Angel Page 13

Page 13

 

  On the cathedral floor below, Steve’s friend hugged him, saying, “Praise the angels!” Raziel soared back to his chambers, gliding neatly through white stone walls into an office of soft, gleaming wood and gray carpeting, with antique books lining one wall. Landing, he focused his mind and drew his energy downward, bringing it back to the human plane. With a shimmer, his physical body manifested itself again, complete with the expensive pants and crisp white shirt he’d been wearing. Though it took practice, clothes were only molecules of a different sort; it was merely a matter of focusing on them as well when one made the initial shift.

  Sitting at his desk, Raziel looked up at a knock on the door. “Come in,” he said.

  The paneled wooden door opened soundlessly, and a young man with a tumble of dark curls entered, his footsteps sinking into the rich carpeting. He bowed his head. “Sir, Lailah is here to see you. ”

  “Oh, excellent. ” Pushing aside the tedious pile of Church of Angels paperwork, Raziel leaned back in his leather office chair. “Send her in, Jonah. ”

  Jonah backed respectfully out again, and a moment later Lailah strolled in. In her human form, Lailah had long, gleaming auburn hair and large blue eyes. Her attributes were, as usual, firmly on display in a tight black suit with a plunging neckline.

  Raziel winced to see her smoking a thin brown cigarillo. Some of the angels felt that Raziel himself had gone disgustingly native, but really — there were limits. “Do you mind?” he said shortly, sliding a crystal ashtray across the desk at her.

  Lailah rolled her eyes but extinguished the cigarillo. “Have you heard?” she asked as she sat down.

  “What? About the Second Wave finally being scheduled?” Raziel settled back in his chair again, stretching his long legs out. “Good news, isn’t it? The Council’s little experiment worked out, after all. We could have told them so. ”

  Lailah laughed out loud; it was the sound of silver bells. “Yes, I think most of the First Wavers have been surprised that being here isn’t exactly a hardship. They’ve taken to feeding off humans with gusto. ”

  Raziel smiled. He reached for a nail file on his desktop and began to shape his nails. “Well, one does get a taste for the things. Addictive creatures, aren’t they?”

  “It goes both ways,” said Lailah, looking around her at the plush office in satisfaction. She herself had one almost as large. “They seem quite addicted to us, too. ”

  Like Raziel, Lailah was one of those angels who had always savored the taste of human energy. For centuries, angels like them had passed between the two worlds, gorging themselves on the human life force — a pastime seen as revoltingly base by the majority of angelkind, who preferred to stay at home and feed more sedately from the ether of their world. But then the Crisis had come, and everything had changed: the angels’ world was now dying, taking its life-sustaining ether with it. When the Seraphic Council’s plan to save them all had been unveiled two years ago, there had been an appalled outcry, but no one could think of any alternative. The angels’ resources were dwindling fast; they needed to feed on energy to survive. And while the ether in the human world wasn’t suitable to sustain them . . . the energy from the humans themselves was.

  Raziel and Lailah had both volunteered to be included in the first experimental wave of angels who would move to the human world permanently. Why not? Raziel liked the place anyway, and it gave him a certain amount of kudos as a selfless volunteer. For the majority of First Wave angels, though, the move had been solely a matter of necessity. And although most had found it repellent at first, feeding on humans on such a grand scale seemed almost entirely safe so far. Not only could angels in their human form blend in with the rest of the population; they couldn’t be easily harmed in that form — and normally, the only humans to see them in their divine form were victims dazzled by a feeding angel’s beauty. The little band of angel assassins that roamed the country was an annoyance, but a minor one; their numbers were pitiably few. Primarily, the angels knew that to come here was the route to their salvation.

  What no one had foreseen was that the locals would be quite so enthusiastic about it. Only months after the experimental First Wave of angels had arrived, the Church of Angels had sprung up spontaneously, founded by the humans as angel fever gripped the nation. Though the angels hadn’t predicted this outcome, they were quick to take advantage of it. Soon almost every Church of Angels in the country had one or more angels attached to it, basking in the humans’ adulation and lazily feeding on whomever they liked. Not all angels were involved with the Church, of course. Plenty had discovered that they enjoyed the hunt: prowling the streets and stalking human prey. It was as if something primal in angels, that they hadn’t experienced in their own staid world, had now emerged with a vengeance and was greedily indulging itself.

  For many, though, the Church had become a cozy refuge, and as an institution it had turned out to be an enormous boon in other ways, too — due in no small part to Raziel himself. As the organization had expanded, he had taken control and established a Church TV station and publishing house, as well as a massive Internet presence. With him at the helm, the word of the angels’ beneficence had erupted across the country and was spreading fast, bringing more churches and thousands of new devotees daily — all of them eager to experience angelic salvation for themselves, even before they’d ever encountered one. When the Second Wave of angels arrived soon, and then others after them, it would be to a very different world from the one the First Wavers had initially experienced: one loudly enthusiastic about the angelic presence, embracing it at every turn.

  The really comical thing, thought Raziel, was how oblivious the human world was to what was happening. Those who didn’t believe simply thought that those who did were insane. There were a number of skeptics who loudly decried the ridiculous fad that had swept the country; it was always amusing when, as occasionally happened, one of them succumbed to angel burn and publicly changed their tune. Similarly, any organized interference that might have occurred was laughably minimal; feeding from police and government officials took care of that.

  “And you’re in a rather nice position, aren’t you?” said Lailah now with a silky smile. Raziel saw that she was wearing a small Church of Angels pendant around her neck — an ironic touch. “As am I. ”

  He feigned innocence, raising his eyebrows. “Why, I have no idea what you mean. I’m just doing my job at the humans’ behest, running their church for them. ”

  Lailah threw her head back as she laughed. “Yes, very noble of you! I can hardly wait to see the Council’s expressions when they realize just how much control we’ve gained here already. ”

  Raziel smiled. Though the angels had never planned to actually take over humans’ affairs, it was slowly happening. And as the head of the fastest-growing church in history, he himself was in a prime position for power. More senior angels than he would arrive as the evacuation continued, but by that time, he would be thoroughly ensconced, one of the de facto leaders.

  “It’ll be interesting to see how it pans out,” he admitted, tossing his nail file back onto his desk. “But if the Council didn’t want some of us taking advantage of the situation, then they really should have come across first, rather than hiding at home to see if it worked out. ”