After a long gulp, he started again, “He created the world for us in seven days out of love. When He looked around and saw everything was good. He created us in His divine image. I’ve recently discovered, it might be naïve of me to admit this, God created others before humankind.
“It never occurred to me, and I never questioned, where Angels came from. Angels were His creations too. They serve Him in Heaven. Some walk with us continuously, guiding us the best they can through our lives.
“When we were created, a group of Angels wanted what God had, they wanted the ability to create in their image, and the war in Heaven began. They were no longer satisfied with their duties. In the end, they lost and were cast from the glories in the sky to Earth. Most of you know Lucifer or Satan. But few know about the others.”
Cody knew he was walking a precarious line with the direction he was going with tonight’s talk, but he continued, “The Legions of Fallen Angels descended on us. It is impossible to know why God sent them here, to the world He had created and where His facsimiles lived. Why didn’t He destroy them? Why not send them elsewhere?”
Belphegor gapped at Cody as he had no idea where he was leading. One moment he felt as though Cody were going to tell the audience who he was, the next he turned back on track.
“They walk among us to this day. They manipulate us. They tempt us with riches, and try to steal our souls.” The lights in the Shoshone flickered, and the lobby door swung open. A dark silhouette blocked the light from the lobby from entering the theater. Cody trembled, as he continued, “He had a plan, He still has a plan. His plan is about repentance and forgiveness. Even the Fallen Angels have the option. But to truly repent, one must look inside. Forget the distractions of life and look deep.”
Eyes darker than the skin of his face burned across the theater at Cody. He stood for a moment in front of the closing doors; had he been any taller, his head would have brushed the chandeliers. His long stride brought him down the aisle in seconds. In the light of the stage, his features burst with elegance. His broad forehead was smooth without the slightest crease blemishing its surface. High cheekbones drew his skin tightly toward his wide, unsmiling mouth.
The vein in his neck stood out, throbbing as he gazed at Cody. Whispers hissed through the audience, speaking of the latecomer, then died away when he sat in the empty seat in the front row directly in front of Cody; his form no longer gargantuan, but in scale with the seat which had suddenly emptied for him.
Cody’s mouth went dry, and he desperately wanted another sip of water, but he had to finish before it was impossible for him to continue. He took a breath, then said, “You will find Him. Take time each day for reflection. Turn off the TV, your computers, your radios. Don’t pick up the newspaper. Look inside instead.
“Clear your mind only for you and God. The world is so busy these days worrying about what others are doing. In the special time, you set aside, forget the world. Lay down your anger, your hate, and your earthly desires. Afterward, you’ll have a new outlook with God at your side. Remember His love is the greatest love to have, and all you have to do is ask for it.”
Hector watched him approach the stage. The brightness emitting from her didn’t begin to penetrate the darkness pouring from him. Before he had entered, she noticed Bergen had squirmed uncomfortably in the seat next to Leona. She was more than a little surprised the child had talked Leona into returning, though Nathan, who had stayed firm on his distaste for being in the theater, wasn’t with them.
Somehow the child was connected to the realm of Angels; it was beyond Hector’s knowledge or rank to know more than she already did about Bergen, which was what Cody knew and nothing more.
Once Gabriel had enlisted her to intervene, she knew she would find herself face to face with more than Belphegor, and now the moment had arrived. She didn’t flinch as his fluid movements carried him down the ramp.
As much as she had known God wasn’t going to be the only interested party with what was happening in Shoshoni, she never expected him to be the first.
Cody glanced at his Watcher, who winked, her green intensifying. He gulped nervously, and then continued, “Every man, woman, and child is worthy. Every soul God created is welcome in His arms. No one will be turned away.
“In closing, I turn to a memory from one summer when a missionary spoke at our church. He told us about villages in Africa where people worshipped demons and allowed themselves to be possessed. In his tale, he said the one thing that frightened him the most was seeing the demons transforming the features of these villagers, defacing God’s creations.
“My question at the time was why did anyone invite something against God into their bodies? The missionary told me because they were tricked into believing it was God.
“They are devious, and mean nothing but harm to man.” A can light overhead buzzed. Was there a rumble from the basement? Cody closed his eyes, feeling vibrations in the planks beneath his bare feet. Keeping his voice steady, he finished, saying, “God will forgive. All you have to do is ask. Even the Fallen will be heard.” He glanced at the dark man below him. “God loves you.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isaiah 14:12, KJV
Amen echoed from the audience as the stage and spotlights dimmed while the house lights were brightening. Cody remained center stage though the curtains didn’t close. He was relieved to see his brother had exited with the others standing in the back.
Fine hairs rose along his body as the dark man in the front gazed upon him; he hadn’t left with the other members of the audience. The man and woman who had sat next to him were the most eager to leave, stepping dangerously close to the edge of the orchestra pit while keeping themselves from looking toward the malevolent being.
His focus remained on Cody, assessing him, not allowing any detail to go unnoticed. Once the patrons had evacuated the theater, he rose, shaking his head.
“I see what I’ve been hearing is true,” rang his deep voice. “The Throne is making a play.”
Shadows muted the phosphorescent glow of the house lights. The darkness shooting from him moved beyond the one who had professed God’s love to the one hidden behind the curtain at stage right.
The intense dark face of the man on the floor was elegant and gruesome, and though Cody wanted to divert his attention, he struggled with finding the courage to blink.
His voice, though it was deep and booming, held the silkiness Belphegor and Hector had. The black suit and shirt he wore were cut similarly to Belphegor’s blue, accentuating his muscular build, as though they had the same tailor.
Without ever hearing the man’s name spoken, Cody knew it. The sound of it floated softly from the far recess of his consciousness, becoming echoes turning on themselves, intensifying its pitch until he thought his head would explode.
Louder the name roared, demanding to be spoken, fiercely beating on his tongue, prying at his lips to open, proclaiming it to the world. He tried to think of other things, hoping to stop the name from repeating in his mind and keep his mouth from yearning to speak it.
“Lucifer.” His mouth disobeyed the commands he had given to stay silent, and it was too late to take the word back.
The dark beams bore down on Cody; though his eyes were closed, he knew the sharpness of the gaze. Laughter erupted from Lucifer, shaking the theater. The chandeliers overhead rattled and swayed, threatening to throw the crystal pendants to the floor.
The flipped up seats clapped with the backs, providing a mighty wind disturbing the dust and bits of debris left by the audience; its cloud mixed with the gloom covering the room.
With the maelstrom came an invisible hand gripping him, pinning his arms to his sides, squeezing tighter and tighter. Cody’s head began to pound with the lack of oxygen to his restricted lungs.
The pressure on his bones became excr
uciating. At any moment, Cody expected them to shatter, leaving him a pulp of tissue, destroyed on the floor. Dark circles, denser than the color of the man, flashed in his vision, disappearing, then returning larger and more ominous. The laughter paled with the pain he had felt. His system was no longer able to bear the trauma his body was receiving.
Lucifer forgot Cody, turning his attention back to the gloom lurking to the right. His laughter ended, instantly quieting the theater to the macabre silence of a tomb.
Cody didn’t stumble when the unseen fist released him; his lungs filled with air as though nothing had happened, no pain surged through his bones and flesh. The Fallen Angel hadn’t acknowledged Hector, but why would he? She was only a Watcher. Hector intently glared at him, her only action of defense. His power was beyond hers; a Cherub who had once had the ear of God wasn’t someone who she stood a chance against. Cody found it strange Belphegor hid behind the curtain.
Then Lucifer turned away, returning up the incline with the same long stride he had made in his descent. The door to the lobby shook at his approach, and when he reached them, he became a pillar of black smoked plummeting into the floor. The light in the theater brightened.
Cody scanned the room for any sign of him, but he found no clue the man remained. Turning his head, Cody found Belphegor in plain view near the velvet curtain. Nothing about his expression told them he was distressed about the arrival of Lucifer. He crossed the stage to Cody.
“Great show,” he said, reaching for him. Cody didn’t have time to react as the man’s arms encircled him. “Such the game you’re playing,” he whispered in his ear. Cody felt the hardness of him against his crotch. “You shall have what you desire.”
The theater blurred as Cody lost focus, then clarity returned, finding him in Belphegor’s suite. The man’s arms fell away, and his fingers went to work loosening the buttons of his shirt. Carefully, he laid his blue jacket over the back of the chair.
The open shirt revealed a well-formed chest and abdomen, more defined than Cody had imagined with golden, curly hair nuanced to bronze as it traveled toward the waistline. Next, the belt loosened, and the button and zipper were undone. Gracefully, he stepped out of his pants, and folding them with care, and he placed them on top of the jacket. The shirt was all that remained on Belphegor, but only a moment. He removed it, adding to the pile on the back of the chair.
Cody didn’t try to hide his attraction or desire; his breaths quickened, his heart increased speed, and his pants bulged with his awakening member. Rapidly, removing his pants and vest, he wasn’t careful with his clothing as Belphegor had been, and he dropped them to the floor.
* * * *
As he greeted the members of the audience, Tyler returned his gaze to the theater, waiting for his brother to exit. When he had spoken to the last person, Cody still hadn’t come out, leaving him alone on the sidewalk.
Across the street a child laughed, sitting on the lawn next to a woman who he hadn’t seen in a long time. He edged across the street, then looked over his shoulder when he reached the other side; still no sign of Cody.
The only reason he found as to why his brother didn’t speak with the sycophants was he was having a meeting with the strange, dark man who had come in late.
Moving his attention back to the couple in the park, the child found him with a frown stretched in sadness; Bergen saw the things inside him held on tightly and didn’t want to let go. More than laughter was needed to release their grip.
“Leona?” Tyler said, joining them in the cooling evening air. “I didn’t know you still lived here. And you have a dau…” His voice trailed off as he assessed Bergen.
“This is Bergen,” she replied as she stood, forcing her arms around him. The contact made her stiffen and her stomach heave forward. Abruptly, she let go and stepped back. “I came back after college. Couldn’t stay away, kinda like you.”
“Yeah.” He didn’t smile as he looked back at Bergen. “I’m gonna have a drink at the Top Hat, you want to join me?”
“No, thanks,” Leona replied, wanting to retreat farther from him. “We need to get home.”
“Stay with us.” Bergen stared up at him. “The drinks will be there when we’re done.”
Leona’s hands twisted together in front of her. The smile on her face was thin and unhappy. The child and Tyler sat on the lawn with several feet between them, and Leona retreated to the bench. They watched the loosening throng of people across the street.
Bergen said, more as a rhetorical statement than a conversation starter, “I wasn’t expecting him.”
“Who?” Tyler asked, moving slightly to look at the child’s sparkling eyes.
“The one who came in toward the end,” Leona replied, acid in her tone. Tyler glanced back at her with a furrowed brow, ready to ask who again, but she continued before he replied, “I didn’t see him leave.”
“He’s still inside,” Bergen said, then moved the subject away from the dark man. “Where are you going to sleep tonight?”
“At the hotel, where else?”
“You don’t want to spend the night with Jen before she returns home?” the child replied.
“Jen’s at your house?” Tyler blurted. “Mr. Bel thought she was with Eli.”
“She’d be safe at his ranch, too.” Bergen was silent for a moment. “Maybe you should go with him.”
“Wait a second,” Tyler yelled. “Safe from what? Don’t tell me you think Mr. Bel is bad like Cody did when he first got here. I won’t sit here and listen to this.”
He abruptly stood, losing his balance, arms waving for balance. Before he righted himself, Bergen’s small hands grasped Tyler’s wrist.
He froze as did Leona, her expectant gaze on them. A jolt shook them. They screamed, loud and shrill. Leona scrambled from the bench, reaching for the child, tears boiling; she knew she shouldn’t have allowed Bergen to talk her into coming tonight. Before Leona took hold of Bergen, the child let go of Tyler, each crumbling to the ground. None saw the ejection of three dark shadows from Tyler, though Bergen knew it had happened.
Tyler was the first to regain himself, and yelled, “What the hell? What the fuck did you do to me?”
Bergen sat up, smiling. The sparkling eyes were more radiant than before as the child laughed hearing cuss words. “Mother said you had the tendency for profanities.” He blushed. “Now, I will ask again, where are you sleeping tonight?”
Across the street, though brightly illuminated by the marquee, seemed dark and ominous. It had suffered many years of neglect, and Tyler saw the scars hidden behind fresh paint. Pale lights in the windows of the upper levels of the buildings tried to disguise the doom hiding inside. Even the restored portrait of Chief Cameahwait scowled with disdain.
“Your place sounds great.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
Ecclesiastes 9:1, KJV
The small house brimmed with guests. Leona couldn’t think of a time when so many had been in her living room; yesterday, Cody and Jen, now, Tyler, Jen, and Eli. The right corner of her mouth twitched with the nervousness churning her stomach.
Bergen had told her all things would work out as they should. It wasn’t an answer which made her feel better. In fact, it was no answer at all. She had heard it several times before from the child, meaning the answer was unknown.
The urge to slap Bergen rose from deep within her core when the child had said they needed to attend the next service to see Cody’s condition for themselves. But wasn’t it why Eli had taken the job running the Top Hat? Nathan absolutely refused to return, which left her to go; Bergen offered not to burden her, but she couldn’t allow the child to go alone.
In the morning, Tyler and Jen had planned to leave town, and, hopefully, never come back; Leona wished to go with them, especi
ally now after another Fallen Angel had come to town. She had been pregnant with Bergen when she learned what called Shoshoni home.
At the time, it hadn’t mattered. She had already dropped out of school; had this been his plan all along? Her observation traveled to Bergen sitting on the floor in front of Tyler. Even if it had been his doing, her love for her child was unchanged.
Before Bergen had noticed Leona watching her, she moved her gaze to Tyler’s phone sitting on the coffee table. Her hand followed, snatching it up. Her thumb navigated the screen, and found Cody’s contact information.
Shaking, as though she dreaded the movement, she looked to Tyler as though she expected him to stop her. Then, the thumb obeyed her command and pressed his name. It rang several times, then gave way to Cody asking her to leave a message.
The generic chirping ring didn’t distract Cody from the pleasure Belphegor razed in him. Their movements continued—hands moving across bare skin, leaving no part untouched. Open mouths tasted the salt of the other’s flesh. The heat of their breaths inhaled and exhaled mixing with the musk of their sweat.—Belphegor, on the other hand, did notice, though his interaction with Cody gave no indication.
He assessed the heap of clothing on the floor. The brightness of the phone’s screen broke through the denim. Whoever was calling needed to wait; he wasn’t going to stop to ask Cody whether he wished to answer. Besides, what they had to say wasn’t as important as what was happening in his suite.
Leona laid the phone back on the table, disappointing everyone Cody had not answered. They worried about Lucifer’s arrival; they had expected others to come but had never anticipated him to be the first. His appearance led to a single question; did he approve what was happening in Shoshoni?
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