AN: Hey everyone, me and CrackedInkWell have a new chapter for you guys, sorry it took so long. Thanks to our Anonymous editor for doing this. I hope you all enjoy, things are going to get intense now so get ready for some emotional moments.

Disclaimer: We do not own Helluva Boss and the Angel AU concet is originally EmositeCC's idea who we were given permission to use!

Secrets and Snipers

Part 3

By TalosLives & CrackedInkWell

Edited by Anon

Based on EMositeCC's AngelAUSeries

Kris wasn't going to lie. When he heard that their boss's latest hit was going to be in the human world, he was ecstatic. He had heard a lot of things about the human world growing up as a pup, and so far, it hadn't disappointed him. It was a completely different atmosphere from the cities of Hell, yet held some familiarity that made him wonder if demons took inspiration from Earth for the design of their homes. After all, sinners were just former humans condemned to Hell, and they had some level of influence on its culture.

However, Kris wasn't going to let his excitement ruin his focus. Being a hellhound, he was assigned to be a tracker for one of the groups looking for their target's daughter, Octavia. While normally they would kill anyone in their way and damn the consequences, they had specific orders to make sure she was unharmed in any way possible. It was always so annoying when your clients prevented you from going all-in, but Kris had to obey the orders from his boss.

That was how it worked in their organization. Every "Assassin" had "Underlings" who supported them, with the more experienced and deadlier ones having numerous support staff. Kris had been an underling for about four years and he had hopes of achieving his own rank as an assassin, but to do that you had to stand out and Kris believed he finally had his means to do so. A plan to find and lure out their target that he had just finished telling his squadmates about.

His team consisted of three imps - all equally the average size with white hair, scars, and long horns their kind was famous for - and a fiend that looked like the mix of a red fox and a purple jackal. Each of them, much like Kris, was dressed in black combat kevlar and pants, with their respective weapons being a handgun and some knives. Being a tracking team, they had to travel light and couldn't use any of their heavier gear. Not to mention they needed to avoid being seen by humans as much as possible, a hazard bonus that would be really juicy if they managed to accomplish this mission.

"So let me get this straight. You want us to use our target's daughter as a means to draw him out?" one of the imps asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's the perfect plan. We all read his dossier. He'd do anything to protect his little girl. I'm sure she has him on speed dial on her phone," Kris said as he grinned behind the black-and-white-striped, mop-like hair covering one half of his face. Raising his claw, the mixed-furred hellhound continued, "We call him up. Get him to meet us. Tell the Boss, and he snipes his head off. Clean kill and we get praised for our ingenuity."

"I don't know," the fiend said as he crossed his arms. "Boss was pretty clear about nobody touching the girl. We could risk his wrath if we disobey his orders."

"Not to mention one of the other tracker groups could find Prince Stolas first before us and we'd never get the credit," another of the imps pointed out.

"What's life without a little risk? Come on, we can do this," Kris said with a grin.

"Well, how are we going to find her anyway? She's in a human disguise and even if we knew it, we'd still have to search the entire city for her. We can't even find her father."

"That's the beauty of it. I got her scent." Kris pointed to his nose as the others stared at him in surprise. "I was watching the restaurant they were in from across the street in my human disguise. When the panic erupted after Boss took his shots, the girl made for my direction while getting pushed by the crowd. I managed to get her scent just in time before I lost her."

"Well, shit," the last imp said before turning to the others. "Maybe we should give it a shot?"

The others all looked at each other and nodded in agreement which made Kris's smile widen even more. "Good. Don't worry. She's not far from what I can smell. Now come on."

"Still no sign of the boss?" Moxxie asked Millie as the two of them floated over the city, which was now going into a state of emergency. One had to give the city credit for responding so quickly to what was now being called a "Terrorist" act.

"None, and I can't reach him on his cell either," Millie replied as she put her phone away. "Think he's okay?"

"It's Blitz," Moxxie said plainly before crossing his arms. "I'd be more worried for whoever was shooting when he gets his hands on them."

"Thank goodness our client's daughter and step-parents are safe," Millie sighed with a relaxing tone. "It doesn't look like they were the targets. You think this was a random act of terrorism?"

Moxxie rubbed his chin before looking down at the site where the shooting took place. "Something about this doesn't feel right. Call it a gut feeling, but I think there is more to this than we know."

"Yeah, and there was also that girl who could hear me too," Millie pointed out. "What was up with that? I thought humans couldn't normally hear us?"

"Well, they can, but only in extreme circumstances," Moxxie answered before looking back at his wife. "Do you think she might be involved?"

"Even more reason to find her if she is and let Blitz know," Millie said before huffing. "We still don't know where he is and we need to find him."

"We do have a means to do so, though," Moxxie said as he pulled out his cell and called the office phone number.

"Hello?"

"Loona? It's Moxxie. Listen, can you use the computer to get a lock on the GPS device of your Uncle's phone? We got separated and we need to find him fast," Moxxie said.

"Sure thing!" Loona replied on the other end. " One sec. Just gotta activate the search program."

"That was a pretty smart idea for Blitzo to set that up after that job we took in Rio," Milie said with a knowing grin.

"Uh, don't get me started on that one," Moxxie grumbled. "We just had to take it during The Carnival . I swear I spent half that time getting all those dresses' feathers out of my actual feathers."

"Found him! He's not far from Bryant Park! Sending the location to you guys!"

"Thanks, Loona. Come on, Millie. Let's go."

Well, this isn't how I pictured meeting Stolas's daughter, but I guess it's nice to finally meet her. Even if I am pretending to be a cop, Blitzo thought as he and Octavia continued to make their way through the streets of NYC. The entire city was going into lockdown mode and, to the surprise of the two, the streets were being emptied out. Few residents were on the streets, save for those trying to get footage on their cameras.

"Um? Officer Rogers?" Blitzo turned to see Octavia looking confused as she peered around. "Should we be looking for your fellow police officers?"

"Uh, yeah. We're heading to them right now!" Blitzo said with a nervous grin.

"So why don't you radio them or something?" Octavia asked, tilting her head.

"Oh! Um..." Blitzo looked at the fake radio on his illusionary uniform and quickly thought of an easy lie. "Damn thing isn't working for some reason. It was working before, but then it just went staticy right around the time of the shooting."

He hoped that would work, and Octavia rubbed her chin as he used his enhanced hearing to listen in. "Must be using magic or something to block signals."

"What was that?" Blitzo asked, pretending not to have listened in.

"O-Oh, nothing! Um, let's just keep moving," Octavia urged as she waved her hand.

"Right, um," Blitzo looked around and saw that there was an entrance to Bryant Park nearby and pointed towards it. "We can cut through the park and make our way to the police station nearby."

"Alright," Octavia said as she and Blitzo walked inside, not noticing that they were being watched by five figures on top of a building who grinned and took off.

"So, are you and your Dad visiting, or do you live here?" Blitzo said as they made their way across the large green field. "You folks sound like you're from the UK with that accent of yours."

"O-Oh, yes. We're from London," Octavia lied and rubbed the back of her head. "We're just doing a little family trip to see the sights."

"Well, I hope this experience hasn't ruined your perspective of our country," Blitzo said as he turned around to look at her and smile, only to frown upon seeing something in the distance. Narrowing his eyes, he spotted a figure watching them from one of the trees. His instincts from years of being in the military service kicked in and knew that this wasn't good.

"Follow me and don't look back," Blitzo warned as he motioned for her to keep walking. "We're being followed."

" F-F-Followed? " Octavia whispered in shock.

"Yeah," Blitzo said as he grit his teeth. Please don't be demons.

Blitzo noticed a metro staircase going downstairs and figured it was a good place to go. Taking Octavia by the hand, he moved them down the stairs where, thankfully, there was nobody around; another thing he could chalk up to the shooting scaring everyone away. Rushing over to the turnstile, he jumped over and motioned for Octavia to do the same. They were about to head further inside when a sudden wall of purple flames erupted and made the two jump back.

"Shit!" Blitzo cursed as he heard laughter coming from behind the wall of flames. Slowly, a demon came out with a smirk and Blitzo recognized him as a fiend. He was about to grab Octavia and drag her away when he saw that this wasn't the only demon. Three imps and a hellhound had jumped the turnstile and the two were now trapped. Not good.

"Octavia Goetia? Princess-Heir of the 37th House of the Goetia bloodline?" the hellhound asked with a knowing smirk. "We've been looking for you."

"I… I don't know what you are! But if you think scary masks and costumes will-"

"Oh, cut the crap, Princess. We're demons, just like you. No need to pretend for the soon-to-be roasted pig you got protecting you," the hellhound snorted.

"W-What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Octavia shouted in disbelief. "You idiots! You can't expose yourselves like this! And what do you want with me anyway?!"

"Relax, we're not going to harm you. Orders and all. But we do want to harm your Daddy," the hellhound said with a grin. "Your Dad's got a contract on his head and our group was hired to do it. Since we don't know where his high class ass is, we're going to use you as bait to find him. Now why don't you be a good little blueblood and come quietly?"

"Fuck you! I'm not going to let you use me to get to my dad!" Octavia cried out as she summoned fire to her hands. She knew that showing her magic in front of the human was a bad idea, but there was no point. These idiots had already exposed themselves to Officer Rogers, and if she didn't do anything, they were both screwed.

However, to her shock, Officer Rogers put himself between her and the demonic assassins. "None of you demons are going to lay a hand on her. I suggest you leave now or else you're going to get erased from existence. Permanently."

"Oh, look at the brave little piggy who thinks he's fucking Doomslayer here," the hellhound joked, much to the amusement of the rest of the demons. "Look, I know your little human mind is still processing all of this, but why don't you be a good little monkey and just let us make your deaths quick? On the upside, you'll probably be going to Heaven."

"No need to send me there, I'm already from it," Officer Rogers replied with a smirk.

Octavia soon shook her head before putting her hand on Officer Roger's shoulder. "Officer Rogers, you need to let me handle this. These guys are-"

"Demons. I know. Hellhounds and imps are among the lowest in the hierarchy, fiends are low-mid tier," he said with such nonchalance that Octavia nearly froze wondering how he knew all that. "You know what the real problem is with killing hellhounds? It's the blood and fur getting mixed into your clothing. Takes forever to get it out. Imps are easy to kill with a single blow, and fiends? Please, I've taken out so many of those I lost count."

"What are you-"

Officer Rogers glared back at the assassins. "Listen here, you assholes. This girl is important to someone very close to me, and I'm not going to let you lay a single claw on her."

"You know she's a demon in disguise, right? Why would you protect her? What do you think you are? A Guardian Angel?" one imp asked with a laugh.

Suddenly, there was a gunshot and that said imp went silent as he slowly looked up to see a perfect hole in his head. Blood dripped down the forehead of the stunned imp before he collapsed face first. Everyone turned to Officer Rogers, who held in his hands something that every demon froze upon sensing; an object no human should have.

Officer Rogers cocked the flintlock pistol and grinned. "Nah, I'm an Exterminator ."

There was a flash of holy light that made every instinct in Octavia scream for her to get away, and she backed up as the light died down. Instead of the human police officer she had been with, Octaiva felt her heart come to a stop as she found him replaced with an actual fucking angel! A real angel was standing there with a murderous look on his face. She wasn't the only one shocked and freaked out by this; the other demons had all turned pale in the face upon seeing one of their arch-enemies.

Octavia had seen angels in books, pictures, magazines, online and on TV, but she never imagined that she would see one before her eyes. She was mesmerized, but at the same time she was ready to piss herself. Angels were the enemies of all demonic kind, killing them and purging them year after year. And now one was before her.

"Not going to make the first move?" the angel asked with a grin. "Then I guess I'll go first!"

Like lightning, he was across the room, forming a holy blade into his hand and jamming it right through the head of the second Imp. The third only managed to let out a surprised yelp before the angel turned around and sliced his head off. The fiend was already preparing to cast a spell, but the angel merely turned around and shot him twice in the face with his flintlock pistol before throwing his sword at the chest of the fiend. It went right through it like butter, the entire chest caving in itself before his organs and fluids disintegrated by the holy light of the blade. The wall of fire disappeared the moment its master was dead.

The hellhound, seeing that he had bitten off more than he could chew, tried to make a run for it. The angel merely pulled out a double barrel shotgun from his jacket, ignoring the fact that it was far too big to have fit inside, and blasted the knees of the hellhound off. He screamed and cursed while falling on his side, clutching both knees in agony as the angel levitated towards him. Pointing the double barrels at the scared and sobbing hellhound's face, the man-wolf demon could only hold his hands up in surrender and fear.

"W-Wait! Plea-" Octavia lurched back upon seeing his head explode like a baked potato in a microwave. She nearly lost her lunch and held her stomach with one hand while the other was over her mouth. Despite living in Hell and seeing her own share of dark moments, Octavia had never seen such a brutal kill before in all her life.

However, her disgust soon turned to fear as the angel that had protected her gazed his eyes towards her. She froze and felt her back press against the wall as tears threatened to come out of her eyes. She was going to die. Oh, Satan, she was going to die. The angel was going to kill her!

I'm sorry, Dad! I'm sorry! Octavia thought as she closed her eyes and waited for the blow that would take her to oblivion.

"Octavia?"

She slowly opened her eyes and saw the angel putting his guns away while snapping his fingers. His sword reappeared but then disappeared with a wave of the angel's hand. Sighing, he asked, "Are you okay? I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

Octavia tried to say something but she couldn't. Her mouth was just gaping open like a fish. Then there was the sound of voices coming from near the entrance of the subway.

"Blitz! Are you here?!"

Wait, that voice is… Octavia's mind went back to the restaurant as she recalled the invisible voice being the same one she heard.

"Moxxie?! Millie?! Is that you?!" the angel, whose name was now revealed to her, shouted in surprise. He then turned to her and quickly said, "Don't tell them you're a demon."

"H-Huh?"

That was all Octavia could say before two smaller angels flew down and sighed in relief upon seeing their fellow dweller of Heaven safe and sound. However, they soon saw the demonic corpses and gasped. "Woah, what happened here?"

"These demons were after this girl over here. I think the shooter was after her and these guys worked for him," Blitzo said with such calmness while Octavia was in a near panic trying to figure out what was going on.

"Hey! That's the girl from the restaurant! The one who could hear me!" the female angel (Octavia assumed her name was Millie) pointed out while flying closer to narrow her eyes. "Why were you able to hear me and why are these demons after you?"

"Um, I… I..." Octavia gulped and tried to think of an excuse while the piercing gaze of the female angel made her squirm.

"Millie, relax. She's already nervous as it is," Blitzo said as he suddenly got between them both. Millie backed away with her husband by her side as Blitzo cleared his throat. "Her name is Octavia… Owlton. The reason those demons are after her is because she's blessed."

" Really? " the two angels said with surprise as they turned to the girl.

"Yup, God's got a special plan for her, so she's been touched by his grace. She can sense things that others can't. That's why she was able to hear you, Millie," Blitzo lied to his friends, which made Octavia just pause and look at him with confusion.

He gazed at her and quickly mouthed "play along" and she finally understood. He was lying to protect her. But why? I'm a demon! His enemy?! Why is he protecting me?! Ugh, worry about that later!

"Y-Yeah," Octavia said, slowly, as she nodded at the two angels. "I… I've been hearing and seeing things… Blitz here was explaining things when the demons attacked me."

"How did you find out and why are these demons after her and her father?" Moxxie asked, folding his arms.

"I managed to interrogate one of the demons here for information. They were hired by a demon lord to assassinate Octavia before whatever big plan God has for her ends up ruining his own evil plot," Blitzo said with a heavy sigh. "You know how high-ranking demons take their manipulations on Earth seriously. Octavia's got a role to play in dealing with one of them and she needs our protection. It's our duty as angels after all."

"Well, if the big boss has blessed her, then she's got me in her corner!" Millie proclaimed with an enthusiastic nod.

"Indeed," Moxxie added as he put his hand over his heart and bowed before Octavia. "Lady Octavia. As an angel of the Lord, know that I will lay down my life to protect you so that whatever plan our God in Heaven has destined for you shall come to be. You will be safe under us. We swear."

"Um… thanks," Octavia said as she tried to come to terms with the utter surrealness of this. Angles are vowing to protect me. Me! A demon princess! What the hell is up with this day?!

"Right, we need to find Octavia's father and get them out of the area as fast as possible," Blitzo said, getting their attention. "However, we also need to find out who is targeting them and where. Moxxie? You look for a path that we can use for an exit. Millie? You use your police skills to look over the original shooting and get any clues on what kind of demons we're dealing with. I'll look after Octavia and search for her father."

"Should we contact Loona and ask her to send us reinforcements?" Moxxie asked while raising his hand. "If she is blessed, we need all the help we can to keep her safe."

"We can't. My friend said this is a top secret operation involving her and the less who know about this the better. Plus, we don't know how they managed to figure out she was their target so there might be a leak," Blitzo answered before smiling at his co-workers. "I'll see if that can be changed, but for now we're going on the assumption that we're on our own. Now let's get to it, H.O.P.E.!"

"Yes, sir!" Moxxie and Millie shouted while saluting. They soon flew off and it was just Octavia with only Blitzo.

Blitzo let out a gasp of relief. "Holy, that was hard. I hate lying to my friends." He then turned to Octaiva and gave a sad smile. "Well, I guess you have questions, but let me finally get introductions out of the way. I'm Blitz, the 'o' is silent. And it's nice to finally meet you, Octavia."

There was an awkwardly tense moment between them. Despite everything that had happened, trying his damndest to keep the daughter of his lover out of harm's way, Blitzo was at a loss of what exactly to do now. He tried to offer his hand to her, but instantly she stepped back. In a way like how one would step away from a violent, wild animal.

"Don't touch me," Octavia told him. Though in disguise, her eyes told Blitzo everything. Fear. Distrust. Bewilderment. Barely keeping her wits together while trying to process what the literal flying fuck was going on.

Wisely, Blitzo too took a step back.

"You knew I was a demon this whole time?" Octavia questioned.

"I… Well, yeah. I did." Blitzo nodded.

Another awkward pause.

"And you're an… an Exterminator."

"Was. I don't do that anymore, I swear."

Octavia glanced behind her towards the stairs that led down to the subway. But before she could make a run for it, her heart was suddenly in her throat when Blitzo appeared before her.

"I said I wasn't going to hurt you," Blitzo told her with a sigh.

Grasping her chest, Octavia stepped away, her back against the wall. "This is too real… Growing up, I've heard the bedtime stories of the Exterminators that hide in your closet and slaughter you in your bed. Where they'll appear in the dark when you least expect them when you're alone on the streets… Especially during Extermination Day. Hell, I've had nightmares as a child that made me run to Dad in the middle of the night. B-But seeing you here. Now… It just doesn't make sense. You don't make sense."

" You have no idea, " Blitzo muttered.

"What?"

"I still stand by what I said. As unbelievable as it sounds, I'm not going to allow anything to hurt you. I promised your father that."

"And that's another thing," Octavia pointed, "How do you know my Dad?"

Blitzo didn't answer.

"In fact, where is he? Is he alive? Or… do you know?"

Blitzo pulled out his phone, checking for messages. "Honestly? I'm just as in the dark as you are. The last thing he texted me was to come find you before he finds a place to hide."

"But how the fuck do you know him? I mean, what are you? Are you his blackmailer? Do you have something over him? If that's the case, you can fuck off, because my Dad has already gone through enough shit that he doesn't need your help-"

" No! No, I'm not like that. Stolas… Stolas… he's uh… " Blitzo let out a nervous laugh. "You know… this is the first time I'm actually saying this out loud to anyone. To say that…" He felt a frog in his throat. His biggest secret was just on the tip of his tongue.

"What?" Octavia folded her arms. "He's… what?"

Blitzo looked at her. "... You're not gonna like it."

Octavia frowned. "Tell me."

"No, you really are not going to like it."

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't you dare try to patronize me. I might not be eighteen yet, but that doesn't mean that I'm not capable of handling distressing news. I already had my Father say he doesn't really love Mum. I already had the surprise that he's gay, and had a front-row seat to one of the most violent divorces in Hell's history. Oh, let's not forget the army of assassins that is hunting Dad right now. Not to mention that I live in fucking Hell. At this point, I don't care if you are God himself, you tell it to my face what you have over my Father this instant!"

From the stairwell, the sound of a subway roared through. The echo reverberated off the walls, dying out with every passing tense moment.

Octavia, terrified of him as she was, stood her ground. Waiting for an answer.

For the truth.

Blitzo had faced many, many horrific things before. Demons that would send any other angel mad. Coming close to being erased. But this… He felt his tongue tying into complex knots, the icy invisible hands on his shoulders and his mouth. It was though he could feel the ghosts of… them attempting to keep him quiet. Stay pure. Stay quiet. Remember what the Lord our God has said about it. Those that loudly proclame outloud are not of God.

"Well?" Octavia demanded.

He could almost hear their voices, whispering, reciting verses that had forever been etched into his memory through punishment. Thou shalt not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination… Do not defile thyselves by any of these things; for by all these nations which I am casting out before thee have become defiled… For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. It was as if this very thing was muzzling him from daring to speak the truth.

"Stolas…" Blitzo gulped. "Y-Your father… I…" As much as his own demons, his monsters in his mind want to restrain him, he had to tell himself the same thing that Stolas once consoled him with - they're not here, nor will they ever be . "... He's my boyfriend."

Another silence. Perhaps the longest pause as Octavia tried to search for any sort of deceit. Any hint of a lie. Any hint of a joke. Any hint that maybe he wasn't thinking clearly.

"Y-You're lying…" Octavia said, her back against the wall. Shocked. "You have to be lying!"

He had done it. For the first time in his life, he came out.

"Damnit, tell me you're lying!" Octavia demanded.

And it was exactly the response he thought he would get.

"I'm not."

"But… But you're… But you can't-"

"What?" Blitzo asked, his cold tone making her wince. "No. Go ahead, tell me, that I can't be what? I've heard it all before. But you're an angel, you can't have feelings for men too. You can't be a sodomite. You can't be a fairy, a fart-sniffer, an ass-stuffer, a cocksucker. Go ahead! This wouldn't be the first time someone outside of Heaven saw me as nothing more than a faggot. Please, by all means, go ahead! Tell me how much of an unspeakable abomination I truly am! Because guess what? I already know I am… " His voice choked up with tears in his eyes, the sheathing self-hatred in his words that he realized how much he embarrassed himself. Especially that he snapped at her.

For Octavia, however, this was a first. While Blitzo snapped at her, for a moment, she saw her father there. Her father did keep his private life separated from her, trying to spare as much unpleasantness as possible. But a thought came to her… Was this what it's like? Did her father see himself like… that before he came out? Is he still?

"I-I'm sorry." Blitzo whipped the tears away. "I didn't mean to do that. It's just… I never had the opportunity to really… come out before."

Was this really the same closet case that her dad talked about back in the restaurant?

"Are you… crying?"

Blitzo sniffed, "So…?"

Octavia reached into her pockets and found what she was looking for. A small pack of tissues that she offered to him. Blitzo took it to use them to wipe his face. "Just to be clear… you're not a monster… are you?" Octavia asked.

"No… why?"

"Because… it's something that Dad told me once. I don't remember why he said it, but I never forgot it. ' Real monsters are those who never had a heart to cry. ' But you did. Call it naïve thinking or me trying to rationalize this already fucked up day but… to me, you're less like the boogie man and more… I don't know. But this is still a lot to take in at one go."

Blitzo was unsure what to say. The tissues in his hand quickly became damp, and still deeply embarrassed that he let something so… personal slip out to the last person in existence that should be at the blunt end of that. He wanted to say something. But before he could, his phone rang.

Taking out his cell, he saw who was calling. He answered it. "Stolas?"

" Blitzy, is Via with you? Is she okay? I've been trying to call her but I'm getting nothing. "

"She's fine. She's with me and uh…" He looked over to Octavia.

" Blitzy? What's going on? "

Blitzo knew that this might be a really, really bad idea. However, he told him to "Hold on a second," and handed his phone over to her.

Octavia immediately snatched it. "Dad? Are you there?"

" Via! Thank Lucifer! Where are you? Are you okay? "

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm in an underground station beneath a park. Bryant Park, I think. I left my phone back at the restaurant. Where are you?"

" I'm not entirely sure. All I can say is that I'm in a back alley behind a theater, but I must keep moving. I'll be alright, but listen to me Via. The person you are with, it's important that neither of you get separated while I come and-"

"Dad." Octavia interrupted. "Can I ask you something?"

" I'm not sure if now is the right time. Maybe if we-"

"This is important. Do you know Blitz…?" There was a pause. "It's a long story, but he's this used-to-be Exterminator that claims he's your… boyfriend?"

" Via- "

"I mean, that has got to be too incredible to be true."

" Via- "

"Dad, just… please be honest with me. Please. That has got to be a lie, isn't it?"

There was nothing on the other end.

"Dad? Dad, are you still there?"

" He… "

"Dad?"

" ... He's telling the truth. "

Octavia was stunned. Her jaw hanging open. Too shocked for words.

A sigh was heard from the other end. Handing the phone back to Blitz, Stolas asked him to put him on speaker.

" I knew deep down that this would happen eventually. Both of us knew that one way or another, the truth will get out. Via… I can only imagine what's going through your head right now. There's probably a lot of questions of how and why but… If we can get out of this, you have my word that both of us will answer everything. Blitzy and I. Anything you want to ask we'll tell you but - "

A gunshot was heard from the phone.

" Stolas! " Blitzo cried.

" Shitshitshit! " They heard Stolas curse, the sound of him running was heard along with another gunshot. " Blitzy, get Octavia home right now! "

"Dad!" Octavia grabbed the phone.

" Bring her home, Blitzy! I'll be-" Another gunshot. " Oh shi-" Then the line went dead.

"Dad! Dad! Hello!? Are you there!? "

Blitzo summoned a flintlock pistol into his hand. "Octavia, you stay here. I'm going to find your father."

"The fuck I am!" She grabbed his arm. "I'm coming with you."

"You need to stay here." Blitzo shook her off. "I can't let you get hurt."

"But it's my dad! I can't just do nothing while he's getting shot." She lifted up her hand that was burning with a blue fire. "I don't give a damn what you think, I'm not taking No for an answer!"

"But-"

"Damnit! There's no time! If you think I can't do anything because I happen to be a Princess, you've got another thing coming!"

A smile crept acros Blitzo's face, "You're so much like your father. Do you know anything about self-defense? Where I'm going will be dangerous, someone will very likely get killed."

Octavia raised an eyebrow, her hand glowed bright as she chuck a fireball at a nearby garbage can, leaving it smoldering and melting. "Any questions?"

"... I'm not gonna convince you otherwise, am I?"

Octavia shook her head.

"If you're going to, then you'll have to trust me." He offered his hand. "It's gonna be a war zone out there."

"I know." Octavia took his hand.

Stolas had no idea where he was going, much less where he was. He was sprinting down the maze of back alleys, over fences, through piles of garbage, around cardboard boxes, and even through traffic. Behind, above, and sometimes to the side, he heard gunshots going off. Blessed bullets zipped past him, missing him at times by a hair. No, even when he was at point-blank range, they still missed.

It was dawning on him that terrified him - they were missing on purpose. This wasn't just an assassination. This was a hunt. Every shot just encouraged him to turn this way or that. It made him realize too late that they were driving him into a corner. Which, eventually did happen.

In a dilapidated neighborhood of brick and broken glass, Stolas had rushed down an alley where there was a sharp right turn. But as he reached it, half a dozen imps were there, pointing their guns at him. Stolas looked behind him to where a hellhound, two fiends, and even more imps came close. Looking up, there were even a few snippers that were pointing at him.

"Feeling tired yet, Your Highness? "

Stolas reached for his pockets, but the hellhound marched forward.

"Hey! Hands up where we can see 'em!"

Reluctantly, he did so.

"Do you have any inkling who I am?"

The hellhound laughed. "Yeah, we know. Prince Stolas, one of the Goetias, and a dead birdy walking."

Stolas looked between him and the gun pointed at him. "So what are you waiting for? If the idea is to have me killed, this shouldn't be a problem."

"Oh you're gonna die alright. But not yet. Our boss has that privilege." Cocking his gun, the hellhound said with a grin, "Then again, that doesn't mean we can't rough you up just a little."

Stolas had his back against the wall, guns being cocked all around. He shut his eyes. And then someone fired, and the hellhound in front of him screamed. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to find Blitzo there, flint-lock smoking and the hellhound grabbing at the hole in his leg.

"Blitzy!"

"I'm only going to say this once," Blitzo held up his gun. "This demon and his daughter are off limits. All of you fuck off, and nobody here gets hurt. Stay, and you'll know first hand what the wrath of God really means."

" Don't just stand there! " the Hellhound shouted. " Kill them! "

In a blink of an eye, right before they unleashed a storm of bullets, Blitzo shielded Stolas with his wings. Though those angelic wings may have seemed delicate, the feathers were shockingly strong. Yet, for bullets made out of angelic steel, even Blitzo winced as he was being pummeled in every direction. It was like getting stung by hives of raging bees. As painful as it was, he waited for an opening. When it came as their storm subsided for a moment, Blitzo transformed his flint-lock into something with more firepower. The first thing he could think of at the moment when he turned around. A flash of heavenly light, and the flint-lock became a tommy gun.

With a battle yell, Blitzo unleashed a line of bullets back at them. He was able to shoot most of them when he turned around, painting the alleys in blood and holes. However, some of the assassins ducked for cover behind trash cans and dumpsters. Although it cut their numbers down significantly, they still reloaded to fire back. Blitzo in turn pulled up a shield to wedge himself and Stolas in a corner.

"Stolas, you have powers, don't you?" Blitzo questioned. "How come you aren't mowing these basterds down?"

"Three problems with that," Stolas answered, reaching into his pocket to take out the folded up paper of spells. "One, my power is heightened with the moon and stars out, it's daytime. Two, you have my grimoire. And three, even if that weren't the case, if I used too much of my powers here on Earth, it would be a beacon to both Heaven and Hell that would make things even worse."

Blitzo had to take a moment to fire back, but instantly retreated when he felt a sniper's bullet graze past his horns. "But we've got to do something. I can't hold up like this forever. Is there anything at all that you could use to get us out of this?"

Stolas unfolded the paper and looked through it, frowning. "No, I don't have anything here that… Wait, there is something!" held the spell up closely. "Yes, there's something I can do, but it's complicated and I'll need a moment to prepare it."

"Okay, do what you gotta do." Blitzo swapped out his tommy gun for a more modern semi-automatic. "I'll cover you."

With Stolas concentrating on a spell, Blitzo spewed out fire like an angry dragon. This way and that, he fired bullets that screamed out of the barrel. A loud, banshee-like shriek that tore everything in its path to shreds and rubble. Bricks splintered, and the metal sides of dumpsters shattered. When bullets zipped from above, he blindly shot up at the roofs in hopes that he'd taken down a sniper or several.

But even this wasn't enough. With every assassin killed, five more would pop up somewhere. As fast as Blitzo's shooting was, it was like more and more were coming. They were approaching through the storm of bullets he was sending. Getting closer and closer. He knew that he couldn't keep this up. Surrounded on all sides with them constricting around like a snake tightening its grip, unless help arrives, they were going to be erased.

Suddenly, from the roofs, there was a burst of blue fire with a couple of snipers being thrown off and landed beside Blitzo and Stolas. There was a moment when the horde of assassins looked up and stopped. Blitzo looked up and right above him was Octavia, who by now had shredded her human disguise and looked like an angry goddess. From her head down to her hands, she was enveloped in blue fire.

Even Stolas, who too looked up, was both horrified and in awe at the same time. Horror because his daughter had placed herself in danger among the throngs of assassins. And yet, he was amazed that he got to see the side of his daughter that had channeled raw emotion that propelled her to unleash a primal power. Because before any of them knew it, her hands glowed bright, and sent out flames down both ends of the alley. Bathing it in a deep blue. Stolas had never seen her daughter do anything like this before, yet he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of pride that she has been able to reach such a level.

Blitzo looked over his shoulder, "Stolas, I can explain-"

"Later, I'm almost ready." Stolas returned to the spell at hand to make absolutely sure he got every detail of it right.

From above, Octavia spotted a few imps that somehow evaded the flames and, without thinking, she leapt off the building and blasted out this way and that in pure rage. She landed over by a hip of trash that momentarily stopped her flamethrowing rampage. But as soon as she could crawl out, she saw a hellhound pushing through the fire, a semi-automatic weapon in hand, charging towards Blitzo and her father.

She scrambled out and with arms spread out, stood in his way.

The hellhound halted right in front of her. At first he tried to go around but Octavia blocked his way.

" Move, bitch, " he growled.

"No."

He raised his gun at her face, "Move. Now. "

"No!"

The gun was cocked. "This shot wasn't meant for you."

"Don't you fucking dare!" Blitzo raised his gun at the hellhound. Behind the hellhound, more demons came out from the flames.

Octavia stared down at the barrel of the gun. Where the hellhound expected her to be scared, instead she stared back, almost daring him to do it.

In that tense, heart stopping moment, Stolas had everything ready. " Via! Blitz! Cover your ears! "

Blitzo did so immediately, Octavia looked over her shoulder where, upon seeing her father with his neck glowing, quickly realized what he's about to do. She dropped her fire, covered her ears and got on the ground.

Stolas was the last to cover his ears as he channeled not just the spell, but harnessed every scrap of rage, heartbreak, fear, and pent-up emotion he had into his voice box. He knew this next part was probably gonna hurt, but taking in a deep breath, Stolas unleashed the spell.

Stolas let out a scream that was so loud, so strong that it shook him. A high-pitched, brain-piercing, primal scream that echoed for miles. An unholy shriek that made any demon unlucky enough to be within the neighborhood to drop to their knees in pain. But for them, it was already too late. They too screamed into the abyss as they felt their heads swell up before bursting like a blood-filled water balloon. In the alleys, the street, the rooftops, any demon unfortunate enough to hear that ungodly wail died.

It was only when Stolas had to take a breath, coughing up a storm from the intense magic he conjured, that the spell was broken.

Blitzo shook for a good minute, still covering his ears and trying to get himself to calm down after being at point-blank from the sheer blood-curdling scream.

Octavia finally looked up when the ringing in her ears subsided. She had blood splattered on her and a freshly dead hellhound lying nearby. The sight made her immediately turn away, and instead she looked around. The alley was quiet now. All guns had fallen silent and the blue fire was already smoldering out. For the time being, it seemed, they were alone.

Turning over to her father, Octavia saw Blitzo helping her father up. At this point he had dropped his human disguise, and there was a moment between the three of them before Octavia marched up to them.

"Via," Stolas started to say, "I can explain."

"Oh, you better explain," Octavia said as she took a moment to close her eyes and calm herself. She was already feeling the tired effects of using so much magic; getting upset like this would only make it worse. "Dad, what the fuck is going on?!"

Stolas looked at Blitzo who was giving him a sympathetic glance before he took a deep breath and stood up as best as he could. "I fell in love, Via. I fell in love with someone I care very much about. For the first time in my life, I've… met someone who makes me happy."

"But an angel?! Worse yet, a bloody Exterminator?!" Octavia pointed out in disbelief while pointing at a nervous Blitzo. "The very same kind of beings who have hunted us, exterminated us, and been at war with us since time began? What about all those lessons about how dangerous angels were and how we needed to be careful on Extermination Day? What about all those times I had nightmares as a child, fearing for our lives, because I thought the winged bastards were going to come and slaughter us in our sleep?! Are you even forgetting how many of our kind he and the rest of them have slain?!"

Octavia took a few more deep breaths before lowering her head. "But the worst part is that you kept this from me. Ever since you told me the truth about you and Mum, I thought you never kept secrets from me, but this? This is too much, Dad."

Stolas slowly walked up to his daughter and gently touched her shoulders. Sniffing, Octavia looked up with misty eyes as her regretful father looked down at her solemnly.

"Octavia, I didn't tell you because I didn't know how to explain it. I still can't explain it. I know Blitz is an angel, and by all rights we should be enemies, but when I found him… all covered in blood, crying his eyes out, and looking so weak… I didn't see a monster but someone who needed help."

"I don't under-"

"It's a long and painful story," Blitzo said, getting her attention as he looked away while gripping his weapons tightly. "All you need to know is that Stolas saved my life and changed my view about demons forever."

"And you changed my view of angels forever, darling," Stolas whispered with a small smile before turning back to his daughter. Frowning, he said, "I… I was also afraid of you rejecting me. I've been rejected by everyone in my life just for my quote-unquote ' lifestyle ', let alone my refusal to act like all my fellow nobles. But if you rejected me? It would break me, Octavia."

"But… he's an angel ..." Octavia muttered, looking mixed with her emotions.

"Look, Octavia, I get it," Blitzo said as he walked over and sighed. "I used to have that same mindset about demons. I… I lost something important to demons years ago and I became filled with so much hatred towards them. I've killed demons. More than you can imagine. I never saw them as anything more than godless monsters until I met Stolas."

Closing his eyes, Blitzo let a tear shed down his cheek. "He made me see that demons laughed, cried, and loved just like angels and humans. That you have feelings, lives, and struggles no different than anyone else. When it was revealed to me that I was wrong in my beliefs, I felt sick. Horrified that I had become a mass murderer especially against demons who didn't deserve it. Did I kill demons who deserved to be exterminated? Yes, and I don't regret those. But the ones who didn't deserve it? The ones who only wanted to live? I regret every single one of those deaths, and they haunt me to this day."

Blitzo turned to Stolas and smiled warmly at him. "When Stolas confessed his love for me, I knew it was true. Because I felt the same thing. I realized that demons were capable of so much good. It didn't matter if they lived in Hell. They were capable of love, charity, and kindness. It's those traits of your father that made me change who I am and fall in love with him."

Octavia just stared silently at the two demons as she slowly backed away, huffed, and crossed her arms. "Blitz's the reason you divorced Mum, isn't he?"

"Yes," Stolas answered immediately and with no shame, "but I've wanted to divorce her for so long. The only reason I never did until then was because I believed you needed your mother around you still. However, Blitz refused to be part of an affair. Angel virtue and all that. And I wanted to finally be free to love someone I cared about. Honestly, Via, I would have divorced your mother eventually, but Blitz just hurried it up."

"So everything that's happened in the past ten years was because of him?" Octavia growled and glared at the angel. "The reason you agreed to split me with Mum? So you can sleep with your secret forbidden lover? All those times I wanted to come home sooner and you refused because of him?"

"Via-"

"For fuck's sake, Dad, I hate her!" Octavia shouted as her eyes began to glow. "You think she's just awful to you?! She's just as bad to me! I hate being in that home of hers with her family because they are so… cold and selfish! All I've wanted was to just be with you! But you'd rather love him more than me!"

" That's not true!" Blitzo shouted so loud that it made the two owl demons jump. Growling, Blitzo walked up to a shocked Octavia and pointed his finger at her. "Alright, listen here, I don't care if you are Stolas's daughter, but you will not think of him as selfish as that! Not when he's done nothing but praised you over and over and over again in all our time together!"

"W-What?" Octavia gulped.

"Stolas and I agreed a long time ago that the only thing more important than our relationship were the girls we were raising. My adopted niece for me, and you for him! We're both fathers and we know that our children always come first, regardless of our feelings. I would never let Stolas choose between me and you because I would always want you to be chosen. Even if I didn't, I know Stolas well enough that he would choose you first. He would move Heaven and Hell for you at the same time if you asked him."

Octavia tried to say something but she couldn't. All she could do was stare at the passionate glare from the blue-eyed angel in front of here. "You are the one shining thing in his life from that horrible marriage of his. Everything he has ever done was to love and protect you. You are literally the only thing that's kept him going for so long. I can't even think of what would happen if something happened to you. Stolas might love me, Octavia, but he loves you more and I have nothing but praise for him doing so. Because he's your father, Octavia. And you will always come first. Always."

Octavia just stared at Blitzo with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. She then slowly turned to Stolas. "Dad?"

"Octavia, I-"

BANG!

The cracking sound of the gunshot echoed in everyone's ears, but that sound was soon replaced with a squawking scream of pain from Stolas. His left shoulder bursted, blood spilling in the air as he went down… motionless.

"DAD!"

"STOLAS!"

Grinning from ear to ear, the sniper chuckled as he looked up from his scope.

"Got'em."