Fallen Angels - chpt 23

A Deadly Grip on Lies

Crouching close to the ground, they moved up through the streets of Hell. There were newly derelict buildings all around; walls that had once housed roofs and blackened windows. Andy's wings arched over Carolyn as she ran beside him. C.C kept a watchful eye on Sammi. Between his hands, Jake kept a swirling ball of his dark poison, just in case.
As it turned out, he didn't need to use it, yet.
The space where the Mortician's had been set both Andy's and Carolyn's teeth on edge. The top floors were completely gone. Only the bottom office remained. The glass in the windows had been blown straight through. What remained of the door was swinging open in the smoky air. Carolyn reached for Andy's hand, clasping onto his fingers as they waited on the other side of the street. Jake nodded. Cautiously, they sprinted across the open road. They had to work quickly because the view was open. There wasn't much cover in the area. Carolyn though still insisted on going through the door instead of the gaps in the walls as Jake and C.C did. They ducked between the wreckage. Andy stood behind Carolyn protectively. She stopped at the place that would have been behind her desk. "C.C, help me a sec." She gasped, hooking fingers around debris.
C.C pushed the heavy pieces aside. Jake and Sammi hid together. Below lay the trap door. Carolyn seized the handle, and dragged it open. The stairs and darkness beneath was unaffected. As Andy looked over her shoulder, it appeared that it was the one perfect thing left in their world.
"Come down." Carolyn beckoned. "Everyone."
She and Sammi went first. It was harder now to follow as Andy found. He, Jake and C.C had their wings to content with, and they were very stubborn. The three of them had to hunch down to back-breaking levels just to get through. Andy thought his legs might snap in half. It was a great relief when he could see the lamplight in her underground morgue. The similarity of the room forced a beaming smile out of him. The table, the cabinets and her surgical instruments were all where they were meant to be. As she searched through her drawers, the lamps catching the profile of her face, he felt that everything was in harmony. The damage couldn't reach down here.  
"What is this place?" Jake asked, scratching his head.
C.C shivered. "It's freezing."
"This is where Carolyn works. With the bodies."
Jake put a hand to his mouth. C.C hugged himself. "Creepy!" He hissed.
Carolyn laughed. It tickled Andy from across the room and he started to laugh too. "Oh come on, this is nothing!"
"Surely you can handle this – we're angels after all." Andy smirked. "And it's ok – there aren't any bodies in here… YET."
"What are we looking for, anyway?" Sammi frowned.
"We're going to give those monks something to look at… Ah! Here we are!"
"What?" They leaned forward.
Carolyn stood back and allowed the dim light to shine on her hands. She was holding paintbrushes and a pot of dark liquid. Andy put out a finger, ran it around the rim and brought it back. It was black. "Paint?"
"You want to paint them pictures?" C.C stammered.
"No! Silly!" Jake punched the top of his arm. "Don't you get it?"
"I used to use this sometimes if I had to mark the body." Carolyn smiled.

"It's war paint."

-----------------------------------------------------------


A lone cloaked figure stood at the Temple battlements. The wind was whipping the corner of his cape around his legs. Grimm gazed down into the desolate wilderness, down at Hell with was unrecognisable after the heavy shelling. The great catapults lay beneath him. He took a sigh.
There were footsteps behind him, running closer. He turned. It was one of the younger monks. "Grimm!" he shouted, almost breathless.
"Yes? What is it?"
"The Elders have requested your presence immediately! The High Priest received a message! From the God!" He shrieked. Grimm frowned and turned towards him. His attention was fully grabbed. The young monk leaned on the battlements to catch his breath. Nursing a stitch in his side he gasped, "He told him they're here… The God can sense them… The fallen angels… They're in the city somewhere…"
Grimm gave a sharp gasp and twisted violently back to the landscape. He leaned out over the wall's edge and stared into the evening smog. "Then it's starting?"
The younger nodded. "And soon it'll be night time. We'll have to fight hard and pull together, if we want to beat them, that is. Night time is their time after all."
Grimm groaned and hid his head in his hands. "Oh Andy…" he whispered.
"Uh, sir?"
He pulled back his hands, dragging his fingers across his face. He cast a long glance to his companion. It was a while before he spoke. "Have you ever wondered if you're doing the right thing?"
"I don't understand…"
"Have you ever doubted your religion?"
The young monk drew back in horror. His eyes were big, blue and naïve. It scarred Grimm to look into them. "Sir! How could you even suggest…?"
"Young man, I've been thinking. For an awful long time. Years in fact. The things I've seen. The things I've done… I've done such terrible things… Look down there." He waved a hand at the dead city. The young monk followed his fingertips. "We say this is for the 'greater good', but look at it! How can it be? When there are people dying down there because of us. How can that possibly be right?"
"They're just the Outcasts…"
"Don't say that." Grimm cut his sentence short. "It's been a long time coming, but I think I'm finally starting to realise. I've ignored them for too long. I want no part in this anymore." The young monk blinked. Grimm lowered his hood. His eyes were dead. "I can't help them hurt him anymore."
The young monk stood, forgetting the pain in his side. "What are you saying exactly?"

"That I don't have faith in anything anymore, whether they be a groom, or a BRIDE."

"What will you tell them?"
"I don't know yet. Let me think. I'll deal with them."
"They could kill you for this…"
"That's no less than what I deserve." He folded his arms. "You're taught to take confessions, right?" The young monk nodded hesitantly. "Ok. Here. Take mine. I learnt what I needed to learn. I followed orders like any good citizen, but there was always… doubt. At the back of my mind. Doubt at whether I actually believed any of this. That thought scared me, so I worked hard to squash it. I obeyed. I worked my way up until they trusted me. But I couldn't quite get rid of it. I needed to do something big to show them I was a firm believer, and something to distract me… It was a normal night when we saw the comet come down amongst the trees, just on that mountainside over there." He pointed into the distance. "I was in a team who went out to investigate. It took us a whole night of searching, but in the first light of the morning, we found what we were looking for." The young monk leaned forward, scarcely believing what he was hearing. "You should have been there that morning. I remember stepping into the crater, and staring at the strangest, most precious little thing you could imagine."
"That was the angel?"
"That was Andy." Grimm corrected him. "He was standing at the center of the crater, staring back at us with those big blue eyes… Not quite unlike you are now, actually… They were frightened, shocked to see us, confused, but at the same time defiant. He looked at me as though he could see right into my soul, right into those doubts… He was only little, and didn't understand who we were. He didn't understand we meant him harm. So he ran up to us. Chatting. Reaching for our hands. He stopped in front of me, and all I could think was one thing, I want you." The young monk blushed. Grimm chuckled. "No! Not like that! I mean how you might admire something on a market stall or something… Anyway, we brought him back with us. Our idea was to get him here and then… Well… Finish him. It took all my efforts to convince them not to do it. I told them we might need him; that he might one day come to better use, if they were hoping to stop his Black Veil Bride. And I volunteered to look after him, to care for him until that time when he had served their purpose." Grimm took a moment to sigh and wipe his forehead. "Now here's my biggest confession. I wish I'd been able to see it then as I do now; they had already guessed I doubted. They'd set me a trap to test me." He closed his eyes.
The young monk, despite his utter shock, was deeply entranced by the story – which had long been before his time – so he urged "What happened? What did they do?"
"I said I wanted to bring him up just to be one of us. To stay innocently unaware of who he was. The High Priest liked that – he said that would hit the Goddess right where it hurt. But there was a problem. His wings. He couldn't live like that if he could always see his wings…"Grimm hesitated, wiping sweat. "So there was one thing for it; we had to get rid of them. And thinking it funny, they gave that job to ME." The young monk had turned white.
"Did you really do it?"
Grimm stuttered. "I… I was trapped. If I didn't they'd know that wasn't fully on their side. And they'd kill him. So I reasoned that the loss of the wings was better than the loss of his life." He closed his eyes. "In my head, I can still see every moment. I remember tying him down to the floor, lifting the axe, and… No! It's too horrible." He shook his head violently. "All you need to know is that I did it. In cold blood. To save my own skin. You should have heard him scream! I thought I'd cut off the wrong part of him at first! And he cried for days and days afterwards, always saying over and over that 'he could never get back now'. Eventually, he stopped crying. He stopped saying that. He forgot he'd said that. And I didn't tell him. So then the years went by. I taught him. Looked after him, just as I'd promised to do. And that doubt… It got easier to ignore, at least until recently." He groaned. "I've hurt him so many times though. I've let him down." He took hold of the young man's shoulders. "Listen to me, here's some advice. Get out of here while you still can. Run. Now. Don't gather all this grief behind you."
The young man's chest was heaving. "Alright." He whispered. "But… they want you now. What are you going to do?"
Grimm smiled weakly, and patted his shoulder. "I must go." He stepped back from the battlements, to the awaiting open doorway. He disappeared into the shadows.

Walking back into the shadows of the Temple, he felt his chest lighten. He actually smiled brighter. Now he'd told someone, he didn't care anymore. It felt good to have someone listen to you before you died. And his mind was resolved. He wasn't a monk anymore. He didn't belong to them, or to anyone. He didn't believe in any god or goddess. No one to answer to. Casually he made his way to the Elders' meeting room and he paused just outside the door. He took a deep breath.
Here went nothing.
"I'm here. You called for me?" He said as he rapped on the door.
"Grimm; enter."
"That's what she said…" He muttered sarcastically as he eased into the room.
The Elders were gathered around a table, with the crumbling old High Priest at their centre. The more Grimm saw him, the more disgusting he got. All those wicked words wrapped in wrinkles. He almost laughed aloud at the thought of it. They turned their heads. "What's that smile for? This is a crisis situation, Grimm!"
"Oh yes. Of that I'm quite aware." Grimm replied slyly.
"The angels are within the city." Croaked the toad of a High Priest. Grimm nodded, finding it hard to conceal the smile. "That includes your brat. Where would he be? And what's he planning?"
"How can I know?" Grimm shrugged carelessly. "He's his own man."
"You should know him inside out! That was your job."
"Oh I'm sorry. You know what teenagers are like. They get to that age and they won't tell you anything. What's a parent to do? I'll have to do more research." Grimm replied quickly.
"What's wrong with you?" The Head of the Elders snapped. "Why are you acting so oddly?"
"Oddly? Me? No! I'm just answering questions, like I have done all my life."
"Alright… In that case…" he replied, "we need to prepare for attack. We also need our God to be on our side…"
"I didn't know gods could switch sides…" Grimm mused aloud. "How… inhuman of them."
The Elders glared at him. "Whatever you've been taking, stop it!" He snapped. "It is time for the sacrifice. I assume you know where it is?"
Grimm nodded. "Yeap."
"Go and get it then."
Grimm shrugged. "Ok." He almost skipped to the door.
The Elders were aghast. Even the High Priest raised an eyebrow. In the past whenever they'd given Grimm a task like that he'd been twisted with the agony of it. It had become a form of entertainment for them. But here he was skipping?! Such things had never been seen before! "You're alright with that?" The Head Elder frowned.
"Sure. Whatever, losers!" He laughed, and slammed the door behind him.
The Elders exchanged puzzled glances. "I want whatever he's having." One of them broke the silence.
"Don't say something so Outcast." The High Priest spat.

---------------------------


Twilight. In the murky mid-light, the Outcasts stood at the edges of the river. Hundreds of them. To any onlooker, they would have seen a mass of darkly dressed characters, almost unrecognisable as individuals. Even more so tonight – each one wore a face painted white with the same striking black markings. They were an army of Andys, Ashleys, Jinxxs, Jakes, and C.Cs. And at the front, the angels themselves. Carolyn, Sammi and Rex were made up too; Carolyn crowned in her elaborate funeral veil.
"Go." Andy whispered, the Black Veil Bride's mocking smile slipping through, "set their world on fire."