ARCHANGEL

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “You…you could have killed Satan himself,” the man who Abaddon had held blurted out in awe. “Wha…what… manner of being are you?”

  “And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon,” Angelina spoke up, repeating the dead demon’s earlier quote from scripture. “This is no game. You idiots need to stop bleeding chickens out on your homemade altars and pretending to be demons so you can screw all the empty headed groupie chicks.”

  “If you will permit us to leave, we will spread the word,” the man promised dejectedly.

  “Thank you for not leaving us in hell,” another man spoke who had been silent up until then.

  The others echoed his sentiments, including Angelina’s first attacker.

  “I still feel no uplifting vibrations from the five of you even after all you have seen. I realize your lesson probably meant little. Playing around in the dark can have unintended consequences, boys. I recommend never crossing our path again.”

  “Do you think anyone heard what happened before, Raph?” Angelina asked, remembering the piercing screams when Abaddon executed her attacker.

  “I shielded the room the moment we arrived,” Raphael answered, smiling in appreciation of Angelina’s attention to detail.

  “If your cohorts disbelieve you and come after us they will be doing so on their own,” Abaddon warned the men. “Lucifer will pay for every attack. He will not be happy when I punish him for your transgressions. Lucifer will not show you the mercy we have. He will make you all howl for eternity.”

  This statement made an instant impression on the men as they looked at each other in horror.

  “We will make sure they understand,” the man Abaddon had held promised.

  “Very well,” Abaddon acknowledged. “Go quickly before I forget why I have not roasted your bodies in the fire of judgment for what you men attempted.”

  Without another word the men scurried out of the Archangels’ room without a backward glance. Angelina embraced Abaddon, clutching him tightly with her head against his massive chest. Raphael walked toward the adjoining bedroom door with a little wave toward Abaddon.

  “I will stay with Sister Mary Catherine. When she awakens I will help her.”

  Angelina looked over at Raphael in surprise, realizing what the Archangel’s words meant. “You could have cured her at any point last night. This was some kind of lesson, huh?”

  “We can’t have Sister Mary Catherine getting into too many unsavory circumstances or she’ll be rounding out all seven of the deadly sins before our next challenge.”

  “She was there when I needed her, Raph,” Angelina remarked.

  Raphael sighed. “It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.”

  “Proverbs, Chapter 21, verse 19.” Angelina chuckled. “Don’t forget it.”

  “Have you memorized the bible, my love?” Abaddon asked, impressed with Angelina’s knowledge of scripture.

  “Not every word, but quite a bit of it. I know Proverbs, Psalms, and Revelations the best.”

  “I will leave you two alone. Try and get some rest, Sister Angelina. After all this you may wish to sleep in. I will entertain Sister Mary Catherine if she awakens too quickly with her hangover.”

  “Thanks, Raph. Don’t forget the cure.”

  “I will take away her pain when she awakens,” Raphael promised, closing the adjoining door behind him.

  “You were incredible as usual,” Angelina told Abaddon after Raphael left.

  “Thank you for helping me resist the temptation to possibly blast reality into oblivion, my love.” Abaddon kissed Angelina on her forehead. “I must exhibit better control.”

  “That’s what I’m here for.” Angelina jumped into Abaddon’s arms. “Now, I think you need some healing.”

  “I believe you are correct.” Abaddon carried Angelina toward the bedroom. “You were also very impressive in this last encounter.”

  “I plan to be even more impressive in the next few moments,” Angelina whispered.

  Chapter 17

  Morning After

  “Oh… God…” Catherine groaned, pushing herself up on an elbow, while holding her head in pain with her free hand.

  “Are you well, Sister Mary Catherine?” Raphael sat on a chair next to the bed.

  “You…you’re joking, right Raph?” Catherine gripped her head with both hands. “It feels like my head is going to explode. I…I thought after all the excitement this morning my bout with overdoing the drinking would have been… you know… over.”

  Raphael reached out and grasped Catherine’s hands in his, pulling them away from her head. Catherine’s pained expression disappeared. She smiled at him in relief.

  “Wow, that… hey… you’ve been holding out on me.”

  “No, I’ve been trying to show you the wisdom of temperance, Cat,” Raphael corrected her. “Sometimes saying something with words is just not enough.”

  “I guess I had that coming,” Catherine agreed, standing up and heading toward the bathroom. “Let me get my shower, and… hey, where’s Ange? Did you let those two play house last night?”

  “Actually it was this morning and yes they are together. If not for Sister Angelina’s help I am not sure what reality would have been like this morning or if it would exist at all. Attend to your shower, Cat. I’ll explain when you come out.”

  Catherine hesitated as if to say something more. Instead, she walked into the bathroom. Nearly forty minutes later, Catherine emerged from the bathroom wearing a white robe and towel drying her hair. Raphael looked up from the hotel magazine he was reading with a welcoming smile.

  “You look much refreshed. I made some coffee. Would you like some?”

  “Oh, you bet, Raph.” Catherine indicated she would get it.

  After pouring a cup for herself and refilling Raphael’s, Catherine sat on the bed sipping her coffee with obvious pleasure. Raphael explained all that had transpired from the moment Catherine returned to her bed after calling out to Raphael.

  “I almost cost Ange her life.”

  “As Sister Angelina reminded me, you were there when she needed you. You are very young, my dear, in spite of all the travails you have endured. It is not beyond understanding for you to fall victim to a weak moment occasionally.”

  “I pray the Lord is as understanding.”

  “You would be very much surprised at how understanding my Father really is,” Raphael replied. “He is well aware of the imperfections within the human soul. The Lord never intended for a human’s existence to be an endless journey of tears from birth to death, although many think it is exactly that, in spite of all the joy within their grasp.”

  “Ange really does have a calming effect on Abaddon if in addition to your pleas to stop him from destroying Lucifer it still required Angelina’s touch to halt his attack. Abaddon really cut Lucifer’s legs off?”

  “He did indeed. For a being so devoted to causing pain, Lucy sure has a low tolerance for it himself. I doubt any attack will be instigated by Lucifer any time in the future. I should not have been so overconfident as to tempt fate by having my brother bring forth Lucifer. I will not do so again. As I explained after our first battle, the Lord created Abaddon to stop Lucifer. Such a beginning cannot be forgotten.”

  “It is good our secret weapon, the Sister Angelina, was present.” Catherine reached over to grasp Raphael’s hand comfortingly for a moment. “Should we leave this morning for the mountains?”

  “I need to contact Ahmed and make some alterations in our finances. Our credit will be handled instantly by the overseas bank he made arrangements for us with, but we will need to have a bank here with branches where we’re going. I assume with our new address we would be able to have local accounts.”

  “Do you still plan on attaining gold when we get where we’re going?”

  “We’ll have to,” Raphael replied. “Although we aren’t being
extravagant with our spending, the purchase of Sister Angelina’s tank did put a crease in our account.”

  “Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to find our first demon here. I hope we’ll continue to get directions from the GPS system as we did with Gorby’s demon.”

  “Meaning we will have to pop into the Hummer every day to check on our instructions?”

  “Well, you said yourself the Lord works in mysterious ways,” Catherine reminded him. “Besides, I don’t think Sister Angelina would mind. Our non-stop adventures last night made me a little uncomfortable.”

  “True, but we may not have anyone tailing us from now on. Although we need to stay vigilant, it will be harder for them to set us up as they did last night on the dock. I…”

  The adjoining door to the Archangel’s room opened. Angelina led Abaddon through into the nuns’ room smiling happily at Catherine and Raphael. Abaddon was dressed in the vested gray suit he had become accustomed to while Angelina again wore her nun’s habit.

  “Hi guys,” Sister Angelina greeted them.

  “Good morning Sister Angelina,” Catherine replied. “Are you two finished playing…”

  “Careful there, Sister Mary Spew,” Angelina interrupted, pointing a warning finger at Catherine, who blushed at Angelina’s reference to her drinking difficulties. “I am in a very good mood this morning. I don’t want it spoiled. I see Raph fixed you up. How bad was she?”

  “She was in pain,” Raphael admitted, ignoring Catherine’s attempts to wave him into silence. “Good morning, my brother.”

  “Good morning Raph,” Abaddon greeted him. “Good morning, Sister Mary Catherine.”

  “Good morning.” Catherine remembered her overindulgence with regret.

  “Want to go get some breakfast?” Angelina sat next to Catherine with a comforting arm around her shoulders. “We’re starving.”

  In a split second, Catherine was dressed in her nun’s habit next to Angelina.

  “I could eat a horse, saddle and all,” Catherine remarked. “Let’s find a restaurant with a view?”

  “How about that Scoma’s place?” Angelina suggested as Raphael changed into his suit instantly.

  “How about somewhere they haven’t seen us before,” Catherine replied.

  “You mean seen you,” Angelina teased. “They won’t recognize you in your habit anyway.”

  “No, but they’d recognize Abaddon and Raphael.”

  “Okay then, I’ll drive us down to the Wharf and we’ll pick out a place,” Angelina countered.

  “I have become very fond of coffee,” Abaddon inserted suddenly. “Let us find a café somewhere and spend the rest of the morning peacefully.”

  “Angelina? What have you done to the Archangel of the Abyss?”

  “The Archangel of the Abyss is very enlightened this morning, Raph,” Angelina stated.

  “Yes and still very fond of coffee,” Abaddon added.

  “Let us seek out your coffee and peace if any are to be had, brother. Are you sure you want to drive the Hummer around this morning, Ange.”

  “Oh yeah, I’m pumped. I paid close attention to how Serge drove around. Finding a parking spot will be our biggest challenge.”

  “It’s only 7AM.” Catherine glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “Perhaps there will be a minimum of people and traffic at this time in the morning.”

  “I think I spotted a travel guide in the desk.” Angelina walked over to the hotel room stand and pulled open the top drawer. “Here we go. Hey, they even have a special pamphlet for Pier 39.

  Angelina browsed through the pamphlet. She pointed out a spot to Raphael, holding it where he could see.

  “Look, Raph, the Sea Lion Café. It looks like they’re located with a view of the ocean.”

  “Let’s go find it then, Ange,” Raphael agreed. “At least Pier 39 has a parking lot we can park in.”

  “Remember, Cat, no Champagne breakfasts for you, girlfriend,” Angelina warned with appropriate seriousness.

  “You wait,” Catherine replied as her three companions laughed in appreciation, “you’ll goof up and then it will be payback time.”

  “In your dreams, Spewy.”

  “I am still without coffee,” Abaddon repeated, causing the other three to go through another bout of laughter before departing.

  * * *

  Angelina stopped the Hummer at their first traffic stop after leaving the hotel. Before she could accelerate out of the intersection a tall scrawny man banged on the Hummer’s hood, shaking his fist at Angelina angrily. His oily brown hair tied in a pony tail, and his bearded face contorted into a self righteous mask of haughty indignation, the man leisurely walked around the front of the Hummer. He wore what looked like a custom tailored jogging suit, the dark blue fabric emphasizing the man’s pasty white complexion.

  Startled momentarily by the man’s sudden blow on the Hummer’s hood, Angelina reached for the driver’s side door handle, a low growl issuing from her throat. Abaddon grasped her shoulder gently, causing Angelina to shiver before turning reluctantly to face the Archangel of the Abyss.

  “My love, you do not intend to spoil your good mood this morning, do you?” Abaddon asked. Raphael and Catherine leaned forward in their seats trying to get a look at the man approaching the driver’s side window.

  “Fine!” Angelina folded her arms over her chest after checking to see they were the only vehicle at the intersection.

  The man in the blue jogging suit tapped on the driver’s window stridently, motioning with a cranking motion of his hand for Angelina to roll down her window.

  “Be nice, Sister Angelina,” Raphael requested. “Find out what this gentleman wishes to discuss.”

  “Sure thing, Raph.” The tone Angelina’s three words instantly put her companions on alert as Angelina hit the button to lower the window.

  “What would Jesus drive, man?!” The words spurted out of the man’s mouth as if they were a single expletive. “You should be ashamed of…”

  At the sight of Angelina’s face the man stopped speaking abruptly and took a step back from the driver’s door. He looked inside the Hummer curiously, having been unable to see the occupants through the Hummer’s darkly tinted windows. Appearing to gather even more outrage at the sight of two nuns within the vehicle eliciting his scorn, the man shook his head slowly with a smile of arrogant presumption spreading slowly over his thin lipped mouth.

  “Is there something you wish to speak with us about, Sir?” Angelina did not hide the nearly sentient Arctic cold coating her words in frosty splendor.

  “You people driving around in these gas guzzling monstrosities make me sick.” The man ignored the not so subtle warning Angelina’s words conveyed. “Have you no shame? Every second this eco disaster runs, untold damage…”

  “Shut your pie hole!” Angelina cut him off. “The only time you ever think of Jesus is to take his name in vain, you self-absorbed turd. If he were a vengeful God, he’d toast that wimpy ponytail right off the back of your swelled head.”

  “You…you’re destroying our ozone layer driving this…”

  “Don’t start on me with your Global Warming crapolla, Pointdexter,” Angelina interrupted with a dismissing wave of her hand. “You wouldn’t recognize the facts about environmental science even if they were tattooed on those pipe-stem arms of yours. Now step away from my Hummer before I get out and kick you in the nuts so hard you’ll have to have intercourse through the top of your head.”

  When the man hopped back in confusion from the driver’s side door, Angelina gripped the wheel with both hands angrily and drove off. Her companions were in the midst of appreciative laughter which soon had Angelina chuckling and shaking her head apologetically.

  “Sorry,” Angelina blurted out.

  “Oh Ange, that…that was…” Catherine began, but lapsed back into laughter thinking about the change in the man’s expression as Angelina threatened him.

  “I am still without coffee,” Abaddon
reminded them.

  * * *

  “Wow, this is gorgeous,” Catherine remarked excitedly. The four companions stood at the Sea Lion Café railing overlooking a panoramic view of Fisherman’s Wharf.

  After enjoying breakfast together, the group had taken their coffee to the outdoor deck of the Sea Lion Café. Fishing boats at the pier and misty lighted clouds heralded the rising sun. The highlighted scene joined with the tart ocean air and cacophonous barks from the seals under the pier to present a remarkable real time postcard of Fisherman’s Wharf. Abaddon smiled and stared at the lively seals jockeying for attention beneath them as he took deep breaths of the salty brisk air. Angelina leaned against him without being overtly physical while in her nun’s habit.