by A.J. Aaron
“We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.”
Anton Chekhov
14
We both closed our eyes to protect them from the blinding light. The sounds, wind, and the storm stopped abruptly. We opened our eyes tentatively.
“Okay, you two! Enough of this crap! This is real and you better start realizing it!”
“Aaahhh!” Leyna screamed right next to my ear.
“Who the hell are you?” I screamed to the patchouli-smelling, one of four, intruder now standing in my kitchen. He had to be seven feet tall. Reddish blond hair, tan skin, wearing a leather motorcycle jacket and pants, no shirt beneath the coat, and a sizable gold shield dangling from a thick gold chain resting on his huge pecs. A scabbard with crystal embellishments was fixed to his gold-studded black belt. The scabbard held a long sword. We were going to get robbed, or killed, or both.
“Don’t worry, we’re not gonna rob you,” a honey-like voice came from one guy. Girl? Oddly dressed, and similar to the first one in leathers, his or her skin was creamy smooth and he or she had chestnut colored long hair with vivid green eyes. The tall one picked up the bottle of tequila and slugged down half of it.
The third one was behind Leyna with his weathered looking skin. He had a longer brown leather coat and pants, with a shirt that appeared to be made of woven vines. His hair was salt and pepper, and when he looked at me, the aroma of woods and greenery filled my senses.
He lit a cigarette and spoke with smoke coming out of his nostrils. His deep, deep voice said, “Sucks that you don’t remember us. Makes it hard to help you. All those promises we made to each other.” He slugged down some tequila and handed the bottle to the fourth one, who tossed his blond hair over his shoulders. His gray eyes looked us over.
The last one slugged some tequila and gently placed the bottle on the counter. He wore a shirt of feathers with a different leather coat and pants than the others.
The androgynous one looked like a little brother imitating his big brother, the tall one, with their identical clothes. I wondered what it meant. Were they brothers?
The tall one responded as if he read my mind, “Gabby isn’t my brother, but can be extremely annoying. No creativity, that damn messenger! The way that he or she likes to copy my clothes. I am reading your mind, Sevilen. Wake up, man. Why don’t you two take a seat at the table? We’ll all sit and discuss it.”
“Discuss what? How you guys snuck in here while the storm raged?”
“Snuck in? We don’t sneak. We announce ourselves. Sometimes we just observe, like when I was a raven today. So, back to the announcement of our arrival. What about the horns, the blaring trumpets, Sevilen? Was that from the storm?”
“You guys could have a boom box on the deck, or something. Easy enough.”
“And the blinding white light?”
“Big deal. Photo lights you could have held in your hands and pointed in our eyes.”
They all sat; the tall one made the chair look like a child’s size. The ruddy salt and pepper guy spoke. “Why can’t we bring back their memories? This is terrible. They don’t even think we’re angels.”
“Maybe some warped version of the Hell’s Angels. You can’t be serious!” I cried out incredulously as I took a seat at the table and Leyna sat on my lap.
The tall one said, “Let’s start again.” He seemed truthful and non-threatening, but extremely formidable.
He continued, “Good, I’m glad you view me as truthful and non-threatening. Maybe we can get somewhere.”
“How did —”
“I am an archangel, you idiot!” He shook his head, took a deep breath, and calmed down. “Sorry for raising my voice, Lord Sevilen, but you’re trying my patience. Let me speak and you stop worrying. Lady Leyna, you okay?”
Leyna sat on my lap with a gaping jaw. “Uh, yeah, good.”
“Don’t think about that stuff with me. I’m not suitable for humans.” He let out a supernatural laugh that shook the walls. Leyna’s eyes popped open.
“I wasn’t thinking—”
“You can’t lie to me, so stop.” He gave her a beautiful smile and she melted into me.
“Let’s start with names. Who are you guys?”
“Gabby, tell him, would you? You’re the best at delivering this.”
The androgynous one stood and began speaking in that honey-like voice. “Maybe we can try to refresh his memory while I introduce everyone.”
The tall one looked at him with cynicism. “What are you, nuts? They can’t remember. They aren’t opened yet, you idiot.”
“Don’t call me an idiot. I think it would be fun anyway. Geesh, I get a little creative and you get all upset. And just because I think the clothes you pick are cool, doesn’t mean I’m not creative.”
The tall one was getting frustrated. He said, “Oh, Gabriel. Just get this going. What order are we going in?”
“The same normal ritual, of course. Rapper first.”
The four of them lined up. Gabby adjusted the other’s clothes as they shooed him away. They looked like the four stooges. Leyna and I had to laugh. Then when Gabby was satisfied, he began.
“Of the direction of the East! Representing the element of the air! I call to Archangel Raphael, RAPH-EEEEEE-AAEELL! Beautiful, graceful, Archangel of the air and of the East. Join me here at this table to speak with these gods to be!”
Outside, the wind blew again and the man walked forward, stood by his seat at the table, holding the back of it. He had pale, smooth skin, light blond hair and a slight build, but was obviously extremely potent and fully capable of any undertaking. Light gray eyes, in his face of aquiline features, burned bright as he looked at me and parted his lips into a smile full of beautiful white teeth.
He wore blue gray leathers and with his right hand, he unsheathed a sword, the hilt embellished with green jewels and crystal. He swung the sword over and around his head and then down, knocking over the tequila. The wind stopped.
“Oops, sorry. Hi, nice to see you two, I’m the Archangel Raphael, but these days Rapper is more popular, so I go by that. Sorry about the tequila. Good thing it was corked.”
Leyna and I laughed, but we were a bit out of sorts on the wind trick.
Gabby started again. “And guarding the gates of the South, I present to you the Archangel Michael!”
The tall one stood, facing us with his sword raised in his right hand, pushed up through the roof of the trailer. A scale of truth appeared in his left hand. He looked at the counter and started a fire in a marble bowl beside him. We felt a rush of heat. He walked forward. The fire and the marble bowl, along with the scale of truth, then disappeared.
Gabby continued, introducing Michael. “I present to you Lord Sevilen and Lady Leyna, Archangel MIK-AAA-ELLL! Powerful, decisive, leader of justice and truth!”
Michael smiled, making me feel warm and protected. He slipped his sword into a tiger’s eye, hematite and bloodstone decorated sheath. I smelled patchouli as he moved toward us. He looked down and smiled.
“Call me Mike.” He walked over to the fridge and grabbed a six-pack of beer, handing it out to everyone. He opened one and slugged half of it down. “Love beer.” He then took his seat at the table.
Gabby said, “To the gatekeeper of the West!” He pointed to his chest. I smelled the salt of the ocean and gazed upon the androgynous being dressed like Mike. “And here I present to you, the beautiful Archangel Gabriel! Me!”
Gabby stepped forward and the light inside and outside reached a blinding whiteness. It subsided until we could see it emanating from Gabby’s form. Green eyes bored inside of Leyna and me as he or she spoke.
“Nice to see you guys again. I sure hope we can get this thing settled. I can’t be spending all my time with just you two. Lord Sevilen and Lady Leyna, I bring you this message, and I implore you, believe, and know the truth. You will be gods if you will only believe.”
Gabby touched our heads
and sent a feeling of love through us and then popped open a beer and took a gulp with full soft lips. Flipping chestnut hair over a shoulder, Gabby began the final introduction.
Gabby performed a thunderous drum roll on the table. Next, a clap of thunder nearly knocked Leyna and I from our seat as Gabby shouted, “Gatekeeper of the North!”
I smelled leaves in the fall and rich earth blowing in through the slightly open window. Thunder clapped, and shook the trailer. “I present to thee, Archangel AUR-III-ELLL! Archangel of vision and psychic sight, ministration and peace, the giver of the Kabala, please join us if you will.”
The salt and pepper-haired guy in the tan leathers moved forward. His skin was dry and swarthy and black eyes blinked slowly. His steady, firm gaze locked in on me. He gave a subtle grin and nodded before speaking slowly with a deep, sonorous, voice.
“Lord Sevilen, I came here to help in your quest. You have lessons to learn.” His eyes locked onto Leyna’s. “As does your other half. I am here to help you both.” He sat at the table.
Mike took over. “Okay, now you know we’re the archangels of the four quarters. We aren’t guys you would normally have helping you, especially all four of us. Nevertheless, we made a pact way back when, in the 1400s, and you two have been brought together as Lord Sevilen commanded in his spell. Now it is our challenge, and it doesn’t look easy, to help you two become gods. Why we would want you to be more powerful than us is beyond me, but we have helped promote stranger ones than you two.”
He looked me in the eye and then at Leyna. “Do you know what you two need to do?”
“What, I’m supposed to save this nutcase on my lap and we’re both gonna become gods?”
“Right. Good. You got it right. Now do it. Like Gab said, believe and know and do. Okay, then we’re done here. Good job.” He stood.
“No frickin’ way! She just wants to shag me and I think she’s a lunatic.”
Leyna turned around and slapped me in the face. “Lunatic? You’re the one who can’t handle me making passes at you. No man ever turns me down. I was starting to think Alexander was your lover.” She rubbed her bottom into me like a lap dancer.
I shook my head, let out a deep breath then looked at Michael. “All of this is just a mental fabrication of my demented self. Everything you guys just did, we dreamt.”
Michael’s face grew red as he puffed a cigar. Gabby shook his head and covered his, uh her, eyes. Auriel stood and put a bottle of whiskey on the table with a bunch of glasses. Rapper just put his head on his arms and looked up at us with frustration.
I continued, “Angels have wings and stuff. They don’t drink booze and smoke cigars. This has to be a twisted fabrication of my unstable self, since you’re all dressed like drug dealers. And your speech is all present day. It’s weird, though, that you guys are calling me Lord Sevilen like Alexander does.”
Leyna leaned back and looked at me. “Yeah right, Alexander, that imaginary servant of yours you’re in love with, sure. This is a train wreck and I’m done with it.”
Mike turned his chair sideways. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the wall. He carved out a garage-sized door from where he sat, by aiming his sword at it. The wall fell outside, pictures and all.
He illuminated the deck with an image of the past, of Sevilen and Leyna standing on the deck. They kissed. Then he showed Leyna burning on a pyre followed by Sevilen in the temple with the four of them. The deck went black again. Mike sipped his beer and spoke. “Fabrication?”
“Twisted fabrication,” I said.
Mike looked at Leyna. “How about that tombstone. Coincidence? There are a bunch of them around the country from the different lives you’ve led. They all died at the same age. You’re no different and will meet the same end at the same age. You have only months to go, if you don’t change with Sevilen’s help.”
“How the hell…?” Leyna looked a bit flustered with Michael knowing about the tombstone, but in seconds, she was able to defy belief in what she was being told. “No way. Dream. Psychotic illusion. Something in the water here.”
“Sevilen, do you want to be responsible for her death in this life, now that you finally caught up with her after all these years?” He looked at me, eyes pleading for us to believe.
“She’ll be fine. She’s too tough to die so young.”
He stood, as did the others. They shook their heads as we sat on the chair. Then, they were gone.
Leyna shrugged, got up, grabbed the bottle of tequila and sat back on my lap. She pulled the cork with a pop, slugged a couple of gulps from it, and banged it on the table.
She looked at me with drooping eyelids. “C’mon. I want to play with you. I need to get this done.” She tried to stand and passed out. I carried her to the bedroom, put her under the covers, and went to sleep next to her.
I woke the next morning and Leyna was already gone. She had left a message in lipstick on the bathroom mirror. “Shag yourself and shag all of this!” I guessed I made an impression on her. Her car was gone and she was nowhere to be found. I checked the cottage. It was cleared out.
I came back to the trailer and looked it over before I left. Evidence of what happened last night remained. It might not have been a dream or some psychotic episode. There were cigar ashes, too many empty beer cans than the two of us could consume, and the one glaring thing. A huge garage door-sized hole was in the side of the trailer and the wall was out on the deck.
