Seven Archangels: Annihilation (44 page)

He let out a long breath. "Thank you for all your help. I couldn't have done it alone." His fists tightened. "Will Satan ever attempt it again?"

"I removed the knowledge from him," God said. "None of them have it now. The one who learned it the first time is too unwilling to study the matter again, and the others don't have the same ability to reverse-engineer the soul."

Gabriel waited.

"There will never be another annihilation." God sounded amused. "You wanted me to spell it out."

Gabriel's eyes flashed, but he looked aside. "Did you take the knowledge from Satan after you assumed control in the lab area?" When God assented, he rubbed his chin. "That feels odd. I'm supposed to impart knowledge, not obliterate it."

"Education had no effect."

"I trust you," Gabriel said. "Removing knowledge is a first for me. I functioned as an antiCherub."

God chuckled.

Black-eyed and hopeful, Gabriel looked up. "Father, are you pleased with me?"

God made it known in Gabriel's heart how very pleased he was. Ducking his head, Gabriel grinned.

Jesus appeared before Gabriel and took his hands. "You did everything I wanted. Thank you."

Even as Gabriel shivered, Jesus turned his armor from black to grey, and then the armor vanished entirely to be replaced by jeans and a sweater. His touch on Gabriel's eyes returned them to grey, then changed his skin and hair to their normal color as well.

Gabriel trembled.

Jesus held him at arm's length. "Are you ready?"

"No." Gabriel's hands knotted. "Please let me keep it. I'm not going to abuse the knowledge. I won't even admit to still retaining it."

Jesus shook his head.

"We had that whole conversation," Gabriel whispered. "I don't want to forget that too. Please don't leave me an antiCherub."

"You're fully a Cherub." He gestured that Gabriel should kneel. "But there are some things even Cherubim need to forget."

He rested his hands on Gabriel's head and then pushed his fingers up beneath his hair.

What if you only took part of it?
Gabriel sent.

"Then you'd piece it all back together and you'd have to go through this again," Jesus said. "Remember your words to Mephistopheles?
Consider me as saving you the trouble of being either beaten or seduced.
Satan's not going to leave you alone if he thinks you still have it, so you can't."

"Afterward?" Gabriel said, fists clenched. "Maybe then?"

"No promises, Gabri'li." Jesus ran a finger along some strands of Gabriel's hair, tracing down his forehead and over his eyebrows. "Relax."

Gabriel tilted up his face to look Jesus in the eyes, and Jesus brushed the tears from his cheeks. "It's done."

With Gabriel shaking all over, Jesus crouched and kissed him on the forehead.

When Gabriel was ready, Jesus had him stand, then called for Raphael and Israfel. Raphael held Gabriel while Jesus took the memory from Israfel of how Satan had manipulated her soul. She didn't object.

"Now," he said, facing the three of them, "what's this about a fun bet?"

Gabriel and Raphael grinned simultaneously.

"You're both crazy," he said with a laugh. "Gabri'li, go blow something up, will you? For the only time in Eternity, you've got more power than Lucifer at his peak. Don't wear it down. Spend it all at once."

Israfel and Raphael both ignited.

"I know just the thing!" Israfel stood on her toes, her wings spread. "There's a star nursery four billion light years from Earth that hasn't turned out a decent star in millennia."

Raphael gasped. "That's perfect!"

Gabriel folded his arms and glared at Jesus sidelong. "Thanks."

"And Rapha'li," Jesus said, but Raphael interrupted, "I know—get him the stupid root beer float."

"
Get
it?" Gabriel said. "You have to
make
it! There's a microbrew root beer they sell in New England called Virgil's, and a place called 'Promised Land' in Texas that makes the best vanilla ice cream on Earth."

Raphael glared at him while Israfel choked on laughter.

"The glass has to be ice-cold," Gabriel said, ticking off the points on his fingers, "with a little chocolate syrup around the inside rim. You pack three scoops into the bottom—"

Raphael said, "You have got to be kidding me!"

"Of course I'm kidding!" Gabriel gave him a shove. "Take-out from Friendly's is fine."

Jesus said, "Oh, and Zadkiel wants to borrow the cloak after Israfel and Remiel are done with it."

"Zophiel wants it too," said Israfel.

Gabriel sighed. "I'm never getting it back, am I?"

"Eternity is a long time," Jesus said. "You'll get it back. But I suggest you start a sign-up sheet."

Israfel escorted Gabriel to the star nursery where they located a spot with two brown dwarfs in close proximity. Raphael excused himself while Israfel selected an ideal vantage point to view the show.

Michael appeared, his signature suppressed. "Gabriel doesn't want an audience, does he?" When Israfel nodded, he said, "So don't mention I'm here." As she snickered, Michael added, "And if Gabriel asks, Remiel is
not
also watching from other there. With a video camera."

"Gabriel just signaled," Israfel said. "Where's Raphael?"

"Right here." He reappeared, holding a tall mug. "I hope this is cold enough for him."

"Absolute zero should suffice under most definitions of cold." Israfel smiled. "No take-out?"

"He nearly died, and then he saved your life." Raphael tossed the mug from one hand to the other. "The least I can do is procure some chocolate syrup."

"Second signal," both Seraphim said (with Israfel bouncing in place, hands clasped together).

The nebula flared with a white light, followed by an afterglow that shimmered on all the stardust and gaseous matter as it swirled around the gravity wells. Raphael whooped, followed by a deep awe that rolled from the depths of his heart. Next a visible chain reaction as a brown dwarf tripled in size, trembled, and collapsed on itself; it ejected matter that reflected light in every frequency of the spectrum.

"Oh," Israfel murmured. "My God."

As the glow waned, the show repeated with a second brown dwarf in the same cluster.

How many is he going to do?
Remiel sent.

I told him to do at least three deep discharges.
Raphael's thoughts sounded faint, so much of him was absorbed in the light show.
The rapid recovery afterward will rebuild substance in him.

Does it work?
asked Remiel.

It's efficient,
Raphael sent,
but I don't mind the side effects, either.

With that, a third star ignited, and everyone applauded.

Gabriel flashed to them, shaking, breath heavy, but with pink cheeks and bright eyes.

Coming up close, Raphael inspected him. "How do you feel?"

"Pretty good," he managed between gasps. "You're right. I don't get to do that very often." He looked up to spot Michael, then Remiel. "You didn't videotape that, did you?"

"It's content for my website," she said, the camera still rolling. "I was just thinking it's too bad I don't have a rusted pickup with a gun rack and a six pack."

"You're a lunatic," he said. "Quote me on that." Then he looked at Israfel. "Was that worth the price of admission?"

She smiled. "I think so."

"Come on." Raphael tossed him the mug. "I owe you a root beer float."

"Not yet." Gabriel gazed on the lighted nebula. "I want to watch it burn for a while. It's beautiful in its own way, how it's going to reform eventually and not just be snuffed out."

Epilogue

An eight-year-old boy in an angel costume ran ahead of a black-haired woman in an ankle-length grey cloak. "Hurry up!" He tugged at the door to the nursing home.

"Don't you think you've trick-or-treated enough?" the woman said as she hauled open the door for him.

The boy turned his bright grey eyes on her. "Just this one more, please? And then we're done. Come on!"

A number of the residents relaxed in the main lobby. The little boy ran right up to the closest cluster of elderly ladies, adjusting his gold-wire halo. "Trick or treat!"

A chorus of "Ooh!"s from the women. "Who are you?" one woman said.

The boy stood straight and tall. "I'm the archangel Gabriel!"

The women gave him another chorus of "ooh"s, and one said, "What a little angel!"

He clasped his hands behind him. "Thank you, Ma'am!"

"And so polite, too." They gave him candy to put in his pillow case. He ran to the next group, and one of the residents turned to the grey-cloaked woman. "That's an incredible costume. Did you make that for him?"

Eyes sparkling, she said, "His Father did."

"You must be very proud of him," said another.

"He certainly is energetic," the woman said, then called, "Gabriel! Don't go far!"

A moment later the cloaked woman saw the grand piano beneath the tall windows. "Is that in tune?" When the residents assured her it was, she settled at the keyboard while Gabriel did his rounds through the whole room. By the time he returned to her an hour later, his pillowcase was full of candy and his head full of anecdotes from the residents. Taking requests, Israfel was astounding everyone with a faultless rendition of every song.

"Your mom is really talented," one gentleman told Gabriel, rubbing his hair.

"I know, sir." He straightened his halo. "She's been good to me."

Seeing Gabriel, Israfel stood from the piano bench, and the residents all asked her to return sometime with her charming son. Israfel tousled Gabriel's hair and told him to say goodbye.

Not yet,
he sent.
There's one more upstairs.

He grabbed her hand, leading her along corridors that smelled of antiseptic and waste at the same time. The sterile light from fluorescent fixtures glared against the polished floor as they walked, occasionally stopping at a resident's room, announcing "Trick or treat!" and then producing for the resident a treat from the pillowcase. Each time Gabriel did this, the resident would exclaim that it was his favorite, and how had he known?

At the end of the corridor, Gabriel said, "Last stop. I promise."

Israfel sighed. "Did we just cover the whole Earth?"

"That's why Raphael doesn't want to do it anymore." Gabriel squeezed her hand. "It makes for a long day. But it's a chance to talk to people when they don't expect an angel."

"I have to admit," Israfel said, "name-that-tune was fun."

Gabriel turned into the corner room, a double with one resident out; the other lay in the bed by the window, muttering in a monotone.

Gabriel climbed onto the bed and got her attention with a soft, "Trick or treat."

The woman's guardian sat on the edge. "She won't understand."

Gabriel withdrew a handful of hard candies from the bag, then handed one to the woman.

She took it with translucent-skinned fingers, unwrapping it with a light crinkling. First she slipped it into her mouth, then whispered, "Horehound drops."

Gabriel looked into her eyes, his gaze riveting her as only an angel's can, bringing her a pinpoint of clarity.

"Grandma brings these," she murmured, half submerged by the dream that was her life. "My father goes to work. Then Grandma comes."

Gabriel stroked her hand while the woman sucked on the candy, and its long-ago flavor evoked a dozen locked memories.

The woman's guardian touched her hair wistfully.

Gabriel said, "Does Grandma come every day?"

"She does." She gazed into the angel's eyes as if there was no one else. "I think she does. So hard to remember," and she returned to chanting beneath her breath.

Gabriel said, "Talk to me."

She stopped, looked only at him. "My father leaves. Grandma comes. When will my father come home?" Her eyes filled with tears. "Where am I? When will I go home?"

Gabriel lined up five of the brown candies on the woman's bedside tray, counting out loud. The woman focused.

"Every day," Gabriel said, "Grandma will bring one to you. Every day, you can have one." She still watched. "Five candies. When you have the last one, your Father will come get you. And you'll go home."

"After the last candy," she said.

"One a day," Gabriel said. "When Grandma comes."

The guardian looked startled and relieved at the same time. "She may not remember. She's lost so much."

It's hard to have parts of you slip away.
Gabriel stroked the woman's bony hand.
But she'll get it back. Just a little longer and she'll be whole again.

- + -

Outside once more, Gabriel walked with the pillowcase in one hand and Israfel's in the other. The Seraph was quiet.

Gabriel moved closer to Israfel. "Thank you for coming with me."

She looked down at him in his wire halo. "Do I get first pick of the take?"

"I get all the Smarties."

"Naturally."

"Everything else I would put out in the jar in the library." He slowed his steps, and so did Israfel. "So you can either take a pile now, or maybe," and his voice lowered to almost inaudible, "you could come get your share a piece at a time."

She met his eyes as they turned the corner. In the next moment a breeze blew through, and then there was nobody there.

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