AN: We decided to change our original Millie focused episode idea for something different thanks to all we saw from the past last episodes. Something that explores her past as a cop in our backstory for her. Also, a love for our slasher horror movies. So enjoy!

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


Past Screams

Part 1

By TalosLives & CrackedInkWell

Based on EMositeCC's AngelAUSeries


Nothing was better than coming home to your house after a long week of work. Especially if it was a cold, rainy day and you left the heat on in your house to keep it nice and toasty for your return. Moxxie shut the door behind him and took off his wet poncho as the angel stretched his back. Their last few missions were backbreaking and tiresome, so he looked forward to just vegging out at home. Hearing his phone ring, Moxxie answered it with a smile as he made for the kitchen. "Hey, honey. Just got home."

"And I just got to the pizza place. You said extra pepperoni and mushrooms on yours, right?" Millie's voice said on the other end.

"Yup. Oh, and can you get extra garlic knots?"

" Anything for you!" Millie said before she hung up.

Moxxie smiled as he put his phone away to get the plates and cups out. He decided that they were going to have red wine with their dinner. For some reason, it went very well with pizza. Plus, it got the blood pumping, and Moxxie wanted to make sure his wife was in the mood for a very nice evening in bed.

He paused as he put the dishes down before taking out his phone to check when the appointment with the fertility doctor was going to come this year. He and Millie had been trying hard to have a baby, but they hadn't had luck for some reason. Nothing was wrong with either of them; they were both healthy and fertile, but God had yet to bless them with a little one of their own for one reason or another. Moxxie knew it was up to God when you got your little miracle, but both wanted to be parents so bad.

Moxxie had seen how Loona and Blitzo acted with each other. Despite calling Blitzo her "Uncle Blitz," it was clear that he was the closest thing to a father figure Loona had in her life after losing her parents. He suspected the only reason she didn't outright call him "Father" was out of memory of her real one. Besides, knowing Blitzo, he wouldn't take the title out of respect for his former friend.

Wanting someone to call him that? That was something that made Moxxie's heart skip.

His ringing phone interrupted his thought process, and he saw it was Millie again. Answering it, he asked, "Hey, honey. Is everything okay?"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that this isn't your little honey, honey," A synthetic voice said with a tone of sadistic delight, which made Moxxie freeze. "Sorry to interrupt your dinner planning, Moxxie. But I just had to call you."

"W-Who is this?! How did you get my number?!" Moxxie demanded both in fear and anger.

"Awww? Millie didn't talk about me from her past as a cop? I'm hurt," The voice said before laughing.

Moxxie gulped and looked around. His wife had been open about her cop days before joining H.O.P.E. Is this some guy she put in jail before?

"Nice night we got here, huh? Rain. Darkness. You. All alone in the house. Makes for a good thriller!" The voice said as Moxxie slowly made his way to a nearby storage drawer, where he opened it only to find certain items missing. "Looking for your guns? It wouldn't be much fun if you could defend yourself. I took care of them. And the ones in your bedroom. And that hidden shotgun with your wife's katana under the coffee table."

How did he know where those were? Moxxie thought in horror as he rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a knife to hold. Has he been watching us?!

"Oooh, nice knife. I got one as well. Want to know what it feels like when it cuts through your flesh and draws your blood?" The voice hissed in excitement.

Moxxie gripped the knife harder and held it up. If the caller could say that, it meant he was watching him. Was he in the house? Were there hidden cameras? "What do you want from me?!"

"I want to play a little game. Tell me, what's your favorite scary movie?"

"... The original Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi," Moxxie answered.

"Classic. I happen to like slashers. The way they cut, carve, and stab their victims in brutal manners. It's so inspirational. Want to experience it first hand?"

That was all Moxxie needed to run for his door, but he found it shut and locked. He tried to unlock the key, but a burst of purple magic prevented him from putting it in the lock.

"Oh, you can't run away that easily, Moxxie. You're trapped with me."

Moxxie whimpered as he slowly backed away from the door. "W-W-Where are you?"

He then felt his back pressed against something.

"Right behind you."

He turned around only for his eyes to widen as lightning flashed. Standing tall above him was a darkly cloaked figure with a steel death-face mask, hollow eyes, and sewn lips. But the thing he saw next made him freeze up. A knife. A sharp, thick, angelic steel knife that found its way right into his chest.

Moxxie screamed as his attacker's knife flashed in the air and painted the walls with his golden blood...


"Ugh, I hope the pizza isn't wet," Millie said as she landed on her front porch. The pizza in her hands was thankfully still warm, but she wasn't. Her entire body was freezing thanks to the storm from halo to tail. Using one hand to hold the pizza, she opened the door with the keys; she quickly got inside and closed the door. "Moxxie, I'm home! Ugh, I hope you have everything ready because I really want to dig into this and… and..."

The pizza dropped from her hands as she stood there with her eyes widened. Upon seeing the sight before her, the entire universe seemed to freeze in place. Her sweet and beloved husband lay on the ground, motionless, with his blood pouring out of his body and pooling around him while it also decorated the walls they had just recently painted. His eyes were closed, and his head limp as he lay there in his blood from half a dozen stab wounds all over his chest.

"MOXXIE!"

Millie practically dived towards her husband, screaming his name as tears fell from her eyes. "Moxxie! No! No, no, no! You can't leave me! PLEASE MOXXIE! PLEASE!"

It was only hearing the faintest of his breath that made her quickly realize that her husband was barely alive. Without hesitation, she got her phone out and called 911. "I need an ambulance to my house! My husband has been stabbed! Hurry!"


Miracles happen.

As an angel, Millie knew this.

What happened now had to be a miracle because, for some reason, despite six deadly stabs in his chest and stomach, Moxxie was alive, but barely. The healers who arrived were able to prevent him from losing his life just seconds before it was going to end. Had Millie not called them sooner, they wouldn't have been able to stabilize him. He wasn't out of danger yet; they still had to do what they could to save him in the hospital. Thankfully, they lived nearby it, and they were able to do what they could to help save Moxxie.

Her husband was safe but in a coma.

Someone had tried to kill him. Someone almost did kill him. Millie was torn between staying where she was and looking all over Purgatory to find out who did this. She looked at her hands, once covered in her husband's blood, and squeezed them. A cold look of fury was on her face that promised untold pain to whoever it was that did this.

Hearing footsteps, she looked up and saw a worried Blitzo and Loona rushing towards her. The latter hugged her with tears in her eyes as Millie momentarily lost her footing but soon hugged the sobbing wolf cherub. "It's okay, Loona. Moxxie's going to be okay."

" H-H-He is? " Loona whimpered.

" Y-Yeah, he's strong, " Millie whispered, not just for Loona but also for herself.

Blitzo walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Millie, whatever you and Moxxie need? Consider it given without a second thought."

"Thanks, Blitz," Millie said as she wiped her tears.

"Any idea who did this?" Blitzo asked.

"I… I don't know," she muttered. Nothing looked like it was stolen, and Moxxie sounded fine when I called him… I don't know what happened."

"He was looking to harm you."

The three of them froze and turned to where someone was walking towards them from the exit. He had a cigarette lit up despite the "No Smoking" sign, and he walked with heavy feet thanks to his weight. He was a bull anthro with dark blue fur and yellow eyes, his halo a bit scarred from past dangers, and his wings messy and dirty. He wore a dark brown trench coat with a fedora of a similar color on his head. He wasn't very good-looking either. Chubby cheeks, saggy eyes, and an old, busted lip. But something about his stance and aura screamed: "experienced."

Loona and Blitzo looked ready to confront this mysterious person, but Millie took a step forward in shock. "Bullwork?"

"Hey, Mills. Sorry for the crappy reunion," The bull said as he gave a sad smirk.

"You know this guy, Millie?" Blitzo asked.

"Y-Yeah," Millie said as she nodded to her boss. "This is Detective Bullwork. He was my partner and mentor during my cop days."

She then paused and turned to Bullwork. "What do you mean by he was looking to harm me? What's going on, Bullwork?"

The bull detective sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Millie. I should have come to you after the first murder, but Captain said to keep you out of it. But I knew. I knew that son of a bitch was going to come after you sooner or later."

"... Who, Bullwork."

"... He's back, Mills. I don't know how, but he's back," Bullwork sighed. " Lonomia has returned."

Instantly, Millie's eyes widened as her mind flashed back to years ago...


***YEARS AGO***

Millie hated working in the demon district. Many former cops on Earth who decided to join the force in Purgatory often called it worse than the South Side of Chicago. While demons were allowed to live their lives, so long as they never really pushed too far, most angels were willing to look the other way. After all, they were there to help humans fight off temptations and their sins to get purified and head up to Heaven, so they were a necessary evil. But more often than not, Millie had put away more demon criminals than angelic ones. No matter how hard they tried, you couldn't change a demon's nature.

So, it wasn't a surprise that a serial killer would make a home out of this place. For the past few weeks, a serial killer known as "Lonomia" had been killing people in Purgatory. He always did it with a knife, making the victim scared and afraid, even kidnapping them. He was brutal and left multiple marks, almost as if he took pleasure in it. They suspected for a long time it was a demon, maybe from Wrath, but evidence pointed to it being an angel, which only made this case even more shocking.

Pulling up to the warehouse on the far eastern side of the Wrathborn demon district, Bullwork and Millie exited their police car and looked around. The fog that rolled in bathed the abandoned place in an eerie glow at this time of night. In the heavy shadows, the two drew out their guns.

"You sure this is the place?" Millie asked as she loaded up her modified angelic engraved M1911.

"I'd better be," Bullwork loaded his angelic engraved Smith and Wesson 586, "or by morning, there's gonna be a victim number seven."

"But why here?"

Bullwork raised an eyebrow, "C'mon, kid, use your head. If you were a serial killer like Jack Siles, what would you do at this point?"

"Let's see…," Millie whispered as she focused on imagining herself as Jack Siles. The name of their criminal. It took three weeks, but they had his name and the motive. Part of being a detective was figuring out the mind of your killer. "If I have a pair of parents that were Angels of Death that neglected me for their work, but I still worship them… Get a sick idea that I'm an Angel of Death for the afterlife, but that idea isn't quite so accepted… and if I happened to kill six angels already, I'd want to do more… but I know I'm wanted now so… I'd probably do something unexpected."

"You got half of the puzzle solved. How about the other?"

"Hmm... All my past targets were angels, but I need to throw the police off… So I'm going to do a demon this time. Nobody would suspect I changed M.O.'s, right?" Millie asked. "So I kidnap them and plan to kill them in demon territory."

"And the best place to murder someone is out here, according to my contact." Bullwork added, "A lot of demons snuff each other out in this location, like a murdering site. It's just out of the way enough so no one would hear it happen. Besides, demons kill themselves in the district all the time. What's one more?" Signaling to his partner, the two approached the warehouse. They saw that the front entrance was shut with a padlock, which meant that their killer used a side door. Cautiously, they went around the building in the dark, taking care not to make too much noise.

Then, as they got closer to a door, they heard the sound of a muffled scream coming from behind it. Like someone was crying out in pain but was gagged. There was also… music. The sound of a horror movie being played. Their target seemed to be thrilled by the theatrical. Their only survivor from one of his attacks had played the chase music of Halloween as they ran and hid.

Millie loved a good horror movie as much as anyone else, but there was a difference between watching and reenacting. The muffled screams and sounds of flesh being cut made them wince.

" God, he's torturing him right now! " Millie said in a whisper.

"And by the sound of it, they're reaching the end of the movie." Back against the wall, he and Millie flanked each side of the door. "On three, we go in."

Nodding, Millie readied her gun, turning the safety off.

With his fingers, Bullwork counted down. Three, two, one. And Millie, giving the door a swift kick, charged in.

Bullwork's contact's suggestion about the warehouse was proven correct. In the center of the warehouse, among the wooden crates, was a space covered in a plastic sheet. Almost like a stage set for some macabre play, there underneath a lamp that acts like a spotlight, was their killer. On one side was a projector showing a copy of Dexter , the TV series, via laptop on a black wall. In the center, tied to a chair and gagged, was an Imp demon that was naked and had parts of his flesh carved into it. Right behind him was a tall, dark-coated figure with a steel death-face mask that had hollow eyes and sewn lips, which was their killer. Lonomia had raised his angelic, twisted knife when they bursted in.

" POLICE! FREEZE!"

For a brief moment, Lonomia froze. However, the shock of being caught lasted for only a moment. Lonomia was about to plunge the knife in when Millie fired a shot at him. The bullet knocked the blade out of his hand, forcing him to flee.

"Oh no, you don't!" Like a lion, Millie ran after her prey. "Bullwork! Look after the Imp!"

She didn't even bother waiting for a response. She ran headfirst into the dark corners of the warehouse, following their suspect behind in the labyrinth of crates. Going this way and that, over and under dusty boxes, Lonomia tried to shake her off, but she pursued him, practically nipping at his dark robes. When he could, he would topple over some of the crates to slow her down. But even then, she was relentless in her chase.

Eventually, they ran towards the back of the warehouse, where a flight of stairs led to a room looming over the forgotten merchandise. Up until then, Millie couldn't get a good shot. But when she turned to look up the stairs that the killer ran up, she quickly took her chance. Her bullet went through his robe, and he screamed but continued to go up and through the door, limping.

Millie ran up, her gun cocked and ready for the next shot. However, as she got there, the room was dark. Cautiously, she entered, checking behind the door, but found no one. She looked over her shoulder, trying to peer through the darkness.

"If I were you, I'd give up now." She could barely distinguish what was before her, even with the dim light at her back. "You know it's over."

She listened and waited. There was breathing, labored but trying to keep as quiet as possible. Yet, it didn't come from any place in particular. It wasn't to the sides, in front, or behind her. At first, she was confused about how this could be until she felt something drip on her arm.

The moment she realized where Lonomia was, Lonomia fell on top of her. It happened so fast that Millie didn't have time to fire. The gun was knocked out of her hands, and she collapsed to the floor. With one hand, Lonomia pinned her arm, while with the other hand, he tried to stab her with a spare knife. Millie had to use her free hand to grab his wrist to keep it away from stabbing her face.

" You bitch ," Lonomia's voice was muffled under the mask. " You ruined everything! "

For a moment, Lonomia was getting close to overpowering her, with that angelic blade getting closer and closer to her neck. However, Millie, thinking quickly, kneed him hard in the crotch. The sudden pain made Lonomia let go of the knife. It was the opening she needed. Kicking him off of her, she scrambled for the knife and lunged forward, and before Millie realized it, the blade sank into his chest.

There was a shocked gargle from Lonomia, and Millie realized that she had fatally stabbed him. She fell over backward, backing away. " Oh, Jesus Christ! " She cursed in shock. She wasn't aiming to kill him, and yet, it seemed she did.

He gasped as blood dripped down from the edge of his mouth guard from his mask before he collapsed on his back.

For a tense moment, Millie realized what she had done. She had killed someone. On the one hand, even if it was out of self-defense, she knew that the Chief would chew her out for this by the time she got back to the station. After all, the whole point of this was to apprehend the culprit and bring him in alive. But that wasn't what disturbed her, though. Yes, it was more or less an accident. Yes, it was all in self-defense. But… among the shock, there was… satisfaction. It wasn't relief, no… There was a side of her that was proud that she had done that. And it disturbed her.

But even so, she had to get up. Their guy who was kidnapped probably needs an ambulance after Lonomia did God-knows-what to him. And besides, she will have to tell her partner about this.

She got up and looked down at her hands, which had some splatters of golden blood; she knew that there was no way to lie about this, even if she wanted to. Still, she had to get out of the room first.

Perhaps she was still in shock at what had happened that she didn't hear Lonomia rolling over. He was on his knees, eyeing Millie with hate. With one hand on the knife on his chest, he decided that it truly was going to die; he was going to take this bitch out with him. Pulling the knife out, he let out an unholy scream as he rushed over to Millie-

KA-BANG!

Millie looked over her shoulder. Lonomia stopped running and collapsed next to her. There was a noticeable hole in the forehead that was bleeding out. She saw the halo on his head, and the wings seemed to crumble, disintegrate, and fall off him. His body then sank through the floor. He phased through it and tumbled out of the room. She knew that he didn't just fall through the floor; he was falling out of Purgatory and into the abyss. Normally, a dead angel would just lie there like any other corpse, but Jack Siles fell from grace. Thus, his remains were impure and cast out by the power of Purgatory itself. The only thing that was left behind, however, was his hooded robe and the mask.

Looking up, Millie saw Bullwork, gun still smoking from taking the shot. He lowered his weapon. "You okay, kid?"

"I… yeah." She nodded. "I'm okay."

Nodding, Bullwork, put the gun back in his holster. "I already called ahead for an ambulance for our guy. He's pretty shaken up but alive. Now, c'mon, let's get you cleaned up."


***PRESENT***

In the hospital lobby, Millie recounted what she remembered about the case. Of the angel serial killer, how they figured out that it was Jack Slies and the events that led to his death. When Millie finished, she shook her head. "But it just doesn't make any sense. How can he be back, Bullwork? He's dead. I stabbed him, and you put a hole between his eyes. We saw his remains being puffed out of existence by Purgatory's power. He's as dead as dead can be."

"That's what I thought too," Bullwork put out his cigarette. "We were there when he died."

"Could he have faked his death?" Blitzo asked.

"How? Unless you know a way to survive getting an angelic blade in the chest and an angel bullet through your skull, I doubt anyone could have survived it. And yet, here we are."

"How do you know it's the same guy?" Loona questioned.

"I don't. But the way that this Lonomia has killed people so far is similar to the original. Either he had faked his death somehow, and we didn't know it, or maybe there's a copycat out there. I'm having trouble because I don't have any solid proof that leans one way or the other. But recently, I've been leaning towards the former. The fact that he was at your place, Mills, tells me this was meant for you."

From Millie's pocket, her phone rang. Taking it out, she saw on the screen that it was from Unknown. There wasn't so much a number, but she knew who it was deep down.

She stepped away from the group to answer it. "Who's this?"

" You know who this is. " The voice from the other line was distorted, but there was something familiar in that tone. " You know, it's a shame you weren't home. I was really looking forward to meeting you. But your hubby was there, and we had a lot of fun."

Millie's fists clenched, her teeth grinding as everyone realized who was speaking and went silent.

" Did you like my latest work? I tried to carve him up real good for ya. " Lonomia chuckled. " It made me wish I could have at least recorded it for you. You should have seen the look in his eyes, the way he screamed, the blood, how he tried to beg me to stop. It was beautiful. "

"Listen here horse-fucker," Millie seethed through her teeth. "If I were you, you'd better tell me what you think I'm going to do to you when I find ya."

There was a distorted but amused laugh from the other line. " Getting colorful with the language, are we? And why would I tell you that for? "

"Because whatever you think I'm gonna do, I'm gonna make it worse."

Laughter was heard; the way that it was distorted made it sound like it was coming from the most sadistic demon from the lowest pit of Hell. " See you soon. " And with that, the line went dead.

When Millie left the Police force, she left it behind, thinking that she would never have to go back to it again. While she could have gone on to be a detective in her own right, it just wasn't for her. But her husband almost died. Almost bled to death in the most painful way possible. Her better half is in a coma because of this son of a bitch. This time, it was personal.

As soon as the call was dropped, Millie looked over her shoulder. "Hey, Bullwork," she went over to him. "I don't give a damn if you say 'No,' put me on the case. I'm going Lonomia hunting."