Vaeline was neither angel nor demon. He was one of the Shadows, able to enter Heaven and Hell with impunity. However, the cat-like humanoid was currently working with the angels, so he spent most of his time in Heaven or on Earth. Vaeline raced across the rooftops of Rome, making his way towards the Blood Angel.
“Sanguine!” he called when he saw her.
The Blood Angel was crouched on the edge of the rooftop, her large crimson wings folded against her back. She glanced at him when he reached her side. “Vaeline.”
“The High Council is beginning to worry about you.”
“Pray tell.”
“They are saying you have forgotten your duty.”
“My duty? My duty is to bring justice to an unjust world. Can you not hear the light bringer’s minions? They whisper to the humans, telling them to do things that are wrong in the eyes of our Lord.”
“Sanguine, they have free will. You are destroying them before they even choose to act on those whispers.”
“The thought is as bad as the action,” she snapped. “I must destroy the darkness in their hearts lest it spread and destroy all that is good!”
“You are acting too soon, cousin! You must let them choose their path. Whether ‘tis the path of our Lord, or that of the Fallen.” His tail accidently brushed her wing and she jumped, but he ignored her. “You are becoming an assassin; taking the path of the Fallen. If you are not careful, you will find yourself in the service of Lucifer. Do you want that?”
She glared at him, and his hazel cat-eyes glared back. “I am the Blood Angel. I am Lady Justice. It is my duty to protect the good by destroying the bad.”
“The people you are destroying are not stained by the devil’s hand.”
“They would be if I had not acted.”
“You do not know that.”
Sanguine’s anger dissipated, processing what Vaeline had said and the implications.
“You are not an oracle,” he continued. “You do not know which path a man will take. You do not know if he will sleep with his neighbor’s wife, murder his neighbor to have the man’s wife, or simply move on with his own live, not acting on his lust. You do not know what choice he will make.”
“But he has lust in his heart,” she replied in an attempt to rationalize her actions. “That is a sin in the eyes of our Lord. ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.’ It is a sin, and it is the beginning of a stain.”
“They are human!” Vaeline snapped, as he stood to face her, his ears flat against his skull, and claws extended. “They are not perfect! And that does not give you the right to kill them.” He was breathing hard, trying to regain control. “The High Council wants to see you.”
Sanguine stared at him, shocked by his outburst. In all the years she had known the Shadow Walker, he had never acted like that. It scared her more than her summons.
Woobie speaks . . . 