II

Munich, Germany (June 2019)

"I don't think she's here." LJ tried to convince his friend for the third time, but Haneul was determined. The Lilim, one of the Archdemon Lilith's half-human children, had taken off her cloak earlier and had overwhelmed Haneul's senses. She was so near it was making his head ache.

Haneul did not blame LJ for not feeling her presence, though. LJ had been struggling with his assumed body for decades now. Angels did not usually need a human form, but warrior angels like Haneul and LJ molded one from light to hunt demons better. After all, the creatures were drawn to flesh and bone, always jumping at a chance to possess it. 

Despite these advantages, a pure soul being clocked into a vessel that it does not need makes it disoriented. It certainly watered down some of their original senses, like feeling the pull of a demon. It became particularly more complex if they started assimilating human senses instead. Haneul suspected this was happening to LJ, who tend to spend too much time with humans for his own good. 

"She's here. Just try to focus. You can do it." Haneul told LJ, surveying their surroundings again. They were at a tiny bar somewhere in the outskirts of Munich. If their surveillance were correct, their target would be arriving any minute there to celebrate her birthday. This particular creature is a Mirror, one of the very few born on earth wearing Lilith's biological form. Mirrors were more dangerous than the ordinary Lilim, so they had to bide their time and observe. But it had been about an hour, and there was no sign of the Lilim anywhere.

"I think we're wasting our time here," said LJ, more impatiently than before. Haneul sighed, giving up himself. He was about to gesture for their check when a scream echoed throughout the bar. LJ stood up on impulse, his hand on the celestial blade on his side. But all around them, the people in the bar continued going about their business.

The angels looked at each other. If the humans were unaware, it could only mean one thing. The scream came from another dimension. Haneul closed his eyes and signaled LJ to stay still. Stretching his consciousness throughout the expanse of the bar and as far as he could underneath it, he tried to look for her presence.

Haneul cursed under his breath.

"Damn," LJ said in frustration. He looked like he followed suit when Haneul began tracking and got the same results. The Lilim was currently being dragged into the demon realms.

"What do you say? Should we call a messenger for help?" asked LJ, referring to their fellow angels who maintain communication in all the realms.

Haneul's face betrayed a different plan, though, one that concerned LJ. 

"Oh...no, no, no. No way, I am not going down there. There's a reason why we have messengers." LJ protested. Demon energy was painful when one was a pure soul, so it was uncomfortable traveling to the demon realms. They couldn't even stay for longer than a few hours. It was a different case for messenger angels, though. As beings who handle communication in all realms, including Hell, they had armors equipped for the purpose. LJ and Haneul were warrior angels stationed on earth and did not have such an advantage.

Not even that could stop Haneul, though, and LJ knew that. "It'll be too late by the time we talked to a messenger. We'll be fine. Trust me." Haneul replied as expected, already traveling out before LJ could properly stop him. 

Seoul, South Korea (June 2019)

"Generally, sales are doing well here in Seoul. We just have concerns regarding your proposed changes to the..." the assistant regional manager of A.R. Corp in Seoul, Justin Kim, had been droning on for almost an hour now. Usually, Tina would be hanging on his every word, taking in as much information as she could. She knew how the senior members of AR Corp felt about her taking over the company. They thought her immature and inexperienced for the job, and Tina was determined to prove them wrong. For some reason, though, she just couldn't concentrate at the moment.

I need a break. Tina thought to herself. Going to the restroom was what first came to mind, and she almost laughed at the idea, remembering the events at Bali the night before. There must be something going very wrong with her life if she finds respite only in the ladies' room.

Grabbing her phone and purse, she raised her hand as if she were in the classroom. 

"Excuse me for a moment. I just remembered I need to make a call. For business." Tina said. She knew it was a poor excuse, but she could barely care. She gauged the reactions around her. Some of them looked annoyed, while the others had their mouths open.

"Of course. You're excused, Miss R-Rodriguez." Justin was the first to acknowledge her, struggling with the "r" in her name. Tina gave him a polite nod. 

As fast as her silver Louboutins could take her, Tina began heading towards the bathroom. Her head was down as she randomly scrolled through her F******k newsfeed. Just then, someone bumped into her, and the phone in her hand went sliding across the floor. It was a man. The first thing that Tina noticed was the outfit, as usual. He was wearing an impeccable Armani suit that was a perfect fit for his impressive figure. The man was handsome, with flawless, milky skin and gentle eyes. Tina's eyebrows rose instinctively in appreciation.

"Sorry, Miss..." the man said as he bent to retrieve her phone from the floor. A light smile played across his red lips, which somehow made his features even softer. Angelic. At that second look, Tina decided he might be too pretty for her type. That didn't mean that she was against flirting with him, though. 

The man straightened up, making a move to hand her the phone. Their eyes met, and he faltered a bit when he saw her face.

Interesting. Tina thought. She wondered what that was about, but she pretended not to notice. "Rodriguez." Tina supplied with a smile, taking her phone from his hand.

"My apologies, Miss Rodriguez." the man seemed to have recovered himself, and his smile brightened again. Tina was about to say something else, but he was suddenly too eager to go, heading straight towards the elevator behind her. Confused at his reaction, she turned to call his attention. But she could only see the light from the elevator where the man had gone. Moments later, there was a burst of light, and an unmistakable silhouette of a pair of wings etched into the air. Tina covered her eyes, and it disappeared as quickly as it had come. As if she had just imagined it. 

Beware of angels. Her Lola Lita's words suddenly came to her and her heart hammered in her chest. It's what she's been told her entire childhood. A typical kid would be taught that angels were their protectors, but Tina did not have that upbringing. Not so much her parents, they were devout Catholics, and it implied that they believed in the goodness of angels. It was more her Lola Lita and Aunt Theo who kept reminding her that, telling her to be ready one day, when everything will make sense. Most people would probably get curious, but Tina never did. She didn't want to admit it, but if angels were truly as vindictive as they said, she might be better off not knowing. 

Blearily, Tina proceeded to the restroom and faced the sink with a calming breath. Her make-up was still as immaculate as her black and white Donna Karan business suit, but she noticed a slight knot on the chain of her necklace. The pendant was also pulsing and hot on her skin. Carefully, she took it off and examined it.

"Ow!" She hissed, startled at the heat coming from the necklace. The object slipped through her fingers. She must have also pulled on her purse because all of its contents went clattering towards the floor.

Trembling, Tina bent down to pick up the broken glass products that fell on the floor. 

A sharp piece nicked her, and she took her hand to her mouth as she felt the pain. "Damn it," she muttered. As if awoken by mounting distress, the ground suddenly started shaking beneath her. Tina looked around in alarm, steadying her bloodied hand on the sink. The windows creaked, and the hanging lights swung from their place in front of the mirror. 

This is just an earthquake. Tina told herself, gripping tighter for balance. Just when she started to relax, one of the toilets exploded, knocking the hinges off the door to its cubicle. Tina screamed in surprise, and everything around her descended into uncontrolled motion.

Shit. Not an earthquake. It's happening again. She thought in fear.

Desperately, Tina went down on her knees to search for her necklace and grasped it to her chest. It was still hot and threatened to burn her skin, but she held on to it, squeezing her eyes shut. Taking deeper and deeper breaths, she felt the chaos within her subside. She knew she just needed to calm down for it to stop, as it always did before. Soon enough, the world around her was quiet again. 

"Tina! I heard—" Theo came barreling into the bathroom, stopping in her tracks as she took in the mess around her. Her eyes went to Tina, who was still clutching her necklace protectively against her chest.

"I'm so sorry. I just took it off for a second. It won't happen again." Tina spoke fast, her hands shaking as she made a show of putting her necklace around her neck. Sighing, Theo approached her. She gently replaced Tina's trembling hands with her more steady ones.

"You know how important this is, right? Never take it off," said Theo, her eyes boring into Tina's. Her aunt had that look, the one so serious Tina had a hard time guessing what she was thinking. She began to fear that it might be time for her aunt to tell her everything. 

Theo showed no indication of that, though, as she playfully smiled at Tina. "Seriously, what is it with you and restrooms?" she asked lightly, fixing Tina's messy hair and the tension diffused a bit. Tina even managed a weak laugh. 

"Tita," said Tina, turning serious and hesitant.  "I saw one of them," she reported. She didn't want Theo to worry, but they couldn't skirt the topic anymore.

Her aunt's hands paused. She immediately knew what Tina was talking about. "In here?" she asked with an unmistakable fear in her eyes.

Tina shook her head. "In the hallway, near the elevators."

Theo was silent for a moment. "It's okay," Theo said. "I'm here. They can't hurt you as long as I'm here," she told Tina, though she seemed unsure herself.

Tina wondered if her aunt could truly defend her from the angels if it came to it. She thought about finally asking her aunt to tell her all about them. But as usual, Tina felt more scared than curious. "I don't need to know yet, right?" Tina asked Theo instead. 

Her aunt studied her face for a few seconds, eyes filled with worry. Tina tried her best to find comfort in those eyes, but it didn't come. She felt like a whole new world was opening up to her, and she wanted no part in it. 

"Yes. Not right now, at least. But we're running out of time, Tina." Theo finally answered, smoothing the hair on Tina's head. "Soon, I have to tell you everything to prepare you for what will come next." 

Tina did not know why her heart sank upon hearing Theo's response. She expected it. Tina guessed it was because she was still in denial about it. Tina wanted for AR Corp to be the only thing that she needed to worry about in the future. She felt like throwing a tantrum just to calm the swirling tension in her chest. But Tina steeled herself and wiped the wetness on her face.

"Okay," Tina announced, standing up. "I'll try to keep it out of my mind now. I have a company to run, after all."