Chapter 4: Choose and Intrusion

"Now this unit has beautiful bay windows in the kitchen and plenty of closet space…"

Cally stands in yet another apartment as a real-estate angel agent tells her about the perks of this particular unit. The female angel, who partially resembled a tiger with stripes on her arms and face as well as whiskers, flies around pointing out crown mouldings and other stuff that Calypso could care less about. All she wanted was an apartment with a bedroom, a kitchen and a balcony. Everything else could suck it and was just extra nonsense. She could live in a dumpster in Heaven and be comfortable. She tries to remain polite, but she is going to start falling asleep pretty soon.

It's also been one hell of a long day. This is the sixth unit that she'd looked at and can't seem to find one that fits her taste. It wasn't like any place in Heaven was crummy or falling apart, everything was kept in tip-top condition as per "heavenly standards". It also wasn't because of the rent or anything like that because in Heaven everything is free and new places are always created when new souls enter the realm to allow them to start their afterlife. She's not sure why, but Cally can't seem to decide on an apartment for herself.

Maybe she had unrealistic expectations of her first home, but she was hoping for something spacious, maybe two rooms and making one into an art studio.

"If you want to look around, you can," the real estate angel finishes.

Finally, Cally thinks to herself.

She flies through the apartment to get a sense of the place. The kitchen is nice with white tiled floors and plenty of counter space, perfect for cooking and the bay windows are nice. In the next room, the living room seems spacious enough, perfect for furniture and lots of wall space for artwork. Next to it is the balcony… kind of small, but gave her a fairly nice view. The apartment itself is on the sixth floor, so she can see a lot. She then examines the bedroom which is a little on the smaller side. There's only one window, which provides her with enough privacy to be in her hybrid form.

It seems to tick all the boxes, except for needing an additional room for an art studio.

"It's a nice place," Cally admits. "I was just hoping for an apartment with two bedrooms. I would like to turn one into a studio."

"Well, unfortunately, there are none available in this building, but I can take another look at other listings and let you know tomorrow."

"Great," the hybrid smiles. "Thanks."

…

When Cally returns home, she flops onto the couch face first, completely exhausted. She buries her face in a pillow. Even her wings are sore, and that's saying something. She turns back to her normal form, and she just tries to relax.

The day just felt like an epic failure on all sides. How hard is it to find a decent apartment?

She turns on the TV. Heaven is still buzzing about the recent fight in Hell, and it has a lot of angels and "winners" scared. Was their safety at risk? What happens if Hell becomes overpopulated again? Is it possible for sinners to be redeemed?

"Running like chickens with their heads cut off," Cally mutters. "Heaven is not going to collapse over one battle. Plus, we attacked them… They have a right to defend themselves."

Glad that she's alone so she can express her thoughts and opinions.

She checks her phone and there's only a message from her mother letting her know that she'll be late for dinner again. It was going to be a leftover night anyway.

The two haven't spoken since the other night and Cally is in no hurry to do so again. She just hates that every time she tries to get her mother to listen to her, the woman treats her like a child. It's fine to be angry about things and not being able to see her father is a fairly reasonable thing to be angry at. But Sacha insists that there's nothing to talk about and it just makes her daughter resent her more.

I need to get out on my own, she thinks to herself.

She scrolls through her phone and goes to her dad's number. Her finger hesitates on the call button.

Is this what my life has come to? I only call my parents. God, I need friends.

While Cally doesn't want to argue with her father about yesterday, she just wants to talk to him. He also saved her ass yesterday calling her mother, so she should really thank him.

She presses call and the phone just rings and rings.

Finally, she gets his voicemail.

"Hey Dad, it's me. I just wanted to call and thank you for yesterday. Really saved my ass. Anyway, give me a call when you can. Love you."

She hangs up and turns off the TV. She decides to go sketch for a while before heating up leftovers.

There's a knock at the door.

Checking the peephole, Cally's stomach drops and her heart races in a panic.

What the hell is she doing back here?

She could pretend that no one was home, but no doubt Lute could see the shadow of her feet under the door. Sighing, she resumes angel form and opens it just enough that she can face the commander standing on their doorstep.

"What do you want? Haven't you done enough damage in the last 24 hours?" Calypso asks, glaring at Lute. "Our fridge still has a dent in it."

"Where is your mother?"

"At work, which is where you should be,"

"Don't start with me," Lute snaps.

"Leave us the f*ck alone," Cally growls. "Particularly me."

"I can do what I want you little brat since I'm your mother's boss."

"Hell of a Boss," Cally hisses under her breath. She shuts her eyes and tries to control her temper and not blurt out what she's thinking. "What… do you want?"

"There's a file missing from your mother's paperwork for the last extermination. Unlike Adam, I'm actually going to review everything and make sure it's accurate. We're trying to finish the death list for all the fallen angels and we're missing the last page."

"I'll look for it," the hybrid says, going to shut the door and make Lute wait.

However, the angel steps forward and stops her from doing so.

"I didn't come all this way just so you can find it."

"I thought it was illegal to enter someone's house without someone saying you can. And I thought vampires couldn't come in unless they were invited."

The commander inhales, trying to control her own rage. She wants nothing more than to be rid of Sacha's daughter. "Don't start with me, Brat. Remember, I can make it so your mother is looking in the help wanted ads."

Cally's hands clench into fists on the edge of the door and the outline of her tattoos are starting to show. She steps back and resentfully lets Lute in.

She looks much cleaner than yesterday. Any cuts or scrapes that she had were either healed or patched up. Where her left arm had been lost, it was wrapped tightly in bandages. What puzzles Cally is why didn't Lute heal her arm. Angels could do that. Maybe she wants to wear it as a reminder of her failure and to honour Adam as a battle scar.

Lute looks around the apartment and begins to walk around.

Calypso swallows and worries about her room. The door was left ajar at the end of the hall. Many of her sketches could blow the family's whole secret and that's one way ticket to her mother being fired and complete banishment.

Lute walks into the living room first and examines everything. She looks down at the coffee table and the hybrid kicks herself for not cleaning up the apartment listings.

"Moving?" Lute asks, turning to Cally.

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes… I have a new job in a different district, so I am looking at places to live."

"Well, glad to hear that. This means we'll be seeing less of each other."

"Is that a promise or a goal?"

The commander growls and continues to walk around.

Cally begins to slowly shift towards her bedroom, hoping to close the door and prevent Lute from seeing anything that would shatter their family's illusion of being a family of angels. Also, the fact that Sacha had a partner. While never legally married, because how could they? Sacha referred to Brom Morte as her husband. But no one outside of their family knew that. Sacha always claimed that she was a single mother and that Cally's father had moved on a long time ago. It was rare in general for angels to reproduce, so no one seemed to question the story.

It's then that Lute notices what Cally's doing and turns.

"What are you doing?"

"Checking my mom's room," she explains. "She has a desk and does her paperwork in there."

The hybrid quickly changes course and heads to her mother's room. She prays that the lead exorcist follows. She flies to her mother's desk and frantically searches for the missing list of names. The problem was, Sacha Chisisi was not always the neatest and there were papers everywhere. It should obviously be close to the top because it's recent work, but her mother also tended to leave random pages in random places. Cally continues to desperately look.

Lute waits in the middle of the hallway. She glances at the artwork decorating the walls and a few photos of Sacha and her daughter. It was sickeningly sweet.

It's then she catches a glimpse of Cally's bedroom. Her door is decorated with paintings and charcoal sketches, but it's beyond the doorway that catches Lute's eye the most. It's a large room painted a light red, gray and white wallpaper for some reason. The decoration choice makes the angel curious. Most people in heaven stick to the usual colours of white, silver, light blue, yellow, cream, light gray etc. to decorate their homes, but this is not normal. It stands out like a sore thumb. Sure, it wasn't illegal to decorate a room in a house like that, but red wasn't the usual choice. It reminded her too much of Hell.

Lute takes a step towards the room, adjusting her head to see what's on the striped wallpaper. More artwork obviously, but there were pictures of people. People she wanted to know who they were. She's almost at the door when…

"FOUND IT!" Cally shouts, she flies back to the commander and lands in front of her, obscuring her view inside the bedroom. "Here."

Thrusting the paper into Lute's hands, Calypso prayed that the exorcist didn't see anything in her room.

"Unusual colour scheme," Lute comments, trying to look around the young angel.

"It's also a huge mess since I'm moving," Cally says. "And I'm also an artist."

She uses this as an excuse to shut her door, hoping to curb Lute's curiosity. It wasn't very likely, but it wasn't any of her business.

"Is there anything else?"

Lute looks at the young hybrid suspiciously. Now she wanted to know more than ever what was in that bedroom, but she couldn't without provoking an attack by the Brat or facing Sacha's wrath again. If Sacha reported her to the high angel council, she'd undoubtedly be demoted or kicked off the exorcists completely. If there's one thing that b*tch knew how to do was follow the rules and make them work in her favour, especially if she does all the behind-the-scenes stuff with the high council. She was probably in their pocket and had the influence that Lute could not imagine having.

"No. See you later," the commander grunts. She takes flight and leaves without shutting the door behind her.

Cally goes and locks the door again. That was way too close, but she wouldn't tell her mother because she'd somehow make it her fault for not shutting her bedroom door. It didn't help that Lute was fixated on them and likely used this whole thing as an excuse to try and find something to get Sacha fired and both of them banished.

"I need to get out now."

A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems a little boring. The apartment search is not the most exciting, but at least Lute reappears and sticks her nose in places it shouldn't be, it becomes more interesting. Also, we learn the name of Cally's father in this chapter. Please follow and review.