Hell's Angel

Chapter 11: Not All Angels Are Innocent

I slowly get up off of the ground and look around my room to find that nothing else out of the ordinary appears to have happened. I go over and sit on my bed before grabbing my Angelic Communicator and calling Queen Evangeline to inform her of what happened, as well as my progress. It rings for a few moments before she answers and an image of her becomes projected into my room. She stares at me and paces around.

"Ah, hello Aella, how are things in the Human Realm?" She asks.

"Well, as I'm sure you know there have been strange occurrences happening and I believe that they are because of Salem."

"You mean the Specters?" She asks.

"Yes," I nod, "And Maurine appeared recently with more Specters, which you should know since Blaze had Corliss take Maurine to Angel prison."

"Yes, I'm aware of the situation. Maurine was locked away and she won't be getting out any time soon."

"Did you happen to get any information out of her about why both she and the Specters were after Salem?"

"No, sadly," Evangeline sighs, "She won't talk."

"Oh," I frown.

"Speaking of Salem, how are things going with keeping him from doing anything rash?" Evangeline asks.

"Things are going well for now," I say, "But there is something else that I need to speak with you about."

"What is it, Aella?" Evangeline raises a brow in curiosity.

"Before I contacted you something weird happened to me. I was just thinking about...things...when I ended up collapsing."

"Hmm?" Her blue eyes stare into mine knowingly and with interest, "I wouldn't worry about it. I would just stay far away from those thoughts as possible, whatever they were."

"Yes, madame," I bow my head slightly and stare at the floor with sad eyes.

"Thank you for calling me. Call again whenever you wish to update me on how things are going," Evangeline says.

"Of course, madame," I raise my head back up and nod.

The image of her fades away and the call ends. I send my communicator back to where it was and sigh. She wants me to stop thinking about Salem? That's physically impossible for both my mission and for me. I can't help it, my mind just wanders to him. I think that this is one order I won't be able to follow, as well as one that I don't want to follow, sorry Evangeline.

"Aella!" Blaze shouts and swings my door open, "We have an issue!"

"Blaze?" I blink in surprise and stare at her, "When did you get here?"

"I just got here. Salem opened the door to let me in and I ran through the house until I got to your room," Blaze explains, "But that isn't the issue. You know how my Arcane Map went off and I went to investigate?"

"Yeah, what about it?" I ask.

"When I got to where the area was Maurine was there. She was wreaking havoc on the city just outside of this town," Blaze says, "And she had Specters with her."

"But that shouldn't be possible," I frown, "I just got off of a call with Queen Evangeline and she said that Corliss did indeed put Maurine in Angel prison. She shouldn't have been in the Human Realm."

"I know," Blaze nods, "And I know for a fact that Corliss took her to the Angel prison because Corliss always follows her orders when it involves the well being of others."

"Then how did she get out?" I ask.

"I've been thinking about that and piecing things together and I have an idea, but it sounds crazy and you'll have to hear me out on it," Blaze says.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I think that Evangeline set her free," Blaze whispers.

"Please explain," I say and cross my arms.

"Look," Blaze shakes her head, "I know it sounds crazy and it goes against the Queen, but I think that it's the truth. You said it yourself, you just called Evangeline and she said that Maurine was in prison."

"Yeah, but--"

"Let me finish," Blaze says, "She also sent you down here with little information, just to look after Salem, right? I'm thinking that it was so that you wouldn't be around and she could get away with things easier, all the while having you watch over Salem to make sure that he doesn't discover what he is. I think that she's afraid of him, Aella."

"But that would mean that Salem is just as strong as Evangeline, or even stronger," I say.

"Yeah," Blaze nods.

"I don't know," I frown, "I can see where you're coming from, but I think that we'd need more proof."

Just then Corliss knocks on my window from outside with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Get out here, both of you, now!" She shouts.

Blaze and I look at each other and shrug before racing out of my room and outside to where Corliss is.

"What?" Blaze asks as we stand in front of the very angry looking Angel.

"You'd better start explaining some things," Corliss snaps and tosses a video tape towards us.

"What is this?" I ask.

Corliss leans forwards and presses the button on top of the tape, which projects the images on the tape into the air. The three of us watch as Evangeline walks towards Maurine's cell in the middle of the night and talks to her for a bit before handing something to Maurine through the bars of the cell. Maurine smiles and Evangeline walks away swiftly, as if she was never there, and the tape ends.

"That was during the midnight shift. Evangeline told all of us that were on duty to take the night off and that she'd watch over the prison. Naturally, we obeyed her orders. When I got back I reviewed the tapes and found this, as well as an empty cell where Maurine should have been."

"Why didn't you show us this sooner?" I ask.

"I had to find a way to come to the Human Realm without being noticed by Evangeline, after all, it would seem kind of odd and right now the last thing I want is to raise a red flag with her," Corliss explains, "What I want is for you two to make sense of this to me."

"I think we found our proof," I say and look at Blaze, who nods.

"What proof?" Corliss asks and crosses her arms.

"Blaze and I suspected that Evangeline may be hiding something, or may not be as good as she seems. This tape proves that something is definitely up. It hurts, knowing that someone I admired isn't all that they made themselves out to be, but what we need to do is to figure things out," I explain.

"She's right," Blaze nods.

Corliss sighs and uncrosses her arms. She thinks for a few moments before sighing once more.

"Alright, you two have a point," Corliss says, "I'll help you two out, but don't think that I'm extremely thrilled about it."

"Come on, let's go inside and introduce you to the others," I say.

"The others?" Corliss raises a brow, "Demon boy and his little Angel sister?"

"Yeah, that'd be them," Blaze says as the three of us start walking inside.

"I think I'll stay here in the Human Realm for a little bit. Does that mean that I have to attend your school?" Corliss asks.

"It's probably a good idea," I say.

"Great," Corliss mutters, "Just great."