Book IV: Avi Dragon

Celestial Proposition

Samandriel rushed in, lifted Avi's shirt, and started slapping on heart sensor pads.
   "What the--?"
   "We need a surrogate heartbeat. She's needed in conference. Don't worry, we won't be disturbed."
   I'm already disturbed, he thought.
   "Why do you need my heartbeat? Is hers going to stop?!"
   "Suspended animation. No time to explain." He yanked the cords off her silicon pads with loud snaps and jammed them on his--but not before he saw and heard the flatline. Before the first lead was switched.
   Avi snatched up her wrist, but there was no pulse. He glared at the intruder.
   Samandriel lifted one eyelid so he could see the misty grey orbs beneath. "See? She's alive, just frozen. Please, calm your heartbeat so nobody thinks she's in trouble."
   "How do I know she isn't in trouble?!"
   "Look. Her face will tell you if she is in distress. Feel the Link. She lives."
   It was strange. Her face registered emotions, though her chest lay still. It was mostly disgust or disdain that they saw, which made him wonder what was happening. Those tiny signs of life got his heart rate where it needed to be, though it was a struggle to keep it there.

   Angel fell asleep faster than she could register. One minute she was laughing at herself; the next she was in a familiar place, seemingly made of light and vague shapes. One shape she knew as well as she knew her own hand.
   "Gabriel," she greeted with a nod. She didn't know the other shape. Neither did she question that she knew everything that had happened in her life thus far. The knowledge was there, should she need it. Had she asked, she might perhaps have been told that her soul was what spoke here, and it carried all of her memories.
   "I have a proposition to make," the unfamiliar angelic shape said. It only had one pair of wings, whereas Gabriel...
   He was always hard to "see". She could never count wing pairs, or See whether he had wings at all. She'd given up, a few celestial years into her training. He was an enigma. The sooner she gave up on trying to define him, the better she actually understood him. Anywhere else, that sentence wouldn't make sense.
   "If you were human, I'd already have said no."
   The unnamed angel glanced at Gabriel, smug to the point of obnoxious.
   "Don't look so smug. The only reason I'm withholding my refusal is because, being an angel, I doubt you meant that the way it sounded." Her arms crossed over her old guardian angel robes. She didn't notice them, any more than she noticed the return of her memories. Again, you learned to shed all extraneous details in this place.
   "That is exactly what he meant." Gabriel seemed to lean against thin air. There wasn't precisely air here, just as there was nothing for him to lean on; or even a solid form for him to lean with. It was more of an impression one got.
   "Then no."
   "I need a vessel," he said through gritted teeth. She could tell he didn't want to ask someone who was born mortal for any sort of assistance.
   "Aww, did big brother get a shiny new toy?"
   He couldn't argue her statement that Gabriel was his big brother. He had a far larger... presence, in this place. She didn't see what they really, truly looked like. She never could, but she could Feel their relative energies. Gabriel's was simply larger. Archangel and Vessel snickered at the decidedly phallic symbolism. Angel regained her composure first, which surprised her.
   She echoed her friend's "posture", leaning on nothing. "You want one that's stronger than his, more... powerful?" She gagged on the word 'powerful'. She didn't bat an eyelash at calling herself "his".
   Gabe beamed proudly. Those who wanted power the least tended to wield it more judiciously. Thoughts were as good as spoken here, it seemed. Either that, or it was the ethereal thread that linked them.
   "He's right, you know. I'd only whip out the big guns to protect Avi, as is my duty." Her nose inched down, though she wore no glasses to look over.
   Gabriel pushed away from the not-wall, bragging. "She'd tear the world apart, if it meant saving his life." He rather enjoyed having such a powerful vessel. Perhaps it was his boastful nature that caused this jealousy in his brother.
   "You exaggerate, Gabriel. I am a rational dragon. Will I do everything possible to keep him alive? Yes. Would I ransack a town to find him? No. I don't need to. I have the Bond; that's what it was designed for."
   "Then swear it," the angel urged. "Swear to only transform to save your human."
   "Of course not! I'm not stupid. If my own life, or the lives of my children were in danger, I'd be powerless. I would be slain, and he would be left defenseless."
   Gabe crossed his arms over his robe; rightfully smug, to his thinking.
   The other angel perked up. Angel couldn't figure out if he was intrigued by her mental agility, or... turned on.
   "Not gonna happen. I'm not a broodmare," she flatly refused. Gabriel gave his brother his best "told you so" face.
   "I only need one. You can have the rest," he tried to persuade her.
   The unspoken clarification was that only one would be his. The rest would be... she wasn't sure. Clones of her? It was deucedly difficult to read the other angel. They wouldn't be Gabriel's, because he was kind of Angel's father, since his spark was used to make the dragon. He was also like a twin..? Being in this realm, wherever it was, confused her with its myriad intricacies.
    They wouldn't be Avi's, either, because he wasn't in the "room" (unspecified earth-adjacent realm). That didn't even factor in the conversation they'd already had about potential futures.
   "No. I've only got maybe one shot at a normal gestation. I'm not using it on the pet project of some angel I don't know."
   He waved a hand negligently. "I can wait until you get that out of your system."
   She didn't like the way he referred to human relations. "I'll take that any day I can. I say again, no."
   "We need some sort of muzzle to keep you in line, child. An angel, plus a... Celestial Archdragon, or Arch Celestial Dragon, or whatever you've deemed yourself..." He made it sound like a childish whim! "...Should yield a stronger vessel than either of you. He was barely able to subdue you, the last time. A hybrid would be able to do so easily, should you step out of line again."
   Her teeth would have gritted, had she been corporeal. "That's a slippery slope, and you know it. Besides, he's got the Marks as an anchor. He proved they work. It's still a no from me."
   He tried another tack. "What about when your human dies?"
   "One, he's not human." This seemed to be a shock to both angels. "Wait, you didn't know? I though angels could See True Natures. How--never mind, you can tell me later.
   "Two, I'll just have to align my brain the way The Doctor does. Humans in general will be my muzzle. Just keep me in the Guardian Angel rotation. They have a fresh perspective, because they're mortal. Their continued wide-eyed wonder and optimism will temper my eternal, jaded nature."
   "You're basing your sanity on a fictional character?" Gabriel asked, when his brother didn't get the reference.
   "It seems like a viable model. Shorter-lived species should notice if I start to tip the wrong way. Mortals are always on the lookout for danger, since they have so few years to live. Plus I've got you, who knows the ins and outs of immortality, as a guide. Should I be deemed a hazard to myself and others, I will gladly lay my head down at His feet and let Him sever my head from my body."
   "Is that a promise?" The other angel leapt on her words, a gleam in his eye.
   "No."
   Frustration rolled off of him in almost palpable waves.
   "I will give you my word, but not my vow. I cannot lie, as you well know. Should my human fear me, I shall return to Gabriel to reevaluate; see if I need a vacation... or eternal rest. I would rather die than become the Horn of Gabriel, as told in the Bible. Well, certain versions of certain parts of it, anyway. I will not destroy the world I was born in."
   "And what if that is exactly what you are?"
   Cold shivered down her astral form.
   "Free will," she said, throwing the words at the angel like a trump card.
   Gabriel coughed uncomfortably. She glared his way. "If Dad says go, neither of us have a choice. Now, I'm not saying you're my, ah..."
   "Yeah, there's no way of saving that sentence. And since when did you get savvy?"
   "Classified," he said grimly. He wasn't about to lay his punishment on her shoulders. They were friends. Perhaps more than friends--more, even, than family. "Point is, we don't know if you're a biblical weapon. But," he said, drawing the word out, "if Dad decides to go that way, neither of us can say no. Me because I don't have the luxury of free will, and you because we're stuck like glue."
   "Wow, someone's been on Earth a while. Seriously, when did that happen? Not that time matters to you, never mind. It's just weird, seeing you act so... human."
   His brother angel snorted with derision.
   "Hey, I didn't say it was a bad thing. For a Guardian Angel, maybe it's a good thing. From what I've been hearing, most of the problems we had were because he didn't really understand people. Scoff all ya like, he just gained a skill set you don't seem to have."
   Brother angel was not happy to be seen as lesser.

   "I don't think we should put up wards," Avi cautioned.
   Samandriel lowered his hands, offended at being questioned. "I was charged with your protection, and that is what I aim to do."
   "What if your wards actually attract things?" he asked, grabbing the nearest arm.
   The angel was doubly offended at being touched.
   "Listen to me. Evil creatures might know she's human now, but maybe not where her human body is. You put up giant neon angel barriers, and they'll know exactly where we are!"
   Samandriel blanched; at least, his temporary vessel did. He hadn't thought of that possibility.
   "I'm not saying you should let down your guard. By all means, keep your sword out, and maybe some low-level passive stuff, but not the big bad repelling ones?" He left the details to Samandriel, who knew the specifics of celestial magic better than he did.
   The angel thought for what appeared to be a second, but was much longer than that. Time was fluid to a celestial being.
   He stood just inside the door, which Avi shut, blade out and ready. He held that posture for the duration of this "conference call" Angel was on.

   "We are at an impasse. I will continue to refuse your... proposal," which took great effort not to spit back at him, "and you will attempt to press your case. I am a Vessel. I do not create custom vessels on demand. Perhaps one of my offspring will decide to host you--once they are fully grown, and not assigned to a humanoid." She was, as ever, careful with her wording. Mitch wasn't human, so she wouldn't give him a loophole.
   "Will you swear to this?" he asked without much hope. She'd worn him down.
   "I cannot."
   If he'd been human, she'd swear he rolled his eyes. He didn't, but that was the impression she was left with, the gesture having taken a form she would recognize.
   "It is not my life to offer. All I can do is prepare them for the possibility that they may serve a higher purpose, when they are no longer guarding their Bonded."
   Gabe stepped in, metaphorically. "And that's all you'll get from her. She has to get back to her Bonded. Samandriel sends concerns that must be addressed. Farewell, Uriel."