Big shout out to suunde TheLadyMango and alance07 and guest for sticking with this story, and everyone else who has followed along so far, sorry for not updating in forever I've been writing my dissertation and otherwise being a disorganised little shit, but I hope you enjoy this chapter! I had a great time writing it! All the best-Sky.
Orlo let out a frustrated noise, leaning back on the Angel's hips, throwing his head back and gnashing his teeth. Why did the angel have to pass out now? He was having so much fun! The terrified energy he had been devouring as soon as the angel felt it was ebbing away. Nothing but Aziraphale's sweet blood tinged with bitter suffering left behind to taste.
He licked a stripe from the Angel's delicate collar bone to his shoulder, moaning low and guttural in his throat as the red liquid danced on his tongue, he resisted the urge to tongue the wound he had left, saving that for when the angel was awake to feel it.
A scowl that could curdle any dairy product cracked his face in two, and he looked down at the angel, its pretty blue eyes no longer burning with exquisite anguish but hidden beneath heavy eyelids, his body's quivering almost at a standstill.
The angel had looked so beautiful in his squirming, frantic and fearful and oh so delicious. The demon was so ready to tarnish and devour this celestial being, and it had all been ruined.
He spelled away his swelling erection. Orlo was impatient, but not so that he couldn't savour a good thing. Just as this slightly fat but exquisitely delicate angel enjoyed nice vintage wine- with his sorry excuse for a demon crowley, Orlo got off on pain. Wasting a perfectly good opportunity to make the beautiful angel writhe and burn in anguish was not something he did.
Orlo caressed the Angel's sleeping face, one long claw almost leaving a scratch down one side of it. He pushed back the Angel's curls gently, and the Angel's worry lines between his brows eased. Sleep now angel, he thought, you're going to need all the rest you can get when you wake up.
He smirked, hopping leathly off of the prone angel. Grasping a white handkerchief off of his desk and almost regally dabbling away the blood from his lips, licking away the excess with one long sandpapery tongue that was much like a cats.
The demon cast one last lingering glance at the angel draped awkwardly across his bed, feeling morose as he viewed its beauty, soft curls and fine bones...bones he could easily snap. He would like to keep this one, but Crowley would no doubt be on his way to fetch him… and Angel's never lasted long anyway.
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"Damn it Vera! I'm going as fast as I can!"
Crowley swerved to avoid an oncoming moped.
This was not something Crowley had ever in his long life time said before, Aziraphale if anything begging him to slow down, but Vera was becoming more and more bossy as time went on.
Ever since they had gotten within range of aziraphale to smell him. His scent of old books and summer rain tinted with earl grey tea becoming detectable… but there was something else mixed in with it, the bitter scent of dread, and pain, and what crowley dearly hoped wasn't blood.
Crowley's heart wept at every new emotion he could smell. His fists tightened on the steering wheel, hard leather rough beneath his palms,his foot inched further on the accelerator.
They didn't have much time before Orlo fed, not only on Aziraphale's corporeal form but on his fear, and his pain, and lastly his soul. There would be nothing left but a memory of him, and that was a reality Crowley would not accept.
Crowley eyed Vera sideways, her angular form folded on the edge of her seat, gripping the bottom of it to contain her pent up energy. She looked vengeful, rage contorting her pretty features.
It looked strange on an angel, but Crowley understood had felt rage like that before his fall. And he had seen Angel's who were ritchoussly angry before. Angel's could feel anger such as this too...
As it was Crowley could hardly feel any anger at all. Just bone chilling fear for his dear angel. He was stricken with the knowledge that in a few short hours there could be no more Aziraphale.
No more dining at the Ritz, no more healthy debates on the nature of good and evil, and what God meant and why things ended up how they did, if this was the plan all along. No more introducing the angel to the latest human trends and obsessions and recording his hilarious reaction for crowley's Instagram and Twitter followers.
No more cuddling on crowley's luxurious bed and watching the angel devour book after book, page after page, soft curls twisting at the nape of his neck blotting his vision, as the angel lay propped up in Crowley's lap and Crowley napped, sapping the Angel's warmth and hearing every gasp and appreciative noise as zira discovered a new plot line appearing in the novel.
Crowley eyed vera, brow creasing.
"You do know how to fight don't you?" He asked.
Vera produced some iron knuckles from one of her white trench coat pockets, and a taser from the other, smiling a toothy grin. Crowley's eyebrows shot up and he took a sharp intake of breath, somehow he didn't doubt this wiry angel knew how to use them.
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Vera lurched out of the Bentley as soon as it swerved to a stop, sending up a spray of rainwater and almost colliding with a lamp post.
"Vera!"
Barked crowley.
Jumping out after her. The demon grabbed hold of her coat sleeve desperately, she stopped in her tracks, standing motionless in the pouring rain, and eyed him with dark vengeful eyes.
"What the hell are you doing Vera?He'll destroy you!-we need a plan!"
Vera huffed, tugging the coat sleeve of her trench coat out of crowleys hand roughly.
" you don't understand Crowley! This is what I was MADE to do!"
Crowley was beyond confused, most Angel's of God were not sent on suicide missions alone, he didn't understand at all.
"What do you mean? Made to do! Made to go on a suicide mission? You're an angel! He will devour you...We need to figure out what we're doing before we go in"
Crowley was a little worried for Vera, yes he wanted Aziraphale back more than anything, but they couldn't just rush in all guns blazing. No matter how much he wanted to.
"Crowley"
Said Vera, so quietly he could barely hear her voice above the rain. Traffick making a humming noise in the background, the occasional sound of tyres on gravel.
"I think it's about time I tell you me real name"
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Crowley took a sharp intake of breath. Vera held out her hand and tilted her head to indicate he should grasp it. But before he did he spoke "this better not be a waste of time Vera"
Crowley looked up at her through sodden locks.
" I get the feeling it won't be, but if it is I swear on her I'll let orlo take you back to hell with him"
Crowley looked vulnerable to vera in the dim street light, his thin frame swaying with fatigue, his eyes too bright.
"without him I have nothing, I can't live in a world without him in it- I can't!"
"It's all going to be ok Crowley" said the angel.
"Take my hand"
Crowley grasped the Angel's hand roughly, and everything ignited with white.
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Crowley felt strange… he was in what appeared to be heaven, but not in one of the lower offices, in the executive levels.
Everything was white and he was carrying a tea tray. He found himself getting into an elevator and going up… all the way up, or at least further than he had ever seen before he fell.
He glanced forward, catching a glimpse of Vera's dark hair and eyes in the mirror infront, she scowled back at herself.
"Just one more week and I get to go back down and work in admin" Vera said to herself absentmindedly.
It was like he was seeing through her eyes but unable to influence her actions. A flashback then.
The elevator pinged open and her eyes squinted half shut as they adjusted.
Vera walked forward, into a sparsely decorated apartment. Gabriel and God's conduit were sat opposite in two comfortable looking leather armchairs. Gabriel the smarmy bastard was leaning back with one leg draped over the other and his arms resting comfortably on the arms. The other angel was sat up strait nursing a cup of tea.
"Set it down over there J" drawled Gabriel.
Crowley could feel the hatred bubbling away inside Vera.
She hated the pet name. But what did the J stand for? Wondered Crowley.
Vera set the tray down and grabbed some cleaning supplies from the open plan kitchen behind the pair, pretending to clean.
The angel could vaguely hear the conversation.
" but you must find someone Gabriel! He may have disobeyed orders but we cannot have hell taking all the credit for getting rid of him, and what a ghastly way to go! it's not becoming of an angel!"
Well this was interesting thought Crowley, evidently Vera had thought so too, she stopped cleaning and just listened, back against the cabinet, pretending to have left.
" I'm sorry no angel is willing to help him, he's fraternized with demons for hells sake! He's been corrupted!" Bullshit, thought crowley, he could smell a lie a mile away and that was a bald faced lie.
"Not enough for her to let him fall though Gabriel!" Corrected the conduit, Gabriel scowled.
Crowley found Vera's body moving. Walking over and standing close to the pair.
"Can I help you? J?"
Asked Gabriel in a bored sounding voice, both Angel's craning their necks to glance up at her, irked at her sudden appearance.
"No! Gabriel! But I sure as hell can help you!"
Vera hissed.
"JOPHIEL!" Shouted the Conduit.
Gabriel scowled.
"I agreed to let you come up here if you behaved! but I shall not hesitate to demote you once more if this behaviour continues! You are not an archangel anymore!"
Crowley jolted, and his whole being sank into the floor, Vera… was an arch angel? And she had been cast out? It felt so wrong, She was Jophiel… and Crowley had something to do with her being demoted. Thiis was a revelation. He felt sick.
"I sure am!" Screamed Vera, stomping her foot "You just ignore my purpose and force me to be your servant! You should have listened to me when I told you they were right! Crowley and Aziraphale have sone nothing wrong! And I demand you let me do my DAMN job and help them!"
Crowley blanched.
The conduits eyes were bright and he looked utterly white with rage.
"I will not be spoken to in this manner!" Said the fat angel.
"Gabriel get rid of her! I don't care how just do it!"
Gabriel stood up, too to toe with the livid arch angel, grabbing her white shirt and lifting her so she was but an inch from his face.
Vera just glared.
"So you're still the arch angel of vengeance jophiel? Go avenge then" he said, shoving her so her body stumbled backwards. She just glared right into his cold eyes.
Gabriel shouted "Nobody wants any of your wisdom so get out of our hair and get down there right now! And don't even ASK about coming back!"
Gabriel made a shooing motion.
"Where are my weapons Gabriel?" Jophiel bit out through her teeth.
Gabriel snapped his fingers and some iron knuckles and a taser appeared in her hands.
"Real classy Gabriel!" Hissed Jophiel, turning on her heel and taking the elevator down.
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Crowley came to like a man who had just been underwater, taking a huge gulp of air and straightening up where Jophiel was holding him up in his tranced state.
"YOU are the angel of wisdom understanding and judgement!" Said crowley in a very high pitched voice "Damn it Vera! - I mean Jophiel! You should be back up there- ya know, dealing with things! You're a bloody archangel for satan's sake! Why stay here when you can be- you can be up there?" He finished, dumbfounded.
"Because" the archangel replied, looking thoroughly done with the conversation.
"All the other Angel's wanted to hear was -ooh, let's go to war with hell! Let's destroy earth!" Jophiel rolled her eyes.
"And don't EVEN get me started on what they thought about you two! Fucking bigots! You saw! Had me serving coffee to bloody Gabriel of all Angel's, demoted for doing what I was MADE to do!"
"Look I need a time out" said crowley, looking dazed, a hand on his brow, sweeping back the wet hair frantically. "I cannot believe you came down to earth to help us" Crowley looked down, scrubbing a hand down his face, he then caught Jophiels eyes.
" but If anyone can take out orlo it's the blessed arch angel Jophiel" crowley finished.
"You said it" smirked Jophiel. Iron knuckles grasped tightly and a glint in her dark eyes. She looked fiercely beautiful in that moment, and the light around her grew so bright Crowley had to work hard not to shrink away from it.
The demon looked up from where they were standing, sniffing once. The only apartment with lights on the one on the corner across the street. Lights flickering gently with what crowley dearly hoped wasn't hellfire.
The demon mewled at the sweet smell of angel blood and fear- and books, and earl grey tea and an aura that was purely Aziraphale. That apartment was where Zira was. They were so close!
The pair shared a look, Crowley fishing a fresh pair of sunglasses out of his jacket pocket and putting them on, straightening up, his mouth was hard. Jophiel nodded, and they strode lightly into the night.