Tempted

by K. M. Liss

  “We have a plan to interrupt the demonic occupation of the earth, and to delay the further corruption of mankind,” Gehove paused and placed his hands flat on the table, leaning backward in his chair, surveying them each in turn, as he continued, “but to do that, we first need to take their leader captive.”

  “You plan to hold the devil captive?” Gabriel said, his eyes opening wide with disbelief and horror.

  “No. Not Bael. I could not contemplate that complexity. He is heavily guarded in the underworld. No, the one we shall capture is his commander, Uvall. Bael's plans will flounder for a while without his leadership. He is the brains and strategy behind his word.”

  “But how do we capture Uvall?” Michaelo queried. “He is the most cunning, and the wisest demon. He will not be led astray from his task.”

  “Oh yes he will, for we have the perfect distraction for him. We have Lila.” Gehove smiled generously at Lila. She gulped audibly. Her stomach tightened with anxiety. All the blood rushed from her head and then returned with a vengeance. A wild range of emotions flooded her.

  What on earth did he want her to do?

  “Me, my Lord?” she said, in a tremulous voice.

  “Yes, you, my dear Lila. I will speak to you later. You will wait for me at the Wall of Souls. There we shall have full and private disclosure regarding your role.”

  “Of course, I will do as my Lord requests, to the best of my ability,” she said, fearing what that would be. She looked at Castilla in panic and appeal. She needed her mentor and sister seraph to be on her side more than anything at that moment. She started to regret teasing her so badly. But Castilla showed her true angelic colors and selflessly rose to her defense.

  “Lila is very new to this world, and so very young,” Castilla said, in a soft, imploring voice. “Although I know nothing of your plans, my Lord, I fear she is no match for Uvall. Perhaps Gehove would like to consider me instead? I know of him. I know his ways. I offer my services gladly in her stead.”

  God laughed a belly laugh. Everyone stared in amazement. Gehove never laughed. He smiled - only ever smiled.

  “My dear Castilla, Lila has more than enough talent to thwart his advance. But you, you are the one who would be no match,” he chastised.

  “Oh, then I have misunderstood you my Lord, my apologies,” Castilla said meekly in reply, obviously confused, and mortified that Gehove thought so little of her abilities.

  Lila felt so badly for her, and for herself. Her stomach sunk to new low depths.

  The rest of the short conversation, concerning the correction of mankind's moral path and the methods of achieving that in a short space of time, flew over her head. The promotion of the heavenly virtues, selfless behavior, love for God and their human brothers and sisters, seemed small and insignificant points of fact to Lila at that moment.

  All she knew was that her heart was pounding wildly with fear at the unknown task ahead of her, and that overtook all her sensibilities.

  The meeting ended with the promise of another to be scheduled soon. They all departed and she left with them.

  “I'm sure Gehove has great plans for you,” Castilla said, as they walked outside together.

  “Hmm, I don't know Castilla, I'm so nervous about this, I can't think straight.” Lila looked at hand. She was actually trembling - and not just her hand – she was shaking all over.

  “It will be fine. Clear your mind of negative thoughts. He trusts in you and that is all that matters.”

  Lila wasn't so sure his trust was best placed.

  “Thank you, anyway, for what you did in there. Your offer to stand in for me.”

  “Think nothing of it. I had a moment of concern for you and your youth. But it seemed it was not warranted. Our Lord knows best.” Castilla's face was calm and collected once more. Her usual composure and beatific smile settled upon it.

  “I hope you're right.” Lila managed a smile at her as Castilla bade her farewell, with a kiss on her forehead, rising in a draft of air before her and flying off to her place in the physical realm. Castilla would sit at the end of the rainbow, for many hours at a time, reading Gehove's scriptures in the hopes of becoming a better seraph. Lila had never read the scriptures. She hadn't managed to complete even one of the ten. The thousands of pages of words daunted her. She found the words she had read far too introspective and deep. Full of cleverness and idolatry. And the tone was more than a little domineering, to her mind. But she kept her thoughts to herself. The holy scriptures were not to be debated. In any sense of the word. They were the words, and the command, of God.

  Lila walked across the Hailen great square, which served as Gehove's garden. She tried to enjoy the stunning array of flowers, trees and brightly colored birds within it, as she made her way to the Wall of Souls, bordering its far side.

  She stood, resting her arms on the wall and admiring the view which stretched out into the distance. The panorama spread before her, delighted her eye. It appeared to be an ocean of gently rippling waves. The brightest blue you could imagine, with sparkling, white, frothy peaks. Although it was indeed an ocean, it was not full of water, but instead, an ocean of souls, contained within an ethos of calm. The souls swam, blissfully, at peace with the world, themselves, and all who swam around them. The white peaks were the tangible evidence of their contentment as it gathered in a foam of delighted bubbles, lathering up on the top. Every so often the foam released itself from the surface and floated up and away in the air, in small handfuls, carrying the beauty of love and tranquility with it. The foam came to rest on the physical realm of the seraphim and was absorbed into the material fabric of Heaven. It fed the roots of the plants and trees - it fed the rivers that flowed through its meadows - it fed the whole of the visible Heaven.

  Without the saved, Heaven would wither and die. Its walls would crumble and its fields would turn to dust. She knew all this, not from the scriptures, where it was apparently explained fully in scripture three, but from her lengthy conversations with Castilla. She had led her around the first week, mentoring her, explaining the celestial realm and how the physical coexisted alongside the ocean of souls.

  The blue swell of souls hypnotized her, pacifying and soothing her own, and she did not notice his arrival at her side until he spoke.

  “Magnificent, isn't it?” he gestured with a small sweep of his hand, to the blue beauty beyond the wall.

  “Beautiful,” she replied, turning her head to Gehove shyly. She'd never been this close to God before.

  “Very beautiful indeed. There is nothing more beautiful than a saved soul. Except perhaps an ocean of saved souls.”

  “Yes, my Lord,” she replied, her eyes averted from his. She gazed outward, beyond the beyond, to the never-ending blue of the ocean's horizon, where it merged, somehow seamlessly, with the lighter blue of the sky above it.

  “We must do everything in our power to continue its beauty, to nurture it and ensure it grows. It is all important for Heaven's continuity. The most precious thing in existence. Lila, look at me,” he commanded.

  She turned and gazed into the eyes of God with a fast beating heart.

  They were the softest, palest gray.

  “You must be wondering why I have left you unchanged for so many months? Why you have not become seraphim?

  “Yes I have, my Lord.”

  “It was for good reason. I needed to keep your human traits for this prospective task. You will need to prepare yourself a little for this. Uvall is a seducer of women. It is your assignment to be the one he chooses to seduce.”

  She laughed out loud. She must be hearing things. Surely God could not be ordering her to lure a demon into bed?

  “It is no laughing matter,” his eyes darkened.

  “My Lord, please, I cannot possibly guarantee I could do that. Nor do I want to be in that position.”

  “What you want is of no importance. You have no choice. It's your destiny, your path to greatness and your means to joining with the seraphim.
You were not chosen randomly for this task, Lila. I know everything about you. You were watched, for years, and very closely monitored. You and I both know, you will not find it difficult to seduce someone.”

  She looked down, highly embarrassed, her face flaming.

  I was closely monitored? My world of rock lifestyle - of casual sex, drunkeness and recreational substances...?

  More than mortified, she wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole, as she remembered some of her more recent activities. She cringed in the presence of God. “But you have inherent good in you, the capability of deep love and compassion,” he continued, “I saw you nurse your sick father, and that touched me Lila. I chose to take you to my side so that I could grant you grace, to strike off your sinful misdemeanors, and to allow you to live an eternal life, in peaceful harmony, with us, your celestial family. You've been kept in a state of preserve, to assist me, should this escalating situation with mankind become an urgent reality, which sadly, it now has.” Her embarrassment faded quickly with the kindness in his eyes, his tone and intimate, coaxing address.

  Her face couldn't help but form a frown, as she felt such concern over the dilemma of mankind. And Gehove responded, holding her hand in his. “I can see what you are thinking. Do not fear Hell's advance. You are helping to stall it. And you'll have help in the task ahead. A little more beauty to add to your current perfection. And a touch of heavenly protection in your hands. I will bless you with those gifts shortly.”

  “But Gehove, my Lord. I am fearful of it, and this assignment. Hell on earth is a terrible fate for mankind to suffer. Demons are cunning, powerful and evil beings. And seducing a demon is not like seducing a man, is it?”

  “I will give you all the strength you need, to do it.”

  “But I do not wish to be harmed, not by a demon.”

  “You may have to endure some discomfort of the flesh, if his sexual advances are of a heavy nature, but that will soon pass. Think of the divine glory that will ensue. All you need to do is secure him at a moment of passion with two words. You must make him say them. Use every feminine wile and attribute to ensure they are spoken.”

  “What must I make him say? And what if he knows he shouldn't or doesn't want to?”

  “He won't know, nor will he suspect, and all he must say is, My God.”

  She laughed. “My God? That is a very common exclamation.”

  “It may well be, but he needs to say it with an Angel in his presence and you need to extract his person soon afterward.”

  “What extraction is that? And how will it make him captive?”

  “You will reply, My Gehove, immediately after he speaks. It will render him immobile for a few hours. He will be at your mercy. All you need do, is to call out to me in this way, take his body and fly to the stairway to Heaven. Two seraph guard will await you there. He will be delivered instantly to my charge.”

  “So I seduce him, he says My God, and I say My Gehove, and I take him to the stairs?”

  “It is that simple.”

  “How will you keep him in Heaven? And for how long?”

  “He will be leashed on my altar, for all to see his demise. He will be shackled, chained and cuffed, at his neck, his wrists and his ankles. He will be denied water and without this liquid he will soon wither and dry - turning to wood before our eyes. And then we will burn the remainders of his desiccated body in a pyre. He will die a very painful death. That cannot be helped.”

  Gehove's eyes lit up with what looked like satisfaction and glee. Lila was shocked Gehove had these thoughts at all, let alone found them pleasant musings. But then she knew God and the Seraph had a cold, terrible and vengeful side to their nature in certain circumstances. She had only seen one instance of that so far. A casting down. But that shocked her to her soul. God had taken the female angel, Selena, who had sinned with mortal man, colluding immorally in some way in exchange for 'gifts'. It hadn't seemed that bad a sin to Lila's mind, but she'd been found guilty by the seraph council with no chance of appeal. They had all been summoned to witness her casting down. She'd watched with a beating heart, as Gehove opened the doorway. The black portal to Hell and damnation. He had physically pushed Selena through it with his hand. Her pale face, covered with blood-red tears of terror and misery, as she disappeared into the darkness below, would haunt Lila forever. That angel knew she would be turned to dust the second she arrived in Hell. But she would not be dead. She would feel feet upon her. Feel the fires and heat around her. She would lie, invisibly, in torment, on the floors of hell for eternity.

  Female angels had no place in Hell, other than as dust on the floor. Male angels who were cast down had to prove themselves worthy of their existence with a series of harsh trials the devil devised. If they didn't pass muster, they were turned to dust too.

  She brought her mind back to the present, and to Uvall's end.

  “I see.” Lila thought his demise was a harsh one – dying of thirst while being strapped down on God's altar; turning to wood, as all the fluid evaporated from his body; being burned like a piece of common garbage.

  But what do I know of demons and their just desserts.

  He could be a murderer; an eater of children souls; an evil corrupter of the most innocent. He probably deserved to be turned to wood and incinerated many times over. She knew nothing of Uvall. It was probably best she didn't learn anything either, for her own piece of mind. Just in case it clouded her judgment and made her unable to complete her assignment in some way.

  “Lila do not worry about that or what happens to Uvall. He is not worthy of a thought more for you, other than securing his presence here, for me to deal with him, as I see fit.”

  “I will do my best. Although, I do wonder what Bael will do when he finds out about this. His commander being kidnapped and roasted, I mean.”

  He chuckled.

  “I would love to see his face at the moment he discovers that fact.”

  She chuckled too.

  “I suppose it's all a very good cause, and my part in it should be rejoiced.”

  “Most worthy of rejoice. You are assisting in the saving of mankind. I shall be able to turn the tide of souls in a few weeks of good work upon the mortals of earth. I shall send my disciples in with all haste after Uvall is incapacitated. It is unfortunate that I did not interfere with the way the tide was flowing before now. In the past the tide always turned. I became complacent, expecting it to happen. So you see, even God can learn a lesson,” he smiled at her wryly. “This is the first real slip into immorality for over a thousand years. It has been on a steady decline for fifty years, but so slowly as not to draw attention. The balance of souls is a very precarious position, Lila. Heaven usually holds the controlling four percent. Until now. ”

  “I understand all that you say, my Lord. And you have prepared my path well for me. I feel more able and less fearful now.”

  “Good. So, now it is time to receive your blessings. Kneel at my feet.”

  Lila knelt.

  He placed his hand on her head. Her whole body glowed beneath his touch. Her fingers and palms stung with a heat she'd never before experienced. Her breasts ached and suddenly felt fuller, her nipples tightened as if stimulated by a strong suck, and her loins flowed with a rush of exquisite pleasure. She felt guilt at such a swamping of desire in the presence of the childlike God. But he was the one supplying her with it. She kept silent, stifling the moans of steadily increasing ecstasy. Thankfully he stopped short before she erupted into orgasm at his hands.

  “There. It is done. You now have the physical beauty and possess the skills of a real seductress. Plus of course, your weapon. Lightning. You hold a bolt in your hand that will stun any common adversary.”

  “Why can't I use it on Uvall? To stun him into submission? Wouldn't that be better than seduction?”

  “Lightning will bear no effect on such innate evil as he possesses. He is a demon from Hell. Only the word of God on his lips will achieve his submissio
n.”

  “So the lightning is to be used for what, exactly?”

  “To contain, to subdue, incapacitate, to destroy...”

  “To keep me from danger and allow me escape, if need be?”

  “You understand well. Use it wisely and for good reason. Now let me explain. When the time comes, we will find him for you. You will be placed in his presence and then we shall depart. All you need to do is to make him yours.”

  “I will do my best for you, my Lord.”

  “You will. I know it. And when you return I will lift the cloak of preservation from your eyes. You will become like them. My cherished seraphim.”

  “It will be a great honor.”

  “An honor of which you will become truly worthy. Now stand, Lila.”

  She stood.

  He unexpectedly kissed her. A small soft kiss on both her cheeks. Her whole world lit up in a blinding beautiful light. The kind of light that made her feel so much joy she wanted to cry - to sing - to pray to Gehove with thankfulness, forever.

  “That, my dear angel, is a mere taste of the seraphim.”

  “Will I feel this all the time?” She found the prospect a little overwhelming.

  “No, of course not.” He smiled at her. “At certain times, when you want it, this will come to you. Inner joy and peace. It will happen, as and when it needs to.”

  “Thank you, My Lord, your grace.” She bowed her head.

  “Gabriel will make your arrangements to descend shortly. He will remove your wings, but they will grow back immediately, as soon as you call for me, as we discussed. So, goodbye for now, Lila. I place my trust in you.”

  He turned and left her side, becoming a hazy mist-like waif of a creature and vanishing before her eyes. She didn't understand who he was or where he came from. She wasn't even sure he was of this world. He seemed unearthly, alien, a thing unknown. Not that it really mattered. He was the divine, he was God. She didn't need to understand his origins.