Sweet Salvation

Warnings: Psychological trauma, adult language, adult content, graphic violence, bloodshed, death, religious content, attempted rape

Author’s Note: Here is the sequel to Broken Circle- another collaboration between Lady Nightshade and I, and another stepping stone in this three-part; possibly four-part if we want to go so far Angel Sanctuary series. There\'s not a lot to say about this that hasn\'t been already covered other than...Sorry? Well whatever. If you want to read the fiction, then continue on and enjoy. If you\'re revolted with seeing us again, well that\'s your problem. Insurance doesn\'t cover fanfiction unfortunately. So yeah...

Disclaimer: We don’t own Angel Sanctuary.

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Raphael and Hessa lay in their bed staring up at the ceiling from the tangle of sheets and arms. They felt a tingling along their spines suggesting that something was going to happen, something important. Raphael sat up and frowned the tickling became stronger and he finally placed it as a mother about to give birth to her child. He frowned reaching out to feel for who it was.

Not too long ago, a few months about six or seven, Michael had returned with the news that Rai was carrying his child. Raphael and Hessa had made arrangements to be called should the girl go into labor; incase the offspring should signs of her angelic breeding.

He frowned, the girl was going into labor they had little time to get there. He stood up and stared to change; Hessa looked at him confused but got up also knowing that Raphael only got up this early if something was about to go down. The phone rang and Hessa rolled over to get to it.

\"Hello?\" she asked holding the phone to her ear the wrong way.

Raphael sighed and took it from her turning it around in her hand correctly.

\"Hello?\" she tried again. \"…Alright we are on the way.\"

The two of them were already heading out the door.

Michael stared out the window nervously, pacing the floor of his bedroom for their return and the news on his child and his female.

__________________

Lilith stared at the cracked mirror and watched as the female, Rai went into labor. It had been a string of luck that the young female had gotten pregnant by the angel. Perhaps she could use this to her advantage.

The demon queen rubbed her side where she had been wounded by consecrated wood- now healed with nothing but a burnt scar to tell the tale. It wasn’t so much the blemish that kept her wrath alive and well, it was the fact that she had been overwhelmed by two angels and their pathetic charge. And her daughter…

Mother’s intuition was a powerful thing, but at times it was a curse. She knew her daughter had been defiled by that wretched excuse for an archangel, which was worse than seeing her be killed by him when she couldn’t avenge her raped blood. Her only blood after God and his angels picked through her offspring like they were nothing but weeds. To them, they were weeds; imperfect in their attempt to make everything in his image.

She snarled and punched her fists against the glass, but only succeeded in breaking it more than it already was. There was nothing much she could do at the moment other than wait, and after waiting thousands of years, her patience was drawing from a dry well and still managed to hold her down.

This was it, after all. The end of her waiting. There wasn’t going to be another decade to watch whittle away before she got what was rightfully hers.

Retribution.

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It was late at night; she was not expecting any kind of traffic at the front desk. So when a stranger’s voice addressed her, it came as an unpleasant surprise.

“Excuse me, nurse?”

The nurse looked up from filing her nails at the man standing at the other side of the counter; her eyebrows lifting in response to him. He was obviously a foreigner with his fine blonde hair and gray eyes, but that wasn’t what made him strange. Maybe it was the expensive suit or the cool poker face, but something was off about him; something that asked an obvious question.

What the Hell was he doing at a loony bin?

“May I help you?” She asked.

“Can you tell me where Murasaki Rai was taken to have her baby?” The blonde asked in fluent Japanese, receiving another surprised look from the nurse, but she quickly recollected herself.

“I’m sorry sir, but that’s none of your business.”

“I’m a member of the patient’s family.”

“Well unless you are Miss Murasaki herself I’m afraid I can’t permit you inside the hospital,” the nurse responded coolly. “And if you try to force your way past me, I’ll call security to escort you outside the building.”

She promptly went back to filing her nails but the man didn’t leave. And after several seconds of deliberation, he responded.

“I’m going to have to sic my bitch on you now.”

The nurse threw down her file and glared at him.

“Excuse me-?”

He didn’t respond, instead he stepped sideways. Maybe she manifested from thin air, or maybe she had been standing behind the blonde the whole time; she was definitely small enough to be hidden from view, and should’ve stayed out of view. The vertically-challenged woman was another foreigner, but the nurse wasn’t permitted much time to examine her as the other woman growled and pounced over the counter like a wild animal. The nurse opened her mouth to scream, but wasn’t given the chance; the man’s “bitch” clamped her own mouth over hers, stifling the sound, even when she shrieked in pain from the claws raking through her flesh.

Raphael watched this assault emotionlessly and glanced sideways to make sure no other orderly would have to suffer the same sadistic fate in order to be kept silent. He frowned and glared back at the front desk.

“Don’t bloody her up, Hessa, you have to wear her clothes.”

The sounds of relishing homicide stopped and the Lilim’s head popped up from behind the desk, pouting like a child.

“You’re no fun at all.”

“I know. Now get dressed before the damn kid’s tenth birthday.”

Hessa stuck her tongue out at him but did as she was told. After a few minutes she was out, smoothing out her skirt and touching the stark white fabric like she couldn’t believe it was actually on her body.

“Well? What do you think?”

Raphael eyed her over; then nodded.

“When this whole thing is over, I want you to wear that home. And then I want you to take my temperature the old-fashioned way.”

Hessa smirked and followed him down the hall heading towards the many rooms letting his senses reach out for the young woman. He frowned the girl\'s vibes were slamming against him.

She was in pain

His lips turned up in a sneer and he picked up his pace, throwing the door open and startling the humans inside.

\"You idiots!\" He snapped. \"Did any of you think to give her something for the pain?!\"

Rai gasped for breath in between her screams while Hessa shoved her way roughly through the other nurses and snatched a clean cloth to wipe up Rai\'s sweat. The girl\'s eyes twisted slightly and locked with Hessa\'s, and for a brief moment, Hessa saw terror in her eyes.

\"Worry not, Eve, I mean you nor your child harm. I am here to help.\"

\"Why should I trust you?\" whispered Rai.

\"No matter what you think of me and my kind, I am not my mother. I am Hessa.\"

\"Rai,\" said Raphael, diverting the woman’s attention from the succubus. \"I want you to push.\"

Rai screamed and bared down while Hessa helped prop her up. The other nurses began to talk before Hessa sent them a warning look and flashed them a fanged-filled hiss to stay away.

They stayed away.

\"Push down again Rai…We are almost there…\"

Raphael smiled and gently helped the baby from its mother. He blinked when the female infant came forward with brilliant white wings that disappeared in a dazzling rain of light. Him and Hessa exchanged a look before Raphael quickly passed the baby to her with orders to wash it. Meanwhile, he stretched out his powers to wipe away the memories of the doctors and nurses in the room.

Unfortunately, he missed one of the guards.

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Hessa appeared in the apartment carrying the baby girl. She stared down into the child’s blue eyes and smiled warmly at the beauty inside of them.

“Oh Michael…\" She crooned.

\"What are you still doing here, onna?!\" Demanded Michael as he stormed into the room. \"Shouldn\'t you be with-\" He was cut off when he saw a small fragile arm appear from the bundle that Hessa was holding. \"…Is that it?\"

\"Yes,\" smiled Hessa, walking over to hand Michael the baby, who stared at it in wide-eyed amazement.

\"Iva…”

\"How strange,\" said Raphael. \"That’s the name that Rai wanted to give her also.\"

“We discussed baby names during my visits,” Michael explained distractedly and touched the infant’s cheek, the warmth of it almost pushing his lips up into a smile, before his eyebrows knitted together.

“What’s that smell…?”

Raphael leaned over, hesitating a few seconds before recoiling.

“Christ-!”

“What is that?” Michael demanded. “Is she sick?!”

“No, she just soiled herself, it’s fine-”

“Why didn’t she tell us? We have a bathroom down the hall-”

Raphael stared at him. “Have you been drinking Windex or something?”

“What are you giving me shit for?”

“She’s a baby!” The other archangel told him like it wasn‘t obvious. “Even if she’s half angel, it’ll take a long time before she’s fully grown. We have diapers and other baby products for you to-”

Michael withdrew from that idea, shaking his head violently.

“No way! I don’t lead the armies of Heaven to change diapers!”

“You’re the father, take care of your baby.”

“YOU’RE the angel of medicine! You do it!”

“She’s not my mother fucking kid!”

“I’ll do it,” Hessa snapped and had the infant in her arms before Michael could even open his mouth, striding into the kitchen and turned on the sink water before plugging the drain and glared back at them. “One of you go grab the supplies; I’ll handle the rest…Chicken-shit angels.”

She rolled her eyes and laid Iva down on a towel before turning to check the temperature of the water; unguarded when she was spun around into the assault of glaring golden eyes.

“You think just because you have a cunt you understand children?” Michael demanded.

“You think just because you have a dick you can mistreat a woman?” Hessa shot back. “Consider this an act of compassion.”

The angel laughed coldly. “Big word for a big mouth.”

“I don’t hear your brother complaining about it, and he has to deal with my mouth a lot more than you do. Now if you’re done trying to insult me, how about getting off and helping out?”

“I don’t have to take orders from you.”

“No, but you’re not about to trust me alone with your child, right?”

Michael pursed his lips into a thin line, not able to find the right words until the demon shoved him off of her and turned back around towards the sink; then he narrowed his eyes again.

“Stupid whore.”

“I love you too, Michael.”

“Funny, you never say that to me,” Raphael said from the doorway while examining his nails. “Is this the part where I act shocked and betrayed? Or should I come back when you’re both naked?”

Hessa rolled her eyes and dipped her hand in the water, smiling when she felt the comfortable warmth and then hurried to snag the bag from Raphael, add the lavender baby wash and turn off the water before taking out a new diaper and baby suit. While draping a wash cloth over her shoulder, she began to remove the baby from its clothes, grabbing the towel and throwing it over her other shoulder; then she gently placed the baby in the water, propping it up with her arm.

Michael and Raphael watched in interest as the succubi began to do almost everything one handed: from rinsing out the wash cloth to adding the soap to washing the baby, all while singing to her softly some ancient Arabic lullaby. They exchanged a look, wondering how a daughter of Lilith could become so maternal and loving to a daughter born of a human and an angel; both of whom are hated by the mother.

Sighing, Raphael dragged Michael to the other room despite his protests; somehow sensing Hessa would not harm Iva. Hessa sighed in relief when both males left the room and smiled at the baby. The child laughed and reached up a hand to grab hold of Hessa\'s dangling hair, giving it a slight tug before sticking it in her mouth and sucking on it.

\"That’s not nice,\" muttered Hessa, gently releasing the hair and pushing it behind her ear. \"Well, little Iva, looks like we females will have to stick together- at least until your mother gets out and we outnumber the males.\"

Iva giggled and splashed the water, causing Hessa to laugh softly.

\"It would seem that you would get along well with the angel of water, Jibril.\"

Hessa smiled sadly and stared at the child, brushing her hair from the baby\'s face while a small tear ran down the former whore\'s face. The baby looked up and reached for Hessa, who lowered herself to the child\'s reach only to watch it brush her tears away.

“What?” Whispered Hessa in awe. Iva simply stared back, curling her fists in the water and moving her lips in what could’ve been an elaborate sentence, but all that came out was a gurgling sound. The demon shrugged it off and rinsed the infant off one last time before scooping her up and laid her down to dry her off carefully in the terry cloth. Only when Iva was dry as a bone could she dress her back up in a fresh diaper and the baby clothes Raphael had handed to her. Pink footy pajamas, she regarded with knitted eyebrows. She was going to have to give the archangel an earful about the revolting color.