Her Guardian Angel

"Oh, you don't say? Well, if you do, I suppose you'll need a bar that sells some divine firewater, ehh?" he asks, a grin appearing on his face.

"Let me guess, looking to expand?" I ask.

"Perhaps," he says, smiling.

"I suppose, but if I let you put one of your bars in my city, I get drinks for free."

"I suppose, but you can't be drinking all my stock," he says, he pours me another glass as I finish mine. "So what kind of drink do these mortals favor?"

"I'll bring you some when I come for my next refill. Something tells me I'll be back here quite often," I say, a smile widens on his face. "More often than usual? That's hard to believe."

I laugh. "I suppose you're right. Well, best be off."

"Don't forget those mortal drinks," he says as I head out with a keg of divine firewater.

I arrive back on Earth, finding Isabel and her friends still high as the divine city. They're still at Olivia's apartment. Vance had been drawing a rainbow on the wall while Olivia and Jaclynn continued to make a huge mess in the kitchen. Mercedes had her entire face blue with makeup. Apparently, she thought it was going to be the new trend and she was going to be the one to start it. All the while Isabel laughed hysterically at them all. I plopped down next to her after pouring myself a drink from my keg. I can't help but laugh as I watch the mortals trip on the grass I gave them. I love messing with mortals.

"Hey! What are you drinking? Can I have a taste?" Isabel asks.

"No! This drink is only for the divine. If a mortal drank it, they'd die," I say.

Her eyes go wide. "Seriously?"

I nod.

"What's it taste like?"

"Fire," I say.

"Wow..." she says. She yawns. "You know, you were gone for a long time."

"I had to go to my brother's pub to get a keg of my favorite drink and make sure preparations for my party tomorrow were proceeding accordingly."

"This party of yours, where is it taking place?" she asks.

"An old abandoned church I found. I have my little siblings fixing it up for me," I say.

"You mean, there are more of you here on Earth?" she asks.

I nod. "Loads. My sister Amaliel loves this place. My brother Lucifer also got into a fight with Michael and came here. He tried to overthrow Michael, but it didn't quite work."

"Wait for a second, you mean Lucifer the devil? So like, he does exist?" she asks in amazement.

I nod. "Of course he does. We used to be best friends until... Well, that's a long story," I say, not wanting to simmer on bad memories. "Do you want to meet him? I'm planning on visiting him sooner or later."

"Really?" she asks, her eyes wide. I nod. "Yeah! I mean, would I... Like. Go to hell or something?"

"No, not at all. Hell is a person by the way and she's a real cruel bitch. She's my half-sister. You don't want to go meet her. She'd eat your soul if you even look at her." She swallows hard. "Lucifer might get a bad rap, but he's not all that bad. Just a bit prideful. My sister Amaliel on the other hand is obsessed with mortals. She's throwing her usual holiday celebration here soon. I think it'll take place at a hotel. We can crash it if you want. I was planning on it anyway."

"What is she like?" she asks.

"Kind of temperamental. Sometimes she's pleasant to be around and other times she can be a real piece of work. I'm hoping to catch her in a good mood at her little party. It's hard to say though. Her kids will be there and I'm sure there will be infighting amongst themselves. That usually pisses her right off, but it's her holiday so she might be in a decent mood. It's hard to say. We used to be really close, her, Lucifer, and myself. We are twins after all. All share the same mother and father."

It was getting late, so Isabel and I decided to go back to her place.

Chapter 8 - Isabel Morillo

I woke up wrapped in Sarathel's arms. He was still sleeping. I have to admit that it's kind of nice waking up with Sarathel. Almost made me forget what day it is. He kind of has a big head and is rather obnoxious, but he can be really sweet sometimes. And let's face it, he's super hot. I can understand his whole stance on dating. I suppose if I were an immortal angel I'd feel the same way. I couldn't imagine marrying someone and being with them forever. I suppose if it's the right person. I think I could endure Sarathel's presence for an eternity. God, he just seems to glisten. His face is almost too perfect. Practically chiseled out of stone.

"Morning," he says with his eyes shut. "You know it's not polite to stare."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize you were awake," I say, quickly looking away, but I can tell he's smiling.

"I'm always awake. At least some part of me is," he says as he finally opens his eyes and stretches. We both get up off the bed. "Happy holiday."

"Merry Christmas," I say. I reach over and grab the present I got him while he was away. "I got you something."

"You got me a present? How very nice of you. I got you something too," he says quickly. He takes the package from me and rips it open. He pulls out the Irish Beer Stein that was once my grandfather's that I had tucked away for so long.

"It is a beer stein you can use for your divine firewater. It used to be my grandfather's. I figured you would get more use out of it than me," I say.

"Wow, I love it, but isn't it precious to you? It's your grandfather's, after all"

"Well, he was a real old bigot. Most of my family is. They all disowned me," I say.

"Well, I'll make sure to bless away the bigotry," he says with a big smile. Then in a flash of bright light, a shining golden necklace appeared in his hand. It has a giant gleaming gem that seems to glow with bright white light. "I know it's a bit gaudy, but my mother gave it to me. It's very powerful. While you wear this, you'll always be protected by the divine light."

"I can't take that, it's your mother's," I say.

"Oh come off it, I'm quite powerful enough without it. It only collects dust in my vault. Besides, it'd look better on you anyway," he says. Before I could protest, another flash and it was around my neck. It looks very pretty. I feel a surge of energy fill me up and I can't help but feel happy.

"I don't know what to say. No one's ever really given me something as nice as this since I came out as trans. It's beautiful," I say, as I fight the tears welling up.

"Just say thank you and enjoy yourself at our party," he says with a smile.

"I will, I promise, and thank you," I say.

"Now, we need to get you and your friends ready for the feast," he says as he gets up.

"It's a bit early. Although, I should get them their presents," I say.

"Shit, should I get them presents too?" he asks, with a worried look.

"It's not that big of a deal, you just met them," I say.

"Are you sure?" he asks.

I just nod. I can't help but smile. Despite his nonchalant disposition, I truly feel deep down he really cares about the people around him. I mean, he is an angel after all.

We eventually head over to Olivia's and hold a little gift exchange before Sarathel convinces us to head over to his "party" in which I have a bad feeling about. When we asked him for directions to his party, we had to show him an aerial map of Detroit from our phones to get the location. Thank god for technology. We called a uber driver and it took us to some really old church. I'm a little worried now. This church is in shambles. You know it's bad when there's a fence around it with a caution sign on it. What is Sarathel taking us to?

Olivia elbows me. "What the hell is this?"

Sarathel even looks irritated. "I thought I told those two to fix the place up..."

We all trade looks as Sarathel makes his way towards the gate of the fence. He grabs the chain that's wrapped around it with a padlock and pulls it apart, snapping the lock off. My hand smacks my forehead. I can't believe he would do that in front of my friends. At this point, I feel like we should just come clean. I don't think Sarathel cares. We all reluctantly follow him into the church.

"Is this thing safe?" Mercedes asks.

"Oh, of course. You are all safe as long as I'm around. I won't let any harm come to you. Consider me your guardian angel." He looks back at me with a huge grin. And a huge sigh escapes my lips. He thinks this is all a joke. Does he realize what discovering an angel will do to the world? It'd bring about chaos. Everyone likes the idea of there being angels, but no one actually truly believes they exist.

He walks up to the doors to the old, abandoned church, opens it up, and we're all blinded by what we see. It makes us all freeze. None of us were expecting what we see in front of us.

We walked into a paradise essentially. It was a huge club with a big bar, a dance floor, and even a huge hot tub. I lose my shit in a huge laughing fit. Only an angel would dare turn a Church into a bar. I can imagine if the soccer moms found out about this they'd lose their shit.

"What the..." Olivia says as her job drops along with everyone else.

"You turned a church into a nightclub" Vance gasps with such a devious smile.

"Well... it's not just a nightclub. It's a day club too," Sarathel says. I can't help it, I'm laughing to a point where I can't breathe. Everyone's looking at me like I'm crazy. If they only knew. The fact that Sarathel is an angel and apparently has no concept of our terminology. I finally notice we're not the only ones here. There are two people in armor standing over by a huge table of food and they're looking at us carefully. They are the most beautiful beings I've ever seen. Are they angels too?

"You guys know you missed the outside? It looks like a demon's asshole out there."

The one with longer hair punches the other. "I told you that's what he wanted."

"I thought he meant to just fix the inside," the one with shorter hair says.

"Why wouldn't he want the entire place fixed?" the longer haired one asks. "For the love of our mother sometimes you're an idiot."

"Hey! Was that really called for?" the other asks.

"Will you two quit arguing?" Sarathel asks with a sigh.

Both straighten up. The shorter-haired one takes a step forward. "I'll fix it up, Sarathel. It'll look better than new. You wait."

"Great... Now get to it. Also, replace any statues you see of Jesus with me. Maybe add a few stone guardians and make it all gold and shiny," he adds.

"Right away," the shorter-haired one says as he or she, I can't really tell what gender they are, rushes out. I barely see them glide over the floor. Definitely an angel.

"Suriel, how about you go find us more guests. I want this place packed. Tell them we got free food and drink. Tell everyone you find. And tell Sariel to get a lot of human booze and fill the bar with it. Then tell him to bring some of the human booze to Dargathor and tell em to head on over here with supplies. I set up a nice location for his bar."

"Yes, brother. Also, Sariel and I were just wondering when you'd be going out again to... you know, battle and we'd like to know if we could come with you this time," she says.

"Ehh, it won't be for a while. I'll think about it. Just get everything I asked done and I'll consider it," he says.

"What the hell are they talking about?" Olivia asks me. I only shrug. Then the one named Suriel heads out with a hopeful look.

"I tell you, nothing more annoying than when a sibling continues to pester you about coming out to battle. Sariel and Suriel have been on my case ever since they heard about my battle with the voids. Won't leave me alone, I tell ya. Fortunately, I can get them to do all the dirty work if I make them think they'll be able to come with me to another battle," Sarathel says as he leans over to me with a sigh. He then looks at everyone else. "Any of you hungry or fancy a drink? I'm as thirsty as a black hole."

He heads over to the bar and pulls out my stein I gave him and fills it up with what looks like the keg he brought over. "Say, who wants to smoke some holy grass? I just so happened to have a few of what you call blunts wrapped up and packed."

We all look at each other before Vance answers for us. "Hell yeah, I tripped balls on that shit. What exactly is it?"

Sarathel shutters. "Please don't use that name here. This is a Hell free zone. She is not welcome here. But to answer your question, it's made of flowers you can only find in the Arcane plane of Nabu's realm. Bloody hard to get. Fortunately, Nabu and I go way back. Some good times we had and he always has the best supply."

My friends just share worried looks. Sarathel pulls out a fat blunt and sparks it, taking a long hit before passing it to Vance. We all take turns hitting it before one of the Angels walks in with a lot of other people. "See? As promised, free food and booze all brought to you by Sarathel the greatest warrior angel of the heavens."

I nearly choke while hitting the blunt. Sarathel lets out a nervous laugh as my friends give me funny looks. God, I feel like at this point I might as well tell them the truth. The people the angel brought in all look a bit homeless. A second later, another being along with the short-haired angel comes out.

"Sarathel, this is the dirt planet you were talking about?" A tall chocolate skin man in a fancy grey robe asks.

"Dargathor, you made it. Yeah, this is planet Dirt," Sarathel says with a cheeky smile as he walks up to him.

"What is going on?" Olivia asks.

"Well, I suppose it's time I come clean. Sarathel... Well, he's not really from here," I say.

"We know that. You said he's from overseas," Mercedes spits out.

"No, I lied about that. He's not from this planet," I spit out.

"Stop fucking with us," Vance sighs.

"I'm not. The night I met him he beamed out of the sky in a bright white light and saved me from a bunch of transphobes who were looking to beat the shit out of me after they clocked me," I admit.

"Seriously, Isabel, stop playing around," Olivia laughs nervously.

"She's right you know," the long-haired angel says, walking up to us. "Sarathel is one of the strongest of our kind."

"Prove it," Mercedes says.

"As if we'd sink so low to humor mortals," she laughs.

"What are you talking about?" Asks the shorter-haired angel as he walks in on the conversation.

"These mortals want me to prove our divineness," the long-haired one says with a laugh.

"I'll prove it, how would you like me to prove it?" the short-haired one asks. Both are so beautiful it's hard not to stare. The short one could easily pass for a boy or a girl. It's hard to tell.

"Sariel, don't joke. Sometimes I wonder if we are truly related," she says with a scowl.

"What? You don't find it amusing mystifying these mortals with our abilities?" he asks.

"As if. They're beneath us. Why should I care what their opinions are?" she says with a huff, tossing her luminescent golden hair over one shoulder.

"Don't mind her, she's a bit of a prude," Sariel says with a grin. "So, what would you like to see?"

The one with the beautiful golden long hair storms off. "Want to see my wings?"

Two golden bright wings shoot out of Sariel's back in a bright golden explosion, blinding us.

"Sariel! Put those away!" Sarathel demands as he storms over. "What are you thinking? Showing yourself off like that in front of these..."

He pauses and looks at us with a forced smile appearing on his face. He then tugs Sariel away. "Go make yourself useful."

He comes back and pulls me aside. "Sorry about that, Sariel can be a bit of a showoff even though he's got nothing to show off."

"It's okay, I came clean to my friends about what you are," I say as we both look over at them. They all have a wide-eyed expression with their jaws hanging to the floor.

"Well, I suppose it was bound to happen anyway. Are you hungry?" Sarathel asks. I shrug. "Are you having a good time? Olivia told me about your past experiences with this holiday, I wanted to make it special for you this time around."

My eyes go wide. "You mean... You did this all for me?"

"Well, I was planning on building my own city anyway, I figured a bar would be a good place to start, but yeah, kinda," he says scratching the back of his neck.

I leap into his arms and give him a tight hug. He pats my back. "Thank you. It's the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me. I love it. This has been the best Christmas I've ever had."

"Well, good, I'm glad you liked it so far," he says, holding me in his arms.

Chapter 9 - Sarathel

I can't believe I gave that mortal my mother's necklace. What was I thinking? I didn't know I had to give a gift. I panicked. I just pulled out the first thing I found and it just so happened to be that necklace. Now I'm really going to have to keep her around and keep a good eye on her. That necklace is beyond powerful. Not that she's unpleasant to be around. For the first time in a long time, I find myself enjoying the company of a mortal. I find her not only to be very appealing to the eye but very intelligent for a mortal. Usually, mortals aren't very bright.

She makes me... Happy. I haven't felt this way in a long long time. The party rages on as Sariel and Suriel go convince more mortals to join in. Most of them in rags, but that's neither here nor there. I have Sariel and Suriel make them some clothes and I have them expand the place to provide them all with beds and whatnot. Hopefully, this will convince them all to become my disciples.

I slide over to Isabel and she seems to be having a good time. She's smiling. She's got a lovely smile. I wrap my arm around her waist and she leans into my embrace. I was going to see if she wanted to head back to her dorm room, I know the night's still young, but I would love to spend some alone time with her when we were interrupted. I let out a long sigh. "What is it Sariel?"

"Uh, Sarathel... You've got a... A guest... Ummm. Well... None of us invited him but he seems to have barged in anyway," my annoying little brother says. I turn to see lots of gasps as the crowds of humans part to make way for someone who was definitely not invited. Dargathor stands up in apprehension. Of all the nights, he had to show up now? I swear he does this on purpose. Always ruining my parties. "Kelmelthul..."

The demon who took no precaution to disguise his appearance displayed a pleasurable smile at the horrors of the humans as they all gasp and scream. "Ah, brother. I heard a rumor."

"Why are you here, Kelmelthul? No one invited you," I say, stepping forward, placing myself between him and Isabel.

"Oh come on brother," he says with a smile.

"Half-brother," I corrected him.

He brushes off my words. "What difference does it make?"

"It makes a cosmos of difference," I say.

"Well, either way. Blood is blood, is it not?" he asks with a grin on his red demon skin. His eyes burning like fire as long horns rise up from his forehead. Bat-like wings that are dark red attached to his back as he wears dark black robes.

I take off my mortal disguise and take my divine form. I will not be shown up by him at my own party. "What do you want?"

"Oh I just heard a rumor, that's all. I heard that you were kicked out of the holy city, is this true?" he asks, his grin growing wider.

"I wasn't kicked out, I left for your information," I growl.

"Left, kicked out, what's the difference?" he asks with a laugh.

"As I recall, I remember Amaliel mentioning she had a bone to pick with you," I say. His face goes flat as the entire crowd of mortals watch in silence. Some even have their devices out, recording. Let them for all I care. "I was just about to see her, actually."

Kelmethul's face straightens at that. "Is that so? I suppose you'll see Lucifer as well?"