Stars In Our Hearts

Chapter Eight

"I wish she had just grown up," Crowley said softly. "Grown up and left with someone she loved to have kids of her own."

Aziraphale had grabbed the demon's hand at the beginning of his tale and hadn't let go. If anything, his grip had tightened as the minutes passed. "Now you know everything," he whispered. "You know that I've failed my daughter. If anything, I've been failing her for the past four hundred years."

"Angel, no... You didn't fail her."

"I did," Aziraphale sniffed.

After a pause, the stranger spoke up. "You sounded so happy," she said. "At the beginning. Like you really loved her."

"We did. We do," Crowley said. "We'll never stop loving her, but we can't pretend anymore. Being in denial was too hard. We had to accept what happened and try to move on. We're still trying..."

The girl watched them for a moment. "You've held up your end of the bargain. It is time I held up mine. My name is Camael, and I am the archangel of war. But you're welcome to call me Cam."

"Archangel?" Aziraphale's eyes whipped to meet hers. "But your powers–"

"I was gifted with special powers. War is tricky," Cam shrugged as if the gesture explained everything. "I'll start with my creation and soon enough, you shall know everything I do about what happened to..." she trailed off.

"Carina," Aziraphale supplied quietly.

"To Carina," Cam nodded. "I'm sure you haven't heard of me, Aziraphale." The principality shook his head. "I was created specifically to counter the war that your child could cause."

"You were made to, what, destroy her?" Crowley scoffed.

"Essentially, yes." The demon's eyes widened in shock. "I was also made to destroy you. You created one being, what was to stop you from creating more?"

"Why didn't you come for us sooner, then?"

"You were too preoccupied with searching for the child. I was unneeded for the time being."

"So why now? Why come to kill us after all these years?"

"Let me start at the beginning. When Heaven learned of the being that you two created, they knew that it–she, I apologize–could essentially dismantle the entire setup they had spent centuries creating. It was decided that counter measures were to be started immediately. I was one of them. But unlike the other angels, I was not created by God Herself. I was a product of the archangels Michael and Gabriel." Crowley growled at the names. "Hence the few errors in my creation," she gestured to the missing arm on her right side. "But then again, none of us are perfect."

"She was," Aziraphale whispered.

Cam sighed. "I'm not sure if I should tell you what happened to her. I mean, I really don't think it would be helpful."

"We've come thisss far," Crowley argued. "We desssserve to know."

"You're going to try to kill me if I tell you."

"We'll try if you don't," Crowley countered.

"Try being the key word here. Even the two of you together couldn't defeat me. Look, I was sent to kill you after all this time because Heaven worries that you've been plotting against them for the past 150 years. They think you're going to try for another child."

"We haven't," Aziraphale said. "We won't."

"I know," Camael's face softened. "Which is why you are still alive. I may have been created by corrupt angels, but I am not one of them."

"Please... just tell us what they did with Carina."

"She was taken from the bookshop and brought to an outpost of Heaven. Before I tell you what happened next, I need you to know this: your daughter is still alive."

Both beings burst into tears, clinging tightly to each other. "She-she's alive?" Aziraphale finally asked. "She's okay?"

"She's alive," Camael confirmed. "But far from okay."

"They tortured her, didn't they?" Crowley bit his lip. "They're still torturing her, aren't they?"

"In a way," Cam nodded. "But the worst thing they did was right after they took her. If you're up to it, I'll tell you."

"I need to know," Aziraphale nodded.

"Just tell us quickly," Crowley begged. "Don't make it any harder than it has to be."

Camael took a deep breath. "Gabriel took her. Michael saw to her arrival at the outpost. They both took part in destroying your child."

❈❈❈

Michael lay the crying baby in the center of the marble counter and moved to stand next to Gabriel. "What do we do about that mark? It's too easy to identify. We need to get rid of it." Gabriel snapped his fingers, trying to will away the serpent on the child's arm. He pursed his lips when it didn't work and snapped again, still to no result. "What now, Gabriel? Miracles are clearly not going to work."

Gabriel turned around and a saw appeared in his arms. "Then we do it the new-fashioned way." A grim smile was set on his face as he stepped closer to the table. "This is going to get a bit messy, Michael. You may want to move back a bit." Two angels appeared to hold the girl in place. One held her arm flat to the table, the other keeping the rest of her body still. Gabriel pulled his arm back, preparing to work.

He drove the saw forward.

The baby screamed.