Forgiven (Book 3, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (14 page)

God let go of my hand and we were back in the white space.

“So
the war in
Heaven
started because
Lucifer
wanted you to destroy humanity?
”

“Lucifer’s pride has always been his weakness.  He was too proud to do what I asked him to do.  He always felt I loved humans more
,
and I couldn’t seem to do anything to convince him he was wrong.  I love all my children equally.  Angels were the first of my creations and I felt they had the most to share
, like a parent to a child
.
  Lucifer just didn’t see it that way. 
After the battle in
Heaven
, I convinced him to stop the fighting so we could talk things through.  I hoped to give him one more chance.
”

God took my hand again and said, “
We all
gathered in the Hall of Angels.”

A vision of such a place flashed in my mind and God smiled.  “Quite pretty, Lilly” he said before transforming my surroundings into the place in my mind.

Lucifer was pacing in front of God
who was
sitting on
a
golden throne.
  Seven angels stood on either side of him like
a holy protectorate
.

“It’s time you made a choice,” Lucifer said. “Either you prove we mean more to you by destroying the humans or we will rain fire on their world and destroy them ourselves!”

Lucifer turned to the angels standing behind him
in the gilded white marble coliseum,
raising his arms urging them to show their support of his demand. Half of the angels cheered him on. The other half remained stoically silent.

“You are asking the impossible, Lucifer
,
”
God
said
, weariness in his voice
. 
“They are the first of their kind, as are you. Asking me to destroy them
would be
like asking me to destroy you.”

Lucifer
angrily
rushed up to God’s throne with wings flared out
.  He
gripp
ed
the
thrones
arms tightly
and pushed his face in close to God’s
.

“Why do you love them more than me?
” Lucifer questioned
quietly
, searching his father’s eyes for an answer.  “
Have
n’
t
I
done everything you ever asked of me? Why
do you refuse the only thing I’ve ever asked of you
?”

God raised one of his hands and gently touched the side of Lucifer’s face. Lucifer’s
eyes closed and his
wings lowered at the
show of affection
.

“My love for you has no limits,” God
said, looking at Lucifer like a father knowing he is about to lose his child.  “But I will not do what you ask of me.” 
Lowering his hand back to his lap, God
said,
“
I
f you are determined to continue on this path, I have no other choice but to banish you and your followers from my sight.”

Lucifer’s eyes
opened, drenched in madness
. 
“You would forsake us for those things?” Lucifer
hissed
. “How can you c
hoose them over
me
?”

“I love you all, Lucifer. But do not test my patience,” God warned. “I will not destroy those precious to me for the sake of your bruised vanity.”

“Well
,
if you won’t destroy them,” Lucifer
angrily
pushed himself away from God, turning his back on his father. “We will!”

Lucifer
step
ped
away from God’s throne
,
seeming
intent on returning to the world of humans to wreck as much havoc as he could.

All of a sudden, Lucifer fell to his knees and cried out in
agony
as his wings were
ripped from their sockets
by an unseen force
. Blood poured from the freshly opened wounds.
  Cries of pain came from the congregation of angels and I watched as almost half of them fell to their knees
,
their wings were
torn
from their bodies.  Lucifer lifted his head and
watched as
the angels who cheered him on earlier now found themselves
doomed to the same fate as him
. The blood of
the
fallen soon covered the hallowed floors of
Heaven
.

God slowly stood from his throne. “From this day forward, Lucifer and
those who followed him into battle
are banished from our presence. They will live on
E
arth with the humans until such time as I see fit.”

God looked to Michael
standing beside him
and ordered, “Take them to the world below. Perhaps in time they will learn to accept my children there.”

I watched my father as he gently
lifted Lucifer
into his arms and did as God instructed
.

Cradled in Michael’s arms, Lucifer remained silent
.  I had to wonder if the pained expression on Lucifer’s face was
physical
or emotional.

Michael
phased
t
o a soft patch of grassy earth
and
gently laid Lucifer’s
prone
body upon it. Kneeling behind his friend, Michael placed his hands on the open wounds and healed them.

“In time
H
e may forgive you, Lucifer,” Michael said. “You should not have tested
H
is patience
like that
.”

Lucifer remained silent.
 
Finally, he
lifted his torso with his arms
but
refused to look back at
Michael
.

“Leave me, Michael. I don’t want your pity. Go back to your God.”

Michael
took a step towards Lucifer reaching his hand out as if to console his friend.

“Go!” Lucifer ordered.

Michael brought his hand back to his side and disappeared.
  The pain of loss I saw on my father’s face made me want to
reach out
and console him. 

God let me go of my hand
,
and I was standing back in my house in
Colorado
.

“Sometimes power can lead you to do
wn
the wrong
path
,” God said.  “It can blind you to
the needs of others
and distract you from your real purpose
.”

“Is it wrong of me not to feel guilt over Robert’s death?”

“Yes.”

I felt my heart sink.

“You should always pity those who lost their way like Robert did.  I know what he tried to do to you was wrong and that you were only defending yourself against his actions.  But, you should not take joy is taking the life of another, no matter how much they might have deserved it.  If you decide to go down the path of vengeance, all will be lost, Lilly.  It is only your great love for those around you which will save you.”

God took my hand again. 

“I have a wedding gift for you,” he said
, turning to look at the set of stairs just outside the living room which led to the second floor
.

I followed his gaze and found m
y daughter st
an
d
ing
o
n the stairs dressed in a pink princess costume with a rhinestone crown perched precariously on top of her head.

“Come play with me, Mommy.”

My free hand flew to my mouth as tears
clouded my vision and
stung my eyes.

“How is that a gift?” I questioned,
my throat tight from trying not to cry.  “You know I can’t have a child with Brand
and survive
the birth
.”

“Have faith, Lilly,” God said to me.
  “Have faith in the love you and Brand have for one another.  It will protect you when the time comes.”

“Protect me from what?” I asked, dragging my eyes away from the vision of
my daughter
.

But God was already gone.
 

“Lilly, wake up
!
”

When I opened my eyes,
Tara
was shaking my shoulders.

“You were crying in your sleep,” she told me.  “It’s your wedding day.  You shouldn’t start it out crying.”

I wiped the tears from my face and sat up.

“Is it morning already?” I asked, feeling like I hadn’t gotten any sleep during my time with God.

Tara
smiled.  “Yep.  Now get out of bed
, sleepy head
.  We’ve got a lot to do before you can walk down that isle
and marry Prince Charming
.
”

A lot to do was right.  After taking showers at
Tara
’s house, I phased us over to Malcolm’s because apparently it was going to take an army to make me presentable that day.  If I had been a lesser person, I guess I would have taken offense to the amount of work my friends deemed necessary to transform me into the perfect bride.  As it was, I just let them pamper me into perfection.

Tara
placed Malcolm in charge of my hair which completely tickled me.  She would never have passed the reins down so readily if she wasn’t
one hundred and twenty percent positive
he would do a better job than her.
  Malcolm decided my hair should go up since I would be wearing a veil.

Tara
of course did my make-up.  You would have thought she was painting the Sistine Chapel
the way she would stop and survey her work before continuing.  I’m pretty sure I was poked and prodded at for over two hours.  Once they got through with me, my
friends got themselves ready.

Tara
had to wear a red scarf to cover her still healing wound
,
but it didn’t distract from how beautiful she looked in her
red, slim fitting mermaid style dress with half capped sleeves and a shimmering crystal brooch in the shape of a leaf attached to the left side of the bodice.

Tara
and Abby helped me get into my wedding dress.  I hea
r
d
Tara
sniff when she put the veil on my head.

“Don’t you dare cry,” I told her.  “If you start crying, I’ll start to cry.”

“Oh no you don’t, Lilly Rayne Nightengale,”
Tara
placed a hand over her mouth, tears still in her eyes.  “That might be the last time I get to call you that,” she realized.

“Lilly Rayne Cole,” I said out loud.  “Doesn’t quite pack the same punch, does it?”

Tara
shook her head.  “Just
‘
cause your marrying him doesn’t necessarily mean you have to take his name.  It’s the twenty first century, not the middle ages.”

“Well, let’s just get me married first.  Then we’ll worry about the semantics.”

Instead of taking cars, I decided we should just all phase to the church.  There would be so many people present I didn’t think anyone would notice one way or the other.

Utha Mae had warned me when I first told her I planned to marry Brand sooner rather
th
an later that she wanted to invite a few of her friends.  I just didn’t realize she was going to invite everyone in the county plus a few in the neighboring one.  I did know a lot of them but there were a lot I didn’t know too.  All in all there were supposed to be two-hundred people at the wedding.  In lieu of gifts, we asked people to donate to their favorite charity.

We phased into one of the churches Sunday school rooms.  It had been outfitted with some chairs and a full length mirror for me to use.

“I’ll go see if your mother and Utha Mae are here,” Malcolm offered, stepping out of the room.

“Lilly,” Abby said,
coming up to me.  She was dressed in a similar red dress to the one
Tara
wore. “We all divided up the ‘s
omething old, something new
,
s
omething borrowed, something blue
’.  I picked the borrowed.”  From Abby’s little black hand bag she pulled out a short strand of white pearls.