Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to my story. This is the fourth part of chapter VIII. In this part, we address the question of "what Ahziel wants". We dive deeper into her beliefs, seeing a clearer picture of what kind of angel she was. And what kind of impact that has over Elaiel. But let's not keep you waiting any longer.

(4)

Questions abounded in Elaiel's mind regarding to the woman's presence there. But they did not linger, replaced by a stronger feeling – hatred. All of a sudden, he was taken over by an uncontrollable rage and instantly saw red. And just like an angered bull, he gave in to his feral senses and attacked. He viciously grabbed Ganush's arm and with a deft movement, pulled her off the roof, to the ground. The woman fell like an inanimate object, unable to do anything about it.

"You filthy, disgusting piece of shit!" Elaiel angrily spat. "All of this is your fault. If you hadn't played judge, jury and executioner, none of this would have happened. WHO THE HELL GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO JUDGE OTHERS?"

Still holding her hand, Elaiel raised her from the ground without any difficulty and began pulling it inward, ferociously slamming her over the metal bars of the cage. Ganush could not oppose any kind of resistance and all sorts of fluids leaked and sprayed from her face with each impact.

"She would still be alive if it wasn't for you!" The angel continued irately. "YOU DESERVE TO BE DEAD, NOT HER! YOU! YOU!"

"Elaiel, stop!" He heard in between the loud bangs of Ganush hitting the bars. He turned around and saw the stranger on the other side of the cage. It distracted him, enough for the woman to draw her arm away outside, beyond his reach. Noticing this, Elaiel extended his hand toward her. She felt a tremendous force crushing her throat, voiding her of air. She began to cough chaotically and jitter from the shock of hypoxia.

"You're not going anywhere, you malicious whore," Elaiel barked, using his telekinesis to choke her. He was not going to let her escape his wrath, intending to hurt her in a million different ways.

"Stop it," the stranger intervened again. "Let her go!"

"Get lost!" Elaiel would not have any of it.

"Do you honestly believe she just happened to be here, of all places? Lamia wants her here. You're playing right into his hands. Just like she did."

"She chose this," the angel yelled frantically. "When she placed that curse on Christine, she sealed her fate."

"Right. She wanted to come to hell and be Lamia's personal lapdog. Come on, she's just a human. How much can you expect from them? You, on the other hand, you're an angel. You have far more discernment than she ever did and yet you are on the same path she has been."

"Not anymore."

"I see that. Considering you're doing the exact same thing she did. You're out for revenge and it will lead you to nowhere but damnation. Just like her." The stranger correctly drew parallels between the two of them.

"I don't care! I'm already damned." Elaiel confessed, his telekinetic grip on Ganush's throat tightening with each passing moment.

"You're an idiot! What is it with you and seeing the bigger picture? This is exactly what Lamia wants. That's why he allowed her to come here in the first place. He wants you to lose yourself in anger and rage so he can twist and turn you however he pleases. And he's using her to do that. Trading one lapdog for another. And that's precisely what's going to happen if you don't let her go!"

"She's going to pay for everything she's done." Elaiel stated, a hint of enjoyment arising at seeing her squirm. "She deserves to die. She's the one behind everything. If it hadn't been for her, Ahziel would still be alive."

And that was the giveaway. Putting two and two together, the stranger realized how Ganush fitted into this story and her contribution to the death of Elaiel's friend. Although still missing some parts, he finally understood how everything had gone down, from start to finish.

"Listen to me. I get the fact that you want vengeance. I do. But you need to consider that she is just as much a victim in this as the rest of you. The price paid for her pride and vanity is beyond comprehension. And she's still paying it. Take a good damn look at her."

For a split second, Elaiel reduced the pressure of his grip to gaze at the woman's grotesque figure.

The stranger resumed. "Do you really think people who summon demons for acts of personal vengeance get a happily ever afterlife in heaven? The moment she died on Earth, Lamia snatched her soul as well, put a leash on her and turned her into the attack-on-command hound that you see now. And that's when he's not abusing her in infinite, terrifying ways. Not a pretty existence, if you ask me. And you've seen firsthand how creative Lamia can be. If she is to be blamed for the choices she made when she was alive, trust me, she has suffered plenty for them here in hell. You can't punish her more than she's already been punished. LET her go!"

The angel did not even respond this time, fixating on strangling Ganush with even greater power, unable to accept any kind of redemption from her part. Her convulsions began to fade away and her eyes rolled back into her head.

"You need to think about what you're doing, Elaiel. Is this what Ahziel would want?" The stranger played one last card. And played it really well. For the first time, Elaiel's rage had been interrupted and glimmering images from the past crawled up to the surface.

It was a crowded period for the tavern. Numerous angels finished their assignments and were on leave so the best place they thought they could be was the tavern, enjoying its refreshments and spending quality spare time with friends and comrades. Dozens of them paced back and forth from the drinks dispensers to their tables, occasionally carrying trays with multiple drinks, serving their friends at their respective tables.

One of them was Elaiel. He filled five glasses with drinks, some according to his friends' requests, and then placed them on the small tray to get them to his table. Four figures waited for him there. Two males, tall and sturdy, still in their battle armors, a female with short brown hair and a cheerful demeanor, covered in a full body-length white robe and Ahziel, wearing the same attire as the other.

"So," one of the male angels started, as Elaiel placed a glass in front of all the table's occupants, "Ahziel told us you've applied for the elites."

"Yeah," Elaiel shyly answered. He finished with the drinks and sat alongside Ahziel.

"For someone who's been as excited as you have to be an elite, you sure are silent about it." The female angel declared.

"Yeah, your enthusiasm is through the roof." The second bulbous male angel added.

"Come on, guys," Ahziel stepped in, "back off. He is being reserved, that's all."

"Why?"

"It's the fourth time I'm applying. You kind of force yourself to lower your expectations after so many passes."

"Sounds to me like you're in denial." The female angel pointed out. "Just admit it, you're extremely excited about it and you're counting the moments until they announce whom they've chosen."

"I second that," one of the two male angels backed her up. "It's after so many rejections one's hopes get higher and higher. You must be spiraling with fantasies inside."

"Why DO you want to become an elite, Elaiel?" The woman asked.

"Two words," the male angel interfered, "rank and station. Guy wants to get a promotion, being an elite is the fastest way to do it. No to mention all the benefits that come with it. I would have applied myself if not for my 'shiny' record."

"Why? They would have accepted you on the spot." Ahziel stated ironically, stirring laughter from around the table, as if everyone knew how obviously unqualified he was.

"Anyway, I asked Elaiel, not you. Stop butting in." Then, the female angel turned her attention toward Elaiel. Everyone followed her.

"Nothing like rank or station. I don't deny, it has its advantages but, that's not really my thing. I've always been fascinated with those stories of heroes facing steep odds but still coming out on top. I guess I want to be like that, fighting in very perilous situations, going up against tremendously dangerous foes and knowing that my victory is critical for the Angelic Host. It isn't much about BEING an elite as it's about what being an elite can offer me."

"Oh, I get it. You're all about the glory and honor," one of the sturdy males acknowledged. "Cool!"

Ahziel, who had been silently repressing her annoyance up until now, decided to speak her mind. "Yeah but that's not the main purpose, right?"

Elaiel was taken aback, confused as to why she was contrasting him as such in public.

"Sure, you do go into high-risk missions and do battle with all kinds of enemies," the fair haired female angel went on, "but ultimately, the most important thing you're achieving is your duty toward the innocent. That is what counts, right? Protecting the weak against the forces of evil?"

Sensing her clear, cut-and-dried opposition toward him, Elaiel decided to respond. "I don't think the elites have the luxury of worrying about that. Their missions extend a little beyond babysitting inferior beings."

Ahziel became downright enraged hearing that. "Well those inferior beings, as you call them, count on us to keep them safe, to protect them from whatever malevolence that threatens their welfare. Who better to 'babysit' them than us? Isn't all the Host's operations based on that principle? To keep the lesser beings of the universe safe? Seems a bit degrading to ignore them and go gallivanting on thrill rides instead."

Elaiel almost dropped his jaw. At this point, he started to wonder whether he had done something wrong, or had offended her in any way. He could not find any other explanation to her negative attitude. The others became silent, sensing the tension rising between the two. They faded into the background for them, their argument seizing precedence over everything else. As for Ahziel, she had to release all the pent-up vexation towards Elaiel's misplaced priorities. She could not take it anymore.

Soon enough, Elaiel regained his composure from the shock of Ahziel's harsh replies, and moved to defend his view point. "Whatever the Host's principles are based on, it makes no difference. Mortals hardly have any significance or consequence to the universe's design. They live and die on a regular basis, perpetuating the same kind of muck they lead their whole lives, in an abysmal cycle of self-loathing and self-destruction. They're nothing, inconsequential, a useless pest worthy of nothing but contempt."

It was Ahziel's turn to be left dumbfounded. Despite the fact that she had her suspicions concerning his opinions on lesser beings, she was utterly left speechless to hear them voiced out loud. A cold hand gripped her heart and squeezed it until it broke. She was not even disappointed, rather sad. She had wished so much for them to be on the same page. Alas, they were in complete contrariety. And nothing she would do could change that.

"Well I think you're wrong," Ahziel fired back. "Mortals are not worthy of contempt. They deserve better than that. They are innocent and frail and need our protection and care. And as long as we have the power, we should look after them because that's what's right. And if you want to dismiss them for some misbegotten appetite for grand heroics, than they are not the only ones who need help."

Elaiel was speechless, unable to understand why she was putting so much emphasis on lesser beings and their importance, why she was defending them so fiercely, enough to get into a tense argument with him, in public of all places.

He had not understood then, but he definitely acknowledged it now. And to answer the stranger's question – no – this was not what Ahziel would have wanted. Therefore, he lowered his hand, letting go of his telekinetic hold over Ganush. Free, the woman dropped on her knees and began coughing, struggling to regain her normal breathing cycle. A slight sigh of relief came out of the stranger's mouth. Elaiel, however, had eyes that reflected a lost gaze, staring at his hand as if confused over why he had used it in the first place. Nothing made sense to him anymore. He wondered whether Lamia finally managed to break him. He certainly felt so.

"Please," all of sudden Ganush spoke through a raspy voice, "finish it. Kill me!" The other two looked at her befuddled. "You have to kill me, please!" She pleaded to the angel, approaching the bars once more.

Elaiel's bewilderment reached emphatically high levels. Did he hear her right? Was she asking him to kill her?

"Please, you have to do it!" Ganush begged on her knees, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Kill me, please. Don't leave me like this! I don't want to live any longer. Kill me, please kill me, please…"

The woman's incessant demands completely destroyed Elaiel's compass. Any kind of compass. His utter confusion turned into sheer dread, made his legs weak, causing him to collapse on his back. He pushed himself further away from her, with wide eyes denoting pangs of true horror.

"Still think she wanted this?" The stranger asked peremptorily.

Two more parts left of chapter VIII and then the final two chapters of this story. They will consist of only a single part, albeit a bit longer. But something tells me you will be enjoying it either way. It's going to be epic. See you around.