After we left Grace and walked back through the forest Michael had still stayed quiet. As we trudged through the thick undergrowth the tension between us became too much. I had to say something.

Life was too short for this shit...

"What's your problem, Michael?" I asked "Because playing the silent brooding type doesn't suit you."

"You know what my problem is, Alec."

"Yeah, well, maybe you should get it off your chest," I said "Shout at me, tell me I'm a fucking idiot! Tell me the truth, Michael!"

"The truth?" Michael replied, raising an eyebrow "That is more my brother Urial's job, but, if the truth is what you desire then I think that you are walking a very thin line. You are messing with things way beyond your comprehension and you are not seeing the bigger picture."

The House Of The Apocalypse...

"You mean about the plan to break Lucifer out of hell?"

"I do," Michael nodded "Hell's wards are slowly deteriorating and we don't know how long we can hold them for. Something has changed. The House Of The Apocalypse must be the cause."

"Did your siblings know anything about them?"

"No," Michael admitted "They were just as surprised by the news."

Well, that's just fucking great! If the angels have no clue what's going on then how the fuck are we supposed to deal with it?

"So we have nothing to go on?"

"Well, you seem to have found your way to a lead well enough." Michael said, "This R&R club sounds like a dangerous place."

"I'm sure it is, but, I've dealt with dangerous before," I replied "And if it helps us figure out how to get rid of Kaicius then I'll go anywhere. I'd go to hell and back if I had to."

"Trust me, Alec, you wouldn't want to do that," Michael said softly "Sometimes you have to learn when to let go."

"I could never let him go," I replied.

Before Michael could say anything else there was a rustling in the trees ahead of us, but the sunlight shining down through the canopy made it hard to make anything out.

"Can you see anything?" I asked Micheal as I squinted my eyes against the bright sunlight.

"There's something moving... I can't quite make it out." Michael replied, "Looks like people."

People? Plural? Well, there were sometimes the odd group of hikers out in the woods, but, they hardly ever came out this time of year.

"They're coming this way." Michael said, "I think they've seen us."

Oh, shit...

"Okay, just, let me do the talking... and please keep your wings to your bloody self. We don't want to give them a heart attack."

"As you wish." Michael agreed.

I could just hear the resistance in his voice. I didn't fucking care. He could be annoyed at me all he wanted. We couldn't afford to get sidetracked here. No bloody way.

There were three people walking towards us through the forest and unfortunately I recognised all of them. The hulking frame of Toby Martin with his baseball cap on backwards, as usual, covering his dark hair, the tall slender form of Jimmy Nail with his messy curly locks and the shorter, bespectacled form of the weird geeky kid who had been part of the gang who had attacked me just after I had first met Kian and found out what I now was.

Crap.

I felt my heart drop to somewhere in the region of my stomach. Why the fuck were they out here?

"Colby?" Toby asked as the trio reached us "What the fuck are you doing out here? Banging your boyfriend in the woods?"

"Of course not," I replied.

"I'm not his boyfriend..." Michael added with a confused look.

"I don't give a shit," Toby said cutting him off "I wasn't talking to you."

"You are a foul example of a human being!" Michael retorted.

Oh, God damn it, Michael! I told you not to say anything!

"Human being? What the fuck are you then, freak, an alien?" Toby laughed, causing his two goons to laugh along with him.

"No, I'm an angel."

Oh shit. Well, the angel's out of heaven now...

"Where the hell did you find him?" Toby asked me "The freaking looney bin?"

Before I could react a rush of wind flew past my face and a flash of white hit Toby straight in the chest and knocked him on the ground. As I looked Michael had his wings fully spread out and he was glaring at the trio with his ice-cold blue eyes.

"What... the... fuck?"

Toby stayed on the ground, seemingly mesmerised by Michael while Jimmy Nail and the geek both decided to cut their losses and run away.

Good bloody riddance! It just meant fewer idiots for us to deal with.

"Please... don't... hurt me!" Toby said, tears now streaming down his face, which resembled a large and rather wet pink blob.

Damn, that's just really sad...

"I will not harm you," Michael replied softly "But you will swear to never harm Alec or anybody else in return."

"I...swear it!" Toby cried.

"Uh, good, well pull yourself together and be on your way then."

At Michael's instruction, Toby scrambled up from the floor and bolted away after his friends without even glancing at me once... not that I was complaining.

"Well, that, was bloody awesome," I said smiling at Micheal.

As Micheal turned to face me, I saw the sadness behind his eyes.

"I should not have let them rile me like that," he said "I am sorry, Alec, I have let you down... and myself."

"No," I assured him "You really haven't. Toby got what was coming to him, trust me. People like that aren't worth beating yourself up over. I learned that the hard way."

"It was sinful of me." Michael argued, "My father would not approve."

"God?" I asked.

I guess that I hadn't stopped to actually think about where Michael had come from. Heaven. God. He was an angel after all... Oh, shit. God was real. Like really real.

So, what the fuck did that mean for somebody like me? Could werewolves eventually end up in heaven? The alternative possibility was not exactly something I wanted to consider...

Hell. Lucifer... losing my soul.

Yeah, no bloody way did I want that to happen.

"Yes, God," Michael replied solemnly "The great creator of the universe, ruler of heaven. I call him Dad."

"I'm sure you do."

"I haven't seen him in centuries," Michael replied "But, one slip up and you can guarantee that he'll be breathing down my neck."

"So, should we have stopped them from running away?"

"No," Michael replied "People have been talking about seeing proof of the divine since the dawn of man, do you really think that anyone will take what they say seriously?"

Probably not...

"But, what about The Council?" I asked "They won't exactly be happy that we let three humans see us."

"I answer to a higher authority than The Council Of Immortals, Alec." Michael replied, "They have no power over me."

No, but, they do over me...

"Anyway, should we not be getting back to your friends? We have a club to investigate."

Yeah, that was true. The R&R Club. The exorcism. We still had to get Kaicius out of Kian, then we could focus on figuring out how The House Of The Apocalypse was managing to break the seals that were keeping Lucifer down in hell... and what the fuck they wanted with my soul.