The Angels from Hell

Lilea

Lilea watched Dani, waiting. Each second stretched. She clutched her own knife concealed behind an unlocked, corrugated iron storage shed that held nothing but a single bale of hay. The knife was nothing more than a common kitchen knife. It wouldn't kill but it would hurt. It might even be enough to send an angel back to heaven if she stuck it in the right spot.

She wondered what Ala was doing up in heaven. Her hand rested reassuringly on the watch but she knew she wouldn't turn it, not until the last moment.

"How long until we go back?" Dani said. Lilea could feel her fear. It spread from her, an almost physical sickness and Lilea tried not to breath it in.

"They will come," Lilea said, ending the conversation instantly.

They stood together yet separated by more than space. Each of them lost in worst case scenarios. The morning sunlight burnt Lilea's skin. It was a new sensation, increasingly unpleasant as the sun rose higher. In heaven and hell everything was the same. It was never darker or lighter but here. Wind ripped over Lilea providing little relief, shadows grew and there were insects that kept flitting across her vision and were not deterred by her attempts to swat them away. She didn't know how humans could stand it. The silence was even more stifling than the heat. Eventually, Lilea broke.

"I'm not an angel, you know."

"What?" Dani seemed to have been pulled from some kind of deep reverie.

"I'm a demon," the word made her throat constrict, "I was sent to heaven to find evidence of all this. I haven't actually been an angel for a long time."

She could barely hear Dani, her voice quiet against the wind and buzz of insects. "I bet heaven must be, well, all the stories make it sound..."

"It's not like the stories," Lilea interrupted. She had read and replicated a few for the devoted that ascended to heaven. "I guess where you're going may well be like that," she corrected. "We try and make a heaven that suits all faiths and desires but I have never actually seen where humans go. I kept to the business end, not the pleasure."

"What is it like then, up there?"

"It's bright, it's beautiful in many ways. Everything looks sort of the same. There's no official day and night but you work and you sleep. Work hard enough and you can be promoted, you get a bigger office, more responsibilities."

"Sounds awful," Dani said. Lilea spluttered.

"It's heaven," she replied, shocked. "It can't be awful."

"Look," Lilea still couldn't see Dani but that feeling of fear had reduced to a soft murmur as they spoke, "I've worked many corporate jobs. They're all awful. You work so you can work more, where's the heaven in that. Can't see why anyone would want to be an angel if that's all you do." Lilea considered this. Of course, she wanted to be angel again. Who wouldn't want to be an angel? The alternative was being a demon. That was the punishment for failure, for disobedience. Angels did good.

"You're just a human," Lilea snapped, "you don't know heaven."

"Alright," Dani said, "but killing humans and rewarding murders, rapists and abusers, doesn't sound very holy to me."

"That's just a few angels, that's not everyone."

"Right," Lilea thought Dani was smiling, "just the ones in charge." Lilea opened her mouth to retort but at that moment, Dani let out a gasp. She heard the thud of five sets of feet.

"Human." It was Deleon's voice. The rage in it made Lilea wince. "What are you doing?" She expected to hear Dani falter, to splutter or run but she did not.