Seraph

by James Hicks

  “Are you kidding me? Haven’t you read the Bible?”

  “Yeah . . . but I might have missed this day when they brought it up in Sunday school.”

  “Are you being funny?” David asked in a serious tone.

  “Apparently not,” John answered.

  David walked to the window and looked at the beautiful golden city that had been his home since he was six months old and continued.

  “Genesis, chapter 6, ‘And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were beautiful; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.’ . . . Giants.”

  “Giants? You’re not serious, are you?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be serious? My mother’s life is at stake here.” David turned toward The One, who listened intently to David trying to educate John on matters of the spirit. “Master, Friend . . . please don’t let my mother die in her sins. She’s a good woman whose been dealt a bad hand.”

  “David, can you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” The One asked. “No, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

  “You’re right . . . I should pray to the Father.”

  “Yes, but remember that we are patient and do not want any to perish but to come to repentance.”

  “John . . .” David turned to him.

  “Yeah?”

  “Help her.”

  “I will. I promise.”

  David reached the door but before he left, he addressed John once more.

  “John.”

  “What’s up?”

  “When all this is over, if you really want to fulfill your destiny . . . you’re going to have to get into the Word.”

  Before John could respond, David left with the purpose of heading into the middle of the city to seek the Father for comfort and guidance. He couldn’t physically help his mother, but he could at least help her spiritually. At this time it was just Jesus and John alone.

  “I could have stopped them already, but there is something wrong with my suit.”

  “Let us go for a walk, shall we?”

  “Yeah . . . sure, Lord.”

  John blinked his eyes instinctively and when he opened them, the sky was black with stars off in the distance. He and Jesus were alone on a planetoid that was bare but had many craters and no wind. John’s mind was blown as he looked around and saw earth in the distance.

  “We’re . . . we’re on the moon?” John said with tears welling in his eyes.

  “What can you see?”

  “. . . Home . . .”

  “You know what I see? I see a planet that I gave my life blood for. I see a planet filled with people that let evil into their lives with no regard as to how it affects them or the others around them. I love them. Every single one of them. Some love me, others hate me, and the rest simply don’t care.”

  Tears began to come to the Savior’s eyes as he held his hand up, the round earth visible through the hole in his hand.

  “What I wish most for every soul on earth is for them to know that we are not some ‘out of touch’ Supreme Beings waiting to punish them at a moment’s notice. We do not wish for their demise. Satan roams the earth freely seeking to steal their joy, kill their dreams, and destroy their lives, but my father and I only want them to live the most abundant life and live it eternally. Their sins were forgiven before the foundations of the earth for I am the Lamb of God who was slain before it was made.”

  Jesus had placed his hand upon John’s chest in the middle of his speech and when he withdrew it, John’s suit was fully powered and operational. John looked down at his body and saw that he was not only forgiven, but still in The One’s good graces. He was not abandoned for falling into a lifestyle of sin. He felt reenergized and ready to fulfill his destiny and destroy every barrier the enemy set in his path.

  “Now go. Lilith and Ornias are bringing their plans to pass at the old cabin. Andrea is going to die. Tell her I love her and David is waiting for her.”

  Seraph hugged Jesus, stepped back, and was gone.

  Seraph flew into the black sky, blasting off the moon like a small rocket. The silence in the vastness of space was eerie. Seraph flew as fast as he could until he felt gravity beginning to pull him toward the earth. He was coming in so fast that he caught on fire reentering the earth’s atmosphere. He was high above the gray clouds on the dark side of the planet.

  He fell through his first cloud and saw millions of city lights from his aerial view. Seraph appeared to be a falling star that wasn’t consumed by the atmosphere. Free-falling and gliding his way to the small cabin that he could see from more than 11,000 feet. He had reached a top speed of more than 400 miles per hour, tracking the cabin. As he approached the cabin, he slowed his descent so as not to cause a small crater, but when he landed there was a huge thud that scattered the birds in the surrounding trees.

  Lilith was shocked at the reality of what she was looking at. Andrea had not been carrying one child but three. The first child Lilith delivered was a boy weighing twenty-four pounds, a girl was next weighing nineteen pounds, but the last baby boy was the heaviest, coming in at a whopping twenty-nine pounds. All three babies cried loudly. They were big, healthy babies.

  Andrea was slipping in and out of consciousness when Lilith pulled each demon seed from her body. She looked at the monsters that had caused her so much pain and anguish, disfiguring her and eventually leading to her death. She was relieved that they were finally removed. Andrea stared down Ornias, who was present, and she was filled with a deep hatred as she stared at him.

  “You . . . hurt . . . me.”

  “I’m sorry, Andrea, I didn’t mean to . . . I love you.”

  “I HATE YOU!” Andrea screamed almost cutting him off.

  Ornias couldn’t bear to even look her in the eyes. When Lilith had all three babies she cleaned them, swaddled them, and cooed them to sleep.

  Andrea sobbed as loud as she could with her remaining strength.

  “I am all alone. I am all alone. What did I ever do to you to deserve this? God has deserted me, Sally has deserted me. I am all alone,” she cried bitterly.

  When Lilith heard this she stopped.

  “You deserve everything that has ever happened to you. You deserve more pain, more misery, more torture, and you will have it. You are weak and only fit for punishment. You are going to die because you are a spoiled, pretentious, little, wannabe beauty queen!” Lilith spoke those last words in Sally’s voice.

  Andrea was so drained that she couldn’t even respond emotionally. How much more could she take? Lilith clearly hated her for reasons that were beyond fathoming. She hated her so much that she schemed this horrid plan and even played on her emotions to send her into a tailspin that she could never recover from.

  Andrea sought death and had lost her will to live.

  “Yes, you are going to die but it will not stop there,” Lilith seethed. “I will welcome you to my home in the Ottocom Desert in the bowels of hell. There you will spend an eternity imprisoned in a dark coffin, but that is not all. Someone in hell misses you. Wishes to reunite with you. In fact he led us to you in a way. Kenneth Rose. Your deceased husband. He misses you so much and when you arrive, I will see to it that you two are reunited. Sharing in each other’s torment forever. So enjoy these few moments on earth, my child, for as unpleasant as they seem, they shall soon become fond memories.” Lilith laughed.

  “. . . Who are you really?”

  “I am Lilith, mother of all earth’s inhabitants, the first human woman, created from the sa
me dust as Adam and I—”

  Before Lilith could finish her sentence there was a very loud thud, as if something had just landed outside of the cabin.

  “Ornias, find out what that is.”

  “Yes, mistress.”

  Ornias ran to the door and what he saw bewildered him. He didn’t know what to make of what he saw, nor did he know who this figure was.

  “Mistress . . . I . . . uh . . . you should see this.”

  Lilith left the young woman to die, assuring her that she would be reunited with her to continue her torture in the next life. When she arrived at the door she saw the figure dressed in a bluish white suit and standing but twenty feet from the old cabin steps.

  “Who is that, Ornias?”

  “Mistress, I am unsure . . . I have never seen anything like this before.”

  Seraph stood there looking at the two demons, still smoking from his reentry into earth’s atmosphere. The suit offered marvelous protection and had already proved its usefulness.

  “Are you friend or foe?” asked Ornias.

  Seraph didn’t answer, but chose a dramatic gesture instead. By the power of his thoughts he powered down his helmet, but not the whole suit, allowing for Ornias to get a good look.

  “You!” Ornias said, powering up his battle armor.

  “Me!” Seraph said, activating his helmet again.

  “Who?” Lilith chimed in and then realized that this figure must be the John Summers who Ornias had told her about a couple weeks back.

  She couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen. Was John Summers as dangerous as Ornias had led her to believe? How much of a real threat was he? She was about to find out what they were up against, and she eagerly waited for it all to unfold.

  CHAPTER 9

  This is exhilarating,” Lilith admitted and couldn’t help but smile.

  Seraph and Ornias stared each other down so intensely that their hatred for each other was palpable. Ornias clearly hated Seraph and was quite sure he had never hated anyone as much as he hated him. This was their third encounter, and Ornias was going to make sure that it was their last.

  “Well don’t just stand there, do something.” Lilith instigated.

  Ornias unsheathed his sword and calmly walked down the cabin porch steps and then charged Seraph, his hands clasping the handle high above his head, while letting out a demonic war cry. Seraph stood there—waiting patiently, unmoving. Ornias reached Seraph and brought down the sword upon him with all the strength that he had. Seraph clapped his hands around the blade, stopping it in midair. Snapping the blade off halfway between the sword’s tip and handle, in one continuous motion, he stabbed Ornias in the throat.

  The shock on Ornias’s face spoke more than any words his mouth could have shaped, more than his voice could utter. The disbelief was written all over his face, and he slowly fell to the ground with his hand sliding down the powerful warrior’s arm. His hand held Seraph’s hand and when he could not fall anymore, Seraph simply shook it off. Ornias’s body withered away and blew off into the wind as dust.

  “Outstanding,” Lilith whispered.

  Seraph turned his attention to the powerful demoness and charged her at super speed, but she jumped from the porch, flipping and twisting in midair, landing in the spot where Seraph had been just a moment ago. Her landing was so soft and graceful that the babies never even made so much as a peep, sleeping soundly in the sheet that she carried them in. Seraph started down the stairs, but Lilith addressed him, stopping him in his tracks.

  “Stop!”

  “Who are you?”

  “That is not important right now.”

  “What else is?”

  “You do not have much time left.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You can choose to let me lead you on a merry chase or you can be the hero and save the life that is seconds away from death.”

  “Andrea.”

  “Yes.”

  “Where is she?”

  “In the cabin behind you.”

  Seraph turned and walked toward the door. Lilith opened a portal behind her.

  “Predictable,” she said, a bit disappointed.

  Without turning around, John spoke to her.

  “If I were you, I’d pray we do not meet again.”

  Lilith smiled and walked through the portal with the three sleeping babies. Seraph burst through the doors of the old, rickety cabin and found Andrea lying on the floor amidst broken glass and wood. She was a bloody mess. She was barely conscious and only had enough strength to whisper. Seraph ran to her side, but was afraid to move her. She was so fragile at this point that with any major movement her spirit would surely leave her, but he picked her up as softly as he could.

  “Andrea . . .”

  “. . . Who are you . . . ,” she whispered.

  Seraph deactivated his helmet. “John,” he said.

  “What . . . what do y . . . you want?”

  “I want to help you. I’m going to try to heal you.”

  John placed his hands over her and Andrea began to heal, but the pain was so intense that she stopped him.

  “N-no please stop . . . It is my time . . .” Andrea began to softly cry. “Li . . . Lilith is w-w-waiting for . . . me in hell.”

  “That is a lie. Jesus told me to personally tell you that he and David are waiting to welcome you home.”

  “Wh-what?”

  “Jesus loves you. He’s forgiven you of all your sins and tonight you will dine in heaven.”

  “H-how?”

  “All you have to do is believe. Do you believe that?”

  Andrea’s face took on the look of someone perplexed, but she did have the hope in her to believe what John said was true. One month ago she would not have believed him, but in this past month she had met an angel, heard she had a son living in heaven, and met two demons.

  John’s words didn’t need much convincing, and they were far from foolish. The truth is she did believe. She believed that there were demons in hell that had plotted against her and used her to bring evil into the world, but she believed even more that Jesus did love her and had a place prepared for her, where her son was also waiting, and all she had to do was say “Yes.”

  “Yes . . . I . . . believe . . .”

  Andrea smiled slightly, closed her eyes, and died in John’s arms. Tears fell from John’s eyes. Even though this was their first official meeting, John honestly felt like he knew her. But what he saw next blew his mind. His spiritual eyesight was opened and he could see Andrea’s soul rising from her body.

  She was dressed in an all-white robe, looked at him and thanked him, and blew him a kiss. Just then an angel came down from heaven in a fiery chariot and personally escorted Andrea to her eternal home. John rose to his feet and ran outside. He watched Andrea and the chariot rise into a white light until they vanished.

  John knew that something was coming, but he couldn’t place his finger on it. All he could do now was grab the body, and head back to the Goodwins and deliver the bittersweet news.

  Lilith walked out of the deep red portal and into her personal chambers carrying the three sleeping babies. She was both intrigued and distraught, but tried to hide her true emotions. Her sidekick for over ten millennia was gone. She had no idea when he would come back. For now, he would float in outer darkness without a physical body, which was a fate as bad as being in the Sea of Fire. In order for spirits to feel complete and keep their sanity, they needed a body, and a spirit without a body would surely go insane if they couldn’t find one to possess or generate one of their own. Both tasks were extremely difficult. Ornias could be gone for a very long time, and there was no telling what state he would be in when he did come back.

  Lilith was so upset at the loss of her comrade that the wreckage in her cave hadn’t immediately caught her attention, but when she did notice she felt a deep knot in her stomach. It looked like a rather intense struggle had taken place, and she wondered who could have b
een involved. She walked around the ruins and could see foot and paw prints. Shaziel must have gotten loose, but she couldn’t tell if the footprints were human or demonic.

  Had Kenneth been the victim of Shaziel’s uncontrollable rage? If so, then it saved her the trouble of having to get rid of him herself. She kept examining the wreckage and stepped into soft mud; she bent and picked it up. A liquid substance had caused it to harden and become clay. She toyed with it in her hands; it was blood. Demon blood.

  The knot in her stomach grew, and she ran to the doors that were no longer erect and screamed Kenneth’s name. She went to the edge of the walkway and jumped off, landing on the soft fertile ground below, the babies still undisturbed.

  “Kenneth . . .”

  There was no answer. There was no telling the kind of trouble she’d be in if Lord Satan caught her harboring a human soul. There would be no explanation, no trial, no jury, only punishment.

  “Shaziel!”

  The large beast limped out with a bandage on her paw. Greeting Lilith and toting a large lengthy bundle, Kenneth walked at her side.

  “Mistress Lilith.”

  “What happened here?”

  “We were attacked by a large demon.”

  “A demon? Where is he?”

  “He left . . . Shaziel chased him away.”

  “She looks hurt, is she okay?”

  Lilith let the babies down and rushed to the beast, petting it and kissing it on the snout.

  “The demon burned her with fireballs from his hand, but he fled after that.”

  Lilith was livid and wanted to find out who it was and seek revenge. Who would dare enter her boundaries, let alone her home? She could eliminate Satan; he went where he pleased in this realm, and Shaziel wouldn’t have dared attack him. She couldn’t conceive of a general or other high-ranking officials wasting their time on raiding her place, though she couldn’t rule it out completely.

  “Who was it?” Lilith said seething.

  “I . . . I don’t know, but he did drop this at the bottom of the pond . . . and I got it back.”

  Kenneth handed her the bundle. She unwrapped it and held out the hefty sword. Demonic calligraphy was on the side. The symbol of the black raven belonged to one demon.