CounterPoint (22 page)

“Give me a moment to collect the remainder of our weapons in the building,” conceded Ariel as he headed back to the house with Amber following him. No doubt they would be in animated conversation about what just happened.

“I’ll be back momentarily as well. I need to consult with the Princes of Hell,” said Lilith and she vanished.

Clearly she possessed some of the same capabilities as Ariel and Amber. David wondered aloud who exactly the Princes of Hell were and surprisingly Claire answered the question.  “According to lore The Princes of Hell are the seven managers of Hell. They each represented one of the seven deadly sins. They never left Hell, instead sending out their minions to corrupt the souls of the world. They are like the Board of Directors in Hell with Lilith being Head of the Board to make up for the missing seventh prince.”

Catherine asked why there were only six and Claire went on to explain that Lucifer was the final prince. He presented pride and ego and the like. She surmised that if Lucifer was set free then Lilith would lose her grand position as the big girl downstairs. She probably wanted him down there forever, though she couldn’t say that to the Princes.

“Where did you hear this?” asked David, confused.

“On the TV,” said Claire smiling, all those supernatural shows she had watched finally came in handy!

“Basically, she’s down there doing the politics of Hell now,” said David incredulously. “And we thought politics up here was bad.”

In that instant Lilith reappeared again but this time flanked by two large, bald, mean looking henchmen in leather jackets.

“Oh trust me dear David, they don’t want him back any more than I. If the boss comes back then they have to work instead of chasing after their own selfish goals. This is in everybody’s interest not just ours.”

“Why would Lucifer be released?” asked David. It really was the last thing they needed.

“Well, if this war happens then the chaos, devastation and confusion will allow those more clandestine elements of all sides opportunity to access some of the hidden prisons spread across the world and other dimensions.”

Ariel and Amber came back out, clutching the same platinum case. Seeing that Lilith had now brought company with her, Ariel could not hide the anger sweeping across his face. The two demons stood motionless at each side of her, not making eye contact with anyone. Their folded arms and general ‘bouncer’ dress code added to their dangerous overtones. Lilith herself had returned in all white again, though it must have been a fresh set of clothes from the battle. Joining them, he explained he had bad news. Michael must have cut him off from Heaven and therefore his powers were limited. He couldn’t transport around the globe anymore. How they would make it to Dublin now was not within his capabilities of thinking. Lilith rolled her eyes and remarked that the timing was perfect. He gifted her a cold hard stare in return.     

David looked around the wreckage of fires, cars and lorries.  He had an idea.

Chapter 25

They were on the move. The pace was fast. Tensions were running high. Michael’s declaration of Ariel and Amber as traitors in Heaven had stripped them of some of their abilities, including being able to travel across vast distances with just a thought. They now found themselves in the back of a four door dark green Volkswagen Passat saloon. Its chipped fake wooden trimmings, mottled fabric seats and ancient radio meant for some unpleasant smells and noises. One of the remaining cars left from the battle. The other travelled just behind them.

They felt cramped and isolated. Amber herself had never been in an automobile before and felt the sides closing in on her. Ariel fared little better. It felt very strange to him to have another car following him with a squad of demons in it. In any other circumstances he’d have killed them on sight without a moment’s hesitation. These truly were bizarre times.

David sat in the front, driving the sluggish car. He tried not to think about what had just happened at the cottage. He couldn’t believe he had just lost his grandmother; an ache in his stomach was encompassing his whole body making him feel physically sick. The first moment he had to stop and think would be the worse. This would be the point where the tears would come in their millions. He dare not look round to his mother in the front passenger seat. He knew one more look at him would set her off. She sat quietly, reminiscing about the good times and about how her mother had suffered such a horrible, sadistic death. She always felt it was the children’s job to look after their parents in old age. Make sure they didn’t suffer and that they had a peaceful comfortable retirement as much as was feasibly possible. The reassurances of Ariel that she would be granted into Heaven did nothing to placate her. She was concerned with the now, the living. David and Claire needed her now more than ever to be strong, if she was seen as coping then hopefully it would provide them with a little strength.

“When will we get there?” she asked, steeling her voice over the noise of the car wipers on full blast. Would this rain ever stop, she thought.

“Probably an hour,” muttered David. He was totally unfamiliar with these roads and was trying to follow the signs to Cardiff as best he could. The docks were there to take them back to Ireland. Then they could take the boat trip and sail home to Dublin. He had no idea what Mary had meant in her final breaths but knew they had to get back home as quickly as possible. Neither Catherine nor Claire had any idea either but they would deal with that aspect when the time came. The main mission now was to just get there in one piece. Ariel suspected that the angels would do something, or multiple things, to stop their advance to Dublin. He suspected another attempt to board the ferry over to Dublin would not happen directly. It was more likely they would just ensure the ferries were cancelled. With this storm, David was sure the planes would definitely be cancelled. Plane travel had been sporadic at best ever since this storm started many months ago.

The car behind them held one of the most powerful demons on Earth – Lilith. She looked more angelic than most angels, but with a deep sinister danger emanating from within. When David found out she was a demon, it didn’t scare him as much as he thought it would have. He knew that they needed her. It was going to be at least another hour, probably two before they reached the docks. David knew this was an opportunity to get some more answers.

“Ariel. We have some time now until we reach the docks. We need to know everything if we’re gonna survive the next few days. After your actions tonight, both of you will never be in the employ of Heaven again. We’re all in this together now.” David leaned his head back on the headrest of the front seat and tried to relax. They had reached the motorway and now it was a straight run to the docks. He waited for Ariel to start. He knew without looking everyone else was as well. The silence in the car was strange compared to the chaos of the last couple of hours. The calm before another storm, he thought.

Ariel looked at every passenger in the car, and Amber nodded her head. They had to provide some information. He knew that, but just because he went against Heaven didn’t mean he felt he was betraying God, quite the opposite in fact. “Michael has decided to evaluate the human experiment now, and to do so he must rid evil from this world. Doing that, with the current levels of evil would in most respects destroy the planet and leave only a smattering of humans left. That is totally unacceptable.  The human experiment is of paramount importance beyond the comprehension of most, and that includes me. Only God knows. Unfortunately, there are many who believe God is dead. That allows for some in management to believe they are answerable to no one.” Ariel simply stared out the window as he spoke, effortlessly counting the thousands of raindrops pelting down with his angelic vision.

“Ariel, where do you think God is?” said David. He didn’t want to interrupt his train of thought but he really wanted to know where the top guy was. How could God sit by and allow all this to happen.

“For angels, the subject of God is probably the most fiercely debated. Some factions truly believe he will be back, that he’s simply populating other planets in the galaxy. They’re what I would call the divine angels. They serve the word of God wholly and don’t engage in the politics of Heaven and Earth. That’s left to Michael and his followers. That’s another movement. They believe, mostly because of Michael, that God is gone and is not coming back, citing the tragedies that have happened to mankind since its creation. The slavery from the Egyptians, the brutality of the Romans, the genocide tendencies of the Nazis. The plagues. The World Wars. They think God is dead. Which leads me onto the final movement,” he paused for a moment. He could tell from his eyes he was not saying what David had wanted to hear, but it was the truth. “Those who believe God is alive but simply has no interest anymore. That he’s out roaming the galaxy and has probably created life far beyond our imaginations by now. They think humans are just test subjects for God; early creations with defects. Therefore the experiment serves no more purpose. Angels have come to believe that if the experiment ends then they are free. One of the clinching arguments for their case is if God created everything and planned everything, why would he create so much evil? Why would he allow what we’re going through even now to happen? It’s enough to destroy your mind. Even Heaven’s greatest scholars dare not even entertain questions such as that. It’s like those who have difficulty in believing there even is a God. If God was always there, and created humans, well then who created God? It is one of the most divisive questions that I would hope one day may get answered.”

“What do you believe, Ariel?” asked Catherine, without moving a muscle, but she was genuinely curious in the tone of her voice. 

He saw David looking at him through a mirror perched on the top middle front screen of the car. “I believe God is alive. If God was dead then the universe would feel it. We would all feel it. But I don’t think he’s innocent either. He has a lot to answer for simply leaving without instruction. An entire world was left to us to run. I do think he will be back, there’s no other reason for the arrival of Pravuil. I can’t over-state enough how ground breaking his arrival is. Pravuil is considered the oldest angel in creation, the book keeper. He has been with God since the beginning and many surmise he may have even been his first angelic creation. Hopefully we’ll see him soon. He was heading to Rome apparently.”

“When that demon, Lilith, talked about death she spoke as if it’s a person,” queried David, slowing down so as to not overtake a police car. He was speeding after all.

“She is. Death is what you would consider a God. She is responsible for every single death in the universe, everything from planets to flowers.”

“Are you trying to tell me that one being, even if it’s God-like, can do all that?”

“You humans have come to believe that God is actually one person. It’s not, God is a title given to very few creations in existence. Our God actually has a name.”

“Which is?”

“Nothing that could be said in the human tongue.”

“So Death is a God.”

“Yes, Remember. Obviously his name is not Death per se but…She has thousands of bodies all over the galaxy and their job is to take you to your next existence. On Earth for humans that means taking you to a processing centre. Death very rarely ever presents herself. Death is rumoured to not have been on Earth since the First World War to personally advise his staff on how to cope with the huge number of deaths. She is, however, all knowing.” Ariel knew by David’s reaction that while he may have listened intently to what he said, he didn’t believe it. This frustrated Ariel as the hurdles ahead required even the most basic of understanding for the complex undertaking they were to undertake. He decided though it was against every indentation that had ever been scalped into him, that he must fully illustrate the view to David about the process of the world.  He knew that in this instance, the more a human knew, the better.

“David,” spoke Ariel knowingly. It was a significant moment; he rarely used David’s name, yet alone to begin a new conversation. Uncomfortable, he hesitated slightly, perceiving something that true angels should not experience. He peered out to the dirt-encrusted window, catching a brief glimpse of a flash of lightning vaguely resembling the sign of the cross before continuing. “A lot of humans, especially since the 20
^th
and 21
^st
centuries, have begun to question the origins of creation beyond anything ever experienced in the history of Heaven. Scientific progress, while predictable, was thrusting deeply held beliefs into crisis on a scale never witnessed before. Millions are beginning to question how this world operates. But we accepted that this was the natural process of evolution for humans. God said that the questioning of your origins and your primary faith was inevitable.”

“The Church?” said David, referring to the Catholic Church which spanned over one billion followers.

“We created religion as a way of trying to instil some order onto the world. Obviously it didn’t go according to plan and we lost control of the organisation soon after its official creation. Religion was created by us as humans were slaughtering themselves to the point of extinction. We intervened, but in the process started a religion as those un-evolved humans began worshipping us. We let this flourish as it was the only form of order humans seemed to abide by in those early years,” said Ariel, pausing momentarily. “We tried to take control of it when we noticed humanity was descending down another dark path by sending Jesus Christ to Earth, resulting in what you actually call the Catholic Church. Unfortunately that only strengthened the already corrupt religious faith. We are not saying all religion is corrupt, but humans are unperfected beings. As such, problems were inevitable. You must remember that you and many others see the possibility of angels, Heaven, Hell, demons and other intergalactic creatures as that of nightmares and nonsense.”