Up From Hell

Chapter 6

Carrotina had been absolutely delighted to be assigned a human when she first started her job as a guardian. Halbred, she had thought, what a lovely name. Carrotina loved Halbred as she watched her grow up. Even though Halbred, as her teenage years came, seemed to hate her and hardly ever took her advice, Carrotina loved her human.

Indeed, it was because of Halbred that Carrotina received gentle teasing from her fellow guardian friends. Everyone would laugh at Carrotina's name, but she didn't care. Halbred had given her that name many years ago when Halbred was just a chubby little toddler. Halbred's mother would sometimes bond with her daughter over tales of guardian angels. In one of these stories, she told Halbred that she held the power to give her guardian angel whatever special name she chose. Thus Halbred bestowed upon her angel the name Carrotina, consequence of her favorite food at that time. Carrotina accepted the name very willingly, loving it instantly and even refusing to be called anything else by all who knew her.
Halbred and Carrotina's relationship took a plunge when Halbred's parents got divorced. No matter how much the guardian tried, Halbred slowly built a mental wall that very effectively blocked out Carrotina's gentle voice. Despite this, Carrotina continued to love her human and still followed her, trying when she could to keep Halbred out of as much trouble as possible.

Halbred's demon was a nasty fellow. He was always flirting with the guardian and making lewd jokes directed toward her. The part she hated the most was that Halbred heard his voice and listened to him. Carrotina despised him and was quite happy when he suddenly disappeared one day. She laughed when she saw the scrawny little replacement demon, but decided to keep herself invisible to him until she knew what exactly it was he planned to do with her precious Halbred.

Carrotina saw Halbred's mental walls slowly go down as she saw the pregnancy test. Her wings fluttered with anticipation as she waited for the moment when she could once again speak to her beloved Halbred. The time finally came right as that wretched demon tried to convince Halbred to end her life. Carrotina flew to Halbred's side, her ironically bright red hair becoming disheveled as she hastened to heal her human's heart.

"You are beautiful," she whispered in Halbred's ear as she revealed herself to the demon. She wanted him to know who it was he lost to as his putrid brothers drug him back to hell. "You are beautiful and strong. I know you think you can't do this, but you can." Fresh tears wet Halbred's eyes as she looked down to stare at her own hands. Carrotina continued, "You may have made undesirable choices in the past, but no human is without their flaws. Now is your chance to rise above all your struggles and do something great!"

Putrigall, who apparently recovered from the great shock of an angel appearing right in front of him, felt rage. He made his way toward the angel, screaming, "Get away from my soul you filthy beast, she's mine!" All it took was one steely look from the angel's almost grey eyes to stop him in his tracks. He helplessly looked on, his body inexplicably frozen, as the angel tried to undo his very future.