Hello and welcome back.

Once again, please excuse any spelling mistakes. English is not my native language.

Enjoy! :)


Seven years passed since that day. Viol grew up to be a healthy, energetic girl. The more the years passed, the more apparent it became that she resembled her father in all kinds of ways. Her halo was black and her wings that spewed slowly out of her back were black on the outside and grey with black stripes on the inside, just like her mom's. But those messy brown hair, that face and those joyful golden eyes were unmistakably Adam's.

That didn't bother Lute. She wanted something to remind her of Adam, besides his halo and some photos they had taken, most of them depicting him wearing his horned mask.

The first time Lute showed Viol a picture of her father, the little girl got so scared that she hid under her blankets. "Who is this monster?" She asked with a trembling voice.

"That was your father" Lute replied and she showed her a rare photo of him being unmasked. "That's what he looked like without the mask"

The knowledge calmed Viol a bit. It was rather satisfying to know that her father, despite never meeting him, had similar human characteristics to them. In that photo, he was sticking out his tongue and he was having fun at a crowded concert, hugging Lute with one arm.

They seemed so happy.

"Why did he wear a mask?"

"To terrify the Sinners"

"Who?"

That day, Lute told Viol everything about her profession. About the uniforms, the masks (turns out she also had one, though it was different than dad's, with white led eyes and mouth and the horns were smaller), Hell and the annual Exterminations. She also told her about the fateful day she lost him forever...

"Won't he come back?" Viol asked, on the verge of tears.

Lute shook her head.

"Why? We are angels. We are supposed to be immortal" With each word, she came closer and closer to actually crying.

"Angelic steel is the only thing that can kill an already dead soul. All of our weapons are made from this element. Once you are fatally injured by it, there's no going back" Lute explained.

With the realization hitting her, Viol let her tears loose and buried her face to her mother's chest. Lute caressed her hair and let her express her sorrow. She knew exactly how she felt.

"It' ok. It's ok, my birdie" she said after a while. She lifted her daughter's chin and gave her a sorrowful smile. "It's like how I always tell you. He's not here, but I'm here for him. And that's enough"

She squeezed her daughter into a tight hug and shielded her with her wings for extra protection. A moment passed before Viol made a small, but decisive statement: "Mommy, when I grow up, I want to become an Exorcist and kill the Sinners who killed Dad"

"Yes, destroy those motherfuckers!" Lute smiled and lifted her fist for extra emphasis. "Wanna train you?"

Viol jumped into the air and exclaimed: "Hell yeah!"


The training equipmemt consisted of a cuisine knife (a stand-in for an actual Angelic knife) a team of stuffed animals (which, as you probably guessed, acted as the hateful and irredeemable Sinners) and a handmade Exorcist mask made of cardboard.

Lute grabbed the knife and showcased to her daughter how the business went: she lifted the weapon and with a swing of her arm she decapitated a stuffed brown bear. She aimed, then, for the orange parrot and shoved the knife down its belly, spraying the room with blood and guts.

Oh, I'm just kidding, it was just cotton and threads.

Lute grew excited by the "bloodbath", even though it was against stuffed animals. Whatever, she would gift her daughter new ones. With a huge and terrifying grin on her face, she handed the knife to Viol and said "Now, it's your turn".

Viol obeyed and mimicked her mother's techniques, while yelling her battle cry: "Die, you motherfuckers!" Her movements were clumsy and lacked the aura of a "professional", but the passion was visible.

Soon, the room was filled with even more cotton, buttons and decapitated heads and tails. It all went smoothly until Viol let a cry of pain and Lute jumped to her side.

"What is it, birdie?" She asked with a worried look on her face.

"I cut myself" Viol sniffed and showed her thumb.

Fortunately, it was just a cut and Lute let a sigh of relief. She kissed the finger and put a stinking plaster with a pink elephant. "There. The pain went away. Thank Goodness it was just a regular knife. But next time, you must be more careful".

Viol let another sniff and nodded.

Lute bouped her nose. "That's my girl! Now will you help me clean the room?" And gestured at the mess around them.


It was a day before the annual Extermination began. Each year, Viol would grab a pair of spare clothes, her favorite blonde doll (and the only member of her toys collection that was spared from the massacre), her guitar and her mother would drop her to "Aunt" Sera. She would come to pick her up the next day, after the Extermination was done.

"Aunt" Sera was an extremely strict figure. At least, that's how Viol viewed her. She was tall and beautiful, with dark complexion, a set of beautiful white curls crowning her head and three pairs of snow-white wings. Viol respected her, because her mother did, but she had never developed a bond with her.

Unlike with her "cousin", Emily. Now Emily was the exact of her guardian. Whereas Sera was serious and aloof, Emily was joyful and friendly, always here to make sure that the people she loved were having a great time. She knew exactly what to say to lift someone's spirits when they were down and she was all in all a ray of sunshine that made Heaven even more magical than it already was.

Viol loved spending time with her "cousin" and Emily loved hearing her practicing in her guitar.

As per usual, Viol left her packages in the guest room, kissed her mother and waved "Aunt" Sera goodbye and headed to Emily's room. Right in the middle of the corridor, she recalled that she had forgotten her guitar in the guest room, so she ran back to grab it.

She was about to touch the door handle when she heard talking. She recognized "Aunt" Sera's and Lute's voices arguing and remained silent.

"Lute, these... yearly activities must come to an end" she heard Sera.

"To hell with that!" Lute replied.

"Lute, listen to common sense! Hell's citizens are aware of our weakness and have acquired methods to defend themselves. With each passing year, the number of our losses becomes even larger. So many good capable Exorcists have lost their lives. How long do you think we'll keep doing this before Hell snaps, acknowledges our weakening state and finally attacks?"

"We have killed a good chunk of them as well. They are still scared of us and we should take advantage of that!"

Viol peeped from the keyhole and what she witnessed shocked her. Her mother was normal, but Sera... good Lord... Sera had grown eyes in various parts parts of her body and regal dress and she had a beak in the place of her mouth. She almost gasped, but then she realized they might spot her.

"Lute, think about Viol. What if they kill you down there? What are gonna tell her?"

The idea of losing her mother unsettled Viol, though she kept listening. Her mom also seemed to acknowledge the possible outcome, but shrugged it off. "I'm the Leader of the Exorcists. I'm too skilled to worry about that. It's the Sinners who should be afraid!"

Viol was proud of her mom. So brave and so strong...

And in a twisted way, Lute attacked Sera this time: "Don't act so above it all, Sera! You hate the Exterminations, but you can't bring yourself to cancel them. Even you believe that Sinners are irredeemable shits who don't deserve Heaven. If you did, you would have suggested a different approach to that problem" she leaned to grab the doorknob, which made Viol stumble and run away, before they realized she was spying them.

The guitar could wait.


She found Emily waiting for her at the front door. Upon noticing her, her "cousin" rushed to a firm hug and almost knocked her over. "Viol, I'm so glad to see you" she exclaimed jumping up and down like an over-excited squirrel. "How are you? Tell me everything!"

"I'm fine. I wrote a new guitar piece. Wanna hear it?"

Emily clasped her hands and her eyes glimmered. "Oh my God, I'd love to!"

Viol then remembered that she had left it back in her room. "I'm gonna play it after our walk. So, what are we gonna do today?"

"I was thinking of grabbing some ice cream and heading to the zoo to see the red pandas. I'm also bringing a new friend along. Hope you don't mind"

"Not at all" Viol reassured her.

Emily's friend arrived a few seconds later. Viol almost gasped to the absurdity of his appearance: he was dressed in all-white, he had a long snake tail and bore a top hat that seemed to copy his expressions.

Upon noticing him, Emily grabbed him by the hands and brought him closer to Viol. "Viol, that's Sir Repentious. Sir Repentious, that my cousin Viol" she introduced each other and her smile became even wider when she saw these two shaking hands.

"It's nice to meet you" Viol said.

"Nicccce to meet you too" Sir Repentious replied with his raspy voice.

"Shall we go?" Emily interrupted the scene. "I've got a lot of things to show you"


As Emily promised them, they stopped by bakery store to grab some ice cream and they let Sir Repentious chose first. While they waited for him, Emily whispered to Viol's ear: "I have to tell you something about Sir Repentious. He didn't come here via the usual way"

Viol's frowns arched. "What do you mean?"

"He was originally an Eartborn Sinner, but apparently, he managed to redeem himself and was honored becoming a Winner. Isn't it wonderful? He was originally named Sir Pentious, but I believe the name I chose for him is more appropriate" Her already large eyes grew even bigger.

A Sinner? Redeeming themselves? And earning salvation? "I can't believe this!" Viol exclaimed.

"I always knew they could do this!" Emily said, unaware of Viol's true feelings. "That's epic. You know, Sera didn't like it at first, she wanted to have him hidden for the rest of eternity and just yesterday I convinced her to get him outside. She may not say it, but I feel like Sera is slowly starting to change her mind. You know what that means? That sooner or later, the yearly activities that your mom participates in will come to an end!"

Viol couldn't bring herself to stare at her "cousin" while she revealed to her a thought that it's been bothering her. "I want to become an Exorcist to kill the demons that killed Dad. I was thinking of going of going down this year"

Emily let an exasperated sigh and stroked her "cousin's" hair. "Please, Viol. Don't do this. I know it hurts that you never had a chance to meet him, but revenge isn't the answer. It's just gonna fill you with even more pain. I wouldn't want you to end up like your mom"

"Why? What's wrong with my mom? Why don't you like her?" Viol asked, visibly hurt.

Emily placed a reassuring pat on her shoulder. "I don't hate her. I just don't agree with some of her ideas and beliefs"

"You mean, the whole Extermination thing?"

"Kinda. Do you have any idea what she does?"

"She goes down and kills bad guys" she replied in an instant.

"She. Exterminates. Human. Souls." Emily replied, emphasizing slowly every word. "Human souls that could have been redeemed, but they never got that chance"

"My mom says that since these souls ended up down there, they deserve that"

"How do you explain Sir Repentious then?" Emily gestured to the white snake angel, who was too focused on his ice cream to realise that they were talking about him.

Viol didn't reply. Truth to be told, she couldn't find a good explanation and she stared at the sparkling pavement.

Emily instantly realized that she made her "cousin" feel bad and grabbed her reassuringly by the shoulders. They shouldn't have started that conversation. Viol was still a child and she couldn't fathom such a complicated and ambiguous subject. Maybe once she was older...

"Hey, wanna go to the zoo now? I am sure Sir Repentious would love to see the red pandas. They are so adorable and fuzzy!"

Sir Repentious nodded eagerly. He came out of the story holding a strawberry ice cream and wasn't that aware of what was really going out, except that adorable kid angel was upset for some reason and he wanted to lift her spirits up in some way.

Viol let an excited squee and spreaded her wings.


So, this chapter was more about cutsy stuff, but I promise in the next one, it's when the story truly begins.

Now I know that since Viol is an immortal being, she ages differently from humans (just like how Charlie is 200 years old, which is the equivalent of being 20 years old), so by that logic, Viol should be 7 months old, but I felt like my story couldn't make sense if it took place 70 years later (to be the equivalent of being 7 years old), so just roll with that.

Until the next one, wish you a lovely weekend. :)