“And why did you use a key if you could open the door with a few words?” Ali asked trying that the voice didn’t come out choppy.
“Because I have the key...” he said as if it were the most obvious thing.
Holding a flashlight, Kaliel led her down a corridor not suitable for claustrophobic people.
“And there are many of these in the cathedral?” Ali asked.
“Yes, just like any old construction. There are tunnels that go under the city and that connect important places... or secrets ones”.
Kaliel turned to find out why Ali hadn’t answered. She was simply fascinated and he thought it was an opportunity he couldn’t miss.
“Come on, I'll take you to a place you'll love” Kaliel said with a big smile.
Ali had never seen him smile except for the times he did it with malice. He took her by the arm and dragged her with haste as one who knows so much a path that he could travel it even in the dark. They turned so many corners and climbed and climbed so many stairs that Ali felt they could already be outside the city.
“Here”. Kaliel finally said and pushed a rock that jutted just from the wall. This time he needed to repeat the words to open the door that was hidden there.
It was a kind of office or library like her father's, she thought.
“Mikah knows about this?” Ali asked.
“Do you want to stop talking about Mikah? If you care so much, I can take you back to your cell so he won’t get upset!” Kaliel reprimanded her as if she was ruining all the fun. Ali looked down sadly and then he softened his voice. “This library belongs to Mikah...” he confessed. “But as we care a horn what he says let's dust off some of these... forbidden books” again, he smirked.
Kaliel pulled out a book so big and heavy that it occupied the entire desk.
“What are we looking for?” Ali asked seeing that he was following a few lines with his finger and then looking for another book.
“That bloodsucker mentioned something about the Grigori, remember?”
“And what are the Grigori?”
“They were” Kaliel remarked. “They don’t exist anymore. They were angels who fathered children with mortal women” he said, placing three more books on the table. “Come here”.
Both shared the only chair in the room and crouched on the pages to read them with the light of the flashlight. Kaliel opened the first book:
“This is the Book of Enoch. It was part of the canonical corpus for the first Christians because it offers a clearer explanation of the Great Flood. Then they took it away and hid it and when it was found a long time later, it was slandered until it seemed to be an apocryphal text” Kaliel explained. “From chapter six begins the Book of the Watchers”.
Kaliel looked for the chapter and was thinking while reading a text in Hebrew. Then he nodded as if he had found what he was looking for.
“I will read it for you” he announced to Ali: "So it happened, that when in those days the children of men multiplied, beautiful and pretty daughters were born to them; and the Watchers, sons of heaven, saw them and wished them, and said to one another: "Let us go and choose women from among the daughters of men and give birth to children" ». Kaliel's finger continued further on the page: - "And there were altogether two hundred who descended on the top of the mountain which they called Hermon, because on it they had sworn and committed each other under anathema. These are the names of their chiefs: Shemihaza, who was the chief and in order in relation to him, Ar'taqof, Rama'el, Kokab'el, -'el, Ra'ma'el, Dani'el, Zeq ' el, Baraq'el, 'Asa'el, Harmoni, Matra'el,' Anan'el, Sato'el, Shamsi'el, Sahari'el, Tumi'el, Turi'el, Yomi'el, and Yehadi'el»”.
“Who are the Watchers?”
“You´ll see...” Kaliel was preparing for a long explanation. He seemed to know so many things... “The angels are organized in a very specific hierarchy: three orders of three choirs each one. The seraphim are those who are closest to God. The cherubim, the thrones, the dominations, the virtues, the powers, the principalities, the archangels and the angels follow him in descending order. The latter are the ones that people know best since they are closest to mankind. However, in ancient times there was another order even closer to the people: the Watchers or Grigori. Their mission was to watch over and protect people”.
“Like guardian angels? Ali asked.
Something stirred inside Kaliel. "Guardians" was not a good word for those despicable creatures.
“Something like that. Well the fact is that they fell in love with human women and took them as wives. Not only did they reveal celestial secrets and lead them down the path of sorcery, they had children with them” Kaliel continued. “These beings were called nefilims, who were also known as giants or renowned because their incredible power made them fearsome. But they were cursed creatures and their powers also because they came from fallen angels, that is, demons. For their sins and their violence there was a flood that ended all of them.
“Wow...” Ali had run out of words. Then an idea crossed his mind: “Can angels fall in love?”
“Not the angels but only the fallen angels” said Kaliel. The question had caught him off guard. Was that nonsense what had most caught her attention from everything he had just told her? “Now let's go to the important point: why the bloodsucker said you had a Grigori? Have you had any kind of contact or relationship with angelic or demonic beings?”
“Not that I knew... Haven’t you just said that the Grigori no longer exist? Anyway... I think she was talking about you when she said that”.
Kaliel leaned back. Had he really not noticed it? He frowned, having finally understood and changed the subject somewhat embarrassed.
“Yes they exist but they are chained in hell...”
“Forget it. She said it to annoy you...” Ali proposed without worrying too much. The Grigori affair had caused her so much fascination that she kept leafing through another of the books that Kaliel had left on the table. “Don’t they say that demons are the masters of deception? Maybe she wanted us to unveil ourselves by her words. No way! Wow! What´s this?” Asked to get a full-page photograph of a painting in which an angel was seen murdering a dragon with his sword.
“The archangel Michael” answered Kaliel when he noticed. “Michael, Uriel, Rafael and Gabriel were in charge of annihilating the Nephilim and punishing the Watchers”.
“But... But...” Ali didn’t want to say it; It wasn’t possible. That's how all the old paintings were, all the faces looked alike... No. This one was identical... “But it looks like Mikah...”
Kaliel let out a weak giggle.
“Michael is the English form for his name in Hebrew: Mikael... Mikah!”
“Mikah is an archangel!?” Ali exclaimed completely scandalized.
At that moment, footsteps crossed the corridor. Kaliel jumped at her and covered her mouth with one hand as he led her to a library behind which they hid.
11
A cold night
“Wait here...” he whispered to Ali indicating with a finger to keep silent.
Then, with the stealth of a cat, he slipped to the desk and put away the books he had messed up except for a small one. It was under his arm when he came back to her. Behind the library was a painting and another door was hidden behind the painting. He opened it and led her there until he came out behind another painting in the corridor that led to the garden of the cathedral.
One side of the cathedral faced a courtyard surrounded by columns, flower beds and two trees. But it was late at night for when they managed to leave. There was too much darkness to appreciate the beauty of that place, however, he believed that she would like it. And he was right. A smile appeared on Alanis' face as soon as she saw it and she hurried out to look at the open sky, after having remained locked up all day. The light of the moon drew silver reflections from her jet-black hair. The humans looked so fragile, Kaliel thought, that he always had that impression that the least thing could destroy them at any moment. And yet they harbored such
long-lived hopes and lived as if they would never die, worried with such mundane, insignificant things… Things that he was beginning to understand.
Alanis turned around at that moment: she’d been talking to him all the time but he hadn’t paid attention. She noticed it but instead of getting angry and putting on a tantrum, she gave him a cheerful smile. An unknown sensation alerted Kaliel. Maybe someone was watching them. No. It was not a threat, at least, it didn’t seem to be that. He looked again at Alanis who was now approaching him with a funny expression. Again that sense of familiarity assailed him. What was all that? When he rescued her from the flames of her house; when he was petrified the day Annabeth attacked her; when he looked at her while she slept, as he had on Halloween night; When he touched her in the closet minutes ago and when he had her so close while talking to her about the Grigori that he could feel the warmth that emanated from her rosy cheeks. And what about the fury he had felt when Mikah ordered him to leave her side that same afternoon? Alanis was just one of many missions that would assure his entrance to Heaven. So, why did he feel so compassionate about her whims? Why had he accompanied her in the stupid idea of going to the cemetery and why had he expected her to like the garden of the cathedral? He felt sorry for her, he told himself, that was all, but even so it was the most absurd and had nothing to do with his purposes.
“Kaliel, I need your help...” she murmured approaching him more with that scared puppy face. He took a step back, trying to look as frivolous as possible. But she insisted without noticing it and put her hands on his chest. “Help me escape. I must go to France...”
“What?” he would never have imagined that she was going to ask for something like that. “You are insane? Why do you want to go to France?”
“Patrick is the last person my father spoke to” Alanis clarified. “He has to know how to find the Gladius Dei and why they took my father... He knew they would come for him and he warned him in that letter...”
“No!” Kaliel interrupted sharply. He took her hands off him and moved away from her. That was going too far. - My duty is to keep you away from the demons, not to be your babysitter!
An uncomfortable silence followed his words. Kaliel regretted saying it.
“You're an Idiot!” Alanis yelled. “I was beginning to think you were more human but I see that you have a heart of stone... You don’t care about my suffering. I'm just a mission for you!”
“And what did you think it was?” He snapped before he realized it.
Alanis broke into tears and ran away. Somehow she managed to get out into the outer courtyard of the cathedral and took refuge in the shadows of the surrounding trees. Kaliel was going after her when hearing her anguished moans stopped him in his tracks. He froze with his hand extended toward her as he lost himself in the darkness of a sudden vision. But he no longer saw her: in his mind the images were represented as in a movie. Alanis was crying inconsolably in her room. He saw her through the windows of her window. He wanted to hug her and tell her that none of that mattered but he thought it was better that way, that she didn’t see him. That she would forget him forever. Kaliel came back to reality with that impression that his heart was being torn appart. But what did he know what it was like to have a heart? Was that what was stirring inside him like the light of a star, like the flames being swept away by the wind, like the night he saw her for the first time? Was that what seemed to be small and writhe in his chest when he looked at the tombstone that said her name in the cemetery?
Kaliel moved trembling to the trees. She was on her back, leaning against a tree unable to stop crying.
“I’m sorry...” It was the only thing he managed to say but his words sounded empty. She didn’t flinch. “I just... I don’t think...” He kept trying in vain. “It’s not easy to find the Gladius Dei, no one knows where they are hiding or who they are. Besides... I also assure you that you don’t want to do it. They are very dangerous. You don’t want to risk yourself like that...”
Alanis didn’t answer. She just kept whimpering and trembling with her back to him. As he got closer, he noticed that the skin on Alanis's arms had bristled. That must be a very cold night for such a fragile body. This time he tried a new apology by lending her his jacket. He took it off and put it on her back waiting for her to take it but she didn’t. So he placed himself in front of her to help her cover herself. Alanis raised her face full of tears and no longer looked so angry; only disconsolate. He was sure he’d never seen anything like that, at least not that he remembered it, but something in the back of his mind said yes. With the back of his index finger, Kaliel stroked her cheek to pick up one of her tears. What a useless way to express pain. Why hadn’t she just punched him in the middle of his face when he had said that? Why did she have to be so fragile? Then he felt the impulse and didn’t think about what he was going to do next: his arms surrounded her and he embraced her violently against his body.
“I couldn’t risk you that way...” he completed the sentence he had left hanging seconds ago.
She just put her arms around him and, for the first time, Kaliel knew what it was like to feel the cold of the night in his bare arms.
12
The hunt
A shadow, darker and thicker than the night, slithered through the trees. Kaliel was the only one of the two who could perceive it. A strange silence encapsulated them as if isolating them from the world only to make clearer the sharp clack of that mocking giggle. There was another sound, like flames crackling around. Perhaps only he could see the snakes zigzagging in their direction from the nothingness itself, waving their forked tongues with pleasure. Not everything was a stench of sulfur when it came to demons and Kaliel knew it more than anyone else. Sometimes they were surrounded by sweet smells, beautiful faces and kind words. Sometimes they didn’t want to torment but to seduce.
“We'd better get inside” Kaliel released Ali suddenly, as if she burned. He tried to pretend that his voice didn’t tremble. “It’s getting very cold”.
He pulled his gaze away from her and kept her fixed on the cathedral all the way until Ali got ahead of him. Only then did he dare to look back again. Someone was watching them from the gloom. And as he suspected, that someone had no intention of remaining hidden. Flames sprang from the demon's hand, enough to illuminate that smile that Kaliel, without knowing very well why, despised more and more every day: Baaltazhar.
What was it he wanted? Torment him or seduce her? In any case it was clear that any seduction between them would be the beginning of endless torment. The best thing would be to act cautiously, at least, until he found out who or what she was. And he already began to intuit the answer.
A strong smell of black tea woke her up the next morning. As soon as Ali opened her eyes she had the same dizzying impression she had every day when she didn’t find the familiar wooden ceiling of her room. The next thing she saw was Kaliel, sitting on the floor in front of the trunk that served as a table and as a wall between them. His golden strands fell over his face as he leaned over the cups of tea he was serving. Then he handed her a cup and his emerald eyes met her. Ali felt a tingle in her stomach as she remembered herself in his arms the night before. But he didn’t seem to even remember it. His face had returned to be as cold as the day she first saw him.
Not daring to say a word, Ali approached the cup with the intention of seeing her reflection in the dark liquid inside. The truth was that her appearance was something that hadn’t worried her in several days. Until now.
“How are you supposed to get money here if you cannot leave without having a battle against the hosts of Lucifer?” Ali asked. “Do they sell Bibles or souvenirs of the cathedral?”
“And what would you need money for?” Kaliel asked with a lost look as if he wasn’t paying attention.
“To buy things...” Ali said mockingly.
Asking for money was something she hated. Her father used to bring her under an interrogation to verify that not a penny was spent on sinful produc
ts. Then he gave a sermon on the austerity of Jesus and the banality of "accumulating treasures on earth". Excuses to cover up his stinginess, in her opinion.
“What things?” Kaliel was still distracted.
“Ush! Don’t you buy things?” Ali exploded furiously. “Did you knit that sweater you're wearing? Or did you steal it?”
Kaliel turned to her with a most puzzled and innocent expression. As if he had just noticed her presence.
“Oh... Those things”.
“What did you think...!? - Ali stopped when she saw what he was doing.
Kaliel took one of the spoons that was on the table and held it in front of Ali. A spot of color began to spread from the point where the metal came into contact with his fingers towards the ends. Finally, he managed to convert it. Kaliel handed it to her as if it were a gift.
“OMG!” Sighed Ali incredulously. “Is it gold? How did you do it?”
“You're welcome” he replied impassively as he took a sip of his tea.
“Someday you're going to tell me what demons are you?” Finally, Ali dared to ask him. There was no point in keeping it hidden.
“Only one: Kaliel, I´ve already told you...”
Two knocks on the door interrupted them. But it was only an act of formality since Mikah didn’t wait for authorization to enter.
“I see that it is impossible to separate you” he said sarcastically.
Ali felt her cheeks turn red and hot.
“Don’t worry. It’s not my mission to be the villain of this noble and romantic story” he scoffed. “In any case it would be to punish the fallen and to redeem those who do wish it” he remarked looking towards Kaliel. “But a much more important issue concerns us at this time and I would like you to come with me...”
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