“How many times do I have to tell you suicide is a mortal sin?” the angel said slowly and calmly. He voice had a sweet, exquisite cadence; he used it as one would use a musical instrument.
The woman remained silent. Several times she looked away.
“Suicide has nothing to do with me,” she whispered. “This is just a body I shouldn’t be in. My soul is dead and now it is time for it to be saved. You didn’t want to help me.”
“I predicted something like this would happen,” the angel murmured against her lips. “But I would kill you myself before I let these wretched mortals kill you.”
“Do it then,” she said in a thin voice. “End this nightmare. Don’t let them torture me. Save me.”
“Did you have fun with this mortal?” Paying no attention to her comments, the angel watched Father DiCaprio’s terrified expression. “He seems charming. Shall we take him with us?”
The priest was so seized with terror all of his muscles tightened more than seemed humanly possible. His eyes were wide open and his knuckles turned red as he gripped the table.
“Take him with us?” the woman asked. “You’re going to snatch away my only opportunity to find peace? A peace you yourself refuse to give me? I don’t need you anymore. I’ll get what I want. Why must I continue to suffer?”
“You aren’t going to suffer. Trust me. And let’s talk about this at home, the priest isn’t interested in our domestic problems, Juliette.” The angel smiled and stood. The woman truly looked frightened as the angel approached the priest. Father DiCaprio couldn’t help but admire the angel’s naked body.
“Oops!” the angel exclaimed. “I’m such a forgetful angel! Where’s my tulle and gossamer!”
The priest observed the angel’s powerful, hairless chest. The slightly golden hue of his skin accentuated his sculpted muscles.
For a few seconds, the angel just smiled and then softly laughed. The priest jumped back in his chair and yelled with horror as the angel gently pulled a small gold chain that was half hidden beneath his robes. A small cross hung from the chain.
“Do you believe in him?” he asked as he held the cross in his hand just a few centimeters away from the priest’s neck. Father DiCaprio nodded and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.
“Do you believe in God?” the angel whispered. His lips were very close to the priest’s face. Father DiCaprio could feel the angel’s words against his skin.
The priest’s lips were paralyzed. He tried to make them move but they wouldn’t so he just nodded once more. The angel’s hair formed a curtain around the priest’s face, isolating him from the world. He saw nothing but the angel’s beautiful face. The angel’s eyes, so close to his, overpowered all his emotions. He smelled the angel’s scent, his delicious, intoxicating essence and closed his eyes, enraptured, as he felt the angel’s supernatural warmth envelope him.
“So you want to be with him? I’m sorry, but that won’t happen after this mortal life you are living,” the angel mocked him.
“Do you believe in hell?”
The priest shook his head no.
Abruptly, the angel’s expression turned grim.
“But hell exists!” he yelled. “You humans have created it; you feed its fire daily!”
Quickly, the woman stood and grabbed the angel’s arm. The fine chain he held pulled priest’s face closer to his until the chain broke and lay swinging from his hand. Trying to keep his distance, the priest placed his hands against the angel’s chest but quickly withdrew them with a scream, as if he had been burned.
“Cannat,” the woman said with no emotion in her voice. “Please, don’t kill him.”
The priest trembled more than ever and covered his face with his hands in a vain attempt to protect himself.
“Don’t kill him? Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t.”
“Nothing could convince you not to kill him,” she answered. “But I have reason. He listened to me without judging me and tried to console me. What reason do you have to judge him?”
“I have an idea,” the angel said, spinning the chain in the air. “How would you like living in a man’s body?”
“No!” the woman yelled and the priest’s face crumbled. “You promised me you wouldn’t interfere. You told me you’d let me die in this body!”
“But wouldn’t it be fun to watch him struggle to defend himself in your body? ‘I’m the priest Christian DiCaprio!’ he would yell. ‘An angel stole my body and placed me in the killer’s body!’ He would keep screaming as they led him to the death chamber: ‘I swear I’m Father DiCaprio! For the love of God, believe me!’ We’ll read about it in the paper, it might even be on the news. Do you think anyone will believe you, Christian?”
The priest could barely breathe. He looked at the angel, overwhelmed with panic, his eyes bulging.
“N-no s-sir,” he stuttered, scared his silence would irritate the angel.
“Sir? How formal! Don’t you like my name?” the angel slowly approached him.
Father DiCaprio nodded energetically.
“Do you know who named me?” the angel asked.
“Y-y-yes,” he answered.
“Say it. Say my name.” the angel murmured.
The priest wiped his sweaty forehead and tried to catch his breath.
“Cannat,” he said quickly, as if that simple word would burn him.
“Repeat it but look me in the eye,” the angel demanded.
The priest squeezed his eyes shut and panted. The angel smiled.
Father DiCaprio fought hard against the terror he felt. His entire body trembled and his eyes refused to open. A few centimeters away, the angel waited. Little by little, and with his chest about to burst, the priest opened his eyes and looked at the angel. For a few seconds, he was so captivated by the angel’s eyes he actually forgot what he needed to say.
“Father,” the woman called, still grasping the angel’s arm. “Father.”
“Cannat,” he finally stammered without taking his eyes off the angel who was now laughing.
“Very good, Christian,” he said. “You’ve called an angel by his name. Do you feel somewhat superior now? Special?”
The priest was staring at him so profoundly that he seemed lost in thought. The angel straightened and turned toward the woman.
“Let’s make a deal,” he said and threw the chain toward the priest’s chest. “You’ll come with me willingly and he’ll live. Or you’ll come with me anyway and he’ll die. Aren’t I generous?”
The priest closely studied the woman as he waited for her response. She glanced at him for a few seconds and then looked at the angel.
“Why, Cannat? Why?” she asked.
“I like the smell of your soul,” the angel responded.
She gazed into the angel’s immaculate blue eyes and kept her small hands on his arms as she spent a few seconds thinking.
“But you’ll leave him here. You won’t take him with us,” she demanded.
“Of course, I’ll leave him here. I’d like to see how he explains your disappearance.”
“Okay,” she responded. “I’ll be a good little dog. I won’t bark, I won’t fight, you don’t have to leash me.”
The angel laughed.
“She doesn’t understand I’m doing this for her own good,” he told the priest.
Father DiCaprio’s heart was pounding so violently he felt dizzy.
Then, the angel looked at the woman and asked, “Did you miss me?”
“What took you so long to get here?” she asked, devoid of expression.
“I wanted you to enjoy being around humans for a little while. Did you have fun?”
“No.”
“Deep down, it was just another adventure, right? You were expecting your prince to save you from the dragons, as you always have. Honestly, isn’t that it?”
“I want to be with Shallem. That is the only truth.”
“I’ll give you some truths when we get home,” the angel threa
tened. “Now say good-bye to your friend before I get fed up with looking at his face. It’s been a long time since I killed and I’m eager.”
The woman stared at the priest’s horrified face. He couldn’t take his eyes off the angel.
“Father,” she called to him. “Father.”
“Huh?” he said as if he just woke from a dream.
“All your doubts are gone, right?”
He compulsively nodded and began to stutter. “I can’t... it’s not poss..., it must not..., it must...”
“Good-bye Father. I found it comforting, truly I did,” she said as she felt the angel’s arms around her.
“Don’t be sad, Christian!” the angel exclaimed. “It’s not a good-bye, it’s a see you later. We’ll be in contact.” And then he winked.
For a long time the priest sat and stared into the space where the angel and the woman had stood.
The room was absolutely silent; he felt so alone, more alone than he had felt at any other time in his life. It seemed like everything had been a senseless dream; however, the truth was evident. The old sheets on the cot had been wrinkled by the woman’s body; her chair was tilted due to her hasty movement to stand; the priest’s handkerchief was a crumpled wet mass on the side of the table where she had sat; his broken chain lay next to it, and the smell in the room..., subtle but certain..., was the angel’s unmistakable aroma.
He wanted to stand, still not knowing what for, but his legs were so weak he fell to the ground. He dragged himself to the exact spot where the angel had disappeared and carefully placed the palm of his hand over it. Then, he lowered his nose until his cheek was pressed against the floor.
“By the way, don’t bother looking for the woman! That’s what I’ll tell them when I walk through the door. An angel came and took her.” The priest’s voice grew louder. “Ha, ha, ha! An angel came and took her! An angel came and took her! An angel came and took her!”
The End
*************
About the Author
Ángeles Goyanes is a successful Spanish writer, author of historical, mystery, horror and fantasy novels, like "The Devil´s Concubine" and "Cursed Inheritance". She has also written the novels "El Maestro Envenenador", "Los Hijos del Ángel" and "Misterio en el Nilo", short stories, and a great amount of research articles.
Bachelor of History and Tourism, she loves being the reader’s guide on a full of mystery journey through exotic places or interesting historical periods.
Please, visit her website:
http://www.angelesgoyanes.com
Cursed Inheritance
By
Ángeles Goyanes
After a poverty-stricken childhood, Robert Waller, now a successful businessman and firm believer in Buddhism and reincarnation, is obsessed with the idea of regaining possession of his fortune when he is reborn in his next life. When he finds out his death is imminent, he becomes terrified of repeating those impoverished years and so he devotes the time he has remaining to the task of assuring his comfort in his future life. To that end, he seeks the aid of an old acquaintance, Sir James Lorton, a well-known expert in oriental religions, to make a strange request: Waller asks Lorton to seek out the child in whom he is reborn, secure the perfect home for him, and, in due time, ensure that Waller alone enjoys the properties he has struggled so hard to amass.
The young man rejects such a preposterous request on principle. However, some years later, fate will ensure that the proposal is reconsidered, but will Lorton make the right decision?
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