Three perspectives on that fateful scene in the alley and the immediate aftermath.
Vaggie lets a sinner escape, and is mutilated and cast from Heaven for the sin of empathy.
Lute catches a subordinate in the act of treason, and punishes her accordingly.
David is cornered by an Exorcist, who decides she isnât done toying with her prey yet.
David Augur, like most cannibals, knew what it was like to respawn, so he was not surprised to wake up in the park. He was surprised to wake up on Extermination Day.
He rolled under the bench he had thankfully been next too. It wasnât much cover â the angels would see him soon â but it might buy him a minute to get all his muscles used to functioning again.
Two days before Extermination, heâd been playing with his sister and their friends in this park. Heâd lost their hunting game, and theyâd torn him to pieces, already squabbling over who got to eat what. He usually took four days to come back. Extermination shouldâve already been over.
Did it change? Were the angels just going to be hunting demons all the time now?
A shadow fell over the bench. One of the angels was diving. David scrambled out of there and ran.
He didnât know where he was going. Home would be barricaded shut. Everywhere would be barricaded shut. Home might not even exist anymore.
He took a random turn and found himself in a dead-end alley. He curled up and hid his face like that could protect him.
âGo,â the angel hissed at him, taunting. âRun, now.â
Later, he would wonder about that. Later, he would decide the hunt had ended too soon for the angelâs taste, and it wanted to keep playing with him.
Out of the alley, past another Exorcist. He couldnât tell how close they were behind him; their wings were too quiet under the screams. Someone else screamed from that alley.
More random turns, and then â the feeling of a snare around his leg. He fell.
âWhat were you doing outside, young man?â a womanâs voice scolded. âToday of all days!â
âAuntie Rosie!â He threw himself at his Overlord and hugged her around her legs, crying hard. She put one hand on his shoulder and ran the other through his hair. Heâd lost his hat somewhere.
âSsshh ⊠There, there, Auntie Rosieâs got you. Iâve got you.â More gently, âWhat happened? Why were you outside? And alone?â
She soothed and coaxed the story out of him, petting his hair, plying him with snacks, claws protective on his shoulders as she promised the angels wouldnât get him. And once the angels went back to Heaven, she walked him home.
Lute was alerted to one of her subordinates removing her helmet.
The helmets had layers of tech and enchantment in them. One purpose was to keep track of where the Exorcists were, to ensure a proper sweep of demon territory. Another was to record the Exorcistsâ actions and keep track of their kills.
As Lieutenant, she had duties beyond killing any demon who crossed her path. She had to ensure the other Exorcists stayed focused. She flew to investigate, only slowing down to slash a few demons, slicing throats and guts instead of stopping to run them through. The rest were left for her sisters-in-arms.
It was Vaggieâs helmet. One of Adamâs new favourites; the bitch who broke Luteâs record for most demons killed in a single Extermination. (Obviously it was good more demons were dead, but it burned to write commendations for a woman who kept stealing Adamâs attention and didnât even seem to appreciate it.)
Lute found Vaggie in an alleyway, spear raised, a demon cowering before her.
And then, to Luteâs shock and horror, Vaggie lowered her weapon.
âGo,â she urged it in a whisper. âRun, now.â
It ran. Vaggie didnât throw her spear through it while its back was turned. She let it go.
Had she been chasing demons out of sight of the other Exorcists so she could claim kills without actually doing her duty?
The fucking traitor! How dare she endanger Heaven this way! Hellâs numbers were already out of control, and who knew how many demons Vaggie let go before Lute caught up to her.
Vaggie turned around and found Lute there. Lute slashed her sword across the traitorâs face, cutting out her eye. She stepped on it for good measure.
âSinful filth like you has no place in Heaven,â Lute snarled. She pinned her former sister-in-arms under her boot and pulled off the wings that Vaggie no longer deserved. That she maybe had never deserved. She took hold of the traitorâs halo and â
Adam was there. Lute straightened up to attention, yanking Vaggieâs halo off as she did.
Okay, she could admit this maybe looked bad without context.
âShe let a demon go.â
Adamâs shocked face became stern.
â⊠No.â She dropped the desecrated halo to the ground like the trash it was. âIâll go after it now.â
Vaggie had been trying to do the right thing.
Ever since she broke Luteâs record, Adam had been uncomfortably focused on her. She knew her helmet recorded her kills, so she had come up with a brilliant plan to escape his attention.
Take off the helmet after killing a respectable number of demons. Her kill-count would be middling rank, making her record-breaking look like a random lucky day, but she wouldnât actually endanger Heaven by neglecting her duties.
Hell was louder and smellier without her faceplateâs filters, but fleeing demons still stood out well enough.
She chased one into an alleyway and watched it collapse. She landed, lining up her spear to grant it a quick death.
A little boy, shaking in mortal terror of her.
Her spear and resolution wavered.
â⊠Go,â she told him quietly. âRun, now.â
He fled. She turned, so she wouldnât know which way heâd gone.
That was when Lute struck her.
The next part, in her memories, was both vivid and blurry. Pain. Screaming. Her eye, her wings. Luteâs boot holding her down. Lute saying she didnât belong in Heaven. She thought she saw Adam.
Lute taking Vaggieâs halo hurt just as badly as her wings and eye, but she couldnât get the breath to scream again.
And then they were gone. Vaggie was left to bleed.
What ⊠just happened? How had Lute been able to hurt her?
Was Vaggie not an angel anymore?
Time passed, shivering in that alley. Eventually fear cut through the pain; she couldnât be in an Exorcist uniform if, when, a demon found her.
Vaggie managed to shuck her gloves; her boots; to sit up enough to take her gorget and tunic off. Barefoot, in her tights and undertunic, she used her spear as a walking stick to get to her feet. Shakily, she tossed the uniform into one of the overflowing, stinking trash cans.
Then, her wings, and her halo.
It felt so awful to pick up her wings; to feel feathers under her hands and know they were hers but not be able to feel them on her shoulders.
She threw them in the trash, too, and did her best to stagger away.
She made it to the other end of the alley before she collapsed against the dumpster.
That was where Charlie found her.
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