Angels and Demons: Locked Out of Heaven

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

First Seraphim Justielle was waiting for her in the middle of the Lord's Hall. She was sitting in her chair at the large round map of Heaven. Heaven wasn't round per se, but it could be represented in a round like form. Heaven was multileveled and strangely formed, if you took a right at the Lord's Hall you would end up in the Soul Fields, a common area for human souls. But if you turned left from the Soul Fields you wouldn't end up at the Lord's Hall because the Hall can only be found while in flight. Heaven had many strange rules like that, and it was ever expanding, always growing. Heaven didn't always make sense, but you had to accept it as it was.

"It took you long enough." Justielle said, raising a sharp eyebrow. Her black hair was gathered in a tight bun on the top of her head. Her armor was pure gold with long white robes beneath and covered her entire torso in triangular plates, long circles of chainmail dripped down her arms. She was often depicted by humans as being blind, but her piercing eyes were light blue like her halo.

Angiquelle took her seat next to her superior. "Yes, my apologies. I may have gotten distracted on the steps. Were you meeting with Orfiel and Gabriel?"

"Yes, and Michael... they are being sent to Earth, like you."

Her? That was shocking. Archs were sent to Earth all the time. But, Sereps? That was rare. "Why?"

Justielle sighed and waved her hand over the map, changing it to one of earth. "This is Maine." The map pinpointed on the U.S. State. The amount of darkness on the map was disturbing, there was some major Demon influence going on. "As you can see a large part of this map has gone dark. It is like this all over the continent. We keep sending more and more angels to earth, but we are running out of forces. Whatever Demon is in this area... he is very powerful. Too powerful for any Power to take care of."

"A Fallen?"

"Yes... we believe so. Michael and I have decided that we need to send a force of First Sphere Angels to Earth; that includes us Seraphim."

"Since when do the Fallen concern themselves with influencing humans?"

"We believe it is a new strategy to get more souls into Hell."

The scales between Heaven and Hell had been balanced since the Fall. This could change the tide in the War. "Is it working?"

Justielle swallowed and nodded. "Incoming souls through the Gates are at a new low. We have been trying to promote Angels as quickly as possible, and we are sending Reapers and Powers to move souls through Purgatory at an expedited pace, but the Demons are having the same idea and we are losing as many souls from purgatory as we are receiving in heaven, if not more. If we can't cut them off at the source, on Earth, we're..."

"We're fucked. That's what."

Justielle glared at her. "Crude, but true."

"My apologies, I have been spending far too much time with Gabriel."

"I know, but that's why you were my first choice, you are our most likely Seraphim to adjust to Earth. Most of us are... ill-equipped for human life."

Angiquelle gulped, she was going to Earth? That was a whole new scary for her. "Will Gabe be my partner?"

"Not in the traditional sense. No. You will be stationed here," she pointed to an area on the map, "in Jonesport. Gabriel will be here." She pointed to a point on the other side of Maine.

"Since when do we go on solo missions to earth?" aside from Third Choir angels, who were assigned to specific humans, angels were sent to earth with at least one partner.

Justielle sighed. "Angiquelle, if you haven't noticed, we are stretched rather thinly lately."

Angiquelle nodded, "I guess I'm going to earth then."

~~~

"No, Angie. You can't just walk around earth with a sword strapped to your back anymore. That is sure to get human attention."

She sighed as she turned to Gabe. "What do I do then?"

"You dress like them, you act like them, and you do not let them catch on to what you are!"

"So what do I do when I find the demon if I can't fight it!"

"You counter act it; you spread your good influence wherever it has spread its bad. You become an integral member of the community. You go to work, and church, and to the grocery store. You fight it's mojo with your own."

"What if it comes after me first?"

He laughed. "You will most likely never even come into contact with the demon. They like to avoid us. Even if you did meet it, it doesn't want to fight you either. I mean, think about it. One of you kills the other and then the dead one just reforms back at home base. As the humans say, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'."

Angiquelle smiled. "Oh... and if I kill it, who knows where it will go once it crawls back out of hell. At least now we know where it is."

"Exactly. Now, when you get to earth, you will be set up in a house. In the house you will have all the necessities: utensils, furniture, clothing."

"Clothing?"

"Yes, on earth you can't summon heavenly things, like robes. You can summon your armor and your weapons, basically anything made with starmetals; but that's it. And be careful. You can still only be killed by angelic weapons, but if a human sees you surviving anything you shouldn't, your cover will be blown."

There was a lot to remember, she was nervous. She would rather just track down the demon and fight it. "What should I do when I get there?"

"Get dressed. My first time, I forgot about that and walked around in the nude for a full day before someone commented on it, luckily that was a long time ago and they just assumed that I was on a holly journey of repentance. Then read over your file, it will have all the info on your identity and intel on the demon."

"Gabe, is it normal to be nervous?"

He smiled and ruffled her hair. "I was very nervous my first time. And the nudity didn't help."

She laughed. "I would assume not."

"And my number will be preset into your telephone, so you can call me with any questions."

"What is a telephone?"

"Oh, babe. You are so screwed."