Mavobella: The Angel Of Death

Chapter 45

NICOLE'S POV

After I was arrested, I struck a deal with the Imperium. In return for my freedom, I’d handle all their dirty work inside prison. I did what was asked—no questions, no hesitation. I kept it simple, clean, and efficient. Deaths arranged to look like accidents, quick enough that no one looked twice.

The first angel I handled was Sariel. Sariel, with her light-hearted smile and soft, hesitant laugh, the kind that seemed to float, unsure if it belonged in a place like Anubistopia. She was the hopeful type—saw potential for something better here, though that dream was just as faded as the island's endless gray horizon.

The Imperium marked her for elimination, and I obeyed. I followed her to the cliffs on the northern shore, a crumbling edge of land over an endless ocean. She came here at sunrise, watching waves that stretched out forever, like she was looking for something beyond. And that made her an easy target.

So I waited, close behind, just a shadow in her periphery. Her gaze was soft, fixed on the horizon, her mind somewhere far beyond Anubistopia. She didn’t see me nudge the earth beneath her feet. I didn’t need to push her; the cliff edge gave way, silent as a breath.

I didn’t watch her fall. I couldn’t. But I remember the faint rustle of wings meeting air—and then nothing.

After that, the work got easier.

There were two more angels I’d taken out outside of Caketopia. I didn’t even know their names. They were young, fresh, lingering in the doorway as if caught between curiosity and fear. They’d come for the scent of frosting, drawn to it like moths, lingering too close. And curiosity, here, was dangerous. The Imperium whispered, and I acted.

In the chaos of a protest outside Caketopia, I found my chance. Amidst the shouting and the struggle, I slipped through the crowd, took them down, quiet and efficient. They were gone before they knew it.

Then there were others. I lured them to the shore with rumors of strange sightings, a glimmering something that had washed up from the depths. And when we reached the sand, I let the island do my work for me. The sea monsters stirred with a hint of violence, green-tinted tentacles snaking up from beneath, gleaming with sick luminescence. They dragged the angels under before they could even scream.

I watched from the shore, jaw clenched, as they vanished below the waves. The Imperium demanded results, and nothing was more efficient than letting Anubistopia’s horrors claim its own.

Eventually, the faces blurred. Angels, demons—it made no difference to the Imperium, and so I learned to ignore the difference myself. Each one became another “accident,” another check on the Imperium’s unending list.

But then, there was Mavobella.

The command was sharper when her name came up. Mavobella was a problem, her defiance too open, too bright. And worst of all, she was about to get replaced with another angel of death in the human world. The Imperium wanted her erased, a target marked for elimination. Quiet. Clean. Erase her before she found any “truth” she was searching for.

I had more than one chance to kill her—leave her for sea monster food, shoot her, leave her with the zombies. But I didn't, instead I watched her, she was different. Mavobella was light in a place I thought had none left. Her belief in something beyond the gray walls of Anubistopia felt… contagious. She talked about escape, about hope, and she looked at me like I was someone who could be saved from this. Like I was more than the Imperium’s pawn.

But when she, Wade, and I stumbled upon that strange creature instead of a gem, I started doubting her plans. I doubted Isaac, I doubted the whole mission, and worst of all, I feared that the Imperium would leave me there forever.

I knew what I had to do. I found my way into Isaac’s kitchen, a poison slipped into her coffee—quick, clean, easy. No one knew it was me because I set someone up. But I couldn’t go through with killing Mavobella. I was too far gone to trust anyone else here, but Mavobella… she was different.

Afterward, I snuck back into the room where she lay, the color already leaving her cheeks. I gave her the antidote.

And that’s when I made my choice: no more. No more “accidents.” No more angels falling to waves or monsters. I wouldn’t be their tool anymore.

That’s why, when Mavobella started planning our escape, I agreed. The Imperium would call it treason, put a target on me the moment they found out. But I’d already crossed that line. If this was the end, at least I’d go down with my eyes open.

Now, here we are, trapped in their dominion, clinging to our last breaths. My gaze drifts to Mavobella, her face pale from everything she’d endured. Guilt rises in me, a bitter taste that feels impossible to swallow.

“I’m sorry, Mav,” I say, the words barely escaping. They don’t cover it—not really. But maybe they’re all I have left to give.

Mavobella raises an eyebrow, her lips quirking with that half-sarcastic smile I’d come to expect. “Sorry? You? Isaac, hold onto something. The world might actually end.”

Isaac chuckles quietly beside Marion, who raises an eyebrow of her own. He’s seen more years than any of us here and wears his wisdom like armor. “Mistakes are part of this life. Owning them, that’s the hard part,” he says, his voice calm, like he’s speaking to an old friend. “What matters is that you choose a way forward, one that isn’t bound to the past.”

My lips pressed together, my expression softening as I listened to him. I let out a sigh, the tension easing from my shoulders as if Isaac’s words were finally lifting the weight that had been pressing down on me.

Mavobella let out a low laugh, crossing her arms as she looked over at me. “Forgiven, for the record. Not entirely forgotten, mind you. I might milk this for a favor or two.” She winked, light-hearted but sincere. “But that’s the kind of ‘forgive and forget’ you’re getting from me.”

A faint laugh escaped me despite everything. The sarcasm felt like a balm against the regret burning in my chest. Maybe, just maybe, there was something left for me on the other side of this.