Heaven: The denounciation

Tyrael entered the council room with more assurance than he felt. Shela was there and she had an apologetic smile to him. He internally frowned: this was terribly wrong. Mettatron, leader of the Seraphim, and Raziel, leader of the Cherubim, were there also, naturally, since they were the head of the council. Tyrael crossed his arms on his chest and looked straight at Mettatron and Raziel.
"I thought you might have been interested in hearing this," said Mettatron mildly, not even bothering with the greetings.
He had a casual move of the hand and Shela stepped forward. She visibly swallowed hard and said:
"There is a human girl in love with Tyrael."
The Archangel raised his eyebrows as in surprise.
"I know it in her own words," added Shela hastily, unable to look at Tyrael. "'For something, I did the contrary of what my mother did and, true to myself, I even did it worse... Unknowingly she fell for someone from the demon side and knowingly I...' If she had finished her sentence, she would have said 'knowingly I fell for someone from the angelic side'."
"How can you be sure the human girl meant this for Tyrael?" asked Raziel.
"He's the only Angel she knows, except me," shrugged Shela.
"How wrong," murmured Tyrael.
He hadn't even started when Shela's voice had sounded like Delilah's as she quoted the words she had stolen from his memory.
"You little traitor," he hissed between his teeth.
"There is a law against that!" she cried out.
"Too bad there isn't a law against stealing thoughts from someone else's head."
Mettatron and Raziel looked confused. A new voice intervened, tainted with distinguished disgust:
"Oh my, my! I am told that an important trial is held and such, and I was bothered to hear one of Shela's petty tantrums? I am thoroughly disgruntled."
Azrael. Tyrael caught in time his sigh of relief, especially when he noticed Raziel's grin.
"It is the law!" persisted Shela.
"Laws are made to be broken from time to time," shrugged Azrael.
"Azrael, please..." Mettatron murmured. "Shela, what aim are you exactly pursuing? I thought you quite liked Tyrael and if what you said is true, we're supposed to punish both Tyrael and the human girl."
"There is no need for punishment, for the girl is dead," Shela said hastily. "But I think we should stop melting with humans. There are no Guardians anymore, so Tyrael's charge is useless."
Tyrael could see Azrael's jaws tighten and he wondered if he truly didn't know Delilah was alive or if he was simply revolted by Shela's casualness.
"That would be so fair," sneered the Archangel of Death. "The Guardians died to protect the world from the Demons and we would abandon humankind. Heaven, I'd be so proud to be an Angel after that."
The heavy sarcasm in his voice could not be missed. Shela half-winced.
"The true danger is gone!" she protested. "The demon prince's lady is dead, so He won't conquer anything."
"Actually, she's not."

Jyiel stepped forward and Shela looked at her friend with surprise.
"What do you mean, Jyiel?" asked Mettatron, frowning and sighing at the same time.
"I mean that Delilah Demon's child is alive and faring fairly well."
"Now, that's good news," murmured Azrael so low that only Tyrael heard him.
"And not only Shela's right when saying that Delilah's in love with Tyrael, but the contrary's also true."
Shela looked at Jyiel with betrayal in her eyes; she had never wanted to accuse Tyrael, nor put him in danger.
"Now, that's a stupid thing to say," commented Azrael. "But then I never expected Jyiel to be bright."
"Enough interferences, please, Azrael. Jyiel, may I inquire how you know what you claim?"
"By spying on me would be my guess," Tyrael said wryly. "I mean, if one doesn't hesitate in stealing my thoughts, the other one probably won't think twice about spying on me."
"You didn't see the Guardian before her death, did you?"
"Actually, I was the demon prince's captive along with her," admitted Tyrael.
Everybody started, including Azrael who glanced quickly at Tyrael with wonder.
"How did you escape, if you don't mind me asking?" risked Mettatron.
"Oh, not at all! The demon prince let me go when Delilah killed herself to save my life."
Mettatron grunted and Raziel smirked.
"Would you care explaining a bit more?" asked the Cherubim leader.
Tyrael nodded and projected his thoughts in front of the whole Council, skipping some conversation sometimes, but they all saw how Delilah threw away her life for him.
"Delilah..." Azrael murmured so softly that only Tyrael heard him. "How dare they accuse you of anything after all you did?"
"Where is the Guardian now?" asked Mettatron.
"Here," piped up Jyiel.
Tyrael shrugged as the Seraphim leader looked at him with horror in his eyes.
"I brought her here to revive her and I was going to bring her back to her world when I got called by the Council."
"He's defying us! Our authority!" intervened a new voice.
"Ah!" smirked Azrael. "I was wondering how long he would wait before giving me the occasion of making him look like a fool!"
Raziel seemed to settle down in his uncomfortable chair as if preparing to enjoy a good show. Vileyam had stepped out and he hated Azrael as much as Azrael hated him. Vileyam always stood on Azrael's opposite side, no matter the cause, but he had never managed to overpower him yet.
"Be respectful, Azrael!" snapped Vileyam. "You're not irreplaceable!"
"Oh, I do hope so! I'd hate to remain Archangel of Death for the rest of my life. It's good only for narrow minds; greater minds need change. By the way, how long have you been whatever you are? For as long as I recall, you've always been that..."
"I mean, you can fall," said Vileyam stiffly.
"The very thing I wanted you to say! If I'm not irreplaceable, as you put it, then you're not either. All in all, though, I think I'm more difficult to replace than you. If I were ever to tell Cain, Abel and Seth that you're my replacement, I'm pretty sure they'd choke to death, the poor souls. Except that they can't die that easily. And, anyway, I'm much nicer than you are."

"Can we go back to the subject of the day, Azrael?"
"Oh, naturally, naturally! As soon as someone muzzles this dog and forbids him to bark."
Raziel started a coughing fit, trying to hide his laughter. Vileyam, though deadly pale, stood his ground.
"Maybe we should send for the human girl," continued Mettatron.
"Then maybe you should send also for her companion," Jyiel added in a hateful hiss.
Mettatron started.
"Two humans? Surely, Tyrael..."
"The other one is not a human," interjected Jyiel.
"A Demon?"
"Not exactly either..."
Azrael crossed the arms on his chest. He didn't seem surprised, as if he already knew what Jyiel was implying - which wouldn't have surprised Tyrael.
"Tell me, Vileyam, I'm impressed - that is, almost. You seem to have a nice set of spies here. One thought-stealer and the other one... what? door-listener? How would you like if I was stealing your thoughts?"
"I have nothing to hide!" bragged Vileyam.
"The humans have a saying: 'Whisper to someone that you know everything and you'll send him or her running away'. I'm sure it's the same for you. Let's see..."
Everybody was waiting for Azrael to finish stealing Vileyam's thoughts, not with interest, but rather like a patient parent waiting for the end of the child's tantrum: they all knew Azrael wouldn't share his discoveries.
"Wow!" he exclaimed, looking truly amazed. "I'd never have guessed! How old were you when you did that, Vileyam? No wonder that you... oh, never mind."
Vileyam had gone deadly pale and Tyrael wondered what Azrael had found. The Archangel of Death looked at Shela mockingly, as if he was enormously enjoying a private joke.
"Are you done, Azrael?" sighed Mettatron, who mildly appreciated Azrael's show-off.
"You have a total lack of sense of humour, Mettatron."
"I was thus saying that we should send for the Guardian and her... companion," continued Mettatron unperturbed.
"I will go!" volunteered Vileyam.
"Dogs are only allowed here when held in leash!" snapped Azrael. "I should better go."
"Why you? Everybody knows you're partial to that girl."
"And everybody knows you're not partial to this girl," replied Azrael sweetly, heavily emphasising the 'this'. "The reason is that I know where Tyrael lives but you don't."
Vileyam slightly winced at the insult.
"You'll let her escape! I'll go!"
Azrael feigned puzzlement.
"I thought you wanted to see the girl alive, Mettatron."
"Naturally. Why?"
"Because if Vileyam goes, we'll only have a body to look at. Delilah would rather kill herself for the third time than surrender to Vileyam... except if she kills him first. Self-defence, you understand. After all, who would trust the murderer of one's mother?"
The argument hit.
"By the way, Vileyam, did you volunteer for setting the trap for Lilith because she knew too much? Don't try it with me, old foe. My fall would unseal my lips and, as the Archangel of Death, I can guarantee you that dead can be very talkative."
For once, Vileyam didn't answer. Deadly pale, he simply nodded to show he had understood.
"Will Delilah trust you, Azrael?" asked Mettatron sceptically.
"Of course. I'm the most trustworthy person."
Raziel had another coughing fit, most probably due to Azrael's air of outraged virtue. The Archangel smiled and left the council room, slowly taking Tyrael's house's direction: he knew perfectly that Valiel had left before him.

Valiel flew so fast he was already at the house before Azrael was half way. He was breathless when he reached the threshold and Delilah had jumped to the door as soon as he banged it behind him. She looked at him expectedly, impatiently waiting for him to catch his breath.
"Danger," he said as soon as he could. "You have to go away, both of you. Jyiel denounced you."
"I never liked Jyiel," murmured Delilah, Rshkiel nodding his agreement to her statement.
"It's no more time for such remarks, Delilah! My master is in danger!"
She began pacing again, but very calmly.
"First of all, Tyrael is not your master, he's your friend," she pointed. "Who's in charge to bring us to the Council?"
"How do you know? Never mind that. Azrael is. Vileyam wanted to, but..."
"Vileyam is as hateful as Jyiel. Good for Azrael. He'll probably bring Gabriel and Raphael along if they weren't already there."
"You have to go," insisted Valiel.
"Of course not. First, we cannot put Rshkiel in danger. Then they already know too much accuse Tyrael. We can still try to change their minds, though, but only truth will do."
"But they will kill him, and you with him!" shouted Valiel, unnerved by her calm.
"Will they? Never mind. I'm not really fond of dying and I certainly won't let Angels do what I did my best to prevent the demon prince to do. Ah, Azrael! You're almost late."
She was smiling and he smiled in return before going to her and hugging her fiercely.
"You're in deep trouble, this time, Dee."
"I know; Valiel summarised it. It keeps one on one's toes. Anything else you know?"
"Which was Lilith's favourite god?"
"Vitriana," she replied, puzzled.
"Ah! Lots of time at the temple, reading and searching? On the Guardians' history maybe?"
"Yes, but..."
"Why Illustra?"
"What?"
"Eilena. Why her?"
"She was Lilith's friend. Childhood friends."
"Ah. And Lilith knew much of Guardians' history?"
"Nyrka used to say that she knew more than anybody else. Azzy, what does that mean?"
"Vileyam. I think Lilith knew too much and Vileyam set the trap so she wouldn't tell. My guess is that he thinks she told you and so, he'll do his best to take you down."
"What did Lilith know?"
"I can't tell you. You would be even more in danger. Vileyam is not very powerful, but he's obstinate. Now, did you think of your defence?"
"Truth should do just fine. Are Gabriel and Raphael there?"
"I stopped by to tell them to go, despite their obvious lack of enthusiasm."
"Good. Then I think we can go. Rshkiel, be prepared to give them a shock."
Her calm was uncanny and she wondered about it herself. She quickly looked down at her bracelet, which was still shining silver. She hoped it would help convince the Council.
"What do you intend to do, Dee?" asked Rshkiel as they were on their way.
"Why, I thought of taking Mettatron hostage with my demon blade the time for you and Tyrael to escape," she said without blinking. "What do you think of it?"
He looked at her, appalled, then frowned.
"The time for jokes is over, Dee. We have to be serious now."
"I already told you: only truth can help us. We have to convince them that the situation is so grave that they should overlook the little... irregularities we committed."
"And how exactly are you going to proceed? Look at them with huge innocent eyes and say bluntly that it was for saving the world? I'd do anything for you when you give me the pleading eyes, Dee, but I doubt very much that Mettatron will be sensitive to that."
"Innocence and helplessness are out of question. I have to be strong: I embody humankind's last hopes. I can't be wringing my hands and calling for help. But I'll remember the pleading eyes," she added with a smile.
Rshkiel rolled the eyes.

As they arrived near the Council, everybody was getting away from their path as if they had the pest. When they entered the room, the Angels choked when seeing them - a human and a fallen Angel! - and averted their gaze. Only Raphael and Gabriel winked at Delilah, apparently not surprised to see Rshkiel by her side. Tyrael tried to remain unperturbed, but he looked as if he had expected them not to come.
"Rshkiel!" exclaimed Mettatron, gaping in surprise. "Tyrael, you went too far! Bringing a fallen Angel back in Heaven is even worse than you being with your little human!"
"With all due respect," interrupted Delilah, "maybe the right question to ask first would be: why on earth - forgive the expression - did Tyrael bring Rshkiel here?"
The Angels all looked dumbfounded, scandalised that the human had dared to speak to them when she was judged for betrayal. She smiled sweetly at Mettatron and Raziel.
"I'm a Guardian," she reminded them. "I do not care about your petty rules: I care for the order of things. By the way, I am Delilah Demon's child, daughter of Lilith, Guardian of Moen. I'm sure you've already heard of me."
"Alright. Then why did Tyrael bring Rshkiel here?" asked Raziel, Mettatron still being speechless.
"Because I forced him to, naturally. I threatened him with my demon blade - which I won't show to you, as for not hurting your sensibility - till he accepted."
Several Angels nodded, expecting nothing much from humans; Raziel seemed sceptical. Azrael said casually:
"She's lying, naturally."
"Thank you, Azrael," snapped Mettatron. "Are you then saying that Tyrael did so for love of her?"
"Tyrael is not a lovesick puppy. He hid Rshkiel in Heaven to protect him from being found by the demon prince. Rshkiel is probably the key to the Demons' victory, thought I still wonder why he would ever ally with them."
"Maybe for the sake of his human blood sister," mocked Jyiel.
"The more I know about you, the more you remind me of Demons, Jyiel. You would blend well among them," said Azrael as the others were still exclaiming at the surprise.
"She's a Demon's offspring and blood-bound to a fallen Angel! What more do we need to understand she wants our fall?" declared Vileyam theatrically.
"Silly cub," sneered Delilah.
"I beg your pardon?" said Vileyam, bewildered.
"I said: silly cub. And before you wonder about the expression, I am also Daughter of the Rovelshes. Yes, yes, evil and such. But you're still a silly cub."
She went to him, standing fearlessly in front of him.
"I don't like you," she declared. "You're petty and mean, arrogant and fussy. You're responsible for my mother's death and for that, I should make you pay. But I frankly have other things to care for, so I guess I should forgive you."
She sighed and looked at him straight in the eyes. With effort, she added:
"So I forgive you for my mother's death, but I don't forgive you for being so stubbornly stupid. If you had cared only a little for the mess created by the Demons, you would have understood many things. Like: Rshkiel has to stay out of His reach. Like: I'm not with the Demons, no matter what you think and if you had asked Furtifer - or Illustra, for that matter - he would have told you exactly that."
Mettatron frowned.
"If you don't mind talking to Raziel and me rather than to Vileyam, Guardian... What's the story with Furtifer?"
"Surely you should know, even if the cub doesn't know," frowned Delilah in turn. "Last time I died, Tyrael yelled at the gods, especially Ordreth and Furtifer, even bringing them to apologise. Tyrael accused Furtifer because his priests punished me for something I hadn't done yet... I guess this is it. They said it would bring doom and give the world to Demons," she added casually.
"How do you know what I did?" wondered Tyrael. "You were dead..."
"I'm a Guardian, I know how to find answers from everyone and everything."
"Nobody could have told you..."
"Nobody, that's true. No Angel, no god would have answered me. But there are things written in the stars that even you cannot hope to hide. Even if I hadn't looked for them, everything was shouting it to me. Remember the priests' eagerness to tell me."
"What did Furtifer's priests?" interrupted Mettatron.
"Beat me to death. Oh. They more or less cursed me. Inside of me is a curse that will destroy Demons if I stand with you or destroy me if I stand with them. Speak of a choice, huh? Naturally, you could object that since I already died twice, I don't really care for my life, but you're wrong. That is, I don't care for my life, but I care for my soul. If I die for the Demons, the life after death expecting me is worse than any of the tortures you could come up with."
"May we know of your fate then?" inquired Raziel, frowning.
Delilah considered then shook the head.
"No, I'm sorry, but there are some petty minds among you Angels and some wouldn't mind dooming me to this fate if they could."
"True. I apologise for the question."
"I can't believe what I hear and see," intervened Shela, venom in her voice. "She's here to be judged for betrayal and we're letting her insult some of us and give us a sad tale of her doom. What do we care for her fate?"
"Think twice, Shela: if I'm accused, so is Tyrael. Are you sure it is what you want?"
Shela blushed and shook the head. Raziel cleared his throat.
"I don't know for you, Mettatron, but as for me, I would very much like to hear the whole story. I'm getting rather confused and I don't think we can easily condemn a girl whom four Archangels - and a fallen Angel - stand for, without, naturally, forgetting faithful Valiel."
"I'll clarify it," said Vileyam quickly. "She forced Tyrael to offer shelter to Rshkiel and then, when she died, he brought her here, healed her and decided to keep her."
"Your way to distort reality and time is quite impressive," said Tyrael irritably. "She didn't force me, she asked me and I decided on my own. Then it took quite long to heal her, as you say, and I wasn't in any state to bring her back to earth just after. Nor that it would have done her any good, since the demon prince is probably waiting for her and she wouldn't have been able to stand against Him."
"Nonsense," said Vileyam, waving the objection away. "He's only trying to find excuses! He intentionally kept her here and..."
"Naturally, you know best. You revived people so often that you perfectly know how hard it is. Just ask Raphael, who is yet far better than I am. Delilah was burnt and spells were laid on her and she was dead, blast it! I'm not such a great healer that I can resurrect people and go off to war only moments after. I needed to rest and she needed to rest also. She drove herself to exhaustion when in His clutches! If you don't know how it feels to be resurrected, just asked Abel, Azzy's man. He was resurrected not long ago and he hated that; yet you would think he's quite used to dying, huh? And since you're so good at spying, with your little ferret known as Jyiel, maybe you already know that Delilah and I were planning her return to her world when Shela's shrieks and this convocation interrupted us!"
"My shrieks?" protested Shela, offended. "I wasn't shrieking, I was speaking... a bit loudly."
"You mean that you were expressing forcefully your disagreement," Vileyam rectified coldly. "It's interesting that you should mention the incident, Tyrael, since you weren't here when Shela got slightly upset."
Tyrael seemed ill at ease and refused to answer.

Delilah shrugged and said:
"It's of no use to remain silent, Tyrael. I heard her shouts, the same way I always hear you when you shout."
"Demon power. Powerful demon power," underlined Vileyam with a triumphant smile.
Delilah was slightly smiling, looking at him like a cat would look at a mouse. Vileyam began to rave about Delilah's affinities with Demons and Azrael worriedly began munching his lower lip.
Delilah waited for Vileyam to be at the peak of his speech before interrupting sweetly:
"And it might be of interest that I hear Demons' shouts also."
"Angelic power. Powerful angelic power," said Azrael, relieved, smiling and winking to Delilah.
"It's impressive," commented Raziel. "May I ask how you came to these powers?"
"Lilith - my mother - told me it was part of Guardianship. Tyrael denies it. Now, after all, I am Baaladamon's long-lost daughter and he was a demon prince. As for the angelic power, well, maybe I have an Angel among my ancestors!" she concluded, laughing.
Azrael looked smugly at the interesting shade of purple that Vileyam's face had taken.
"There may be another explanation though," said Delilah thoughtfully. "For all I know, Lilith never heard any demon shout - nor angelic shout, in case you wonder - and I doubt that my father was from demon and angelic ascendance. Rshkiel, can you hear Demons shout? I know that Rashiel can hear you, but I don't know for you."
"I can't anymore, but I could, yes. What... Oh! Our blood bond!"
"Yes. Do you think it could have given me some of your angelic powers?"
"Maybe..." said Rshkiel quite dubiously. "If you had integrated it perfectly... I would have thought you rejected it all though."
"All this is irrelevant," interjected Vileyam.
"On the contrary," murmured Gabriel. "This is fascinating..."
Vileyam glared at him and continued:
"We don't care for where she got her angelic powers, if angelic powers she truly has - for we have only her word as for this. The thing is that she has powerful demon powers!"
"You would cast away a god's messenger if he showed strange powers you can't understand," she sneered. "We don't care for what I am: we care for where I stand - or what I stand for. If my actions don't speak loud enough for me, maybe you should have a look at my Guardian bracelet."
Everybody glanced at her silver-shimmering bracelet.
"She can alter it!" argued Vileyam.
"Wow! Can I really? I wouldn't know how to proceed, can you tell me?"
"Vileyam, this is enough," said Raziel. "Delilah, if I understand well, you are telling us that Tyrael's irregular actions probably saved the world?"
"Saved the world? I don't know for this, it's too early for me to say. But it certainly helped. I was told to hide Rshkiel here by Vitriana's priestess. I guess my resurrection is not very important but, let's face it, I'm the only one to stand for humankind. You Angels don't care and I'm not sure my permanent death would have made you move."
"Maybe we should explain our wariness toward you..."
"Oh, your belief that I am the demon prince's lady?"
"Well, you are."
"In a certain way. But I do not yearn for dominion over all realms."
"Well, it isn't the only reason, but..."
"May I speak, Raziel?" asked Vileyam. "After all, you are the judge and I am the accuser."
"I was under the impression Shela was the accuser," murmured Delilah. "It seems things went out of control. So, Vileyam, you were going to explain to me why you would doom humankind - and maybe your kind - just because of a mere Guardian."
"You would think she took speech lessons with Azrael," said Gabriel sotto voce.
"I'm not half as good as he is," she replied, smiling.
"Be serious, woman! You're in front of your judges and betters!"
"My, do I hate pompous fellows! If you are the betters, I'm glad to be a worm, but I am listening, o Light of the Sky! Please illuminate the ignorant worm that I am!"
Vileyam looked at her in surprise, but irony was so dripping from her voice that other Angels sniggered.
"You are a danger to everybody. You pretend you stand for humankind, but humans don't even like you."
"Few like what they don't understand."
"You have unearthly powers, greater than a Guardian's usual powers! And..."
"Wait a moment. Before you continue, I'd like to make something clear. I'm different from the other humans because I'm a Guardian and I'm different from the other Guardians because I'm not only a Guardian. I am, as you all know it, a Demon's offspring, and not any Demon, mind you! I am from the demon princes' line, so I guess I'm sort of a demon princess, bastardy set apart. Or maybe it's the current demon prince who's the bastard... Anyway, yes, it's true, I have some demon powers. I am also Rshkiel's blood sister and it seems it gives me some angelic powers also. Wish I have known that earlier. Last but not least, I'm also a demon knight. You might have forgotten, because it's true I'm more a Guardian than a demon knight, but if you ask the demon holder of the grand cross, I am an official knight. Nevertheless, there's something you shouldn't have forgotten: the identity of my protective Demon. After all, you killed my mother because of that. Now, that's a lot for one person, huh? Believe me, it hasn't been easy."
"And does any of this give you godly powers?"
"Oh, certainly not! If I had godly powers, I would have done my best to avoid dying twice and I wouldn't be standing here listening to you."
"Yet you have godly powers. Everybody knows here that you defeated two white warriors of Varaxador - and even killed one! - when only a god can achieve this!"
"You're as bad as Antonian. This old story really begins to bore me. I never defeated Nymrial and if you don't believe me, ask him. As for Antonian, first of all, he was angry and thus, easier to fight. Second, he had followed Rashiel's advices: fallen from grace, lost his purity, etc. Third, I had an angelic sword to fight him. It helps a lot."
"No human can hold an angelic sword!" exclaimed Vileyam, scandalised. "This is an outrageous lie!"
"You could have told me that before," Delilah muttered to Tyrael.
"You could hold a demon blade; I don't see the difference. And you're a Guardian," shrugged Tyrael.
"Could Lilith hold your sword?"
"I have no idea. I never presented it to her."
"Now that's interesting," said Azrael with a large smile, intruding in their conversation shamelessly. "I don't think we ever encountered such a case before."
Gabriel nodded eagerly.
"That's a very interesting case of study," he declared, his eyes sparkling. "Tyrael, would you mind giving your sword to Delilah? I want to see how it works."
"Gabriel!" snapped Vileyam. "Do not hand a weapon to the defendant, please!"
"If so, you might have checked before if I was unarmed, which I'm not," riposted Delilah.

She yawned.
"Raziel, it seems you're the only one reasonable here. Would you mind sending Vileyam away so we can clarify the whole thing without any other interruption?"
"Sounds definitely like Azzy's sarcasm," commented Raphael.
"What exactly do you want to clarify?" asked Raziel without caring for Raphael's interruption.
"Well, Vileyam raved enough about multiple things that are none of his concerns. Let's go back to the initial accusation from Shela: Tyrael and I are in love."
"You admit it's true then," pointed Raziel.
Delilah opened wide eyes.
"I don't see the point of denying it since everybody knows."
"She confessed! What are we waiting for condemning her?" exclaimed Vileyam, vengeful.
"Someone calm him or I swear I'll make him be quiet the same way I made Shela quiet," threatened Delilah, who was beginning to lose her calm.
There was some wavering in the assembly then Tyrael grinned suddenly.
"I'd just love to see that!"
"Please, Tyrael," growled Delilah, "you're as bad as he is!"
"What did she do?" asked Azrael, interested.
"She knocked me out," said Shela with dignity. "She took me off guard."
"Killing her seemed a bit extreme to me," said Delilah with an apologetic tone.
"I should hope so!" exclaimed Shela.
"You know," said Delilah conversationally, "once one has ever heard Vileyam, you're not that bad."
Shela looked at her, surprised, then grinned.
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"She knocked you out?" repeated Vileyam, incredulous.
"Well, better that than letting Rashiel make her fall," said Raphael, casually, looking attentively at one of his nails.
"I beg your pardon?"
Raphael looked up and blinked.
"Oh, you didn't know? When Delilah freed me from the demon prince's jail, she told me to keep Tyrael and Shela stuck in Heaven so that they would be safe from Rashiel."
Diverse exclamations welcomed Raphael's words.
"Whoa, slow down!" exclaimed Raziel. "You were a prisoner?"
"Now, Raphael, you didn't need to say that!" protested Delilah, scowling.
"Modesty's not going to save your head," replied Raphael before proceeding to explain.

"May I continue what I was saying?" grunted Delilah as soon as he was done.
"Go on, lady," said Raphael impertinently, fondly ruffling her hair.
"So, before countless and pointless interruptions," Delilah resumed, scowling again, "I was saying that the accusation can be reduced to one point: Tyrael and I being in love. I'd have thought it concerned only us, but well... So, it breaks one of your rules, which I've been told was well-thought. The point of this law is, I guess, to prevent halflings and to prevent the Angel to do foolish things for love of the human. Exact?"
"Perfectly stated," approved Raziel.
"Well, there is no halfling nor will be. My demon blood will die with me. And Tyrael is far too reasonable to do foolish things for me."
"I have an objection," intervened Mettatron, who seemed only too happy to let Raziel take the direction of the trial. "It seems to me that he did something foolish: he brought Rshkiel here."
"Which brings us to the second point of the accusation: a fallen Angel in Heaven. Horror and sacrilege! Now, can someone tell me why Rshkiel was cast away?"
Gabriel hid an impertinent smile: somehow, Delilah had taken control of her own trial.
"I know, I know!" exclaimed Azrael, acting as an excited schoolboy. "He said that the Council was constituted of old stones - except some people - too conservative and that, darn! were they tiresome with their laws about interacting with humans."
"I didn't exactly formulate it so," murmured Rshkiel, embarrassed.
"Seems a fair description to me," muttered Delilah. "So he expressed his opinion and then?"
"The thing is," intervened Gabriel, "that Rashiel was having pretty much the same words, but not with the same aim."
"So Rshkiel was condemned with Rashiel on mere suspicions?"
"Not exactly," said Mettatron gruffly. "There were other reasons, but I do not think that they are of your concern. It is strictly angelic business."
"My bad. Alright, so let's say Rshkiel was cast away because he was saying things the youngsters shouldn't hear. In our case, he was staying at Tyrael's house, not going out. Surely, he couldn't corrupt anyone by staying confined!"
"You forget Valiel."
The young Angel was standing silently next to Tyrael, who laughed and put his arm around his friend's shoulders.
"Valiel is the voice of the reason and besides, I don't see in what Rshkiel could be worse than I already am."
"Meaning?"
Tyrael opened innocent eyes.
"Why, I'm the Angel who fell in love with a Guardian and offered shelter to a fallen Angel!"
Azrael laughed. Raziel sighed.
"This trial is a total farce."
"Maybe because it was shaky from the very beginning," prompted Delilah.
Raziel had a youthful smile.
"What do you suggest? That we forget everything and go for a stroll?"
She laughed.
"Honestly, thinking of it, there is no harm done, except maybe to some people's pride. But as for the stroll, I'm afraid I'll have to refuse the invitation: I still have some work to do on earth."
"Like what?" asked Mettatron, disgruntled.
"Finding an angelic sword to drive through His heart," replied Delilah amiably.
"So now, can you hold one so I can study the case?" asked Gabriel eagerly.
"Is it all? Are you going to let them go, no matter how many rules they broke?" protested Vileyam.
With lightning speed, Delilah drew Vileyam's sword from the scabbard by his side and put it on his throat.
"You can study the case, Gabriel," she replied calmly without caring for Vileyam's gurgles.
Azrael laughed and, after a moment, Raziel joined him. Mettatron looked at the Cherubim leader with undisguised horror.
"You can go," Raziel said between two fits of laughter. "Try not to do that again, Tyrael, trials are usually boring. Delilah, meeting you was a pleasure. Keep in mind the idea of no halfling and your friendship will be something I shall treasure."
"There won't be any halfling," Delilah repeated firmly. "Come, Tyrael, we have work to do."
She gave back his sword to Vileyam and patted his cheek.
"Good boy," she murmured.
Tyrael took her by the shoulders to lead her away before Raziel changed his mind.
"Tyrael! It's not because you go free that you can continue to defy our authority in public!" called Mettatron.
The Archangel looked back at the Seraphim leader.
"Then be content I didn't kiss her. I defy no authority, naught but an ill-thought rule. No law can rule hearts, Mettatron, and if you had one, you would know it to be true. Come, Delilah."

They had hardly taken three steps that Shela came running after them, a foolish grin on her face.
"Mettatron is furious and Raziel can't stop laughing," she said.
Then she hesitated and looked at Delilah.
"I'm sorry," she offered. "I've been a fool all along. I didn't understand."
Delilah smiled brightly.
"So some good came out of this stupid trial! Shela, leave Vileyam or he'll make you fall with him."
"It's hard. He's been like a father to me," explained Shela.
"I should hope so!" exclaimed Azrael, indignant.
Delilah looked at him, surprised, then burst out laughing.
"No? Truly?"
"Yep," replied Azrael. "Now keep that to you or you'll be calling for troubles."
"Excellent!" she exclaimed, laughing harder.
"Delilah, humankind needs to be saved," Raphael reminded her.
"I'm going, I'm going. And one rescue of the world, one! I make a pitiful saviour of the world," she added with a self-mocking grin.
Tyrael and she left with a casual hand wave and a last smile.
"We will see her soon," said Raphael slowly.
"Very soon," agreed Gabriel.
"That's a pity," murmured Azrael.
"Tyrael won't like it," said Valiel darkly.
"He will survive," replied Azrael. "We all will."
"That's what comes with being immortal: pain is as eternal as we are," muttered Raphael.
"But there's nothing we can do," sighed Gabriel.
"And that's darn too bad!" concluded Azrael before cursing.