Devil's Advocate

Angelique jerked back to herself with a gasp, sitting up so hard the bed shook in the frame. Kenneth was almost immediately by her side.

“Easy.” He tried to sooth her. Angelique tried to catch her breath. She was sure her heart was pounding and her eyes were wide. The blood was rushing in her ears. She sighed, starting to calm down. This was a different transport than last time. It was more rough. More terrifying. Angelique swallowed thickly as she managed to settle down. Kenneth took a seat beside her, taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. She squeezed back; she needed that reassurance.

“It was worse this time? You’re back considerably earlier than usual.” Kenneth asked, showing her his watch. True to his word, it had only been 5 minutes since she had left. She made a mental note to give points to Gabriel for honesty as she focused on his question.

“Yes and no. Victoria wasn’t there.” She answered, her voice hoarse like she had been screaming, which surprised her. Was she breathing through her mouth the whole time? She didn’t think she needed to breathe anymore. Taking one more deep breath she told Kenneth everything, who looked as though he was having a lot of trouble digesting the information.

“Wait. So the angel Gabriel is Lucifer’s brother?”

“Twin brother apparently.” Angelique confirmed, her heart finally calmed down. She shivered. “But I can’t think about that right now. I have a decision to come to.”

“What decision?” Kenneth was appalled, like he couldn’t even believe she was considering Gabriel’s side. Angelique blinked at him.

“Were you not listening?” she spoke slowly, like he wasn’t getting it. He nodded.

“Oh yeah. I heard you. I just can’t believe you’re considering this. You even said yourself that Gabriel seemed like he was hiding something! You obviously can’t trust him.”

“But I can trust…the devil.” She said it so flatly that Kenneth couldn’t help but shoot her a sheepish grin.

“Yeah, ok, I get your point.” He conceded. “But seriously. You said it felt like he was hiding something. You never got that feeling with Lucifer.” Angelique nodded. He did have a point there.

Lucifer, while he had been inappropriate and at times frightening, but he had always been honest with her. And even when he was frustrating the hell out of her, he never seemed like he was trying to manipulate her, or pull the wool over her eyes. Angelique sighed. While he did have a point…this was bigger than just who was being honest with her and who wasn’t. She said so, and he nodded.

“You’re right. This is a lot bigger. Didn’t they say they were keeping some woman’s soul permanently in purgatory, to punish Lucifer?” He shivered, like a sudden chill shook him. “I couldn’t imagine being there for more than 10 minutes. Imagine hundreds of years.” Angelique balked; she had forgotten about that. He was right, Gabriel had said they were keeping a soul permanently in purgatory. She thought about Victoria, the last time she saw her. Her hair falling out, the stains on her shirt. The wild look in her eyes. That was after only a short time in purgatory. Imagining what years upon years would do to a soul made her heart ache.

“That sounds awful honestly. Really and truly awful. But I can’t just give up on Victoria. She is so young.”

“We don’t know how old this other soul is.” Kenneth pointed out. Angelique nodded. He wasn’t wrong there either.

“True. But. Kenneth, it’s my fault. It’s my fault Victoria’s dead.” She said. He raised his eyebrows as a light bulb seemed to go off in his eyes.

“Ah. That’s what this is.” He squeezed her hand, which caused her to jump. She had forgotten she was still holding his hand. That made her uncomfortable, that she was so comfortable being so familiar with him that she didn’t even notice her fingers were still wrapped around his. He smiled, but didn’t acknowledge her surprise.

“Look. You didn’t kill her. You didn’t ask Scott to go off the deep end and kill her, and you definitely didn’t wish her dead. You did nothing wrong here. How could you have known this is what would have happened?” Angelique opened her mouth but Kenneth didn’t even let her speak. “You couldn’t have. You’re dead, sure, but you’re not a mind reader. And you’re not a fortune teller either. You. Could. Not. Have. Known. Now stop beating yourself up and focus on something other than your guilt. You need to look at the bigger picture. Do you want Scott to get away with every single thing he’s done?” She shook her head.

“Of course I don’t.”

“Then stop it. Quit moping. Put your guilt away.” He spoke firmly, his voice solid but not hateful. Angelique took a deep breath. She still felt guilty. But if she put those feelings of guilt to the side, she realized he wasn’t wrong. She absolutely did NOT want Scott to get away with this. But it was more than that. It was about that other soul too.

Whoever this person was, the female soul that Lucifer had eluded was being held, she surely didn’t deserve to be held in purgatory for possibly thousands of years. Angelique shifted uncomfortably. Lucifer could be lying to her about this person that was true. But that seemed really out of character for him. He was many things, he was the devil for crying out loud. But he wasn’t really a liar. Or at least he didn’t seem like he was. She bit her lip.

“Ok, so let’s say for argument sake that this soul has really been down there for what accounts for several thousand years. How can I put Victoria in her place?” Angelique asked. Now Kenneth looked confused.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t let her sit in purgatory forever.” Angelique crossed her arms, finally letting go of his hand. “I will have to give up this quest. I can’t condemn her like that.”

“Ok wait, hold on. If you don’t save her now, she’ll be in purgatory forever?” he asked, tilting his head. Angelique blinked once, slowly.

“Umm. Yeah. I mean. I think that’s how it works.” Angelique bit her lip. “Wait. Wait, no. That’s not how it works.”

“No, it isn’t.” he agreed. “Purgatory is a place to repent for your sins and then go on to heaven. So she is already going to go to heaven as soon as she has repented.” Angelique growled.

“So Gabriel was tricking me.” She hissed. Kenneth shrugged.

“Either that or he was counting on you to not think about that little fact of life.” He said. Angelique nodded.

“Well. No need for him to worry. I have figured out all the facts. And I am going to finish this.” She looked up and shouted at the ceiling, uncaring if it made her look like she was stupid. “Do you hear me, Gabriel?! I’m finishing this!” She looked at Kenneth and grinned. “Bring me Scott’s file. We need to finish planning.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned back and went to get Scott’s folder and a laptop. They spread the pages out on the bed and got on the laptop, pulling up the layout and pictures from the sale add of that farmhouse that Scott had set up shop in.

They had eventually gotten a decent plan in place, and had even mapped out entrances and exits in the house. Angelique felt confident that they were going to get him this time. This time, she was not going to miss. He was going to pay. At least she was hopeful. She couldn’t let another person end up like Victoria.

Victoria. Now that was another bothersome thought. She was so hurt over her death, more so than she thought she needed to be. She wasn’t friends with Victoria in life. They didn’t hang out, they didn’t get coffee on Tuesdays or do any of those things that friends typically did together. But Angelique felt closer to her than she did anyone that she knew in her life, outside of her immediate family. That had to be the guilt. What other explanation was there, for having those feelings for someone whom she didn’t even know?

Angelique took a deep breath. She had to let it go. She told herself that it wasn’t her fault, that Victoria’s death wasn’t her doing. She repeated this to herself over and over, letting the thoughts take hold in her mind until her headache faded. She would let it go. She couldn’t be blinded by this guilt anymore. No sooner did that thought leave her head did Kenneth glance up from his work and smile at her. That was another issue. Kenneth.

She thought of him very firmly as a friend now, despite her best efforts to not. She still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that she’d have to leave him in the end. But she didn’t have the heart to not be friends with him. He was trying so hard to help her. She would just have to get over herself. But she was going to wait for a later date to do that. She had already put herself mentally through enough that day, she decided. She was going to give her mind, and her heart, a much needed break.

Even though she had said aloud they were following through with the plan, Angelique admitted to herself that she still held some reservations. She couldn’t afford that either. With another deep breath, she let go of those. The plan would work. She was going to kill Scott. And that was the end of that. She was brought out of her musings quite suddenly by Kenneth tapping her knee, pointing at one of the blank pages of Scott’s file.

“Angelique. It’s doing something.” He said. She leaned over her notes with a curious glance.

“Yep. But I saw this coming.” She answered. Kenneth looked confused.

“Saw what coming?” he asked. She didn’t answer, just pointed at the file. Kenneth leaned over and peeked at the words. Scott was then visited by the angel Gabriel, who brought him his file from the afterlife. Angelique growled. So it was final. Fine. She could live with that. She never expected this mission to be easy after all. Kenneth expressed his exhaustion, and Angelique agreed it was time to rest. They had done all they could do for the night. In the morning was when the fun would surely begin.