Harlee POV
"Abomination? They can't mean us?" I squeaked.
"In fact they do." Zeev replied coldly "And they will execute us both indiscriminately. I'm sorry Harlee, this means your soul will be wiped from existence permanently. It's not quite the same as being devoured by me. This will be like you never existed at all." I blinked and tears started to roll down my face-buy my family and friends... Zeev's expression softened momentarily.
"ABOMINATION! STAND AND FACE YOUR JUDGEMENT!" Boomed the voice.
Zeev's face hardened again.
"Oh stop with the theatrics. Who did they send? The least you can do is show yourselves-we were family-once." Zeev snarled. Light burned my eyes and Zeev turned my face away from it and three people dropped to the floor in front of us.
"Three? That's all they sent? I'm insulted." Zeev sneered.
"Brother, come quietly, you've fought for so long." A soft feminine voice urged. I peeked through Zeev's fingers to see a drop-dead gorgeous woman standing before us. "You and this pitiful creature must be in pain. Let us end it for you."
"Pitiful creature?" I raged. Zeev silenced me, but I could feel his rage boiling beneath the surface too.
"Why are you not attempting to save one of God's precious children by separating us instead of just destroying her outright?" Zeev said with derision. Oooh, good plan, maybe they could help.
"Because we cannot. Her soul is too bound up with what remains of your Angelic Grace. But you already know this brother." The soft voiced woman approached us with her hand extended. The gesture looked peaceful, but I sensed hostility in it through Zeev. "Further, your Fall complicated things. You, and thus she, are now tainted. No longer Divine. Beyond saving. An enemy of Heaven, and must be destroyed." The woman's voice turned cold and hard and a blade appeared in her hand. Zeev's outrage and mine were mirror images of each other. I felt him pull me closer against him as he let the rest of the barrier fall away.
"Forgive me Harlee." He whispered and then I felt my bones cracking and skin melting as the white light enveloped us both and we merged into one whole being once more. We breathed deeply again. We were whole.
"What is this?" The female Angel in front of us sounded appalled. The two behind her took up defensive positions. We recognized the one in front, and knew her True Name and called her by it.
"You blame the human Harlee for being an enemy of Heaven, but it was no fault of her own that the Demon she refers to a Zeev tried to devour her. How could Heaven abandon one of its own for the sake of killing off one lousy Demon?" We took a step forward, eyes blazing the fire around us rose. We called her True Name again and she fell to her knee.
"You call us an Abomination? Look at what has happened to Heaven. When did it become so cruel?" We stepped forward again and gripped the Angel by the face, making her look at us. "Don't like what you see? The potential of Heaven and Hell, powered by the heart and soul of humanity. We are a force to be reckoned with." We twisted her neck with a snap, backing it with a powerful burst of Hellfire to cauterize the brain stem, preventing regeneration, then turned to the other two Angels. They backed up in fear. We laughed, letting the fire spread.
"Heaven's Emissaries, afraid?" We tsked. "Whatever shall they think of you back home? Go-tell them to send more next time-three was an insult." We turned our back on them and heard them depart from the house. With a final roar of defiance, we fell apart, bodies tumbling onto the ground in a heap of blood and tissue.
Zeev POV
Harlee was unconscious. I worriedly checked her over, if she dies, I die. At least, that's what I told myself was the reason for it all. I let my consciousness into her body and mind. Ah, just exhaustion. Her body was not built for wielding that kind of power, and to be fair, we did drain her soul any time we used it. I looked around me at the mess and sighed. Time to call in reinforcements. I cradled Harlee's body to me and took her to the bedroom, brushing the dust and plaster off the bed, then setting her down gently and stepping into my subordinate's office.
"Sir! I thought you were taking some time off!" He stammered quickly, standing.
"I am, but I need you to send some people to this address to get some repairs on a house done ASAP. There's an Angel carcass in it for whoever shows." I sighed, handing him a slip of paper I materialized with Harlee's address.
"Yes sir!" He answered hungrily, licking his lips and I stepped back into Harlee's bedroom without another word. Now to deal with this mess...
Harlee POV
My head was killing me. Oh God Zeev-what now? I rolled over and opened my eyes. I couldn't tell where I was for a moment, I was seeing through two sets of eyes.
'Harlee-go back to sleep.' Zeev spoke in my mind.
"Can't." I groaned aloud, clutching my head. He appeared beside me in his Demon Form and I jerked backwards out of instinct. Zeev's human Form walked out of the shadows that surrounded his Demon Form and he laid a hand on my head apologetically.
"It will fade." He murmured. I felt him drop the barrier between us a little so his essence could seep into me. It rushed through my veins into my head like fire and I gasped, throwing myself back out of his reach.
"Shit! You've gotta warn me before you do that!" I yelped.
"Your headache's gone, isn't it?" He replied with amusement and sat on the bed. "Besides, I feel your pain through our link and it's insufferable. So many aches and pains the human body holds." He said distastefully. "It's like an incurable itch at the back of my mind." He tsked. The ache in my chest made me scoot closer to him and lean on his shoulder.
"Demons." I muttered.
"I wouldn't curse us just yet, it seems Heaven has counted you as no better than one of us. We may be your only allies going forward." Zeev said dryly. I sat upright again.
"The ceiling!" I looked and everything seemed in its proper place. Zeev chuckled.
"I had a little help." He offered, and pulled me back to him as our soul fragments cried out for each other. The barrier was still down between us and he offered the memories willingly, a change from his usual behavior.
"What do they want with the Angel?" I asked horrified. I had gotten a glimpse of it in his thoughts.
"Calm down, it's all very eco friendly, none of her parts will go to waste." Zeev replied coldly and I pulled free from him again. "You forget we crave the Divine."
"You used to be an Angel." I whispered with dread.
"You further forget-this one tried to kill you-us." His voice was like ice. "Even further still-we are Demons." I shivered and couldn't look at him anymore. Responding to the soul fragments call, he tugged me against his body again to ease the ache, but despite the pain lessening to some degree, I found no comfort in it.
Zeev POV
Is she finally properly terrified? A part of me was saddened by it and I was shocked. How was I getting attached to a human being?
Ah no, this feeling, was closer to disgust from her, not fear. I sighed. Ever since her soul had split and my True Name had been burned onto both halves, the very moment my own Demonic healing abilities had finished healing her while I writhed in pain, she had not been properly afraid. She had looked a Demon in the eye while it devoured half her soul and when she woke from that experience, all she had felt was rage.
She had tried to kill me so often at first. To be fair, I had done the same to her. I rubbed my forehead. It didn't take us long to figure out the injuries we inflicted on each other harmed us as well, sometimes even in in the physical sense. We feared if one of us landed a killing blow, both would die, and while at times that seemed acceptable, we both always held back.
"Zeev-we...merged?..again didn't we?" Harlee asked me. To be frank it had been more that I had absorbed her briefly, but it only worked because her soul desired to be one again and in that moment we were in the same mindset of righteous indignation. If it hadn't been for that feeling of being 'one' mentally and spiritually it might not have even been possible. And I had no idea if I tried something like that again if I could even separate us. It wasn't the same as eating her, it was like incorporating her into my being, but I couldn't deny my instincts still demanded I consume her...
"Mmm, something like that." I answered, shielding the information from her. At what stage would this become irreversible? Or unavoidable? I squeezed Harlee tighter to me, our soul crying out for that feeling of wholeness again. Harlee sighed, and I felt the movement echo in my own chest as well.
Harlee POV
I grumbled all the way in to work. The three days I had off had passed too quickly. Zeev chuckled lightly, gripping my hand.
"I told you, you should take the day off." The words were said lightly, but I would hear his worry beneath them. Now that Heaven had basically sent assassins after us, there was no telling when they'd strike next.
"Aww I didn't know you cared." I responded teasingly. Zeev growled.