20

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews in the edited entry of the first 10 chapters of this story. I read all your comments and felt a little confused with some of them.

In my mind, the fact that in the first delivery the names of each character are put in front of their dialogues, like it or not, did not felt like such a strong reason for either love or hate the story. So after some thought, I decided to not consider those as critics, it is just as a way of preference.

That being said, I went thru the next 10 chapters and modified the dialogue style, so now is up to you to tell me which one is more comfortable for you to read in your comments bellow. I take everything you give me as a constructive criticism!

Of course, writing in this new way takes me longer so I am sorry I took long to bring you this. The next 10 chapters (from 21 to 30) are already finished, but in the old style, so it would depend on your opinions for either have the next part reviewed before posting (which makes me take longer) or not.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 11

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It was almost 4 in the morning, but Magna was wearing a business suit and was more awake than anyone else. Elaine walked into the living room first, followed by Caliope and Amra holding hands. Pronab left to his apartment a few floors below.

"There is a reason why I live in a tall building, Caliope... I don't like creatures crawling on my window... Magna, is everything ready?"

"Yes Madame, the guest's room is ready... how long will Miss Woodward stay?"

"Indefinitely" said Amra without even looking at her.

Magna was visibly not happy, but she nodded and picked up Elaine's bag, then offered to lead Caliope to her room. Amra just shook his head and motioned to Magma.

"Thank you for your kindness but I will take care of her now Mag."

"I told you not to call me like that..."

"And I told you both to stop acting like children... Magna, thank you, let's get things ready to go to work earlier today, I don't feel like resting, and we better take care of business" Elaine's voice raised above theirs.

"Yes Madame, I will have everything ready for you. Coffee?"

"Yes please."

As Magna disappeared into the next room, Caliope turned to Elaine and asked nervously:

"Does Magna know who you all are?"

"She does, she is very valuable to me Caliope dear, she is a fallen Angel, bound to my service, and has been with me over 50 years..."

"...and that is why she doesn't like Amra?"

"She doesn't like him much, it's true, and I am sorry, but they need to stay far from each other in order to be in peace, Amrafel please, don't provoke her like that."

"I do not care... much... just keep her far from me..."

"Funny... I hired Caliope for that..." finished Elaine with a chuckle.

Caliope sighed and nodded, she got why Magna was important to her. The reason why Magna respected Elaine so much and not Amra was still unknown for her but they worked well together. Amra lifted her chin to make her look at him, she smiled shyly and quickly relaxed. The tall building, surrounded by steel and glass, made her feel safer. Being with her Angel made her feel she had nothing to fear.

Amra took her to the guest's room; soft lights made her feel calm. Caliope put her bag on top of one of the chairs and sat on the edge of the bed. Amra kneeled next to her and rubbed her hands with his.

"Don't worry about anything, we will take this slowly... now rest some, I already have stolen too many hours of your precious sleep..."

"I am supposed to come to work in a few hours..."

"There is no need, I won't be too far, just rest, I will see you when you wake up..."

Caliope was in no position to argue, she was visibly tired, and the bed was so comfortable it drew her to rest. Amra kissed the top of her head and walked out, closing the door behind him. She glimpsed around the room then crawled to the center of the bed, nodding off.

Her dreams were chaotic with wars, darkness, and crawling creatures searching for her. When she opened her eyes she was sweating and agitated, she sat on her bed, gasping and regaining control.

"I should have prevented that, I am sorry..."

Caliope searched around the room and found Elaine sitting in a corner. She was looking at her with sadness in her eyes.

"I am sorry, I did not meant to scare you... I promised Amra I would be taking care of you..."

"Did I slept much?"

"It is 7pm, I would say you slept quite a bit..." she nodded then smiled "nothing to worry, being with Amra is not easy, but you are adjusting quite well, and he is controlling himself amazingly..."

"For a moment I thought... you were going to try to tell me to stay away from him..."

"Oh no! Of course not Caliope... I only want the best for him and you... love for us is not a choice, when it happens, it happens only that time... I would never take away that from him, or you..."

"Thank you, it is nice to know that... and you answering all my questions, you have been too kind to me..." finally she smiled at her, feeling more relaxed.

"I enjoy my life in this Earth so much, this new situation has Us all uncomfortable..."

"...is Amra... ok?"

"Since he got here he has been dormant... he was filled with apathy to the situation itself, it is not easy to draw the attention of an Ancient one, they think different, they act different from the rest of Us, including the Archangels... We are all more used to dealing with humans, while they aren't, they are the last resource... And since he met you, well, he has been changing a lot."

"How did he changed?"

"The first day you met him, he came to my study and asked me how were the investigations going, he never did that before, he was always in his room, meditating... we rarely spoke much unless I needed to ask permissions to do something radical... He is the authority here now... You woke up his interest and I did not thought it well then, but I knew it was something in you... he never was interested in controlling how his presence affects others around him, the time standing still or moving too fast, that is all natural for him, and it took me a while to understand what was happening to me when I was around him... Suddenly he was out of his room during night, near me and Magna, watching Us, making Us quite nervous actually" she admitted chuckling "and what he was really doing was learning his effect on Us and controlling it..."

"...and he did all that for me?" Caliope was wrapping herself up in her real place now as being Amra's love interest.

"Yes, he was not interested in doing much until he met you, and I don't think he knew well he caused a certain effect on people around him... you have to understand, he has been here for over 20 years, and he never did anything... I tried to take him out, show him the earth and learn to love it as we love it... trust me, I was quite excited after he started to show interest..."

Caliope was now smiling and blushing "I feel flattered and overwhelmed... I don't know how but I felt drawn to him since I met him..."

Elaine nodded "and he felt drawn to you as well, he has heard about 'love' but never felt it, of course, he was never down to any Earth long enough... if something happened that required him to be there, only his presence was enough for many things to be solved... but things are not the same now, whatever the dark Angels had made to erase any trace of our Archangel is giving them enough courage to continue with their plans... Amra is now actually worried, because he has you here now, and he can't afford to lose this battle..."

"How can I help? I wish I could in some way..."

"You are helping by just being with him, and that is something you both want anyway... You are the one that gave him a reason to want things done, to move, search, find... he is not down here to just find out what has happened and prevent something bad is set loose, he is now here to make sure that nothing happens because if it does, he can lose you..."

"I feel so small in all of this... situation..."

"Don't you understand how important is your role? You are the force that drives him... without you who knows how long I would have to be waiting for him to get involved, and who knows how much I would have to be fighting to know what is going on really... always without his real interest..."

Caliope smiled "and that is exactly the overwhelming part... but I understand... and I take this serious too... trust me... I might not be fully aware of the magnitude of things but I get an idea and I want to help any way I can..."

"And you can count on me for anything you need..."

"I wanted to ask you, why is that you put me dealing with certain tasks that I thought you would deal more personally? Choosing charity actions seemed very unlike to what an assistant would be doing..."

"Because I noticed you have a fresh mind and the way you think things is very reasonable... it also makes my job easier, as I deal with Magna the other things, our researches around the earth, the reports of other Angels, plans, the generals who want to know what Amra thinks and what he wants Us to do... they did not know he was not doing much... I am happy he is taking this more serious... Any other question before we get some dinner?" she finished with a grin.

"Just one more thing... at home, he called me a name... is the first time I heard that word... He called me 'my Asteria'... I felt that was different... special... but I never heard of it before..."

Elaine smiled and nodded slowly, getting up from her chair and walking close to Caliope, without taking her eyes from her "Asteria is the name used in ancient times to call a special person fallen from the skies, an important creature that would only make greatness by inspiring... you are his inspiration... that is so adorable!"

Caliope was now blushing "thank you..."

"Now take a shower, and we will wait for you at the dinner table... no more salads for you both, there are other delights to taste in this world!"

Caliope chuckled and nodded as Elaine leaned to kiss the top of her head and leave. She got up and went to the bathroom with new found confidence in herself, she was important to Amra and it was what she needed to hear. The warm water warmed her quickly, different from her own shower at home. She filled the hot tub and dropped some oil essences in the water. She was aware she needed to hurry but it felt so tempting she had to enjoy it some. Her body was relaxing and filled with perfume by the time she got out of the tub. After getting dressed she walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Magna was cooking something delicious by the smell of it, Elaine was sitting on the chair talking to her.

"If we let the General do what he wants, we won't be able to control him later..."

"And they won't be happy either, they might take some revenge, it won't be easy to hide the offensive in a small city..."

Magna turned her head and nodded at Caliope as she walked inside the room. Elaine turned her head and smiled warmly, pointing a chair at her side. Caliope silently took the place hoping to not interrupt. Her stomach growled and she noticed she was hungry.

"I think we should put together a meeting, it is about time they all face each other and it will silence some rumors... let's say, in a month... we need to start moving and showing a more active front."

"If you think he will be ready, I will set a meeting, any place in particular you like?"

"I prefer we communicate the place last, just make sure they all know it will take them 1 day to get there, we will share the location in due time..."

"Will he be ready?"

"He is going to be ready... I have an idea... Caliope, would you like to do some traveling?"

"Traveling? Where? For what?"

Amra and Pronab walked into the room as Caliope finished her question. Amra smiled as he walked towards her and kissed her forehead, holding his arms around her from behind. She looked up at him and rested her head on his stomach.

"Traveling plans?" he finally spoke.

"We need to start making some actions, after the last attempt on their side, there has been rumors spreading and we need to show a united front."

"Are the generals scared?" Pronab said not putting much interest into the implications.

"They are nervous, and they want action... several of them have been captured or being surprised by some of the dark Angels attacking or trying something on them... I think we need to silence one of the strongest rumors, you Amrafel..."

Amra chuckled "I am a rumor?"

"Since the announcement of your arrival they have only heard about you, but never seen you, nor heard of any action or order from you... I think you need to meet some of them..."

"...and your idea is?"

"We will be gathering some more information on the latest attacks, Magna will summon all of them for a meeting in a month... you can go visit a few of them and make it official, it will help a lot to give them some peace of mind, and the dark ones will start to back off... I thought it would be a nice idea if you and Caliope travel to meet them... Pronab could go with you... either him or Magna" she said with a grin.

Amra frowned and shook his head and Magna dropped her wooden spoon. They both knew Elaine was joking but it was nothing funny for them. As Amra was still standing behind Caliope and holding her from her shoulders, he thought about it for some time, then looked down at her.

"Would you mind coming with me?"

"I would really love that..."

It was true, the only thing that tied her to the city was her job, and her job had just changed dramatically since the last day's events.

Amra nodded and smiled "then it is done, we will go meet the generals..." and then he smirked looking at Elaine "you have been wanting this since the day I arrived..."

Elaine chuckled and invited all to join the table for the meal. Before eating, they all held silence shortly, Caliope understood it was their way of saying thank you, a prayer perhaps. The dinner went quiet, a few jokes here and there, Amra smiled every time he could to Caliope, and even Pronab was more cheerful.

The next couple of days Magna was on the phone making calls and talking in different languages. Occasionally, Elaine would take the phone and proclaim that Magna was telling the truth. As Caliope learned, all the generals knew about Magna's origin. She was a fallen Angel who was forced at first to serve Elaine. But after decades, she grew to like and respect Elaine, admire her job, and help her with diligence.

"As Angels can love only once in their existence, they can also curse once as well... something no one takes lightly... a powerful weapon but one that most don't even use... I cursed Magna, to save her... her loved one made her bow to help me always, serve me until I released her... and many of her pairs wanted to kill her... as all her powers and her knowledge of how they act, would then die with her... so I cursed her, any dark Angel or fallen one, who dared to kill her or even harm her, would become human and only able to do good... they have not bothered her since..."

Elaine told Caliope while they were both taking a break from planning their trip. Caliope nodded and understood how important Magna's role was in the way everything was unfolding. Before Elaine gave an order, she consulted Magna to know the possible ways her kind would react.

By Friday, Amra was aware of the people they would met, only 5 key destinations and no more, the 5 main generals would meet and review Elaine's last orders to be given on Sunday. Reports of a period of silence were alarming everyone, the dark Angels had been holding back and hiding from everyone. They knew there was something much more dangerous about to come but no one could know how or when, or even what was going to happen.

"What is the difference between a dark Angel and a fallen one?" Caliope asked finally.

"Dark Angels are dark by nature, the opposite of Us... yet the fallen Angels were once like Us, but felt in decadence... they live human lives, or work with the dark Angels... tainted, corrupted..."

Amra added "scum..."

"Don't say that please, I beg you, they still have part of Us in them..." Elaine pleaded.

Caliope squeezed Amra's hand and he sighed. It was understandable, that for someone in such a high rank, it would be deplorable to abandon his or her kind. He did not like Magna because she abandoned her nature as an Angel, but he did nothing against her as she was working for them now.

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Chapter 12

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The day was beautiful. Caliope could see the sun shining and the sky clear. She was still cuddling on the bed wrapped in the warm sheets and the scent still perfuming the room. That night she had only good dreams, calming and soothing ones. Before going to sleep after dinner, Elaine made something she still couldn't understand, but it helped her to clear her mind and forget any bad dreams or thoughts.

Someone knocked on the door and she turned her head as it opened. Amra was standing at the entrance with a kind smile.

"Would you like to have some breakfast before we leave to the airport?"

"I can't eat... I am too excited, nervous, anxious..."

"Would you like me to ask Elaine to calm you?"

"Oh no please! I like to be me! I do appreciate her soothing me to sleep, but that is about all I wish to be manipulated, thank you..."

"Then let's get moving, you will eat something in the air..."

Caliope quickly stood up and settled herself on the entrance with her bags. She was ready for the first part of their trip. Elaine accompanied them to the airport and Magna went to the office instead of her. There were four people waiting for them once they got to the main entrance. Some people were standing observing, but in the everyday movement of the airport it wasn't a big enough event to alter the rhythm of passengers. Amra was calmed and focused on Caliope, who was more nervous, as she never did really enjoy flying. That, of course, was the least of her worries; she didn't share the ones that were terrifying her. She was going to meet the generals that guard the earth, angels who were motivated and living only to serve the higher powers, and nothing else. She was the daughter of something they hated, and she knew it would play an important role in how they would treat her.

"My Asteria... it will all be ok... but we can turn back now if you don't want to go, we could postpone the trip..."

"Please, there is no need, I will be ok, I always felt scared to fly, but what is there to fear if I fly with my personal Angel?" Caliope admitted while smiling at him.

She confirmed her more obvious fear, and managed to convince him that she was ready. Pronab joined them when they were about to board the plane. He was a little tense but nothing that would worry either Elaine or Amra. Before entering, Elaine held Caliope tight and kissed her forehead. That nestled tension in her heart suddenly was disappearing, in fractions of seconds she felt as if she was just happy and nothing else, no worries, no anxiety, and no nervousness. Elaine had as one of her gifts the ability of soothing minds and bodies. Caliope looked at her and shook her head, but she couldn't be upset, she was too happy.

"There was no need for you to do that, I was fine..."

"There is one higher force that would not have forgiven me if I didn't calm you at least a little... please, do not hold it against him... he cares too much, that is his only flaw..."

"Thank you, will you be in constant communication? Do I have to do something in particular? It is starting to sound like some weird big vacations..."

Elaine chuckled and shook her head "well, that is a way of looking at it... follow your heart, I know it is with Amra... remember our mission and keep him focused, and whatever you do, please remember, your role in this, is bigger than any of the generals, do not let them intimidate you..."