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You curiously watched as Valdemar inspected your hand. Out of everything they could be curious about, why your hand? The real interesting stuff was sticking out of your back. And your head. They placed their hand on top of your fingers. “Try to push my hand up.” You obeyed their orders, still puzzled as to why they were studying an angel’s hand. With your inhuman strength combined with theirs, the result was a loud and deafening crack coming from your wrist. “Oh?”
You cringed at the feeling but it soon faded away when your body quickly healed itself. “Broke my wrist. Sorry.” You gave them a nervous smile. They tilted their head to the side, observing the joint.
“Your healing capabilities are remarkable.” They muttered. “I do believe they outrank mine.” Their gaze had little to no predatory gleam in it as they assessed you and your angelic abilities.
“Why, thank you.” You smiled brightly and bowed your head. “You are quite an enjoyable presence if I do say so myself.” It was their turn to bow and thank you. Without warning, their gloved hands gently grasped your jawline as they analyzed your eyes. You bit back a surprised yelp and simply looked back into their ruby red eyes. They were as mesmerizing as ever. One hand came to cover your left eye for a small amount of time before they took it away and tilted their head to the left. “No pupil dilation.”
“There’s no need for it.” You answered. You didn’t feel like going into full depth of why angels didn’t have a need for pupil dilation. “I can assure you that I don’t have a concussion, though.”
The briefest chuckle escaped their lips as you spoke once more. “I am more curious about your own pupils. They’re vertical; do they dilate like those of a cat?”
Valdemar’s grin was larger than ever now. “Yes, they do. However, most don’t notice a single thing.” Your cheeks hurt from smiling so much. What an entertaining mental image was.
Now this was a funny situation to be in. You came on this earth to watch over a magician that was about to stop the devil only to be drawn to a certain demon instead. With what you’ve seen, however, the apprentice would most likely be fine without your guidance, so you assumed that spending a little time exchanging pleasantries with Doctor Valdemar wouldn’t hurt. Who knew demons were so fun to be around? Besides, you had some catching up to do. And possibly some apologizing. “You’re quite the powerful thing as well, aren’t you? Tell me, how many deals did it take for you to get this far?” You braced yourself as they lowered the examination table to have access to the off-white horns sitting on your head. Still not interested in the wings, huh?
They traced the golden grooves on them before answering.
“A little over thirty.” They hummed. “To be truthful, it became an addiction. It’s a thrill that no medical research could ever give me.” You tried your best to hide the sudden heartache that the confession coaxed out of you. You really had missed out on some major things.
“I see.” You looked down at your own feet, slightly swinging them as the Quaestor poked and prodded at your horns. “You know, I’m impressed you haven’t tied me to a vivisection table to just go at it yet.”
“I am incredibly tempted to do so my dear, believe me. But I know better than to interfere with divinities. As I said earlier, I do believe you are stronger than I am.” Well, at least they’re not as prideful as some other demons you’ve met. You’re glad that didn’t change throughout the years. “I have a few questions I would like to ask.”
“By all means, go ahead.” You waved to emphasize your words. “Consider yourself lucky; I am supposed to refrain and give minimal information about my origins, but I’m willing to take a risk.”
Valdemar adjusted the table so they could be within eye level with you. They were obviously intrigued as to why you were being so cooperative with someone like them. The interaction itself should be forbidden, yet here you were. “With the way things are going right now, I don’t see any bad outcomes of this encounter. Alright, maybe there’s one possible future that could make this interaction problematic, but the chances of it happening are quite low.”
The doctor simply hummed and brought out a clipboard and a pencil. “What would be the scientific name for your kind?”
“Angelus divinam. It means ‘divine messenger’.” You quietly watched as they scribbled away. A lot more than what you assumed it took to write ‘angelus divinam’. They were possibly brainstorming as they went on. It made you smile. Throughout a thousand years, they really hadn’t changed.
“What is the origin of your species? Human or supernatural? And for exactly how long have you existed?” They didn’t remove their eyes from their clipboard. Even as they spoke, their writing hadn’t slowed down.
“Supernatural. As far as I can recall, I’ve always been an angel. Each angel is created to watch over a singular person. When that person ceases to exist, they too cease to exist. I’ve been on earth for over a thousand years.” Here comes the shocker, you could feel it coming. You were going to get an earful -- or maybe nothing at all. You couldn’t exactly predict Valdemar anymore.
They gazed at you briefly before writing something else. “And what’s happening with you? Surely neither you nor your human can live so long without paranormal intervention on either sides.”
You remained silent. All of a sudden, following them here and making yourself known to them felt like such a bad idea. Guilt seized you up from the inside. You couldn’t move even one muscle in your body. The uncomfortable feeling in your throat was unfazed by the amounts of time you had tried to swallow it back down. When the stillness in the air was too much for you to handle, you caved in. “They made a deal with the devil.” It took everything you had not to spout out meaningless apologies.
Valdemar pursed their lips and wrote down one last thing before stopping. They didn’t look up at you even when things seemed to be painfully obvious. This silence seemed to stretch out for years on end. “I had always believed angels were only sent out for those worthy of such.” You saw them swallow in a manner similar to yours as they kept their eyes locked on their studies.
“No one is born unworthy.” You assured, trying to hide your guilt with a soft smile. “That’s why I’m here. That’s wh-”
“You’re…” They chuckled. “I knew the deities of this world were unforgiving, but you’re simply parsimonious.” The sides of their grin were caught in subtle tremors that you spotted almost instantly. They were upset.
“Valdemar, divine beings are forbidden from interacting with humans-”
“And so that’s why you allowed the devil to approach me in a time of ultimate weakness?” The inhuman doctor in front of you disappeared and out came the Valdemar you used to know. The fearful twenty four year-old that you had failed to protect. The human that had such an unwavering and blind faith in you; so much so that they would not pray to their god every night. They’d pray directly to you. “If you couldn’t stop me, you could have at least stopped him.” As amazing as it was to see that they were still somewhere in there, it also hurt. It pained you to unimaginable lengths, because that frightened human with so much faith had to go through horrors that you dread to simply think about.
“I was a coward, Valdemar, and I’m sor-”
“You’re sorry? How human of you. Of course you're not sorry. You get to live on as long as I’m on this earth, do you not?” Angels weren’t allowed to act upon selfishness, yet they brought forth a convincing point. “And where were you for the thousand years that passed? Why make yourself known to me now?” They sneered as you recoiled in shame.
“I was assigned a new huma-”
“Of course, yes, that does make sense. I became far too broken for protection. Too far gone into the addiction of deal making, is that it? Or were you simply going to say that you were too afraid to face your mistake? Why, yes. You did mention that you were a coward.” You didn’t even have the right to be offended; you knew that for a fact. Instead, you simply hung your head down in remorse and sighed. You heard them put down their clipboard. “Leave this place. If I am to see you again, I will resort to physical violence no matter the consequences.”
You didn’t bother with apologizing once more as you left. They were broken enough as they were.