Haunted and Holy

A Visitor

"Excuse me?" Zac tapped Micheal on the shoulder, trying to keep his voice from wavering.

He had been tasked with escorting the Archangels to their rooms, and had purposely made Micheal's the very last one at the end of the guest hallway. The Institute two halls of sleeping quarters– one for actual Institute kids, and one for guest.

Seeing as they never really had any visitors, though, so it didn't matter if they had guest rooms.

Until now, at least.

Micheal turned around, his movements surprisingly fluid for his limp. As he fixed his piercing blue gaze on him, Zac couldn't help but compare him with Amber; they shared the same sleek features that he knew could, if a problem arose, harden into stone, and the same pale skin.

"Yes?" Micheal raised a dark eyebrow at him, leaning heavily against his good leg.

Zac cleared his throat, trying to ignore the fact that his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton. "I have a question about my brother."

"Ah. Yes, that."

"Yeah."

"What is your question?"

Trying to speak over the lump in his throat was hard, but still doable. "How... how did he survive the Hellhound? And is he working with Demons?"

Micheal sighed, his blue eyes searching his. His wings had Morphed at some point, but even then, he looked just as mysterious and strange without them.

"Zachary... I need to explain something first before I tell you," he told him, his eyes never leaving his. "I need you to know that us Archangels sometime have humans that we are tasked with protecting–"

"Like guardian Angels?" He interrupted, immediately wanting to bite his tongue the moment the words left his lips.

Micheal nodded. "Yes, it is like guardian Angels. If I remember correctly, Avery is in charge of Tess, Raphael is assigned to Warren, Uriel to Jared, and I am in charge of Gwen."

Zac began to nod, but froze when he noticed a name was missing– his. "What about me?"

Micheal flashed him an amused look. "What other Archangel is left?"

He wondered if anyone could blush so much that they felt like their face was aflame. Micheal merely hummed softly before continuing. "Anyway, we are all assigned a human to protect. Including..."

"Including...?"

"Including Lucifer." He noticed the way Micheal's eyes darkened and spite entered his voice as he said the name.

Now he could see the Archangel Micheal clear as day, the one they learned about during history lessons, who banished Lucifer and his rebels to the sulfur pools.

He glanced down at Micheal's leg. "Did he do that?"

Looking startled, Micheal seemed to snap out of his dazed state. His eyes followed Zac's gaze, filling with understanding.

"Oh, yes he did. It's a very old wound. Never healed correctly."

There was something in his voice that told Zac that he didn't really want to talk about it, so he asked another question.

"So is... is my brother Lucifer's human?"

The Archangel sighed heavily, then laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Zachary, I am so sorry. Yes, your brother is Lucifer's human charge. My father can have a... unique sense of humor. He's been known to pit siblings against sibling: Cain and Able, Jacob and Esau, me and Lucifer... and now you and your brother. And I fear..."