Chapter 40

Angel of Death

The timid blonde's hands were held firmly by a dark woman with a boisterous voice.

"There's got to be a mistake Tess! I don't deserve this assignment!" she cried out.

The woman known as Callisto wondered if this was all a dream and she would wake up to be surrounded by the torments of hell.

"No dear, you're exactly where you're supposed to be," the older woman chided her. "You are the person that would have been if Xena and her army had never attacked your village."

Callisto flinched at that childhood memory. She could still remember the smell of smoke and ash in the air and the heat of the flames as it burned her village down. The raven hair woman was armed with a sword and an undulating war cry.

"But she did, and I became just like her. Possibly even worse!"

She had gathered an army and slaughtered countless people in the hopes of getting Xena's attention. She had become more evil than the woman had ever been. Though the dark haired warrior now professed to be on the side of good, Callisto still orchestrated the events that led to the deaths of Xena's son and her best friend and sidekick's, Gabrielle. Callisto thought they had both satisfied their vengeance as the ex-warlord stabbed her in the abdomen with the Hind's Blood Dagger, the only item that could kill a god.

"I was in hell!" The blonde was crying and shaking in the other woman's arms now.

It was torture being in the dark with nothing but one's malevolent thoughts to keep company. She understood now that Xena wasn't responsible for her suffering. It was all her own doing!

"And by the goodness of her heart she saved you."

Callisto stilled at Tess' words. Xena had sacrificed herself for her worst enemy, trading her place in heaven for Callisto's in hell. The blonde's troubled mind and evil soul could finally be healed of her pain, but Xena had become a demon in payment.

"Where did she go!? She and Gabrielle were fighting!" Callisto begged her guide.

The warrior and her best friend, fighters turned archangel and demon, had been locked in a battle to the death and was plummeting down into a fiery depth when all of a sudden she and Gabrielle disappeared into thin air!

"They're back in Greece," Michael answered as he strode up. The older women gave a respectful nod to the archangel. "It wasn't their time yet."

Callisto gave a beautiful smile lighting her face with a radiant glow. "Thank the gods!"

"No, thank God, baby," Tess gently corrected her. The new angel was still getting used to the one creator.

"Please let me go to them, let me watch over them!"

"Not yet baby girl. The almighty has other plans for you."

Callisto held her breath. Would this new creator be a vengeful deity like Zeus and Ares? Her afterlife could be more miserable than it had been before.

But she was wrong, so so wrong. God was love and kindness, like the father she had lost at such a young age. She left his presence with a lightened heart and reunited with the indomitable Tess.

"You, my dear, are going to be a case worker. Usually we put new angels on search and rescue but we've made a special case for you. "

The blonde beamed happily.

"You'll meet Monica and Andrew and we'll be on our way in no time." She gave the girl a searching look. "Now do you still want to be called Callisto? It's such an unusual name especially when we'll be going. "

When, not where, the newcomer thought.

Callisto considered Tess' request. That name was the name her living parents gave her for the short time she knew them. Afterwards the name brought nothing but fear and darkness. She remembered a childhood memory.

"My favorite doll was named Celeste."

The older angel nodded her head in approval. "It's a wonderful name."

Celeste the angel departed for her first assignment, a death seeking magician who needed to learn the truth.

It would be a new start for the both of them, free from sin and sorrow.

I find it hilarious that the actress was in two series as completely different characters. Hudson Leick, the actress who played Celeste did not continue the role because she was cast as evil Warlord and psychopath Callisto in Xena: Warrior Princess. After marathoning nearly the entire series, I found a good tie in to her appearance on Touched by an Angel. To recap, after Xena's army massacred her family and burned her village to the ground, Callisto vows vengeance and is one of the main antagonists. Eventually Xena fully redeems Callisto who becomes an angel and a Guardian Angel.