Seraphim

by Leslie Swartz

  “So,” Wyatt said. “Angels are real, so that makes…”

  “God,” Gabriel confirmed. “Yeah, He’s real. Not like most people think, I mean, he’s complicated.”

  “Complicated.”

  “Yeah, it’s like, he’s everything,” she explained. “The couch, the air, us. Every atom is part of God. So, He used to be this tiny little ball thing, but he was bored and lonely, so he spewed himself all across the nothing and created Creation.”

  “Like the big bang?” Wyatt asked.

  “Exactly the big bang,” she told him. “So, think about everything in the universe like body parts. Cells in one unimaginably giant entity. And at the center of everything is God’s consciousness, which I’ll just refer to as ‘God’ from now on to make the conversation easier. Directly surrounding that is Heaven.”

  “His consciousness,” Wyatt said. “So, he has like, a personality?”

  “Totes.”

  “What’s that like?”

  “Oh, you know, self righteous. Funny. He loves everyone and everything. He’s basically a know-it-all father figure with a lot of dad jokes.”

  Wyatt laughed. “How do you remember this? Why don’t I?”

  “I don’t actually remember it,” she made clear. “It’s more like I saw it in a movie or learned about it in school. I know this stuff like you know about Pearl Harbor. You don’t remember it, but you can tell me what happened. And, while it seems like I do, I don’t actually know everything. Just what God wants me to know. I’m His Messenger, so I know and relate pertinent information, but there are a few things I don’t know. For example, I have no idea if aliens exist. No clue. Could be none or there could be an alien city on the dark side of the moon. I’m oblivious. Fairies, unicorns, dragons, fucking Big Foot, I could not tell you.”

  “That’s funny,” Wyatt chuckled.

  Abruptly, Gabriel jumped up and rushed toward the door. “Yay, pizza!” she sang just as there was a knock at the door. She opened it, smiling broadly. “Ethan, my precious,” she said, pulling a twenty dollar bill from her back pocket and handing it to the delivery guy.

  “You don’t have to pa--” the carrier stopped, seeing Wyatt who sat silently on the couch. “Who the hell’s that?”

  Gabriel tried not to laugh at Ethan’s insecurity. “That’s my brother, Wyatt.” she snickered. “You don’t see the resemblance?”

  He looked Wyatt over suspiciously. “I guess you both have brown hair,” he conceded. “So, I get off in a few hours. I was thinking, I could stop by and--”

  “I know what you were thinking, sweetie, but it’s not happening tonight,” she rebuffed. “Family stuff.”

  “Okay, well call me when--”

  “I’ll call you sometime,” she said, taking the pizza and closing the door. “Eventually, probably,” she muttered as she placed the box on the island and opened it. She took a slice for herself and waved Wyatt over. They both sat and began eating.

  “So, that’s the boyfriend I’m supposed to ask about?” he baited.

  “No, that’s just Ethan,” Gabriel said. “He helps me out sometimes. You know, sexually.”

  “Oh,” Wyatt said, eyebrows raised.

  “What?” she said, daring him to comment.

  “I’m not saying anything.”

  “Mm hmm.”

  “So that’s not the guy Valerie was talking about?” he asked, unable to stifle his curiosity.

  “She wasn’t talking about any one person in particular. She just has opinions about how I live my life, that’s all.”

  “I see. So is she worried about you or just nosy?”

  “Thank you!” Gabriel exclaimed. “Bish all in my business and shit. I don’t want a boyfriend. What’s the point? Date some dude for so long he gets all attached and then one day I’m just like, ‘Oh, by the way, I’m the fucking Messenger of God and I can’t make it to dinner tonight because I have important saving the world shit to do. Sorry.’ Or, I just hide who I am forever, and what kind of life is that? Keeping this secret would be like, effort, and I don’t have room. Besides, when you know everything, pretty much everyone is too annoying to be around for more than a weekend.”

  “As long as you’re safe, it’s none of my business.”

  “Safe? What for?” she scoffed. “If I get sick, I heal myself. I can’t get knocked up and I don’t carry disease. Uriel just thinks I treat my partners badly by not ever committing to one. Says I might hurt their sensitive human feelings. But I know what they’re thinking and it has never once been ‘Oh, I wish all this consequence free sex came with more strings.’”

  “All right, then,” Wyatt said. “I’m sorry, though, about your fertility issue.”

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you,” she realized, starting her second slice of pizza. “None of us can have kids. Like, ever. You boys are sterile and me and Uriel don’t even get a monthly business. It doesn’t suck.”

  “What do you mean, sterile?” he contested.

  “Don’t freak out, we’re angels. We’re forbidden from procreating, and when God forbids something, he doesn’t trust people to do what he says. He just makes it impossible.”

  Wyatt could feel his life crashing down around him. Annie would never come back to him now.

  “Hey,” Gabriel said, rubbing his back. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m loaded. If you need money for adoption fees or a sperm donor or something, I’m here for you, bro.”

  “We just met.”

  “You just met,” she corrected. “I’ve known you forever.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” she warned. “I can give you a fuck ton of money, but that’s not gonna bring your girl back. She’s not gonna believe you magically got better overnight. And, I think you know you can’t tell her any of this angel stuff.”

  “No, she’d think I’m crazier than she already does,” he agreed. “Out of curiosity, why won’t God let us have kids?”

  “History lesson,” Gabriel started. “Back in the old days, when humans were new and interesting, some angels got obsessed. They possessed the bodies of men to see how being human felt, and you know what it’s like to be in here. You’re hungry and thirsty, everything hurts and half the time, you’re desperate for ass. Nothing ever satisfies for very long and it’s just constant satiation of these stupid animal instincts. Me and you were born into these bodies, so we’re used to it, but these motherfuckers just stepped right into the shit and couldn’t control themselves. Some of them started seducing and even raping chicks, which resulted in offspring we called ‘Nephilim’. Half angel, half human, those monstrosities were unmanageable. First, all the women that gave birth to them died. Their power was too great for a fragile human body to take. The fetuses grew something like three times as fast as a normal pregnancy and then, instead of a normal delivery, the baby would force it’s way out, tearing at, we’ll just say, all the things. Once born, they grew fast. By the time three years had passed, they looked, felt and spoke like they were in their twenties. They were geniuses, master manipulators and they were strong as fuck. They had the powers of their fathers but with human souls and brains, so they were unbalanced. Some forced people to worship them like Gods. Some went on murdering sprees. They were so hungry, they’d eat all the available food in a village and starve their neighbors to death. One asshole burned his whole town to the ground because the local winery couldn’t make more wine because, after drinking it all, he ate all the grapes for miles. These abominations were fucking nuts. God eventually got sick of their shit, sent the angels that sired them to Hell and wiped the Nephilim from the Earth.”

  “How’d he do that?”

  She took a sip of water before answering. “He made it rain.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah,” She finished her pizza before speaking again. “After that, God took away our ability to breed, whether we be in a human host or otherwise.”

  “Otherwise. So, what are we really?”

  �
�As angels, we’re energy beings that don’t really look like anything. We’re invisible to humans unless we want to be seen, at which point, we can make ourselves look like pretty much whatever we want. Currently, the few of us that are here are occupying human bodies that would have died before birth. Had Wyatt Sinclair had a human soul, his mom’s nutty as a fruitcake moment would’ve killed him and without you to be strong for, John would have spiraled in to such hardcore alcoholism that he’d have lost his practice, his home and he would have died penniless on the streets of cirrhosis in two thousand nine. Speaking of death, yes we can die. We’re basically human, our bodies just formed to be able to handle us. Because of our ability to self heal, we probably have a longer than usual life expectancy, but we’ll all ultimately die of old.”

  “I don’t self heal.”

  “Really?” she asked. “You ever get injured on the job? Smoke inhalation? When was the last time you were sick?”

  Wyatt thought about it and couldn’t remember. He recalled no instance of sickness in his life.

  “Not even a cold,” Gabriel stated. “Anyway, when we die, assuming we get cremated, we’ll be pulled back to Heaven like we’re on bungee cords. Our bodies act as a tether keeping us on Earth. They get destroyed, we go home. Otherwise, we’re stuck here, roaming this dump until the Gates open. Yeah, yeah, the apartment’s great, but it’s a third world gutter in comparison, trust me.”

  “Gates?”

  “And to the reason we’re here on Earth now,” Gabriel began. “A few weeks ago, God started his rest. Every seventh celestial day, a ‘day’ being two hundred and forty three Earth years, God shuts down his consciousness. Heaven’s Gates and the Gates of Hell slam shut and any angel or demon still on this planet snaps back like a supermodel after a pregnancy. The only thing in or out are human souls. It’s His way of ensuring humanity’s control over their own evolution. The system has worked like gangbusters for infinity except now, a particularly fucked up so and so has thrown a wrench in the works and Dad needs us to clean up the mess while he’s taking a nap.”

  “How do we do that?”

  “We’ll talk about it. Listen, I’m gonna put the rest of this pizza up for later. I know you want to, so go ahead and call your wife. When you’re done, we need to get to work.”

  “Work?”

  “Training,” she insisted. “You need to learn to control your lightning and get yourself ready.”

  “Ready for what?”

  “Anything. Your room’s the first door on the left. That’s where you’ll be staying for a while, so get cozy.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Wyatt said jokingly. He made his way to the bedroom where he found a closet full of clothes in his size and an en suite with a sticky note on the mirror that read ‘You still owe me for Jersey’. He laughed out loud as he went back to the bedroom, took his jacket off and threw it on the chair in the corner, pulling his phone from his pocket. He dialed Annie. No answer. For once, he was excited to leave her a message because, this time, he wouldn’t be crying and begging her to come back. This time, he felt like he had legitimate good news to share, even if it was under odd circumstances.

  “Hey, baby,” he began. “I just wanted to let you know where I am, in case you went by the apartment and I wasn’t there. I didn’t want you to worry. I’m in the city visiting family. Turns out I have some. Saw my dad which was,” he paused for a second. “Interesting. I, um,” Tears began to gather in his eyes as he tried to choke back the quiver in his voice. “I was hoping maybe you’d give me a call back, just to check in. I miss you. Okay, bye.”

  He hung up the phone and sat for a while trying to collect himself. He wiped the tears from his face, his mind wandering from thoughts of Annie to what Gabriel had said about his father. He had always known that he was a huge disappointment to his dad, but knowing that had it not been for him, John would’ve died years ago turned the tables on their relationship in his mind somewhat. He felt a new appreciation and responsibility for his father and for the first time ever, he felt glad to have been born.

  Looking around at the room, queen sized bed and nightstand on one wall, television opposite, he decided he might as well stick around and help out with whatever big bad was coming. While he didn’t know what exactly Gabriel had in mind, if this lightning thing was for real, he was actually kind of excited to see what he was capable of.

  Chapter 4

  The man’s eyes bulged as life slowly left his body. Allydia’s grip remained strong around his throat until she was satisfied that he had expired. Once sure, she left his body on the satin sheets of the four poster bed and put her gown back on. She left the bedroom, entering her throne room. It was one of many in this city, but it happened to be her favorite. Beautiful settees and chaise lounges lined the walls which were covered in gorgeous paintings and tapestries. The center of the room was adorned with a rug from the old country that Allydia had always loved and at the back of the room, opposite the door, was her throne. Beautifully ornate carvings filled the wood and it had extra thick padding under the purple upholstery to make it as comfortable as possible. She sat, watching the others indulge in all manner of drug and debauchery, as an assistant poured her a glass of Shiraz.

  “Was he not to your liking, Majesty?” the girl asked, peering into the room and seeing the dead man.

  “He disappointed me,” Allydia sighed. “Be a dear and ask your Governor to have someone dispose of that.”

  “Of course, Majesty. Right away.”

  The girl scurried from the room while Allydia took a sip of wine, but before she could swallow, her Governor of New York rushed in.

  “Out!” he shouted. “Now! Everyone out!”

  The room emptied and as the last person out closed the door behind them, the Governor knelt on the rug before his Queen.

  “What is it, Tobin?” she asked dismissively.

  “There are reports, Your Grace,” he said shakily. “Of the creatures you described. Six eye witnesses.”

  Allydia sat up straight and moved to the edge of her seat.

  “Are these witnesses trustworthy?” she wondered.

  “I believe so, Your Grace.” He was nearly trembling with fear as he gathered the courage to look her in the eyes. “What are your orders, Your Majesty?”

  Allydia sat back and thought for a few seconds. “Stay clear of them,” she told him. “Ignore them unless approached and if they do engage, fight dirty, because they will.”

  “Yes, Your Grace,” he agreed, standing to leave. “I’ll put word out.”

  “Thank you, Tobin. You may go.”

  Once alone, Allydia’s concern turned to excitement. She brushed her long dark hair off her shoulders and drank her cup dry. It had finally begun. What she had been waiting for all these years. She poured herself another cup, took a sip and smiled mischievously. Revenge would finally be hers.

  Chapter 5

  “Okay, so first thing you have to understand is that ‘lightning’ doesn’t just come from the sky,” Gabriel explained. “You can use the electricity from anything to create lightning bolts with varied degrees of electric shock. For instance,” She took a D battery from her pocket and held it up. “You can take the charge from a battery and use it to make a small shock. It’s enough to get someone’s attention, but not really enough to hurt them. You can pull the electricity from a wall socket, taking as little as a light bulb’s worth or as much as the entire power grid. You can take the energy from clouds, car batteries, cell phones or even just the static in the air. There are two ways to do it. The first is focusing your intent and feeling what you’re doing rather than thinking about it. That takes time and patience to get down, neither of which I have currently, so we’re going option two, emotional upheaval. All the pain, depression, anxiety and whatever bullshit just pisses you off is what you’re gonna think about and focus on. Not what’s going on in the room, not what you think you should be concerned with. Every strong negative emotion you’ve ever had, that’s what needs
to be in your brain. When you feel that shit bubbling up like you want to punch somebody, that’s when you let it go. We’ll start with this battery. Look at it, close your eyes and think about something that upsets you.”

  “I’ll give it a shot,” he said, closing his eyes. He thought about the conversation he’d had with his father. He thought about his mother and what she had done to them and to herself. How could she do that? How could she try to kill her own ba--

  “Shit!” Gabriel yelped.

  “What?!” Wyatt shouted, his eyes flying open.

  Gabriel smiled widely, opening her hand to show him the battery. It was completely destroyed, looking as if it had exploded in her palm, which was scorched and bleeding.

  “Oh, God! I’m so sorry,” Wyatt said.

  “It’s totally fine,” she said, dropping the battery on the floor where the two sat facing each other. He watched in disbelief as her skin slowly healed itself. “Now, try the outlet.”

  He looked at the outlet on the wall and thought about the call he’d just made to his wife. He thought about how he didn’t know where she was or if she was all right because she refused to call him back. He let himself feel how much he missed her as tears began to build in his eyes. Just as he remembered he was supposed to close his eyes in order to better concentrate, a bright flash erupted from the wall, setting the white faux fur rug ablaze.

  “Holy crap balls!” Gabriel exclaimed. She jumped up and grabbed the small fire extinguisher she kept in a kitchen cabinet and put out the fire. “That was awesome!”

  Wyatt was dumbstruck.

  “Maybe you should practice on the roof from now on,” Gabriel suggested.

  “Probably wise,” he agreed.