Chapter Text
Keziah could sense something had happened the moment that portal closed behind her. She had opened immediately into the meeting, so she scanned each angel gathered.
Sera looked stressed, Abel looked stressed, Saint Peter looked pale and Lute looked angry, as per usual. Acai and Emily shared a look behind Keziah’s back as the nephilim spoke. “What’s going on? We were not supposed to leave until next week.” She said, walking around the table to her spot.
“This is an emergency, Keziah. A danger to heaven.” Sera told her and Acai cocked an eyebrow. “What is?” She asked and Sera breathed out, more so a stressed than relieved breath. “Lute, could you be so kind?” Sera asked, looking at the exorcist. Lute made a gesture with her golden prosthetic arm and a hologram appeared.
“There’s been a murder in heaven.”
The hologram showed dead angels, scattered around a room. They were not winners. They were not exorcists.
These were elder angels, high ranking ones.
Keziah’s blood ran cold and she heard Emily gasp. The temperature in the room dropped as it all settled over the three angels who had just entered. Acai’s knuckles turned white where she had them resting on the table.
“What?”
It was all Keziah could say, voice cold and sharp. Lute removed the hologram as Sera spoke. “There has been a murder and we have suspicion that someone in hell is behind it.” She explained. “I called for you three as it is no longer safe for you to be working in hell together with the princess.”
Keziah’s head snapped towards Sera. “What?! We are finally getting somewhere and now you shut it down?” She snapped, ignoring the dirty look from Lute. “It is for your and heaven’s safety. I have to cut connections between heaven and hell. There are little to no ways for a killer to have gotten in another way but a portal. Everytime you travel, you are putting us at risk.”
And the sinners? Keziah wondered, but didn’t say it out loud. “Sera! We can’t just give up now!” Emily complained, standing up. “Kez is right, we were just getting somewhere!” Sera looked pained at Emily’s tone. “I know, it is for heaven’s safety.”
“And the sinners?”
It was Acai and not Keziah who had spoken. “This will spark an uproar in heaven, they will be afraid and the higher ups will want a war.” She said, pinching the bridge of her nose. “We just stopped one! As proven by the still rebuilding and Emily’s wing!”
Emily’s single golden wing sat among the five other white ones, a prosthetic made of the same material like Lute’s arm, and she glanced at it before looking back. “And I wish to keep her out of harm's way by cutting off contact.” Sera replied sharply.
“Bullshit!”
Keziah’s swear made the angels look at her. An eye had opened on her chest and multiple eyes appeared on her wings. On her halo, one big sat in the middle with smaller ones having opened around. Her angel form was peeking through.
“Kez-” Abel started, but Keziah made a gesture for him to stay quiet. “It is bullshit, Sera! What if the killer is from heaven and we start a war for no reason?! You seem so sure of keeping heaven pure that you cannot see the selfish sins you are already committing!” She screamed at the seraphim angrily, eyes flickering.
“ENOUGH!” Sera snapped, eyes on her hair and halo opening. “Everyone out.” She said. “But-” Emily started. “Out.” Sera pointed at the door and all the angels but Sera and Keziah left.
“Keziah, I understand your concern, but we will not start anything we aren’t sure of.” Sera told Keziah, who glared at her. “You’ve said those words before.” Keziah hissed at her angrily. “And I was sure of them then as well.” Sera said and Keziah scoffed. “So they mean nothing? As they did then as well, you were proven wrong. Redemption is real, Sera.” She said.
“So is this murder.” Sera said and Keziah glared at her. “Again, nothing says this is someone from hell’s doing. We can’t know.” Keziah told her with a glare. “Who else would do something this barbaric?” Sera questioned instead. “I understand your concern, Keziah, but I am doing what I have to.”
That is a sentence, but I usually only hear it from sinners. Keziah thought bitterly, closing her eyes in anger and clenching her hands. “You are dismissed. You are not, under any circumstances, to enter hell. Am I clear?”
Keziah was a truthful person.
But when Keziah spoke this time-
“Yes.”
-it was a lie.
Keziah walked through the hallway of her home angrily, throwing the door she was heading for open. She walked up to her giant computer, immediately finding the security camera of the room where the murders happened.
“Why am I not surprised?"
Keziah looked back from the screen at the exorcist standing in the doorway. “What do you want, Lute?” She asked, turning around in her chair. Lute sighed, placing her prosthetic arm on her hip. “You are not staying here, are you?” She asked and Keziah bit her lip.
“No. What is it to you?”
Lute rolled her eyes. “I still owe you a few favors, I suspected you’d come to me eventually so I came here instead.” She explained and Keizah cocked an eyebrow. “I see the brain God has gifted you is finally put to use.” She noted and Lute huffed, rolling her eyes again.
“What is it you want me to do?”
Keziah turned to the screen again. “I want you to keep an eye in heaven and report back to me. God help you if you tell anyone outside of our organization.” She then gave her the same warning as she gave Velvette. “Calm down. Who would I tell? Sera?” Lute muttered and Keziah sent her a glare before standing up, the recording playing in the background.
“You better now. I don’t trust that angel.” Keziah warned, leaning down by bending at the waist to be the exorcist’s height. “You don’t trust many.” Lute replied. “You don’t trust me.” Keziah smirked, teeth glinting in the dim light of the screen.
“I do not. I learnt a long time ago that trusting people gets you hurt. Now do your job. I want you to tail Sera, I want you to find out what you can by guarding meetings or conversations.” When Lute did not reply, Keziah spoke again.
“Am I clear, Lilly?”
Lute’s darker golden eyes met Keziah’s lighter ones as she heard the name very few people knew of. A name she no longer went by. “Understood, Keziah.” She said, bowing her head, because whether she liked it or not, Keziah was of higher rank than her. The nephilim stood up with her full height again. “Good. Go.” She said and Lute left the room, her exorcist helmet tucked under her arm.
Keizah turned back to the recording. She watched it slowly, seeing the angels enter the room they were killed in. Then the recording glitched, becoming static. “What-” Keziah said and when it returned, all angels were dead.
She stared at the recording, now still image. “Who- I don’t understand.” She muttered, looking at the recording with narrowed eyes. She was suspicious, heaven’s cameras didn’t just stop working, it is not how it could or should go. “Only someone powerful could have done this. Especially with those angels.” She told herself, scanning the video that was still technically playing even if nothing was changing.
She sighed, pressing her fingers into her templates. “Goddammit.” She swore, standing up again. If they wanted to deal with all of this, she was going to need help to do it.
And she knew exactly where to start.
Keziah paused the video before leaving the room and walking into her hallway again. She spawned in her phone, typing a message to Acai.
Me: I am going to get “reinforcements” so to speak. I have one in heaven and I’ll start with her, make sure that no one notices I am gone
Keziah then made the phone disappear, then opened a gateway to her destination. She stepped through, changing her clothes as she did. Her now bare feet sunk into the sand and her light yellow sundress moved like waves around her knees.
The waves crashed against the white beach, the seabreeze pushing Keziah’s hair into her eyes. She pushed it away, looking around at her surroundings. One side was the ocean and the other side held a palmtree forest. The sun seemed to be permanently in a sunset, but none of these sights was Keziah’s source of attention.
It was the woman lying on a sunbed.
Keziah looked at her with a flat expression before walking towards her. Her feet sunk into the sand, but she didn’t care. The wind made her hair dance, hands in fists beside her.
She stopped three meters away. The woman glanced at her behind her sunglasses, presumably anyways, judging by her slight turn of her head. She then turned her head back towards the sea, her hair moving like waves.
“I knew you’d find me here eventually. Hard to hide things from you.”
Keziah placed her hands behind her back, looking at the woman with stern eyes. “It truly is.” She said, pausing before continuing.
“Lilith.”
The Queen of Hell chuckled, crossing her arms as well. “Lilith, huh?” She asked, sounding amused. “Tell me Keziah.” She said before sitting up fully and removing her sunglasses, revealing her red hellfire eyes.
“What happened to calling me mother?”
Keziah furrowed her brow in displeasure. “The last time I called you that was when I watched you fall into hell.” She replied, keeping her hands behind her back, but clenching them into fists at the memory.
Lilith hummed, standing up. “Why are you here now, Keziah?” She asked, much taller the nephilim. “There has been a murder in heaven. Sera is closing any communication and I am not staying here.” Keziah told Lilith.
Lilith hummed yet again. “Go back to hell, Lilith.” Keziah told the queen. “There will almost certainly be a war and I will not allow you to sit it out this time.” She said strictly. Lilith frowned in displeasure. “You are going down there. You don’t have to approach anybody, yet anyways, but go down.”
Keziah glared at Lilith. She wasn’t angry, she was just tired of this. “You are going down there as well, you said.” Lilith asked, hands also behind her back. “I am. I will contact you when you shall come back. Return to your other daughter who actually got to grow up with her parents.” Keziah told her.
“Your sister.”
The word made Keziah frown. “She is not aware and she is not going to be. I do not want her to know.” She warned her mother. “You will not tell her, got it?” Lilith cocked an eyebrow. “You hold no leverage over me.” She said and Keziah smirked. “I do over Lute. Your deal with Adam has moved onto her, I can have her force you back into hell or I could just tell Sera.”
Lilith’s red eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.” She said and Keziah hummed.
“Try me…mother.”
Lilith looked at her for a moment before sighing. “Very well.” Lilith said, snapping away the sunbed with a snap of her fingers. “I shall see you there again, eventually, Keziah.” Then she disappeared in a spiral of fire.
Keziah stared at where she disappeared before turning away harshly.
“Fuck.”