Chapter 27:
Angel Love Child, Dragon Love Child
From his cloud perch in Heaven, Brian
leaned forward, anxious to catch every word of Lionel’s evil plan. But just as the Teen Beat reporter began to speak again, Brian was distracted by a
familiar voice who said, “Brian?”
Brian jumped, nearly falling from his
cloud. Turning quickly, he found himself
face to face with the one angel he’d thought he would never see again.
“Angelica!” he cried, his eyes growing
wide at the sight of his heavenly sweetheart.
“I thought I’d never see you again!
Not since I was given my life back and you were sent to Hell for
cursing.”
“I thought so too,” replied
Angelica. “But here we are… you made it
back to Heaven, and so did I.”
“I died,” Brian announced, as if it
weren’t obvious. “Killed myself,
actually, so I’m surprised I didn’t meet up with you in that other place. But I guess God spared me because I did it to
save a friend.”
“I died too,” echoed Angelica. “In childbirth.”
“How could you die again?” wondered
Brian, too distracted by the flawed logic of this to comprehend her last
words. “I mean, you were in Hell, so you
were still dead in the first place, weren’t you?”
Then, suddenly, it occurred to him
what else she’d said. “Wait a minute…
did you say, ‘in childbirth’??”
Angelica sighed, pursing her lips
tightly. “Brian… there’s something you
should know.”
“What?
That you have a baby??”
“That you have a baby. Meet your
daughter, Brianna.”
Seemingly out of nowhere, a little
girl appeared. She looked to be at least
three, and immediately, Brian became suspicious. “Hey, wait a minute… how could this be my
daughter? It’s only been a couple of
months since I got my life back. Even if
you were pregnant then, there’s no way our child could be three years old by
now.”
“You’re forgetting, she was born in
Hell. Things work a little differently
down there. Time can go very fast or
very slow. Good things – like the birth
of a baby – happen quickly to get them over with, while bad things take forever
to delay the agony as much as possible.
I was in labor with her for a solid week, and then my obstedemon – OD –
decided to deliver her through a C-section, without anesthesia. That’s when I bled to death, and they bathed
Brianna in my blood. To torture me more,
they sent my soul back to Heaven and left Brianna in a state of eternal
hellfire… but thankfully, God was merciful and sent his archangels to bring her
back to me. Not before Satan had aged
her three years, though. I missed out on
her baby years, all of her firsts. They
tell me her first word was ‘Dee-ma’ – demon – not ‘Mama.’ I missed so much, Brian… so much. But then again, so did you. And now that we’re back together as a family,
we’ll have the rest of eternity to make up for it.” She smiled at him, her eyes shining.
Brian blinked, not having a clue what
to say to that. It was quite possibly
the most disturbing thing he’d ever heard.
But then he looked upon the child more closely and realized he didn’t
have to say a thing.
This little girl was his; there was no
doubt about it. She had his light, curly
hair, his blue eyes, even his abnormally large nostrils. And, instinctively, he loved her already, every
inch of her, nostrils and all. In his
eyes, she was beautiful and perfect, a true little angel.
“Daddy?” asked Brianna in her sweet,
angelic voice.
“Baby,” his voice cracked, and he ran
and scooped up his illegitimate love child and held her close. “Things are gonna be different this time
around,” he told Angelica, kissing her to seal the promise. “I’m never going to leave you and Brianna
again.”
It was then that he remembered what
he’d been doing before they had appeared.
Gasping, he passed Brianna back to Angelica and hurried to his cloud
perch to look down into Lionel Rodriquez’s office once more. To his dismay, Lionel had already gotten off
the phone with Tricia Tibbles, and his plan had gone unheard.
“Oh no,” fretted Brian, raking his hands
through his hair. “How am I going to
warn the fellas if I don’t know what he’s going to do or when he’s going to
strike?”
“Brian? What are you talking about?” asked Angelica
with a frown.
Brian turned to her, biting his
lip. “Um, baby? I know I just told you I’d never leave you
again, but… uh… the guys really need me back on Earth. I need to go appeal to the Lord and see if he
could possibly grant me my life back again.
But this’ll be the last time, I swear!”
“What?!” gasped Angelica. “Brian, no!!
Please don’t do this! I need you
here! Your daughter needs you!”
“The guys need me more. Please, you have to understand.” Not waiting for her protest, Brian leaned
forward quickly and pecked her lips. “I’ll
be back again someday, I promise,” he promised, and then he flew away to God’s
cloud fortress, which was located several miles down the golden brick road.
Please, God, he prayed as he
flew, please let the Lord give me back my
life this one last time.
If only he knew what was to come…
***
