Fallen Angel

Chapter 34.2

"Samael, sh, calm down. None of this is your doing. Go get Isabelle, please."

He nodded and ran down a gravel path to some hovels nearby. Margaret sighed and shook her head before directing her attention back to Joan.

"Sorry about that," she said. "Samael can be insecure sometimes. He hasn't had it easy."

Joan bit through the pain to look at her friend. There was something about Margaret. She had always been a serene girl, but now she appeared truly at peace.

"M-Marina, I don't... understand." Joan winced. "How is this possible?"

"When I miscarried, Samael's soul travelled to Purgatory. The scars on his face are... remnants of his time in the Circles. God saved him and made Samael the Angel of Death. Then, one day, he met Lucifer and discovered the awful truth of his existence. Lucifer told him about himself, about Michael, about me... I was reunited with them both only yesterday."

Joan took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself and seized Margaret up. The angel hadn't been harmed as far as Joan could tell. She was a stunning vision, dressed in a teal dress of fine cotton. A silver amulet, much like the one Bathory and Gabriël wore, rested above her bosom. Her cheeks had a pink blush, and her hair was full and vibrant. It almost looked as if Margaret had come alive again. But Joan was hesitant to just accept that everything was fine.

"Marina, how can you trust anything Samael says?" she questioned. "Or Lucifer, for that matter?"

"I trust my husband," replied Margaret, "who has never harmed me, unlike others who wanted me to believe otherwise. And I trust Samael, who is my son, Joan. When I am with them, I feel like the pieces of my heart, pieces I never knew were missing, are finally where they belong. I feel... loved. I feel at home. And forgive me for saying so, but didn't you trust Lucifer when you made a deal to save Gabriël and your baby? Has anything he told you so far been a lie? Has anything he told Gabriël been a lie?"

"No, but —"

"Joan, Lucifer doesn't want to hurt you. He let Samael bring you here so you could deliver peacefully, and brought your mother and me here for you as well. You are safe, I promise."

"But everything he's done —"

"Was necessary."

Joan very much doubted the Devil's actions had been 'necessary'. But she did believe he meant her no harm. The times she had spoken to Lucifer, she had found him almost human. Perhaps with Margaret at his side, he would be less inclined to seek vengeance on Michael and the Vale, and he would certainly keep his word in providing a safe home for herself and the baby.

"Ma fille!"

The Fallen Angel's head snapped up at her mother's voice. If she hadn't been carrying the extra baby weight, Joan would have run straight toward her, as she had often done when she was a little girl. Instead, she had to let her mother come to her.
Isabelle wrapped her arms around her daughter, kissed her cheek, and cupped her face. Tears of joy rolled down both mother and daughter's faces. Joan watched Margaret move to her own child and hug him as well over her mother's shoulder. That was when she saw it.
Samael's composed expression wavered, and he hesitated for the briefest second before accepting his mother's affection. He appeared rueful. But about what? Finally having a mother that loved him? Perhaps he just wasn't used to it yet. He had spent his life alone, after all.
Still, Joan couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. She remembered Michael's last words to her. He said her daughter was the Angel of Death. Michael was Lord Protector; he would know of these things. And he wouldn't lie to Joan about this. Which begged the question — if her baby was the true Angel of Death, what of who was the current one?