AZAZEL (DEMONOLOGY II)

XIII

RAVEN

The time had come. We were sending Ivy out on her first mission. It didn't involve Finn, it was simply a test to see if she was ready and willing. But it was still very dangerous. I can sum it up in one sentence:

The Holy Shield had reemerged, and wanted Finn and all associated with him dead. Clay - the man who had locked Finn in Hell with Lilith and Thalia - took over the entire organization, and was highly bellicose. His mouth watered at the thought of finishing off Finn.

Supposedly, Clay fell in love with a woman named Luna. She was the one who saved Finn after his first descent from Heaven. Clay originally loved Luna's mother, Ruby, but killed her when she did not return his affection. He fell or Luna, and decided to do away with her when he saw her love for Finn. Clay had nothing left to lose now, and was on the prowl. In fact, he was in Syria, right on their tails.

We were relying on Ivy's innocent appearance for this mission. He would not expect her, and she could easily mask her demonic presence. My biggest fear was what would happen after she killed him. Would other members of the Shield reap her in vengeance? Would she be keen enough to escape?

No, I told myself. There's no place for doubt here. I turned to Wynne. We stood in the council room, which now felt very empty. That was because there were only five other members. The others had been "honorably discharged" by Wynne after she announced Ivy's presence. Of course, that's what all of the others in Heaven believed.

"Relax, sister." Wynne placed her hand on my shoulder. "If anything goes wrong, we can swoop in and help her. Then we can train her again and send her back out when she's ready. She's learned a lot in these past few days, though. I don't doubt her at all."

I nodded. "Of course. I'm being paranoid. She's fully capable of doing this." But of course, my worries would not prove to be illogical. For we were about to get a glimpse of the war that we were entering. Two forces were about to clash, two forces mightier than anyone ever expected. And for the first time in my life, I would be scared. I would be horrified. Not of demons, angels, or any sort of daunting beast. But of my own children.

FINN

Upon arriving in Damascus, we were greeted with a taste of the religious barriers that the Middle East had in store for us. Dozens of angels clouded the sky above us, ready to attack at any moment. My father had been summoned back to hell, so it was just Eva, Laura and I.

"State your names and why you are crossing into this sacred land." One of the angels said.

"That does not concern you." Eva responded. Her voice contained a certain dominance to it that I had never heard before. I began to understand. It was her demon abilities. Not only were angels strengthened in this climate, but so was she. "We're here to save this world, and that includes you. Now step aside and let us through."

The angels were clearly feeling pressure from her, but they did not budge. "We are the guardians of this land." Another angel said. "You are outsiders - enemies. Enemies that will be taken care of." As soon as the words were spoken, one of the angels notched an arrow in his bow and fired at the ground towards us. Laura, Eva, and I scattered in different directions. Without speaking, we all attacked different angels. These were clearly just infantry, as they went down quickly. Hundreds more replaced them, and we were locked in combat for hours.

Bullets, fire, and arrows filled the sky. We took little hits, and clearly outmatched the angels who opposed us. We were doing fine. Great, in fact. But it turned out that the religious barriers weren't our only concerns.

We made it to the Syria-Jordan border, and were greeted by thousands of angel-corpses. These were not the angels that we had battled earlier.

"Who did this?" Eva stooped down by one of the corpses. I was about to suggest that Eloy and Lucifer could be responsible when an all-too-familiar voice answered instead.