"And that says a lot about you," Jessie said. "Look. I don't know Melchizedek, but I do know Delilah and Gideon. She's so smart, but so detached, so emotionally isolated, so fragile. And Gideon is troubled, full of passion without restraint. He's a good man, but without restraint he'll cause more harm than good."
Lily didn't respond.
"So maybe you need them to stay grounded, and they need you to keep them balanced."
"Maybe." Lily said. "Maybe everything is going to work out."
"Maybe?" Jessie smiled. "It's His plan. There's no 'Maybe' about it."
After the wives had disengaged to the living room, Deacon Ross joined Deacon Baker in the den.
"I'm worried about your daughter," Ross said, taking a cigar from the box on the mantle.
Baker nodded. "The wife and I are worried about her, too."
"Worried, Tom."
"Ah." Tom poured them both snifters from the brandy decanter next to the cigars. "I've got it in hand."
"Do you?" Ross asked. "Bob's been asking."
Tom chuckled. "Bob's been asking everybody. I told him it was handled."
"It's kind of a big deal."
"It is. But it's handled."
"What with our visitor in town."
Deacon Baker lit his cigar. "Sheriff said he was still sniffing about the outskirts."
"Has he tried to make contact?"
"Not that I've heard."
"Good. Because Gideon Cermak and Barny Carter smashed into my kitchen this morning, Tom."
Baker took the cigar out of his mouth. "What? Were they--"
"They were fighting. A real hum-dinger, from the looks of the damage to my yard, to my shed."
"Have you talked to Bill or Joe about this?"
"I haven't even told Bob. I wanted to talk to you first."
Deacon Baker stared into the fireplace. "We should tell Bob."
"You know Bob. He'll send Porter."
Baker almost dropped his snifter, and placed it on the table. "There's no need for Porter. We can handle Melchizedek ourselves."
"I know that. But Bob--"
"Christ, Carl, you know what it'd mean for the girls."
"I know, Bob." Reverend Ross frowned. "You know I love my Jessie like she was my own. But some things are bigger than family."
"I don't think so. Nothing's bigger than family."
"We're talking about the world here, Baker."
Deacon Baker rose from his chair and paced to the fireplace. "I know the stakes."
Ross rose to join him. "Do you? Because I think you've forgotten."
"She's... they're our daughters for the love of God!"
"No, Tom." Deacon Ross put a hand on Baker's shoulder. "They're not. They're our sacred burdens, our holy tasks."
Baker stared into the hearth. "I haven't forgotten."
"Good, Tom, good. Because we were getting worried for a moment, Me and Bill and Joe and Pete. I'll tell them that you're handling Lily. That everything is under control."
"Everything is under control, damn you."
"I love my Jessie, and I raised her right, and I know you raised your Lily right, but we're not their parents. We're their guardians."
"It's the same thing."
There was a hint of pity in Ross's voice. "No, Tom. No. It's not."
EPISODE 3
CHAPTER ONE
Ribbons of orange and red wrapped from the west, rising from the horizon with the sinking of the desert sun. Lily stood balanced on a railroad tie, wearing a lime green tank top and battered jeans, sweatshirt tied around her hips, tiny gold crucifix around her neck gleaming in the last dying light. Jessie sat alongside her, skirt tucked demurely under her legs, a distant expression on her face.
Her arms folded, feet set shoulder width apart, Lily watched the others as they arrived.
Gideon and Delilah came together, talking and laughing. It was the younger girl that had approached Lily with the suggestion that everyone gather to discuss matters, and Lily had agreed immediately. She had shared the news that Jessie was one of them, and Delilah had told her that it looked like Barny Carter, of all people, was as well.
Gideon stopped in front of her, shade his eyes against the fading sunlight with a bandaged hand. "You're looking better."
"I'm feeling better," Lily said.
The conversation with Jessie had done wonders to improve her mood. Not that she was any more enlightened, but for the first time since the accident she felt motivated, like she could direct her energies to concrete action. Lily was done with floundering.
Delilah gave Jessie a small wave. She stopped, staring back towards town. "Oh crap."
Gideon followed her gaze. "Is that Barny?"
Lily could see the redhead tense. "Yes. I told him to come along."
"Why?"
"He's part of this," Jessie said.
"He's a psycho."
"He's an asshole," Lily said. "But he should be here for this. He's involved, too."
Gideon shook his head angrily. "Are you nuts?"
"Hey!" Lily glared at him. "You want him running around on his own, or here where we can keep an eye on him?"
He glanced back towards the approaching football player and shook his head. He jammed his hands into his pockets and started pacing the length of the railroad tie.
"Are you sure including him is a good idea?" Delilah asked.
"No," Lily said. "But I'd rather we kept him the devil we know."
"What did you tell him?"
"That he wasn't alone. That it involved the rest of us, and that if he wanted any answers he'd have to show up."
"You can't trust him." Gideon hurried back. "You know he's going to start some shit."
"He'll try," Lily said. "But I know I can trust you not to let him get under your skin."
Gideon stopped. "He--"
"I know I can count on you. That you're the bigger man."
The redhead glanced back at the approaching bully. He nodded once, grimly.
Conversation lapsed as Barny drew closer. He stopped a few yards from the others, gave Lily a curt nod, avoiding eye-contact with Gideon.
Lily's gaze shifted from Barny to Gideon to Delilah to Jessie.
"You all know why we're here," she said. "This thing, it's happening. We can't pretend that it's not. I tried that, and it didn't work out. So I want to get us all on the same page, and we can talk about what -- if anything -- we want to do about it."
"Okay, I got no problem with that." Barny craned his neck, peering around the drive-in theater parking lot. "Is he here? The shadow guy?"
"I didn't invite him," Lily said.
"Want me to head out to the shack and get him?" Delilah asked.
"No," Lily said. "If he wants to show up, he will. But this is about us."
"How do we even know he's telling the truth about any of it?" Barny said.
"We don't," Lily said. "Not for sure."
"I could tell, if I met him," Jessie said. "I can tell when people are lying."
"Big help if he's not here." Barny said.
"He was right about at least one thing," Jessie said. "Our father was more than man. An angel."
"When I talked to him he said that we weren't human ourselves," Delilah said. "Not even really alive."
"You said that before. What's that even mean?" Gideon asked.
"Angels are not of flesh and bone like mortal man," Jessie said. "But of spirit and light, of celestial wonder."
Gideon furrowed his brow. "What? Like a ghost?"
"That's stupid," Barny said. "We bleed pretty damn real."
Delilah shook her head. "He doesn't really get it himself, but he thinks that we look human because we take after our mothers. From what he's said and what we've all experienced, I would surmise that the angelic nature remains dormant unless awakened by bodily trauma. Melchizedek was shot, Lily was in an accident, she hit Barny--"
"Sorry about that," Lily said.
Barny waved her off.
"-
-you beat Gideon, and I... fell from the water tower."
"I was very ill as a young girl," Jessie said. "The visions started after my fever broke."
"Another interesting aspect," Delilah said. "All of our... let's call them 'manifestations'... are different."
Barny kicked at the gravel. "So our father--"
"His name was Nicholas Kantor," Delilah said.
"--He was an angel?"
"Melchizedek seemed to think he might be."
"Oh, he was," Jessie said. "I've seen him. In my dreams."
"We've all had the dreams and they don't make any sense," Lily said.
"They're clear to me. After all, I've been having them for years. And they're more than just dreams -- they're a connection to our father, and through him, the Almighty. I've seen the angel, and he has whispered to me in my visions."
Lily eyed the girl with a mix of trepidation and skepticism. "He has?"
"Oh yes." The far-off look had returned to Jessie's eyes. "And he is not just any of Heaven's host, but the eldest and greatest of angels."
Lily frowned, thinking back to what little she remembered from Sunday School. The International Church of Christ Everlasting was a modern and progressive church; its teachings didn't delve very deeply into Christian esoterica. "Michael?"
"Michael is the second eldest," Jessie said. "Our father is the Light Bringer, the Morning Star. Lucifer."
A stunned silence followed, and Lily almost fell off the railroad tie as her stomach dropped.
Barny broke it. "Our father is the fucking devil?"
Lily felt light-headed, and it was difficult to breathe. "No, wait, you said our father was an angel."
"Lucifer is an angel," Jessie said. "The first-born."
"The devil is not a fucking angel, Jessie!"
Jessie frowned. "He is so!"
"He's the devil!"
"He's both."
Gideon sat down heavily on the railroad tie. "I can't believe this."
Barny started to laugh. "Oh, this shit is too fucking rich."
"Are you sure?" Lily asked.
Jessie looked from one face to the next, biting her lip. "Yes, of course. What's wrong?"
Lily sat next to Gideon. "I think I'm going to be sick."
"What's wrong?"
"You just told everyone that we're the spawn of Satan, that's what's wrong," Delilah said.
"Stop!" Barny fought to catch his breath. "I'm fucking dying. You guys are fucking killing me."
Jessie folded her arms. "We are bright and luminous creatures, half flesh, half celestial, a glory to God's creation. I don't see what you're all so upset about."
"Stop laughing Barny!" Lily said. "This isn't fucking funny."
Barny wiped a tear from his eye. "No, it's very fucking funny."
"What's wrong?" Jessie asked.
"Does this make us antichrists?" Gideon asked.
"What? That doesn't even make any sense," Barny said.
"He's right," Jessie said. "Lucifer and the Antichrist are different."
"How can you not see how this is a problem?" Lily asked. "We're... we're unclean. Tainted. Evil by nature."
Jessie ran a hand through Lily's hair. "Oh, no. Oh dear. No. You all... you're confusing secular ideas of what our father is with the reality of the Bible. That's not what our Church teaches at all."
She stepped away towards the desert, then turned back to her half-siblings. "I was afraid, too, when he first spoke to me. But our father is an angel, my loves. Chosen by God for the most sacred of tasks. To rebel. Do you think this did not serve God? Do you think even an angel as powerful as our father is somehow beyond His will?"
It seemed like the sun's last rays were casting a halo around Jessie, and when she spoke, Lily could hear the truth in her words. Or was it just what she wanted to hear? Was she just grasping out for anything to hold onto, anything that would mean salvation?
"Forget the false words of the secular world. Let go of the ideas that other denominations have tried to infect your faith with. To sin is to die a spiritual death, and angels cannot die. Angels cannot sin. They have no immortal soul to imperil. They are spiritual extensions of God's will."
Delilah spoke with some hesitation. "I remember reading somewhere that the figures of Satan and Lucifer were different originally. Like they were merged in the Middle Ages and mixed in with different pagan gods, too."
"Whatever the spiritual truth is," Jessie said, "God created our father as part of His divine plan. He was meant to rebel. He was meant to fall. It is impossible to not serve the Creator."
"Will you listen to yourselves?" Barny sneered. "You're grasping at straws. Just accept what we are."
"Barny!" Lily stepped down from the railroad tie.
"No, he's right," Jessie said. "Who we are is also part of God's plan. We were given life by the grace of God, and He imbued us with the nature of our essence. Who our father is, what he has done, what he is... none of that is as important as what the Lord wants of us."
"What does God want from us?" Gideon asked. "Why... why were we created?"
Jessie smiled almost sadly. "God speaks to me through visions, but He talks to all of us in the everyday. You just need to learn to see the signs, to hear His words."
"That's not very helpful," Barny said. "Want to cut the benevolent mystic crap and just tell us straight?"
"What God wants of us is the easiest thing in the world. He tells us, simply, obviously, in the very core of who we are. He created us with urges and impulses, to serve His plan with the very fact of who we are. Just as it is for all of humanity."
Barny glanced at Gideon. "What if our impulses are destructive? Harmful?"
"Sadistic," Gideon said, glaring back.
Barny chuckled and walked away, shaking his head.
"We are as He made us. For most people I would say that they were trials to overcome, hurdles of faith. Angels are not tested, they are just to be as He made them."
"And us?" Lily asked. "Half-human half-angel?"
"I don't know. Genesis calls them men of renown, implying they were heroes. The Book of Enoch says the spirits of the Nephilim who survived the flood were turned into demons to try and lead men astray."
"That's not very helpful," Lily said, almost overcome by a sudden wave of nausea.
"I'm sorry," Jessie said. "I can only say that my nature leads me to a life of compassion. That is who He made me to be. Only you can know who He has made you to be."
***
Lily's first impulse was to turn her back on the others and head home through the darkness. Her head felt fuzzy, and coherent thought came only reluctantly. She'd wanted answers, she'd wanted the truth, but facing it was harder than she thought it would be. Maybe if it was anything else, like ghosts or vampires or werewolves or just magic, she could have managed to cope with it. But angels? And demons?
She considered herself a good Christian. Her father was a Deacon. She went to church every Sunday. But the International Church of Christ Everlasting had always taught that the supernatural elements of the Bible were largely allegory, stories told to emphasize certain tenets of faith. There was God the creator, of course, and his son Jesus, and the apostles and saints, but the angels and the Devil, most of the miracles? There were no winged men with swords of fire. There was no goatee'd man with a pitchfork on a throne overlooking a lake of fire. Hell was a metaphor for the rejection of God's love. Satan was the impulse to turn your back on compassion.
Nobody really believed in any of that other stuff. Nobody sensible.
And now she was supposed to just believe that she was the Devil's daughter, like in some cheesy horror film?
She'd accepted that she and the other orphans were different. That they had these superhuman capabilities. Why was it that a radioactive spider-bite was easier to accept than the Devil?
What did that say about her as a Christian?
The silence grew thick and oppressive, each of the Nephilim sitting in a different corner
of the Spot, lost in their own thoughts.
Barny had wandered off first, while the others were still talking. He hadn't gone far, just far enough to start building a bonfire. It seemed almost an automatic response, something he defaulted to, a familiar activity from dozens of previous gatherings at the abandoned drive-in. His eyes were distant, but he didn't falter, neatly stacking branches and blocks of wood from the back of his pick-up before packing in dry newspaper and scrub as tinder.
Did he bring the wood with him for this meeting, Lily wondered? Or did he just drive around like that, prepared in case a spontaneous bonfire should break out?
Gideon was walking along the rusted steel parking-lot fence, dragging a stick along its ribbed surface, kicking the occasional bit of gravel out of his way. He, too, looked lost in thought. Unlike Barny, Gideon would occasionally glance up at the others briefly before continuing along his way. He was muttering something, though Lily couldn't make out what it was under the noise his stick was making.
She realized that given how far from her he was, she shouldn't be able to tell that he was muttering anything. Normally. Was this another gift of her father's dark heritage? A superhuman sense of hearing?
Delilah was off on her own, sitting on a log near the dilapidated concession stand, poking at the dirt with a stick. She was the least fathomable one, younger than the others, but so intelligent as to be almost alien. What did people that smart even think about? Lily was no slouch, but something about the girl's intellect intimidated her. Still, maybe she could come up with the answers where Jessie's Biblical understanding had left off.
Maybe.
Jessie herself had remained where they'd been talking before the others had split away. It was obvious that she was troubled, biting her lip, watching the others one after another. Lily made eye-contact with her whenever she glanced in her direction, but Jessie made no attempt to come join her. What did the girl expect, dropping the Lucifer-bomb on them like that? Like it wasn't this sudden traumatic blow, discovering that you were part devil?
That was Jessie's problem. She was so strong in her faith that it was difficult for her to realize that other people weren't. That even the other members of her community lived largely secular lifestyles. That sometimes, maybe, people who believed in and belonged to the church didn't necessarily even believe in God.
Infernal Revelation : Collected Episodes 1-4 (9781311980007) Page 10
