Adonai, you must not let Cassiel die.

It was all I could think from the moment Rosie told me she was in danger. I'm not sure that it was initially a prayer—it had been so very long since I'd last spoken to Adonai and the idea of praying was as foreign to me as breathing under water. But, as I received new information, found out that the church was on fire and that Cassiel was within it, I knew exactly what I needed from Him. I know He did not bring her to earth and allow her to sacrifice her angelic abilities so that she might perish in a fire.

She will not lose; will not die, because of me.

Adonai.

It was instinct that caused me to enter the church, a drive that left me almost as soon as I'd done as it suggested. I knew the consequences of stepping onto holy ground, but I was unsure how quickly I would succumb. I was determined to find Cassiel first. I had to find her first. The front of the church was in flames. 

Large wood rafters had fallen in places, leaning dangerously in all directions. A web of broken timbers, split boards and shattered glass. Flames crept from floor to the ceiling causing ash and flakes of materials to fall like snow.

Heat bloomed and sweat instantly formed on my face, running into my eyes. 

I pulled off my jacket and threw it away from myself, hoping to ease some of the excessive heat. "Cassiel?" I screamed her name, afraid my voice would be lost under the sound of wood cracking. I pulled my shirt tail out and pressed the hem to my mouth and nose. My eyes and nose were already burning and I was just in the entryway. I didn't want to think of what Cassiel might be experiencing. She would not be able to survive in smoke like this for long. "Cassiel?"

I pushed forward, sliding past fallen boards and moving around caved in floorboards. Show her to me. Show her to me. Please, I  just a hint. I don't know where to look. 

I dodged a falling chandelier, throwing myself sideways to keep from being stuck in the head by the falling metal. In the process, my foot caught on a nearby pew and I fell to my stomach. I rolled, crashing through a pile of broken stain glass. It cut into the skin of my hands, my wrists, my face. I forced myself up, forced myself to keep going.

Through the cloth at my mouth, I kept screaming her—even after I knew in my heart that she could not hear me. Soon screams turned to coughing and wheezing. I was almost to the front of the church; I could just barely make out the choir loft and the stain glass windows that covered the back wall. It was a colorful depiction from birth to death to resurrection of Christ. It was a harrowing sight given the present horror. Cassiel's name died on my lips at the building groaned and seemed to sway. The building was collapsing in on itself and soon I would be trapped inside. My way back to the entrance was already blocked.

Smoke and soot covered my hands, my clothes—most certainly my lungs. I felt the suffocating tension of it with every breath I took. This had been my idea. Never in my wildest dreams had I believed Lucius would go as far as to set the church on fire. I'd hoped to buy her time. I should have known what he was capable of.

I had always miscalculated Lucifer. I had miscalculated Cassiel too.

I directed my thoughts at Adonai once more, pleading. I just need you to show her to me. Let me find her. 

My strength gave out just as I found the front of the church. I hit my knees and leaned forward onto the steps of the alter, unable to search or ever cry out anymore. I closed my eyes against the smoke—how many times had I wished to die only to find myself here, so close to the one thing I'd always wanted but could never have again. I had not deserved Cassiel in heaven, what made me believe I deserved her now. This was what I deserved, to burn in a church, to be locked in the pit, to wake up in the Devil's hell. 

I don't know when I started to cry, but once I did I found it was impossible to stop.

I coughed, trying to clear my lungs. Around me, the whole world seemed to burn. "I have made so many mistakes." So many mistakes and all of them have led me to this, to this ending.

My head was bowed, my forehead pressed to the wooden step below me. I wanted to scream, to throw something, to save her, but I was incapable of such things. And so I cried out in the only way I knew how.

"Don't let her pay the price for me. I know you were going to let her. I know she chose this, but she deserved so much better than to die like this. I don't—don't deserve to ask for anything, but I need this. I'm not asking for myself, I'm asking for her. Please. Please save Cassiel from this."

I stood up. 

It was not by my own power, or even my own determination, for I had long ago lost all strength; but I put one foot in front of the other. It felt as if my very heart was going to burst. There was more to do. One more mission, one more task. "Cassiel?" I had meant to yell it, to scream her name, but it wouldn't budge from my lips. Instead, it was a whisper, one last cry of desperation. "Please."

I saw the sword before I saw her.

It stuck out from beneath the piano a few feet from where I now stood. I'd only just managed to catch sight of the small stone embedded in its handle. The sight of it brought back memories I refused to think about—being held down, Gabriel standing over me with a sword, pain unlike any I'd ever experienced, a shattering of both body and soul, and blood, so very much of it. But through those memories, through the smoke, I saw Cassiel curled up underneath a piano. Fire was all around her, but it did not touch her. It was like invisible arms encircled her body, held the fire back.

I scrambled towards her, tripping over my own stupid legs in an effort to get to her. She was unconscious, her body limp and unresponsive as I pulled her into my arms. I wasn't even sure she was still alive; I could not bring myself to check. I would have given up, right then and there, if she were dead. There was no time.

Once I was standing it became clear that we could not go back the way I'd come in. The back of the church was where Lucius had started the fire and the door was impossible to reach now. I grabbed the sword from where I'd spotted it on the ground and with it and Cassiel in toe, waded my way back through the fire. Let her be alive, Adonai. I'll never ask you for anything ever again, nothing. Just let her survive this.

I was beginning to get sick from the smoke and I knew that this God given strength would not remain. I pushed forward, towards the only outside access that now existed to us—the stain glass display. I laid Cassiel down on the floor at my feet and went in search of a sturdy piece of timber. It took a moment to find something that was not on fire or had not been weakened from the flames, but once I'd found it, I began attacking the window with as much gusto as I could muster.

Over and over again I hit the window, glass and bits of it flying as I broke it apart. As I worked, the flames grew closer, hotter. I was sweating, my hands slipping against the wood in my hands. Air wheezed in my lungs and I weaken, but still I persisted. The building was creaking and popping as bolts and wood broke apart. A few more minutes inside this building and the whole thing would fall in on us. We would die and it would all be in vain.

With one last swing, the last of my energy, my desire and my hope—I broke through the glass. It splintered and broke into a million colorful pieces, falling to the floor and littering Cassiel's body and hair. There was a bit of a drop from where the window was and the pavement blow started. I managed to get Cassiel through the window and lowered to the ground before I jumped down after her, the hilt of the sword clutched carefully in one fist.

For a moment, I was so relieved, so happy, that I forgot everything else. I forgot the burning in my hands, the harsh rattle of air as I inhaled, the blood oozing from the cut on my ankle or the fact that, after having stepped onto holy ground, I should no longer be here.

I should be gone, in the pit to rot until final judgment.

I held Cassiel in my arms and wept like a child. Some integral part of myself felt touched, an emptiness I had forgotten I even had was filled and I did not know what to do but cry for the joy of it. I felt Adonai in a way I hadn't since I'd lost my wings. He was in every breath I took. It was overwhelming, undeniable peace.

"Leviathan?"

She was blinking up at me, her face stained with black soot and her white hair laced with ashes and bits of green and blue glass, but she was looking at me nonetheless. It was the most beautiful site I'd ever seen. My arms tightened their hold on her and I promised myself that I would never let anything like that happen to her again. I would kill Lucius myself.

She pressed a hand to my chest, "I—But how did you—?" Her words were cut off by a cry of surprise as a hand fisted in her hair and yanked her backward and away from me. I hadn't been paying attention, too caught up in the relief to notice Lucius standing in front of us.

He was smiling as he hauled her to her feet by her hair. Like a beast having finally caught his prey he growled, "Perfect."

Cassiel stumbled but managed to stand, her own hand gripping his in an effort to loosen his hold on her. I was on my feet in an instant. "Don't—"

"I can't believe you did it." He cut me off, his eyes scanning the cuts and burns on Cassiel's body, "You went through all of that to bring her to me." His eyes lingered on her chest, where the nightgown was torn and falling too low, showing too much. "You are my most loyal of servants, Leviathan." She shivered under his gaze and tried to twist away, but he held fast.

I took a step towards them, "Lucius," I had to swallow to get my voice to ring clear, "She—she is valuable." Cassiel's eyes darted up to mine and I hoped she knew I was lying as I said, "We should take her back to the Ballantyne and torture her for information now—we can see that—that she can't feel pain." 

Bile rose in my throat as I said the words. I would strangle him with my bare hands before I let him even think of ways to harm her. I needed him to believe I was on his side, let him think I'd almost lost my life for his cause. I was loyal, I'd always been so loyal to him. "I'll take her there now." I lifted an outstretched hand, ready to have Cassiel back with me.

Lucius smiled and looked down at Cassiel, his eyes grazing over her. Her simple white shift was burnt away, rising to her mid-thigh in a blackened edge that revealed cuts, scrapes, burns and so much of her skin. His smile was predatorial, the same sort of look he gave Rosie. It was hungry. 

His eyes darted to me, then back to Cassiel. His hand in her hair tightened and he pulled her head back, giving him a full view of the top of her chest. She was breathing heavily, her fingernails digging into his hand as she tried to get away, tried to escape him. Lucius only smiled wider at her attempts. "I've never stopped to admire how pretty she is." He lifted a hand from his pocket, revealing the revolver clenched in his hand. "You're such a lovely girl, so innocent and untouched. Have you ever noticed how pretty she is, Leviathan?"

He used the barrel of it to push a strand of hair from her face. She was shaking, her knees barely holding her up from the fear of him. It took every ounce of strength I had in my body to keep myself still. Do not give him any reason to suspect that you care for her. She is in more danger if he believes that she can sway you. But the gun was so very close to her. He traced her lips with it, used it to tilt her head from side to side so he could examine her fully.

He looked over at me, waiting for a reply. "Hmm?"

I nodded and tried not to look at Cassiel as I said, "She's beautiful."

There was a long stretch of silence as Lucius used the gun to push the hem of her nightgown further up her leg, revealing white undershorts. This had to stop. I let my eyes fall closed, unwilling to look at Cassiel. She needed me, needed me to save her from this and I wasn't capable. 

If I moved, gave any indication that I cared for her, Lucius would shoot her to spite me. But if you don't he will rape her in the alley. I opened my eyes and found that she was openly crying now, tears creating trails through the dirt on her cheeks. Neither of us seemed to be able to find the strength to meet the others gaze, but I knew what she wanted—needed from me.

I stepped forward and put a hand on Lucius, halting his assault on Cassiel. "You wanted her for a purpose, let's take her back to the Ballantyne and get on with it before her guardians get wind of what has happened here."

The corner of his mouth quirked up and he shook his head. "What is her most attractive feature?"

"Now isn't the time—"

There was a soft click and he adjusted the revolver in his hand, turning it so it now rested firmly against Cassiel's scalp. "Just answer the question, Leviathan."

Her heart, I love her heart. I love the way she smiles at me when she thinks I am being particularly foolish. But I could not say any of that. "Her eyes." I knew as I said it that it was not a lie. She did have such pretty eyes—a faded sky after a rainstorm.

"And is that why you fell in love with her?"

It was as if I deflated, all the air leaving me at once.

 He knew. 

I reached out for her, ready to stop the bullet, to save her, to die for her. "Cassiel—"

He adjusted the gun and quickly fired it—directly at me.