The angels took the wide hallway to the left and passed many rooms similar to Raphael’s office. They had windows that looked out into the hallway, and the angels inside them looked up and smiled excitedly at the guest. The rooms were labeled with names she had never heard before. It felt like all the things she’d been taught were nothing. There was so much more and she wanted to know it all.
The very last door at the end of the hall was labeled Verchiel, and at the desk reading a parchment was as angel with long, blond, curly hair wearing a T-shirt under a silk vest. His wings were no different than Raphael’s, neatly folded behind him. She was almost jealous that she didn’t have such a beautiful feature too.
“Well!” Verchiel said, putting the parchment down and sitting up straight. “It’s about time. As much as I appreciate Raphael’s desire to spend time with you, we have some extremely important things to discuss.” He looked at Raphael. “Thank you for bringing her. We’ll speak later.”
Raphael nodded and left the room, leaving Annabelle standing awkwardly near the door. Just when she had gotten accustomed to one stranger she was now faced with another.
“Sit, please,” Verchiel said, indicating a chair across from his desk. Once she was seated, the angel continued. “I know you’ve been inundated with information, and I’m sorry to say I’m about to dump a ton more on you, but you have to understand how crucial you are. It is far too late to replace you, so it’s important you embrace your true purpose and follow our direction.”
“I’m sorry I failed,” she squeaked.
“Well, there was a very large wrench thrown into the machine that messed things up. I assume Raphael filled you in on your history, the assignments you had and currently have?”
She nodded.
“I do feel sorry that you had to go through recent events, particularly today, without having any information. Today was a really big wrench in the machine, no fault of your own.” He shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “Strange demon, that one.”
“You mean Jack? Or Joey?”
“The one named Jack.” Verchiel gave a half smile. “He’s been entertaining to watch, actually.”
Annabelle raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been watching him? You knew he was a demon the whole time?”
“Of course. See, the Angels of Powers, whom I lead, have the job of monitoring evil powers on Earth. This may come as a surprise to you, but millions and millions of demons wander the Earth every day. Well, they haven’t since Buriel was summoned. Lucifer actually held them back!” Verchiel laughed. “Smart move, though.”
Annabelle hung on only one thing. “Millions of demons?” she whispered.
“Oh, yes. For centuries. Sent to Earth to try to tempt humans to stray from a righteous path. Some much more evil than others. Keeps us quite busy.”
“You…you just let them wander Earth? You know they’re out there tempting and taking people and just let them do it?”
“They aren’t as successful as they think they are. Some of them are very powerful, yes, but results aren’t instant so they don’t realize how weak many of them are. It’s a blow to us sometimes, where righteous souls are taken when they had a chance at Heaven, but it’s better to let them go and focus on the good souls. No use in having a holy war over this. Interestingly enough, it seems Lucifer feels the same.”
Annabelle sat back in her chair and blinked. It was awful to hear a heavenly angel talk about letting potentially good souls go to Hell like it was nothing.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Verchiel continued. “But that’s not your concern. Like I said, most of those demons aren’t as successful as they think they are. But the ones that are powerful enough to succeed every time, well, you’ve met four of them.”
She thought about Jack and his friends, how the time spent with them seemed so normal, so natural, as if she were in a room with four regular men. “They really fooled me,” she said. “They were so human. Especially Jack. He was like any other human. In hindsight there were things that stood out as strange, but…he was so kind and gentle and sweet and I thought I was in love with him and that he was the one for me. Raphael said I was never controlled by him, but how could I have been in love with a demon if he didn’t control me?”
“There is a lot you must understand about him. He is a type of demon called a Soul Reacher. Very rare but extremely powerful and immensely dangerous.”
Annabelle gasped. “But if he’s so dangerous, why didn’t Raphael tell me? I got closer to him than I’ve ever been to anyone.”
“You were in no danger at any time. Other than being tempted to sin, but that’s not important right now. The average Soul Reacher is assigned to Earth to hunt for humans that have sinned but are close to redemption. They physically take the soul from the human and bring it directly to Hell. They are the one type of demon that always succeeds at their goal, and are the ones we monitor the closest. They are the one weapon Lucifer has that would require a holy war to defeat.”
“Yet I was in no danger? He murders people, steals their souls, and you let me and Joey be around him?”
“I can assure you with utmost confidence that there was no chance whatsoever that you were in danger. He knew you were an angel from the moment he first saw you. And considering how close he did get to you, he could have destroyed you in less than a second. But he didn’t. I’m sure he was under orders to leave you alone, but even if he weren’t, there was still no danger to you.”
“You’re saying that if he was told to destroy me, he wouldn’t do it?”
Verchiel nodded. “I told you, he’s a strange one.”
“Okay. But what about Joey? Jack admitted he had been sent to lure him and take him to Hell. If I was meant to protect Joey from demons, why was it considered safe to have him with them?”
“For the same reason he wouldn’t harm you. You have to understand that he has disobeyed orders multiple times since being sent to Earth on this special mission. At least from what we can assume. We can’t listen in to their conversations, but we monitor their movements, analyze their actions. We’re guessing he disobeyed Lucifer at least three times, including spilling the beans to you today.” Verchiel chuckled. “Any demon with the guts to do that is quite impressive. He’ll very likely be paying the price for that choice. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he had no regrets about it.”
Annabelle looked down at her hands, furrowing her brow. Nothing made any sense. There was so much to process. It was almost as if Verchiel was saying Jack the demon was doing something…nice.
“I guess I don’t understand. What would he have to gain by disobeying? I’d think demons were naturally evil and worshipped Satan. That’s what they’re created for, right? Doing the evil things you talked about.”
Verchiel sighed, tilted his chair back, and put his feet on his desk. “Let me tell you something very important about how Hell works. It is not all fire and burning and torture and chaos. Well, there is some of that, but there’s so much more to it. It’s actually quite organized. But the most important thing to know is that demons are not ‘made’ like angels are. They are the actual souls that were denied entrance to Heaven. They were once living. Those four demons you met were once human. They looked a little different then, and their souls are a little different now from the demonization process in order to bring the evil to the forefront, but what you see in their actions, their personalities…that is all carried over from their human lives. Their memories are removed to keep any desires to go rogue at bay. Interestingly, that didn’t work too well with the Soul Reacher.”
Annabelle thought back on the personality she had fallen in love with. All his kindness, the sweet things he said, maybe even the love she thought he felt for her, might actually be real. “Are you saying that Jack was actually nice?”
“Strange, isn’t it? We’ve been fascinated by him for decades. See, Soul Reachers get their powers naturally when they arrive in Hell. They have a semblance of empathy that carries over from their human life, and once they’re demonized, that empathy becomes powerful. It’s odd to think that something positive like empathy could be used for evil, but in almost every case it does. Soul Reachers use that empathic power to connect to the souls of humans, actually read their soul, then reach in physically to grab it. Almost all Soul Reachers feel empathy toward Lucifer, which drives them to do their job. But this one, the one named Jack, feels empathy toward humans, to his fellow demon servants, all the ones he is forbidden to care about. He killed because he felt he had no choice. But the number of times he prevented collateral damage, actually saved people while doing his job…well, that’s why we’ve been watching him so much. It’s quite lucky that Lucifer chose him for this mission. Lucky for everyone. If he had chosen a different Soul Reacher, we likely would not be having this conversation right now. We need to hope he won’t be replaced.”
“He might be replaced?”
“Possibly, though Lucifer would be an absolute fool to do that. He’s not stupid, though his methods of carrying out this mission are, to say the least, ridiculous. It worked, though, so we give him credit for that. But to send a Soul Reacher even slightly less powerful to take out three extremely strong demons would be stupid. So we’re going to move forward as if the one named Jack sticks around.”
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“I’m guessing you mean my fourth assignment.”
Verchiel nodded. “You need to work with the demons to assist them in finding and defeating Buriel and his dukes.”
Annabelle stared in silence. Working with demons in any capacity seemed insane, but as an angel it was beyond comprehension. “What did you say?”
“Annabelle, for the first time in the history of the world, God and Lucifer have the same goal. There are three demons on Earth that are no doubt planning to do massive destruction. But Lucifer only sent four of his top demons to take them down, not an army. He wants this done as quietly as possible. As do we. Therefore you must help them. Work with them. Allow Joey to help at all costs, because they will need him even more.”
“I…I really don’t think I can do that.”
“You must.”
“I really can’t.”
Verchiel sat up and leaned forward on his desk. “You do not have a choice.”
“But…demons—”
“Listen. I understand your concern. It’s a strange request, I know. And I will tell you to still be careful. As long as Jack is around, you and Joey are perfectly safe. The one with glasses, he seems okay too. The long-haired one, it’s hard to say since we haven’t seen much of him, which could be either good or bad. The fourth one though…do watch out for him. He seems to show a lot of loyalty to Lucifer, thus making him more dangerous.”
“I did always have an uncomfortable vibe about Dorian.”
“Because I made sure Raphael expressed our concern to you. Make sure Jack is with Joey at all times and we will have nothing to worry about. Besides, you were close friends with Jack. Use that to your advantage.”
Annabelle sighed and crossed her arms. “More than friends,” she grumbled. “I really thought he was the one.”
Verchiel smiled. “Perhaps in life, if he lived in your time, he would have been. Now, don’t let that distract you. Your heart is in many places right now. Your parents, your job, your nephew, your dreams of a future family of your own. But your heart must be directed in only one place right now.”
“Working with demons?”
“More than that. Saving the world.”
Annabelle held his gaze for a moment. Verchiel’s smile was not contagious. If she had failed assignments already, how did they possibly believe she could save the world?
Verchiel stood. “Now, if you promise to follow your orders from now on, I’d like to reward you with something.”
“Oh?”
“Do you promise?”
She hesitated. She hated every single part of this and wanted nothing more than to decline it all and have nothing to do with it. I’m an angel. I was created for this. “Okay. I promise.”
Verchiel didn’t seem entirely convinced, but motioned for her to follow him out of the office. They walked in silence back down the hall and to the portal. When Verchiel made the selection for number three, Annabelle asked, “What’s on level one?”
“Ah, the first sphere? Only the Angles of Thrones are allowed to pass between there and the other spheres. They’re the ones that pass on messages directly to and from God.”
“Wait. God is there? I’m only one level underneath the Lord right now?”
Verchiel laughed. “Yes, you can think of it that way. But not even I have been up there, so don’t get any ideas.”
The leader of the Angels of Powers led Annabelle through the portal and down the hall of the third sphere to Raphael’s office. “You really frazzled her,” Raphael said after a glance at Annabelle.
“I suppose the demand to work with demons to save the world might cause that. But she’s promised to obey, so I’m allowing her the reward we discussed. Will you escort her there?”
“Sure thing.”
As soon as Verchiel had left, Raphael said, “You’re going to be okay.”
“No, I won’t. I’m scared. I don’t know what to do, how I’m going to do this. It seems all wrong and I’m scared and I’ve already failed things and now I’m going to fail this and—”
“Stop.” Raphael held up a finger. “I will be with you. Verchiel will be watching. And keep in mind that these orders, this new assignment, was made in cooperation with God himself. And you don’t want to disobey him, do you?”
“Goodness no.”
“All right then. Follow me. I think you’ll feel better after what you’re about to see.”
Annabelle followed Raphael back to the Hall of Judgment and to the desks where the humans were having their deeds weighed. “Pardon us,” Raphael said, pushing Annabelle by the shoulders through one of the portals by the nearest desk while everyone stared at them.
The portal led to a garden. Perfectly trimmed flowered hedges surrounded an open area with an ornate fountain in the center. A handful of people milled about, some walking along the path, some sitting on benches chatting. They all wore white and none had wings.
“This is the realm of eternal life,” Raphael said. “Or one part of it, I should specify.”
Annabelle breathed, “Wow,” as she looked around at the beauty, the peaceful feeling, the happiness on everyone’s faces. “So Heaven is a garden? It’s beautiful.”
“Heaven is many things. Many places. When human souls come here they arrive in different areas when they walk through the portal. They are reunited with family if they’re here, they’re put in areas where there are people they can befriend, to do activities they enjoy. This particular place is where someone very important to you spends a lot of time.”
Raphael pointed to a woman standing near one of the hedges, sniffing a beautiful pink flower. At first Annabelle didn’t recognize her, but as she looked closer it became obvious.
“Miranda!”
The blonde woman stood up straight and her face brightened at the sight of her visitor. They rushed to each other and hugged tightly, Annabelle sobbing into her shoulder.
“I’m so sorry,” she begged. “I failed you. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”
Miranda pulled away and looked her sister in the eye. “You stop that. I don’t care what they say about failure. You’re no failure. The end of the world starting was what killed me. But apparently I wasn’t as bad as I thought I was. They let me in here.”
“Of course they did! I knew Jesus was always in your heart. There was no doubt you’d come here.”
“Oh, trust me, it was close. They weigh your deeds at the gates. I was sure I was doomed. But I did enough good, I guess. Thanks to you. Proof you were no failure.”
“I failed with Daddy too.”
Miranda sighed and rolled her eyes. “I don’t really think you can fix crazy. Not even a powerful angel. Plus, the end of the world starting really set him off.”
“I’m supposed to save the world now. Me. Little me, one angel working with four demons, well five, technically if you count Joey. Oh, Miranda, your son may technically be a demon but he really is wonderful. He has so much of you in him.”
Miranda shook her head. “No, Annie. It’s you he has in him. I was just the host. A vessel.” A look of disgust came over her for a moment, but then she shook it off. “All the good things in him, they all came from you. Your powers that kept me alive, they went into him. That’s why he’s good. Who knew a demon could be good, huh? But it’s because of you. If anyone has to be called his mother, it’s you. Keep loving him. He’s a little scary, not gonna lie, but good trumps evil in the end. So keep loving him. He needs you.”
“I will. I have to. They want me to willingly continue giving him up to demons. Like that’s supposed to help save the world. Demons, Miranda. Daddy always said—”
“Forget what Daddy said. He’s clueless. I’ve been checking on you all this time; they let me check in once in a while, it’s so nice! I just wish I could talk to you, tell you what a great job you’re doing.” She stepped closer, a devious smile on her face. “I have to say I’m a little jealous of you, hanging out with four good-looking guys.”
Annabelle gasped. “They’re demons, Miranda!”
“Doesn’t mean they can’t be nice to look at. And the one you went for, girl you have better taste in men than I thought you ever would.” She fanned her hand at her face as if she were hot.
“He’s not a man, he’s a demon.”
“Sure acted like Prince Charming in my eyes.”
“Just stop. Mom and Daddy want me to go out with Simon. I’m gonna give him a chance.”
Miranda scoffed. “That prick? Seriously? He’s only going after you because I turned him down. He likes Daddy’s money. Don’t waste your time. And I know you don’t want to.”
Annabelle tried to hide any hint of agreement.
“I know you’re heartbroken because you think you can’t have Prince Charming the Rockstar Demon Hottie—”
“Oh my gosh, Miranda, stop.”
Miranda giggled. “It would probably be against some rules if I told you to go for him anyway because they probably think that’s bad, but hey, you’re supposed to help him or something, right? May as well have a good time.”
Annabelle decided to try to change the subject. “You know about me helping them?”
“Yeah. That Raphael guy came and talked to me, said he was gonna let you see me. Now that I’m in my right mind, not controlled by a demon, I can give you the information I couldn’t tell you before. You’re gonna need to give it to the demon hotties.”
Growling at her sister’s repeated mention of her attraction to forbidden creatures, she said, “Never mind. Just tell me.”
“Okay. It’s the names of the three guys that those demons possessed. I only got their first names and where they’re from, but it might help. Chris from Wisconsin and Ben and Aaron from Indiana. Some friends that Derek met online.”
“All right.” Annabelle had no idea how that information would help, but she repeated it to help her remember. She sighed. “I really miss you.”
“I miss you too. But I’m with you in spirit. Literally. I’ll be checking on you whenever they let me. You got this, girl. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever known. Go save the world like the awesome angel you are.”
Annabelle didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay in the garden with her sister for eternity, no worries about anything, only happiness. She hugged her tight and cried into her shoulder again.
“I love you, Annie. Always and forever.”
“I love you too.”
Raphael finally came over and coaxed Annabelle to leave with him. She wanted to fight him, let her stay, but fighting an archangel would not go well. Still in tears, she followed him out of the portal and back into the Hall of Judgment, away from the desks.
“I’m sending you back now,” Raphael said. “Remember all that we’ve told you. You have one goal, and the world depends on it.”
Annabelle nodded, closed her eyes, and within moments she was back in her bed. Her eyelids were no longer heavy, but the sorrow remained, the tears remained.
It was nearly pitch dark in the room, and when she tried to turn on the lamp beside her, it failed, reminding her of Joey’s outburst. After grumbling about the number of lightbulbs she now had to replace, she got up and went to the kitchen for a drink. She passed Joey’s room, his door closed, only silence behind it. He was just as sad as she was, just for the wrong reasons.
She got a cup of water and walked toward the door to the patio, the only place where the moonlight poured in enough to allow her to see. There was so much to contemplate. The prospect of helping demons still mortified her, regardless of their shared goal. Was it really a shared goal? What if the demons had other plans that Verchiel didn’t know about? She would find the courage to tell them Miranda’s information, as there was no harm in that. She could just text it and avoid seeing them in person. Then leave it at that. She was not ready to offer further help.
And Joey…she was expected to allow him to be with the demons. A rush of discomfort came over her and she decided to refuse that, but then calm came, just as it had before when she’d worried. Raphael was telling her to calm down. To allow it. “I’m scared,” she whispered, and the calming affect became stronger. But it wasn’t enough for her to readily agree to it.
After finishing her water she decided to go back to her room. On the way, she caught a shadow of something on a chair in the living room. Reaching for it, she felt Jack’s coat. He had left it behind when she’d thrown him out, and she had no regrets. Curious, she went through the pockets and found a wallet, and used the moonlight to view what was inside. All she found was a large amount of cash and a driver’s license.
She stared at the picture and the name, the fake name Jack Harper, and felt a pang of missing him. He could have destroyed you in less than a second. But he didn’t. The thought of being in the arms of someone so deadly made her shiver. She may not have been under his control, but he sure was good at tricking her into falling in love.
But she did miss him. The Jack Harper she had thought existed.