The Genesis of Seven

by Sara M Schaller

  “I should have made you put the shirt on before I fitted the sling,” Raphael said, loosening the straps.

  When my arm was freed, I reached for my t-shirt, but he stopped me.

  “You shouldn’t wear anything that requires you to raise your arms. Do you have something that buttons or zips in the front?”

  “I only have hoodies.”

  “That will work.”

  I stood up to retrieve one, but Michael had already done so. “Thanks,” I said, easing my arms into the sleeves and zipping it up.

  Raphael fitted my arm in the sling again, making sure it was snug but not uncomfortable. When he placed a glass of water and two pills in front of me, I didn’t hesitate and swallowed them down.

  “I’m glad you’re finally coming to your senses.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Just because I’m not questioning everything you do doesn’t mean I’ve changed. It just means I trust you and I know you’re right.”

  “Good.” Raphael grinned. “It’s about time you recognized that.”

  I smiled and stood up to move over to the couch. I was about to sit down when there was a knock at the door. All five angels went on high alert, reaching for hidden weapons and surrounding me in a protective circle.

  Michael approached the door, knife drawn. He peered through the peephole, then quickly sheathed his weapon, opening it up to welcome Gabriel and Chamuel inside.

  “That didn’t take long.”

  “Well, quitting my job isn’t exactly something that requires much time,” Chamuel said, placing his chest on the floor.

  I realized he had changed out of his chef’s attire and into a button-up denim shirt with khaki pants and suede lace-up shoes. His long hair was no longer pulled back, the wild mane now falling to his shoulders. He wore a ring on each hand, one of which must have been from Heaven, and several bracelets on his wrists.

  “How much did Gabriel tell you?” Jophiel asked.

  “Everything. Where’s this backpack I’ve heard about?” Chamuel looked around.

  I pointed at where Uriel had thrown it on the table the minute we got back to the hotel.

  Chamuel approached the bag. Without even touching it, he said, “There’s something important in there all right.” He paused. “Now, what do we do?”

  “We go to Brazil,” I announced.

  They all looked at me.

  “Michael needs his stuff, right?”

  “I do,” the angel said. “But there’s no point in everyone coming to Brazil. You all should get to a safe location. I can go back to Brazil alone.”

  “A safe location? Where might that be?” I wondered.

  Gabriel was the first to speak. “I think we should return to my apartment in New York.”

  “Why should we go there?”

  “Foremost, because it’s in America. You don’t have a visa, so we need to get you back.”

  “But the fallen chased me to your apartment. That means they know about it,” I said.

  “I know, but we don’t have many options at the moment. Besides, they might know the location, but they could never enter. I sanctified the whole building.”

  I didn't ask when he had done that since it must have been before our paths crossed. Instead, I said, “Is it really safe to split up though?” The question was bugging me.

  Michael chuckled. “I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”

  I knew that, but I was still worried about him going alone. I had to remind myself, he was the one who had rescued us.

  “If we’re all in agreement, I’ll go about making the travel arrangements,” Gabriel said.

  Everyone nodded their approval.

  29

  Michael

  São Paulo, Present Day

  It felt like just yesterday I was here, yet in reality, much more time had passed. As a private investigator, I was my own boss, and that feeling was freeing. But now, I had a new purpose—an old one, really—that needed to be fulfilled. More than ever, I could see the life I had been living was a façade, one to keep my past at bay. That wouldn’t be the case any longer.

  As my feet landed on the ground, the feeling that enveloped me made me feel more alive and more myself. Gabriel had chastised me before I left that flying to Brazil instead of taking a plane was an uncivilized way to travel, especially since I could be detected. I really didn’t care. Humans these days blamed anything suspicious in the sky on aliens. Besides, I enjoyed flying. It was faster, and I rarely had the chance to do it anymore.

  Walking out of the back alley, I grabbed my keys from my leather jacket and unlocked the main door. As I strode up the steps, I passed offices and other businesses that operated out of this building. On the top floor, I unlocked the door that read, “Detective Michael Lyons – Private Investigator.”

  Bending down, I picked up the mail from the floor, sifting through it as I shut the door behind me.

  “Took you long enough to get here.”

  My head snapped up at the voice. “What are you doing here?”

  “Came for a chat,” Satan said. He slipped his feet off my desk and got up out of my chair. “Love these maps, by the way. Very informative.”

  I glanced at the two large maps on the wall. I had hung them there to track two things: a client’s investigation, and the possible whereabouts of the Sacrarium.

  “You should really take the time to sanctify the place. If you did, I wouldn’t be able to get in,” he said.

  “How long have you been here?” I asked to keep him talking. A glance out the window showed he hadn’t come alone. Two of The Six were stationed on the roof of the building opposite. That meant the others were somewhere else.

  That meant I was outnumbered.

  Satan ignored my question and strolled about the room.

  “Why did you retreat in Tokyo?” I tried instead, still searching outside.

  “That wasn’t my decision. Belphegor, the buffoon, felt we were outnumbered, and I couldn’t possibly take you all on alone. Don’t worry, I punished him for not following orders.”

  I was only half-listening as I neared the window. I disliked when he spoke so flippantly about hurting others. “Why couldn’t you have taken us on? The angel I remember could have easily dispatched us, myself included.”

  Satan fiddled at something under his shirt, obviously a necklace of some kind, and mumbled, “I’m not the angel I once was.”

  Confused, I remained silent and continued my search of the perimeter.

  “What these tell me,” he said suddenly, pointing at the wall, “is that you’re getting close.”

  “To what?” I looked at him.

  “Finding the Sacrarium. I’ve been trying to locate them for years, but it’s hard to decipher their pattern of movement. Though, it seems you were able to do far more than that.” He smirked mischievously. “I suggest you back off now, before things get out of hand.”

  His words were an ominous warning. One I was not about to take.

  “You know I’m not going to do that.”

  He chuckled. “Wouldn’t expect anything else.”

  “You said you wanted to talk. What about?”

  “The spheres. How many were made?”

  “Thirteen, I suppose. One for each of us on the council.”

  He glared at me. “Don’t lie. I know you know about her.”

  “Who?” I had no idea what he was talking about.

  He scoffed. “Oh, Michael. Your attempts at deception are terrible. Is there a fourteenth sphere, or not?”

  “I told you, I don’t know. Stop presuming I do. Father created the spheres. How would I know if there’s a fourteenth?”

  Satan stared smugly. “For once, might I know something you don’t?”

  I stared back. “Apparently so.”

  He smirked in satisfaction. “Well, when are you going to tell them about this?” He pointed to the maps again.

  “When the time’s right. I haven’t figured everything out yet.”


  “Really? Because from what I’ve seen, you have.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “That I’ve been in your office much longer than you think.”

  My muscles tensed. I badly wanted to fight him, but I knew that would be a death wish.

  “Why did you do this?” I demanded.

  “Do what?”

  “Change everything? Make everything so…complicated?”

  He shook his head and leered. “You think I wanted to do this? You think I wanted to be thrown out of Heaven?”

  “You had a choice.”

  “Did I?” he yelled, his features threatening to reveal more. “You were supposed to go to Eden that day. I covered for you!”

  “I was sent a message from the First Choir to see Father. What did you expect me to do?”

  “Send someone else,” he retorted.

  “You were more than fine with it at the time.”

  “Yes, until it changed everything!”

  “What happened? In Eden…what happened?” I pleaded for the truth.

  Satan rubbed the area between his thumb and forefinger. “I was bitten by a snake that revealed to me the knowledge in The Tree of Good and Evil.”

  Surprised he was confiding, I asked, “Why didn’t you say something sooner? Father could have fixed it. We could have gone to him, as I suggested.”

  “Don’t you think I tried?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I went to Him to seek forgiveness, to seek help. But what I witnessed…” He shook his head. “It reaffirmed everything.”

  “You’re not making sense. Tell me what happened. Did you go before the Seventh Day Gathering?”

  “Of course I went before the Gathering! I went to Him right after the incident in Eden. But when I arrived, I witnessed two things that solidified everything I proposed during council…everything I learned from the snake bite.”

  “What did you witness?”

  “Father’s intention for the Son of God. We are His children, divine beings greater than man, yet He chose man over us to represent His incarnation on Earth. Obviously, we were not good enough for Him. He commanded us to do His bidding on Earth and in Heaven, but not in this endeavor. It just shows how expendable we are.”

  “Stop. Your talk is blasphemous.”

  He scoffed. “Oh, don’t think you’re so pure and innocent. You’re the one who got me into this mess.”

  “How am I responsible?” My voice rose at his accusation.

  “Because I also witnessed something known as necessary evil. Seraphiel revealed Lilith was an unstoppable force, and Father agreed she would do whatever it took to expose the truth and get her revenge. It was only a matter of time, so why not speed up the process and send down some bait?”

  “No,” I whispered.

  “Oh yes, brother. Yes. However, they encountered a problem. You, their poster child, the high and mighty magnificent leader of the army, were to go to Eden next. They couldn’t have that, you see, because you meant everything. So, He sent for you. And what was your response, since you never leave a duty unfulfilled?”

  Distressed, I said, “I sent you instead.”

  “Bingo. They all decided I would be Lilith’s bait. But they never expected things to get so out of hand. Can you blame me? When I found out, it gave me a hunger for revenge. How dare they decide my fate! So, after you declined to help, I gathered allies and told them of Father’s injustices. They believed me—unlike you. But you and Gabriel betrayed me, forced me to seek refuge in Eden since I didn’t know where else to go.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “Yes, you did! You sided with Gabriel over me! Don’t deny it!”

  His words silenced me.

  “It didn’t matter that I went to Eden because my plans for war were already in place. My absence worked to my advantage, made you suspect something would happen during the Gathering. Yet I told my troops to wait until the festivities were over to catch you off-guard. Causing a civil war was my main goal, but then, I realized, why not go after the scepter? Might as well obtain immense power to defeat Him while I was at it. Of course, you had to come in and save the day. When that happened, I knew all hope was lost.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re you, and I’m…” He started for the door. “We’ll just leave it at that.”

  “I didn’t want to fight you either, but you left me no choice,” I defended.

  He nodded. “I realize that now and have come to the same conclusion. Stay out of my way, otherwise we’ll both be forced to do things we don’t want to do.”

  “What are you up to?” I asked. “What’s your end game?”

  “Well, I can’t tell you that. But I’m going to find them.”

  “Who?” I called after his retreating figure.

  Satan paused before walking out. “The Sacrarium. And then Lilith. I do appreciate your help in the first endeavor. That map was a wonderful source of information.” With a dark laugh, he strode out the door and was gone.

  30

  Jordan

  New York City, Present Day

  The Manhattan cityscape could be seen from the plane window as we landed, and the trees in Central Park had turned orange in the November cold. It seemed it was going to be an early winter, but that didn’t matter because I was home. It would be nice to finally settle down.

  Once the seven of us got through the airport, we took a transit van to Gabriel’s apartment. When we arrived, the footman helped us to unload our luggage onto a bellman’s cart and steered it inside to the elevator.

  “We might not all be able to fit,” he said as he swiped his pass and pressed the button.

  “That’s all right, Benny. We can go up separately.” Gabriel swiped his resident’s pass on the other elevator. “It’s the Penthouse floor,” he told the others.

  “It’s good to have you back, Mr. Maestro. I hope you had a pleasant trip,” Benny said.

  “Thanks, it’s good to be back. We had a very good trip.”

  “I see you have some visitors.” Benny looked over his shoulder at all of us.

  “Yes, these are my brothers. And this is Jordan,” Gabriel said, placing his hand on my good shoulder.

  “Nice to meet you, kid. Nice to meet all of you.”

  The elevators dinged as they both arrived. I stepped into the first with Gabriel, Benny, and the cart of luggage.

  “Benny, don’t you normally work in the garage?” Gabriel asked.

  “Yeah, been watching that car of yours you never seem to use.”

  Gabriel smiled. “Thank you. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing up here?”

  “Oh, Carmine called out sick, so I’m covering for him. There are more than enough guys working the garage today.”

  “I see.”

  Their brief conversation ended as the elevator arrived at the Penthouse. When the doors opened, Benny steered the cart out into the hall and wheeled it into Gabriel’s apartment when he unlocked the door.

  “Talk about living in luxury,” Uriel said as the others exited the elevator too.

  Gabriel smirked. “You know I like nice things.”

  “Yes, I do, and I wouldn’t have expected anything less.”

  The angels assisted Benny in emptying the luggage cart while I loitered by the door. Before he could leave, Gabriel reached into his jacket and handed Benny some money.

  “Thanks, Benny, for all your help.”

  “No problem, Mr. Maestro,” Benny said, grabbing the cart and guiding it into the hallway.

  I closed the door after him, then turned to find the others quickly settling in.

  Zadkiel had books spread all over the dining table.

  Raphael was resupplying his medicine bag on the counter.

  Uriel was taking in the view from the balcony.

  Chamuel was analyzing the kitchen and cutlery.

  Jophiel was looking at all the artwork that decorated the walls.
r />   Seeing all of them in the apartment together, I realized this was quickly going to get claustrophobic. I had every intention of brainstorming our next move, but I needed a shower and a nap before any of that.

  “I’m going to settle in and rest for a little while.”

  “Of course,” Gabriel said.

  “Is it all right if I take the guest room again?”

  “Absolutely. None of them need it.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.”

  I had only slept in there one night, but seeing the room was a great comfort. After taking a shower, I fell to sleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

  Several hours later, I woke up to find it was almost dark outside. I sat up in bed and thought for a few minutes about what I wanted to do. I knew the angels and I still had loose ends to tie up, and it wasn’t like Satan and the fallen were going away anytime soon. Yet despite the daunting task that lay ahead, I couldn’t get the idea of seeing Sophia out of my mind. I didn’t know if she would have answers, but she might know where Sister Helen was. At least if I could find her, everything would be solved.

  Besides, it would be nice just to see Sophia again.

  I got out of bed with every intention of presenting my plan to the angels. But when I walked down the hall, Michael’s presence distracted me.

  “You’re here?”

  All seven pairs of eyes landed on me.

  “Yeah, and I brought you some pizza,” he said, patting the box on the counter.

  The moment I stepped out of the bedroom, I had smelled something delicious. My stomach growled.

  Michael chuckled. “I guess it was a good idea.”

  “Yeah, thank you,” I said, sitting at the counter and opening the pizza box.

  Chamuel cleared his throat when I reached in for a slice.

  “What?”

  “Do you have any manners?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” he said, opening the cabinet behind him, “use a plate.” He picked one up and handed it to me.

  “Sorry,” I said, taking the plate and digging in.

  He didn’t seem too mad because he quickly resumed their conversation. “What did Satan want to talk about?”