++++++ Sorry I was neglectful on this for a bit. I was focusing on some other fics.

Have a chapter.

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I do not own ++++++

Nine

"Put that down!" Leonardo snipped. Crossing the room of the lounge room, he grabbed the vase I was holding and put it back down. "That is Ming Dynasty and worth a rather large sum of cash."

"Charming," I muttered. "I need your help."

"You need nothing from me!" Leonardo replied. "You're alive, that's all you need. You live and you have obscurity. Now would you please leave, I have to sort out this bloody demon."

"Not until you give me answers," I objected. "You'll find I can be pretty annoying when it comes right down to it. And my father sent me after you for a reason. Why did my mother have your card?"

Leonardo snorted. "You really don't know me do you? I came to you and a spent an entire year at your place when you and your sister were three. Your mother was frightened and somehow managed to track me down. A child born of an angel and a human is an event in itself but twins born of an archangel…now that is a world shaking event. Your mother had come across a vase and on that vase was inscribed an obscure prophecy."

"You're going way too fast for me, sunshine," I informed the man.

"Shall I slow it down for you?" he shouted. "The devil won't stop until you are dead or you are his! If I were you I'd find a way to off yourself before it comes to the you are mine part! I would have bet every last cent of my considerably vast empire that your sister was the one of prophecy. She was smart, kind, caring and incredibly learned even at three."

Every word was like a stab in the gut. Over and over again. Sometimes I lie awake at night at think that whoever was in charge of fate, killed the wrong sister. Telling it to my face was a sure way of getting yourself killed. "Yeah, I know!" I snapped.

Leonardo shook his head. There was a wild look on his angry face, the face of a desperate man. "It wasn't your sister. The fate lines on her hands ended at puberty. Yours go on forever. I knew that Thalia was going to die and you would live, I just didn't know when. I told your mother to run because when you became aware of what you were, all hell would reign down on you." He grabbed my hands and traced his fingers along them. "Forever fate lines...I don't have them. My fate lines end I just do not know when."

"So I can't die?" I asked him.

Leonardo snorted. "Everyone dies. You, I think, will be very difficult to kill. However I will find a way if you don't buzz off."

"You're just as fucking helpful as my father!" I spat. "Throws a sword at me and goes good luck, Tessa, you'll need it." In a fit of anger, I kicked the pillar that the super expensive vase was sitting on and it smashed on the ground. I glared at Leonardo as he stared at me in anger. "I need more than a fucking sword!"

"Show me the sword!" Leonardo snapped. When I held the sword out to him, his anger melted away and was replaced with genuine surprise and actual fear. "Your father gave you the Michael Sword?" he whispered. "Tessa-this is huge."

"Which is why she needs answers," Zed answered for the first time since this conversation started. "I'm not the religious type but even I know that the Michael Sword is a big thing. He threw Lucifer from heaven with that thing."

Leonardo nodded. "He did indeed." Turning his attention back to me, he spoke, "Tessa, what do you know of the ouroboros?"

I shrugged. "It's a symbol that shows self-reflexivity or cyclicality regarding the sense of something constantly re-creating itself. Like a phoenix I suppose."

"Your father named his sword Ouroboros," Leonardo replied. "See this sharp part of the blade?" he asked me.

I nodded.

"Cut your thumb on that sharp edge of the grip and say its name," he instructed.

I took the weapon of him and pressed my thumb upon the sharp edge of the grip ad pushed it forward. My blood trickled from the cut and along the blade, filling up the Enochian letters of the blade. "Ouroboros," I whispered. The blade started to glow, it grew heavier and the air seemed to grow colder inside the room. When the light faded I found myself holding a sword, my blood still in the grooves the Enochian lettering made. I swung it around, testing its weight. I remembered when Robert had me take up fencing at school-I'd argued that it was useless but he'd made me do it, he wasn't paying those private school fees for nothing.

"Wow," Zed frowned, "that looks super sharp. Can I hold it?"

"NO!" Leonardo shouted. "Under no circumstances are you to allow a mortal to ever touch this weapon whilst it is like this! Promise me Tessa!"

"How do I make it go back?" I asked him. The moment I asked the question, the weapon glowed and returned back to normal. "Well, there you go." I returned the blade to my bag and sat down on the lounge beside Zed. "I take it that you meant huge as in a big deal? Right?"

Leonardo nodded. "Yes. The Michael Sword is a sacred object of heaven, God commanded Michael to always keep the blade by his side since it's the most powerful object in heaven. For Michael to openly defy God's orders and give it to a child who should by all rights, not even exist, means one thing-Michael is in charge of heaven."

"So you're saying that God is dead?" Zed asked him.

Leonardo shrugged. "He could be. God would not command his general to give up the one weapon who could save the Kingdom of Heaven. Not in any lifetime."

"So how do we find out if what you're saying is true?" I asked him. "Can we maybe find God again? Bring him back?"

"Maybe I could have a look?" Zed suggested.

Leonardo laughed. "It's going to take more than a little clairvoyant to find God. Speak to your father again. God's disappearance is what is allowing the demons to walk freely on the earth he created. They are going unchecked, unchallenged because God has abandoned us. It truly is the end of times. You should enjoy it."

"Come on, Zed," I frowned, staring at the man, "he's not gonna help us."

"Why would I help you fight the devil?" Leonardo asked. "I'm not suicidal."

"You're just a coward," I spat. "You were amazing back in your day but now you're a fucking coward. Crawl back to your hole full on antiques and I'll sort myself out." I pulled my coat closed and the two of us walked out.

"Fight the devil?" Zed finally asked me."It makes sense if your father gave you the weapon he used before to cast Lucifer from heaven. What do you suppose we do? We didn't really find out much. God could possibly be missing and your dad wants you to fight the devil which makes you wonder how he is getting out of hell in the first place." She looked sideways at me. "Tessa?"

I shrugged. "Who fucking knows? But I saw something back in the bunker that could help us. I didn't say anything of it earlier but I think it's the only option I have. My father won't give me any answers."

"What is it?" Zed inquired.

I ran my hands through my hair with a sigh. "What do you know about the Helmet of Fate?"