The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 226: Apologies

Chapter 226: Apologies

It took nearly a week for Rainier to finally encounter Malzkael again.

He was in an out-of-the-way corner of the library, reading a book about tempering techniques for angels when he heard someone else enter.

She was reading a book about monsters when Rain tapped her on the shoulder, startling her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked when she realized it was him.

"I’ve been wanting to talk to you," Rain said.

"Well, you can forget it. You chose your side and-"

"I want to apologize," Rain said. "I’m sorry, Malz. You were just trying to help and I should have stood up for you better." He bowed his head.

For a long time, Malz just stared at him. Then she looked away.

"Thanks..." she muttered. "So did Cassie finally drop you?"

"I told her I wanted to keep things professional and she said she understood," Rainier replied. "I, uh, didn’t know about you two. Or that I was your replacement..." He sighed. "She felt betrayed when you left the squad."

"Betrayed? I was transitioning! The window to change a body gets narrower with every evolution, and I took the first chance that arrived! It’s not my fault she got all pissy after-" Cutting herself off, Malz covered her eyes, plopping her elbows on the table. "Gragh! I’m an idiot... I thought this was about her taking my virginity this whole time..." She wiped her left eye. "Sorry, I took it out on you... I forgive you... can you do the same for me?"

"Of course," Rain replied instantly. After an awkward pause, he started to ask, "She, uh... your..."

"Yeah. While we were drunk off our wings. I thought the same about you until you told me you had a boyfriend."

"Is it alright if I sit?" Rain asked.

"Go ahead," Malz replied, her chin on the table. Her right eye had a little black makeup running where a tear had escaped.

"Is, uh, virginity a big deal up here?" Rain asked. "It’s not all that important where I come from."

"Purity is a big deal up here," Malz said. "Pure mind, pure body, pure blah-blah blood. Never mind that this is the House of Eros, sex is sacred because the Choir of Love says so, and virginity is purity."

"Wow, uh..." Rain scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I don’t believe that’s true..."

"Didn’t they drill it into you during your orientation to Heaven?"

"I don’t think I got that. They told me to watch a bunch of those video things but I couldn’t quite figure out the tablet, and then I went back to the first screen and..."

"Yikes. They really cut corners with you. Could’ve sworn Heaven wasn’t that desperate."

"It might have something to do with who brought me up here..."

"Who was that?"

"Vinam Victoriam..."

"No way!?" Malz straightened to a stand, bracing her hands and looking into Rain’s eyes as if searching for a lie. "Wow, you aren’t lying... How the hell did you catch the Son of Heaven’s eye?"

"By being b-" he almost said boyfriends "being friends with the man he called an abomination..."

"Oh," Malz sat. "What was he like?"

"Well... his name was Kir, and he was smart. Wicked smart. It would have been the first semester I actually got all the math if not for what happened..."

Before he could explain more, however, the door to the library opened again.

"Rain? I need you to come with me ’cause I got a lead on a high-grade crystal but it’s from a sketchy... sounding... Oh." Cassie lowered her tablet as soon as she saw Malzkael. "I’ll come back later."

"Cas wait!" Malz called out, and Cassiel stopped, half turning.

"You haven’t called me Cas since before you left."

"Yeah, well, I... I thought you didn’t like me when I came back. Like you were done with me... I should have asked instead of assuming the worst..." Malz held her arm. "I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I was going to the Hospital. I didn’t want to face you again if it... failed. My transubstantiation, I mean."

"So you got it... but you didn’t change all that much... I thought you just ditched me and came back to make your own squad." She turned fully, her eyes a little watery.

"Yeah, Rain helped me see that... I thought it was about the night before I left. When we... you know..."

Cassie laughed, crying a little as she did so. "Heaven I feel so stupid... if we’d just talked..."

"Things were moving so fast. And then the other leaders claimed you said you dropped me from the team... Because I was a freak..."

Cassie flinched. "I’m sorry... I did say that. I was angry and hurt... It was easier than just... trying to figure out where you went. Trying to talk to you."

Malz squeezed her arm. "That doesn’t make it right... but I think I can move past it. If you’re willing to give it another chance... as friends, I mean. I don’t want to come between you and Rain. I mean, I would if he were available, hehe..."

"We’re just teammates for now," Cassiel said. "Keeping it professional, right?" she sniffed heavily, looking at Rain.

Rain nodded. "With everything going on, I don’t think I could handle being in a relationship with two people again."

Like the shattering of a glass, the mood in the room suddenly shifted.

""AGAIN?!"" Cassie and Malz shouted at the same time.

"You told me you had a boyfriend!" said Malz.

Cassie said, "You told me you had a girlfriend!"

Rain, suddenly the center of all ire in the room, raised his hands defensively. "I did, I did... but I didn’t want to just talk about my past relationships-"

"How the fuck is that fair?" Malz asked, getting in Rain’s face.

A moment later, Cassie joined her "Yeah?!"

"I don’t want to talk about it," Rain said.

"Why not?" Cassie pressed. "Oh, I know! You were playing both of us, weren’t you?!"

"I wasn’t!"

"Then why not tell us?" Malz asked.

"Because I can’t! You should know why," Rain pleaded with Cassiel.

Much to his relief, as soon as she realized, Cassiel stepped back. "Oh. Sorry, I got pushy there..." She bit her lip awkwardly.

"Don’t I get to know? I thought we were friends again..."

"It has something to do with Rain’s sponsor. The one who elevated him," Cassie said, trying to be vague for Rain’s sake. But the damage was done...

"You mean the Son of Heaven?" Malz asked. "What does Victoriam have to do with..." Her eyes widened. "Oh."

"Oh?" Cassie asked. "What are you thinking?"

As Malz laid out her theory, it was like watching someone get stabbed in slow motion for Rain.

"Rain said his boyfriend is dead... and that he was friends with the abomination..."

Rain flinched at hearing her call Kir that. But he was still paralyzed, at war with himself because part of him wanted them to know. Wanted to not be the only one who knew the truth...

"... and Vinam brought him up here, which must have meant he had something to do with killing the abomination? No... He was up here when the mortals announced they killed it..." Malz looked up at Cassie. "Help me out here, what do you know about his ex-girlfriend?"

"He says he broke things off before coming here," Cassie crossed her arms and looked at Rain.

"So she’s alive, and he’s dead..." Like an inexorable dropping of the axe, it was over with a snap of Malz’s fingers. "You were dating the abomination, weren’t you! But why would Victoriam bring you here just because of that?"

Something snapped inside of Rainier. He hid his face in his hands, aware of how too smooth the godflesh of his prosthetic arm felt.

"Because I’m the one who got him killed... I... My family convinced me to confess about him... Being on Heaven’s good side was everything to them... and I didn’t... I didn’t know what to do... I thought he was already dead... but then it turned out he was alive the whole time and I..."

Unexpectedly, Rain felt hands touching his shoulders. Malz and Cassie both reaching across the space to comfort him.

Cassie’s voice was gentle, "It’s not your fault... He tricked you, right? That’s what your file says..."

"That’s a lie. There was no trick. He wasn’t an ’abomination’, just a person. He didn’t ask to be born the way he was... half angel and half demon..."

Cassie’s breath caught, and Malz’s hand froze.

"That’s not possible..." Cassie said. "An angel and demon can’t... What would that even make?"

"A metatron," Malz said. "That’s what Victoriam said during his speech... And when I looked I didn’t have the clearance, which meant he must have meant that word specifically for people who do. The active Executioners, the Council..."

"But why give it away?" Cassie asked.

"Don’t you check up on the news? Victoriam lost entire legions; the Tragedy at Tzal. That’s why they recalled him from the Heavenly Host and shoved him on top of the Executioners. The Chief Executioner answers only to the Council, which means they have to have known what he meant..."

Malz bit her thumb for a moment before continuing, "Ever since that speech, it’s been one thing after another about new threats on Ayther, the demons being more organized than ever... the possibility of more abom- more metatron... He’s determined to make this the last Heavenswar, and more and more the polls are starting to make it look like it’s the Council that’s getting in his way."

"Well... what can we do about it?" Cassie asked.

"Nothing," Rain croaked, his voice cracking just a bit. "Vinam wants me here... it’s why he gave me this arm instead of just having me healed and sent home. By now, all of Ayther must be rallying for the Heavenswar... and if I’m here, my family will do whatever he wants, once my brother is wed to the Princess of Amrita."

"Even so," Malz said, "Heavenswars take years... We might not be able to do anything now, but if we all get clearances, access to information, the hidden parts of the Akashic Network..."

"You’re saying the only way out is through," Cassie said, biting her lip. "If we rise high enough, fast enough, maybe we can change things from within." She started to rub her hand along Rain’s back. "No one has to get hurt."

"You don’t have to help me," Rain said. "I’m entirely in your power now. If Vinam finds out-"

"He won’t," Cassie said firmly. "I’m not going to let anything happen to you," she looked to Malz.

"Me neither," the black-winged angel said.

Rain wiped away his tears, making eye contact with both of them.

Something Kir once said rose from the depths of Rain’s mind.

"I don’t know what I really want to do yet... But after I figure out things, I think I want to leave the world better than when I found it."

If Kir would never get that chance, then Rain would have to take it for him...

He just felt so grateful to have help.

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