Author's note: Hello dear readers. I wanted to end this chapter way farther, but decided to cut it there since I won't be able to write for the next five days but wanted to release something before my break. Otherwise you would have had to wait another week at the least. I still think it is enough eventful for you to enjoy it. Well, let's hope so. Now place to the story. Enjoy!
Chapter 20
A Long Lost Love
After the fight with the demons, Chloe insisted for Maze to at least go clean up a bit in the restroom. Once all the blood covering her friend was gone, Chloe was left speechless before the lack of evidences remaining of the blows she had taken. There was absolutely no ecchymosis anywhere over the Valkyrie's face or on any other visible portion of her skin. Furthermore, you had to know that her lips had been split to notice anything, and the claw marks, while still there already looked like they were a few days old. Even if her clothes presented some cuts, it was hard to believe that Maze had been fighting for her life only moments ago. Thanks to Linda's and Ella's already advanced level of inebriation, and to the low lighting of the club, none of them noticed anything unusual about Maze who anyways often sported wounds due to her line of work.
The Tribe Night went on late into the night, with the girls dancing and drinking like teenagers. Ella and Linda ended up being quite intoxicated in the end, and Chloe had to play taxi for her friends, wanting to make sure that they would get back home safely, all the more with the threat of demons possibly still lurking in the night. It just made for a very uncomfortable ride for her human friends who had to squeeze into the cramped back seat of Chloe's vantage car, while Maze of course took the front seat.
All in all, it had been a memorable Tribe Night for everyone. Well, almost everyone... Chloe was afraid that Azrael might not agree with that after her strange encounter with the blond man and her fleeing the club without even informing anyone. Chloe was just hoping she were okay. Lilith's demons had been in the vicinity after all, even if not close enough for Chloe to have felt them before they attacked Maze and herself earlier. So there was still a small possibility that Rae could have been taken by surprise while distracted and attacked by the waiting demons. But if it was so, wouldn't she have prayed for help to one of her brothers? Chloe hanged on to that hope.
When Chloe got back at the penthouse with Maze, the two brothers were still watching Game of Thrones, Michael looking quite taken by the show. Amenadiel, as for him, jumped out of his seat to check on Maze.
To Chloe's surprise, Maze let the angel caress one of her arm in a very intimate way. He took the time to trace lightly the faint marks still barely visible over her naked skin. Feeling like she was intruding into an emotional moment, Chloe averted her gaze when she saw the intense way those two looked at each other.
"You're okay." Chloe heard Amenadiel whisper with emotion.
"Of course I'm okay! You know, Valkyrie and all," the demon replied with a shrug. She sounded more fragile than she probably wanted to.
"Of course you are," the angel offered, a smile in his voice.
Michael closed the television and stood up, clearing his throat as if embarrassed by the display of affection, efficiently breaking the moment between his brother and his love interest. He started saying something, then frowned and instead asked suspiciously, "where is Rae?"
Chloe hesitated to tell about Azrael's strange encounter, but didn't see a way around it. So she explained the events to the brothers whose jaws literally dropped at hearing that their little sister had kissed a man. They both tried to pray to her to make sure she were okay, yet didn't get more answers than Chloe had. Even if they were worried for their sister's safety, there wasn't much they could do about it at the moment, other than wait and see if she would come back by herself.
After a long moment of tense silence, Michael resumed what he had been wanting to ask first. "I've been wondering. How could have those demons followed you to that club? Shouldn't you have seen or at least felt them if they had?"
It was Chloe who spoke for them both. "We've been actually discussing about that, Maze and I." They had bounced hypothesis back and forth on their way back to Lux after having dropped their two friends. "I am fairly certain that no one could have followed me there with the way Ella drove the car, and Azrael flew Maze to the club to test her wings, so there's no way someone could have tracked them all the way there either. On the other hand, all of our employees knew where we were going. One of them could very well have become Lilith's informant, be it for money or after having been threatened to do it. After all, it was a human who drugged Maze in that club to try and kidnap her, or maybe even to kill her, we're not sure exactly."
The two brothers startled at that new information.
Maze continued with their deductions. "It looks like Lilith was very cautious not to send her own demons to spy on us. She knew that we would have sensed them quickly, all the more with a Hellhound with us here. Hence her use of a human informant, or maybe more than one. Any of our staff could be working for her by now. And it's logical to think that it was also a human who approached them in the first place. We should also consider even more seriously the possibility that someone at the station could be working for Lilith even if Moz'gan never admitted it when we questioned him. If the demon didn't recruit someone himself, another of Lilith's follower might have. Add to that the FBI who seem to be breathing down our necks and could very well also have informants, there's really no one we can trust anymore."
"All the more reasons for you to never go anywhere alone, Maze, and to never part from Father's gift again, at least as long as we've dealt with those problems," Amenadiel hammered in.
The demon growled in frustration and annoyance. She didn't argue though, to everyone's surprise.
"Now move your ass, Micky, I'm looking forward to drop dead into my bed and we still have to take care of those demon's corpses before I can. So let's just do it quickly, wherever you hid them."
Turned out Michael apparently left the bodies on a frozen mountain top far from civilization. It didn't take long for Maze to retrieve her celestial arm band and for them to make the trip there and back again.
Once Amenadiel and Maze retired to the demon's place, Michael settled himself on the couch in front of more Game of Thrones' episodes to keep him company for his night of watch.
Before crashing down into bed, Chloe went to check on her daughter. Without much surprise, she found a guilty looking Doom all cuddled against the sleeping child. At least the hound was not under the covers. A slim consolation. She gave him a hard stare, yet didn't say a word as she closed back the door.
Her worries for Azrael kept preventing Chloe from falling asleep. In desperation, she tried one last time to pray to her friend, hoping against hope that she would answer or at least give her a sign.
A sudden woosh sound startled her into sitting straight in her bed.
Rae was standing right beside her with her resplendent pale grey wings shining and illuminating lightly the room. Chloe's relieved smile faded quickly when she saw her friend's red eyes puffy from crying.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Chloe asked softly with concern.
Rae's lower lip quivered and tears gathered in her beautiful emerald eyes.
Instead of asking anything else, Chloe straightened up on her knees and took her friend into her arms. The angel dissolved into heartbreaking sobs and held on to Chloe for dear life.
Chloe had never seen Azrael in such a state and it tore her apart. Her friend's pain was so strong that she had the impression of being able to feel it. The longer she held Rae in her arms, the clearer it became that she could really feel the angel's suffering... At first, Chloe couldn't explain how it could be possible, putting the sensation onto the angel's nature. Until she realised that she was the one who was doing it, who was reading Rae's feelings...
The more she focussed on her friend's pain, the stronger she could feel it. It didn't take a genius to make the connection with her unborn child's celestial powers. In spite of her utter amazement at the supernatural ability that she was experiencing, it failed to surprise Chloe to learn that her baby could feel other's emotions. That incredible new being had already shown her more than once how much it was sensible and attuned to her own emotions. It just went far beyond simple mother's and celestial child's connection as she'd first thought it to be.
Turning her attention back on Azrael and the hard ordeal she was going through, Chloe tried to soothe her with sweet words of comfort. Eventually, after a long moment, she felt the angel calm down, until she sat on the bed beside her, her wings folded over her back.
Rae dried her last tears with the back of her hand and took a few shuddering breathes before talking. "I'm sorry I scared you by disappearing like that."
Chloe took her hands between her own to keep their connection alive and to support her. "Don't worry about that. I understand that your encounter with that man must have some important meaning to you. From what he told me, you made a strong impression on him too."
Rae's eyes widen in surprise at hearing that she had talked to him.
"Will you... Will you tell me about what happened?" Chloe smiled at her encouragingly. She could tell that her friend was slowly regaining her composure even if she still felt very vulnerable.
"I... I knew him..." Rae whispered with emotion. At Chloe's confused frown, she clarified, "from another life."
Understanding sparkled into Chloe's eyes. "You recognised his soul...," she said in awe.
Azrael gave her a sad smile and nodded. "Yes. He was... We were... He was the love of my life!" She almost choke on the admission.
Tears gathered in both women's eyes. Chloe knew too well what it was to lose the man you loved, and the vibes she felt from Azrael were akin to what she herself felt at having lost Lucifer. She squeezed the angel's hands in empathy and to encourage her to pursue.
After taking a few deep breathes, Rae lost herself in the past and started talking. "The first time I saw him was during a great battle between his Viking clan and a rival one, while I was busy taking care of the souls of the dead. It was somewhere in Northern Europe around the early ninth century. Erik was one of the fiercest and bravest warrior of his time. I think I fell in love with him at first sight." She smiled dreamily at the memory. "Yet, at the time I had no idea what that strange feeling meant. It led me to do the creasiest of things; I appeared to him in human form, hoping to discover what that feeling which had come to obsess me could be. I discovered it alright," she chuckled lightly. "His reaction to me was as strong as mine had been, and in no time we were consumed by a love stronger than I could have ever imagined. I soon revealed my true self to him, unwilling to hide the truth from him any longer. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised of his unconditional acceptance. He was a wonder! We spent less than two years together, and even then it was just for a few days at a time when I felt like I could leave my work for a moment. The more time we passed together, the harder it became for me to leave him to return to my tasks. He was all I could think about, all I wanted. I would have given anything for the chance to pass a human lifetime with him, but I knew it was impossible. And in the end, even the small time of happiness that we could share together was taken away from us when Erik fell on the battlefield."
Even after so long a time, Rae's pain felt excruciating. She kept silent for a long moment, lost in her painful memories, enough that Chloe thought that she wouldn't go on, but she did.
"Remember that story Amenadiel told you, about the origin of the Valkyrie's legend? About how I was seen by some warriors on a battlefield?" Chloe nodded, not certain of where she was going with this. "What he didn't tell you, because no one knows about it, is why it happened. It was the day Erik died. When I got there, it was already too late. I tried to save him, to heal him with my wings, but his soul had definitely left his body and was left hovering above it aimlessly. I clang to his remains, begging him to come back to me... In vain. I didn't even realize that my wings were visible to human eyes, not that I would have cared if I had. In that moment nothing mattered anymore, but the fact that I had lost him. I took his confused soul to Heaven where I kissed him goodbye, knowing that I would never see him again. I don't think he fully realised what was happening at that moment."
Chloe wasn't sure to understand the situation fully. "Why couldn't you see each other again? I mean, you can obviously go to Heaven whenever you want, so why...?"
Rae smiled painfully. "My Father would never have approved of such a relationship. It was a lost cause. My best course of action was to avoid going there entirely until Erick would reincarnate, forget about me, and go on with a new life." Another burst of tears assailed her. "It was the hardest thing I ever had to do!"
"I'm so sorry!" Chloe didn't know what else to say.
Rae shrugged helplessly, a wet sigh leaving her lips.
"What are you gonna do now that you found him?"
Rae startled at her question. "Nothing! I just can't see him again."
"Why not? I mean, it's been thousands of years since that time when some of your siblings got punished for taking human women as wives. And if I understood well, those were sent to Hell because of the wars that ensued following the birth of Nephilim. So technically, it was not because of their relationship with humans. Furthermore, the world has changed a lot since then, even your Father should acknowledge that and change his rules, and I intent to make Him see reason, for my child's sake. If Lucifer and I could have a real relationship together, I don't see why you couldn't too."
Rae shook her head in denial. "I don't want to rub salt into the wounds, Chloe, but look how it ended up for the two of you, with Lucifer locked up in Hell once more, and you here falling to pieces." Chloe lowered her eyes at the hard reminder. "I don't think I could survive losing him again...," Rae ended in a whisper.
"I understand..." How could she not? "However, if you change your mind, know that I gave Erik my business card. I'm sure he will show up at Lux over the next days. Just think about it, okay?"
Rae pursed her lips without answering anything. Still, Chloe could feel the angel hardening herself as if her mind was already made up on the subject. "Thank you Chloe, for being such a good friend. It means a lot to me. I'll go home now, but I'll be coming back to check on you and Beatrice from time to time, and you can call me whenever you need. You know that."
"I know. Thanks. Take care of you, Rae."
Chloe hugged her friend one last time, then watched her fade away.
Saturday morning, Chloe woke up to her alarm clock way too early to her liking. She felt so tired! Okay, she had to admit that she couldn't really complain about it since ultimately she was the only one responsible for going to bed almost at sunrise. It might not either have been such a brilliant idea to go party while being pregnant, even if she didn't drink any alcohol. She was only now reminded that her first trimester of pregnancy with Trixie had been quite energy taxing. It might reveal to be even worse with a celestial being growing inside her womb. She may have to become more careful in the future. But at the moment, a day in bed would have been so welcome! Unfortunately, she had Trixie to take care of and Leslie was supposed to arrive early around 9am with a crew to start working on her daughter's bedroom and on the repairs in Chloe's own room.
While she searched the strength to get up and start her day, Chloe became increasingly aware of a warmth leaning against her back. Expecting to find her daughter cuddled up behind her – she probably had a nightmare and joined her discreetly during the night – Chloe turned around slowly as to not wake her up if she needed more rest.
To say that she was stunned into disbelief by her discovery would be an understatement. There, was lying Doom, spread out on his back, paws in the air, looking like he had not a care in the world. He didn't even open his eyes when she turned around and gasped.
"What do you think you're doing here!" she choke out.
At last the Hellhound slowly opened an eye and looked at her sideways while releasing an exasperated sigh that suggested that she was disturbing him.
Chloe sucked in an indignant breath. "Get out of my bed, you hellish bag of fleas!" She pushed him at the same time to make her order clear. Though she might have had a better chance of success with an elephant.
Other than emitting a low annoyed growl, Doom didn't even move an inch away from his current position. And to add to the insult, he closed back his eye and started to make himself even more comfortable against her.
Enough was enough!
Mouth hanging slack in outrage, Chloe got up and stared daggers at the hound with her hands on her hips in a display of rage.
"I'll give you five seconds to get out of there. After that I'm not responsible for what could happen." She was fuming!
To make her threat more impressive, she dived into the celestial power sleeping inside her and brought it forth. She could feel it pulsing in her veins and tickling the surface of her skin. She even saw light appear on her fingertips.
The damn Hellhound had better move or she would fire his ass out of bed!
Doom's whole demeanor changed all of a sudden as he froze into place and opened his eyes to look at her wearily.
"One..., two...," she started dangerously.
Doom turned on his side to face her, looking hesitant.
"Three..., " he crawled slowly closer to the side of the bed and stopped, still not getting down.
"Four..., " Small sparkles of power danced over Chloe's fingertips.
"Fi..." With a yelp, Doom jumped out of bed and left the room with his tail between his hind legs.
Chloe shook her head in utter disbelief, completely at lost as to what she could have done to spoil the Hellhound so much.
Azrael having left the penthouse, Beatrice took the guest room for the weekend while her room was being redecorated. Chloe had given absolute free reign to Leslie in order to bring to life Beatrice's craziest dreams for her new decor. Her daughter was taking an immense pleasure at keeping secret what she had planned with the interior designer and Chloe was more than happy to let her little girl have her fun and that distraction to keep her mind away from the disturbing events of the past week. All Chloe knew was that the theme, unsurprisingly, was about princesses. Having a thought for her poor Devil, Chloe made Trixie swear that there wouldn't be any pink whatsoever.
Come afternoon, Maze started her flight training with Amenadiel over some distant cliffs along the Pacific Ocean. The new Valkyrie came back frustrated and soaked from head to toe, complaining about the hardship of mastering gliding flight, yet alone proper flight with those «bloody bird appendages», as she called them. Chloe wondered how Amenadiel had managed to stay so calm and imperturbable all day in front of the Hell's Fury's bad temper. In spite of the Valkyrie's continuous ranting, according to one of the angel's discreet comment voiced out of Maze's ear shot, he considered her improvements quite promising, even impressive. Knowing the demon as she did, Chloe suspected that her friend might be overreacting a little, all the more with her evident eagerness to get ready as soon as possible to leave for Hell and find Lucifer. Chloe understood the feeling.
On Saturday night, the three celestials hunted once more in the abbey's area in search of the last few demonic creatures that they had felt around there two nights ago. To their deception and worry, aside from some lingering evil energy, there was no traces left of any demonic beings anywhere in the vicinity. At first, they thought that the creatures might have been scared away by their last celestial's show of force, until they found clues that pointed to another more disturbing possibility.
In three different places where demonic energy was still palpable, Maze found traces of human blood and lots of prints of what could only be military-style boots. And with the roads out there being mainly unpaved, it was easy to find wheel tracks that suggested that trucks might have taken the creatures away, be that alive or dead. Something told them that the FBI had kept busy last night and that those demonic beasts had probably been kept alive as much as possible for their stupid researches.
Maze felt guilty thinking that her carelessness might have led the FBI to find those beasts. If the FBI had not followed them there through her cell phone two nights ago, they might never have realised that demonic beings were still roaming the area. On the other hand, at least the Feds had captured them, and people's lives might have been saved thanks to their intervention.
Maybe Amenadiel had not been completely wrong to stop her from attacking the secret FBI facility to retrieve the black panther-like demon after all. The angel had even refused to stop time for them to get to the beast more safely, arguing that their knowledge of the existence of this place could serve them better later. Maze was annoyed to see that he might have been right. Had they assaulted the place, the Feds would undoubtedly have moved their base of operation elsewhere afterwards. At least now, they would know where to go once they decided to finally retrieve those hellish beasts to send them back to Hell.
Beatrice's new bedroom was revealed the next day after hours of hard work from the crew. The child had been denied access to the room almost from the start to ensure that it would also be a surprise for her. And surprised she certainly was in the end, at least as much as Chloe was, that's for sure.
The result was simply breathtaking!
Contrarily to what Chloe expected, the decor was nothing close to a kid's room. It looked literally like a princess bedroom of old time. The main wall was now covered with false stones such as could be seen in a real castle. Against it, in the middle of the room stood a big four-poster bed with beautiful see-through cream draperies hanging all around. The bed, with its beige and gold cover and its numerous burgundy cushions, was raised onto a small platform with two steps leading to it. On the opposite pale grey wall was an electric hearthstone that could easily pass for a real one if you didn't know that there was no real chimney. Even the rest of the furniture looked to be coming right out of a fairy tale book.
The wooden desk was finely crafted and sported numerous drawers that Chloe knew her daughter would have a lot of pleasure to fill up with all her stuff. As for the big wardrobe, its wood had been sculpted majestically with patterns reminding those seen during the Middle Ages. An old-looking arm chair was standing in a corner close to a beautiful wooden bookcase which style was akin to that of the wardrobe and the desk. The floor was now made of old-looking planks and was partly covered by a richly decorated carpet. Finally, tick long burgundy draperies were hanging from the windows and some chandeliers or other medieval decorations completed the impressive decor.
Clearly, by the way Beatrice's jaw dropped and her eyes almost came out of her head at the sight of her new bedroom, she had not envisioned such an amazing result. She was so overjoyed that she busted into tears and started dancing around the room. Doom was the first to test the bed as he jumped into it and turned over and over on himself as if he was himself dancing. Chloe was way too happy to really care, even if it did cross her mind that she had definitely failed with some parts of her hound's training.
When Maze and Amenadiel came back Sunday evening, following another session of flight training, Chloe was not surprised to hear that Maze had finally gotten the hang of it. Enough so that Amenadiel declared her ready to make short flights alone. That was quite enough for what Maze was expecting to need down in Hell.
The Valkyrie's mind was now set; she would leave tomorrow morning at first light, and bring Lucifer back.
Author's note: In next chapter, we'll get back to Lucifer and see how Maze will do down there. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please let me know. Thanks for reading and commenting.
