The two little ones, impressed by what had happened to Jonathan, had embraced each other and showed no signs of letting go anytime soon, while Jules cried hard. A few minutes later, they had arrived at Maggie's private room. Jules seemed distraught and Elise was not much better off. Maggie said:
"Our Prince of Light is about to break Elise or has just broken. He has to go through the wall before he is himself again."
"How do you know what he needs, Maggie?"
"There isn't much I don't know about Jonathan, dear. The boy has been through so much and has had to swallow and hide everything in the depths of his soul since his mother died. Can you imagine the weight on his shoulders as heaven and hell demand that he bring about the end of time? That they are asking him to kill billions of people like you and me. All his life he has fought against this and has resolutely refused to bring about the apocalypse. Since he was young, a little boy, he has tried to do good and help."
"What happened to him? The way he reacts to certain things looks like PTSD. And do you know who Casiel is?"
"Yes, I know who Cas is; I met her once. But it is not for me to elaborate. I'll call someone who can, at least if she wants to come or can come at the moment."
"Who?"
"Someone he considers a little sister and who considers him a big brother. She may have a bit of a rough exterior, but rest assured, her goodness shines through.
Maggie closed her eyes, clasped her hands, and said aloud:
"Azrael, can you please come? It is very urgent, even critical."
A few seconds later, Elise heard a large pair of wings, and out of nowhere, an angel appeared. She appeared to be no older than her mid-twenties and a mixture of Asian and Latin descent. She was dressed entirely in leather, leaving very little to the imagination, very, very little. She might not look tall, but there was something about her that made you feel that she could be extremely dangerous. Without a word, she looked around the room. Elise, Jules, and Sam stood with their mouths agape as they watched the Angel with her gorgeous gray wings radiating a divine golden glow in full view. The Angel had wrinkled her forehead in thought and asked Maggie:
"This isn't the way it's supposed to be, Maggie! Since when do you invite strangers when you want to see me?"
"Rae Rae, your brother's in trouble."
The angel chuckled for a moment and answered:
"Maggie dear, the vast majority of my brothers have problems, very serious mental problems! So you're going to have to be a little more specific."
Maggie spoke only one word, or rather one name:
"Jonathan."
The expression on the angel's face changed in a flash from warm to rock hard, and the attitude in her body was abundantly clear; she was ready for a serious fight. Again she spoke only one word:
"Speak!"
"Before showing up here unexpectedly, Jon had found and rescued Elise and Jules on the way. He was in the process of getting them back on their feet so they could return to their lives in safety. But..."
"But what for fuck's sake!"
"I think he has reached or passed his breaking point. Look at the little ones, Jules and Sam."
Only now did the angel look intently at the girls and see Jules' bright green eyes."
"Fuck...Fuck...Fuck...No wonder!"
Finally, Elise managed to ask something:
"Will someone please tell us what's going on with Jon and who Casiel is?"
The angel turned to Maggie:
"I hope you still have my bottle of tequila lying around and a damn big glass!"
"Coming right up."
For a moment Elise thought she was dreaming. She saw an angel, and this angel was asking for tequila with a straight face. It didn't have to get any weirder. The Angel stowed her wings and dropped into a seat. Her expression did not change, and she said sternly to Elise:
"Sit the fuck down!"
"Rae Rae, these girls are innocent; it's not their fault."
Maggie said as she returned with the bottle and glass. Azrael filled the large glass to the brim, knocked it back in one gulp, and as she refilled the glass, she said:
"I'll fucking decide for myself, Maggie. This is Jon we are talking about, and you said he was about to break. If he breaks and no one can pull him back from the abyss, then all hope is lost for everyone, and you know that damn well!"
Tears now ran down Elise's cheeks:
"Can someone please explain to me what is going on? I don't understand anything, and what's wrong with Jon?"
The Angel looked at her sternly and finally said:
"I want to hear your story first, and don't fucking try to lie to me or hide anything from me. I am Azrael, Angel of Death; I guide souls to Heaven or Hell if they are stuck on Earth. I swear to you that if I detect any deception in you, your destination will not be Heaven, and you will not have to wait until the end of your life!"
It dawned on Elise that she should not be afraid of this Angel. That her hostility came from a deep fear for her big brother and that she would do anything for him. She took a deep breath and began to tell her story:
"Covid, that's where it all started. I was going to lose my job, could no longer afford the rent, and we were going to end up homeless. We barely had enough to buy food, let alone anything else. One day a flyer came in the mail. A call center was looking for people to work from home. Long story short, it was some kind of trap, and Jules and I ended up in the hands of a very bad person. I am a white witch; if he had an ounce of black magic in him, I would have noticed. But I am sure that he works for a black circle, and at a certain moment he had to hand us over to them. I don't want to think what they would have done to my beautiful daughter. This guy held us captive in a remote cabin deep in the woods somewhere in Maine. He was addicted to drugs and alcohol and was often unconscious. At one point, he was too far gone to realize that he had not locked us up properly, and we were able to escape. We spent two days walking through the woods and hiding. Until Jon showed up to take us in and help us build a new life."
Azrael pointed to Jules and said:
"But that's not the whole story."
Elise shook her head:
"No, his reaction to Jules was very ambiguous. One moment was full of warmth, with a brilliant smile, and it seemed you could see stars in his eyes. The next moment he would sink back into a very bad place, and you could just feel his shield going up again. Last night he fell asleep on the couch listening to hard rock music on his headphones. He had a nightmare that must have been pretty bad because he was sweating profusely. Suddenly he screamed the name Casiel and woke up. He flew out onto the balcony and gagged for a while, really badly. So please, who is Casiel, and why is he so scared, and why does he react to Jules like that?"
Rae Rae downed her glass with a sigh. She looked at Maggie as she pointed at Elise and Jules:
"So our ticking time bomb has found its detonator."
The woman just nodded. The angel sighed again and looked deep into Elise's eyes:
"Casiel or Cas, is the youngest of us. The last Angel created by Mom and Dad, and after her, there will be no more Angels. Jon is especially fond of Cas and very protective of her."
Elise began to fear something and asked in a low voice:
"How old is she?"
The Angel said nothing and pointed to the sofa where Jules and Sam were sitting close together. She gasped and asked:
"So what is so special about their bond that he reacts so extremely?"
Azrael looked at her annoyed:
"You are not stupid, Elise, and I have already given you the answer."
She nodded quietly, understanding what was going on.
"Cas is the reason he is so scared?"
"Girl, you would be for much less. He must have known what would happen after that last meeting where everything more or less exploded. He chose the side of humanity and is currently bearing the ultimate consequences of his decision. The Antichrist, my fucking ass! He gave everything to humanity so that you could live. Although he was born as the so-called Antichrist, his light and warmth since his birth are incomparable. His goodness, his mercy, and his compassion know no bounds. The shit hit the fan when Jon was only ten years old. He was always very smart. He knew, of course, that this artificial family on Earth was fake. After his mother's untimely death, we still don't know if anyone had a hand in the accident, but I suspect someone did. This family was trying to groom and indoctrinate him into accepting his role as THE Antichrist. These motherfuckers hated us coming to visit, so they tried to stop us. Like I said, he was ten years old when he heard what they were up to without Lucifer's consent. Strangely enough, his father had nothing against us, Jon's little group, visiting him no matter how often. Of this so-called family, two were demons. He burned them under the watchful eyes of the others and made it clear to them that he was not their son, but that they worked for him. If they didn't like it, all they had to do was complain to his father, Lucifer, which, of course, they didn't do out of fear. And of course, since they had seen him effortlessly vanquish two demons, they had no more desire to question his authority. This cleared the way for him to find his own path. He absolutely refused to become the biblical Antichrist. But it also allowed the light he carries within him to come fully into its strength. There is not an evil bone in his body. But whoever wants to harm even a hair on the head of an innocent person or someone he loves will pay the price, and the true Prince of Hell will appear. The Prince of Light will disappear until he rectifies the situation. Make no mistake, for jerks who want to hurt or harm innocents, he will become the ten biblical plagues in one person, and that is never a pretty sight. Every angel and demon will stay away from him when he is angry. For innocents, he would do anything in his power to help them. He has been like this since childhood. Lucifer may have been created as the Lightbringer; Jon was born as the literal Lightbringer! He hates what Heaven and Hell want from him. The thought of having to kill billions of people makes him sick. This in turn makes the elder demons in Hell and the group around Michael in Heaven hate him. He is the Antichrist, and it would be natural to say that the archangels and the elders hate him. The people on earth also hate and fear him. So no matter where he looks, everyone either hates him or fears him. Other than our little group, he had no one to really care about him his whole life. Unfortunately, because we could only be with him for a short time, there was no one to be there for him all the time. This made him lonely throughout his childhood. He was always there for us, no matter what. Again, unfortunately, we realized far too late that this had to be a reciprocal relationship. Even when he was so young, he sacrificed himself because he knew all too well what the state in Heaven was like for us. He made sure that we could escape that misery for a while. He had no ability to have normal relationships with people because the supernatural always interfered. So he is afraid of life itself, of opening up to people. Michael is the general, and all the angels answer to him. After this dramatic clusterfuck of a meeting, he decreed that from this moment on, no one is allowed to contact Jon, and this order also applies to Cas. So Jon sacrificed his heart and his daughter to save you, to save humanity. When this damned war with Hell breaks out, Cas will also be dragged onto the battlefield. The entire world will erupt in flames, and Cas's chances of surviving the chaos are as slim as a dwarf facing a heavyweight boxer. I really do not want to know what he saw in that nightmare!"
Elise asked unperturbed:
"What can we do for him?"
Rae Rae looked at her for a long time and asked:
"I know you feel something for him, and it's not because he saved you and you think you owe him. It comes from deeper, from your soul. What your daughter sees in him is more than obvious. But if you have the slightest doubt, you should walk away from this, Elise. This could get out of hand very quickly and get very ugly. So, are you sure?"
She looked at her daughter for a moment, and the girl said in a low voice:
"Mommy, I want Jon back. I need Jon back."
Elise took a deep breath:
"My daughter needs him, I need him, so yes, I am sure."
The angel nodded:
"Okay, now the hardest part for today: where is he?"
"Can't you scan to find him?"
"No, Jon has made sure that he is completely invisible to heaven and hell. No one can find him if he doesn't want to be found, including Father, God Himself."
Elise frowned and asked:
"Can you scan for a car? We have a suite at the Balmoral Hotel on the tenth floor, the blue suite. Can you scan the parking garage to see if his car is there? A black Dodge Demon."
The angel smiled and said:
"Hmmm, you turn out to be handy to have around after all. And of course, he had to pick the Demon."
She closed her eyes and scanned the hotel.
"His car is there."
Elise jumped up, almost shouting:
"I need a cab!"
"Why take a cab when you can take an Angel Uber?"
The Angel laughed.
"Come on, take your daughter in your arms; we're in a hurry."
Jules did not know how fast to get to her mother, who scooped her up in a flash. Rae Rae put an arm around Elise's waist, and the next moment they were in the living room of the suite. The double doors to the balcony were partially off their hinges, and the windows were shattered. Elise set Jules down and, ignoring the shards of glass, ran to the balcony. She saw him lying in a fetal position against the railing. She immediately dropped to her knees beside him and softly spoke to him:
"Jon, please wake up."
She gently lifted his head and placed it in her lap, caressing his head as she continued to ask him to wake up. Eventually, his eyes began to flutter until he could open them with great difficulty. He asked her:
"Red, where is Jules? Has something happened? Are you two okay?"
The answer brought tears to her eyes and a lump to her throat. He was in terrible shape, and his first thought was if they were okay. She said quietly:
"We are fine, Jon. Well, not really, because you scared us. Please don't do that again. Jules needs you, and I need you."
Slowly he stood up, and with her support, he stumbled back into the living room and fell onto the sofa. He said quietly:
"No, Elise, you don't need me. What you need is to stay away from me, where you and Jules are safe."
Suddenly he heard a very familiar voice, and it sounded particularly gruff:
"Shut the fuck up, Jon, get your head out of your ass, and let these two help you so you can help them. And I don't fucking mean the materialistic stuff, you idiot!"
He shook his head for a moment and only then saw Azrael.
"Rae Rae?"
He shook his head again and then said angrily:
"What the hell is the matter with you? If Michael or one of his weasels finds out about this! I know damn well what he will have ordered; no one must be an Einstein for that. You know what those jerks can do to you. Get out of here, now!"
"Like I said, shut the hell up! It's about damn time you started thinking clearly again. You need to get Cas out of this mess."
"Cas? What about you guys? Just let you guys 'die—is that the idea?"
"We're secondary, Jon; stick that in your fucking head."
"I refuse to accept that, Rae Rae. I'm never going to accept that!"
"Okay, what are you going to do about it then?"
"What the hell do I know! I just refused to unleash the Apocalypse so neither side can do anything. At least not until humanity is extinct because of that fucking climate change. Or until finally one will grow a pair of balls and start breaking the rules! After that, it's every man for himself. If you know a way out, you can come tell me anytime. I'm too tired! I'm going to bed; I desperately need to sleep, a hell of a lot of sleep. Get out of here, Rae Rae, before you get into trouble with Michael!"
With those words, he stood up wearily and staggered toward his bedroom.