Raphael’s eyes were preoccupied. He kept them pointed down to the floor while Samael gazed at him impatiently. Raphael knew there was some kind of truth to Samael’s words, but he still didn’t dare to disobey God and open the Dudael prison gates.
A bright light appeared from the ceiling. Its brightness brought Raphael back to the present, and both he and Samael peered up. The light illuminated the center of the hall, it crawled in like the roof had broken open. Samael made a step backward, but he didn’t tear his eyes from the roof.
Next, there appeared a shadow in the center of the light, and in no time a man’s shape dropped down to the floor. The ground quaked as it fell. The light disappeared as immediately as it had appeared, and a tall blonde-haired angel popped into Samael’s view. His wings were more beautiful than Samael’s – bright white and emanating an unearthly brilliance, they flooded the hall with heavenly light. His blue eyes were cold, but filled with courage. Those emotionless eyes looked around the room before finally settling on Raphael.
“Good angel,” the monk greeted with a bow, “welcome.”
“Raphael,” the newcomer greeted back, before he continued regarding his surroundings. His eyes finally caught Samael, who was standing two steps aside. “You!” the angel shouted. “Because of you, I have to lead the Heavenly army into war.”
“Please, just tell me you aren’t satisfied,” Samael sneered, shaking his head.
The angel’s wings opened wide, his eyes narrowed and filled with malice. Samael only looked at him, his hands clenched into fists.
“He’s coming after me, Michael,” Samael spoke in a voice of forced calm. “I’m not one of the archangels of Heaven and he knows. He won’t attack Heaven’s gates.”
“By getting the girl, he won’t need to attack, he can pass through them easily,” Michael reminded him, sniffing angrily.
“What was I supposed to do?” Samael cried out. “Let them have her, or kill her myself?”
A silence fell in the hall. Michael gazed into Samael’s eyes, fiercely trying to read something behind them, but the gray-winged man was too clever to reveal his thoughts to anyone.
*
In the meantime Lily, having felt the quake and having heard vague voices, rushed down the narrow corridor. She reached the hall and came to a halt by the door as she saw the bright angel standing in the middle, shouting at Samael. She lurked behind the door left ajar and, her ears straining, followed the conversation.
*
“I told you the other day that her existence is very dangerous for Heaven,” Michael murmured lowering his faded voice. “You have to give her to us now.”
“Taking her means that we’re obviously at war,” Raphael broke into the rough conversation. “While she’s here with us, we have a chance to keep Heaven’s gates closed.”
“Do you believe Lucifer will settle for acquiring her?” Michael’s beautiful but cold eyes turned to the submissive monk. Raphael lingered. “I saw him in the Garden of Eden when you were soaring in the open space above. I watched him seducing Eve, I followed his first creation, and I was there when he made a deal with our Father. Do you think Lucifer rushed down to Earth after Eve?”
“He loved her, don’t deny you saw it,” Raphael announced bravely.
“He loved power,” Michael snarled bending forward like a hunting predator. “His love for Eve was only camouflage. He needed – needs – her to get into the garden,” he said through his gritted teeth. “Why did he keep fighting after Samael assassinated Efran?”
“Because he needed hope,” Samael put in. “But drop it, Michael. You haven’t come here to prove us of his purpose, have you? You came here to ask me to kill Lily, since we all know you won’t do it yourself. You honestly think that I’ll move to sacrifice myself and save you and the rest of my brothers, just because I’m already banished?”
“Hey, watch your words,” Raphael grumbled.
A cool grin curled Samael’s face when his words forced Michael into silence. He spun around and came up to the altar. His gray wings stretched open into the air. “But maybe I’m not interested in saving you. Maybe I’m interested in Heaven’s fall.”
“I will never let Heaven fall,” Michael closed his right hand into a fist so strong that his nails dug into his palms. “I defeated Lucifer once already, dropping him down from the clouds, I’ll do it again.”
“Times have changed, my brother.” Samael faced the angel then. “He’s much stronger than you can imagine.”
Michael smirked. “Of course. And our youngest and cleverest brother always picks the strongest side, doesn’t he? Are you so sure that Lucifer will take you back with open arms?”
“If he truly followed Lucifer, he wouldn’t have stolen her from Beelzebub,” Raphael said. “I think there is something else in him.” He tilted his head, diving into his thoughts, and paced close to Samael. “But whatever he does, you should still prepare for war, Michael.”
“I’m always prepared,” the angel said solemnly. “But I won’t run the risk. You need to give me the girl,” he demanded.
“Give her to you, so that you can kill her or imprison her forever?” Samael passed his hand through his disheveled brown hair. “I won’t let any of you touch her, even if the whole Garden of Eden must fall in the process of stopping you.”
“It mustn’t fall.”
“It’s my property. None of the archangels, or you,” Samael jabbed his finger toward Michael, “can set foot on it until I summon you.”
Michael sniffed. The conversation was going against him. He glanced around, biding his time until he finally spoke.
“I’ll give you one day, Samael, until I have an order from Father.” Michael’s threats came through clenched teeth. “Once the girl’s existence is discovered, there is nothing we can do to avoid the war. Do whatever you will today. But tomorrow, I will send Gabriel against you. He’ll destroy everything in his path to keep Lucifer from passing over Heaven’s border.”
“You can’t let the war take part on Earth, Michael,” Raphael reminded him, his eyes widening in astonishment. “You know the law–”
“What kind of law are we talking about, Raphael?” Michael shouted at the monk. “Your brother,” he pointed to Samael, “has already violated every law in the Torah.”
“We can punish him for breaking the law, Michael, but we can’t bring war to mankind because of our faults.”
“This world is our biggest fault,” Michael growled.
Lily’s heart sank when she heard the tone Michael’s voice had taken on in his last sentence. She doubted whether he was speaking as the protector of Heaven, or as Lucifer himself.
“One day you’ll regret your words,” Raphael exhaled, disappointed. “One day it will be man who’ll save Heaven.”
“I hope it’ll be before he destroys Earth,” Michael sneered. He faced Samael. “You heard me, you’ve got no time. As soon as I get an order, I will come down upon everyone who has the girl. None of my brothers’ fault will bring harm to our Father.”
“You still don’t trust me. You can’t understand me. You still can’t feel the love,” Samael conveyed mournfully.
“I heard these words before,” his lips straightened into a sarcastic smile. “You recall what I said to you then? ‘I learned to love a long time ago and most of all I love God’.”
*
Quiet fell. Raphael looked from Michael to Samael, opened his mouth to say something, then closed it.
Samael tore his eyes away from the monk and Michael, and walked to the middle of the hall. Michael followed him, looking over his shoulder. Waving his white wings, a wind arose. It whipped through the air to reach Lily, who was still watching the three angels.
“Michael,” Samael said, exhaling deeply.
“Yes.”
“Just buy as much time as you can,” Samael asked miserably. “Let me have this new wonderful feeling for as long as you can give me.”
“Do you really think love is a cau
se great enough to justify being locked away on the Island of the Dead for good?” Michael’s glacial eyes widened in surprise.
“Doesn’t your love for Father deserve that?” Samael grinned. Michael closed his eyes and nodded. Then Samael bent almost double and opened his wings like an eagle preparing to fly into the sky. A stream of light appeared on him, coming from the roof, and in the briefest of seconds, he vanished with the light in front of Lily’s eyes. She remained immobilized, wondering whether everything that had happened today was real, or was still just one of the games of her dreams.
Michael faced Raphael and closed his wings.
“Take him to Dudael,” he ordered Raphael.
“You think he can learn something from Azazel? Something you don’t know yet?”
“He’s planning something,” Michael brushed his blonde hair back with his two hands. “Both of us know Samael wouldn’t do anything without thinking it over a hundred times beforehand. I reckon he always knew of the survival of Eve’s line. Efran’s family wasn’t the last,” Michael chortled under his breath.
“He probably kept this a secret at first so he could give the female heir to Lucifer, but he didn’t,” Raphael thought aloud. “What kind of purpose might Samael be following now?”
“I daresay even Father doesn’t know, but we can still discover it,” Michael looked at the monk, and his blue eyes twitched. “With the day’s first early light touching the sand of the desert, help will fall down from the slumbering sky. But you have to pass through a dangerous trial.”
Raphael looked at him disdainfully.
“Don’t lose yourself among him, Azazel and Lucifer,” Michael murmured.
“Don’t forget who bound Azazel down there,” Raphael winked.
Michael patted his shoulder, Raphael closed his eyes and gave a bow. Through the stone roof a bright light rippled in again and the angel was sucked up with a whoosh, like he hadn’t even existed a second before. Raphael remained standing, his eyes closed and head tilted. Eventually every sound died away.
Lily couldn’t move after what she had just heard. Both the angels and the devils needed her for their own purposes, but what did Samael need from her? Was he really in love with her? Samael’s words reverberated in her head. He would fight and let Eden fall but he wouldn’t give her to Lucifer.
Lily leaned against the wall, taking her face into her hands. How could she have turned out so important to such an unbelievable world? A world of angels and devils. A world of the supernatural. What if they were mistaken? They might have the wrong person.
She leaned back against the wall and slid down to the marble floor, pulling her legs up and wrapping her arms around her knees. What to do next, what to expect next, whom to believe now.
The door was yanked open. Lily’s teary eyes raised up instinctively.
The monk came in composed and halted in front of her, then he knelt down, taking her hand into his. Lily got up and followed him, distracted, but didn’t protest when his long fingers touched her skin again. As he did, the same warmth he had given to her in the room upstairs flooded her soul again. She sucked in a huge breath and exhaled in relief.
“Anyone else hearing what you did a minute ago would have run away immediately,” Raphael muttered.
“Where can I run to?” Lily remarked with a sneer. “Where could I hide from the all-seeing angels?” She dared to raise her eyes and met his. “Angels,” she went on with a new kind of anger in her voice, “who long to kill me, to destroy me just because I was born of the wrong mother.”
Raphael sighed and lowered his eyes. “You’ve got him wrong, Michael –”
“I know what I heard,” Lily shouted, pulling her hand out of his. “He convinced Samael to kill me, didn’t he?”
Raphael shook his head in puzzlement. He couldn’t deny it, but he hadn’t the right words to justify the white angel’s actions.
“You saw Michael as cold and ruthless,” he spoke at last, “but he’s confused as well. He’s not sure his army will be able to best Lucifer’s in the end.”
“That’s why he’s trying to find an easier way,” Lily guessed. “I just wonder what Lucifer will do when he gets me. What can I change? Who am I?” Her impatient eyes pierced his.
Raphael sat down on the floor and laced his fingers together. He brushed his long hair back from his eyes to see Lily clearly.
“There was a time,” he began, “when Lucifer fell in love with Eve, and she with him.” Lily’s jaw dropped in surprise. She opened her mouth to ask, but thought against it. “Yes, it sounds impossible, but it’s true,” Raphael amended. “Father – God – he loved Lucifer too much to punish him. And our eldest brother discovered the mystery of creation, or at least he thought he did. He was sure his love for Eve would help him to create his own world.”
Lily, attracted by Raphael’s story, didn’t even know if she was breathing or not.
“Father didn’t approve of Eve’s betrayal of Adam. He called to Lucifer, told him to let her go, but Lucifer assured him that Eve would choose death over a life without him. And that was when the deal was made, the deal that inverted history itself. It was written that if Eve followed Lucifer, she would be banished from the Garden of Eden with Adam, and Lucifer could be free of Heaven and find his new world to create,” Raphael sucked in the air and a slight regretful smile curled his lips. “We all were waiting to see if Lucifer would come back to us, ready to repent and apologize after his failure, but–” Raphael paused.
“He didn’t return, did he?” Lily supposed.
“He has never returned. He won,” Raphael added mournfully. “Eve followed his sign, she managed to get Adam to sin. Father was incensed, and he announced that if any of his sons dared to follow Lucifer down to Earth, they would never be forgiven.” He trailed off, but Lily had far more questions to ask.
“Where was Samael? What did he do?” she asked. Here was her chance to learn about the gray-winged creation.
Raphael looked at her. “You truly think he loves you,” he said with a grin. “Then you should know that first, Father created Lucifer, then Michael after him. They are both the eldest angels. Then he created Gabriel, me, Uriel, Raguel, Remiel and Saraqael. The last one he created was born long after us. Samael was born when the Garden of Eden was created, by the time it had its own resident–a human, Adam. Samael was the last angel of the Great Nine. The archangels’ circle was closed with him. He was born later, because Father wanted the last one be ideal, to give him all those things that he hadn’t given to anyone of us. When Samael opened his eyes the first time, Lucifer was the first being who greeted him. Nobody knows what they said to each other. Both of them are fond of their secrets.”
“And when Samael came to be presented to his other brothers and Heaven, that was the moment when Father named him as the cleverest of any of his creations. Samael’s green eyes itched for knowledge, his essence wanted to understand everything. Every detail. I believe he rushed down after Lucifer because Heaven couldn’t give him everything he wanted to know. That day, we lost the first and the last members of the Great Nine.
“The next time we saw both of them was in the time of the War of Heaven. Our two brothers had encircled Heaven with their army, their Sons of Perdition. They had even broken in through the Golden Gates. I don’t know what happened to Samael, but he betrayed Lucifer. Michael was the commander of the army of Heaven. He commanded us, the other brothers who had stayed with Father. In the greatest fight of the history of Heaven, Michael defeated Lucifer, and he was thrown down to Earth.
“Father wanted him to be separated from man. There were new rules written in the book of the Torah, and Lucifer was locked in his own world called Hell, also known as Hades, while his fellows could roam over Earth. But there were old rules which remained written in the Torah too.” Lily shifted, following Raphael with a great interest. “There was Eve’s female heir. It seemed Lucifer wouldn’t have a way out of Hell anymore, but Eve’s heir was his chance to escape
. If his fellows found her and brought her to him, the Gates of Eden would open for Lucifer. And that means the fall of Heaven forever.”
Lily felt as if her throat had dried up. She gulped loudly. “But why did Samael set him up? If the victory was almost in their hands–”
“That time, Lucifer wasn’t strong enough,” Raphael interrupted. “He might have fallen even if Samael had stood side by side with him. Michael was stronger, the seven archangels were not a simple foe to overcome.”
“What has changed then?” Lily inquired rapidly.
Raphael averted his eyes. The question was simple, but answering it was too difficult. He struggled onto his feet. Lily followed after him quickly. The monk turned back to her and made a step ahead.
“Samael is right, time changes everything,” he murmured. “Everyone has a purpose, but nobody knows what Samael needs. What was it that made him betray Lucifer? He never shared it with me, but he still got a second chance to prove himself. Father entrusted the Gates of Eden to him. Of course Michael was enraged, giving the most vulnerable side of Heaven to the one he deemed a traitor.”
“Time passed,” he went on remembering, “and it showed that Samael was the ideal person for Eden. He belongs in neither Heaven, nor Hell, he’s absolutely independent. He doesn’t follow the rules of the Torah, but by kidnapping you he brought the old rules back into play. Lucifer has every right to rise out of Hell and come after you–”
“And once he has me, he will cross into Eden, won’t he?” Lily guessed gloomily.
“Precisely that. He still believes that his love for Eve’s heir will help him create things such as Father has created. But Michael believes that Lucifer just wants Heaven to fall to prove to Father that he was always right.”
Godforsaken: Book 1 (Shade of Light) Page 13