by Vox Day
Kaym spat and turned his back on the little piece of metal as the Prince gave his instructions.
“The Gate shall open before thee, and there Our legions shall be waiting. They shall pour in like a raging sea, and all Heaven shall fall before them. The King will hide in the Eternal City, because he feareth to stand before Us, but it will avail him little, for We shall find him and cast him down. He names Us fallen, but it is he who will soon fall! So shall We keep Our word and so shall We return to Heaven, to reign forever upon the Throne Eternal!”
The assembled Court cheered loudly. Kaym glanced at the Prince, then gave Christopher more detailed instructions.
“Opening the gate will be no problem, just turn the key and your work is done. The real danger, however, is that your true nature will be discovered before you can reach the gate. You’ll be disguised as an angel, of course, but the danger is that you’ll accidentally give yourself away. That’s why we must do more than cast an illusion over you, we must make that illusion a reality.
Christopher made a skeptical face.
“It sounds like you’re saying I have to become an angel, right? But you can’t really do that, can you?”
Kaym nodded, his eyes darkly serious.
“No, I cannot. But with the Prince’s permission, I can infuse you with a spark of power, a piece of my own divine spirit that will protect you. Do you remember how the guard at the palace gate commented upon your difference?”
Christopher thought about the silver guard and his eerie, burning gaze. “Yeah, it knew I wasn’t like you.”
“Yes, because you… smelled wrong… might be one way to put it. Your essence is a different substance from ours, so we must mask it with another. Mine.”
“Do you mean I’d be able to fly, and do magic, and read minds like you?” Christopher’s heart raced. It sounded way too good to be true, but if this was a dream, he didn’t ever want to wake up. “That would be so cool!”
“All of that and more,” Kaym promised, his eyes showing amusement at Christopher’s excitement. “It will take you far along the Path, towards that knowledge you seek.”
The fallen angel placed both hands on Christopher’s shoulders and leaned forward so their foreheads were touching. He muttered something, and Christopher felt a warm heat passing from Kaym to himself. The heat rose quickly, and the sensation grew from a pleasing warmth to an uncomfortable burning feeling.
He tried to pull away, but the angel’s grip held him tight. The heat continued to rise, and it felt like a red-hot iron was being burned into his forehead. He tried to scream, but even his voice seemed imprisoned by the angel’s iron grasp. His head was ablaze; it seemed as if his very skin was melting before the hellish touch of the fallen angel.
A loud thunderclap sounded in his head and the hands on his shoulders fell away as he passed through the fire. Christopher’s overloaded senses told him he was falling over backward, tumbling heels over head over heels over head, again and again, hurtling through a weightless black void that had suddenly appeared beneath his feet. But all he noticed was that the terrible burning had stopped. The darkness of the void was blessedly cool and the empty winds comforted his scalded soul.
Then he found himself standing again in the Courts of Light, but now he could feel the awesome potential of the angelic power. He looked around the room, and his newly heightened senses provided him with new details about the Courts and those inhabiting it.
Kaym and the other angels, the courtiers and celebrants, were all wearing disguises of a sort. Whereas before their forms had been as solid and substantial as his own, now their appearances seemed translucent. Only the guards were as before, flaming spirits trapped behind silver. Beneath every angel’s hazy figure lurked a large flame, shimmering and dancing to its own rhythm. But to describe them as flames was not quite right, for each flame was distinct, with individual differences that were, to Christopher’s newly opened eyes, easily identifiable.
Only the Prince seemed as before, solid and flameless, more human than human as he sat upon his crystal throne, but he seemed to be pleased at what Kaym had done. He smiled at Christopher and made a sweeping gesture with his hand.
“Already thou hast traveled far along thy chosen path. This is the realm of spirit. Enter, and be welcome.”
Christopher grinned, but when he blinked his eyes, everything was as before. Kaym’s eyes were again encased behind impenetrable black plastic, hiding his golden flame, and the rest of the angels also appeared to be solid. But now he knew differently.
“Those flames that you saw are our true selves,” Kaym said. “Now that you have eyes to see, you can penetrate through these illusions and many others at your will. What you may not realize, however, is that the fire within you now lends you the same appearance.”
“And now art thou ready to face thy task,” Prince Lucere said. He rose gracefully from His throne, then reached out to embrace Christopher. His arms were warm and strong, and He gave off a cinnamon scent that reminded Christopher of Melusine.
Christopher returned the princely embrace warmly, feeling exhilarated. The power within him stirred, a chrysalis called to life by the close proximity of the Prince.
“Thank you,” he whispered gratefully. “Thank you, thank you so much.”
“Be welcome,” the Prince said. “Only do not fail Us.”
“Never!” Christopher protested hotly. “I will open the gate for you, Prince Lucere. By my soul, I swear it!”
Behind him, he heard Kaym laughing coldly.
“You already have, Christopher. You already have.”
Chapter 5
The Darkness Rising
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
—Psalms 34:7
Caught up in the movie, neither Jami nor Holli had any idea that there was an invisible battle being fought just outside the warm safety of their house. But not even Tom Cruise’s winning smile could hide the increasing psychic electricity in the air. As the wind howled noisily outside, the evil presence of the shadows looming outside began to make an impression, however faint, on the two sisters.
Holli frowned suddenly, and pressed the button on the remote that paused the VCR.
“Did you hear that?” she asked.
The younger of the twins, she was a sensitive girl, and Jami had learned to pay attention to her sister’s feelings, because she often noticed the small things that Jami missed.
“Hear what?” Jami studied her twin’s intent face. It was like looking in a mirror, or actually, like an advertisement where she was the Before picture, and Holli was the After. Her twin was slender and pretty, with long, loosely permed blonde hair bleached almost white. Holli’s features were a little more delicate, and while they both had had their share of boyfriends, Holli’s fan club was larger and more dedicated.
Of course, Jami thought ruefully as she toyed with her own wheat-colored ponytail, Holli worked a lot harder at things. They weren’t going anywhere this evening, but her twin’s eyes were expertly lined and shadowed, and her pale pink lipstick was unsmudged. Jami wasn’t jealous, she was just a little envious. There was an important difference, she told herself. And maybe if she quit playing soccer and tried out for the cheerleading squad next year, she could spend more time working on her appearance too.
Holli interrupted her imaginary plans for a complete makeover before she had decided on whether to bleach her hair or not. “I thought I heard something… I don’t know… like a howling of some sort.” She shivered. “It just feels really, like, heavy in here all of a sudden.” Her blue eyes, normally quite pale, were shadowed with worry.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Jami said doubtfully. “It’s probably just the wind.”
They sat quietly together for a long minute, listening for an unfamiliar sound, for a noise that didn’t belong. It reminded Jami of searching for a word that was lurking just past the tip of her tongue. What finally came to her, though, wasn
’t a sound at all, but a feeling. A horrible feeling, a terror, a sense of being lost in the dark and hearing an unknown something sniffing all around her, and knowing that what it smelled was her.
“I wish Mom and Dad were home,” she said suddenly. “It feels… I don’t know. You know how the sky gets all yellow-green and, like, quiet right before there’s a tornado? It feels like that.”
Holli didn’t say anything. She cocked her head, as if listening for something.
“Where’s Christopher?” she asked. With the movie paused, they should have been able to hear the thump of his stereo, or at least the sound of his heavy feet as he paced around his room.
“Like, who cares?”
Dislike was too strong a word for how Jami felt about their older brother, but it was no secret that she didn’t get along with him as well as Holli did. They had fought since they were little, and their fights had grown more and more common since she and Holli had entered high school last fall. She figured it was mostly because they were in with the popular crowd while he was still a social reject even though he was a sophomore now. Only halfway through her freshman year, Jami had already lettered in soccer, had gone out with some of the cuter upperclassmen, and was now barely on speaking terms with Christopher.
He pretended not to see her when he passed her in the halls, so she paid him back by calling him Chris, a nickname she knew he hated. It wasn’t exactly the most vicious family war ever, but provided just enough fuel to feed a fire that simmered on and on, despite Holli’s best efforts to put it out.
“Don’t you hear that?” Holli waved her hands excitedly.
“I just told you, I didn’t hear anything.”
“That’s what I mean.” Her twin made a gesture that Jami understood to indicate a stereo. “There’s no music!”
“So? Maybe Chris had to call somebody?” She laughed cruelly and shook her head. “Oh wait, why would he do that? He doesn’t have any friends to call.”
“Shut up, Jami, he does too.” Holli’s eyes flashed angrily as she defended their brother.
“Okay, but they’re all, like, losers.” It was harsh, but true, and Holli knew it too. “Anyhow, he’s probably playing games on the Internet or something.”
Holli shook her head slowly. A look of sadness crossed her face as she thought of Christopher and his loser friends. She knew they were unhappy, and wished someone would show them how to dress, how to act, and how to talk to girls.
“It’s not their fault, they just don’t, like, know any better.” She pushed the stop button and stood up as the frozen image on the TV screen disappeared in a flood of bright blue. “Come on, let’s go see what he’s up to.”
“Go ahead. I’ll wait for you.” Jami yawned and reached for the almost-empty bowl of popcorn. There were a few kernels left, and she popped one into her mouth, gingerly sucking the butter off of the hard little piece of corn.
“Oh, come with me, Jami, I just feel, I don’t know, there’s something bad going on!”
Jami rolled her eyes, but she too had the uneasy feeling that something wasn’t quite as it should be.
“You’re just imagining things,” she insisted, but she dutifully pushed herself off the couch and started to follow Holli out of the room.
But Holli suddenly froze and grabbed her arm so hard that Jami thought Holli’s carefully polished nails had pierced her flesh.
“Ouch! What was that for.”
“Ohmigod! What’s… what are you?” Holli released Jami and cringed, holding her arms in front of her face. “Don’t hurt us, please.”
“What are who?” Jami looked wildly around the front entryway, but there was nothing there, nor was there anything on the stairs. She grabbed one of Holli’s arms and tried to see her face. “Holli, what’s the matter?”
Her twin’s blue eyes were huge and round with shock. Her pink mouth was gaping wide, a slack-jawed response to something, or someone, that Jami could not see.
“Oh, you scared me,” Holli said breathlessly. “I thought, I thought,” she laughed suddenly. “I don’t even know what I thought.”
As Jami watched in disbelief, her twin nodded several times, as if in response to a voice that Jami didn’t hear.
“Well, of course you’re angels. What else would you be. I’m not afraid, it’s just that I was kind of surprised, that’s all.” Holli shot a look at Jami that was surprisingly sane, considering her bizarre behavior. “She says they’re here to protect us!”
“Oh, good,” Jami said sarcastically. She was starting to feel seriously alarmed. Holli wasn’t particularly religious, but she went to church just often enough to make Jami worry about her from time to time. “And what are they protecting us from?”
“We’re not quite sure, yet.”
Jami gasped when an unseen male voice unexpectedly answered her question. Her knees buckled, and only Holli’s hand on her shoulder kept her from collapsing.
As the room seemed to spin in a circle around her, a tall, lordly angel suddenly appeared right out of thin air. He looked almost like a knight, with a white tunic draped over the silver armor covering his arms and legs. His face was square, his hair was so pale it was nearly white, and a small pair of wings extended slightly past his broad, armored shoulders. He held a sword that appeared to be on fire, but despite the weapon in his hand, his presence was, surprisingly not frightening at all. He was, quite simply, beautiful. Lose the tunic and the armor, Jami thought irreverently, and he could be a Calvin Klein model.
Beside him was a companion who was smaller, but no less fierce. She too held a flaming sword and wore armor under her tunic, but her feathery wings were even larger. Her hair was nearly the exact wheat-yellow shade of blonde as Jami’s own hair, but it was cropped off at the shoulders. It framed a face of delicate beauty, but there was nothing delicate about her dark brown eyes or the practiced way she held her sword.
“There seems to be quite a gathering of evil in this area,” the female angel said. “Mariel went outside to look, but she hasn’t come back and we haven’t heard anything from her.”
“Excuse me, but what are you?” Jami demanded, as her agnostic mind reeled in shock. “What are you doing here? Who’s Mariel?”
“Didn’t you hear what I said? They’re angels,” Holli said.
“Yeah, well, I don’t believe in that stuff.”
The female angel smiled gently.
“Nevertheless, we are servants of the Most High God. I am called Aliel. I have the honor to be your sister’s guardian, just as Paulus, here, has the honor of serving as yours.”
“You’re my guardian angel?” Holli breathed. “Ohmigod, that’s so great!”
She reached out and took the angel’s hand, pressing it to her cheek.
“I always believed in you. I did! I always knew someone was there, looking out for me. I really did!”
Jami looked on, stunned, as Aliel smiled and enfolded her sister in a warm embrace, as if they’d known each other for ages. She turned and stared at the angel called Paulus, who appeared to be stifling a grin as he stared right back at her. He did not, thank goodness, attempt to hug her.
“Um, hi, I guess,” she said uncomfortably. “I… ah, don’t really believe in you, you know.”
Her words sounded a little hollow, even to her, in light of the way in which the big angel was standing right in front of her at the foot of the stairwell leading to her bedroom. He had attractive eyes, with lashes that were long and surprisingly dark for his coloring. She shook her head. Why was she thinking about his eyes?
“I know.” He wasn’t stifling the grin any longer.
“So, this is kind of weird, don’t you think?”
The grin turned into an outright smile. “I can understand why you would feel that way.”
“So, why are you showing yourself to me now?” Jami wasn’t sure she liked this angel. Yes, he was completely gorgeous, but he appeared to be kind of a smartass too. He reminded her of one of the seniors that she used to
have a crush on, because there was something about his smile that made her think he was laughing at her.
“I’m not sure.” His face grew sober. “For reasons that I don’t understand, your sister was permitted to see us. After that, well, it didn’t seem polite to leave you out of the conversation.”
Jami nodded. “Yeah, I was starting to think Holli had lost it there for a second. So, what’s up? Are we in trouble or something?”
He nodded.
“It may be so. Evil stalks the night, and your brother’s guardian fears that Christopher is somehow involved.”
“That so does not surprise me!” Jami exclaimed. “What did he do, call up the Devil or something?” She knew her brother had more than a few books on black magic in his library. He’d told her once that he used them to make up cooler-sounding spells for when he played Dungeons and Dragons with his geeky friends. But she wouldn’t put it past him to be up to something worse.
“Not to my knowledge,” Paulus said, taking her questions literally. “But his guardian has disappeared, and there is something very powerful and very much closer to this place than I would like.”
Jami swallowed. Her guardian was tall enough to play basketball, but he was built like a football player. His sword looked like it could cut a refrigerator in two. And yet, he was clearly nervous.
“Powerful?”
“And evil, I should add. Very, very evil.”
There was a loud cracking sound from the office, then a huge whoosh, as if every particle of air had been sucked out of the room next to them. The sensation of darkness, only a vague oppression before, fell upon them with a palpable, crushing weight that threatened to take Jami’s breath away. The house lights went out, both inside and out, and the girls could see only by the light of their Guardian’s swords.
“What’s going on?” Holli cried out, terrified.
“Be brave, child,” Aliel urged her. “God will not forsake you!”