Dance of the Angels

Chapter 16

Monday arrived with nothing special happening on Sunday. The three missing archangels were still missing and Michael seemed to neglect Naomi or forget that she existed half of the time. That led to Gabriel trying (and sometimes succeeding) in looking after Naomi.

While walking past the church, she noticed a man standing outside like Lucifer the previous week. As she got a bit closer, she recognised him as Lucifer and picked up her pace, not wanting to be forced into a confrontation with the archangel.

The rest of Naomi’s day was just as strane. Ianto was continuously talking about his cousin Darius - who was the man off the news - and Darius’ girlfriend, Luna. Luna turned out to be the woman he saved which was a bit strange but she brushed it off as a coincidence. Thankfully, Katie didn’t talk about either of the people Ianto rambled on about and planned to meet soon. Samiel hadn’t shown up to work today according to Mrs Morris and her maths teacher so it only confirmed something bad had happened to him.

At the end of the day, Lucifer was stood outside the church again - it made her wonder if he’d moved all day or gone away and come back. Naomi hurried, hoping to avoid him again by looking down and covering her face with her hair. Maybe he couldn’t recognised her. Looking down at the pavement had its downfall as she walked into someone.

Lucifer.

“I have the strangest feeling that you are trying to avoid me,” he said with a smirk on his face. Naomi narrowed her eyes at him and tried to walk around him. He just blocked her path. “Oh, come on. What have I done now?”
“You escaped.”
“You basically let me walk on,” he said, as if it was supposed to defend him in some way. “No one put any spells or sigils anywhere. There was nothing stopping me from leaving that house except for the fact that you were in there.”

“Me?” asked Naomi with wide eyes.
“Yes, I like you and you’re intelligent and powerful.”
“Oh, sorry, I thought you were being nice,” said Naomi as she returned to glaring at him.
“I am being nice!” Lucifer said. He then added: “For once.”
“You’re trying to use me.”
“I am not trying to use you!” he exclaimed, holding his hand over his chest dramatically as if it was a preposterous idea.

“You don't happen to know where Samiel is? Or why Michael’s being weird?” she asked hopefully. “You don’t have anything to do with it, do you?”
“Samiel is physically fine but Michael? What’s wrong with him?” he asked, concerned for his brother and glad the adolescent angel didn’t notice he said ‘physically fine’ and focused on his lack of knowledge about Michael.
“He came back Saturday afternoon but…”
“But?” prompted Lucifer.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this but he’s not the same. He doesn’t look after me properly anymore, Gabriel does.”

Lucifer stared at her for a moment, then glanced at the church where he last saw his older brother.
“Oh, he is really being a bastard,” he said suddenly.
“Who is?”
“Father,” Lucifer replied. “He’s making sure Michael only does what he has to.”
“Why would he do that?” Naomi asked, confused. She felt the stress begin to sink in again.
“He thinks you and him are too attached to each other and I can see why but he’s done it so you’re less loyal to Michael.

“But that pushes me to you more than anything,” said Naomi. “That is, if you’re not lying.” Lucifer shrugged at her.
“I’m not lying to you,” he said sincerely. “Plus, I never said he was intelligent, Father is just omnipotent.”
“Well, you’re right about that,” said Naomi. Lucifer smiled and thanked her for agreeing with him. “I said it because he created you.” He smiled a little more at her, finding her insult amusing.

Naomi rolled her eyes at him and tried to walk around him again but was blocked as he sidestepped in her way.
“What do you want?” she asked with an exasperated sigh. He raised his eyebrows at her and then he frowned as he watched her realise. “Where’s Samiel?”
“He’s in Hell, what does it matter?” asked Lucifer. “You should be more concerned about Michael treating you like you exist first.”
“It  matters a lot, he’s my brother.”
“He’s my brother too,” Lucifer pointed out.

“Anyway, we hurt each other all the time. I hurt them in the church, Michael hurt me when I fell.”
“What?” Naomi yelled.
“Shush. Not so loud,” said Lucifer with a frown.
“What are you doing to him?” Lucifer shrugged at her and stepped back. Naomi noticed the reddish-orange tint in his irises. With on last look at the church, he took another step back and disappeared.

For a moment, Naomi was startled by his sudden disappearance. When her brain finally processed all the information she had received, she gasped.

Lucifer had Samiel.

Lucifer had vanished and a few hours later, Samiel was gone.

“One more thing.” Naomi flinched and spun around to see Lucifer. “Who knows? About us, I mean? About angels and me and everything?”
“Ryan,” she told him without thinking it through. She groaned and hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. She paused and looked at him again, red-orange eyes stared back. “What have you done to him?” Lucifer laughed at her protectiveness over a human.
“Nothing,” he said as he held his hands up. “I’ve done nothing at all.”

He disappeared again leaving a flustered female behind. Naomi took several deep breaths before heading home at an almost running pace to alert Gabriel of the interaction that had just occurred.

With a warning to avoid Lucifer at all costs and to keep note of Ryan and if his actions were strange, Naomi found herself in the school the following day eating lunch with her friends.

“Hey, Naomi,” greeted Ryan. “Can I talk to you a moment?”
“Sure,” said Naomi with a smile. She found it a little odd… Ryan dumped his bag on the empty chair opposite her as she stood up.
“Where are you going?” asked Jen.
“Just to get food,” said Ryan.
“Can you watch my bag please?” Naomi asked Jen. Jen nodded and Naomi followed Ryan.

They didn’t head to the area where they served the food. Instead, they sneaked past the lunch staff and into an empty corridor.
“I’ve been thinking the past few days,” Ryan started. It made her anxious, was he going to refuse to talk with her? Was he going to tell everyone about her celestial nature and celestial siblings. “It’s took me a while but I really like you and I was wondering if you want to go out with me?”

It wasn’t anything bad but Naomi’s nervousness didn’t fade away. Something inside of her urged her to say yes, so she did.
“Yes.” They both smiled at each other and stood there for a moment before Naomi leaned in to kiss him.

He was part of a crowd waiting outside of the assembly Hall. I'm Alex. His first friend. I'm Ryan. It changed to him looking at a book with short stories in it. His name was beneath it and his age: twelve. Then it morphed into what had just happened - asking Naomi out.Naomi felt the queasy feeling she felt in her stomach when Lucifer disappeared return. Pulling away from the kiss, she opened her eyes.

No longer were the in the bright school corridors near the cafeteria. They were in a dark, cavernous place with the echoes of tortured screams in their ears. The walkways around them were narrow and they cut around or through the jagged rock walls. Some paths had gaps either side that neither of them were willing to look down. Thankfully, the walkway they were stood on only had a gap on one side was was considerably larger than the other paths.

“Where are we?” asked Ryan as he cautiously turned to face the rest of the place. “Cause I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” In any other circumstances, Naomi would have smiled or laughed at his joke but she could only frown as a thought came to her.

“I think we’re in Hell.”