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“I had no intention. I was watching the human as instructed, he was purchasing a drink from a stand near the road. At that moment, a cat rubbed against my leg. It took me by surprise as I did not know they could see us, let alone interact with us. I looked down, and it made a mewling sound at me. I leaned toward it, scratched its ear, but in that short window of distraction the mortal had stepped back onto the road?—”
“—a cat distracted you from your God given task?” the Warrior dropped his head in to his palms.
It seemed no one else had a response to my explanation and silence filled the chamber for a time. I heard the breeze rustle through my feathers as it moved from one side of the hall to the other, whooshing around the columns. It was the Guardian who finally spoke.
“If I may,” she said.
The Lightbringer nodded. “Please,” he said.
“I would like to vouch for Abaddon.”
“Vouch for him?”
“He is one of my best Guardians. He has been loyal, he has been dutiful—whatever he is asked to do, it is done quickly and efficiently.”
“He does hisjob, then,” said the Warrior, who sounded more and more unimpressed by the minute.
“Abaddon may have momentarily neglected his duty, but the outcome could have been far worse.”
The Lightbringer did not allow the Warrior to cut in again, “We understand that, but unfortunately his distraction has put a stop to an Oracle’s vision.”
“A vision?” I asked.
I had not been informed of any vision regarding this mortal, and that was the crux of the matter; none of the angels or even cherubs in her service were ever told the entire story. We followed orders, blindly, without knowing why they were so important or the effect they would have on the world.
“Yes,” the Oracle spoke up once more. “The mortal you were watching was meant to interact with another mortal later that day and set in motion a series of events?—”
The Psychopomp then raised his hand and continued on her behalf, “He was supposed to murder her. Her and several others. He’s in a coma now, so those souls are still out there, very much alive.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” I asked.
“No, it’s not. Their times were up, and now, well it’s thrown off quite a few things that I would not expect you to understand, Guardian.”
The council Guardian bristled at his words, opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by the Lightbringer.
“Regardless of your intentions, Abaddon—or lack of intentions—a crime was committed. A crime that will have serious and long-lasting repercussions, and that must be dealt with accordingly.”
They were going to send me to the Pit, I knew it, and for what? Because I’d pet a cat and accidentally stopped the murders of several innocents. They should have been thanking me, not punishing me. If he was destined to hurt those people, then why did he step on to the road anyway… why should I have had to interfere to ensure thismonstergot to his God-written fate?
No. This had nothing to do with my actions, it was because of my name. Who I reminded them of. In their eyes I was a stain on Heaven, a dirty secret that needed to be expunged so that they could move on, and pretend Lucifer and his rebellion had never existed.
“—therefore,” they continued, “You are to be removed from your current posting, stripped of your ability to travel between worlds, and placed in a new posting better suited for you.”
“What?” I frowned.
“Your new duty will be to the Chantry Cells. There, you will serve as an enforcer of our laws, ensuring those punished for breaking them—as you have—remain in their cells until their sentence is ready to be carried out.”
“Forgive me, I do not understand. Why am I not being sentenced to the Pit?”
“The council has taken your record into account and chosen to spare you from eternal damnation. This time.”
Spare me, or hide me away?
I wondered over their decision for many nights, standing alone in that Chantry, guarding angels who had supposedly committed crimes serious enough to warrant being thrown into the Pit. I could not help but recall that they almost threw me to the Pit for the serious crime of allowing a murderer to get hit by a car. I questioned my faith in God and her word, and over the years that followed I had even begun to question if perhaps Lucifer had been right all along.
And then Sarakiel came.
CHAPTER EIGHT
