Lucy (formerly known by the name Pallaca) walked into the tree-home with a basket of locusts. Inside, she found Father Patrick kneeing with his head bowed and his hands folded. The old priest was clearly praying.
"Father?" said Lucy. "I brought breakfast."
"Just a moment," said Father Patrick. "I need to finish my morning prayers."
"Why do you still pray to God when there's no hope?" asked Lucy. "You've already been sent to Hell for your membership in the Iron Knights. It's not like you'll ever get to Heaven."
"Perhaps not," Father Patrick shrugged, "but that's not why I pray. I pray for the love of God, not to get favors from Him. Besides, even down here in the wilderness of the deserts of Hell, I can feel His love for me. Yes, He still loves me even though he punished me for my sins. I thin it may have been His love for me that guided me to you. We could never have survived on our own. It's less lonely this way as well. You're very much like a daughter to me."
"I'm happy you see me that way," Lucy smiled. "I never knew my own father, and my mother died of cholera when I was seven."
"Nobody should be so alone as that," Father Patrick said consolingly. "Perhaps you would like to join me in prayer?"
"Would God really listen to a demon's prayer?" asked Lucy.
"You say you didn't choose to be a demon," smiled Father Patrick. "God will understand."
"But I was a prostitute in life," Lucy protested.
"Only so you wouldn't starve in the London slums," said Father Patrick. "I worship a God of mercy."
"You're not much like the other Iron Knights," Lucy smiled.
"I always did get funny looks from the more... intense... members," laughed Father Patrick. "And from the Protestants. I actually got along better with the rabbis and imams than I did with the pastors. Even religions can experience sibling rivalry, you see. Well, will you pray?"
"You know what?" Lucy chuckled. "Maybe I will. What does a girl like me have to lose?"
Lucy knelt down and addressed God. "Lord, I've made mistakes, I know it. Life's been terrifying and confusing, and I don't always know the best way out of my predicaments. I need Your guidance. I welcome You back into my heart and ask You to show me the way out of the waking nightmare my life has become. I never asked for Hell, but I do ask for You."
Lucy suddenly felt a feeling of bliss wash over her. Her horns vanished, replaced by a golden halo engraved with Egyptian hieroglyphs, and her moth wing morphed into those of a majestic monarch butterfly.
Father Patrick gasped as he starred at the cat-headed, butterfly-winged angel standing before him. "Lucy, you're an angel!"
"What?" Lucy gasped, feeling her new halo with her hands. Tears of joy streamed down her facial fur. "I... I don't believe it! I'm... forgiven."
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Up in Heaven, Metatron and Sandalphon paused mid-flight. Lord Metatron had once been Enoch the Patriarch (no relation to Lucifer's son), and Sandalphon had been the Prophet Elijah. Both had been taken to Heaven while still alive and transformed into angels to serve as Jehovah's top advisors and council members alongside Odin.
Just last night, Odin had contacted them about the appearance of a new Custodia Ordinis and urged them to return to the capital at once. As they had been investigating a faulty anti-Chaos ward in Arcadia, they had opted to fly rather than portal so as not to damage the ward dying further.
They had been flying non-stop all night, and the only thing that had stopped them now was what they had sensed. "Did you feel that?" asked Metatron.
"It felt like the birth of a new angel," said Sandalphon, "but why does that merit stopping. New angels come into being all the time, both through childbirth and transformation."
"I sensed the general location of the birth," said Metatron. "It happened somewhere in Hell."
"You mean Cruciata?" asked Sandalphon. "Oh forgive me, Lady Cassandra. You mean Cassandra?"
"No, too recent," said Metatron. "This is another one. Another demon must have made a prayer of reconciliation!"
"We have to tell King Jehovah!" Sandalphon declared, resuming his flight.