“How long have you known Donald?”
“Only met him twice now. Once after the first shit went down with us and Alex, when he got held to account for it. And then just a couple minutes ago.”
“Then how do you know his pattern?”
“Because a friend looked into things she’s not supposed to,” Rachel mumbled. “You remember Hannah? She was Alex’s guardian once, a couple millennia ago. Then he had a new life, and a new angel… and then a pattern started.” Her shoulders rose and fell with a heavy breath. “Guardian angels are judged on a lot of factors, but the biggest is a matter of how their charges live their lives. Whether they’re good people or bad, whether they’re brave or cowardly… whether they’re virtuous or if they’re corrupted.
“Turns out you get a lot of bonus points if someone you watch over is a hero. More if they die that way.”
Lorelei just stared. “There was a pattern?”
“Nobody ever gave it a second thought. It’s part of who Alex is, y’know? He’s a brave and unselfish soul. No bullshit about that. It’s why we love him. It’s why he loves a couple of freaks like us.” She paused. “But that’s not enough to explain why he died young in some sacrifice play every fucking time. Nobody ever gave it a second thought,” she repeated bitterly. “ ‘cause Donald’s an angel, right?”
“Where is Donald now?”
“I don’t know,” the angel shrugged.
“Could he be with Alex?”
“He might be. I hope not. I told him not to go near him, but he obviously only gives a shit what I say if I’m about to fuck him up.”
“You must go to Alex now,” Lorelei hissed.
“Nuh-uh. No can do.”
“Rachel, he needs you.”
“You need me,” Rachel countered, looking at her firmly. “Fuckhead Donald might come back in here with his fuckhead mortal tool and that rosary. Like I said, Hauser doesn’t have the juice to really work that thing. It’s just a cheap trinket. But if he’s got an angel channeling through it, they could kill you.”
“They must want more here than me,” Lorelei argued. “Too much is at stake.”
“Lorelei-“
“He knows how to manipulate Alex. They both do, or I would not be here now in chains. What happens to him?”
“What happens to you if you die?” Rachel snapped. “I know what happens to Alex. He dies and we weep and then he goes to Heaven and I find him and we sort shit out. We lose him until either he comes back or we find a way to fix things for all three of us, and it hurts like a motherfucker but it’s not the end.
“If you die, what happens? Your soul returns to Hell and you, what, get regenerated in some lake of fire and crawl out into the welcoming arms of your bros down there? Who’s gonna foot the bill for your recovery, huh? Belial? Fuckin’ Lucifer? They all know you don’t play for their team anymore, babe. You go to Hell again, you aren’t gonna be a jailer this time. You’ll be an inmate. It’ll be full on damnation with a big fat helping of personal grudges on top.
“And if you die under the sort of scouring Donald and Hauser are packin’ there, you’re gone, Lorelei. Like for really reals. No reincarnation, no sliver of hope that maybe someday I can get you out of Hell somehow. You’ll just be gone forever. I won’t let that happen.”
Lorelei listened and bowed her head once more. She shut her eyes tightly. “I never thought…” She paused, trying to hold her voice steady rather than allow it to quiver even in such intimacy. She had nothing to hide from Rachel, but the cameras and microphones were another matter. Regardless of her language, she didn’t care to betray anything through tone. “The difficulty of loving more than one person is that one cannot always be there for both in all times. I never thought you would choose to be with me over Alex.”
Rachel’s face softened. She reached up to wipe away the tear on Lorelei’s cheek. “I said I love you and I meant it.”
Lorelei turned her head enough to kiss Rachel’s hand. “What of your post?”
“Fuck it,” Rachel shrugged. “I’ve done more in a month than Vincent did in a century. If a couple days is all it takes for this city to backslide deeper into the shitter than it was with him in charge, I guess I shouldn’t hold dominion, anyway.” She rose to her knees, placing her forehead against Lorelei’s. “I’ve got my priorities.”
Lorelei nodded, pausing for only a moment to bask in her lover’s touch. Then she turned her thoughts to the situation at hand. “My strength returns slowly, but I do not know if I will be able to slip all of these bonds. I presume you cannot simply free me, or you would have done so already.”
“That’s the sort of thing that could get us into even bigger trouble than this,” came Rachel’s grim agreement. “I can justify defending you from Donald, but the rest of this shit…” she shook her head. “It’s one thing to be here at your side. It’s another to intervene directly with mortal events. There are rules.”
“I know,” Lorelei whispered. “You bend them for me all the time. I am forever grateful.”
Mechanical noises broke into the quiet tone of their conversation as the locks on the door opened. Rachel stood and slipped around Lorelei. The angel leaned on the back of her lover’s chair as the demon sat up straight to face her captors.
Hauser entered first, with one hand held low while he clenched the bit of holy symbolism that gave him such an advantage. Two more agents followed. He gruffly introduced them as they entered. “I’m Special Agent Hauser, FBI. These are agents Nguyen and Bridger.”
Two others followed them, though the mortals were unaware. Lorelei didn’t see them, either, but Rachel made plain that her captors were not alone. “Oh, good, you brought a witness,” she said. “Donald, you even whisper to that fucknut with the rosary and I’ll send you back to Heaven carrying your jaw in your hand.” Her eyes slid briefly to Sergio. “Quote me on that all you want.”
The angel beside Nguyen blinked. “We seek only to protect our charges.” He turned his eyes on Donald with obvious concern. “The rosary is meant to counter her power.”
“Bullshit. Donald tried to use jack-off here to smear Lorelei into the carpet earlier. It’s not gonna happen again.”
Her answer only heightened Sergio’s expression of unease. Donald didn’t look at him. “I will not have this demon whore use her magics on these mortals!” he protested.
“She doesn’t need any magic against these guys,” Rachel said, placing her hands on Lorelei’s shoulders. “So I guess you get to just stand there and shut the fuck up.”
“Do we call you Lorelei?” asked Hauser, oblivious to the other conversation.
“That is my name,” replied Lorelei. She heard Rachel, but the other angels did not reveal themselves to her. Still, she trusted her lover to handle them. Lorelei had to focus on the mortals.
“Not the only one, though, right?” Hauser smirked. “I’m sure you’ve had other names over the years?”
“Lorelei is the most appropriate name.”
“You seem to have recovered quickly from what happened out in the hall,” observed Hauser, twirling his finger as if to indicate her face. “You didn’t look like that when we brought you in here.”
Lorelei took in a long breath and smiled faintly at his tone. “This is familiar,” she said. “You consider yourself a righteous man, and me a demon, and thus you use suspicion and disdain as your shield. I have met ‘good’ men such as you before. You have already condemned me in your eyes.”
“You did break into a Federal facility and put down my guys,” Hauser pointed out. “Seems some suspicion might be in order. And here you are trying to look like a glamour model again like that’s gonna sway me.”
“This is my natural state,” said Lorelei.
“Sans the wings and so forth? Seems more likely that what I saw earlier was the truth.”