Chapter 3:

The angel Muriel was back to pacing the bookshop on Earth. This time with even more dreadful anxiety than before.

What should she do? Was she even supposed to do anything?

Certainly not. The Archangels and even The Metatron knew about this. She had no business interfering at all. She was lucky Saraqael did answer all her curious questions.

Technically, this all made sense to Muriel. The first thing an angel learned was that the ultimate goal was to destroy the 'bad side' so the good angels could live throughout eternity in peace. Getting an advantage and using it to secure victory was perfectly fine. A dedicated, faithful angel would probably feel honoured to be sacrificed for the greater good.

But why did it have to be Aziraphale!?

The poor angel didn't have a choice. This in particular felt very, very wrong to Muriel. Her angelic heart pounded. Her hands trembled and she found that her feigned breathing came in short, quick gasps.

Wrong. Why did it feel so wrong? Could Heaven do wrong? It was Heaven, after all. They were the good guys. It couldn't be wrong when she was the only angel who felt like crying when she saw Aziraphale. Was there something wrong with her?

Maybe it was being on Earth that had changed her. Muriel wrung her hands anxiously. Well, that couldn't be helped anymore, could it? She obviously felt for Aziraphale. She didn't want him to get hurt because she liked him.

Muriel paused her pacing.

The horrible revelation of what Heaven was doing to the angel had caused her to forget completely why she went up there in the first place. To find out if Aziraphale and Crowley really loved each other.

She thought about Nina and Maggie again who seemed so concerned about the demon, saying he must be 'heartbroken' that he couldn't be with Mr. Fell anymore. Now, if Muriel liked the angel and was upset about his looming demise and if Crowley actually really loved Aziraphale… how much worse must it feel to him if he'd learn about this?

Muriel shuddered at her thoughts. The idea that a demon could feel emotional pain like this seemed so outlandish to her. All demons were made out to be nothing but unhygienic, ruthless killers by Heaven. Untrustworthy and cunning.

But Crowley didn't seem like that to her. Muriel wasn't even really scared of him; he just seemed grumpy at most. Maybe he was changed by Earth, too. And now his best friend was going to die in Heaven and he wouldn't even know!

A plan slowly began to take form in Muriel's mind. Crowley ought to know about this. It seemed just right to her. Besides, she, as an angel, obviously wasn't able to do anything about Heaven's scheme, but Crowley was a demon. Going against Heaven is what he does best, isn't it? She was sure he would do something if he truly felt what Nina and Maggie said he was feeling. And if not…

Muriel frowned. She decided not to think about the 'if not' scenario for now. Aziraphale needed to be rescued!

She breathed through, nodding decisively. Alright, so, first, she had to find Crowley. The easiest way to accomplish that would be to ask something that belonged to the demon to guide her to him. Muriel smiled. Heaven probably didn't have that option, which was why they couldn't find him, but Muriel was on Earth. The demon lived on this planet for 6000 years and in vicinity of this bookshop for at least the last 200 years. She just had to find something that used to be in Crowley's possession and hope that he wasn't back in Hell. It wouldn't work that way and Muriel really, really didn't want to pay a visit to Hell anyway.

Determined, the angel started to search the bookshop. She went through the shelves, searched Aziraphale's untouched desk and opened every little cupboard and drawer. It was hard to find something when she didn't know what exactly she was looking for.

Muriel hoped that she would be able to feel when something belonged to the demon. It ought to give off some kind of bad, mischievous vibe, right? Maybe she should be looking for something black. Demons seemed to like black. And dirty things. But Aziraphale's bookshop wasn't dirty in any way. Cosy, warm love seemed to radiate from every carefully shelved book and scroll.

In some corners a faint evil smell still clung to the walls; proof that the demon had spent some considerable amount of time here, but Muriel couldn't find anything that was distinctly his.

After a while of searching in vain, Muriel ventured upstairs. She hadn't been there much; all she needed was downstairs. The first floor had a little room with a bed, a room with a stove to heat human food upon – maybe that was where she should've made the tea – another room for storage and even more books along the gallery.

Muriel searched every room thoroughly and came up with nothing. The evil smell was fainter up here, too. She thought about giving up when she pulled an unlabelled cardboard box from a high shelf in the storage room. At first glance there was nothing out of the ordinary inside this box. Just some rather old clutter.

A theatre flyer dated 1941. An old Elizabethan coin from 1601. An empty bottle of something called Laudanum and, probably the oldest thing, a little clay pot, dusted and weathered by age. And finally, a pair of dark glasses.

Muriel grinned, pleased with herself. She had been right; it was something black. Muriel had seen Crowley wear those kind of glasses to hide his creepy snake eyes from humans. He must've had hundreds of those over the years.

Carefully, she picked the glasses up and she felt it immediately. The demonic energy that clung to them.

"Right," she said in her friendliest tone. "I'm looking for your owner. The demon Crowley. Can you guide me to him?"

The sunglasses seemed to vibrate and heat up. Then they twitched in her hands and Muriel had to hold on to them quickly so they wouldn't just smash through the upstairs window. "Oh… okay," said Muriel excitedly. "This way?" She opened her wings and together with the glasses she vanished from the bookshop and Soho and London.

In the blink of an eye she rematerialized and felt the sun and fresh wind on her skin. Curiously, she looked around. Muriel was standing on a very high white cliff. To her feet was the glittering blue sea and the sky seemed to stretch on forever.

What a nice place, she thought and wondered if she was really at the right location. Wouldn't a demon prefer something darker? But the shades in her hand hummed in apparent approval. Crowley had to be close.

Cheerfully, Muriel turned around and walked on. Assured, that she must be on the right track. Not far along the cliffs she could make out a group of people, all clustered around… something. The glasses seemed to want her to move closer, so Muriel did.

From up close Muriel could see that what the people were standing around was a car. A black one. Very familiar. The people were taking pictures of it while never stepping over a rope that was secured to little orange cones, which were placed all around the car. A human police officer made sure that no one was getting too close.

"Oh." uttered Muriel and pulled a face. She had left her police hat behind. She could've asked those people what they were doing. The sunglasses pulsed warmer, encouraging her. Maybe the humans would still answer questions even if she wasn't fully dressed as a police officer.

Carefully, she tapped one human male upon his shoulder. "Excuse me," she said shyly. "What is going on here?"

The man turned around. He was wearing glasses, too, but not dark ones, and he smiled friendly. "Oh, you're not from here, are you?" Muriel's eyes widened, shocked that the human could tell so quickly. Then he explained.

"This old Bentley just appeared one day. That was after the thunderstorm. Some bloke from the village came up here, walking his dog and there it was. No one around. No one that had topped themselves off the cliffs, either. It was just abandoned. The police tried to find its owner, but they can't even break into the car, let alone move it away. It's just indestructible." The man told her excitedly. "So after a while, of course, it became a tourist attraction."

He gestured towards the crowd of people. Muriel wasn't sure what a 'tourist attraction' was, but it became clear to her that the car was miraculously fixed in place and she also knew by whom. She smiled brighter and nodded at the man. "Thanks." she beamed. "That means I'm on the right way."

Without waiting for a reply Muriel walked past the crowd and the car. In front of her, still some distance away, she could see high, dark pine trees that grew at the edge of a forest. Yes, that seemed more like a place to look for a demon.

"Uh, you might not want to go into the forest alone, luv." the man called after her.

Muriel furrowed her brows. "Why not?"

"Just some gossip going around in the village." The man shrugged his shoulders. "It's stupid, really. They say there's a monster living in there. Some kind of giant snake. Load of rubbish, if you ask me, but you should be careful anyway. Everyone who'd come out of the forest lately had nothing but bad luck."

"Yes." Muriel agreed happily. "That's exactly what I'm looking for." She went on, leaving the friendly man behind, scratching his head.

The forest was dense. Not long after Muriel had entered it the shadows closed around her and the sunlight reached only the very top of the trees. Muriel held on tightly to the hem of her jacket, feeling nervous. Somehow she had imagined that there would be more animal noises in the forest. She had read about rural wildlife in books and about the many birds that would live in the trees. But this forest was eerily quiet.

Sometimes a twig would crack and startle her, but the sound never came from the same direction twice. The black shades Muriel was still clutching in her hand were getting uncomfortably hot now. She had to switch them from one hand into the other. The demon must be so close.

Muriel swallowed and decided that it was time to make some noise of her own. "C-Crowley?" she whispered timidly. But nothing moved. The young angel cleared her throat and tried again, a little louder. "Crowley? Are you here?"

Suddenly, Muriel gasped as she stumbled and nearly fell over a large black root on the ground. As soon as she had touched it, though, an unmistakably vicious, angry hissing sound seemed to reverberate from every corner of the forest. Muriel gasped again and, frightened, dropped the pair of sunglasses.

She wanted to pick them back up when she noticed that the root she had stumbled over began to move. Now she did fall, losing her footing as she tried too quickly to scramble backwards. The forest hissed again. Louder. Close to her and somehow far away at the same time. Muriel got to her feet and wanted to run, but she was stuck.

The moving black root had wrapped itself around her ankle and, much too quickly for her to escape, snaked its way upwards around both her legs. "Oh, no!" Muriel whimpered as she felt muscles tighten around her and the beast easily picked her up off the ground.

"Who daresss to disssturb me?" A snarling sound rumbled and hissed.

Muriel wanted to answer, but paused. She had heard that voice before. The snake – there was no doubt anymore that it was one – had wrapped itself around her middle now, trapping her arms to her body. Muriel had no chance to wriggle free, but she no longer wanted to anyway.

"You will be punissshed for disssturbing me, little human." The snake hissed ominously, lifting her higher. "You will curssse the day you ssset foot into thisss foressst!" it growled.

Muriel watched how the branches of the trees seemed to move on its own as the snake closed in on her. Left and right and above and below, the black scales rippled and gleamed between the leaves like diamonds. Its underbelly was a dangerous, fiery red. The hissing was so close now, it was deafening.

Finally, suspended from a branch above, the huge head lowered itself to her eye line and Muriel stared into the unblinking, golden eyes of the snake. At once the hissing stopped and the forest fell silent.

"You?!" the snake snarled dumbfounded.

Muriel smiled disarmingly. "Hello." she said happily.

There was another hiss that sounded definitely more annoyed than scary and, abruptly, she was put to the ground again. Muriel stood there with her hands folded in front of her and waited. The snake seemed to be on the move again, wriggling through the undergrowth. She only realized that it shrank when it was about six feet long and rested on a thick branch just a bit over her head height to her left. There the snake transformed into a human-looking Crowley.

"What do you want?" he asked grumpily.

The demon wore the same clothes he always did, minus the glasses. Muriel guiltily realized that the pair she'd brought lay broken on the forest ground. She tried not to draw attention to them because Crowley already glared very angrily at her. As if she'd just woken him from a very long, deep sleep. Better to get straight to the point then, she thought.

"Oh, I just need to tell you that something very wrong is happening-"

"Don't care." he interrupted, crossing his arms and laying back on his branch. "How did you even find me? I have done nothing noteworthy since…" he fell silent. "A long time." he mumbled.

"Um…" made Muriel, her gaze wandering to the broken shades now after all.

Crowley tsked. "You shouldn't litter. Haven't they taught you that at angel school?" Lazily, he stretched out an arm and the sunglasses fixed itself and floated into his outstretched hand. He put them inside his jacket pocket. Then he glared at her again. "Go away." he grumbled.

Muriel clenched her hands. "B-But I have to tell you-"

"Don't care!"

"It's about Aziraphale!"

That made him pause and Muriel could see that he was holding his breath. Because he wasn't hiding his eyes, she could also see the flash of pain in them. He looked sad now, Muriel realized. But then Crowley turned his back on her and she could barely hear him as he spoke again. "What the angel does is no longer my concern."

"Oh…" Muriel uttered a little disappointed. So, she wondered, whatever he had been feeling, he wasn't feeling it anymore? Was it all in vain? "I-I thought you could help me decide what's the right thing to do." she explained, but the demon didn't seem to listen anymore. Muriel's shoulders dropped. Quieter she whispered. "I thought you could do something. They said you're in love."

In a flash, Crowley's dangerously glinting eyes were back on her. "What?!" he hissed and then cursed. The sudden movement made him lose balance and, in a tangle of long arms and legs, the serpent fell from the tree and out of sight. He continued to curse under his breath, making the innocent angel blush. Then his red head of hair reappeared from the bushes as he stomped towards Muriel, picking leaves from his clothes. "Who told you that?" he wanted to know sharply.

"The human women, Nina and Maggie."

Crowley sighed darkly. "They're wrong." he grumbled.

Muriel smiled with an unconcerned, little shrug. "I told them that, too, because you're still a demon and I guess Beelzebub was just a weird anomaly, right?" She waited for an honest reply that would make this whole complicated love business a bit clearer to her, but Crowley just stared at her without blinking. The sadness in his eyes intensified but Muriel didn't notice.

"Even if it was true," Crowley eventually muttered, turning his gaze away, voice merely above a whisper as the name of the angel haltingly left his lips. "Aziraphale… he had enough time now to see his mistake and return." Abruptly, Crowley looked back to her, his face a stoic mask of immobility. "But he didn't. And I have accepted that. So, I'm going to stay right here on my own until the end comes."

The demon walked off, touching the bark of the tree he just fell down from. His form shimmered as if he was about to transform back into the snake.

"Well, that's the problem," Muriel mentioned, offhandedly. "I don't think Aziraphale can return even if he wanted to."

The shimmering stopped. Reluctantly, the black scales were pushed back again and the human form remained. Standing very still, Crowley asked, "What do you mean?" He wasn't looking at her yet.

"Oh, um…" Muriel took a step closer again. "I don't really know how much I'm allowed to tell you… probably nothing." she laughed nervously and quickly talked on before she could change her mind. "I wanted to ask Aziraphale if the human women were right about the two of you so I visited Heaven. Saraqael showed me where he was... it was very scary. But I seemed to be the only one who thought so."

Crowley's fingernails had left deep scratches in the tree. His posture was rigid but he still wasn't showing her his face. "Get to the point!" he hissed.

"Yes, sorry." Muriel nodded. "The angels have locked Aziraphale in a cage. They are draining his miraculous power to make special weapons. They know that you've been working together to hide Gabriel and the miracle you performed was so strong and powerful that they feared what you'd be able to do if you fight Heaven or Hell together."

"So they separated us." Crowley growled lowly. Smoke had started to gather around his hand.

"Yes. Exactly." confirmed Muriel brightly. "You're much smarter than they told us demons would be."

"Do they think I'm powerful on my own, too?" Crowley asked sharply.

Muriel's face fell. "Um, I-I really shouldn't tell you about that—" Her breath got stuck in her throat as the demon suddenly whirled around and stared at her. Startled, Muriel stumbled backwards as she saw his eyes. The slitted pupils were thin and barely visible while the rest was blazing and flickering in orange and yellow. As if hellfire was burning right behind them.

"Tell me!" he commanded.

Muriel couldn't help but obey. "Yes." she whispered in a small voice. "They tried to capture you, too, so you couldn't tell your side about this, but they didn't find you."

"How long has this been going on?"

"I-I don't know." stuttered Muriel and she started to tremble when Crowley took another step towards her. She swore she could feel the scorching heat of the fire radiating off of him. "I think e-ever since Aziraphale returned to Heaven. He looks very w-weak now. I'm not sure there is much more energy to give."

In a heartbeat, Crowley's burning eyes were gone and Muriel breathed through, trying to calm herself. She blinked and realized that the demon had turned his back on her and was speedily walking away.

"Oh, what have I done?" she lamented quietly to herself. She'd imagined Crowley would be sad, like her. Just slightly more so since his feelings were apparently stronger. Muriel had not reckoned with rage. Let alone this much rage. He looked angry enough to burn all of Heaven to the ground. Did I just start the war? Is this what will provoke the Second Coming?

Hurriedly, Muriel went after the fuming demon. "W-What are you going to do?" she asked as she caught up with him.

"I'm getting him out of there." growled Crowley.

"But… I-I thought you would… maybe form a plan first to sneak him out quietly or get help from some of your demon friends. You can't just go into Heaven alone. They will capture you."

"They can try!"

"Please," begged Muriel. "Don't start a war. This won't end well for Aziraphale or for your side."

Suddenly, Crowley spun around. They had reached the edge of the forest. Seagulls could again be heard screaming as they flew close to the cliff wall, looking for food. "I'm not on anyone's side!" snarled Crowley. "I'm not interested in fighting in any war and if Hell knew what I was doing, they certainly wouldn't help me. I just want to get Aziraphale back!"

"But you won't even be able to pass through Heaven's gates without setting off alarms." Muriel reminded him. "You need an angel to accompany you."

"So, will you come with me then?"

Taken aback, Muriel opened her mouth, but no words came out. "I-I…"

"Listen," said Crowley. "You came to me for a reason. You saw what Heaven was doing and you knew they had to be stopped. And you're right! Because what they're doing is wrong, but no one up there seems to notice anymore! There's hope for you at least. You thought for yourself."

"I-I'm not sure…" whimpered Muriel, but Crowley suddenly grabbed her by the arms.

"There's more than black and white, cherub! More than good and evil." he said. "I may be a demon, but I'm not with Hell. I never truly was. And if you come with me now, I swear to you, I'll protect you. The angels will not hurt you as long as you're with me. I promise!"

Scared and shivering, Muriel swallowed her tears down. That Crowley called her 'cherub' touched something deep within her. It made her feel like he was a parent to her; someone who knew better. Someone she could trust. "Alright." she mumbled bravely and nodded once. "I'll come with you."

"Good." said Crowley. "Hurry up." With that he turned and he ran.

The people that were still gathered around his car in the distance cried out in shock as they saw the black figure, running towards the edge of the cliff. For a moment it seemed as if they were collectively holding their breath… then Crowley leaped from the edge and they screamed.

Muriel stumbled forward, too, but then she was pushed back by the thrust of wind as Crowley opened wide black wings and strongly pushed himself up towards the sky. For a second the young angel could only watch in awe. Despite the dark colour, Crowley looked nothing short of majestic. Each feather gleamed in the sun like black oil, reminding of the shiny scales of the serpent.

Yes, he must indeed be very powerful, thought Muriel.

When he disappeared behind the clouds, the angel shook herself from her amazement. She performed a quick miracle to let the onlookers forget what they saw, then she opened her own wings and followed the demon.

I love writing Snake Crowley, haha. :) Let me know what you think so far and thanks to everyone who already followed, liked or reviewed!