Thief's Honour

Chapter Twenty-Six- The Choice

"Madeleine, give me the jewel," Damien demanded. "Now."

Madeleine took a step away from him. There was no right choice. He might kill her if she didn't... he might kill everyone if she did. Demons never cared about mortal lives. And Madeleine decided that if there ever was an imbalance of power, she did not want the demons of Hell to be the stronger ones.

"Madeleine, I'm not going to ask again."

Madeleine met his gaze and took another step away from him. She was not giving him the jewel.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Damien snapped. "Have you been after the jewel for yourself this whole time?" He clenched a fist. It burst into flame, but he didn't seem to feel it. "Have you been lying to me, Madeleine Hart? Well, let me tell you something. That jewel can only be wielded by a demon or an angel. You won't be able to use it, just like your Boss wasn't."

"Balance," Madeleine muttered.

"What?" Damien snapped.

"Balance," she repeated, more loudly. "That's what it's all about. Perfect balance of great power. But you want to destroy that balance. You want all the power for yourself," she looked at Damien. "I was never anything but a tool you used in your attempts to get this jewel. This was never about me. I know that I can't use it, but I also know that the world is better off with it in my hands than yours."

Damien gaped at her. "How much do you know?" He whispered.

"Enough," She replied. "I know that the jewel that you had me steal as a test was this jewel's counterpart. I know that the two jewels together would grant someone so much power that they would be unstoppable. Your father wants that power, doesn't he? He sent you to steal this jewel. I wonder what he would do with all that power." Madeleine pretended to ponder it. "Somehow, I don't think it would mean free instant health care for everyone, regardless of who or what they are."

Damien growled. "Do you think this is a joke?" He snarled.

"No. Not really. This much power could only be a joke in one of those 'three people, objects or circumstances walk into a bar' jokes." Madeleine replied. "I'm being serious. If your father had this power, everyone would suffer. Oh, except for you, and maybe some of the other creatures of Hell. But Heaven's angels? Mortals? We'd all be as good as dead. Dead... like Ayden."

Damien didn't flinch.

"Ayden was a good kid. He shouldn't have died. He didn't deserve to die like that." He'd brought her coffee... confided in her... she hadn't had many friends, but she'd come to think of him like a friend. "And I'm not going to allow his death to result in the complete apocalypse of this entire fucking world!"

Damien growled. "I've given too much to get that jewel, and I'm not going to lose it when I'm so close, because of some mortal thief who sporadically grew morals." He suddenly grew long fangs, large leathery wings, a tail and small horns out of the top of his head. He completed his transformation from human form to demon form, and leapt at Madeleine.

She flinched, clutching the jewel tightly, and there was a flash of light. When she opened her eyes, she was back in the Vatican, outside St. Peter's Basilica. She knew what she had to do. She pushed the door open, and went inside.

The thief had flinched when Damien attacked her, but had stood her ground. Just when he was about to rip her into pieces and claim the jewel, she had disappeared in a flash of heavenly light.

Damien growled. This was not how he had expected this day to go at all. "She wasn't supposed to be able to use it!" He snarled at the thin air in front of him that should have been a traitorous little thief. He turned on Aric. "Were you in on this, too? Did you know she was about to betray me?"

Aric shook his head, raising his hands defensively. "I didn't know. I had nothing to do with it. She made that choice on her own, and acted alone."

Damien growled again. He had to find the thief before she did something stupid.

The church was completely empty when Madeleine entered. She sat in a pew, unsure of her next move. She didn't really want to use that secret passage behind Jesus again, but she had to get the jewel to the angels, somehow. She didn't know why, but it felt wrong to break into the facility again, no matter what her intentions were.

After several moments, a priest approached. "Is there something you need, daughter?" He asked kindly, "something weighing on you, perhaps, that you need to confess?"

Madeleine sighed. "I did something. Something bad, that could have ended with a lot of people getting hurt. I need to make things right, but I don't know how..."

"You have come to the right place," the priest replied, "Confession is the first step to healing. Tell me, daughter, what happened?"

"I stole something I shouldn't have," Madeleine blurted, "For a demon. He could have destroyed the entire world. Now I need to take this back, but I don't know how to contact an angel." Madeleine pulled out the jewel.

The priest hesitated. There was a bright flash beside the altar, and a blond angel with blue eyes strode to where Madeleine was sitting. The priest gasped and bowed, clasping his hands as if in prayer.

Madeleine held out the jewel to the angel, suddenly extremely uncomfortable.  The angel took it. "Thank you." He smiled at her kindly. 

"Sorry about that," Madeleine fidgeted nervously. "I, uh, didn't realize exactly what giving him the jewel meant."

"You did the right thing in returning it to me, and you are forgiven. No demon will ever hurt you." He held up a hand, whispered something, and then disappeared.

Madeleine stood up, not wanting to stay there any longer.

"My daughter, you have been blessed by an angel," The priest gasped. "You have been truly honoured."

"Well, I'll be sure to put that honour to good use," Madeleine smirked, exiting the front door.

She had to walk a full five minutes on the busy streets before she was able to hail a taxi.

"Where to?" The driver asked.

"The airport," Madeleine replied. The sooner this was behind her, the better.