Gemory was feeling grumpy. She was annoyed, and that was a problem. Normally, when annoyed, she'd punish some subordinate, obliterate some unfortunate bits of scenery, or wreak havoc on unsuspecting mortals.
She usually felt better afterwards.
But right now, she lacked a good target. Worse, if her fiancee caught wind of her randomly smiting anything, she'd probably get punished worse. Danielle may not have the most impressive bust size, but seeing her with nothing hit her harder than she thought it would.
She'd been teaching the girl too well, it seemed.
Though she had to wonder why it bothered her so much. If Danielle had become younger somehow, she was pretty sure that wouldn't be a big deal- she tried to imagine a young Dani, and the mental image was rather adorable.
Was it the incongruity of her adult body lacking any development? No, that wasn't it.
It was simply that she was being denied something. Which made it a good punishment. How infuriating.
She knew Raphael wouldn't be far away- if the Angel of Love was in charge of Heaven's investigation, then she was too responsible to try and coordinate it remotely from Bora Bora or the Caymans.
Gemory certainly would be, in her place. Even during summer, the area around the Kingsley House was too chilly for her tastes. But she'd look ridiculous all bundled up, so she conjured a sundress and a sensible pair of gym shoes for herself, and dealt with it.
After all, it wasn't like cold could harm her. She just hated it.
Some parts of Hell, one must understand, can be quite cold. Thankfully, her palace was nowhere near any of those places. Hell can, at least partially, freeze over. Basically, what was now Hell was an earlier Garden, but one that reflected the more primitive biomes of early Earth. Vegetation was sparse, and the environment was generally too hot or too cold, with only a few areas in between.
There was a lot of seismic activity as well. What few living creatures there were had been modified into the first generation of demons (not including the Fallen). Simple, primordial creatures of great strength, but limited intelligence. Their descendants were things like hellhounds, firedrakes, or the various beasts of burden used in Hell, such as her camel.
Not all could be controlled, either. There was one rather infamous bright red carnosaur that could breathe fire and possessed unusual cunning, that would attack and carry off lesser demons from time to time.
Stepping out onto the porch, she realized exactly how small she'd become. She felt...naked. Vulnerable. She had no protection, no sanctuary. If her enemies decided to strike, she had only her personal power to defend herself with.
No weapons, no armor...she considered assuming a larger form. But then she put her hands on her hips and decided that would show she was afraid. Let them underestimate her. 6 feet tall or 6 inches tall, she was a Duke of Hell! Let them come.
After a minute, she realized no one was coming. Ah well.
She hopped down the stairs nimbly, and walked down the driveway to the road. The bed and breakfast was somewhat secluded, so where would Raphael be? An Angel doesn't need shelter, but Raphael did enjoy her creature comforts.
She opened her hidden eyes and scanned about. She noticed an Imp, spying on her. Not one of hers. Well even Danielle couldn't be upset if she blasted an Imp back to hell!
She made a finger gun, and pointed. “Bang!”, she said. With a shriek, the Imp, no doubt feeling safe being both invisible and intangible, exploded, it's essence rocketing back to Hell.
Scanning the area again, she felt a trace of Angelic power. Nodding to herself, she began to walk.
It took her half an hour to reach the cabin, ignoring the 'Private Property' and 'No Trespassing' signs. The dirt road to it was lined with tall trees, and the gentle wind rustling their leaves created a pleasant sound. A good-sized log cabin was built into the side of a hill. Going around the back, she found Raphael sunbathing on a wooden deck by a pool.
The pool was full of crystal clean water, a logical impossibility with all the trees and insect life in the area.
Raphael was wearing a white two piece bikini that was little more than two pieces of string, and a pair of large white sunglasses. There was a small table next to her deck chair, and on it was a glass and a pitcher of sweet tea. Without moving a muscle, she greeted Gemory.
“If you're here to fight, can you wait another 20 minutes? The sun feels really good right now.”
Gemory climbed up the steps to the deck and pulled another deck chair over. “If I was here to fight, I wouldn't have walked.”
Raphael sat up, removing her sunglasses. Her eyes were red. Dani was right, she had been crying. “So, what, did you have more hurtful things to say?”
“Damn it, Rafe. Did you really think it was going to be that easy? Just come on in, acting like nothing happened? I know you think you're too cute to be mad at, but seriously? We've been enemies for thousands of years! And say what you will about me holding a grudge...my feelings are legitimate!”
Raphael sighed. “I was kind of hoping it would be. I miss what we had, Gemiel.”
Gemory frowned. “I didn't think you were allowed to use that name.”
“I'm not in Heaven right now. Does it bother you?”
“...no.” Gemory sat with one leg dangling off the side of the chair. “I miss her. Gemiel. All she wanted was to be the prettiest and best dancer. To sing the praises of God.”
“She was a little on the simple side.” Raphael smiled softly. “Amielle reminds me of the way you used to be.”
“Ugh. It's true. Sometimes I want to scream at her. Warn her that life is cruel. But...I can't do it. I don't want her to end up a bitter old crone like me.”
“I don't think you're that bitter. You landed yourself a nice girlfriend, after all.” Raphael pointed out.
“It wasn't any of my doing. Not at first. But...I'm trying. She makes me happy.” Gemory drummed her fingernails on the wooden chair. “Am I...allowed, to be happy?”
“Unless there's some demon code that requires you to brood all the time, I would assume so. Look, Gemmy...I'm so sorry about how things went down. Emotions were pretty raw, and we made a decision in anger.”
Gemory shook her head. “It's...well it's not ok. I don't think it can ever be ok. But if I'm being logical, what else could you do? Heaven doesn't have jails. We couldn't just be let to walk around, even if we repented. You probably thought that if God didn't approve, then they would fix us.”
“God didn't fix any of us. I know it was hard for you all. Wounded. Stripped of wings and halos. Forced to find some place to recuperate. Knowing nothing but despair.
But you weren't alone in that despair. None of us had any ability to comprehend what we'd done. Turning against each other. Making weapons.” Raphael shook her head. “We waited for God to come and tell us what to do. Like dolls sitting on a shelf. And then when God did return...”
“You got a pat on the back and a 'ok, get back to work'?” Gemory finished.
“Basically, yeah. We weren't punished, but we weren't exactly praised either. It was more like 'hey, you did what you thought was right, and that's what counts'. But we needed to know! Were we right? Were we wrong? What were we supposed to do?
You know, even now, we try to avoid direct confrontations with Hell because we simply don't know what the rules of engagement are! Any action we take, there's the fear of reprisal.”
“You don't think you'd be punished by God?” Gemory frowned.
“Why wouldn't we think that? God never punishes you guys for what you do! Was this all part of The Plan? Is Hell part of The Plan?”
“Is there a Plan?” Gemory started to fold her arms across her chest, but forced herself to keep her arms at her side.
“There is. I believe in that much. But it...isn't as rock solid as most Angels think. It can't be- life is too unpredictable for that. It has to be fluid, adaptable.”
Gemory frowned. That was how a good plan should be. But she didn't care to give her Creator that much credit. “I suppose.”
Raphael shrugged. “I don't have Free Will, Gemmy. I have to believe in God. This is how I justify my belief.”
“Come on down to Hell, we can fix that for you.” Gemory grinned.
“Can you really? I've always wondered how the Fallen cope.”
“It's simple, really. We provide an indispensable service to Heaven. We take the trash that is unwanted, abandoned. We are the ones who fix broken things.
You don't love your mechanic or your garbage collector, Rafe. But you need them.”
“So you believe God...needs you.” Raphael blinked.
“They must! Or we wouldn't be allowed to do what we do! I took Tony Ryan, a kid so desperate to be with a beautiful girl, so tired of being controlled by his parents, he figured out to summon a demon and sold his soul. Broken, unwanted. I made him beautiful, Rafe. And now she's happy and blossoming right before my eyes.”
Her lips twitched. “Amielle came to Earth a simple girl with feathers in her head with sex on the brain. Just from being around demons, she's starting to realize her potential, and finding out that she's a lot smarter than she ever knew.”
“I'm not sure you can take credit for that. Falling in love seems to have done a lot.” Raphael held up a hand before Gemory could press the point. “But I admit, falling in love with a demon? You're right, Toni has to be a rare and loving creature for that to even be possible. But you don't always have successes, do you?”
Gemory smiled. “I stand by my work.”
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, huh?”
“More like yearning to breathe fire, but something like that. Nobody goes to Hell without being broken. If we can fix them, we do. If not, we throw them in The Pit and keep them out of circulation. It's better than having a legion of ghosts running about, right?”
Ghosts weren't usually a problem- there weren't all that many of them. Even though souls were supposed to be collected upon death, some proved to be quite stubborn- their emotions too strong in life, the circumstances of their deaths too extreme. They could linger for centuries until they began to forget the reasons why they couldn't pass on.
Hell did a good job of dealing with the souls that were deemed “uncollectable”. Raphael had to admit, the system worked, exposing a potential flaw in The Plan. Unless of course, the original solution to the problem never had to be employed because Lucifer took it upon himself to solve it on his own.
“While this chat has been enlightening, Gemmy, why are you really here?” Raphael decided to get to the heart of the matter.
Gemory sighed. “I want to apologize.” She stuttered over the word 'apologize' a little bit. She didn't want to at all, but her fiancee was all but twisting her arm. And she'd do anything for Danielle.
“Wow. That took some effort.” Raphael quipped.
“Don't push it, love freak!” Gemory growled. “I'm sorry, ok? You had to know I was suspicious of you, and you came on too strong with that cutesy kid sister act! So I...overreacted.”
Raphael nodded. “I'm sorry too, for not taking your feelings, your pain, into account. I thought I could just walk in and we'd hug...maybe kiss...and we could go back to being friends.”
“It's not going to be easy. But if you're sincere, then...I have to try. Hugging is fine. Kissing...I might have to clear that with Danielle. She doesn't know all the details about our past.”
Raphael smiled. “She has to know that you've had a lot of lovers, right?”
“Well the last one I mentioned by name made Amielle freak out, so I haven't been very specific.”
“Obviously, it wasn't me.” Raphael pretended to pout.
“No, I made a comment about Michael's strong hands.”
“Oh, I miss those too. Michael was so gentle and sweet.”
Both girls sighed at the memory.
“Hang on.” Something clicked in Raphael's head. “You said you 'have' to try. Did Danielle put you up to this?”
Gemory made a face. “...yes.”
“Wow. And you don't want to disappoint her. That's really amazing!”
“Well that and she won't let me touch her breasts until I do.” Gemory admitted, and then told Raphael what the mortal girl had done.
Raphael started laughing.
At first Gemory was annoyed, but then she had to admit. It -was- funny. So she laughed too.
They did hug then, and things were...better. Though if they could go back to being friends remained to be seen.