Lilyth's POV:
I sit at the head of the black stone table, glaring at the imbeciles surrounding me.

"But ma'am, we have no way to locate her."

"You will locate her, or people will have no way to locate you."

"Are you... Are you threatening me?"

I stand and confront the Angel, my pitch black wings casting shadows over us. "Yes. There's nothing you could do about it, anyway. You will do as I say, or you can join that frilly bitch and be destroyed along with her."

His face pales instantly, and he sits back down, his eyes trained on the the ground.

"What if we followed the trail left by their portal and surprised them?"

"Stand up." The young Angel hesitantly stands and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. "Come here. Come on. I don't bite."

She finally listens and stands next to me, her face beginning to turn pinkish red.

"This, my pitiful Angels, is what you should all try to be more like. She's never been to Earth, and she just figured this out without hardly ant work. When I'm gone, she is in charge. Now all of you, get to work on finding traces of the girl's portal."

They all hesitate, mumbling amongst themselves.

"Well?! What are you waiting for? It's no wonder that girl beat us; you're all stupid!"

Everyone stumbles over themselves to get out the door.

Once I'm alone, I shut my eyes, resting for the first time in days.

A low hum begins to grow in my head to a loud rumble, until I finally sighs and open them to find Daevon standing authoritatively in front of me.

"What do you want? Unless that little monster is dead, I want you to go back out and find her."

"She's seen it. They all have."

I feel the blood rush from my face instantly, and I grit my teeth in frustration.

"How?! They have no Prophet! The Prophets are all crazy old recluses living in the woods."

"Gabriel. They have the Great Prophet. He is one of Jackob's allies."

"Dammit! This is unacceptable! We were supposed to have the element of surprise on our side!" I quickly stand and slam my fist on the long, dark wooden table, upturning several full cups of water and leaving them splattered on the table and dripping over the ledges, splattering down to the blood red tiles of the floor.

"Lilyth, calm down. This doesn't mean we won't be able to still win. He might not have even recognized you. And those idiots trying to protect her will never do what they really have to to protect her."

"I can guarantee you that my own brother will have remembered my face. After our last altercation, I'm sure he will remember me till the day of his Death even if we never see each other again." I subconsciously rub the sore muscles under my wings, where Gabriel almost tore my wings out of my body. They'll never fully heal, and I can only use my wings in absolute emergencies. Even then, they won't be able to take me far or fast.

"I understand. But like I said, we may still be able to emerge victorious. She has only discovered her powers a few human days ago, so we still have at least a month before we make our move."

I snarl and rush forward, grasping the front of his tunic in my fist. "No. With her, there will be no 'extra time'. That girl has already learned a sizeable number of abilities, almost mastered them, and we haven't had enough time to get our heads out of our self-centered asses. We need to get our operations together, before we're all just a smear of blood on the ground."

He glares at me and forcefully unclenches my hand off of his shirt. "I understand. But she knows nothing of our capabilities. Absolutely nothing. We still have the upper hand."

He turns and walks out the room, and my doom echoes in the loud slam as the door shuts.

"But how much will the upper hand help when she has more hands to help her?" I sink to the ground and begin to sink into thought, cradling my head in my hands as I think of all the different ways I could have avoided ending in this position.
********
Lucifer's POV:
I stand in a dark corner of the room, watching Lilyth's emotional break down escalate to a full blown panic attack.

She throws a black vase in my direction, and I transport myself to another unlit part of the room as she tears at her hair and screeches like a banshee.

"She won't live to see her next birthday! I will slaughter her and everyone she loves if she won't bow down to me." Her once beautiful face turns into a snarl, and she snickers. "Yes. That sounds excellent. I will let her bask in her new found power and status, and then I will crush the life from her weak little body."

She giggles sadistically, and I barely control the urge not to run forward and strangle her.

Inwardly sighing and shaking my head, I walk back through a portal, vowing to myself to protect the mortal girl who doesn't know what she's gotten herself into.
**********
Elle's POV:
Shaking the sleep from my head, I quietly climb out of bed and tip toe down the hallway.

For a few moments, the only sound is the patter of my bare feet on the hardwood floors, until another set of steps begins to join my own, perfectly in sync, but adding just enough volume that I know they aren't my own.

I begin to wander aimlessly around the huge house, the constant presence of the other person making the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

Suddenly, an arm rests over my shoulders casually, and I gasp, striking my fist out toward the persons throat. They begin to come, and collapse, grabbing my shirt and making me topple down on top of them.

"Can't...breathe!" Beelzebub's eyes are wide, and he clutches at his throat frantically.

"What the hell were you thinking, you idiot?" I push myself off of him, shoving him inadvertently into the wall.

He continues to choke and sputter, and I rest my hand on his throat, healing the minor damage.

"I was trying to be funny." He agilely stands and brushes dust off his dark shirt, throwing a glare at me.

"You realize how paranoid I am right now? I was literally seeing flashes of Taken in my mind. Use that super cool brain of yours or else you won't be quite so immortal." I return his annoyed look and cross my arms, turning to face him.

"So I'm going to hope you haven't just been stalking me for no reason."

"And I haven't. I just wanted to make sure you didn't get into ant trouble."

"Toi do remember what Gabriel said, right? How if none of you guys start trusting me, I'd end up dying?!" My voice begins to rise, and Beelzebub clamps his hand down on my mouth.

"SSH. It's only 5 am." He slowly pulls his hand away and turns to look back down the long hallway.

"Well maybe you wouldn't have to worry about me if you weren't being a creeper! What are you thinking? Were you even thinking at all?!"

"I said be quiet!" Beelzebub tackles me at the waist and knocks me to the ground, along with knocking the breath out of my lungs.

He falls on top of me, hesitating as I sputter and gasp for air.

"Get off of me, jerk!" Hissing at him, I shove him off and into the wall.

"Same time tomorrow?" His suggestive smile reminds me of who he was until a few days ago; Lucifer's right-hand man, and I roll my eyes at him and stand, walking past him into the hallway.

"In your sad little dreams, demon."

Scoffing, he runs up beside me, lifting me off of the ground and over his shoulders like an injured person.

"I win."

"Put. Me. Down. I said PUT ME DOWN, BEELZEBUB!!" I hiss harshly, beating on his shoulder blades, my hair brushing the ground as he walks.

"Nope."

"Why are you being such a little-" I'm cut off as he rounds a corner and accidentally slams my shoulder into the wall and knocking my forehead against the door jamb.

"Ooh, you are so gonna pay when I get away from you. So much payment is gonna happen." Growling, I rub my head and start poking him in the ribs, now more bored than desperate to be put down.

"Quit, or I'll drop you on your head the way your parents obviously didn't." I hear him sigh and mutter "Sadly" under his breath.

I take a deep breath and maneuver myself so that my back is facing his. He glances over his shoulder with an amused look plainer than I'd like on his face.

I smile back at him and do something reminiscent of the sit-up with the absolute most resistance ever, but somehow I manage. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and thrash my legs until he's forced to let go. Then, I swing my legs to the ground and gracefully drop down, taking a bow to the imaginary audience, and a very confused Beelzebub.

"How did you-"

"Like I'm ever going to tell you."

"Okay, fine. Then just know that that was a good move. I really wasn't expecting that."

"Then I guess it's a good thing for me, yeah?" I nudge him in the side with my elbow, and he sidesteps away before speeding up.

"Come on. I'm hungry." He breaks into a full on run to the kitchen like a child, completing the look by hopping into a seat next to the sink and island.

"So what's for breakfast."

I smile warmly at him, batting my eyelashes. "Anything you can make for yourself."

He glares at me before getting up and walking away, leaving me alone in the kitchen.

I grab the remote for the tv artfully mounted high in the corner of the room and turn it on, sitting down as the news flares to life.

"...Renae North, age 19, was found dead outside of her workplace at two am this morning. Police are still searching for the killer, who they are calling the Angel Murderer until further investigation, due to the fact that hyper-realistic wings were drawn behind the victim on the ground. Authorities have not come up with any suspects or a motive. We'll have more on the story at eight."

The screen flashes to a picture of Renae, and I almost forget to breathe.

The resemblance is unmistakable and creepy. The only difference is that her eyes should be that electric blue. Mine should be a hazel green.

I turn the tv off and throw the remote against the wall, beginning to cry as it crashes and separates into all of the parts.

That poor girl is dead.

She's dead because of me, because of something that she probably didn't even really believe existed.

Sure, she probably went to church and everything, but isn't that what everyone does? If I walked up to the most devout Christian in the country and told them I was an Angel and showed them my wings, would they yell out "I knew it!"? No, they'd ask what sort of a sick prank I was playing and tell me to go before they called the police. No one really believes in Angels. It's like the mature version of Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy. Everyone pretends to believe with their entire being.

And some probably really do.

But most don't.

And that's why I have to stop Lilyth. I have to stop her before another innocent dies.

Hunting me is one thing. One thing I don't love, but I'll deal with it.

Hunting people who aren't me is an entire other. One that she'll regret when I find her.