text: Sophia hammered her sword into Uriel's. She was full of righteous anger, fueled by her love of mankind personified in the flesh of Bill. He had fought and suffered through Hell to stop the Demons, and now the very forces that should have aided him were hindering him. Sophia would have no part of that.
  
  And she was winning.
  
  She shouldn't be, but she was. "Why did you even send me? Why go through all of this. If all you wanted was Daevia opening the Gates to Hell, then why did you use me?"
  
  "Daevia could never have opened the gates," Uriel answered. "She was too weak. A stronger Demon needed to open the passage."
  
  "Then why didn't Adriel or another Demon just do it? Why did you lie to me and use me?" Sophia had to understand. None of this made any sense to her. Archangels didn't behave this way. Hell did, not Heaven.
  
  "To smuggle a powerful enough Demon out of Hell, hidden in a Mortal's heart, shielded from the Prayer guarding this church. Satan manipulated everything, getting Mephistopheles to send Daevia. And we chose not to stop him. Satan needed Bill to fall into Hell to smuggle Adriel out, and we sent you to ensure that he fell. And you almost ruined everything when you fought Daevia. How could you have been defeated so easily? But Bill, besotted by love, made the right choices anyways."
  
  "And Bill could stop her! That's why you interfered?"
  
  "Yes," Uriel answered even as he blocked her blows. "We co-opted Juanita before Bill had her fully. Either she killed him or her treachery would summon me. So I cut down the treacherous bitch to stop Bill."
  
  "This is monstrous, Uriel! Can't you see that?"
  
  "What is monstrous is letting humans continue to destroy Creation! Heaven will set things right once we've won Armageddon."
  
  "You can still stop this!" she roared, raining blow after blow at his sword. He could only defend, her attacks comming too fast for the Archangel to riposte. "You can do the right thing, Uriel!"
  
  "I am doing the right thing," he bellowed. "I am not the one rebelling against Heaven's will. Such arrogance you possess. You blaze like the Morning Star himself. Lucifer would be proud of your actions, Sophia. I'm sure he'll welcome you with open arms once you've been cast into the Abyss!"
  
  "If doing Heaven's will is having to sacrifice mankind, then I gladly rebel!" she raged at him, driving him back into the church.
  
  He was weaker than he should be. He wasn't fully manifested anymore. That treachery should have fully embodied him. So why wasn't he fighting back? Why was she winning? What had changed after he had appeared? What had —
  
  He struck down a woman untouched by Hell. Juanita's innocent blood stained his wings, leaching his power. Proof that he was the Angel violating Heaven's will, not her. She pressed her attack, her sword blazing hotter and hotter as she battered at him.
  
  His certainty slipped, and dawning realization crossed his face.
  
  "You killed an innocent!" she hissed at him.
  
  "Bill had to be stopped! Adriel must be allowed to open the Gates!"
  
  She grabbed her sword in both hands, drawing it over her head, and slammed it down at him, screaming, "Murderer!"
  
  He raised his blade. Light exploded. Metal shattered. Her sword bit into Uriel's chest. The Archangel staggered back, bleeding golden blood and staring at the ruin of his blade in utter disbelief.
  
  "It doesn't matter," he panted. "I have bought the Demon enough time."
  
  His body dissolved into light, retreating to Heaven.
  
  Sophia rushed forward to the altar and the rent in the fabric of space. She stepped through it. Adriel stood before a gate of fire and darkness, at her feet lay two dead Seraphs, their backs frozen and shattered open by the flail of ice clutched in the Grigori's hand. They had been watching the gate, standing firm since Hell had been locked so many eons ago.
  
  Their backs had been unprotected, and Adriel had felled them both before they could react.
  
  "Demon!" Sophia roared.
  
  "Too late," Adriel purred.
  
  A scream ripped through Sophia's body. The gates groaned in agony, then swung inward onto a blasted plain. The armies of Hell were marshaled before it, hosts of foul Demons crying out with bloodlust. She had failed to defeat Uriel fast enough. All she could do was flee to Bill.
  
  He was important. Uriel feared him. There was more to Bill's power than she had surmised.