by Skyler Andra
Shell Cove, a safe haven for angels, was where I had landed on Earth. A holy ground free of darkness. Protected by bubbles of light, maintained by the Nephilim residing in the towns. If they were destroyed, it would be much harder for the Most High to send down more angels without Luc’s knowledge.
“This weekend that’s all going to change.” Uri’s voice darkened. “Sterling City is going to be smashed by darkness if we don’t stop the concert from proceeding. It’s going to need all the light it can get.”
Finally, I understood his meaning. He was encouraging me to uplift the city as much as I could to balance the light against the upcoming onslaught of darkness.
“We all have to work together as the Mort High wants us to,” I reminded Uri. “Otherwise Luc wins if we’re divided.”
“Tell that to Mike,” Uri snapped as he marched ahead to the front entrance, a large portico.
He entered the building, leaving me to ponder this.
My pulse quickened and I clasped my hands tightly. Stubborn, infuriating angels. They both needed to swallow their pride and apologize to each other. That was the only way we were going to move forward.
Once, in Heaven, Michael told me about the great many woman behind all the infamous male leaders, each advising them of alternate ways to settle conflicts rather than constantly warring with enemies. Maybe that was why I’d been sent here. A woman’s touch to sooth the clashing male egos. Well, I certainly had a job ahead of me, didn’t I?
I glanced back at the outdated building and the dead park across the street. The little voice inside my head begged for me to unleash my grace and beautify it. I cocked my head, feeling it out, checking to make sure it wasn’t the darkness trying to coax me to do something I’d regret. But it wasn’t. It was my intuition guiding me.
If I did this, if I used my grace to transform this place, I was going to upset Mike. He’d strictly forbade me from using my powers unless an emergency arose, or it was absolutely necessary. But that order went against every instinct inside of me. The humans needed to be reminded that beauty and hope existed in this world. That not everything had to be dull, dreary, and depressing. Uri’s efforts had shown me that. Mike needed a reminder that we could all contribute in this war—that we all had a part to play.
I wasn’t just talking about sprucing up the façade of the council chambers building either. The humans at the botanical gardens were transformed when surrounded by the beauty and wonder of nature. Enlivened, they smiled, laughed, and interacted with their family and friends rather than being disconnected or typing on their phones or glued to television sets. Reconnecting everyone, I believed, was what the Most High wanted. If the humans felt a sense of belonging again, if they saw things improving, light returning, plants growing, then maybe they wouldn’t be lost and battling their darkness alone.
Wasn’t that also why the Most High had sent me? Not just to reunite the others. Surely that meant my powers were useful in this war. If that were the case, then I intended to do my Creator proud.
Grace welled beneath my sternum. The darkness lashed at the walls containing it, trying to get away from the light, but was unable to. It wailed as I sent out of a pulse of my power across the city. A natural shine returned to the slate tiles lining the walkway outside the building. Grime vanish from the column bricks. Graffiti disappear from the statue.
Brilliant!
But that wasn’t the extent of it. Roses sprouted from the ground. Jasmine crept up along the trellis along one wall. Azaleas and Petunias sprung up in the raised garden beds right outside of the building.
When I spun to examine the rest of the street, the lawn had regrown at the park opposite the council chambers. Leaves rustled on the large dead trees, each one over one hundred years of age. Onlookers raised hands to their mouths, stared up at the sky, all amazed at the miracle despite no sun shining over this part of the town. A dog going for a walk with its owner ran to the grass and rolled on its back, rubbing itself on the soft, plush ground cover. A woman passing the council chambers picked a flower and put it in her hair.
Pleased with my effort, I smiled, picked a flower for myself, tucked it behind my ear and dusted my hands.
“See?” Uri said from behind me. He must have sensed my release of power and come to examine the effect. “It makes a difference.”
Yes, it did. In my angelic form, I might have the power to transform the rest of the world, but not in this restricted human body. One thousandth of that effort would probably severely tire and weaken me. After Uri’s earlier reminder, I realized I still needed to hold onto all the power I could to fight Lucifer and his concert this weekend.
But a little display of beauty wouldn’t hurt anyone. If Mike took issue with it… well, I’d deal with it then.
I hurried to follow Uri as he entered the building again. Inside was just as ugly. Old wooden counters, cracked crème tiles.
Uri leaned on the counter, clasping his hands together and entwining his fingers. Three assistants were busy behind the counter typing at their computers. He pressed a bell on the counter and it chimed.
The closest assistant glanced up from her computer screen. She was a young woman of about twenty-five, her hair messily tucked up in a clip, her makeup thick.
“Can I help you?” she asked, sounding as bored as she looked.
“I’d like to read the Sterling City Council Planning Policy, please,” Uri replied, his voice bright, cheerful.
The assistant rose from her desk, traipsed a few steps to a shelf beside her desk, lifted a heavy volume from it, and slammed it on the counter.
“Happy reading,” she droned with the enthusiasm of a brick.
“Thank you,” Uri replied, opening to the first page of the book.
When she sat back down, her attention returned to her computer, her fingers clacking on the keyboard.
Wasting no time, he got to work, placing his wrist in the indent of the pages. His eyes flicked back and forth as he absorbed the information from the book using a small application of grace. A few moments later, he smiled and sighed, closing the volume with a soft thud.
“I’ve scanned this sucker,” he announced, sliding the Planning Policy across the counter, startling the attendant and she jerked. “Stored everything up top in the old churning neuron engine.”
I chuckled at his analogy.
“That was fast, sir,” the council assistant replied with a skeptical smirk. “Find anything?”
Angels could speed read a document as thick as my hand in a matter of minutes. As Archangel of Wisdom, Uri had a reputation as one of the faster readers.
“I certainly did.” He smiled and tapped his palm on the top of the document.
Her eyebrow raised.
Uri’s voice entered my mind. “She thinks me just another idiot that comes into the council’s reception to prattle on about policy when they know nothing about it. Someone has another thing coming, don’t they?”
I hid my smile behind my hand.
Uri had a mind like no other, built to store all the wisdom of the Most High.
“I will give her one thing,” Uri added inside my mind. “Council policy is absolute dribble in comparison to the experience of the cosmos. Boring rules and regulations on how high a building could be, restrictions on exterior colors, distances from site boundaries. Enough to put a man to sleep!”
I chuckled low into my hand.
“What did you find?” I asked him.
“A few rules with which I could argue our case,” he returned.
Wonderful news. Although a little guilt nipped at me. Hopefully Mike would be pleased at this news and not dwell on his annoyance over me using my grace.
“I’d like to speak to the head of the planning department, please,” Uri told the assistant. “About some breeches in council policy for the concert scheduled this weekend.”
The attendant gave him an incredulous look with a wrinkled nose and curled top lip. Hmm. Young ones these days. So full of impud
ence.
He leaned forward, returning the challenging stare. She sighed and picked up her phone, dialing a number.
“Hi Graham. I’ve got a gentleman here,” she said, her eyes flicking to us both, once up and down over me, “who wants to discuss the concert for this weekend.”
My sensitive angelic hearing picked up Graham’s response. “I’ve got a meeting in five. Take a message and I’ll get back to him.”
He hung up.
“Sorry, sir,” the attendant began, “he’s not able to come down at the moment.”
Uri’s tapping on the council policy book slowed to a dull beat.
“Well that’s not good enough.” His voice rose, enough for the other assistants behind the counter to glance up at him. “The council has approved plans for an event which breaches Sterling City Planning Policy code 3.42 that states the stadium is to be used for sporting events only.”
The young woman opened the book, scanning down the index.
“Page fifty-four,” Uri advised her with a flick of his finger.
He glanced at me and smiled.
“In addition,” he said, “I’m willing to bet that the seating capacity of the event far exceeds that approved in the development application. May I see a copy of that document?”
The attendant tensed. “Those documents are not available for public viewing.”
“Okay.” He tapped his fingers on the counter, feigning defeat, but by the determined look on his face, I knew he had a new strategy in mind.
If anything, I learned he didn’t give up that easily. Persistence and tenacity were key in his world. He hadn’t worked tirelessly for a year to wipe out the darkness from this part of town just to be told no.
“I guess I’ll have to see what the Sterling City Bulletin has to say about this then.” He sounded downbeat and like he had no other choice.
Brilliant plan! We’d walked past the office of the city’s newspaper on our way here. They could be made aware of the impending darkness about to descend upon their city all by the way of the concert.
At these words her eyes widened.
He tipped his cap to her. “Thanks for your time.”
He tugged at my coat and I followed him to the exit.
A few steps into our retreat, she called our after us, “I’ll try Graham again.”
Uri stopped, flashed two thumbs up at me and spun around.
I clutched my hands, hoping this meant good news.
The woman dialed the planner’s number again. They argued back and forth until she snapped, “You’ve got to get down here or he’ll go to the newspaper!”
Graham got down to the reception incredibly fast for someone that had been about to go into a meeting. A tired looking man with grey hair in well-worn suit pants, shirt, and tie appeared.
Uri gave him an incredibly convincing lecture on the breaches of city code that the event violated. The employee agreed while discussing further codes, his eyes brightening when he realized Uri understood his language.
“I actually knocked back the application for more than those two code violations,” Graham said. “Not enough toilets to service a crowd of that size and restricted disabled persons access needed upgrading. The whole stadium needed serious upgrades because of its age.”
“Why was it approved then?” Uri asked.
“This one was out of my hands,” Graham explained, shoving his hands in his armpits. “The mayor and councilors all voted against me and approved it anyway.”
“Dammit,” Uri muttered under his breath.
“What does that mean?” I asked, not understanding.
“They can override decisions made by the planning department if they believe it will benefit the city.”
Graham’s chin lowered to his chest showing that he’d fought long and hard but lost this battle with his superiors.
“The mayor argued that we hadn’t had any major events in years,” he stated. “That it would bring tourists to the area and improve the local economy, and eventually boost short term employment for locals and building trades, food supplies, and equipment hiring.”
Well, I guess they did have a point. But what was the point in having rules if they could be overturned?
“Two councilors backed him up,” Graham added, “claiming it would liven up Sterling City and the people. They all voted for the event.”
Uri put a calming hand on his shoulder.
Graham stiffened before saying, “We don’t need a bloody metal concert to revive this city. A thriving economy comes from long-term employment, boosted by industry, not a weekend event. An active tourism industry would have survived if they hadn’t knocked down historical buildings in favor of welfare housing.”
“I hear you, man.” Uri nodded and rested his chin between his thumb and forefinger.
“Is there anything we can do?” I asked.
Graham’s gaze shot to me. “No. I’m sorry. The concert is going ahead whether we like it or not.”
17
Michael
We arrived at the stadium early. At first light. My head ached and I felt like shit. I hadn’t slept a wink after losing at the casino last night. We were really fucked, and I didn’t have a clue how to get us out of trouble. Apart from going to a regular casino.
Not an option with all their security cameras. Evidence for Luc, if he and his minions kept track of it. I didn’t want to feed his ego and make him think he’d won me over anymore than I wanted to reveal my location. Imagine his exhilaration knowing that I’d stooped to the level of his darkness to feed, shelter, and cloth my army. Nope. Not happening.
Trucks pulled into the stadium, they were delivering booze, merchandise, fast food, fencing, and more. We needed to take a closer inspection.
Thank the Most High for Gabe’s lead on Luc. Finally, this was what we’d needed. Our golden ticket home. I sure fucking hoped so.
I glanced at Zak. “Let’s scout this bitch out.”
“Aye aye general.” Zak gave me a salute and marched beside me.
We snuck into the stadium gates, moving deeper to the delivery drop off zone. The area was choked with vehicle fumes. A truck on its way out revved in front of us as a delivery van drove in. I motioned at Zak. We hid behind the van when it parked in the parking bay. Rats accepted the deliveries of cartons and boxes. The boxes filled with all sorts of equipment were stacked up: chairs, cables, speakers, and more. Deliverymen wheeled out boxes of water and fried foods, pushing their trolleys into the main stadium.
Zak and I followed them, examining the set up from a distance.
Crews carried chairs into the main playing field, setting up more seating on the dead grass. Builders erected the walls of the main stage and other props. Electricians hauled cables around, lying them out on the ground, and wiring them on the stage. Sound engineers tested the quality of the sound and check for any echo of the speakers. The place was a hive of activity.
“I think we need to figure out how to cut the power supply to prevent this gig from going ahead,” I told Zak.
“Great idea.” Fuck miracles do happen, he agreed with me. “Lead the way oh mighty leader.”
“Only if you say that every day, go on stroke my ego,” I joked.
“I don’t need to,” Zak retorted. “You’re ego’s almost as big as heaven.”
I went to tell him to fuck off when my skin prickled from the darkness crawling all over this place. Angels, like humans, were energetic creatures. Highly sensitive to changes in the energy surrounding us. When in the presence of darkness, our stomachs cramped, we felt ill all over, as if we had a gut infection. Nasty shit.
“Do you feel that?” I asked him.
“Feel what?” he glanced at me
Either Zak had ignored the warning signs or his senses were off. For someone infected by so much darkness, he should have been better attuned to them. A pestering shiver wormed its way up my back at the unpleasant thought.
The Dragon had been right. Zak was too far gone
. Every day he dived deeper into darkness. I feared we were running out of time to save him.
But I wasn’t about to give up on him just yet. Recently, I’d seen glimpses of the old Zak; the more bearable, less irritable smartass angel that I’d considered my best friend. The reason? Jojo. The only thing I could attribute to this change in him. He hadn’t fucked another woman in a week. He had respected my wishes and her, enough to stay away, enough to not chew her up and spit her out the way he had with so many woman. Then he’d stood up for Jojo against Luc. A fucking stupid move, but she obviously meant something to him. A huge change for him. With that last encounter, Zak had helped to organize buses home for the rats that we’d cleared of the darkness. Normally, he’d cleanse them and leave them for dust. All this showed me that he had potential for redemption.
The cramps in my stomach turned into a harsh clamp that refused to break.
Footsteps slapped against the concrete of the delivery area, signaling that people were approaching. They were arguing, their voices grew louder, echoing off the walls.
“The boss won’t be happy about this,” one guy snapped. “We’re supposed to sell thirty thousand tickets.”
“I don’t care what he thinks,” the other guy barked.
I motioned at Zak, we snuck backward, almost running into a security guard that was roaming the place. Fuck. I hurried left, ducking behind a beer delivery truck. By the time I realized Zak and I got split up, two rats wandered into view, one wearing a suit, the other slacks and a shirt.
Eighty feet away, I caught Zak jumping into the back of a merchandise truck, hiding behind the closed door.
Shit. This was not part of the plan.
“No one ‘round here has a spare eighty bucks,” the guy in slacks grumbled. “What was the boss thinking setting up a concert in a shithole town like this? No one’s gonna come here.”
“You know what he can do to us if we fail,” the first said.
“We’re already dead,” the second guy said.
Rats. Dark as they came. Even their eyes had blackened over.
“Gentleman,” a voice interrupted them. They stiffened and turned.
