When I opened my eyes, I saw the sky; it was a perfect blue on a cloudless day. There was also so much light that I had to squint at its brightness. I blinked several times until my eyes adjusted. The sun was high in the sky. It looked much much bigger than I remembered... and it seemed brighter.
I was lying on my back on a big rock, and I could hear the sound of water crashing against more water.
Was that a waterfall?
Where was I?
The Hell I remembered was dark, and there were no waterfalls to be seen. Did this mean that I wasn’t in Hell?
Slowly, I pushed myself up into a sitting position, and I pulled the bottom of my white dress over my legs, covering them completely.
There was a river right in front of me, and there was a waterfall at the very end of it. The waterfall was majestic and breath-taking. It reminded me of a waterfall I had seen before in India.
On the other side of the river were trees; there were so many trees that it formed a very tall green wall behind the river.
I stared at the waterfall, entranced by its beauty, and I let the sound of the crashing water soothe me. I always loved the water, and if I were to spend all of eternity here, then I was glad.
Was I still on Earth?
From behind me, I heard Michael’s voice. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
My head whipped around, my heart pounding. When I saw Michael standing there, just thirty feet away, I quickly jumped up to standing. I took a step back and prepared to flee.
Obviously, he was here to kill me. Why else would he waste his time following me here - wherever here was.
And it was him. The archangel Michael. Just standing there. His stance was relaxed, and he had a small smile on his lips. There was no hatred in his eyes, no anger, no pain. As much as I preferred him like this, his attitude confused me.
Why was he looking at me in this way? Why did he look so… happy?
I didn’t move as he walked towards me. “Don’t be afraid,” he said.
“Why wouldn’t I be afraid of you? You want to kill me.”
He hopped up. His wings expanded, and he landed on another big rock right in front of me.
That was when I noticed the color of his wings - they were black.
That clued me in very quickly. I was wrong. This wasn’t the Michael. He looked exactly like him, though. Just as tall - he was a full head taller than me - and he was just as handsome.
“I don’t want to kill you,” he murmured. His voice was gentle, and he didn’t try to come any closer.
I kept my eyes on him, just in case, and I noticed other differences. His hair was jet black, not dark brown like Michael’s, and this demon had a white streak of hair on the left side of his head.
I had never seen an angel with hair like his before, and it reminded me of something. When I continued to stare at him, he ran his hand through his hair.
“What? You don’t like my hair?” he asked.
“It’s not that. You look exactly like him,” I accused. I didn’t have to explain further. I was sure that he already knew who I was talking about.
“Yeah, I get that a lot.”
“Well, maybe, except for the…” I pointed to his head.
He grinned, his perfect white teeth showing. “Maybe that’s the real reason I became a demon. I was jealous of Michael’s perfect hair.”
That was when I remembered what his hair reminded me of. A skunk. It reminded me of a skunk… but it was probably best not to say that out loud. I didn’t want to offend him.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Lucifer.”
Stunned, I took a step back. The morning star. Lucifer. The devil. I was looking into the eyes of the very archangel who turned away from God because he wanted to be like Him. I should be afraid of him, but oddly, I wasn’t. I think I was more afraid of Michael.
His head tilted to one side. “You’ve heard of me, then?”
“Of course.” I had read so much about him because his name was scrawled all over the Book of the Archangels.
"You could call me Luc if you'd prefer."
"I'd rather not." I already knew a Luke, and my memories of him were not great. I'd rather forget the Luke I left behind. He didn’t belong to me anymore.
"I'd rather call you Lucifer, if that's alright."
"Your choice. So," he began. He rubbed his hands together. Then, he took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair again, “My brother, Michael… he sent you here, yes?”
“If you mean that Michael wrapped his hands around my throat and cursed me, then, that would be a yes.”
Lucifer threw his head back and laughed. It was such a joyous sound that I wanted to laugh with him.
“He’s still one self-righteous, egotistical lunatic, isn’t he? He has always been like that.” He shook his head. “What did you do to earn Michael’s wrath? It must have been immense for you to be banished from the earth.”
I didn’t want to tell him what I did. It seemed like he wanted to talk to me, to get to know me better. I didn’t want him to look at me with hatred, but I didn’t want to lie to him, either.
“I killed his family,” I said, my voice so soft it was almost inaudible.
“His brothers?”
“No. His human family.”
I waited for his anger, but he only looked confused.
“What is a… human?”
Now, I was the one who was confused. How could he not know about humans? What they were. What they were like. It was hard to believe that a former archangel wouldn’t know about the humans.
Before I turned into a demon, my sole purpose had always been to guard the humans, to heal them, to guide them. I was a guardian angel, and my entire life revolved around them. They became a part of my existence, so much a part of it that I feared that without them, I would eventually die. But perhaps, it was different for the archangels as Lucifer had once been, and maybe he had been banished from the earth before the humans came to live there. It was possible.
“Humans are like apes," I explained, "with a lot less hair, and they are smarter, I suppose. Some of them are kind, some are funny, some evil. They come in all colors, shapes, and sizes." I pursed my lips and crinkled my nose. "Some of them do smell like apes, though.”
“And Michael has a human family?” he asked incredulously.
“Had a human family… I killed two of them.” I cringed when I said this. “They’re mortal,” I explained.
Lucifer should hate me right about now. I waited patiently for his anger, but it never came. Instead, he looked puzzled; his eyes were wide, and they were filled with questions.
“And he sent you here?” He pointed to the large rock that he was standing on. “Here… to this place… for killing two apes?” He held up two of his fingers in front of my face.
“I said ‘like’ apes. Humans aren’t really apes.” Maybe I shouldn’t have used the word ‘apes’ to describe them. “They look like us, but not as beautiful. You could see the pores in their skin, they have different colored eyes, and their hair is always a mess. They use this thing,” I make the motion of brushing my hair, “to comb out their hair, but they aren’t hairy like apes. Well, some of them are, but they are much tinier than apes, and they're not as strong. They aren’t perfect like us,” I said with a grimace. Angels weren’t perfect, either.
“I don’t think we are talking about the same Michael anymore. The Michael I knew would never have a family with apes or with anyone that remotely resembled an ape. He just wouldn't do that." The idea was preposterous to him, I could tell, and I was sure that he didn’t believe me.
I sighed. He didn’t understand the concept of humans. “Well, he did, and he loved them very much.” I tore my gaze away from Lucifer. He looked so much like Michael, and all I could see was that look on Michael’s face when he realized that his wife and his daughter were both dead.
“They w
ere his family, and I killed them,” I whispered.
“Why do you keep saying that? Don’t worry so much. I’m sure Michael will get over it.”
“I don’t think so.”
"So, then, you’ll get over it.”
I shook my head. I wanted to remember what I did. I wanted to be filled with remorse. Look at me. I never thought I’d see the day where I would be suffering from guilt. It was likely a part of Michael’s curse - a way to keep me unhappy by reliving my sins over and over again. My transgressions were becoming my own personal Hell.
“Believe me,” Lucifer said, “I have done worse things than kill two apes, but you’re not on Earth anymore. The good thing about this place is that we have an eternity to find forgiveness here. Sure, right now, all your soul can see is darkness. I know what that’s like. I’ve been there before. I lived there for a very long time, but one day, you will eventually wake up, and the only darkness you will find is the shadow you cast behind you.”
I really hoped that he was right. I wanted to find forgiveness someday. Nodding, I said, “It's something to look forward to, I suppose."
Lucifer and I talked for hours. He was very proud of everything that surrounded us. He talked about how he created the waterfall, the large rocks surrounding it, the water that flowed in the river. He even claimed that he made entire islands, volcanoes, and the mountains.
He pointed behind him. “Do you see the snow covering the mountain tops, I made that happen. But the trees, that was something I didn’t make,” Lucifer said. “I cannot create life, unfortunately, but a long time ago, I figured, if I wanted to make plants grow, I needed warmth. Light. I needed a sun.”
“You made the sun?” I asked, my voice filled with doubt. I never met an angel who could create light.
“Absolutely,” he said, his chest puffing out in pride.
Lucifer picked up a rock by his feet. It was the size of a baseball, and he held it in his hand. A few seconds later, the rock transformed into a ball of fire. He threw it up in the air and it hovered a few feet above us, spinning slightly.
I gazed at it in wonder.
“I can manipulate matter,” he explained. “I just did something like this,” he pointed to the ball of fire that was still floating above us, “on a much bigger scale, and then, I threw it at a greater distance. I have to keep doing it every now and then, but I have all of this instead of complete darkness.” He opened his arms wide, gesturing all around him.
“This place is truly beautiful,” I said. He was someone very special to have created all of this. “You must be very powerful.”
He shrugged. “Michael could do the same thing. It was probably the one thing we had in common. Oh, and the face. We share the same face, don’t we?” He laughed as if he just remembered something funny. “Although, Michael never did like to use his powers much. He always thought that we should only use our powers to serve our purpose. I, on the other hand, never had such a restraint in wanting to create beauty.” He snorted, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I almost miss him, but don’t tell anyone.”
I raised an eyebrow as I pretended to look around. There was nobody else here for me to tell. It seemed like we were completely alone.
“There are more of us here,” he explained, “compliments of our favorite archangel who like to banish demons from the earth, and he made certain that there is no way out of this place. Believe me, I must have tried to get out of here a million times - maybe more - but even with my powers, it’s impossible. I fear you are stranded here forever.”
Forever? Didn’t he know that word meant nothing to me?
“It looks pretty nice here, actually,” I said. “I was expecting darkness, and flying cats, and giant bats that like to eat demons like me.”
“I know the place you’re talking about. I’ve been there, too. That place was for second chances. This place is for demons who already ran out of chances.”
“Well, I had my second chance, but as you know, it didn’t go very well.”
“And you made one, certain archangel very angry. That’s for sure… and now you are here. You’ll never make it out of here,” he said, and he sounded pretty happy about that.
“Is that a promise?” I asked. There were lots and lots of light in this place. I could live in light. Truly, it was all I ever needed.
“I knew I was going to like you. I have been waiting for you for a long time, you know.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sometimes, I get flashes of insight, glimpses of the future… and you… you were supposed to be here sometime ago.”
“Perhaps, you were wrong. A simple miscalculation as to time.”
He snorted. “I am rarely ever wrong.”
I smirked. Obviously, he was wrong on this one.
“Come on, Adra” he said, offering me his hand. “Let me show you around.”
I frowned at that, and I hesitated. “I never gave you my name.”
“There are certain things I just know. Just trust me… please.”
After a few more seconds of hesitation, I sighed. Then, I took his hand. We jumped off the large rocks together, and we landed simultaneously on the grass, side by side. Then, I let him guide me as we walked towards the forest together.
He was quickly beginning to grow on me. The morning star. He was aptly named because I could certainly feel his light. It was very contagious. I could almost feel his radiant energy seeping through my skin.
“Why are we walking?” I asked. Angels and demons rarely walked. It was what our wings were for, after all.
“We have a lot of time. I want to savor this moment with you, and flying will get us there too quickly.”
I smiled. “And where exactly are we going?”
He shrugged as he looked down at me with a grin. He was so friendly that I couldn’t help but feel something for him. Something kicked in my heart. For the first time, in a very long time, I felt like my old self again before my heart was broken and trampled on.
Lucifer stopped walking, just as I stopped walking. I could almost read his mind. There was something he wanted to say to me that amazed him.
“Our hearts are beating simultaneously. Can you hear it?” he asked.
I turned my head slightly so that my ear was facing his heart.
I held my breath as I listened to the beats. Thump thump… thump thump... thump thump... thump thump...
My eyes widened in wonder, and I stared at Lucifer in silence.
Because he was right. Our hearts were beating together at the same time. This was very strange, but it also felt wonderful. Somehow, I felt connected to him.
We started walking towards the trees again, and I silently examined the meaning behind our simultaneously beating hearts. I realized that I wanted to trust him. To follow him. To be with him. As it may be, I felt that this place was where I should have been all along, and perhaps, this really is forever.
EPILOGUE
MICHAEL
Los Angeles, California
I couldn’t heal them, and I stopped trying. Even as an archangel, with all of the powers that were given to me by God, I cannot create life. I cannot bring back the dead.
I was sitting on the concrete, clinging to Ashley’s dead body. My body was trembling, and I felt cold. Pulling her closer to me, I tried to feel the warmth in her skin; it was dissipating very quickly, sending me into a greater state of despair.
I looked over at my daughter, Paige, laying there, just a few feet away from me; she was dead, too. I closed my eyes.
Two deaths.
How could I let this happen?
There was so much pain inside of me that I confused by it. What was I going to do next?
“Oh, Ashley,” I murmured as I stared at my wife’s beautiful face. She was still so beautiful even in death. “I don’t know what to do.”
In the distance, I
heard a cricket chirp. Then, another cricket, and another. In a few more seconds, it seemed that hundreds of crickets were chirping all around me.
Look at that, I thought, even the insects were in mourning. But I knew that it wasn’t Ashley’s death that instigated the crickets. It was Paige’s. My daughter always had a connection with the earth that I had never, in my entire lifetime, had ever seen in a human before.
I failed my wife, and I failed her - my daughter, the Radiant. I fell so in love with my family and became so happy with my human life that I forgot the real reason I was here.
Looking at Paige, I whispered to her, “I am sorry, Radiant. I am so very sorry for failing to protect you.”
But failing in my purpose of protecting the Radiant was not what gutted me the most. The death of my wife was my biggest loss today. I loved her so much. I already knew that I would suffer the pain of losing her for all eternity.
How did this happen? How could I let this happen? I was supposed to have many more years with Ashley. I wasn’t prepared for all of this.
“I had decades,” I screamed as I clutched Ashley’s body closer to me. “I still had decades left with you.”
I shut my eyes, clenching them tight, because I couldn’t look at my wife’s dead face any longer.
Breathing hard, I tried to block out the pain. That was when serenity entered my soul. It was the archangel’s peace. Finally, it came to me like a wave of light. It was like the way it used to be, before I decided to live my life with the humans and drowned in their human emotions. I let my pain go… and my anger… and my loss...
I felt the peace inside of me, and I welcomed it. I breathed it in. I needed it right now to create one rational thought, so that I could figure out what to do next. I wasn’t disappointed, because the answers came to me quickly like a soft voice whispering in my ear.
I am Michael.
I am the greatest and the most powerful of all of the archangels.
And I will not allow this to be the end.
DEAR READER:
Thank you for taking the time to read this book. I am currently working on the final book in this series, and I am hoping to get it done by December 2014. To get updates or information on upcoming releases, please visit my website at https://www.piperhannah.com or like my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/authorpiperhannah.
With love,
Piper Hannah
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