She looked up at me. “The angels fell in love with women and married them. They had children, families. But God was not happy about this. The children being born, half human, half angel, were so powerful, he believed they would destroy humanity.”
“So what did he do?” I questioned, listening with rapt attention.
She looked down and began to read again.
“Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: Go to Noah and tell him in my name ‘Hide thyself!’ and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that the whole earth will be destroyed, and a deluge is about to come upon the whole earth, and will destroy all that is on it. And now instruct him that he may escape and his seed may be preserved for all the generations of the world.”
“Noah! So the deluge, that was the great flood, with the ark and all the animals?” I stared at her in shock. That story had always struck me as fairly disturbing, and this new information just added to it.
Deliah closed the book and laid it down gently on the table, well away from the teacups. “That was the reason. God and the angels were afraid that the hybrid children would cause the downfall of humanity. The angels that were sent to Earth to watch over humans had become far too involved. They were called the watchers, but they couldn’t bear to just watch. They had taught them knowledge and skills that God had not intended his mortal children to possess.”
I leaned back against the sofa. “So he drowned them all? Even the bad angels?”
Deliah smiled sadly. “The immediate children are known as the nephilim. The angels that had sired them had committed sins so terrible that God ordered for them to be cast down and imprisoned in the Pit for eternity. By this point, many had grown up and had children and grandchildren of their own. The flood was sent to wash them all away.”
“The Pit? Is that Hell?”
Deliah laughed. “Oh no, dear. Think of Hell as a continent, and the Pit is just one high security prison.”
I blinked, then shook my head. “I’m sorry. This is all... I mean, I’ve seen the effect spells have on people, so yeah. I’ve seen Sam turn into a wolf, and I’ve seen... demons, but the whole Heaven and Hell being a real thing, I just can’t…”
Deliah glanced down at the slender gold wristwatch she was wearing. I half expected her to tell me our time was up, but instead she stood and crossed over to a coat stand by the door. Pulling on a tweed jacket, she gestured for me to rise. “Come with me, dear. This might help you, it might... not. But we’ll see what you are made of.” She walked to the fireplace and beckoned me over. The white marble was ornately carved, and I could see words engraved just above the hearth. I traced the words as I read them.
“Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” I looked at Deliah with a flare of panic, and she chuckled.
“Yes, I’m afraid Azrael has a wicked sense of humour.” She turned to the fire and spoke some words loudly, stretching her hand over the small fire that was crackling merrily away. The fire flared up until the fireplace in front of us was a curtain of sheer flame. I stepped back, but she took my hand. “Trust me, Faith. Nothing will harm you while you’re with me.” I stared at the blaze, feeling the heat searing my face.
“Deliah, who is Azrael?”
She smiled at me, the flames throwing odd shadows over her face. “Why, he’s the Devil, dear.” And with that, she pulled me into the flames.
I blinked as the glare faded away, eventually revealing the inside of a cave. Turning to look back the way we had come, I saw a stone archway rising up out of the rock floor. A heavy oak door stood closed inside the arch, with iron hinges and studs. It reminded me uncomfortably of the door at the cathedral, and I shivered. A long tunnel stretched ahead of us, though it looked well lit with flaming sconces.
“Deliah, where are we?” As I asked the question, I got the strong feeling I didn’t really want to know the answer.
“We are currently between places. Come now, we have a little walk to reach our destination.” She stared down the corridor, and I followed slowly.
“And what exactly is our destination?”
She glanced back and gestured for me to hurry. “Well, my dear. I am taking you to visit Hell. Come on now, don’t dawdle.”
Hell was not what I had expected. I had assumed it wasn’t going to be full of pillars of fire and screaming tortured souls, but I hadn’t expected this. I stood next to Deliah on a concrete lane. Around us, cars passed by, their horns blaring. Other pedestrians pushed past, some in a hurry, while others ambled along, chatting. Shops and restaurants lined the streets, some with flower boxes in the windows. Groups of twentysomethings could be seen through the window of the coffee shop next to them, talking away. The only difference from Earth was that the grey stone most of the buildings seemed to be constructed of was shot through with red, giving me a slightly disconcerting feeling that the buildings were alive with blood running through very visible veins. I looked up at a sky that seemed completely overcast with dark red clouds. No sun or light source was visible.
“This is... it reminds me of…”
“New York.”
“Yes, that’s it. Deliah, why does Hell look like New York?”
“Don’t mention that to the higher-ups, dear. Technically, New York looks like Hell. Though this isn’t all of Hell, it’s just the city of Pandaemonium. Let’s just say certain demon architects went earthside around the time New York was in its infancy. I guess they made it feel like home.”
“This is weird. So Hell is just people carrying on with their lives like nothing happened?”
“Not exactly, dear. Look closer.”
I looked again and realised what Deliah was getting at. Of the group of twenty somethings in the coffeeshop, only two were obviously human. One man had hair that looked more like bright orange tentacles that fell down his back like dreadlocks. A woman sitting next to him had pale blue skin and tiny white horns that protruded from her carefully blow-dried white hair. A man hurrying past in a business suit, talking loudly on a mobile phone, was completely hairless, with moving tattoos that covered every inch of skin I could see. “They’re demons.”
Deliah nodded. “Yes, a lot of them are. Demons and humans live together. Just like up on Earth, really, but here everybody knows about it.”
“But what about the whole punishment and torment thing?”
Deliah stepped forward and held up her hand. A red taxi pulled up, and Deliah gestured for me to get in. “That’s where we’re going next, dear. After you.”
The taxi ride was surreal. The driver, a demon named Malael who appeared fairly human except that he had three pairs of eyes, chatted away the whole time, complaining about something called the Infernal Council and the problem of immigration. A photo was tucked into his visor, and I could make out a woman with long green hair and a small girl with four eyes smiling up at the camera. Deliah paid the driver with coins that shone red gold, and she seemed to tip him generously as he gave us a big grin and wished us a good day before he drove off. I was too busy staring at the building we had stopped at to say goodbye.
It towered above us, taller than any other building around. A huge palace that stretched out in either direction as far as I could see, it reminded me strongly of the Louvre in Paris I had once visited on a school art trip—except this structure looked as though it had been carved from a massive piece of black granite. The lower windows were stained glass, and the colours stood out vividly against the black stone. Soldiers or security guards—I wasn’t sure which—stood at attention in black and red uniforms on either side of the door. They didn’t blink as Deliah led me straight past them and into a cavernous hallway. Inside, an ornate staircase rose up in front of us, branching to the right and left, leading up to the floors above. The black and white tiled floors stretched down vast hallways on either side of them. People milled around in the corridor, mainly in suits and ties, while others came in and out of rooms in the hallways talking, tapping o
n phones, or hurrying past. Grand gold picture frames hung on the deep red walls, bearing paintings with fashions dating back hundreds of years, but tending to depict demons and angels in formal poses. The walls rose to high, ornate ceilings hung with huge chandeliers. In front of the stairs stood a mahogany reception area manned by a demon woman and a man with red suits and ties.
I followed Deliah over to the desk and watched as she pulled a large, open, leatherbound book towards her. She scribbled down our names and passed it back with a smile. The demon woman took it from her, then glanced up at me. “First time?”
I stared at her. “Here? Um, yes.”
“Hand please.”
“Sorry, what?”
“I’m sorry, dear, I forgot to warn you. They need to take some ID. For security reasons.” Deliah smiled reassuringly.
I shrugged and held out my hand, wondering if she was about to fingerprint me. “Ow!” I snatched my hand back at the shock of pain. The demon woman looked up at me coolly. Yeah, I don’t care if you have really cool cat eyes, that hurt, bitch! She held out a small piece of absorbent paper. Deliah took my finger and squeezed a drop of blood from the pin wound the demon had just made onto the paper. The demon nodded and slipped it into a small electronic device. After a moment, it flashed green.
“That’s fine, you can—” The machine started flashing again, green then red then white, over and over in quick succession. The demon looked confused. She pulled the paper out, and the flashing stopped, but when she reinserted it, it started flashing again.
Deliah frowned. “Is there a problem?”
The demon stared at the machine for a moment, then glanced up. “No, no, I’m sure it’s fine. I think the machine might be acting up. There was no warning, so it should be fine. Witch, I take it?”
“Yes, angel descended. That might be what’s confusing it.”
The demon nodded again, though she still looked a little confused. “Yes, yes, that’s probably it. Okay, you can go through.”
“Thank you, dear.” Deliah took me by the elbow and ushered me around the desk towards the stairs. We started to climb. The stairs were wide, and the marble was worn. They were also deceptively shallow, and as we climbed higher, I started to slow.
“Where are we?” I asked, trying not to breathe too hard as I tried to keep up with the older woman. I really must work on my cardio.
“I’m giving you the official tour of Hell. Just, in a slightly more comfortable way than Dante experienced.” She winked at me. I wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not, but the reference to Dante suddenly made me realise what she’d meant about the quote on the fireplace. Wicked sense of humour indeed. “These are the Halls of Stygia, home to the Infernal Council. It is the centre of Pandaemonium, built by the angels that were cast down after the War of Heaven. You were asking about punishment, well, this is where it is decided.” She fell quiet for a few minutes, and I was too out of breath to ask any more questions.
Deliah led us to the very top of the building, and I had lost count of the number of floors we had ascended. At the uppermost landing, I doubled over, trying to catch my breath. When I straightened, I leaned over the ornate balustrade then stepped back quickly as I realised how far up we had climbed. No wonder I was so knackered. How the hell was she still going strong?
“This way,” Deliah said quietly. She gestured to a heavy wooden door. An engraved gold sign on the door was set to the words, “Not in session.” I frowned and looked over at Deliah, then with a reassuring nod from her, I turned the elaborate gold handle and pushed the door open.
It was dark inside the room at first, and it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust after the brightness of the hallway. The room, if you could call it that, reminded me of a circular lecture theatre, except it was colossal, more like a stadium. As I looked far down into the centre, I understood why Deliah had chosen to have us climb to the top. The effect was incredible. Rows and rows of red velvet seats lined the funnel-shaped chamber. The handrails and armrests were gold, as were the stair rods on the red carpets lining the stairs. I slowly descended down the nearest flight of steps, struggling to take in the sheer size of the place. Deliah followed just behind me.
About halfway down, I paused. “This is a council chamber? How big is the council?”
“At last count, about a quarter of a million.”
“A quarter of a million?”
Deliah sat down in one of the chairs and indicated for me to take the one across from her. “Just after the creation of mankind, there was a great war in Heaven. A rebellion, led by a powerful angel called Azrael—you would know him as Satan, dear—was defeated by the Hosts of Heaven. Azrael faced his brother Michael alone, and Michael cast him and his followers down to Hell. I believe the number sent down was around a hundred million. Banished from Heaven, and forbidden to reside on Earth, Azrael begged Samael to be allowed to stay in Hell. Samael permitted it, and Pandaemonium was built. Azrael was angry and resentful, however, and he found a way to Earth. I’m sure you know the story of Adam and Eve.”
“Yes, of course. Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and then she tempted Adam. God said they couldn’t remain in the garden because they had sinned, so He threw them out.”
“And that is one of the biggest misunderstandings you humans have about where you come from,” a deep, gravelly voice interjected suddenly from my right, and I leapt into the air. A man stood not three feet away, robed in grey. How he’d got so close in the silent theatre, I had no idea. His face was handsome, but not overwhelmingly so, with dark hair and a closely cropped beard. He towered above me, and though his appearance was unassuming, power radiated from him in huge waves that made it difficult for me to catch my breath.
Deliah stood and bowed her head. “My Lord Mahazael. It is an honour.”
He smiled. “Deliah, descendant of Saphiliel. It has been some time. I gather you are instructing another recruit?”
“Yes, my lord, though she is one of the descended, she has not yet been recruited by the Concordia. An oversight meant that she grew up away from the organisation and with human parents who knew nothing of our existence. I am merely filling in the gaps in her knowledge.”
“What did you mean about the biggest misunderstanding?” I inquired.
Deliah shot me a quick look, raising her eyebrows, but I ignored her. Lord Mahazael turned to me, and I gasped before I could stop myself. While one side of his face was smooth and ageless, the other was blackened and cracked with glowing embers beneath, like charcoal burning in a fire. He chose to ignore my reaction but fixed his eyes on mine. One was green like my own, but the other burned red. I couldn’t tear my gaze away. It was like I couldn’t move, like he was holding me in place.
“The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was a fallacy. Knowledge of Good and Evil was simply a term in an ancient language of your world meaning ‘everything.’ Eating the fruit gave his children the potential to learn, to understand. Until that moment, although they had free will, they had no choice. Azrael was the first to give them a choice, and they chose wisdom over ignorance.”
“Oh, I see…” Well, kind of...
“Do you? They began to notice things and think about themselves, the animals, plants, and other things around them in the garden. They started to ponder where they came from and what would happen to them. They began to think about each other, and they thought about all of that instead of thinking about God.”
“They began to ask questions,” I surmised, realising what he was getting at.
He nodded. “Exactly. Questions He couldn’t or didn’t want to answer. And that is the difference between Heaven and Hell. One wants humans to be ignorant and innocent with blind faith and trust. The other believes humans should have real free will and real choice.”
“So you’re saying Satan was doing the right thing?” This was not what I’d been taught in religious education lessons, and my head was starting to spin.
> “Lord Azrael loved humans, as did we all. He wanted to help and protect them, but saw no reason to bow down to creatures that, at the time, were much less developed than we were. Many agreed and would go on to agree throughout the ages.”
“But that would make all demons the good guys.”
To her surprise, Lord Mahazael threw his head back and laughed. I looked at Deliah, who appeared stunned. “Yes, young one, we are most definitely the good guys.” He bowed his head slightly and began to move back up the stairs. When he reached the nearest doorway, he paused and looked back at us. “Of course, there’s only one problem with that concept.”
“And what’s that?” I asked.
“You’re assuming good and evil are real, and not just the likes and dislikes of a demanding deity.” He turned without waiting for a reply and left as silently as he had appeared. I stared after him.
Next to me, Deliah took a breath. I looked over at her.
“He was an... interesting... man.” Taking a breath myself, I sat back down.
Deliah perched next to me and laughed. “He was the Eternal Judge of Souls.”
“He was what?” My mouth dropped open.
“Yes, dear, the ‘man’ you were just talking to was an angel of the highest order of Heaven before he supported Azrael in the rebellion and was cast down to Hell millennia ago. A seraphim. Now he is the one who sits down there and passes judgement on each human soul that has ever existed.”
I gaped at the door he had left through, my mouth falling open, then I eyed Deliah, who looked suspiciously like she was trying not to laugh.
“So... I’ve just been chatting about Satan with…”
“Lord Mahazael, Eternal Judge of Souls, and one of the four crown princes that rule over Hell.”
“Well, shit.” Fuck, fuck, fuck, I really needed to learn to keep my mouth shut.
Nephilim the Awakening (Wrath of the Fallen Book 1) Page 15
