Maria looked up at Enid, her fingers were still stroking her crucifix. Waiting for her sister to finish her thought.

“What if God can’t destroy. What if he can only create and manipulate?”

“What about Sodom?”

“That was a vampire.”

“It does not make sense Enid.”

“It does, what if the Black Son, isn’t a son at all? What if there were two primordial beings? What if God represents, what the opposite of entropy is? What if the Black Son is entropy? What if they are just sentient halves of existence?”

“No, that does not sound right.”

“I guess. I still think God cannot destroy anything. Either he is just outright powerless, or his mental makeup won’t let him. So, when the Black Son shows up, he can’t do anything to him. He can create a prison, but it’s not good enough. The Black Son has to go, so God sets things in motion to eventually have us destroy him.”

“I still do not understand.”

“God is a computer programmer. He creates the perfect system. But there’s a bug, the Black Son. The system starts descending into chaos, so he creates our father to try and stabilize the system then father creates Uncle Remus, equal to himself. Battle rages in the system. The Black Son isn’t having any of this he goes for the kernel or CPU. Father detonates a doomsday device. Resets the system. God starts again, the Angels are his second attempt to get assistance in making the perfect system. But the Black Son injects chaos again. God is angry now. Powerless to destroy the Black Son he makes a honey pot, humanity. The Black Son takes the bait, because he’s entropy, chaos, he can destroy himself. And so, you get us, a combination of God’s pristine creation, and chaos, with a sword of destruction created by the Black Son. God tricked him into creating his own destruction.”

“I guess that makes some sense. Why does it matter?”

“Because I hate being a fucking pawn.”

Enid closed her eyes, swearing under her breath.

“I’m sorry, Maria.”

“It is alright, I appreciate that you are trying.”

Enid’s eyes went wide, and she snapped her fingers she was standing up and pacing by now.

“God can’t destroy the Black Son because he’s energy. He can’t destroy a being of pure energy it would violate the laws of the universe he created!”

“Energy can be dispersed though.”

“Yes, but the Black Son is sentient energy. It can reform, might take eons but it can reform. Which is what keeps happening. Gods tried shunting the energy to another dimension, like light going into a black hole, he’s tried trapping it in the sword, he’s tried dispersing it, but he can’t destroy it. Father was probably pure energy too. Only he weakened himself by creating us. How are we supposed to do more then what God’s done already?”

Enid threw up her hands and sat down on the bench and leaned with her palms on her forehead and elbows on her knees. Mariana rubbed her back.

“No wonder we were so unsuccessful before, we had no comprehension of what we were dealing with, if the mortals hadn’t figured out the math we would be just as clueless. It makes so much sense now.”

“What does it mean?”

“I do not know but at least we have a place to start which is more than we had.”

Enid heard footsteps along with the click of a cane. She put a finger to her lips. The cardinal they had been speaking with came around the corner with two of the Swiss guard in black suits. The cardinal smiled at the pair.

“These gentlemen can get you out of the Vatican with discretion.”

The bigger of the two Swiss guards motioned for the girls to follow. They walked on either side of Enid and Maria. They didn’t say anything, but they did give some side-long glances towards the pair, then to each other.

I wonder if they think the cardinal…eew.

Wordlessly the group went through back hallways and eventually into a stairwell and into a tunnel. After several minutes Enid and Maria were exiting the tunnel several blocks from the Vatican through a hidden exit or entrance as the case may be. They were standing in an Alley adjacent to the Via Aurelia. Enid pulled her hood up and sighed looking at Maria who was wearing her typical black dress and no sort of covering.

“You really need to start wearing hoodies so you can hide yourself if you need too.”

“I will take that under consideration, Enid.”

Enid sighed again. She tapped her phones passcode in and requested a car. The pair waited just inside the alley for it to arrive.

“I do not understand what happened. Why would the angel use your face? I know you were Saint Sarah of Savia, but why would it choose that face? A joke seems, out of character for an angel.”

“I have met exactly one angel, he had a weird and awkward sense of humor. And he didn’t seem to comprehend time the way we do. Like he always asks have we met before. He doesn’t seem to get time flows forward for us. He seems to exist outside of it. So, it might make sense in two hundred years. I don’t know.”

“How is that possible?”

“Maria, you’re the one who could answer that question better than me. Limbo exists outside of space and time. Like you could go in right now and show back up in Greece, 540 bce. Or you could end up an entirely different planet. It’s a weird nexus. Why, or how, I have no idea. Its beyond me. Angels seem to exist in a similar situation. Didn’t we have this conversation already?”

“I do not remember.”

“You always had a memory like a sieve unless it was something you were interested in. That’s our car. I really can’t wait to have this conversation with Eyre. She’s going to laugh at us.”

“I do not think this is funny, we have received a message from God.”

“Shh, let’s not go blabbing that around randomly huh?”

Enid waved at the driver, and they got inside. She spoke in Italian proving their hotel. He nodded and drove them to their accommodations. Maria looked like she was going to say something several times and Enid shushed her. Growing more annoyed each time. Eventually the reached their destination Enid politely thanked the driver and shoved Mariana towards the elevator as they entered the hotel. Maria was frowning at her by now. Once they reached their room Maria gave her dark look.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“That was very rude.”

“You’re welcome sis.”

“Have you always been this rude?”

“Usually she’s worse.”

Eyre’s voice startled the pair. Enid silently cursed the sun robbing her of her hunter’s senses.

“You should respect your elders.”

“That was old when I was nine, mom, you know like you are, where’s your cane? Did you lose it again?”

Enid made a face.

“Not today, Eyre, please.”

Eyre’s smile vanished quickly.

“What happened?”

“Oh, you know, an angel showed up using my fucking face! With a message of doom and gloom, oh and now Sarah, you know the superhero you made me build is God’s daughter on earth to give humanity one last chance. What the fuck have you gotten me into?”

Maria’s hand moved to her crucifix when Enid’s grew louder, and she started cursing. Enid’s shoulders sank she held up a hand.

“I’m sorry Maria. Please forgive me.”

“I accept your apology.”

“Mom, where did this happen?”

“Oh, just a small little corner by the alter of St. Peter’s.”

“Oh, no, so people saw?”

“I’m going to say: Yes people, saw, took some video, acted like the apocalypse was neigh. How have you not seen this yet? I can’t believe it’s not already all over social media.”

“I was reading a book in the bath.”

Eyre picked up her tablet, she started scrolling through different apps.

“Oh….oh…oh my. Yes, oh wow. It’s hit the news feeds too.”

Enid fell back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

“He just escalated this whole beep storm.”

“Did you just beep out a swear word?”

“It’s easier than me trying to remember not to swear.”

Eyre thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged and nodded. She looked back at her tablet.

“Oh dear.”

“You never say Oh dear, this must be bad.”

Eyre flipped the tablet over showing Enid a post from someone at their school putting a picture of Enid beside the angel.

“Beep.”

“I thought you would say that.”

“You can translate my beeps?”

“Not really but I can insert a word that works for me.”

“Hilarious.”

“Okay what are we going to do about this?”

“Aren’t you the PR person in this outfit?”

“Well yes, but this is beyond my skills.”

“So? Use your infinite pile of money to hire someone.”

“Maybe it will just blow over you know ten minutes of fame and poof gone?”

“Are you beeping serious right now Eyre? God gives humanity a direct message for the first time in actual recorded, recorded history, leaves physical evidence and you think it’s going to blow over? You know two thousand years ago some random guy says hey, I’m the son of God and now we have billions of people following a new religion, and they didn’t have the internet. And you think this is going to blow over? This is going to cause wars.”

“Well, we could try and make it look like fake news.”

“That might work.”

“You cannot do that, it was a message from God, we should not mix the message up, or try to stop it.”

“Maria, I know you are a believer, but think of what’s best for humanity.”

“What is best for humanity is to listen to the creator of humanity. He knows what is best.”

Enid reached out towards Maria but snapped her hands back and clenched them into fists. And gave a small growl.

“I love you Maria but sometimes you are so single-minded. You did the same thing with the Black Son, and it got you almost killed. And it got my husband killed. You just can’t see other points of view! You refuse to compromise your principles no matter who it hurts! And you think I’m terrible for swearing? My swearing has never gotten anyone killed! Your righteousness has. So, you can go to fucking hell!”

Enid’s words were full of the pent-up anger of two thousand years. Tears streamed down her face. Maria reacted like she had been slapped; Tears began to drip down her cheeks. Her hand reached to her crucifix. Eyre put her hand on Enid’s arm.

“Mom, now is not the time to bring up old wounds that she doesn’t remember inflicting.”

Enid shrugged off Eyre’s hand violently. She glared up at her daughter, her fists clenching tighter, and her stance changed, and her elbow flew backwards but then she paused. She blinked a few times, then looked between Eyre and Maria and walked away.

Enid didn’t know where she was going. She just had to get away. She stabbed the elevator button repeatedly and once she got to the main floor, walked out of the hotel with a quick pace. She looked up at the setting sun and as soon as she could she used the shadows to vanish. She flew upwards and far away from Rome and any manner of civilization. It was hard in the twenty-first century.

When she landed it was in a forested area north of Rome. She screamed and let out all her anger and resentment towards Maria, towards God. It took the form of a telekinetic wave of force that smashed trees and broke rocks in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree sphere, leaving a crater that was a hundred feet deep and about five hundred feet across. She didn’t need to breath anymore since it was after nightfall, but she was still trying to hyper-ventilate but no air was entering her lungs. Suddenly a rush of air slammed back into her causing several of her bones to break. She cried out in pain. Once they had healed themselves and the pain had vanished, she opened her eyes. She looked at the devastation around her. Her eyes widened. Something had changed she had never been this powerful before. She floated up and got a better view at what she had done. She frowned.

“Fuck.”

The force of the blast had superheated the bottom of the creator and slagged rock was dripping down towards the bottom. Enid wrapped the shadows around herself and flew upwards as she did, she noticed that trees for several miles showed damage, the closest were uprooted and those further away had branches torn off or were broken in half. She flew away from the damage. At least it wasn’t in an inhabited area.

Someone had to have noticed that.

Enid was right. The wave had rippled through the ground triggering seismic sensors. It looked like someone had surface detonated a forty-kiloton explosion. The event had been heard hundreds of miles away. Both the initial blast and the secondary crack as the air rushed back in to fill the void.

Enid pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. It was smashed to pieces as were the rest of her belongings. Save for the ever-present Atlantean bag which seemed fine. She landed and slipped into a public bathroom in Rome. She used water and some paper towels and began to scrub the dried blood from under her eyes and nose. She looked sickly pale in the cheap flickering lights of the public bathroom. She turned and started scrubbing the blood from under her left ear. It looked like the air pressure had caused the blood to rush from her body out of whatever holes it could find. She would need to feed. She turned to start working on her other ear and she heard the door open. She hurried about her business. Two female police officers had entered and Enid could see their reflection in the mirror. Someone must have seen her. She probably looked like something out of a horror movie. Blood dried all over her face. She continued to scrub at the blood vigorously. The only evidence would be the pink paper towels. The officers didn’t have their hands on their guns, so they weren’t there to arrest her. One of the officers waved. She spoke in Italian:

“Ma’am are you alright?”

Enid turned around. Replying in Italian.

“Just a silly prank. Sorry to waste your time.”

The officer motioned to the pile of pink paper towels in the garbage can.

“Are you sure? You had a lot of blood on you.”

Enid mimicked confusion for a moment.

“Oh, oh, no that was just stage blood. I was pulling a prank on my mother. She didn’t take it very well. I decided it was best to go for a walk and realized how I looked would disturb some people so decided to clean up.”

The officer’s eyes narrowed. Enid kept up her confused look.

“I am studying movie make up. It was half practice, half prank.”

The officer’s eyes flicked down to the Vatican visitor badge on her hoodie. Enid snatched it off and slipped it into her pocket.

“Oh, must have left that clipped on when we finished our visit today, oops.”

“Did you see the angel?”

“Yes, I was in St. Peters.”

The officer seemed to relax.

“Did you get pictures?”

“No, I was in too much shock. And even if I did, I’m afraid my phone is broken.”

The officer nodded.

“You shouldn’t pull pranks with fake blood and run around the streets. Have a good night.”

Enid smiled.

“Yes ma’am, lesson learned.”

The officers walked out, and Enid pulled the remnants of her phone out of her pocket, pulled the sim card from the wreckage and dumped the rest in the garbage. The phone was shattered into pieces and would be unrecoverable, the parts were a mix of plastic hotel key card and phone remnants. She sighed and pulled up her hood and put her hands in her pockets.