by A. Catherine
Once I finished, I dried off, dressed, brushed my teeth, and combed my hair back to keep it out of my face. I packed pretty quickly before we came here, so my choice of clothing was limited to a pale-yellow t-shirt and overalls.
Almost immediately after returning to my room my stomach growled. I checked my phone once more before heading down the hall. I didn’t entirely know where I was going, but I figured eventually I’d reach the main room.
It was so quiet, that when I entered the kitchen area I couldn’t help but jump when I saw Gabriel standing by the kitchen island.
He turned at the sound of my arrival. “You’re awake, would you like something to eat?” he asked.
I took a deep breath to calm my heartbeat and sat on one of the island stools. No one else was around.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
He lifted the steaming kettle from the stove and poured its contents into a mug, then handed it to me. I took a sip, chai tea.
“They have things to take care of. This is what you would call an ongoing investigation. In addition to finding out as much as we can about what happened to Mason, they all still have to maintain their other duties as well,” Gabriel explained.
He pulled out a container of eggs and a loaf of bread from the fridge. Cracking the eggs into a sizzling pan and plopping a couple slices of bread into the toaster.
“What about you? Don’t you have…duties as well?” I asked.
He nodded. Adding some spices and herbs to the eggs as they cooked.
“When Mason…passed. And we started this alliance, the position of your Guardian needed to be filled. Because we aren’t entirely sure what the threat is, it was decided that I would be your Guardian for the time being, to be safe. So, you’re my priority as of now. When I need to tend to my division elsewhere, one of the others will take over.” He flipped the omelet and took the toast from the toaster. “Butter? Jam?”
I cleared my throat. “Just butter is fine, thank you.” He scraped some on and then handed me the plate of toast and returned to the eggs.
“Are Guardian angels always with their humans?”
He nodded. “Nearly always, aside from the times when they need to report back to heaven in person.”
I gulped. “That’s just a tad creepy.”
He chuckled.
“I suppose it seems that way. But they’re merely there to protect you and guide you towards the next part of your life, then you are assigned a new Guardian. It’s like in school, when you finish elementary and move on to junior high with new teachers and new maturities, if that makes sense.”
“But I thought there were less angels than humans, how is it possible to cover every single one?”
Gabriel folded the eggs into an omelet. I finished the first slice of toast while he answered.
“There are a lot of things we can do that aren’t comprehensible for mortals. Guardians in particular usually watch more than one human at a time, and they have duality abilities. They can shift parts of their soul from one place to the other without winnowing, and at much faster rates. They’re so fast, that essentially they can be in two or more places at once.”
The more I learned about the supernatural the more I thought that if all this was just a sliver of their world, it was no wonder they kept it to themselves.
“So…when an angel has these duality abilities, as you say, they are assigned to be Guardians?” I hope I got that right—they mentioned a paranormal pyramid yesterday.
It wouldn’t be helpful to learn all these things and not remember them later. Not that I could, I spent a good part of the night and this morning going over every word, every look, memorizing the things I learned.
If I were going to be stuck here, I was going to learn all I could.
“Precisely. When we train angels, some of their natural gifts manifest, and those gifts tell us a lot about which division they would do best in.”
While he was being so open, might as well dig a bit deeper, even though another headache was coming on.
“You said ‘it was decided’, did you mean that…God assigned you to me?” he only nodded.
I took the last bite of my second slice of toast.
“So he actually exists…” I mumbled through my chewing.
Gabriel paused, peering at me. “I’m guessing you weren’t a religious person.”
“No. I’m an atheist. Was an atheist, I guess. After studying so many religions, it becomes hard to believe in any one of them fully,” I explained.
He gave me an understanding nod. “All religions only contain about three percent of the actual truth. We purposefully keep it that way to protect humanity.”
“By keeping us ignorant?” The question slipped without warning.
Gabriel wasn’t fazed. He scooped the eggs onto a plate and set it in front of me.
“You remember how intense yesterday was, how shocking the little bits of information we were giving you were? We haven’t even scratched the surface, it’ll take a long while to tell you everything, and even longer for it all to make sense,” he stated.
“And you’re a lucky one, your mind is open and educated, we can only assume that that is what’s keeping the fragments of your mind from imploding. I’ve witnessed mortals shatter from just seeing an angel in all their grace, let alone knowing everything there is to know about them.”
The memory of seeing Gabriel, wings unfurled and golden grace consuming my apartment came to mind.
“Mortals are built differently than the rest of us. Fragile. Imagine trying to explain the entire universe to a colony of ants.” My nose crinkled at that. “Not that you are ants. It just means, that our reality wouldn’t bode well for yours.”
Though his explanation made sense, but it made me feel even more helpless.
I ate the remainder of the eggs in silence. Gabriel only waited patiently. But my eating brought up a question I had last night.
“You all ate last night. Do you actually need to eat?”
He shook his head, grinning at the more casual question.
“No, not really. We can eat, but it’s not necessary for our survival. Demons indulge in mortal delectations such as eating more than angels do. But they have a different…disposition, as you might have noticed.”
“So, the religious histories, like Lucifer and the Fall…they really happened?”
“Not exactly the way they were told no. Lucifer did revolt against heaven, but it was more of a strong disagreement and a negotiation. It lasted for a few thousand years. A lot of it had to do with Lucifer being restless with the structure of heaven. Some angels agreed with him that there needed to be some unrest in order for the Balance to truly be even.
This wasn’t long into the period of peace and order following The Tear. So God made it happen, through Lucifer. Hell needed a full-time leader, and Lucifer served as the best option. Part of his compromise was the transformation of Lillith to a demon and the ability to procreate with her to build a species of their own. The Fallen were the sect of angels that chose to go with him.”
“Wait, The Tear?”
Gabriel leaned his folded arms on the counter, the action was casual, human even.
“That creature, the vetala. That was just one of many ancient primordial creatures that once roamed the Earth alongside humans. They were made with darkness and were very corrupt. Think of them like the titans in Greek mythology.”
“Okay.”
“They were jealous of the mortals—who grew quickly and had a higher level of thinking, not to mention were favored by the almighty himself. So they reacted by going on a killing spree. We marked it as Paṭukolai, or The Great Slaughter. It was a blood bath, they wiped out the entire mortal population that existed back then.”
Images of monsters from myths and histories of ancient civilizations flooded my head.
He continued on, “The Tear was when the almighty and the archangels rallied and imprisoned them in powerful prisons that they couldn’t escape from. Places li
ke Tartarus and Sheol. Once they were done away with, the almighty refined his design of mortals, created them again and without the primordials around they were able to live and evolve in peace.”
I stared at my cup, baffled by what I was hearing, intrigued even.
“Sounds like what Zeus and the Olympians did against Kronos,” I chimed.
He chuckled, sitting in the stool next to me.
“Our Scribes and Principalities were less restricted back then with how much they shared with humans. A lot of the ancient mythologies have a lot of truth in them, if you know where and how to decipher the truth out of the dramatics.”
I fidgeted with the edge of the counter.
Awkward silence lingered between us. Even though I had many, many questions to ask. I think taking a short break from absorbing information would keep the headaches at bay.
Gabriel didn’t seem to mind the silence. He didn’t even stare, at least no more than a glance every now and then. Surely, he knew I was ruminating.
When he wasn’t looking at me, I would look at him. Taking note of his clothing. He wore a blue/green plaid button-down shirt and dark jeans. Casual, yet professional. His hair was cleanly styled, neat and trimmed. He didn’t wear any watches or rings. No tattoos, like the demons had.
Clean, simple, efficient.
Less of his light leaked today. Maybe he had let some it out to avoid it seeping through again. But even his eyes occasionally showed a glimmer of gold every now and then.
He was beautiful.
I suppose an archangel would be. His very essence made me comfortable, a soft melody meant to temper and soothe those around him. This close I could smell roses and brine. His scent—just as calming as his presence.
He glanced back at me and caught my eye—caught me staring. But he didn’t mock me for it, didn’t smirk like Kale would. He only stared back, completely calm and patient.
“Is there anyone who will worry about you if they don’t hear from you regularly? Your parents, perhaps?” he asked quietly.
I sipped my tea, shaking my head.
“My parents live in North Dakota. We’ve never been close, they’re intellectuals like me, focused on their work. We only talk on birthdays, and I only see them every other Christmas. It’ll be a long while before they would even notice I was gone. But I guess, if you’re all going to cover my tracks, then really I’m not missing at all.” He dipped his chin in response.
“What do your parents do?” he asked.
I shrugged. “My dad is a mathematician—he freelances coding algorithms for apps. My mom is a botanist, she writes gardening books. Both of them are very invested in what they do.”
“No siblings?”
“Ha! No, one kid was already too much work.”
I tapped on the counter, now finding the crumbs on my plate entertaining.
Gabriel shifted in his seat. Was he even comfortable?
“Sounds like you get your intelligence and thirst for knowledge from your parents.”
I grinned. “Along with an unrelenting drive and lack of social skills,” I chuckled lightly.
His smile matched mine, along with some relief. Relief that I was not falling apart, perhaps…
My thoughts drifted from his beautiful face to Mason’s. Even while he died, he was radiant. My chest tightened and throat bobbed recalling that painful memory.
Gabriel noticed the change and touched my hand, concern written over his face.
“Are you alright?”
My eyes brimmed with tears. “Why did I see him die? Is that normal?” My voice cracked.
His hand fully held mine now, his thumb gently stroking my palm.
“A Guardian has never died like that, so we’re not sure if it is normal for humans to experience it with them. I have to assume it was probably because of the Guardian bond. It’s a special connection that allows the Guardian to feel everything their human feels and sometimes communicate with them through.”
I took a few deep breaths, regaining some of my lost composure, trying not to see the blood and feel his agony.
I looked down at our hands, his were so warm and soft. I raised my eyes to his, and though they were filled with concern and sympathy, I began to get lost in the deep blue colors, and the flecks of gold that flashed every once in a while.
He broke contact and turned towards the entry way. But his eyes were distant…that same expression he had when he and Kale would speak silently at the apartment.
“What is it?”
“Last night, Kale and his circle went and dealt with a hoard of wraiths. They left one alive, they’re on their way back with it right now,” he answered.
He stood and made for the archway, stopping just before it.
“It won’t be pleasant to see. You may want to go elsewhere until we take care of it,” he suggested.
Another monster, and they were bring it here.
“I’ll just…stay in here, watch tv or something.”
He nodded and walked out and down the stairway.
I had plopped on the futon when I heard a loud whooshing sound from the floor below.
A small, gurgled screech followed.
“Took you all night to bring that back? Did you go sight-seeing on the way?” Gabriel’s voice asked.
A large thump, another sickening shriek.
“What, were you waiting for me tuck you in?” Kale’s voice joked. “We took our time with the others, even cleaned up a little. But winnowing a primordial is like crawling through mud. And I was also carrying these three, so yeah, it took a while longer.”
The sound of chains rattled against the floor, and then clinking accompanied by another blood curdling screech.
“What were you doing in Cape Town?” Gabriel asked.
A hiss answered. Footsteps reached the top of the stairs.
I whirled, Lillith and Daevas had come in, walking towards their hallway. Both of them were head-to-toe in dark, tight-fitting clothes, leather straps wrapped around their arms, legs, chests with various weapons.
The color of their clothing almost completely hid the liquid that was splattered on them, but it was noticeable on their weapons and on their exposed skin. Not blood, at least not a type of blood I’ve ever seen, it looked like used car oil.
Lillith waved flirtatiously at me as they passed me.
“You can go peek if you want, it’s positively gnarly,” she cooed.
Then they were both gone. My eyes drifted from the hallway they went into to the open archway, to the loud screech that sounded from past it.
“This will be a long and painful process, wraith. You might as well answer our questions,” Kale said with an eerie calmness.
Another hiss.
Then a scratchy, inhuman voice said, “Chaos. We’re causing chaos.”
A chill ran down my spine from the sound of the wraith’s voice. But I moved, touching the archway frame. I was half-tempted to just turn and run towards my room.
Taking a deep breath, I ignored that urge and walked into the large warehouse floor. The others hadn’t noticed me, so I stayed low, going halfway down the steps before sitting and watching through the bars.
In the middle of the room, held down to the floor by bolted chains was a hooded creature. The hood was black and torn in places. Its arms were thin, skin and bones, no muscle. The skin was gray and had a glossy sheen coating it. Instead of fingers, it had long claws that stretched out, longer than my own forearms. Its head was low, the hood covering its face.
Seere was sitting cross-legged about ten feet or so from it, dragging the tip of her blade along the concrete floor lazily, wearing a similar attire that Lillith and Daevas wore.
Gabriel stood directly in front of it with his arms crossed, grounded and calm. Kale was also dressed for a fight, though he had retained his leather jacket and didn’t have weapons surrounding every inch of his body.
Did he even need weapons?
Kale was crouched on the floor, his index finger
tracing swirls, dots and jagged lines into the floor, and where he touched the lines would glow orange like burning embers.
“How did you escape from your prison?” Kale asked.
The wraith made a stuttered hissing sound, like it was chuckling. “Trick question.”
Kale crossed another line in his current pattern and the wraith screeched again in pain. Whatever he was drawing was causing it pain.
“Fangelsi’s doors were open,” it gasped. It sighed when the pain stopped.
