Authors: Stephanie Jackson
And…the awe was gone. He couldn’t really say he’d expected it to last; it would’ve been nice if it had lasted more than a few seconds, but he’d take what he could get.
“Have you been watching my family all this time?” she asked.
“No, that wasn’t necessary,” he said.
“Then how did you know that my mother had died?” she asked.
“All the bells in Heaven
and
Hell ring when a death befalls the bloodline of God,” he said.
“Why did the demons wait three days after my mother died to come after me?”
“To give you time to bury your dead. They
want
you dead, of that there is no doubt; but ev
en Lucifer has respect for the Blood of God,” Gabriel said. “And
to be clear, only one d
emon, Vetis, has come after you.
”
“But the attack in the cemetery
and out in the street here, those had to be demons, right? I could smell t
he
decomposition on them
just like Vetis,” she said.
“Those
weren’t
demons; t
hey’re a species called Cambion,” he said.
“They’re d
angerous, but no
t nearly as powerful as a demon.
”
“What are Cambions?” she asked.
“Ninety-five percent of the time, a Cambion is what you get when a demon mates with a human woman. A Cambion is half
demon, but essentially a human.
”
“What do you get the other five percent of the time?” she asked.
“A Nephilim,” he said.
“And
what
are Nephilim?” she asked, her curiosity peaked.
“They are
essentially
the same creature as a Cambion, only they’re not evil. And a Nephilim has the one thing that a Cambion lacks; a soul
.
”
“How do you mate a demon with a human and get anything
but
an evil offspring?” Dani asked.
“It all depends on the human woman that the demon mates with. If the woman is of low moral character, which of course, the demons prefer, then wha
t you get will be a Cambion,” Gabriel explained. “If
however, a demon mates with a woman of faith, usually in the woman’s sleep, then wha
t you
get will be a Nephilim.
”
“Why would a demon purposely make a Nephilim?” Dani asked.
“Not
all
demons are equal. Some regret
their decision to join Lucifer,” he said.
“
They can’t change their situation, but they try
to help out in anyway they can.
”
“And how exactly
does
making a Nephilim help anything?
” Dani asked.
“If a Cambion comes in
direct physical
contact with a Nephilim, they die,” Gabriel said.
“How can you tell the difference if they’re both the offspring of demons?”
“Demon is a relative term. All ‘
demons
’ at one point in their existence were angels,” he said.
“Like Lucifer?” Dani asked.
“No,” he said, shaking his head.
“N
ot at all like Lucifer. There are different levels of angels, just as there are different levels of demons. Most
, but not
all,
of the demons
that follow
Lucifer were angels that swore their allegiance to him in Heaven.
“
When God flung
Lucifer into Hell, he casted down Lucifer’s followers
as well.
They
became Lucifer’s first demons.
Most of those angels were low level angels; angels that never stoo
d in front of the Throne of God.
”
“What difference did that make?
” she asked.
“To
God
, it made no difference at all. To the
angels
that joined Lucifer, it made a great deal of difference. They felt as if they weren’t among God’s favorites; that his love for them was less than they deserved. Lucifer promised to love them above all else, so they joined him in his attempt to take over the Throne,” he said.
“So there really was a war in Heaven? I thought that was all just a m
yth.
”
“No, no myth,” he said.
“I always thought
that Lucifer turned on God because God loved
humans
more than angels,” she said.
“It’s what we were taught in church.”
Gabriel shook his head
and said
,
“There
was
a war about that later, but Lucifer was in Hell long before that happened. I’ve heard the human stories about the war in Heaven, but th
ey’re not true. It was never God’s
love of humans that was the issue in the first war;
it was His love for H
is angels that ignited
a
Great War. But, in truth, even that’s not the
real
reason.
”
Gabriel
thought back
to the time of the war; a
long
time
ago
even
to him, and shook his head. He could still remember the sounds of his
b
rother
’
s screams as they died; died for a cause that never truly existed. They had died for Lucifer’s greed for
power; for his love, not of their
Father that sat on
the Throne, but for the Throne
itself
.
“So, what
was
the real reason?” she asked, bringing him back to the present.
“
Lucifer
was the reason. He took all of those angels’ insecurities and used them in his bid for the Throne. He convinced them that God had no love for them; convinced them that if they fought with him that they would secure their place before the Throne forever. He
lied
; had Lucifer won, he wo
uld have casted those angels down the moment he took power.
”
His mind went back again to all the bodies that littered Heaven after the war. Of all the angels that died because
Gabriel
had fa
iled to follow God’s command. Gabriel knew that he
had deserved to be casted
down into the pit with Lucifer.
H
e
had
defied God’s orders; but God had spare
d him. Spared him, and given him
the opportunity to fix what he had failed to do the first time.
2.
“What did God do when the war broke out?” Dani asked.
She couldn’t
believe
she was talking ab
out this. If you had told her two
hour
s
ago that she was going to be
sitting in her living room talking to a bona fide
Archangel
about
God, Heaven
,
and angels, she would’ve called
bullshit
.
She hoped her mother was looking down on her from Heaven. Anne Coulter would get a kick
out of her daughter becoming
a
‘
believer
’ after all her years as an atheist. And to think that all it took to give her faith was a couple of Cambion and a demon trying to kill her.
“Our Father didn’t get invo
lved with the actual fighting,” he said. “H
e did issue
a few orders to his Archangels.
”
“What were His orders?” she asked.
“We don’t have time to go into that right now. If you survive this, I promise to answer any question
s
you have. Now, you wanted to know what you need to do to live through this, correct?”
“Yes, please,” she said.
“If you want to have a chance of living
,
you’re going to have to listen to me when I tell you to do something;
no matter
what
I tell you to do,”
Gabriel instructed.
“
I know it goes against your nature to
actually
listen
to
so
mebody, but that’s the way it has to be.
”
She
wanted to smart off to him, but
in this instance, he was absolutely correct. She’d always
loathed
any kind of authority. She couldn’t stand someone
t
elling her what to do. She didn’t know if she could obey his
every
command, but she was willing to give it a shot.
“I’ll do my best,” she said.
“That’s all I can ask, I guess,” Gabriel said. “It’s stil
l several hours before daylight.
Why don’t you get some rest?
”
“I’ll never be able to
fall asleep after everything that’s happened tonight,” Dani said. “W
hat if the Cambions or demons come back?”
“Then I’ll take car
e of it,” Gabriel promised. “There’s
not
hing
for you to w
orry about.
You’re
safe for now.
”
Dani nodded and reluctantly headed to her bedroom.
She was halfway up the stairs before she looked back down at him.
“You’ll be here in the morning when I get up, right?” she asked, not wanting to admit how scared she was.
“I’ll be here,” Gabriel said.
She nodded and walked the rest of the way up the stair
s
to her room.
1.
Dani changed into a long T-shirt and climbed into her bed, but she couldn’t sleep. Every time she dozed off, she’d be startled awake, thinking someone was trying to get through her bedroom window. She’d get up to look,
and find nothing. She gave up and walked down the hall to her mother’s room hoping her mother’s scent would help calm her; but only the smell of sickness lingered there.
She walked back to her room, snatched the pillow and blanket from her bed, and marched back downstairs. Gabriel was sitting on the couch where she
’d
left him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I told you I wouldn’t be able to sleep,” she said, and plopped back down on the couch.
She poked her pillow under her head, tossed her blanket on top of her, and stretched out as much as she could.
“Would you like me to move?
” Gabriel asked.
“No, you stay right where you are. This is the only way I’m going to get some sleep,” she said.
“You’re scared,” he said.
“
Scared?
No, I’m not scared. I’m fuckin’
terrified
,”
she a
dmitted
to him and to herself. “
Aren’t you?”
“No, I’m not afraid,” he said. “And
as I’ve
said
, you’re
not
in
any danger right now.
”
“How can you
not
be afraid? Isn’t your life in danger, too?” she asked, yawning.
“Yes, but there is no reason
to fear anything,” Gabriel said.
“
The situation isn’t going to chang
e, no matter how scared you are.
”
“Maybe not, but I’m still scared,
”
she said.
“
You’re
safe for tonight, I promise.
Now
rest
,” he said and brushed his fingers down her face.
She immediately fell in to a deep sleep.
2.
Gabriel watched over Dani while she slept. He reac
hed over to push a strand of
hair out of her face, and felt his stomach clench. It was a feeling, an
emotion
, which he couldn’t explain. He thought back to the fight she’
d had earlier that night. She’
d taken on a Cambion…and
won.
Most grown men wouldn’t be able to take down a Cambion, and he found that he felt an unnatural amount of pride that Dani had been able to do so.
Gabriel
could have stopped it
at any time
; had
in fact
been
about
to stop it, when he saw Dani th
row the Cambion into the street
and put her fists up. He could admit to a certain degree of curiosity. He wanted to see what she would do when the Cambion approached her again.