Gadreel sulked. Lilith and Samael lay in each other’s arms, happy and satisfied by the fruit she provided, yet they showed no gratitude. Did they think themselves king and queen of the planet? What would happen once they found Satan and the others? Satan would not be pleased to discover Lilith’s treachery.
Chapter 13
The Shrill Sound
Gadreel dragged her feet to the coastline and sat on the wet sand using her wings as shade. She meditated as the slow, steady waves moved ashore and covered her feet with foam. She hummed. The hum became a song. As she sang, the water slipped under her, pulling her farther into the ocean. The piercing sound in her head became louder. She stopped singing, for the shrill sound grew unbearable.
She pressed her hands over her ears and turned to stare at the others. It seemed the same unpleasant deafening sound had awakened them. She jumped to her feet and gaped at the ocean.
“Something is happening!” She trembled. The others ran to her side, their eyes also fixed on the now turbulent waters.
The camel ran to Gadreel and nudged her again and again. It emitted high-pitched moans and squeaks, but she could not hear the animal above the painful shrill tone. The animal lowered its head, bellowing and roaring. In spite of the camel’s cautioning noises and nudges to her thigh, she did not take her eyes off the growing waves. After a while, the animal relinquished its efforts to carry her away to safety and galloped, unseen, to the forest in terror.
The fallen angels could not take their eyes off the tempestuous seas. Massive waves formed and smashed onto shore. The shrill tone swelled in their minds, muffling the thunderous crash of the undulating swells. They took to the skies for fear of being struck and engulfed by the surfs. They flew to the top of a nearby cliff that towered above the sea. They watched wide-eyed and panting as the waters parted to reveal an enormous creature rising from the depths. The noxious stench of salt, fish, and seaweed overwhelmed them.
Streams of ocean water ran along the creature’s body and poured off like waterfalls. Immense tentacles extended from the sea monster’s body and reached toward the skies, almost making contact with the fallen ones on their high, rocky ledge.
The color drained from their faces. Gadreel screamed in horror. Lilith willed her snake form to appear and stood tall carrying her tail in a forward curve over her body like a scorpion.
Samael expanded his black spiny wings and gaped at the gigantic sea creature. “We were beguiled by this creature’s shrill calls. It tricked us into finding it and now we shall become living nourishment for its consumption!”
The creature’s head was black and shiny like polished onyx, and its eyes were the size of huge boulders. It had the torso of a powerful man, bluish-black in color and covered in a viscous slime. Wriggling and lashing at them were eight muscular appendages lined with multiple suction cups along its length. At the end of the tentacles were orbs of light. The angels’ eyes hurt when the creature flashed the intense light of its orbs. Soon the sea monster stopped emerging from the water and headed toward them.
Lilith veered her tail in front of her to defend against the beast. “We must stand strong against it!”
“No! We must flee for our lives!” Gadreel gasped and pulled Samael’s arm. “We cannot triumph against such a creature any more than we can prevail over a lava spewing volcano!”
“We must not permit any other species to claim what is ours,” Lilith said. “We are the new rulers of this planet, and any other creature who wishes to reign stands in our way and must be destroyed!”
Gadreel stared at her with an incredulous expression.
Samael panted and his body shook but he straightened and glared at the leviathan.
The sea monster stood before them and observed them with large, expressive eyes. It opened its mouth to display long, blade-like fangs and emitted the loud piercing sound they all recognized. At such close range, it was unbearable.
Gadreel wailed in pain as blood flowed from her ears. Samael caught sight of this, and took flight, charging the beast.
“Stop that shrill noise at once!” Samael ordered the water giant, forgetting his fear and the pain in his head. Upon his command the beast instantly fell silent. Samael’s eyebrows rose high and he stared at the creature slack-mouthed.
Lilith flew to the monster’s head and attacked it with her vicious tail. She flew around to clobber its eyes, in order to render it sightless. The creature secreted a black liquid, which quickly bloomed over the surface of the water tainting it in gloom.
“I sense the creature’s fear!” Lilith shouted to Samael. “We need to finish him now!”
“No, please!” a familiar voice pleaded in their minds. “Why do you persist in harming me? Stop, I implore you.”
“Wait!” Gadreel yelled. “The creature’s voice––it is familiar.” She flew closer and gazed into the sea giant’s eyes. She gasped. “I believe this creature to be Fornues.” She covered her mouth with both hands.
“Fornues? Impossible!” Samael shook his head.
“Look at his eyes.” She pointed.
Lilith scrutinized the beast’s large bloodshot eyes. They were heavy-lidded, hazel eyes with drooping outer corners. “It is he.”
“Fornues, why were you trying to hurt us?” Gadreel stared at him, eyebrows joined in a frown, blood still oozing from her ears.
“I am sorry. It was not my intention to hurt any of you. I have yet to acquire the skills to control this new bulk I have been cursed with.” Fornues communicated without speaking.
“Are you able to utter words?” Samael asked.
“I have come to realize that I should only communicate in your minds. If I open my mouth to speak, the loud shrill sound that hurt you shall be all you hear.”
Lilith’s bleak expression told of her disappointment. “I was certain the shrill sound had originated from Satan. Instead, it was you, Fornues, in your monstrous form who had summoned us.”
Lilith put her hands on her hips and lowered her head. “Where are the others? Where is Satan?”
Before Fornues answered, she heard above her an unexpected, but welcomed, voice.
Chapter 14
Transformations
“I am here, my treasured one.”
Lilith beamed, lifted her eyes to the sky and saw a creature hovering above her. She recoiled. The being with Satan’s voice did not appear to be him at all.
The creature’s skin was the color of blood. Huge curved horns extended from his hairless head. His wings were hideous: black as night, fleshy and featherless, with a claw at the end of each section. He also possessed a long, massive tail with a spiky end.
The fiend landed in front of her. She inhaled a sharp breath and shuddered.
Satan held out his arms. Disgust distorted her face and she withdrew. He frowned and let his arms drop to his sides and his shoulders slumped. “I know I do not appear as I once did, but please do not fear me. After all, you too have gone through a transformation.”
Lilith remained motionless before him in her snake form. She looked stunned. She could not gaze into his dark blue eyes, for black pits had replaced them. She could no longer caress his smooth, pale skin. She shook her head, squeezed her eyes shut and hugged herself.
He reached out to caress her, but at the slightest touch her eyes sprung open. She cringed and recoiled, as Samael had done when he first saw her snake creature form.
“You are not the beautiful angel you once were. Your touch shall no longer be warm or inviting. This is the worst punishment of all.” She hung her head. “My thirst for vengeance has doubled since God has taken my love from me.”
Satan clutched his chest and his body drooped. He reached for her. She jerked away.
Without further delay, she transformed herself into her appealing angel form.
Satan’s jaw dropped. “How were you able to transform to your angel form?”
“I just desired it, and it was so.” She stared at the ground to avoid the sight of hi
m.
Satan’s breaths quickened and he moved closer. She flinched. “Do not touch me with your clawed hands.” He sucked his teeth and stomped away from her.
Halting several steps away, he closed his eyes, and thought of himself the way he used to be. He pictured his dark hair, blue eyes and tall, muscular body in his mind. He willed his angel form to return, and it was so. When he opened his eyes he examined his hands, his skin. He threaded his hand through his long, thick hair and grinned. He turned and gazed at Lilith.
Now he stood before her, appearing as he did in Floraison, with the exception of his wings, which remained pitch black and leathery with claw-like spikes.
Lilith ran to him and embraced him. This was the beautiful and powerful angel she knew and loved. She held on to him. “I hope you could forgive me for the way I behaved.” She should have been cleverer.
“I am disappointed you could not accept me the way I first presented myself. I had no knowledge that I could transform into my angel form. Your rejection wounded me more than Michael’s golden spear.” He did not enfold her in his arms, instead he pulled her off him and turned away. She remained motionless as her eyes trailed him.
Satan strolled to Gadreel and grinned. She returned his smile, proceeded to him, and held him in a welcoming embrace. Lilith glowered at her. Satan moved to Samael and hugged him as well.
“It is good to see you are all well.” Satan smiled. He stood straight, shoulders back. “I am feeling myself again.”
Lilith hung her head and stared at her shuffling feet.
“It pleases me to have found you at last, my friend,” Samael looked away from Satan to glance at Fornues. “For a moment, I thought we were beguiled by a monster whose sole purpose was to have us for nourishment.” Samael and Satan chuckled. Samael added, “No offense, Fornues.”
“None taken.”
“We have traveled for many miles, mostly on foot,” Gadreel said. “For many days and nights, we followed Fornues’ shrilling sound. Lilith was certain we would find you at its source.” Gadreel glanced at Lilith. Grudgingly, Lilith smiled at her for saying so.
“We have suffered many hardships, but the thought of finding you gave us strength to continue.” Lilith gazed into his eyes and moved toward him rolling and undulating her hips. She caressed his face and kissed him on the lips. “Apologies, my prince. I did not respond well to your vulgar red appearance. It was disgraceful of me.”
She kept eye contact and spoke with a seductive tone. “Naturally, I would devote myself to you in any form. I merely needed a small measure of time to adjust. Please understand my predicament.”
He drew in a long breath. “Yes, I grasp your meaning. You are exonerated.” He pulled her close and held her tight as he kissed her neck, face and lips.
Samael walked a short distance away and sulked.
“Could I return to my original shape?” asked another familiar voice from the waters below them.
Satan looked toward the water. “Fornues, raise our friend from the sea.”
The others hurried to the edge of the cliff to see who would be taken from the waters.
Fornues wrapped one of his tentacles around Dagon’s torso, and lifted him from the water so the others could see him. Lilith’s eyes opened wide and Samael stood openmouthed.
Gadreel gasped. “Dagon! You are a water creature.”
Dagon’s ruggedly handsome face, long flaxen hair, and penetrating gray-blue eyes were as everyone remembered. His strong, masculine torso had also not changed, but he no longer had wings and his lower body was that of a fish.
“Place him on this rock.” Satan pointed at the rocky surface under his feet.
Fornues lowered Dagon, who sat on the cliff, his flailing fish tail flinging water everywhere. The others stepped away, wiping saltwater off their faces and rubbing their eyes.
“If I wish to be my former self, shall it be so?” Dagon looked to Satan for an answer.
“You shall not know unless you try,” Satan said.
Dagon closed his eyes and imagined himself as he once was in Floraison. When he opened his eyes he was astonished to see the fish tail was gone. He jumped to his feet, ran around, leapt and guffawed. The others proceeded to him, wrapping him in a collective embrace.
“It is good to be all together again!” Dagon shouted.
“One of us is still missing,” Satan said. “I have not seen Beelzebub since I was cast from Floraison.”
“Gadreel and I have not come across Beelzebub in our travels.” Lilith glanced at Gadreel while shaking her head.
“We must find him,” Satan said. “I fear he needs our help. I can sense his presence on Earth, as I detected all of you. He is far from this place. Mayhem besieges him.”
“Thus, we must depart at once. We should find our friend Beelzebub.” Lilith feigned concern. Beelzebub served her well in Floraison. He would be a good ally on Earth. Satan smiled and put his arms around her.
“What of me?” Fornues said. “Perhaps I, too, can switch into my previous form?”
“Carry on then, make an attempt.” Lilith’s eyes rolled upward.
Like Dagon and Satan before him, Fornues closed his eyes and imagined the angel he used to be in Floraison: eight feet tall with alabaster skin and long, wavy auburn hair. Fornues saw himself standing on two legs on the high cliff, ready to embrace the others with his long, muscular arms, just as Dagon did.
Fornues opened his eyes. To his and everyone’s disappointment, he was still the large, ferocious-looking creature who stirred the ocean. He closed his eyes again. He wished with all his might he could change to his essential makeup. Once more he opened his eyes to find he was still imprisoned in his new form as a monster of the deep. Giant drops fell from his eyes, hitting the rocks jutting out of the ocean like the explosion of a star. He produced a horrible lament, filling his friends’ ears and psyches with intolerable tumult.
The fallen angels plugged their ears, but the sound penetrated their minds, nerves, and entire beings. Satan, Samael, and Dagon experienced painful vibrations in all their muscles. Gadreel and Lilith’s ears bled.
“Cease sobbing at once!” Lilith screamed. “Otherwise, you shall kill us all with your lamentations!”
“There is no need for you to change to your previous form,” Satan said in a stern, convincing voice. “You shall be of great value to me as a large, fierce sea creature.”
Fornues stopped his wailing. They all collapsed to the ground, trembling and moaning.
“Yes, master,” Fornues said, in a flat tone.
“We shall rest until nightfall. When we rise, we shall begin our journey to locate Beelzebub.” Satan rubbed his arm and leg muscles. “Once we have found Beelzebub, we shall search for a place where we can live together in peace.”
Lilith cocked her head and stared at him. Peace? There shall be no peace until she had finished what she began. She would convince them of this, and she would have her vengeance.
“We shall need all of our strength to cross the desert for a second time.” Lilith rose to her feet as she cautioned them. “We shall also need plenty of nourishment before we embark on this task.”
She caught a glimpse of Gadreel pointing toward the coconut trees at the beach.
“There is plenty to eat here,” Lilith blurted, before Gadreel could open her mouth. “The trees on the sand strip are heavily laden with fruit, which contain liquid to quench your thirst and fleshy white substance to satisfy your hunger. Come, I shall show you.”
She took Satan by the hand and glided off the rocky cliff to a coconut tree. Samael swaggered off the edge of the cliff, floating gracefully all the way to the sand.
Dagon asked Fornues to place him on the beach since he no longer had wings and could not fly. He trailed behind Lilith and Satan, having also experienced the empty, burning sensation in his belly.
Dagon and Fornues had been underwater, and Satan had spent many days in the darkness of a great cave. Therefore, they did not have a
s much exposure to the sun as Lilith, Gadreel, and Samael. This seemed to have extended the lingering effects of Floraison and their angel powers, staving off the need to feed––until now.
Gadreel’s large, brown eyes glittered with loathing for Lilith. She pitched herself off the cliff and landed roughly on the sand. She rose and followed the others to the coconut palms.
Lilith once again changed herself into the snake creature, pounding on the tree’s trunk until coconuts began to fall. She cracked one against a rock, offering half to Satan, and the other half to Dagon.
They drank the dulcet nectar of the coconut. She showed them how to pry out chunks of the white edible substance. Satan and Dagon devoured the coconut flesh.
Gadreel hurried away to the forest to find her camel, figuring the clever mammal might have gone there to hide and feed, but she did not find the beast. She dragged her feet as she left the woodland and returned to where the others still gorged on coconuts.
She strolled to the shoreline and sat with her feet in the water. “I miss Floraison.” Fornues’ mysterious energy drew her. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and entered the water. A large wave advanced in her direction. She prepared to fly away.
“Please do not be frightened. It is only I, Fornues.” As he emerged from the water, it grew dark, for he obscured the sun. He gazed at her with his large hazel-green eyes.
“You frightened me. I truly know not how much more I can endure. I have already been through so much on this planet.”
“Do not despair. Satan shall lead us to a wonderful place where we can dwell together in peace.”
“You mean Lilith, do you not?” Gadreel used a sarcastic tone.
“What are you insinuating? I do not comprehend.”
“Lilith influences every action involving Satan. Wherever she desires to go is where we shall live. Besides, you are confined to the deep waters. You shall not be able to reside with the rest of us, for we cannot survive under the sea.” Gadreel slapped a hand over her mouth.
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