Chapter 11

Rook sat down hard on the road. He was covered with the excrement of battle, blood dripped down his arms and off the ends of his fingertips. "That is it! I am sick of this shit. What the fuck is going on! That was insanity! What is wrong with these damn Simians?"

Alexander, head lowered and hands resting on his knees, looked up. His shoulders heaved as he forced air into his lungs. In between heavy breaths he responded, "I don't know, brother. I have never seen them show such a lack of response to our will."

"Yeah, Morgan and I tried to calm them right from the start of this fiasco and we had the same response", Jayde added, leaning heavily against a car, attempting to squeeze the blood from out of her hair.

Carpenter looked at each of the angels in turn, his eyes narrowed. "Calm them? What do you mean, calm them?" he demanded.

Jadye throw him a sneering look, her sarcastic tone matching her face. "Hate to break this to you smart guy but we didn't calm them."

Alexander sent a frown at Jayde. He understood Carpenter's confusion and attempted to clarify matters. "As part of our gift we can influence the emotions of Humans. It allows us to not only convey His actual word but also the emotion that accompanies it."

"Yes, yes!" Louis jumped in, "I felt that with you earlier", he said, pointing at Rook before his mouth turned down and he continued, "although you weren't trying to calm me". Rook throw him a withering stare and Louis felt fear ripple through him. His shoulder's hunched and he took half a step back, silently berating himself for opening his mouth.

"Look, we all need to understand what is going on here. Can you try and start from the beginning?" Carpenter asked, folding his arms across his chest and settling his hip against a parked car as he waited for a response. He patted his pockets and found his pack of cigarettes, extracted one and lit up.

Alexander straightened up and sighed, a look of deep reflection coming over his face as thought where best to start. He was still attempting to get everything straight in his own mind and wasn't sure how clearly he would be able to explain events that he, himself, had not come to terms with.

"It has been a long time since any of us have heard His words," he began. "Some believe that He has left us forever and that we are supposed to 'evolve' and take over the Kingdom to rule ourselves. Believers, such as myself, however, feel he will return to us and that we must do as we were last ordered. Protect the gates of the Kingdom and not interfere with the destiny of man." He paused, seeing the rapt faces of the humans who had gathered close around him.

"For those of us who believe that He shall return the opposing idea is treasonous.

That makes for a very …..heated…..debate."

"You bet your ass it does." Rook blurted out, his arms wind milling wildly. "That is how we ended up here."

Carpenter looked at him sharply. "You want to elaborate on that?" he asked, keeping his voice flat in an effort not to further upset this very volatile angel.

"Elaborate…sure, I'll elaborate. The Defenders of Heaven just got our asses handed to us at the Pearly Gates. Some abomination let an assload of damned souls out of the vault and they attacked the Gates of the Kingdom. Somehow in the middle of the battle I ended up here and God only knows who is running the place right now."

Carpenter stared blankly at Rook for a few seconds, thrown by the irony of his 'god only knows' comment. He felt his mouth hanging slightly open and closed it with a snap. Turning slowly toward Alexander he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

Alexander nodded to his unasked question and began to explain.

"Before we landed here we were in a fight to save the Kingdom from those who wish it overthrown. You see, when we are not doing the bidding of our Master we literally guard the Gates of the Kingdom. Someone…"

"A fucking Angel!" Rook interjected angrily

"…an Angel" Alexander continued with a sigh, "released the souls within the vault and they attacked the Kingdom."

"Wait, I don't get it." Jessica asked, her brow furrowed. "Damned souls were released? How did they get to heaven, I mean guess I never really thought of them as having an actual location. I mean how did they get there?"

"It is difficult to explain. There is no up and down. I think for this explanation, to say they are right next to each other would be the clearest way for you to understand. However, the only way to travel from one to the other is by the grace of an Angel. We are the ones who take condemned souls from the Gates to the Vault. That is how we know that the Vault was unlocked by an Angel. Only an Angel has the ability to do such a thing" Alexander said.

"A God damn traitor!" Rook blurted out, his face red with anger. All the Angels nodding their heads in agreement, save Alexander, who once again reminded Rook of his language with a sharp stare.

"Hold on, a traitor? Do you mean a fallen Angel? Jessica asked.

"Like any army we have soldiers who get confused or soldiers who do not follow orders….and we have soldiers who become traitors." Alexander answered.

"You have traitor Angels. But….but you're tools of God." Louis said, so over whelmed with the concept of traitor angels that he dared to enter the conversation again.

"With freedom of choice." Morgan stressed. "We choose our own paths, just like you. We are just more harshly judged for it."

"But he created you, how could you not do his will?" Louis asked.

"He created humans too…" Alexander said, attempting to make a point but was interrupted before he could continue.

"Bullshit. None of us know if he created them or not and, personally, as flawed as you damn simians are, I would have a hard time believing He created you. To me it is simple science. You primitives were an accidental creation from elements in the universe and really not worth the time He has already spent on you." Rook stood with his hands on his hips glaring at the three humans, as if daring them to contradict him.

"Enough, brother." Morgan interjected irritably, adding his frown at Rook before turning to Carpenter and his companions. "You must forgive him. For many of us Humans were difficult to accept. I mean prior to your creation, we just thought the Almighty used this planet as his own personal dart board that he liked to throw big rocks at."

"You know," Rook said snidely, "Not a single angel watched the creation of man. There is no way to know that He actually made them. They could have been and probably are an accident that crawled out of the primordial soup mix." The passion in the angel's voice made him sound suspiciously like a zealot and all the humans felt immediately uncomfortable.

"All right, that is enough out of you," Alexander directed this comment to Rook. "We are not going to get into a theoretical debate right now. We have more important things to discuss.

Morgan, obviously not done with the debate and aiming his comments directly at Rook, "Ya know, brother, as militant as you have been with this rhetoric, I am surprised to not see you sitting at the table with Satan. Why is that, you sure sound like a non- believer." Morgan added

"Fuck you Morgan," Rook said with a snarl. "The honest truth is that although I do believe Satan was right, but sometime you just have to obey. I am His soldier and I will continue to obey no matter what I personally believe."

"You believe Satan was right!" Louis gasped, his voice full of disgust

"For someone who has never met Satan I would recommend you shut your damn mouth, you little shit thrower or I will shut it for you!" Rook's anger emanated in waves, rolling over the humans and angels alike.

Louis cowered, leaning his body back and away from Rook, trying to escape the wrath of the Angel and wishing that the ground would open and swallow him. In an effort to take Rook's anger off Louis, Alexander stepped in between them and directed his comments to Louis, his back to Rook

"You need to understand, Louis," Alexander said, his tone sober, "we Angels have the same freedom of choice you humans have and we, too, are confused by the workings of God and his plans. We all have our own beliefs and we don't always agree with each other. Still, as I am sure my brother Rook will agree, one thing is for sure. He watches this place. Screw up here and His punishment will is usually swift."

After a brief silence Jessica spoke, "How does an Angel mess up here. Aren't you pretty much sent with His orders when you come down here?"

"Aren't you listening?" Rook barked. "We have freedom of choice and we can come down anytime we want. Think of it as sneaking out when your parents aren't looking….and let me tell you, our dad has not been looking for a while."

"So what happens when you are down here without orders?" Carpenter asked.

"Most of us just sight see," Morgan responded.

"However, many are changed." Alexander added

"Changed? How are they changed?" Carpenter asked curiously.

"Once you have been here and defied his will, you will never be the same. Think of a young man who has finally challenged his father, but in our case there is no father. He has not punished or even spoke to us in a very long time. At this point Angels either decide to obey or they decide to continue to challenge the rules of the throne." Alexander's tone was sober as he answered.

"Why would anyone, especially someone who has actually seen God, want to disobey him. I mean surely you have already learned all the lessons we have been taught here on earth." Louis asked

"I know this may be difficult for you to understand, but we Angels don't know everything that goes on down here. Try to imagine that you never leave your home and the only information you get is by looking out windows or occasionally getting information from someone who has been outside. You only see small glimpses of things and our perspective is very narrow. We haven't learned all the lesson you have been given. As for disobeying, this place is the greatest temptation an Angel will ever face. An Angel who decides to use his gift for his own purposes here can be feared, desired, loved, or even worshipped. It has driven many to become drunk with power…and it has cost them. That is why those of us who 'believe' frequently discuss the importance of keeping our own emotions in check, especially when we are here." Alexander's gaze dropped to the ground as he continued. "Isn't that right Rook"

Rook had the grace to look chastised. "Yes. I suppose it is," he responded in a much grudging tone.

"Yeah, but how could you not know about greed, lust, and the other sins of man!" Louis asked.

"What do you wanna hear? We just don't get out much." Jadye responded nonchalantly.

"We do know about it…."Alexander was cut off mid-sentence by a monstrous crashing noise. The entire party spun in the direction of the sound. Erupting from a building with wood and glass flying in all directions an Angel flew from the explosion, wings fully expanded looking down on the group.

"I AM THE MESSANGER OF THE ONE TRUE GOD, BE PREPARED TO FACE HIS WRATH!" The angel said boldly, coming to a shuddering halt as he noticed his brethren standing below him.

" Awwwww, .dammit", the Angel whined as he gently descended to earth and folded his wings, a defeated look on his face. Alexander, Rook Morgan, and Jadye all broke into laughter.

"Leave it to a damn cherub to show up late." Rook said.

"Raynor, I can't believe no one killed your chubby little ass!" Morgan quickly followed up.

"Yes, well, as I have always said, it is not the size of your ass but how you move it." Raynor retorted.

"Hmmmm…that makes 5" Alexander said taking a breath as if to continue but was interrupted.

"Six actually." Another angel walked from the newly created rubble that Raynor had just made, gently brushing the settling dust off his tunic.

"Jacob!" Alexander exclaimed delightedly, making his way over to the pristine looking angel and hugging him.

"Shit…your in trouble now Rook, you're going to have to start cutting back on swearing." Morgan said grinning, tickled with his play on words.

"I wonder where and who the other one is?" Jadye added into the jumble of conversations.

The angels all began to exchange hugs and began to speak of the recent battle. Waiting a short time in an effort to not be rude Carpenter spoke, "Ah, Excuse me. I hate to interrupt this family reunion, but we still need to get some answers."

"Yes, you are right." Alexander, still smiling as turned back to Carpenter.

"You said something about another one. There is another Angel here?" Carpenter asked.

"Well, we assume there is." Morgan responded.

"Why would you assume that?" Carpenter took a drag on his cigarette, before flipping it into the gutter.

Because there is only 6 of us here". Jayde answered, as the choir of angels all focused at Carpenter.

"And……." Carpenter said motioning for more information.

"Seven………HE always works in sevens." Alexander responded.

"Why?" Louis asked

The Angels all shrugged in unison.

"Oh, ok. Well, good, I am glad we got something cleared up." Louis said sarcastically.

"There is still a lot I don't get…..." Carpenter was cut off by a hand movement from Jessica, who had been standing patiently beside him. He could feel her impatience now and from the look on her face could see that she was at the end of her tolerance with both him and the angels.

"Let's try and make some sense of this. Stop me if I get something wrong." Jessica began, her voice flat and tight. "As I see it there are several different things coming into play so I am going to try and break them down. Lets start with you Angels. You guys, up until just recently were literally guarding the gates to the Kingdom of heaven"

"Your on the money so far." Jayde responded.

"The Kingdom of Heaven was then attacked by damned souls who are being lead from Hell by a traitor angel."

"Most of that is correct, except, I am not sure what you mean by Hell?" Alexander responded.

"Hell…where damned souls go." Jessica explained.

"Ah, the vault, we have a different name for it apparently." Alexander stated.

"Alright then, the Kingdom of Heaven was then attacked by damned souls who were being lead from "the vault" by a traitor angel."

"Correct" Alexander acknowledged.

"Ok, and this traitor, no one knows who it is. However, we assume it is an angel who has come to earth and been seduced by earthly pleasures."

"Well, yes and no. If it is someone who was seduced by earthly pleasures we can usually tell. When our brothers stay here to long they begin to change…physically. Some think it is a form of evolution, while others believe it is punishment for being somewhere we are not supposed to be." Alexander explained.

"So," Jessica continued slowly, feeling her way carefully, "Is that what we saw you fighting. An angel that had been here to long."

"Barbatos was his name," Alexander responded, nodding his head, "Yes, he was once one of us. Some time ago he disappeared from the Kingdom. No one was able to find him until he turned up to help fight against the Kingdom with the damned souls."

"Fucking traitor" Rook snarled and then spat to emphasis his remark

"Could it have been him who set the damned souls free?" Jessica asked.

"It wasn't his job." Rook responded.

"Only specific Angels have the ability to open the vault. It is reserved for only the highest of us; Arch Angels" Alexander finished.

"Yeah, this chubby fuck couldn't do it" Morgan said pointing toward Raynor.

"Don't hate me because I'm pretty Morgan" Raynor retorted, grinning.

"I can see I am going to have to open a can of kick butt on your mouth Morgan" Jacob's voice seemed to vibrate displeasure and Morgan lowered his head like a scolded child.

"Ok then, moving on. So it must be an Arch Angel then?" Jessica said, half statement half question.

"Yes, it has to be." Rook said with anger in his voice

"Well, that should be kinda easy to figure out." Louis commented. "I mean there are only a limited number of those; six to be exact." He continued said with confidence.

"Seven" Alexander responded.

"No, there are six" Louis again confidently reaffirmed.

"We all just told you that he likes to work in seven's. There are seven."

Jayde said.