bedeviled & beyond 02 - bedeviled & bedazzled

by Sam Cheever

  Myra started pacing. Watching her make wear lines across the tiles on the floor in front of my desk, I felt surprise sliding into place where before I’d felt only trepidation. Whatever it was must be really bad if it had Myra this riled up. I suddenly wished I could shimmer myself out of there. But spaceshifting scared the Hades out of me. The last time I’d tried it I’d ended up as a Siamese twin to a truly disgusting demon named Wormhead. Well, that probably wasn’t really her name but that’s what I called her because of the dozens of worm-like supra demons that wriggled and slithered around her head. Suffice it to say it was not a fun experience!

  Finally Myra stopped pacing and looked at me. “You have to promise me to be on your best behavior.”

  I blinked at her and said nothing. I mean...what could I say? That’s not a promise easily made.

  “I mean it, Astra, this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I don’t want you to make me look bad.” She took up pacing again and her usual scowl had taken on new levels of intensity.

  “I don’t know what He wants. He almost never... But whatever it is, Astra, you must not use vulgarity, insults, or just plain bad manners in front of Him.” She stopped pacing again and turned to me. “My spot on the council could be at stake here. I’ve worked too long and much too hard to let you screw it up with a bad attitude and a smart mouth now, young lady.”

  Over my twenty-some years with my cranky guardian angel, I had become accustomed to a certain level of constant correction and threats. Most of the time I actually even deserved her censure. But I was currently at a loss. As far as I knew I’d done nothing to deserve her aggressive attack on my good nature.

  Well...probably almost nothing.

  She glared at me until I couldn’t take it anymore. “What? What have I done? What do you want from me? What are you trying to tell me, angel?”

  My scowl joined hers and took up arms. If we were gonna do facial battle I was more than up for it.

  I was engaged. In theatre. En guard.

  Even if I didn’t know what we were fighting about.

  She moved across the room until she stood just inches away. Our scowls fenced quietly between us.

  Feint, jab, retreat.

  Myra twisted her lips as if she were loath to say what needed to be said.

  Thrust, feint, jab, engage, repel, retreat.

  “He wants to see you. In the Big House.”

  My eyes widened and I lost focus.

  My angel slid in and took advantage. She touched my arm and immediately we entered that sphere where time, movement and sound stopped.

  Touché, Astra!

  Damnable angel.

  ~SC~

  The place we shimmered into was brightly lit, almost to the point of painful. The light was warm and smelled of spring meadows. It was like an extremely large room with sunlight as its ceiling.

  I looked around and realized I was alone. Apparently Myra wasn’t invited to join me and the Big Guy in our little chat.

  A shiver originated between my shoulder blades and ran down my body. Sweat sprang from my palms. I was going to meet Him!

  After a few minutes, when He didn’t appear, I started to calm down and began using the time to explore the place where I stood.

  It didn’t seem to have any walls, floor, or ceiling. Although the space was broken up into what looked like rooms with random gatherings of furniture, it was really just one, endless space, which hung formless around me.

  Movement caught my eye in the distance and I turned and squinted, seeing what looked like a very large televisual hanging in midair. Lacking any clear direction, I walked toward it.

  As I drew near, I realized it was the size of a large holo-movie screen and seemed to be showing random events in flashes and bits, only occasionally stopping on a single scene long enough for me to actually see what was going on.

  The images varied drastically from joyous, to sad, to violent, to pious, covering the full spectrum of human emotions and experiences.

  I watched a young mother hug a small child and wipe tears from the child’s eyes while telling her she needed to share her toys because it was the right thing to do.

  The image blurred and slid away and morphed into an older man, on his knees in what looked like a church, eyes closed and hands clasped earnestly in front of a stony face. The man’s thoughts came to me as if he were speaking, a jumble of insights and regrets that all culminated into a single thought, “Help me be a better person.”

  That image slurred into a dark room, where a woman lay dying, her young family gathered around her sobbing. The image scanned to a young man in the furthest corner of the room, probably in his late teens, who had an angry, mutinous look on his tear drenched face. I could hear his angry thoughts at losing his mother. He vowed never to go to church again, since his mother had been taken for no good reason and didn’t deserve to die.

  The image blurred away to show an alleyway, where a filthy, emaciated specimen with a large, deadly looking knife in his hand approached a lone woman, who was cowering against a large waste receptacle, begging the man to leave her alone. The woman dropped to her knees and closed her eyes and suddenly her prayers for deliverance reached my ears. Amazingly, the sound of sirens split the air and the man, after taking one last look at the woman on the ground at his feet, turned and ran out of the filthy alley. Apparently she had earned her deliverance.

  Then the image became another dark place, a long hallway, with flickering lights dancing along the edges of it. I could hear music coming from somewhere. Two small people came into view from one side of the hallway and ran, giggling, toward me down the long hallway. They were holding hands and I realized they were probably about thirteen or fourteen years old. The boy stopped running suddenly and pushed the girl into an alcove. She giggled nervously as he grabbed her around the waist and pressed his lips to hers.

  They kissed clumsily for a couple of minutes and then the boy’s hand started traveling. As it hovered in the vicinity of the girl’s breast a disembodied voice said, “Suzie O’Connell, are you sure you want to do that?” The girl jumped, looked skyward, grinned mischievously and leaned to kiss the boy on the lips. Then she pushed the boy away and, with a final look upward took off running. The image slid away as she ran back the way she came, leaving the boy looking perplexed and disgusted.

  “Catholic school girls,” said a brightly lit shape as it moved into the room with me, “they keep me busy.” The form was vaguely man-shaped and moved as if it were human but seemed as undefined as the room in which I stood.

  It stopped a couple of feet away and glowed brightly as it faced me. I tried not to squint but it was like looking directly into sunlight.

  The form seemed to jerk a little and then said, “Oh. Sorry! I forgot to put on my mask.” The light began to dull and gain color until I was staring at a very distinguished looking gentleman, with only the faintest glimmer in his deep-set brown eyes to reflect his natural state. “Hello, Astra.”

  I gave Him a nervous smile. “Hello, Sir.”

  He grinned, showing perfect white teeth. “So subdued, I barely recognize you.”

  I laughed. “Under strict orders from my angel. I’m to behave myself and show you what a good guardian she’s been. No swearing, no bad manners, no signs of disrespect.”

  He laughed too. “Myra’s an extremely competent guardian but she really needs to get that stick out of her posterior region and loosen up a bit.”

  I snorted unbecomingly and quickly covered my mouth in embarrassment. I could almost hear Myra saying, “One does not snort at one’s God.”

  He laughed again and put an arm around my shoulders. Just like that a feeling of incredible peace spread through me.

  “Don’t fret about being yourself, Astra. You are one of my better creations. I’m very proud of you. And while I understand that you are a bit...erm...rough around the edges at times, it is definitely part of your charm.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  “You
are very welcome.”

  An explosion of sound suddenly filled the room and I jerked around to see the image of a riot of some sort playing itself out on the screen that wasn’t really a screen.

  He turned too and frowned just the tiniest little bit, then waved one hand and a huge storm broke over the riot, complete with horrendous thunder and lightning bolts that hit the rooftops just over the heads of the people in the street. The storm made the unhappy rioters scurry away to take cover.

  Then he turned me away from the screen and we started to walk. “You don’t mind if we walk for a while do you, Astra, I find it calming and I try to take a walk every day about this time.”

  “Not at all, sir. I’d like that actually. I’m feeling fidgety.”

  He turned a beatific smile on me, “Fidgety huh?”

  I grinned. “Well, it isn’t every day a girl gets to meet The Big Guy.”

  His smile dimmed just a bit. “No, Astra, I suppose it’s not. I wish it could have been under happier circumstances.”

  My heart fluttered with angst. Oh sh—dang! What’s wrong now?

  “Oh there’s nothing wrong, Astra... Well, actually, as you know there are lots of things wrong but that’s not why I asked to see you.”

  Gulp. He read my mind. Oh Hades, of course He read my mind. He’s God, for Chri—goodness sake!

  God chuckled. “It’s more that I’m the right one to tell you what you need to be told.”

  I nodded as if I completely understood. Despite the fact that it felt like aliens had inhabited my body.

  “I’m monitoring the alien situation, Astra, nothing to worry about there.”

  Sighing expansively, I tried not to think at all!

  He stopped walking suddenly and turned to me. His brown gaze sparked with repressed power and benevolence. “I’m worried about your father, Astra.”

  That certainly caught me off guard. I frowned. “My father? Why, Sir?”

  His hand touched my elbow and we started walking again. The world around us didn’t change at all, no matter how far we went. As we walked, the “room” I’d landed in moved with us, the same furniture groupings clustered around us and the huge holo-screen still hung suspended in the air behind. Every once in a while the action on the screen would erupt and He would fling a hand toward it without apparent thought, addressing in his own inimitable way whatever had gone amiss.

  Talk about multi-tasking.

  “You see, Astra, I never wanted to let your father fall. I tried to talk him out of it but he really cared about your mother and felt as if he had to, for your sister’s sake.” He turned and gave me a meaningful look.

  I blinked at him for a few beats, not fully comprehending what he was saying and then it clicked. “Oh...oh shit!” My hand flew to my mouth, Myra would kill me. “Sorry.”

  He waved a dismissive hand. “No Astra, I believe that this is truly an ‘oh shit’ moment.” He went on. “Your father fell to make your sister’s life easier and for a chance at a normal life. What we do up here is not easy, Astra. Angels get burned out and lose faith in the system. I’d like to tell you I had a foolproof organization up here but...well...” He turned to me and smiled a bit impishly. “There are the devils, Astra, living proof that there can be bugs in any system.”

  “That’s quite a bug, Sir.” It felt good to share a grin with him. I decided I liked visiting the Big Guy in the Big House.

  Then his grin faded and he rocked my world. “He was my right hand man you know, Astra? Your father.”

  I was speechless. I forgot to keep walking and stopped dead, my mouth hanging unattractively open. All I could do was blink.

  He nodded and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, giving me a gentle hug that sent waves of warmth and peace throughout my body. “I know, it’s quite a shock. I’ve never told anyone that before. Except...” He glanced at me out of the corner of one sparking brown eye.

  I took a deep breath and held it, expecting the worst.

  When he went on I got the worst. And then some.

  “Myra of course knows, being his sister.”

  Blink.

  Blink.

  Blink.

  “Ssss...”

  Blink.

  Finally he took pity on me. “I’m sorry to lay all this on you like this, Astra. I know it isn’t easy finding out you come from such formidable stock. But with your powers growing, I thought it best to tell you. Your father was a Seraphim, your mother was a royal devil and you have a pretty powerful Witch in your impressive family tree as well.”

  Okay, that was it. That did it. My mind melted right there. It couldn’t take anymore. Unfortunately, He wasn’t done talking.

  “Your father learned at Michael’s knee. He led my army when Michael folded his wings. He was a great field commander, Astra. I want— No, I need him back in my army. I fear for the human race if I don’t strengthen my forces against the rising tide of evil in their world.”

  Somewhere along the way we had started walking again but I didn’t remember when. I nodded as if I understood.

  He, of course, knew I didn’t. “It’s okay if you can’t grasp all I’m telling you right now, Astra. It’s a lot for a mere halfling to grasp. Your race is so much like the human race. Emotions rule in times of stress.”

  I felt myself bristling at the perceived insult and he placed a benevolent hand on my shoulder. Immediately I became calm.

  “As a halfling you are grounded to things of the Earth, Astra, you have an innate sense of duty and a dedication to right and wrong. Those things are strengths, not weaknesses.”

  I nodded, somewhat placated. “If my father is...was...Seraphim. Is Myra Seraphim too?”

  He shook his distinguished head and smiled a secret smile. “Heavens no, child. Can you imagine how snotty she’d be if she were?”

  I couldn’t help myself. I had to laugh.

  “No, she’s in the third choir. An Archangel. One of my better warriors I might add. I admire her greatly.”

  Staunch praise coming from the creator of all things.

  We walked in silence for a few minutes while I tried to soak in everything I’d been told. Finally I stopped walking and turned to him. “So these powers I’ve been growing, they’re because of the mixture of powerful magic in my family? Kind of a fluke?”

  He nodded. “You are, as the human race would say, one of a kind Astra, a truly powerful halfling with powers that are an enigma to most.”

  “But not to you.”

  “No, not to me. I know your future, my child and you will have your hands full. But you will do some great things.” And then he frowned just slightly, “And some not so great things too.” He raised elegant grey eyebrows and I shrugged guiltily.

  I could only imagine what types of things he was talking about. I was pretty sure I’d already done some of them. “But you aren’t going to tell me are you, Sir?”

  He shook his head and smiled softly. “No, Astra. I’m not going to tell you.”

  I nodded. I was mostly okay with that.

  “Well. It’s time I sent you back home. You have things you must do now.”

  “But you haven’t told me what you want me to do yet. Why did you call me here?”

  His handsome, ageless face opened up in surprise. “I haven’t? Oh dear. How could I have forgotten the most important thing?”

  I shook my head and smiled. I wasn’t fooled. He never forgot things.

  Then He said, “I want you to help your father come back to me.”

  My eyes grew round. “But how can I do that?”

  He placed a gentle hand on my head, as if he were giving me a blessing. “You’ll know when the time comes, my child. You’ll know when the time comes.”

  And then I was standing back in my office, as if none of it had ever happened.

  A few minutes after I returned to my office, Myra popped in and sat herself on the corner of my desk, silently studying me. I know I must have looked shell shocked. It would be hard not to be a
fter learning my father was once a Seraphim at the right hand of the Big Guy before he fell. And that the angel who was sitting on the corner of my desk was really a kick ass Archangel. Oh, and by the way, my aunt!

  I sat in a shell-shocked lump in my chair until she finally spoke.

  “So. He told you?”

  I wasn’t sure I was ready to talk about it. Especially with her.

  After a few beats her patience, never a snake with a long tail under the best of circumstances, burst over me like a shattered dam. “Astra! Tell me what happened!”

  I sighed and sat back in my chair, feeling weary far beyond my measly years. “I found out I’m a freak.”

  She gave me the look and crossed delicate arms over her chest. The fabric of her gown shimmered in the light coming from the window behind me and looked as if it gave off sparks. It reminded me suddenly of His brilliance and I squinted almost without realizing it.

  “You are not a freak, Astra. You’re just...special.”

  “Special. Mmm-hmm. Well,” I sighed again, rather dramatically I thought, “at least I know why Prince Dialle thinks I’m his intended queen from prophecy. Apparently my resume is unique.”

  Myra cocked her golden head to one side and gave me a rare smile. “You are unique, Astra, and a very special creature. Which is why you draw so much angst and evil.”

  I sat up straighter in my chair and looked more closely at her. Yes, the resemblance was there. I wondered that I’d never noticed it before. “You’re my aunt.”

  Myra looked embarrassed for the first time since I’d been old enough to notice her emotions. “Yes.”

  “Why the Hades didn’t you ever tell me?”

  Myra shrugged. “Your father didn’t want me to.”

  I cocked my head and frowned, “Why?”

  She looked down at her hands and seemed reluctant to speak. “It’s against protocol for Archangels to serve as guardians. He’s very sensitive to the whole concept of receiving special treatment.” She looked up at me. “He tried to refuse me but it was not allowed.”

  That brought my eyes open in surprise. “Are you telling me you got your assignment directly from Him?”

  She frowned. “Yes. Your father was livid. He insisted that it was beneath me to guard a mere child, even if she was family.”