When Angels Fall (3 page)

Well, damn. He
was
a lunatic…and he was in her house. Would this day
never
end? What had she done to deserved all this? She was regretting her decision not to call the police from the
pay phone in the
hotel parking lot. S
he threw herself from the couch
and made a break for the kitchen phone.

She didn’t make it. She’d only
run
a couple of feet before
he grabbed her around the waist
and jerked her up against him.

“Your
name is Danielle Renee Coulter;
y
our mother’s name was Ann Marie;
your gr
andmother’s name was Mary Mabel;
and
her
mother’s name was Katherine Grace. You we
re born and raised in this town,” he said.
“
I am an Angel of the
Lord, and I
need
to talk to you.
”

She didn’t know how he knew all of that about her
and her
family, and she didn’t
really
care. She just wanted him to put her d
own. If that meant
she had to listen to what this nutcase had to say, then so be it.

Anything to get him out of her house, and then she
really
was going to call the police. She didn’t know if he was dangerous
,
but he was definitely
delusional
. Someone needed to see about him
and get him some help.

“If I listen to you, will you leave?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“Fine, I’ll listen to you. Now put me down, and get your di…your man parts, off of me,” she said, realizing that she could feel the heat of him through
the back of
her jeans.

“Thank you,’ he said, setting her back on her feet, and tur
ning her to face him. “Sit down.
”

She didn’t particularly care for being told to sit down in her own house, but humored him by flopping down on the couch.

“I know what I’m about to tell you will be hard for you to believe, but you
must
believe me; you
r
life, and the fate of
all
man
kind depends on you,” he said in a monotone voice.

The fate of all man
kind
depends
on her
? Fabulous;
and
he thought he was an
angel
, which made him
a
religious freak. That
,
in and of itself
,
could make him dangerous.

She’d seen some
of
mother’s most devout friends get all riled up if someone didn’t agree with their religious point of view; and non
e of them thought they were an
Angel of the Lord
.

“Wait,” she said, and stood up.

She walked to the hall closet and pulled out an old pair of her grandfather’s jeans. Her Grandma Mabel had cleared most of her grandfather
’
s things out of the house after he’d died, but the clothes in the closet had stayed. When her grandmother died
,
Dani’s mom had considered tossing them out, but couldn’t bring herself to part with the last of her father’s things.

Her grandfather had been a big man, and Dani t
hought his pants might fit the
Angel of the Lord
that was standing, ass out, in her living room. It was a no go on a shirt
,
though. H
er grandfather’s shoulders ha
dn’t been nearly as wide as the angel’s
.

“Here,” she said, walking back in
to
the room and tossing him the pants. “Try those on for size.”

“We don’t have time for this,” he said in the same deadpan tone.

“Look, I don’t know where you’re
really
from, but here in the S
outh we consider it rude to wag your wang in a lady’s face. And, I’m
not
listening to one word you have to say until you put it away.”

“Fine,” he said.

He slid the pants up his legs and struggled to do up the button fly. He looked back up at her with eyes the color of blue fire once he was done. One black curl hung over his forehead making him every bit as beautiful as the angel he claimed to be. It was
too
bad he was crazy. He could’ve had one hell of a modeling career.

“Are you happy?
” he asked.
“
Can we talk now?”

“By all means,
please
tell me how the fate of the wor
ld depends on me.
The
suspense is
killing
me,” she said.

“You’re being sarcastic,” he said.

“Very good, now get on with it,” she said.

She glanced at the wall clock:
12:08 a.m.
The day had ended, and the next day was starting to look like it wasn’t go
ing to be any better. Hopefully
,
he’
d be brief, but she wasn’t going to hold her breath.

1.

Gabriel studied the face of the woman that sat before him, trying to determin
e the best way to tell her that
life as she knew it was over. He decided to just tell her straight out what was going on, and hope she wouldn’t be a child about it.

“Come on, already,” Danielle said impatiently.

Gabriel
really
didn’t care for
this woman at all; he found her to be rude, condescending, and crude. She had deep green eyes and long dark red hair. She was bea
utiful from a human perspective,
but he understood why she wasn’t married.

With her attitude it would be nearly impossible to find a husband that would
be willing to
put up with her. But she was the
last
Daughter of God and Gabriel
was
s
worn to protect her.

“Your story starts with Mary, mo
ther of Jesus Christ,” he started
.

“Mary Christ; gottcha’, please continue,” Dani said.

Gabriel stared at her for several seconds before he started talking again.

“God put his seed i
nto Mary to create who
everyone now knows was Jesus. There is a reason for
everything
God does. He impregnated Mary to
protect the whole of humanity; H
is greatest and most
loved creation. As long as the B
lood of
God walked the Earth, humanity’s
future was secure,” he explained.

“But that would mean that any protection that God had afforded to humans died with Jesus when he was crucified. That was over two thousand years ago. That’s a long time to leave your most beloved toy just hanging in the wind, isn’t it?
” she asked.
“
No,
wait…l
et me
guess; Jesus really
was
resurrected and he still walks amongst us today, right?”

“Wrong,” he said. “Now stop interrupting.
”

She looked at him like she wanted to say something else, but she held her tongue.

“Jesus was
sent
here to die; to serve his purpose by bringing peoples faith back to God; and he did that. But, the blood Jesus carri
ed in his veins was not
the
only
blood of God on Earth. When God impregnated Mary, she became Holy; infused with God’s essence; his blood.

“
After giving birth to Jesus, Mary had one more offspring, a female child. That child also carried the blood of God. When that child had a daughter of her own, the bloodline passed to her.

“
This continued through the following generations; from mother to daughter. A cycle that would continue until the blood of God passed on to you; the last woman on Earth to carry the royal blood of God,” he said.

“I see where you’re going with this,” Dani said.

“No,” he said.
“You don’t.
”

“Sure I do,” she said.
“
You’re going to tell me that you need to have sex with me to get me pregnant. That, if I don’t
, humanity will be lost forever.
”

He just looked at her; completel
y stunned
.

“Mate with you; a human?” he asked, sounding utterly disgusted.
“You must be
joking
.
”

“What’s that supposed to mean?
” she said, sounding slightly offended.

“An angel and a
human
…it’s just
not
done. We’re not even the same species; not even from the same plain of existence. It’s unthinkable that an angel would
lower
himself to that level,” he said.

Now she looked angry, but he didn’t understand why. He hadn’t said anything untrue.

“Lower yourself?
” she asked condescendingly. “
So you think you’re better than me; better than humans?”

“I
am
better than you. I am an Angel of the Lord, and you are
merely
a human. There is
no
comparison,” Gabriel stated.

“If you’re so much better then me
,
then why are you here? Why did you help me tonight? Shouldn’t you be up in Heaven playing a harp or knitting new robes for God; or whatever it is you do when you’re not down here insulting me?”

This was why
Gabriel
didn’t like coming to Earth. Humans were ungrateful by nature. Rudeness must be encoded in their DNA. He was an
angel
! She was suppose
d
to fear him; to be in awe of him.

He was here to protect her, and she was doing all she could to make him want to kill her himself! If God had wanted to punish him, then saddling him with
this
woman was the perfect way to go about it.

“I’
m here because I have no choice,” h
e said.
“
I’m on a mission
from God to protect you, and to kill Lucifer. Since you have, so far, refused to have a child, his death is
the only way to insure humanity’s
continued existence on Earth.
”

“You’re here to kill Lucifer; as in Lucifer the
Devil
?” she asked politely.

Finally, he was getting through that small human brain of hers.

“Yes,” he said.

“I see,” she said, rising from the couch, and walk
ing to the front door. “Get out.
”

“Excuse me?” he asked.

2.

“Get out of my house! I’ve listened to what you had to say, and I’ve determined that you need to get some
help
. There is a place right down the street from here called Center Stone.

“
It’s a mental health facility that will be
more
that happy to treat you for free. You should give them a call; immediately. Now
get out
of my house,” she said, and opened the front door.

The smell that hit her in the face when she opened the door was almost strong enough to knock her off h
er feet. It was the smell of
decay that she
’d smelled on her attacker’s
breath at the cemetery, mixed with the smell of burned matches. It was stro
ng to the point of overwhelming,
and it immediately struck fear in her heart.

She slammed the door, and turned
back
to the crazy man behind her. His eyes were closed
,
but she could see them moving behind his eyelids. She attempted to take a deep calming breath, but the stench had saturated the air in
side
the house. She tried to convince herself that the crazy man’s story had
just
freaked her out.

She hadn’t slept in days, so it wouldn’t be
too
hard to mess with her mind. Dani
tried
to convince herself that this was the case, but she failed.

The problem was that she
knew
what made matches smell that way when you struck them; it was the sulfur. Sulfur was synonymous with Hell. Any kid that ever went to Sunday school could tell you that.