The Angel's Curse

Revelations, Part Two

Aziraphale and Anathema exchanged a glance.

"We're closed!" called Aziraphale.

There was a moment of silence, then a muffled voice replied, "I know. Open the door, Aziraphale."

Anathema shot Aziraphale a look. "Do you know them?" she whispered.

He didn't answer, but his face had paled at the person's voice.

Anathema calculated the risk of answering the door. Just as she was about to get up, Aziraphale rose slowly to his feet and, seeming to snap back to reality, walked briskly to the door. His hands clenched into fists as his expression darkened.

"Why are you here?" he demanded with a low, dangerous edge in his voice.

"Because I need to explain what's going on," Essie answered calmly, her words even and calculated.

Aziraphale's mouth twisted into a fearsome, mocking snarl. His features were etched in cold, hard stone that radiated contempt. "You must be either stupid or insane to think that i would ever trust you," he spat with more fire in his words than in all of Hell. They dripped with venom, and sounded like they might actually burn one's ears upon being heard.

Anathema realized that her original impression of the angel being a soft, gentle, and quiet type was just that, a mere impression. Beneath the surface was something rather more unstable... and frightening. She found herself pressing her body into the couch.

Essie, on the other hand, was unimpressed. She'd heard all about the angel from her superiors, who were formerly Aziraphale's superiors as well.

She had read Gabriel's rather hysterical account of the angel "breathing hellfire, to which he appeared immune to" when an attempt to execute him had been made after Armaggeddidn't.

She had also read Beelzebub's cold, detached report of a similar event occurring during the attempted execution of Crowley, in which s/he gave a description of the disgraced demon "flicking holy water at onlookers, and requesting a rubber duck."

Apparently he also had the Archangel Michael manifest him a towel.

Essie had laughed herself silly when she pictured the tall, regal woman being faced with a demon in a tub of holy water lazily asking for a towel. What was funnier was that she had complied.

Heavenly angels. Always so damn soft in their pure state. But they were necessary, nevertheless.

That was something Essie grasped that no other angel or demon ever did.

"You don't have to trust me," she said through the door. "I just want you to listen to me. If you don't let me in," she continued, a low warning growl creeping into her voice, "I'll have to let myself in. You need to hear what I have to say, angel."

Aziraphale's snarl faded at the last word. The way that she had said it, it broke something in him.

Anathema observed him warily as he bowed his head, slipped the lock off the door, and pulled it open.

Essie blinked, her slitted pupils dilating to an almond-like shape as they adjusted to the murky light of the bookshop.

Then they narrowed as they fell upon Anathema, whose face showed the same recognition.

Before either could say anything, Aziraphale huffed irritably, "Are you going to come in or not?"

His eyes were clouded and the fight had drained from them. He suddenly looked his true age.

Essie stepped into the bookshop, and Aziraphale let the door slam shut on her heel. She stood in front of the table, hands on her hips. Aziraphale faced her, his gaze like steel daggers being hurled in the half-demoness' direction. She deflected it nonchalantly.

Aziraphale continued to stare at her in silence for a few moments, then made an exaggerated sweeping gesture with his arm. "Say what you want to say, my dear," he snarled vehemently, flinging the last two words at her with bared teeth and curled lips.

Essie regarded him coolly for a moment more, then raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

"Alright then. First of all, I get that you have no reason to trust me, but I had to try. If you reject me, it'll make my job a helluva lot harder but I'll manage. I'm gonna start by telling you something you probably already know."

She paused, flicking her tongue over her lips. She'd have to choose her opening wisely. "That demon? He loves you."

Aziraphale blinked. An unreadable expression passed over his face, then was gone. He said nothing.

"And I'm sorry that I had to do that to him, but I had to stay on Hell's good side. As you can imagine, they don't like him much."

Aziraphale still said nothing. Anathema watched with fascination, and realized this must be the demoness he had spoke of.

Essie looked at Anathema, a smirk curling her lip. "Yeah, that's me," she said, to Anathema's astonishment. "But you're not entirely right. I'm only half demoness, and even that's not right. I'm half human witch, and half angel."

She rolled her eyes when Anathema and Aziraphale both gave her blank, uncomprehending looks. "Everyone assumed that because my father was a demon that I would be a demon, too. Nobody bothered to remember that demons are born as angels. Just 'cos my father Fell doesn't mean I'd be born Fallen, too.

"As for being able to use black magic and read your mind, my mother is a very powerful witch. I've inherited some of her abilities, and she's taught me quite a bit."

Essie paused to study Aziraphale's face. He looked skeptical but was listening.

"You wouldn't come here just to tell me that," he said testily.

Essie nodded. "And you're correct. I've come here to tell you a few things, actually. I'm a double agent," she said dramatically. "I work for Heaven. Or at least, I work to save it. Listen, you're just the beginning, Aziraphale," she said seriously. "What happened to you, Hell's planning on doing it to all the angels on Earth. They're preparing to send demons out to each angel assigned here as we speak.

"But that's not all," she continued, her eyes wide and solemn.

Aziraphale considered what she was saying, and studied her expressions carefully. "Prove it," he cut her off.

She looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"Prove you're telling the truth."

Essie gave him a look like he was a madman. "Are you daft? Think about it! Why would I be telling you this? Why would I sidle up to you and say 'hey, i'm not actually a demoness, i'm really trying to stop bloody Armaggeddon from happening again!"

She stared at him, mouth slightly open. "Aziraphale, Heaven knows about this! I told them!! And what did they decide to do? They're going to sacrifice these angels, they're going to let Hell do this, and they're going to use it as an excuse for war!"