Oh my gosh, you guys. I've gotten so many reviews and followers for that last chapter! Thank you so much. Now we're getting into a really big part of the story. I don't know if you guys are prepared. Are you prepared?

Balthazar moved right behind Catherine as they weaved through the trees. They were both trying to forget that the earlier conversation had even happened in order to keep their minds clear, but it wasn't exactly working out for them.

Suddenly, she stopped when the trail went cold, but the angel didn't even pause as he went around her. He could still see the other angel and demons through the foliage, even in the dark night. He also knew that they should have stayed behind. He should have raised a fuss about it with her or something because this screamed stupid. On the other hand, things didn't look quite right and taking a closer look was practically needed... and then there was the fact that he just didn't want to open his mouth again.

Bal stopped when he felt they were beginning to get too close, happy that Catherine stopped when he did... and feeling a little guilty because he didn't do the same for her less than five minutes ago. He pushed the thought aside. "Something's not right."

"Can they see you?" she asked, looking around. She was on guard, ready for the ever possible ambush, but still just trying to keep any fear she held at bay.

"No, I'm-" Too weak to be seen by them. He bit his cheek and tried again. "It's something else. It feels like there's other angels here, but there's aren't any... and she's here."

It took her a moment, but Catherine finally looked over to him. "Their graces?" When he nodded, she looked up to the moon in the sky. "We were supposed to have another day."

"It was an old book," he thought back, "and it'll technically be the sixteenth in a few minutes."

"That's not how almanacs work," she grumbled, trying very hard to keep her voice down. "What do we do?"

Leave. He wanted to make up an excuse for them to leave. It was the only thing he wanted to say and he couldn't peel it from his tongue. "Buy time until reinforcements arrive."

"That's another three hours, at least," she said, basically reading his thoughts. "It'll be too late."

He really didn't like those words, but looked away from her again. "The angel," Balthazar sighed, "She needs his grace and he needs to give it to her. Either we convince him or... kill him."

Catherine watched him for a moment and he could feel her critical eyes on him. After a pause, without bothering to ask if he was sure or not, she drew her angel blade and moved forward through the brush.

It took him a moment, but Balthazar bit his lip and called to her. "Wait." At least his plan wasn't about leaving, as much as he wished it was.

Two demons sat down a crate that stretched to at least six foot in length where Abbadon pointed them to. They moved back into the trees upon her command as she looked up. The skies were clear in their small open space in the dense wood and the moon shined bright upon them. All she had to do now was wait just a few minutes more.

"So, you're Abbadon." The demon in question turned to see a young man in gray business attire surrounded by her people. "I've heard a lot about you."

She smiled back to him and waved her hand. "He's a guest, not a prisoner," she told her demons happily, making them back off for the time being before she addressed him. "Ramiel, right? I'm glad that, for once, demons and angels could see eye to eye on something."

Ramiel didn't smile back or approach her further. "When Michael is free, he will destroy Lucifer and the rest of your disgusting brothers."

Her lips twitched, but the smile didn't diminish any. She did, however, begin to close the distance between them. "Well, maybe we can't see everything the same way, but I think I'll leave the betting pool where it is and let our masters decide on who wins."

"If I wasn't confident," he said with a grimace, "I wouldn't be here."

"Neither would I." They stared down each other for a moment until Abbadon's eyes flickered and she reached around to his back to catch the angel blade that nearly impaled him.

Ramiel jumped away, confused on the demon's actions, when a light and screaming caught his attention. Two lesser demons fell dead at another angel's feet. It took him a moment, but he finally addressed him. "Balthazar," he gasped, "You're dead."

"Not you two again," Abbadon growled as Catherine showed herself through the trees, still holding a gun.

"Ramiel," Bal's voice brought his brother's attention back to him and away from the human. "What are you doing? Those two are better off rotting in there than destroying everything else out here."

"How dare you!," the other nearly screamed back. "Michael is our brother. Peace on Earth is what our Father always wanted."

"Then you would think He would have gotten it right the first time," Bal argued back, steadily getting angrier with this. He didn't want to kill his brother. No more of them should die.

But Ramiel was having none of it. He fumed at such a remark. "Blasphemy!"

"Children!" Abbadon smirked, twirling the sword in her hand. "Let's not argue. Tonight's a big night."

Catherine, for the first time since she appeared, spoke up. "Tonight?"

The demon looked back to her in a slight grimace, before putting a smile back on again. "Found Crowley, didn't you?" Catherine didn't answer, so Abbadon chuckled. "It's not a particular date I need. The moon just has to be right... and it is."

The hunter's face fell from the strong look she portrayed. Abbadon was right. Enough time would have passed by now... Catherine swallowed a lump in her throat and rubbed her wrist against the second blade hidden in her sleeve.

The Knight backed away closer to the box, but as the women glared to each other, so did the men. "Ramiel," Bal spoke again. "Don't do this. Please, don't do this. I'm begging you. They'll destroy everything."

"I am loyal, Balthazar," he answered in turn. "Loyal to my family– to my Father. You always, always questioned. I will not betray my Father and brothers for these... flawed beasts." He motioned to Catherine, but she didn't show any acknowledgment. "I can't even begin to understand how you can."

"Brother-," Balthazar growled, but was cut off by Ramiel shaking his head.

"No," he simply answered. "I'm not abandoning. I'm not you."

The other angel clenched his jaw, balancing between anger and frustration, as Abbadon turned away from them and kicked the lid off of the crate. Inside lay a rotted body of a man that had died years ago and four glowing crystals that were all attached to one cord.

All Catherine could see from it was a light glow, but it still didn't take her two guesses to figure out what was in there. Balthazar had tried, so it was her turn now. He may be angry, but she wasn't going to risk this any further. She grabbed the hilt of the second angel blade and threw it for Ramiel's chest.

Things happened so quickly. As soon as the other demons in the clearing realized what Catherine was doing, they lunged for her but stopped short when they were already too late. Abbadon quickly twisted around to face Ramiel again, right as the blade pierced him through the back. At this, Balthazar tried to run forward and stop her, but he was too far away.

The demon held her hand to the angel's neck as his grace began pouring forth, but the blinding light of his death cut any of his plans short. Bal had stopped about halfway to them when Abbadon dropped Ramiel's body, the small bit of his grace that she had managed to salvage pooling at her feet. "That'll have to do," she sneered, before looking up to Catherine. "Kill them."

The demons closest to her moved for the hunter who, thankfully, still held the pistol in her hands. She fell two before they even had the chance to touch her, but even the unlucky fool that managed to grab and pull her back was shot dead.

Balthazar ran for Abbadon immediately as she reached into the box and pulled out the thread of graces, but three demons hit him at once like a brick wall to push him back. Another took the angel sword from Ramiel's back and ran for the remaining angel while two others tried to hold him down for the killing blow.

Abbadon threw the crystals to the ground, releasing the graces to mix with the piece of the fifth. She looked back into the coffin with an excited smirk as she knelt and placed the sword she had caught from Catherine against her throat.

Balthazar tried to back away from the approaching demon, but found it no use against the ones holding him. He could break free, of course, but a glance to their leader told him that he didn't have time. A white glow began to pulse from his vessel. "Catherine!" he screamed, knowing it was enough of a warning before the light engulfed the area.

She hardly had a second to close her eyes, but the cry of her name and the soft glow was enough of an indicator. The screams and smell of burning flesh that soon followed proved her guess was right. As soon as the light died away, though, her eyes flew open again to see the bodies surrounding her with the few shocked stragglers and Abbadon kneeling next to coffin with her arms raised skyward, the bloody sword falling from one hand and tumbling away.

Balthazar was back to his feet immediately and, even though he had taken in the scene, he still ran for it as Catherine did after grabbing the angel sword from the dead demon. Instead of intercepting the Abbadon, though, his arms wrapped the hunter who fought against him.

"It's too late!" he screamed to her as the Knight's body fell to the side and her blood began to circle the graces and absorb them. Balthazar adjusted to hold her arm with one hand and pull her back. "We need to leave."

Cat glared at him for a split second as she continued to struggle. "We can still do something! It's not too late! We-"

"We have to go now!" he argued back. Picking her up or something was out of the question. She had to run on her own or they wouldn't get far enough away in time.

A demon moved into their path, gaining both of their attention. "You're not going any-"

Balthazar let Catherine go long enough to wrap his hand around the demon's throat to exorcise him and throw him several feet out of the clearing and into a tree. The angel turned back to her. "Catherine!"

She glanced from the dead demon to Balthazar and finally to the last of the grace spilling into the circlet of blood on the ground. With a curse and a haggard breath, she picked up the blade Abbadon sacrificed herself with and began to run. The angel stayed beside her, and together they cleared away any demons that tried to block their path, but most that lived had already ran away.

Soon there were no demons trying to stop them and they just ran through the trees without any clear direction or path. She didn't know what to expect from this, but two archangels rising from Hell couldn't have been anything good. Still, if Balthazar's plan was to try getting away from them, she couldn't foresee that working very well. It wasn't like she was arguing anymore, though. She just ran with him, trying to not go into a full state of panic.

The angel, on the other hand, knew that they weren't going to get away in time. If his damn wings- If his wings were healed then a lot of this wouldn't have been an issue. The only safe place now was Heaven and he would take her there in a heartbeat if he could. It wasn't supposed to be allowed, but who was going to tell him otherwise? He would let the angels burn the world and spend the rest of eternity on an island surrounded by a sea of glass with her annoying, stubborn self right beside him.

That wasn't an option now, so instead he grabbed her arm again and pulled them both to the ground beside a large oak. A light had already started pouring through the trees from where they came and the ground beneath them started to tremble.

"Balthazar."

Her voice was hardly a breath against him. Everything had gone silent and still she sounded low, weak, and afraid... He was scared, too... Quickly, Bal wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest. "Don't look," he whispered into her hair even as he still watched the light. "Don't do anything until I tell you to, okay?"

Her only sign of affirmation was a light nod as she buried her face into his collar and moved her arm to wrap around his neck and hold him to her. He placed his hand lightly on the back of her head to keep her there and waited as a couple very intense seconds ticked by.

He tried to will up enough of his strength to protect them as much as possible, but the blast that erupted from the cage still made him falter slightly. Even so, he gazed up into the now bright sky as a pillar of light spilled over the area. Then another beam joined the first that was so bright even the angel had to squint at it before completely looking away. He wrapped his arms tighter around Catherine and buried his face into the crook of her neck.

His strength didn't waver again, at least not enough for her to get hurt, but it still took at least a solid ten seconds before the ground stopped shifting and the light finally vanished. Balthazar opened his eyes, finding himself nearly blinded while his eyes tried to adjust again. Cat still stayed in place as he risked a glance to where the cage had opened and the fear struck him stronger than it had before. He could see them both, just as beautiful and horrifying as the day they were locked away with only slight scarring between the two of them. Worst of all, was the sight of the first archangel's wings...

Michael fell with his vessel. Lucifer, though, didn't have one aside from the corpse Abbadon had provided... which could have easily been the vessel he used to walk the Earth before.

He was only stalling in thought. The archangels either already knew he was there and they were going to figure it out very very soon. He needed a plan and didn't even dare to think that perhaps they would over look him. With no time to lose, Balthazar tugged at the hunter in his arms. "We need to run. Come on."

Catherine pulled away from him quickly to glance back, but the angel had her to her feet in an instant and they were running again. They had only gone a few yards before he stopped her and looked back. She glanced back for a split second, too, before looking to him again. When he looked down to her, Bal could see the same look in her eyes she had the day before without the fear and panic. She trusted him and he took a breath to steady himself before speaking.

"We have to split up."

Of course, her eyes instantly widened a fraction. "Split up? You never want to-"

"It's the only way," he stressed, hands moving to her shoulders even as she tried to object. "If they have to search after both of us, they won't. They're too preoccupied with themselves right now. You'll go east and I'll go west. Catherine-" Bal shook her a little to gain her full attention again and to make her look him in the eyes. Cat did calm a little even as her fear seemed to intensify, but she still didn't dare to speak when he seemed so resolute on doing this. "It'll be okay, I promise," he told her quietly, "Do you trust me?"

The pained look on her face made him want to grasp her tighter again, but Balthazar abstained even if he refused to break eye contact. After a few shaken breaths, she gave a tight, short nod and he couldn't help his grip becoming a little firmer. "It'll be okay," he said again, but still didn't part. His jaw tightened and he just looked at her for a moment, wishing that she would at least look like she believed his lie instead of being frightened in that precious moment. But she looked at him as if she knew what he really did mean to do and he could not for the life of him bring himself to let her go.

"I'll see you soon?" Her voice broke him from his thoughts and he nodded before even fully considering the question. She nodded a few times before lightly taking a step back, but even if his hands had left her, she still would have hesitated.

Balthazar knew that he had to part away first, so he steeled himself and gave one more tight nod. "Just run," he said before finally letting go and turning away along his own path. Catherine didn't even watch after him as she turned and ran east as she was told.

The angel gave himself thirty seconds, then after that he gave himself thirty more until it became too much and he finally began to slow his pace. Eventually, he stopped and looked back through the dense wood in the direction they had parted, willing to see her again already or, at least, a glimpse of her soul that he had become so fond of and attached to.

Suddenly, a chill overtook him that couldn't be mistaken for anything else in all of creation and fear held him once more. It wasn't as piercing as it was before, but it was enough to make all thought cease. Balthazar slowly turned his head to find his brother nestled inside of his former, lesser vessel.

Lucifer leaned against a tree with arms crossed and lips almost daring to turn up into a fond little smirk. "That was pretty chivalrous of you, Balthazar, but I don't think anyone's going to get out of this okay. Do you?"

The cage is now open and all hell is breaking loose, no pun intended. This little segment of the story is definitely one of my favorites. The next chapter is one I've been waiting on for quite some time, so I'm really looking forward to this.

Thanks again for all of the feedback. Review and follow, guys. It really means a lot. :)