by L. J. Amodeo
“It is true, Mikael. Love really is the most powerful emotion in the universe. You have captured it and felt it. Such a gift to be given, and now that love, has created a child. The first of its kind. A child, part human and part archangel. Never has this been prophesied,” Monad whispered. His golden eyes staggered.
“I do love her, but I have also deceived her in the worst way, Monad,” Michael whispered back.
“I can see that, my son. I am well aware of your actions. However, the conception of this infant has shifted the energetic grids and caused an upheaval within the realms. Until the balance is restored within our realms and we know the child is safe, you will be stripped of your physical embodiment. However, you will continue your work in the 12th dimension. The South Watchtower will be unbalanced, but we shall protect it from the dark forces when they arise.”
The Monad peered at Michael. It was necessary for the archangel to speak to the being in a tongue that was foreign to the entire council, who continued to listen to the manifestation and the stripped archangel. As the being read his mind, Michael looked into the Monad’s eyes speaking the angelic language of Enochian.
“EE-AH-DEH, ZOD-EE-EM-ZOD, MOH-NOH-EN-ESS . . .” Monad answered, “I know my son that your heart aches, for you have felt the greatest universal force . . . love. However, I caution you—with all human emotions, there is always a price to pay. Now that you know and have been touched by the love of what you and Elizabeth have created, you will both endure the pain of separation.”
Monad stepped away from Michael, stopping to face the council. “QVI NON INTELLICT, AVT TACIAT, AVT DISCAT—He who doth not understand should either learn or be silent!”
The council bowed their heads both in shame of their thoughts, actions and in honor of the Monad’s wishes.
SAFE HAVEN
“Elizabeth, what do you mean he left to come find us?” Faith questioned me as if she hadn’t heard me the first time. I couldn’t utter a word. My look alone answered her question.
Emmanuel looked at Faith. “We must transport Freddie now! We need to call upon the Kerubic. They are the only angels able to transport Freddie to the Crystalline Cavern. Elizabeth, you must go!”
With a sudden sweep, Armisael’s arms held my exhausted and limp body as the being carried me through light tunnels. Its chant to the angels called for the Kerubic to come forth. Flashes of the letters, X~ G~ S~ D, whizzed past me and spun in my head like the spirals of the Triskel. The chanting began to grow dimmer, as my mind faded to darkness with only Armisael’s voice singing, “PAL-GAH-FAM-GAL . . . PAL-GAH-FAM-GAL . . . PAL-GAH-FAM-GAL.”
THE SHADOW REALM
“Find her!” Luca roared from his intricately-carved black dragon chair. “Find her and that child she carries, and if you don’t I will rip every inch of your thin flesh from your body.” He sneered, gripping Sebastian’s neck.
“Yes, my Lord.” Sebastian replied steely eyed and determined. “I will not fail you.”
“Don’t! You know how upset it makes me when you fail me. You, Seb, are valuable to me. You came to me as a lost teen. You’re parents abandoned you, remember? Your dark soul frightened them, my son. So dare not give me reason to rip your heart out, like you so eagerly did theirs.” Luca gave the boy’s cheek two lazy slaps. Sebastian’s hard face stared straight at the wall behind Luca. His broad shoulders and massive arms remained tight and steady.
Sebastian, raised as an orphan, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia to a poor mine worker and his wife. From infancy, he was not an easy child. His parents were unable to keep up with his fits of anger and rage. As a young boy, Sebastian would often find pleasure in slaughtering the neighbor’s pigs or hens in an unusual ritual. His parents were not able to support young Sebastian, or continue to pay neighbors for their mutilated animals; therefore, they left him at a convent where he’d be put up for adoption.
By the time Sebastian was a teen, he ran away from the convent after almost brutally beating a nun to death. He quickly joined a street gang and found himself in and out of trouble and jailed numerous times. During one of his jail stays, Sebastian was viciously attacked by a rival gang in one of Russia’s harshest juvenile prisons. It was then that the desperate boy met Luca.
As the chief physician in the Black Vorkin Juvenile Prison, Sebastian’s broken body was taken to the prison hospital, where Luca examined and worked on a mere lifeless teen boy. There was something about the young boy that immediately caught Luca’s interest. The dark depths of his cold, murderous eyes, and numerous prison tattoos exhilarated Luca. By the time Sebastian was released from his three-year sentence, he begged the prison doctor to take him under his wing. And so, in exchange for Luca’s protection, young Sebastian Nikolav sold his soul to the devil at the age of eighteen.
LAKE LOUISE/THE FLAME
I woke up in my bed at Eden with Armisael standing at my side, guarding me. “Armisael, how . . . how did we get here?”
“We transported you.” Armisael flashed me a warm smile. I sat up as something kicked hard in my belly. I flinched pressing on my abdomen and with shock, noticed my belly had grown to the size of a volleyball. Shooting out of bed, I ran to the mirror perched against the wall. “Oh my goodness, what is this? Armisael, how did it grow so quickly? Is there something wrong with it?” Armisael put a hand on my belly and gave me a look that immediately calmed me.
“My dearest Elizabeth, your child grows at accelerated speeds. It is part archangel and this phenomenon will prove very differently from a human birth. There is nothing to fear. It follows according to the course of the triskel.”
I stood in disbelief that this was really happening. Flabbergasted, I stared into the mirror, still unable to fathom how it had grown so quickly. My belly big and round, with a baby growing inside.
A sudden knock at the door broke my concentration, “Elizabeth, may I come in?” Deborah entered without my consent, holding a tray of tea and freshly-baked biscuits. The aroma of the baked goods followed Deborah into the room.
“My dear girl, look at how you’ve grown. You are glowing, but that doesn’t mean I won’t chain you up to the bedpost for the remainder of your pregnancy. You nearly scared Victoria and I half to death! Don’t ever run away again! She sure is a feisty one!” Deborah muttered her last words to Armisael, who smiled politely.
“Here, eat up! These biscuits are loaded with vitamins to keep you and your little one strong and healthy! May I get you something, Armisael?” She directed her question to the archangel.
“Not necessary for me to eat, but thank you Deborah,” the angel chanted.
“I know, I thought I’d be polite and ask anyway. And you, young lady. Stay put!” Deborah hissed, pointing her finger at me before leaving.
I continued to admire my new body in the mirror. Pregnancy was truly one of God’s miracles. “Armisael, do you know what the baby is?” I asked caressing my ballooned belly. The archangel did not reply, so I turned to face the angel, but found myself alone.
Returning to Eden only brought back memories of Freddie, my mom and Michael. I had no clue where they brought Freddie, and the hurt I felt for his life to return to normal beat painfully inside my chest—whatever normal meant for a light angel. But more severely, my heart pounded and my body ached to feel Michael’s touch on my skin, his lips on my lips and his hands on my womb. I stared achingly at the bed that Michael and I shared days earlier. Our intimate moments shimmered in my mind. Remembering the feel of his skin under my fingertips. The softness of his hands and lips consumed my thoughts, springing on new goosebumps. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to become consumed in emotions that occupied my heart, when the room suddenly became stuffy and stifling. I fought to take deep breaths. I needed fresh air.
Outside the air was warm and a subtle breeze floated across the evening sky. I headed for my garden, which hadn’t been tended to for several days, yet everything was beautifully trimmed and pruned as I had left it. I sat perched against the stone, listening for my
mother’ssoothing voice, quietly and hopelessly calling for her to come. In the whispers of the warm breeze, her voice flowed through my ears like a beautiful symphony. Gradually, I lifted myself off the stone and slowly opened my eyes. Like before, she stood gracefully; young, happy and beautiful. “Mom,” I whispered, blinking away my emotions.
“Elizabeth, you are lovely. You look very much like I did when I was pregnant with you,” she smiled softly. I lovingly glanced at my extended belly and stroked it.
“I wish you were here with me. I’ve made a mess of things.” I gulped back tears.
“I am here. Every day with you,” she said.
“It’s not the same, Mom. This is not the same. I need you here, for real—not your ghost,” I stuttered.
“Bethy, do you have any idea how lucky you are to have even this,” she said, pointing her finger at the two of us. “Do you realize how many people cry, beg and pray to have even a few moments with their loved ones? What we have is so much more than those poor souls who will never have the opportunity to tell their loved ones what they should have told them in life. You, however, possess this gift, Beth—the ability to speak with souls from the other side. Besides my darling, this is who we truly are. We become a spirit not a body.”
Shameful, I wiped away a tear with the back of my hand.
“Why are you so sad?” my mom asked, stepping closer. Her scent filled my lungs. “Vanilla.” I mumbled as a fuchsia butterfly flitted across our heads.
“That’s right. Your favorite.” She smiled, reminding me of my childhood and love for anything vanilla-flavored.
“It’s a perfect scent for you, Mom.”
“Every time you smell it, remember, it’s me at your side.”
I wanted so much to hug her and never let her go. I didn’t need to express it in words, for she already knew.
“How are you feeling, Bethy?” she asked, as she lifted her hand to caress my face. The breeze, brushed against my cheek.
“It’s amazing. It is the most amazing feeling I’d ever felt. I wish Michael were here with me, though,” my voice cracked.
My mom shifted uncomfortably. The wind picked up a notch.
“Mom, is everything all right?” I asked with an inflicting concern creeping in my voice.
“Elizabeth, about Michael—you two . . . it shouldn’t have happened. You’ve shifted the balance. Michael is . . . he’s—” Mom fell silent. Her appearance began to flicker like a short in a light.
“He’s what? What about Michael? What’s happened to him! Mom! Mom!” I shouted as her image quickly flickered and abruptly faded.
I ran back to the mansion, searching for Faith and the others to explain what my mother couldn’t—to tell me what was going on with Michael or at least tell me where he was.
Faith was walking out the door as I ran up the terrace steps. “Faith!” I shouted out to her. Her faced hardened as she twisted her lip in disappointment.
“Why are you out of your room and not resting?” She sounded irritated.
“Did you find Michael?” I stepped up to her, face-to-face. She took an insignificant step back, placing her hands on her hips, shaking her head and biting down on her lip. Faith rolled her eyes before responding.
“Can’t you just give it a rest, Elizabeth? Let us do our job,” she sneered.
Unsure of what Faith was talking about, I stepped forward again, “What the hell does that have to do with anything? All I asked you was where Michael was. I think I have a right to know.” I hissed back. The she-angel twitched.
“I can’t answer that.”
“Why?” I growled back.
“Because we’re not sure where he is.” She looked down at her blue-gem stone sandals.
“Oh geez, here we go again,” I heard Faith mutter before yelling for Deborah and Victoria’s help. It didn’t take long this time to feel the blood draining from my face, as I heard Faith’s words slur and the rest of the garden begin to slope sideways.
Victoria sat beside the canopied glider-swing, holding a cool cloth to my head, which laggardly stopped spinning and pounding by the time I opened my eyes. “Welcome back, sunshine.” She smiled.
“Hey Vic. Where’d Faith go?” I asked stretching my eyes across the lawn.
“Crystalline Caverns,” she replied.
“Um, is that where Michael is?” I asked blindly.
“No. It’s where Freddie is,” she answered truthfully. For fear of the unknown, I only nodded and looked away.
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
Buddha
Sebastian headed into town, hoping he could find some leads on the murder of one of his Trackers in Spokane and the whereabouts of Elizabeth. In his rugged way, he knocked around some street thugs for information that may have passed through the grungy streets of Washington. In his heavy Russian accent, Sebastian spat his words at the vandal he held closely by his jacket collar. “You slip with this, and I will kill you myself.” The thug nodded his head in agreement without uttering a word, while the other hoodlums looked on in fear.
“I promise. I’ll text you the minute I hear anything. R . . . really!” he stuttered, shaking in his high tops.
Sebastian violently tossed him aside like a rag doll. “I’ll be waiting for your text.” The tall Russian growled as he and another big-bodied man walked away and got into their Bugatti Veyron sports car.
Once inside the car, Sebastian and the other man laughed at the panic on the boys’ faces. “Real tough Americans,” Maksim grinned. Max, as Sebastian called him, was the size of a football quarterback. A little over six feet tall, Sebastian seemed to dwarf in comparison to Maksim. His blond hair, dark eyes and immense size, made men shudder and women shy away. Max had spent seven years in a state prison for assault with a deadly weapon. No one messed with him in prison for obvious reasons. Upon his release for good behavior, Max wasted no time in contacting his long time buddy, Sebastian. Soon, the two were back on the streets, doing what they did best; vandalizing neighborhoods and requesting protection money from vendors, without ever granting any form of protection from thieves. Very rarely did merchants challenge the two men. For one poor soul, Sebastian and his cohort set the business ablaze as the merchant was burned alive inside, duck-taped to one of the vending machines.
It was a cold night in the seedy Red Light District. Sebastian and Maksim drank themselves to a stupor, and at half past three in the morning, Sebastian’s cellphone rang, “Allo?” a drunken Sebastian grunted.
“Hello, Seb,” a dark, smooth voice abruptly ceased the Russian’s festivities.
“Who you are?” he mumbled, barely able to stand erect.
“I is Luca,” the doctor heckled the drunken man. Sebastian’s demeanor quickly turned serious as he forced himself to focus on the call and straighten himself up. Maksim laughed at his friend, spilling liquor onto his expensive designer shirt.
“Luca! How you are?” Sebastian tried his hardest not to sound drunk.
“I am well, Seb. Are you drinking? You sound intoxicated,” Luca asked tauntingly.
“I . . . I, yes. I celebrate with old friend from Russia,” Sebastian admitted.
“Good for you. Now, take your friend and go home. Tomorrow you will meet me at Chamber’s Bridge in Cottage Grove first thing in the morning. Understand?”
“Yes, but isn’t that all destroyed from storm?” Sebastian slurred his words.
“Ask me if I care! Meet me, you got that!” Luca snapped and hung up the phone.
“Who that?” Maksim asked, taking another swig of the 100- year old Louis XIII cognac.
“Trouble.” Sebastian replied, filling his glass with more of the expensive golden liquid.
CYSTALLINE CAVERN
Freddie shuddered in his skin as the Kerubic angels dipped and cleansed his body in sacred waters. This cleansing had been the oldest method used by the Kerubic for thou
sands of years, forcing any dark presence out of fallen or lost angels in a pool of special waters, waters that cascaded within the cavern from an unknown location. The water source had been the remedy for angels, who like Freddie had been marked, but it could not be found on any map; it simply appeared, miraculously. The Kerubic’s method was carefully timed, each step of the cleansing followed a repetitious pattern, submerging the marked angel under water for twenty minute, bringing him up for air as they chanted over him for twenty-five minutes more, then placing twenty-six droplets of blood in a chalice before repeating the ritual again. Whose sacred blood they poured into the cup—they’d never tell. Yet it wasn’t until sometime later, when Armisael explained the Kerubic’s process of cleansing, that the numbers at the old farmhouse flickered into view, 20:25–26.
Freddie’s constrained body convulsed and twisted in the most bizarre way, fighting against the ritual, while his voices hissed in dark, sinister tongues, spewing obscenities and threats at the Kerubic Angels. Again, the Kerubic forced mouthfuls of reddish mixture down Freddie’s throat, as he gagged and spat out the liquid. The ravaged angel was submerged several more times.
“How is he? Any progress?” Faith asked Emmanuel, who watched the legion administer the torturous cleansing method to a beastly Freddie.
“Not yet. He’s still transitioning and fighting them off. He’s one tough—” Faith cut off Emmanuel’s reply.
“He’ll come around,” Faith’s monotone voice responded.
“Just like Lucifer came around, huh Faith?” Emmanuel’s remark forced the beautiful angel to give him a sideward glance. Emmanuel backed away, holding his hands up in defeat.
“I know, I know . . . you want me to get out. I’m going!” He smiled before exiting the chamber. Through a partition of thick, enormous crystals, Faith remained quietly watching Freddie’s predatory attempts to attack the Kerubic. Luckily for the legion, the restraints on Freddie’s body were foolproof. No angel had ever broken out of the Kerubic’s contraptions. Ever. They were known as the Strong Ones. Undefeated or unharmed.