Human Nature?

"Men are made for greatness, to stand up and be men, defend their women and children, be strong supporters so people can look up to them... women are not made to be victims and helpless, they are made to be strong together with them, be worthy of their appreciation, to stand against oppression and be the hand on their back pushing them a bit further..."

"Ok Amra, you got my vote, when are you running for president?" Vanessa grinned.

Caliope laughed and shook her head. Amra smiled softly and caressed Caliope's hand gently as everyone else was enjoying a relaxing night in the library after dinner. Maxwell had to excuse himself as he had to manage last details for the wedding; he had promised Caliope a special and thoughtful gift, and he was doing it as a surprise.

Elaine sighed "I am going to excuse myself; I need to rest, tomorrow the twin Generals are arriving for the wedding, and they are always full of energy!"

"The twin Generals?" Caliope asked a little confused.

Pronab chuckled "Mengyi and Mengfei are twins, both are Generals located in Malaysia and as we did not had the chance yet to go there, they are coming to us."

"Ok... full of energy, is that a warning? what Angel has no energy?"

Elaine chuckled "Oh they are just playful and naughty, but they are fun and easygoing so you have nothing to worry about."

As she finished her sentence, Elaine gave Caliope a wink and headed towards the door, leaving a hint of new adventures for the next day. Vanessa was still gasping each time she found a new rare and valuable book in Maxwell's library, which was almost too often. Pronab kept reading his book and each time Vanessa made a silent comment on a new discovery, he smiled without keeping his eyes out of the pages.

Caliope stood up and walked next to her friend, a gentle squeeze on her shoulder brought Vanessa back to the library "Yes, they had time and resources to find all this rare books... I haven't seen you this excited about books before!"

"Caly, if I take only one of these books to the curators of the Museum, I am going to get a pay raise and new position." Vanessa chuckled as Caliope grinned "Oh! that rare?" She turned her head towards Pronab and smirked "Where does he get these books? can we get some for her?"

He lifted his eyes from his book for the first time in a while and looked at the one on Vanessa's hands. He pondered about it for a short time and then put his book aside and walked towards them "This book is from Europe, late 18th century, and is not a classic, he probably acquired it from Lord Marshall, he is a collector, human but aware of our existence, he is a very private person, he only allows to be contacted once every few months and does not always enjoy sharing some of his collections."

"Even if he is paid well? I am sure the Museum where I work would pay fortunes for rare good old treasures like this."

Pronab shrugged "I wouldn't know, last time I had contact with him didn't turn out very well..."

"Why? what happened?" Caliope was now interested. He gave her a grin "He said no."

"To give you something?" she continued, her grin as big as his. Pronab nodded and Caliope laughed "you are too special, you know that?"

He smiled at her and nodded again, returning to his chair and his book. Caliope smiled and looked at Vanessa shrugging "Maybe you need to talk to the General about it."

"I surely will! tomorrow at some point... isn't tomorrow your last day as a single lady? we need to throw you a bachelorette party!"

Caliope blushed and looked towards Amra who was quiet and smiling at her. He kept a very serene and undisturbing stance during the evening but now he was curious "What is that about? why do you do it?" he asked.

"You don't know?"

"I know very little, I haven't married before."

Caliope laughed and pinched Vanessa's arm as she returned to sit on her other side. Vanessa faked pain but smiled as well. "Is not a very religious thing to do I am sure, and to be honest I don't know when it started, but it has been something many do it, if not all, throughout the years."

Amra put an arm around Caliope and kissed the top of her head as he pulled her close and tight. She smiled at him and snuggled in his arm, laying her head on his shoulder as she focused on Vanessa's explanation. "Since in theory, one is supposed to marry their true loved ones and only once, the bachelorette party is made as a symbol of the last day as a single woman, since after that she will be tied to one man only. Some only present funny gifts, and please don't ask me to detail you those... and some invite male strippers to make it more fun, again, it is supposed to be the last time she will be single and would be -ok- to see a naked man, other than her husband to be."

Amra frowned and perked a brow, Vanessa couldn't help but to laugh at his reaction. Pronab had already rested his book and was also chuckling at the detailed description.

"I don't think she should be seen any naked man to begin with... and she is dating someone already, so she is not available."

Vanessa sighed "Amra, is all literally speaking, I mean..."

Caliope decided to interrupt "It is an excuse for the female friends of the bride to go out alone with her, make fun of her, be silly, celebrate that is the last time her friend is going to be available to do that, and just have some fun, there is also the male version of it, is a very commercialized event."

Amra smiled "I can see that... I don't need one of those parties, thank you... but you should, if it is going to be your last time to enjoy it as you said, you can go do silly things with her."

"I don't want to... is going to be a very silly move considering what happened last time I was out without you... I don't want to make things worst being so close to our wedding..."

Vanessa sighed "I am sorry, I did not thought of that, you are right. We can still make some fun dinner all together."

"That, I would like." Caliope nodded with a smile, Amra agreed.

Vanessa was happy and excited, and Caliope agreed to let her organize the event on her own. They all headed to bed and Caliope walked Vanessa to her room, close to hers. At the door, Vanessa smiled in silence and then gave her a tight hug "I wish I could have enjoyed more moments with you before this, but I am happy, honored, and extremely blessed to have been invited and allowed into this wonderful event, to be part of your new life, of this new truth and reality..."

"Awww my dearest friend, I couldn't have dreamed of marrying without you at my side, you know that... and this feels a little less heavy knowing you share the knowledge of it... I felt overwhelmed many times..."

"It will all be fine dear, don't worry... they will make things happen, I can see how determinate they are, and how powerful they are... it will all be ok..."

"I am nervous... about the wedding... but excited over all..."

"If you were not nervous I would worry, it is ok to be nervous, it is ok to fear a little to the unknown... but you my friend, you are in good hands, the best ones!"

They held each other tightly once more before Caliope headed back to her room. Vanessa sighed and closed the door, looking around her room and realizing she still was amazed by all the new world that just opened to her a few days ago.

The morning after was cold and grey, very unusual for what they were all expecting. Elaine was wearing a clean and simple suit and she was ready to head to the Airport and welcome their new guests. Caliope was curious and wanted to go as well but Elaine insisted her to stay, she did not put much fight. Instead, Vanessa made sure she kept her busy with many details for her wedding; she had to put some order in how she wanted the tables displayed on the yard, and how she wanted the altar build at the top of the hill. Caliope found out how complicated it turned out to be to work on a wedding. Amra smiled at her and offered some help, but he found out he felt useless deciding on things such as the display of flowers and location of decorative drapes "...and that is why this is a woman's job, or gays..." Vanessa grinned.

"I am really going to be tired tonight after all these preparations... you should have warned me!"

"Oh please! you are having it much easier than most!"

She laughed and nodded, continuing to work on the many other tasks she had before the night. After a break during lunch, she noticed Elaine had not returned yet and started to get worried.

"Pronab, why is Elaine taking so long?"

"She must be spoiling the twin Generals."

"Spoiling them? how? what do you mean?"

"They have particular tastes, we all do..."

The way he mentioned the last words made Caliope blink twice in surprise. She never thought about it before, but it was true; each General or Angel had some strange taste or fixation in something in particular, and Pronab had just admitted to have one as well. Vanessa was smiling at Pronab and dedicating him more attention than usual, a small hint of jealousy creeped up on her. She took a deep breath and repeated to herself mentally -just one more day- before she focused on her friend and the rest of the plans of the evening.

As she was walking by the main entrance, she saw a large bouquet of red roses with a card, she asked one of the servants who delivered them and all he knew was it was a young man who just left. She opened the envelope and read the card:

-I know you would have been much happier with me... but if this is what you want, so be it... I promise you, it will be one hell of a wedding!-

Amra sensed something wrong, even though he did not know where or how, he dropped the book on the floor and headed out of the library searching for Caliope. As soon as he found her, he saw her leaning against the wall, a hand on her chest and the other in a fist, gripping tight to a piece of paper; she was in tears. He rushed to clean her tears with his fingertips and kissed her forehead "What is bringing you this pain and tears?"

"I thought he would stop bothering me... but now, it seems that dark Angels are not the only threat against our perfect day..."

He closed his eyes and briefly after he shook his head. Once he sighed, he opened his eyes and cupped her chin to make her look at him, she tried to avoid his eyes, but she knew his will was too strong. "You realize I will have to end this... I can't have you suffering... not like this... "

"Why did he had to set his eyes on me?"

Amra suddenly smiled "Why wouldn't he? you are beautiful, smart, you would not imagine how many things you are, not just to me..."

"He is threatening to ruin my day, our day... I feel helpless, but if I had him in front of me I don't know what I would do, besides slap him on the face and kick him hard somewhere painful..."

"...and that is why he will have to die..."

"Do you have the power to decide who lives and who dies? isn't taking a human life against your natural law?"

Pronab was the one who replied her question, he spoke with almost glowing eyes "He will die, under his hands or mine... we both care about you, but he is jeopardizing more than just your wedding, he is putting at risk our existence to the world and he is playing with fire... he wants to set some vendetta towards Amra because he is with you... he is fool enough not to realize that he never really had you."