“What do you mean? I thought we were just going to let them cleanse and bless the house. I don’t remember Sadie saying anything about a ‘battle!’”
“Lindsey, I am not talking about the people coming here tonight.”
She was utterly confused. Who else could he be talking about it not the group that would be here in a matter of hours? He was pacing in front of the fireplace, his face contorted as he had a whispered argument with himself.
“Lindsey, I … I am not who you think I am.”
Lindsey knew that Eli was hiding something. His arrival, his knowledge of the spirit in the house, his sheer ability to be there by her side the minute she needed him … There was no way it could all be coincidental.
“You’re not a seminarian, are you?”
“No, I am not. Nor am I Darby’s nephew. I am here for one reason and one reason alone. I am here because you used that board and opened that portal. I am here to close it.”
Lindsey stood frozen to the spot. This was more than she had suspected. What in the hell was he talking about? Why would Darby lie for him?
Eli took a couple of steps toward her, thought twice about it, and returned to the fireplace. He didn’t look at her as he continued.
“It is my job to expel the entity back through that portal and then seal the hole. I remember wondering why the hole looked more like a rip instead of a door and why it seemed to deteriorate even after the guard was first stationed there. Now I understand. You destroyed the board, and thus the doorway. I should have taken care of it immediately, but I lost myself. I saw you and had to know you. I got so caught up in … this,” he motioned between the two of them as he spoke. “I was so worried about protecting you firsthand that I didn’t see what was right in front of my face! Yes, this spirit blames you for calling him back here. And he is angry the doorway is destroyed … he fears that he’s now stuck here forever. He wants to punish you for tormenting him in such a way. But it has become so much worse because I didn’t do my damned job in the first place.”
He then began to speak feverishly in Latin.
Lindsey walked over to where he stood. Although everything she’d known about him was apparently a lie, she still trusted him, still wanted to be near him, to touch him.
When he finally looked up, tears were glistening in his eyes. He pleaded silently for Lindsey to understand. His gaze softened and he reached out to touch her cheek. She felt a bolt of electricity run from his fingertips across her skin. There was something odd going on here. Who, no what, was this man standing in front of her?
“What are you?” Lindsey asked quietly.
Eli turned his eyes to the windows and the view of the estuary beyond where a heavy mist hung a few feet above the water. She took his hand and placed it back on her check. He cupped her jaw so gently and stroked her cheek with his thumb.
“Why won’t you answer me?” Lindsey stepped forward and placed her hands on either side of his face. “I know that there is something odd going on with you. I’m not scared, Eli, but I need to know.”
“I am a Harbinger,” he said quietly, still not looking at her.
“A what?”
“A Harbinger.”
“You’re an, an omen? That doesn’t make sense, Eli.” Lindsey dropped her hands to her sides, took a step back, and looked at him skeptically.
“Humankind sees us as omens, yes. You see, we are generally only seen just before something big happens. It takes a lot of concentration to prevent detection. But we have been known to let our guard down before a battle because our attention is divided. Then, and only then, are we ever visible. But even then, we gather our senses before your kind gets more than a glimpse.”
Lindsey was speechless. She had known that he was more than a mere man. But what he was saying didn’t make sense. She thought back to what she knew about the word but the only thing that she could come up with was the story about the conversion of Constantine. Wasn’t the cross that he’d seen in the sky a harbinger? That was a sign, certainly not a living, breathing person … or whatever Eli was. And Eli was certainly a warm, breathing being.
“I … I don’t believe you,” Lindsey stammered.
Eli took a deep breath, stepped back, and disappeared in a burst of white mist. The mist floated up to the ceiling, hovered for a moment, and then wrapped itself around Lindsey like a foggy embrace. When it moved back to its original location, Eli reappeared. Lindsey’s legs wanted to run, but her feet were planted to the floor.
“Let me see if I can put this into terms that you can understand,” Eli said, taking a tentative step towards Lindsey. “Are you familiar with the nine choirs of angels?”
“You mean like archangels and stuff? You expect me to believe that?”
“Lindsey, what reason would I have to lie to you? After what you’ve just seen, you know I’m not a normal human being. I think you’ve actually suspected something for a while now.”
He turned and walked out of the living room, beckoning her to come with him. She followed him through the great room, up the stairs, and into the home office. They stopped in front of the row of bookcases. He scanned the books on each shelf before settling on two dusty volumes from her mom’s side of the study – one an old, leather-bound art book and the other an encyclopedia.
He flipped to the index of the art book, scanned a page, and then flipped to a large, colorful painting depicting several men in first century garb standing over what looked like an open white tomb. Above them in the air was a seated gallery of angels with both Jesus and His mother in the center. Lindsey looked up at Eli, her brow bunched in confusion.
“Botticini’s ‘L’ elezione della Vergine’,” he said, as if she should know what that meant.
“I’m sorry, what? And what does this have to do with you and what is going on in my house?”
“The Assumption of the Virgin. This painting gives a rudimentary idea of three of the nine choirs of celestial beings, angels if you will, that exist.”
“Aren’t angels just, well, angels?”
Eli didn’t answer. He flipped the encyclopedia open, thumbed quickly through the pages, and turned the book around so that she could see. Without looking at the pages, he recited the entry to her, “Angel – a bodiless, immortal spirit. It has limited knowledge and power. Angels appear in the belief systems of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, being mentioned in the Old Testament as visitor to both Abraham and Lot, wrestling with Jacob, guiding Tobit, and even as guardians. In the New Testament, angels play pivotal roles. They are protectors and bearers of great news. Angels announced the incarnation to the Blessed Virgin Mary and proclaimed the rise of Christ at the empty tomb. Most religions have no fixed ordering of angels, but Christianity has a very specific hierarchy.
“Codified in its classic form in the fifth century by St. Dionysius the Areopagite in The Celestial Hierarchy, the Nine Choirs of Angels are, in descending order, as follows: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations, virtues, powers, principalities, archangels, and angels.
“Protestant Christians have, for the most part, abandoned the choir of angels and give them no special mention. Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, however, venerate angels the way members of the early church did. Christianity has also classified the angels of Hell, angels that have fallen away and are the evil counterpart of the heavenly host. They are often viewed as the initiator of evil temptations.The leader of the fallen angels is Satan, also known as Lucifer. He was cast out of heaven for leading a revolt against God.”
“I’m sorry, Eli. I still don’t understand. You certainly aren’t ‘bodiless.’ And I don’t see any wings sprouting out of your back.” Lindsey rubbed her temple with her right hand as she shook her head disbelievingly.
“Lindsey, you see a body because I have the ability to appear in one. I could disappear in an instant. As this book says, there are nine choirs of us that do the Creator’s bidding, that protect this world. Wings, aye we can appear with wings, but they are
strictly for battle purposes only. They are more for protection than flight. And, they add to the dramatic effect when we have to show ourselves to humankind. On the ground, we have no need for them.”
Lindsey was close to hyperventilating. He was lying. He had to be … right? The look on his face and the feeling in her heart told her that he was telling her the truth no matter how outlandish it seemed. Her breathing began to calm as the sorrow slowly gripped her soul because while she was glad that she finally had an answer, she was utterly heartbroken at what this meant. There was no way they could be together. It had seemed hopeless, even sacrilegious to try to win over a priest. But that paled in comparison to what she now faced.
Eli was an angel. And there was no way, really, that he could even feel about her the way she felt about him. He was ageless, timeless. She was just Lindsey. Nothing special.
“The first choir,” Eli continued, “is made up of those closest to God. They’re the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones. They spend their time in His service alone. In the second choir are your angelic managers, if you will. The Dominions regulate the duties of the lower angels, the Virtues govern nature, and those like me, the Powers, are warriors. Our job is to defend His creation, to defend mankind. The third choir are the archangels, principalities, and regular old angels. They are the farthest removed from Him, and spend a vast amount of their time in your world.”
“But you said you were a Harbinger. Now you’re saying you’re a, a warrior angel. I don’t get it.”
“All Powers are warriors, yes. But the Harbingers are the front line of defense. When an issue arises, we are the first to attack. Once we know exactly what we’re dealing with, we send for the others. I was sent here when you opened the portal. It was my job to find a way to banish the spirit that escaped here and then close the opening. It should have been an easy job. I was right on top of Milton the evening you came home from the water park. You walked into the room … and my focus shifted.”
Eli ran his fingers through his hair and looked away for Lindsey. “In my many eons I have never been seen by a human. This is the first time I’ve ever been inclined to show myself. I had brothers who showed themselves and I thought them crazy. ‘They’re just humans, they come and go like the tide,’ I’ve said more than once. Precious, yes. Worth losing it all for? Never. Because that is always what happens, Lindsey. Appear first, descend second. Not one of my brothers has come back from an appearance.”
Lindsey lowered herself down into her mom’s leather office chair. Her head was spinning. What was he saying? Could he possibly be telling the truth? Shouldn’t she be railing and reeling right now? Why was she so calm? Because she knew deep down in her heart that he spoke the truth.
“So, you have damned yourself by letting me see you?” She wanted to say “love you” but she decided that it wasn’t prudent to let him know how deeply she felt about him. “My knowledge of you and the other world is a death sentence for you?”
“Of course not, Lindsey!” He sank down on his knees in front of her and took her hands in his own. As he traced the veins on the back of her hands with his thumbs, he said, “He gives us free will, too. That is not just a benefit of being human. As an angel, I can choose one of three paths now. I could go back to my ranks, serve Him as a defender of His creation. Or I could deviate and serve the Evil One. Or…”
He hesitated. Lindsey placed her hands on either side of his face in a vain attempt to give him the power to go on. At last he looked up at her, eyes uncertain. “Or, I could decide to stay. I could choose to descend from my ranks, to become a flesh-and-blood human. I could become mortal.”
Lindsey didn’t know what to say. She knew in her heart of hearts that she was in love with him, that she wished he was human and able to love her in return. But she also knew that it was selfish to ask him to do such a thing. Give up immortality? For what? Fifty, sixty miniscule years? What then? He would die? What would happen to his soul then? Would God be angry with him? Would God be angry with her?
“I can’t ask you to do that, Eli.”
“I believe that it might be too late. As I said earlier, the two go hand-in-hand. None of my kind has ever come back from an appearance. In that very act, we merge our souls with the human to which we appeared.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she uttered.
“There is nothing to say. It is my job to protect His most precious creation – humankind. You could say that I quite literally worship the ground upon which you walk. I worship the very essence that is you because you are from Him, made in His likeness. No other man could ever, ever say that to you and mean it.”
“But how do I know that you aren’t an evil agent sent here to devour my soul if this, this spirit haunting me doesn’t succeed?” Lindsey asked, although she knew that there was nothing evil about him.
“Simple. An evil entity would not give up everything to protect you. It would not give up his power just to be with you. I would.”
Her heart fluttered. She leaned down and kissed the top of his head and then touched his cheek. She knew that there was something that had tied them together. It was more than youthful fancy, more than a whim. It was real. She was overcome with the idea that he was here only for her. That he had seen women come and go for thousands of years, but he made himself appear to her, become a part of her life. Despite that elation, she was suddenly overcome with grief. Did she want to be the reason he gave up his place in this world? Would she be responsible for his soul if he should descend?
Eli stood and walked toward the door, his angst returned full-force. She wanted, needed to keep him talking.
“What about Darby? Darby covered for you. How does she fit into all of this?”
“Don’t worry Darby is, and always has been, human. Her deceased husband, Abrahm, was one of my brothers. He appeared to her after he saved her from a rapist back in the 1950’s. He happened to be stalking an entity in the same alley that her attacker had chosen as the spot for his crime. The feeling was instant. I never, until the day I met you, understand how he felt. When I was sent here, when I saw you, when I felt it … I went to my commander and he sent me to see Darby. I explained to her what was going on and that I needed an alibi to get into the house. ‘For further investigation,’ I told her. She knew instantly, but I denied that it had anything to do with you. But I can’t deny it anymore.”
There was a very pregnant pause, filled with emotion and tension.
“But first things first,” he stood, took a deep breath, and walked out of the room.
Lindsey ran after him, “Wait! Eli! Please … what did I do wrong with the board? Are you mad at me?”
He turned and grabbed her hands in his, pulling them against his chest. She could feel the warmth of his touch and the vibration of his angelic aura that hummed around him as he tried to calm himself.
“How to explain … ah, yes,” he said.
“Pretend that you are in one of those boats those, oh what do you humans call them, those boats that go underwater.”
“Submarines?” Lindsey answered, still utterly confused.
“Yes, submarine. Pretend that you are in one and you are going underwater. And, for some reason, you decide to open the hatch. What do you think would happen?”
“Water would come pouring in. But what does that have to do with –” she began, her impatience growing.
“Yes, water would come in. But, with enough force, and possibly some help, you could close the hatch before causing too much damage, right?”
“I guess, but –”
“But what if you not only opened the hatch, but somehow managed to blow it from its hinges in the process?”
“The submarine would sink. We would all drown.”
“Exactly,” Eli said, dropping her hands as if he’d made his point.
Lindsey was still confused and overly impatient. “What in the heck does this have to do with this psycho ghost following me around, Eli?”
“Don’t you se
e, Lindsey? You not only opened the vortex, you destroyed the doorway! When you burned the spirit board, you burned the portal door, too! When I arrived here, that vortex was wide open. Spirits – good and bad – could have poured through at will There are guards stationed outside it now to prevent that from happening, but I've got to find an alternative way to ultimately close the gaping hole, banish the spirit of Milton Walker, and protect you at the same time.”
Eli went downstairs and headed to the backdoor, taking his shirt off in the process. Before he turned the doorknob, he turned and motioned for Lindsey to follow him.
“I want you to come outside with me. I don’t want you in this place without protection.” When Lindsey began to protest he added, “Yes, Milton has been quiet. Too quiet it you ask me. He’s biding his time until my guard is down and I leave you alone.”
They left the house, ran off of the back porch, and across the moss-covered ground to the tree line in silence. Eli let go of her hand and stepped into the misty shade of the Oak trees. Lindsey gasped in wonder as his body began to softly glow with a radiant white light and two huge wings sprouted from between his shoulder blades. He turned and handed her a long golden sword he’d just drawn from his belt.
“I want you to hold on to that. And stay right here. If you feel any presence around you, swing this sword toward it to ward it off. I will be right back.”
“How can a sword harm a ghost, Eli? I might as well spray some bug spray on it, too.”
“Trust me. This isn’t your average sword. This was forged in the magnificent fiery presence that is Him. It can painfully harm a spirit just as easily as it can slice through human flesh.” Eli then took her hand, held it to his lips, and closed his eyes. Then he was gone in a burst of white mist.
Lindsey stood by the trees, sword in one hand, the other lifted into thin air. When she realized that he was gone, she dropped her hand to her side and turned to face the house. His reaction had made her more fearful not only of her home, but of her every surrounding. This man, this … thing wasn’t just tormenting her home, it tormenting her as well.
Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity) Page 21
