Embers

by Daniela Elana

  “You heard him, Ladies, he’s single and ready to mingle!” Azazel waved as he disappeared into the crowd. Anger rose within me, as he had tried to turn me into the desperate one after he had forced me to kiss him, which was typical of him.

  “He’s playing mind games with you” I turned to see Caroline as she watched me. Instant embarrassment plagued me as I realized she caught me flipping him off.

  “I suppose so,” I said.

  “Whatever you do, just don’t cave in,” she said, heading for bed.

  * * *

  As I lay in bed, I struggled with flashbacks of Azazel, remembering when he had contacted me through my first dream. Deep down, my desire to contact him festered.

  When I closed my eyes, the covers rattled alerting me to a presence beside me. I turned over, and he was lying next to me. Our faces were inches from one another’s

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I came to check on you,” he said, pushing a strand of hair out of my eye.

  “I heard what you said about me on television. I wasn’t good enough for you then.” He laughed.

  “I’m trying to protect you.”

  “By putting me down on national television, and from what?”

  “Yourself,” he said. I rolled my eyes, starting to turn over. He grabbed my shoulder. “Why are you so damned sensitive? I swear it doesn’t take much to upset you.”

  “You called me a lunatic to the world and said I was cute for an earthling but not your type what does any of that even mean?” I said. He rolled his eyes.

  “Learn to read between the lines.”

  “I do. That’s why I’m not going to be taken for a fool again.”

  “You’re brainwashed.”

  “No, my eyes are open.”

  “Open to what? The bullshit those cretins fed you from a book plagiarized from Egyptian mythology.”

  “The truth.”

  “Do you hear yourself?” Your eyes are more closed than ever before. You’re just as gullible as Eve.” He chuckled. I glared at him. “You should leave with me because when the new currency is announced, it will be difficult for you to eat.”

  “I’ll manage.”

  “You are nothing without me, Maricel.”

  “Unlike you, I don’t take bribes and fall for temptation. Misery loves company.” I sneered. He frowned, digging his nails deeper into my bare shoulder.

  “What I did, thousands of years ago, wasn’t because I fell to temptation. I freed myself”

  “You’re a prisoner to the idea of revenge.”

  “Do you think these people will have your back?” He gritted his teeth. I didn’t answer. “Your busybody mother wasn’t there for you when you needed her most, your estranged brother ran away because he couldn’t stand the sight of you, Leslie is still a backstabber, her tool of a husband hates you because of me, Caroline is overzealous and pities you, her husband is just merely tolerating you, Rain and Crystal are reluctant to have your party here and are freaks anyway, and well Leo’s folks they hate the very essence of you.”

  “Are you finished?” I sighed. Azazel grinned.

  “Then there’s Leo, the poor lad believes the two of you have some sort of purpose together. Or that’s at least what he says. That’s his lust speaking. When it’s all said and done he’s going to stick with Cicely. “

  “That’s exactly what you want to happen. Your little manipulative tactics don’t work on me anymore. The Most High has the final say, and he will take away and bring into my life whomever he wants to complete his purpose with me. Regardless of what anyone else says or their logic.”

  “When we start slaughtering saints we’ll see how strong your faith is.”

  “Get behind me, Satan!” I said. His dark blue eyes blazed like a furnace. He disappeared, leaving me in my bed alone.

  * * *

  The next day although I slept on it, it was difficult to shake the events of the days prior. I tried to distract myself by helping Caroline fold laundry.

  “You two will never believe it!” Leslie shouted, running into the laundry room.

  “From your excitement, I’d guess a miracle happened,” Caroline said.

  “Go see for yourselves.” We followed her out to the television Ross Day’s show was on this time it showed footage in Jerusalem of two dark-skinned men with white wooly beards. People shouted at them in Hebrew cussing at them. Ross’s panel referred to them as trouble makers. They appeared to be in their late sixties both wore long white robes. They claimed to be Elijah and Enoch. The media referred to them as potential terrorist threats. I gasped.

  “This is amazing.”

  “I know,” Leslie said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

  “I never thought I’d live to see the day,” Caroline said.

  “Sweet Jesus. It is true,” Warren said as he walked in.

  “Do you believe now?” I said.

  “I can’t argue with that,” he said.

  “What are you buffoons whooping and hollering about,” Leo’s father said, taking a seat.

  “The two witnesses are here. Like it prophesies in Revelation 11. This is the start of the tribulation.”

  “Why because you believe?” his father said.

  “No, because this is what scripture says.”

  “How would you know a thing about scripture when you’re whoring around with the devil?”

  “God is my judge.”

  “Women are not even allowed to minister that’s why the bible warns of Jezebels,” Baran said, entering the room.

  “I do have a God-given right to prophesy. It doesn’t matter what I did in the past, God forgives me as he looks at my repentant heart. Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

  “Who better to quote scripture than Satan himself,” Leo’s father said.

  “I’m not religious, but I can tell you this. Christ wouldn’t be pleased with the way you people have been behaving. Who’s not to say Maricel isn’t chosen by God to minister. God used Paul, a man who used to murder Christians. Why can’t he use a young woman who nearly wedded a devil also,” Warren said.

  “He’s right. Remember 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Caroline said, and Leslie nodded.

  “God doesn’t make mistakes. She is a mistake. A woman is supposed to be quiet and submit to a man,” Baran said.

  “God uses whom he will. He can use anybody he wants. For whatever reason, he chose Leo and me. Two people who were undeserving of his grace. Mathew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen. God will not be mocked!” I said, standing up and leaving for my room.

  * * *

  October had passed—early November had arrived. Mr. Lovell won a Nobel peace prize for reducing world poverty and food insecurity. With his achievements, Lovell deemed himself God incarnate similar to Zeus in a pantheon of gods and goddesses in a speech to the United Nations. Azazel followed his speech with the declaration of a new polytheistic one world religion referred to as the Lovellian faith based on love, charity, peace with the acknowledgment of the new trinity of Lovell, him and Tess as the heads of the pantheon. Many skeptics and upset devotees of various religions disagreed with the message and spread of the Lovellian faith referring to it as a cult and Azazel as a cult of personality. As a result, protests had erupted, the Lemurian Order did their best to quell the rage.

  With the spread of the Lovellian faith, our household decided with nightfall to make a trip to the store to buy food. It was a matter of time before they announced the spread of the new currency.

  Leo, Rain, Crystal, Baran, Cicely, and I headed to the store to gather the supplies. Despite Baran’s mockery of the grocery store, with Flo hurting for resources, it was the last resort.

  A man stood on a corner under a street lamp holding a bible.

  “Repen
t and pray, the antichrist is here, prophecy has been fulfilled. The return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is almost here!” he shouted. A silver escalade drove past him, hitting a pothole of water so that the dirty liquid splashed him. The driver and passengers cackled and kept driving.

  The man shook off the muddy water from his clothes. I sprinted to him, breaking from the group. He turned, his eyes widening at me

  “Maricel?”

  “You recognize me?”

  “Yes, you’re the young woman from the news who has been prophesying of our nation’s future.”

  “That’s right! We are headed to the store to buy the last food we will probably see before the currency switches. If you want, we are gathering together as believers, you should join us,” I said. The man smiled.

  “I appreciate your concern, my sister, but my place is out here.”

  “I understand. It’s nice to meet another prophet,” I said. The man smiled, and we shook hands. “God bless you, brother,” I said, crossing back over, joining the others.

  Just as I reached the other side, cops rushed out grabbing the man, pepper-spraying him. He lay on the ground with his arms stretched out as if he were worshiping. They struck him with a baton as he sang a praise song further infuriating the officers.

  “You have committed treason!” an officer said. “The Lovellian faith is the only way.”

  I motioned to run to his aid. Leo pulled me away. The burst of gunshots carried in the air as pieces of the man’s brain matter covered the concrete.

  A block ahead, we passed a church, holding a prayer session. Minutes later, screams rang out as police descended on the building, launching gas canisters through the windows. People coughed as it took over their lungs. A few stumbled out of the church, dropping dead on the sidewalk from the attack.

  “They need our help,” I said, motioning to cross the street but Leo shook his head against it.

  “All we can do is pray for them, our involvement won’t solve anything,” he said. His unwillingness to aid them worsened the sting in my chest. He clasped my hand while we walked.

  Inside the grocery store civilians scurried up and down aisles. When we got to the cash register to pay, the woman ahead of us in line set a bag of flour on the counter. The cashier rubbed his balding head.

  “I saw you outside sitting in your car, praying,” the cashier said.

  ‘I do it all the time,” she said. The man snatched the flour from her hand. Her jaw fell open.

  “Who were you praying to?” he asked, his eyes were alight. The woman’s countenance grew chalk white.

  “God,” she said. The man gritted his teeth.

  “Lovell?”

  “No the one and true living God.”

  “You ingrate after all our savior and the Lemurian Order has done for us! Recant it!” He withdrew a gun from his back pocket and aimed it at her head.

  “One nation under God we trust,” she said with tears welling in her eyes.

  Cicely and I held onto Leo from both sides with the reverberating of him firing. Fragments of her flesh covered the counter. He hollered for the janitor to clean up her remains. How could he get away with killing a woman, and no one batted an eye? This had to be a nightmare. The cashier turned to me.

  “A coworker who took a smoke said she saw you in the streets conspiring with that senile man committing treason against the Lemurian Order.” He scowled, showing the many wrinkles in his face. By his weathered countenance, he looked to be pushing fifty. Leo stepped in front of me.

  “Move out of the way!” the man said.

  “Leo, you heard him!” Cicely said.

  The glass exploded, flying all over the floor with the breaking of a window. The cashier’s eyes widened at the sight of large black wings parting, revealing a figure.

  “Stand down and let her have whatever she wants!” Belial ordered. The clerk wrinkled his nose and lowered his gun, allowing us to take whatever we needed folding his arms over his chest. I turned to Belial.

  “Thank you,” I said, and he grinned.

  “A word of advice. Next time you’re in danger use the seal,” he leaned in, whispering with a wink. He flew off into the night.

  * * *

  When we arrived home, I stayed up late reading the bible.

  “What are you reading?” Leo asked, taking a seat on the other side of the sofa with a can of soda. I smiled.

  “I’m reading about the prophet Isaiah. Half of it is referring to Israel then and now, and the destruction of Babylon.”

  “The bible said that the seed of Abraham would be as the grains of sand. That means they are everywhere. Remember the diaspora.” He grinned. My head spun as the room felt like it was like a bottle cap whirling around a countertop.

  A bright ball of light entered the room and Leo and I both crumpled to the floor. The light formed into an angel. His dark waves blew back with the wind that accompanied him.

  “Don’t be afraid for I am only an angel,” he said.

  Leo and I stood as he towered over us. “I was sent to deliver a message.”

  “What message?”

  “You must warn the world of the new system of currency. In exchange for their right to eat and to remain a part of society, they will change their DNA, merging it with that of the Beast.”

  “Part of the Lemurian Order?” I asked.

  “Yes, and those who take it will be lost forever. They’ll be like the Nephilim in the days of Noah. They’ll outnumber the sons of man on earth just as they did proceeding the flood. Warn those who will listen not to take the mark.”

  “Where should we go?” Leo asked. The angel touched his head. Leo opened his eyes. We both fell backward. As we lay there, a voice spoke.

  “I am with you always, no matter what happens.” My eyes peeled open.

  “You had the same experience?” I asked Leo.

  “Yes.” He laughed. Hugging me.

  “Hallelujah! Leo shouted. “Bring me a paper and a pen,” he said. I did so, and he recorded a list of places with dates.

  “What’s that?”

  “This is where we are to go warn people.”

  * * *

  A week later, the currency changed to a single international payment system. People were asked as part of their conversion into the Lovellian faith, which would also signify their new citizenship status in the world government to tattoo their wrist or forehead with a goat insignia. This tattoo would then alter a person’s DNA structure, making them a part of the new human-alien family, which promised health and prosperity. This system of payment was based on deeds.

  Without this, there was no access to food. Children were not allowed to attend school without it. A few parents protested it, and the Lemurian Order threatened to remove their children from their households if their parents didn’t cooperate.

  Leo and I traveled to time square in New York, the strip of Las Vegas, the Mall of America in Minneapolis Minnesota and various locations warning people to repent dodging the police and being used as the face of terrorism.

  Each time Leo and I would go somewhere to minister, we were protected. Angels would translate us to the locations. Supernatural miracles would take place. No one else in the house could understand what we were doing nor how we got there.

  * * *

  December swept in faster than expected. Leo and I sat on the clay rooftop. My head rested on his shoulder while he held me close to his chest. Our bodies warming each other.

  “I’ve been considering making a trip for some items that might help us,” he said.

  “Where you thinking about going?” I asked. Before he could answer, a drone flying over the roof, interrupted our conversation. He took my hand, climbing inside the bar, and to the lair’s dining room where everyone was gathered for lunch.

  “I have an announcement,” he said. Everyone stopped chatting and stared at him. “I’m planning on making a trip.”

&nbs
p; “Where?” Kevin asked.

  “Vatican City.”

  “Wait, did you say Vatican City?” Kevin said.

  “Yes, there were some books down under the library, we need. They might help us better understand what the Lemurian Order is plotting.”

  “Leo. We get you, and Maricel feel it’s your God-given mission to “save” the world, but do you really think God wants us acting rashly just to get our hands on a few books? Proverbs 19:21 There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand,” Caroline said.

  “What kind of books are worth risking our lives to get?” Baran asked.

  “Ones that may detail Lovell and Azazel’s plans.”

  “You think they were stupid enough to draft their plans in a few books hidden in a city that may indeed be Babylon rather than this country like you and that loon keep saying,” Baran said.

  “It’s worth the risk.”

  “Worth the risk?” Warren said. Leo rolled his eyes.

  “You’ve been listening to her too long,” Baran said, pointing at me.

  I folded my arms. Must everything be my fault?

  “Leo, your plan will get us all killed,” Cicely said.

  “He’s right, this is a chance to help protect others like us. This is a chance to stay one step ahead of them,” I said. Everyone turned to me. Most were shaking their heads.

  “We could be murdered by the Lemurian Order for treason?” Cicely shouted

  “I know, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “You’ve changed, Leonardo,” his father said.

  “I don’t have time for this,” Leo said. His father grabbed his son shoulder, taking him to the next room. We all could hear them shouting and cursing at one another having a screaming match.

  “After everything, we sacrificed for you, and you do this?”

  “What was your sacrifice? Oh, that’s right, ME! My childhood. Some sacrifice…” His father frowned.

  “It was for your own good, look at everything you know now and the abilities you have. You will survive to the end remember survival of the fittest.”

  “At what cost?”

  “If you can’t get that floozy out of your head then work whatever itch you have out of your system.”