Radicle (Terminal trilogy #2, can stand alone)

Others

Stacy wasn't waiting outside, as expected. I guess I was left to find my own way back to the house then. It was going to be hard in the dark, and I quickly decided not to bother. I could wander if I wanted to, and if I never made it back to the house, whatever. The house would still be there in the morning.

Hell seemed to be very much awake at night. Many buildings on ground level had their lights on, and in some areas, crowds wandered between them. I had buttoned my long coat up again as to hide my angelic clothes, though I supposed if anyone looked hard enough they may have realized I wasn't wearing pants or socks.

I had some money that Tecie had left me the day before still in my pockets. I wandered between the night shops until I found I thought looked nice- it's facade was carved white stone, and the inside seemed to mostly be dark wood. Like most of the places, it smelled of alcohol, but a number of plants lined the interior and added just enough familiarity to the place that I decided to buy a drink and sit down.

Alcohol consumption isn't very common in Heaven, but it wasn't like I had never had any. There was just a limited stockpile, so it was served on special occasions. I guess demons had access to a lot more than we ever did though, since everyone in here seemed to be drinking.

I had obtained a beer, but when I had a few sips, found it too foul to continue. So I got some water instead, and settled down to rest and watch.

This place was not as rowdy as some of the others I had glimpsed while on the streets. It was relatively small, in fact. A squad of about seven soldiers made up the bulk of the place, and otherwise there were five unaffiliated men and women.

One of the girls in particular caught my eye, and when she turned her head I was struck with a feeling of seen-before. It was only when she turned her head again that I realized it to be true.

I think she recognized me too. There was a sort of odd pause between us as I walked up to her table. I knew her name, and I think she may have known mine. But we were being polite.

"Pepper." She said.

"Nichael." I said. "Still."

Pepper was a fallen angel. Being one of the few women that fell, most everyone knew who she was, and when she had still lived in Heaven, had met her. She had been a farmer and a seamstress on the outer rings. But back then, her name had been different. It was tradition for fallen angels to rename themselves after falling. After all, our names were gifts from Michael, and when we were no longer in his favor, he had the power to take them away from us.

I suppose she must have thought me to be a fallen angel too, loitering around Hell like this. I guess I probably should have told her that, actually, since she became quite worked up when she learned I wasn't.

"Still Graceful? Why are you in Hell?" At least she had the sense to keep her voice down. "Did they abduct you? Are you being tortured?"

"I'm an undercover spy. So- keep quiet about it."

I sat down at the booth with her, and she introduced me quickly to her two friends. One of them was an artificially red-haired demon, but the other I recognized vaguely as another fallen angel. I believe he used to be a soldier, but I had not known him.

"This is Salt. And Christina."

The demon didn't seem particularly interested in me, but Salt had the same kind of energy as Pepper did.

"How are you undercover? How did you even get in?"

"How did you? How many fallen angels are even lurking in Hell?" I wasn't actually too keen on conversing with them, but I suppose I had been loosening my standards as of late. Fallen angels were dead to Michael, and thus dead to any good angel. But I was still quite excited to see Pepper again after all these years.

"We're the only ones, last I checked. Most of us stay on Earth." Pepper said.

"There's a lovely bar for fallen angels on the outskirts of the drop-off town, actually. A friend of mine runs it. That's where you find most of the high standing angels. I'd love to name names on who, but you know, can't." Salt said. It did strike me as a bit odd, actually, that fallen angels held such a high respect for Michael's laws post-fall. The fact that they all chose new names without fail was especially odd. These were the worst of the worst, and yet something deep inside kept them abiding tradition.

"You all live in the city then?"

"Yeah." Christina, the demon, was the one to speak. "Pepper's been living with me since that big incident five years ago. We were part of it, yeah? I guess you wouldn't know a thing about it, then again."

"I'm on parole!" Pepper added. "I killed one of The Few. And did a number of other things, actually, but because that week was so hectic they pretty much passed on prosecuting me for all my crimes and stuck to just one or two. If you get a chance, you should look for old newsreels. I used to have bright green hair! Had to change it to blend though."

"I'm Kelly Campbell's secretary." Christina said. "And Salt works as an informant to The Few with all manner of angelic things."

"Mostly it's translations, honestly. I promise I'm not exactly betraying our kind. I'm just working as an archivist." Salt said meekly.

"How does this undercover thing of yours work, anyway?" Pepper asked.

"Truthfully, I don't quite know all the details. I'm just to see what I can see, I guess. Look for anything important and send it Heaven's way."

"I'm not too familiar with Heaven." Christina said. Was she implying she was even slightly familiar with it though? Because that didn't seem possible. "But isn't your presence here a huge liability if anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"The last angel to be in Heaven was Rhamiel. He was abducted and chained up in Wrath. Evidently, the trick to using angelic weapons is simply to have the flesh of an angel. They skinned him weekly and tied the skin around one of your ring-swords, and a new regime of military efficiency was born. He's dead now, and Hell's lost a lot of it's power because of that. But with you around..."

"No one knows I'm here." This was a lie. But Stacy Baruth needed me and Tecie was hardly about to sell me out.

"But when they do- and they will- it will not be a good thing."

I thanked her for the advice, and stayed at the table until the bar closed. We talked a lot, and I did end up liking all three of them, but when we parted ways on the street I doubted I would see them again.

(AN: I just wanted to note something: This book, again, is technically a sequel. These characters here are basically cameo'ing in. I wouldn't worry too much about it.)