THREE DAYS EARLIER

"So, after Estherion got killed, things actually got better? Maybe it's just because I'm new around here, but how could they have been worse?" Scott asks as he takes a sip from his glass of water while the demon opposite him had a glass of whisky in front of him. "I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole idea of outskirts, I've only been told about the inner city."

"Well, before, it used to be a bitch to get into the inner city, because almost all of the people there are expected to one day become guardians," the grip Scott had on his glass tightens before relaxing once again, "sorry, but nowadays, as I'm sure you must know, the inner city and the outskirts have somewhat combined, and the inner city crowd is learning about the outskirts for the first time. Now it's easy to cross between the two, the portal to Earth is very much the same."

"Naturally, that son of a bitch needed to be ready for the angels to take over, leaving the outskirts to fend for themselves, am I correct?" The demon nods at him. "Alright, so I got the gist of it, what's all this have to do with the job? I'm sure you know from my previous work that I don't like to mess around, what do you want from me?" Scott downs the rest of his water and leans back in his chair, adjusting the hood of his leather jacket as his dark eyes focus again on the man in front of him.

"Oh, nothing, I just love my small talk, but, I do know that's not how you work, is it?" A quick glance at the demon's dark eyes told him all that he needed to know. "Well, I suppose you like to get straight to business, so I shall." He pulls a few photos from the inside pocket of his blazer, Scott's eyes followed his hands coolly, his fingers fiddling with the zipper of his jacket absentmindedly. "I want you to bring me the head of a guardian angel. I have some insight that this particular guardian angel is on Earth, here's a couple of pictures."

The demon reaches over and takes the pictures from him, eyes scanning the face and committing it to memory. Scott nods. "I can do that, what's my payment looking like?" He looks up to find the man holding up a small sheet of paper. There were a lot of zeros, Scott smirks. "Oh, I like the sound of that, you can certainly count on me."

He smiles at the bounty hunter. "I don't doubt that for a second, Scott. I've heard magnificent things about you."

The demon grinned with pleasure as he left the office.

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"We had an agreement." Smitty is dressed in white ripped jeans and a light gray dress shirt when he opens the door, his eyes narrowed. Nonetheless, he grants the demon entry to his home. "What are you doing here?"

Scott licks at his grape lollipop, the sweet candy stealing his attention as he lazily entered Smitty's home. His short sleeved white button-up peeked out from underneath his hooded leather jacket. Ripped black jeans didn't constrict his movements as he ignored Smitty's question and made a beeline for the couch, a smile tugged on his lips.

Sitting down, he pulled up his feet and rested them on the coffee table, admiring his combat boots as he took another lick off his lollipop. "I have a job around here, figured I could save a couple hundred dollars and crash here. You haven't done much with my room, right?"

The door shuts, Smitty turning to his former roommate with clenched fists. "This is not a part of our agreement-"

"You and your agreement." Scott rolls his eyes, picking himself up from the couch, sucking on the lollipop as he released it from his hand and let it hang in his mouth. He used his tongue to move it to the side of his mouth as he spoke. "Smitty, I'm still your friend, why are you so against me? It'll just be a couple of days!"

"The agreement is that I don't tell anyone that you're alive and you stay the hell away from me and everyone else you left behind! You staying here for a couple of days is breaking that agreement." He sighs after releasing a small portion of his anger. "If Craig finds out you're alive, he's gonna get false hope about Evan, you know that."

Scott narrows his eyes. "He's been resurrected once, he can be resurrected once more, Smitty. Once I find a way into Heaven-"

"You're not going to, Scott! Why? Because Evan's not there, he's dead, accept it already!" Smitty shouted at the boy, who had tears welling up in his eyes after his outburst. "Scott, I-"

"No, I get it, I'll go. It was kind of crazy for me to think that there was still one alive person who still gave a crap about me." The demon pushed past the human. "Guess I was wrong." He pauses at the door. "See ya around, Smitty."

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A man was on his knees, his hands pressed together and pointed upward as he closed his eyes and leaned over the foot of his bed. He prayed, whispering the familiar words of worship before falling silent, lingering in his praying pose for a few moments. Once he was finished, he stood and wandered over to his nightstand, grasping his bible and crawling into bed, the lamp next to him flicked on, illuminating the small text printed on the pages he held in his hand.

Outside his window stood a creature dressed in all white, his features softened as he watched the man gracefully from a tree that had sprouted in the backyard long before the house had been bought. White, fluffy wings were tucked in and pressed against his back in a way that was so uniform it was easy to tell that it was an angel.

Through the window, the man fell asleep, bible verses strung throughout his head as the book fell against his chest as his head hit the backboard. Loud snores soon filled the room, and the angel continued to watch.

A figure dropped onto the roof, black wings allowing him to land silently, the angel still unaware of his dark presence.

Little did the man know that soon there would be no angel to watch over him.

The angel closes his eyes as he yawns, letting his wings stretch out as he leans backwards, catching himself with a simple flap of his wings. He is getting ready to take flight, and Scott realizes that his opportunity to kill him would come quicker than he had thought.

He drops onto the ground located on the side of the house, using the shadows to cover his pitch black wings that spread behind him.

In the backyard, the angel drifted to the soft green grass, looking up at the stars that were sprinkled across the rippling navy sky. His wings are spread out on either side of him, his hands tucked behind his head as he lets out a relaxing breath.

The demon draws closer, a butcher knife clutched in his hand, ready to swing at a moment's notice. His wings are tucked behind him.

A horrific scream rang out through the air moments later, the angels vocal chords unable to control themselves as the demon swung at his relaxed figure. "Scream all you want." Scott swung, hitting the creature's wing. "We're in dead space, no one's gonna hear you."

The severed piece of wing falls onto the soft green grass, white feathers glowing in the moonlight.

Another scream rips through the air as the angel is tackled to the ground, the demon twisting a pocket knife into the soft flesh of the creature's stomach. An obsidian blade, his preferred weapon of choice, it seemed to kill the supernatural easily.

"P-please....don't kill me. I was just doing my job! You can't leave him alone," he pleads, gesturing to the man who was asleep in the house. "Poor guy just lost his wife.....surely you have a heart!" Blood soaks the angel's shirt, his eyes widening with pain as the knife is removed.

"Oh, I had a heart once," Scott says, throwing the obsidian blade to the side, slowly lifting the butcher knife. The angel lets out a whimper. "Angels are the reason it's broken." He brings the blade down at full force, blood squirting across his face and his clothes, the head of the angel rolls to the side, wide green eyes stare at nothing as they aim at the sky where there is a blanket of stars.

The slice that the butcher knife had made was clean, splitting the spinal cord easily and making a clean line.

He runs a hand through his bloodied hair. "Perfect for delivery." He checks his watch. "And I still have some time to visit an old friend."