed the bucket at him. "How ever could we Fall for serving justice? We are angels, we're not capable of doing evil?"

"Well, how do you think demons came into being at the first place?" asked Crowley dryly. "It wasn't He who encouraged a third of the Host to rebel against him, you know. They did it by themselves."

"Shut up, demon!" wailed the girly angel. "We shall have your hellish hide, and be praised warriors!" And, at this, she drew out an object that immediately tugged at Crowley's aura. In threat.

His eyes widening, Crowley stared at the elaborate, obviously very powerful crucifix pointed at him. Deciding not to risk it, he turned around and started to run, hoping to soon leave the angels behind or at least get back to Aziraphale's shop. However, the angels were faster than he'd expected; they soon rounded him with their wings, all armed with crucifixes and various other holy objects. Desperate for escape, he saw a doorway in a little alley. Hoping to manage to hide, he slipped in.

Shutting the door, he sighed in relief. The angels' presence felt faded somehow. Still, he felt some holiness surrounding him. Strange, indeed... but perhaps it was just because of all those holy objects in vicinity.

"May I help you, my son?" asked a friendly voice behind him. Turning around, he saw an old man looking at him with a peaceful expression. One glance told him enough -- this was a man of the cloth. Another glance, this time around the space he was standing in, and he saw holy objects of every kind.

It wasn't until then that he realized that he had been chased into some kind of church.

Aziraphale hurried down the street. Crowley's presence in the back of his mind had somehow faded, and that was not a good thing. Definitely not a good thing. Then, however, the presence disappeared completely. And Aziraphale panicked, simple as that.

Just then, however, he got close to the angelic presence he had sensed. Very close. Glancing up, he saw an angel hovering in the air. "Who are you?" he asked sharply. "And just what have you done to Crowley?"

"Fear not, angel Aziraphale," the angel -- who appeared feminine -- said. "We have indeed relieved you of the burden of that vile beast, who wrongly seduced you. The demon shall tempt you no more!"

"WHAT?" exclaimed Aziraphale, half in anger, half in fear. "What have you done to Crowley? And WHY?"

"But -- but he had seduced you, had he not?" asked the other angel, her eyes wide. "Surely you should be relieved to be free of his vile traps! Or perhaps the remains of his evil powers still do cling to you?"

"How dare you sssay that?" asked Aziraphale. It appeared he had spent entirely too much time in Crowley's company. "Of all the demons that exist, Crowley is furthest from evil! And besides, no angel is allowed to hurt him, as ordered by Him. If the archangels accept him, why wouldn't you?" Ignoring the lower angel's startled expression, he now growled, "What. Did. You. Do. To. Crowley!"

"Let go of her!" shouted a voice. Turning to look there, Aziraphale saw two more angels, both looking half angry, half self-satisfied. "She has not done a thing to harm you, angel Aziraphale."

Now, the principality had got quite enough. Abandoning his human form, he allowed his wings to grow out of his back. He heard his clothes ripping to allow the enormous feathery appendages through, but didn't care; that could always be fixed. Rosing to the air as well, he carefully calculated his place to hover just slightly over the three other angels, who by now were all gathered in one group. Allowing his aura to fill into its full potential -- and, it seemed for some reason, over even that, although he didn't understand how that was possible -- he directed a blazing glare at the lower angels. "What have you idiots done?"

"We -- we merely wanted to free you of the demon that had seduced you," said one of the angels, one that was apparently their leader. "I think that the holy objects we were all carrying created an energy field that consumed all of his demonic power. He's gone for good now -- or as close to it as we can achieve."

Aziraphale briefly closed his eyes as pain crashed through him. It couldn't be. Crowley couldn't be dead. But it had to be so -- after all, he no more felt Crowley's presence, did he? And these angels had no reason to lie. Well, so they did have, but if they had lied, the story would have been very much different.

"You idiots," he muttered, a couple of tears escaping his eyes. "You have just killed the only demon who actually could love. After he has recovered, spending all that time Down There, who knows what has happened to him?" The thought of an evil Crowley was even more painful than his former musings. He certainly didn't know how that could be, but it was true.

None of the three angels appeared to have anything to say.

Next chapter:

Crowley in a church. Azi in agony. Angels in astonishment.