Seven Archangels: Annihilation (11 page)

A Throne said, "How will an attack now prevent future annihilations?"

Raguel said, "A show of force will make them afraid to try again."

"All right," Michael said, "let's have more ideas."

The Throne said, "We could issue a warning."

"If the fires of Hell don't deter him," Israfel said, "he'll laugh at a stern warning."

"He ought to be warned."

"He's not ignorant," Mary said. "He must have suspected this was the worst thing he could do. I'm surprised he waited this long to attempt it."

"Corruption is more severe than destruction," said Ophaniel.

Sidriel, the Cherub beside him, added, "You might as well mention the fact that even our Cherubim never figured out how God made us. This isn't a new application of old information."

Ophaniel shrugged. "That too."

"If I may," Michael said, "let's have more ideas."

"What if we abduct Satan?" Mary said.

Saraquael shook his head. "Beelzebub would say good riddance. He's wanted the throne of Hell for years. Asmodeus too. Mephistopheles would help us capture Satan if we asked, and no one except the lower order demons would really miss him."

"Maybe Belior," Sidriel said. "He seems genuinely loyal."

"It wouldn't give us assurance anyhow," Ophaniel added. "Camael indicated he didn't work alone. Mephistopheles must know how to do it as well."

Michael said, "We've got three ideas now. Let's keep moving."

The chief of the choir of Dominions raised one finger and smiled demurely. "We might let natural law take its course," she said.

"Do nothing?" Raguel said.

Israfel said, "We're the tools of natural law."

"Not always," said the Dominion, named Zadkiel. She along with Saraquael were Michael's standard-bearers. "This is a crime against the Spirit. It's not for us to decide the case."

"How can we let this go unanswered?" Raguel was again on his feet, his wings flared. "Gabriel may die because of him!"

In a low voice, Saraquael said, "She's aware of that."

Raguel hesitated, then sat back down.

Uriel said, "I want to hear more."

Zadkiel met Uriel's eyes with a quickness like Saraquael's. "When Satan refused to worship God, he committed a crime against angels by taking a third of us down in rebellion, so an angel took action and threw him into Hell."

"With a lot of help," Michael interjected.

"When Satan seduced mankind, that was a crime against humanity, and Jesus, the Word as human, redressed the wrong. Annihilation is a crime against God himself as the life sustainer." Zadkiel looked at her slender fingers. "We aren't on a plane to fix that wrong, nor to avenge for him, nor to make reparation for Gabriel's pain or the pain of everyone who will be affected by his loss. I say, let God take care of the matter."

Uriel said, "If we follow your lead, we must remain completely passive."

"Agreed. Sooner or later, God will ensure that the natural consequences of Satan's actions to punish him far more appropriately than we could."

"But Satan hates his own," Raguel said. "He'd be happy if they started annihilating one another, as long as they didn't annihilate him. And if they got him, he'd be free from punishment—which as I recall, was supposedly eternal."

Zadkiel rubbed her chin. "I trust in our Father."

"Trust isn't the issue," Michael said. "No one is questioning that God will work this out for his glory—it's just a question of how best that should happen. Your point is definitely worth consideration, and I'm glad you suggested it." He looked around. "Anyone else?"

An Archangel said, "We could send spies into Hell to determine their next move."

"Remiel is already established there," Ophaniel said.

Saraquael said, "Remiel is not a long-term option."

"But spies in general are," Michael said. "Other ideas? I want everything on the table at once."

From beside Ophaniel, Sidriel said, "Maybe if we explained to Satan why what he's doing is wrong, he'd understand the need not to do it again."

"He'd do it even more," Saraquael said, "possibly starting with whomever went to talk to him."

"But every option depends on his eventual cooperation."

"That's why God has to intervene directly," Zadkiel said. "We can't force Satan to be good."

Raguel said, "We can chain him down and keep him from being bad."

Michael snickered.

Zadkiel said, "Forever?"

"If that's what it takes."

"Hold on," Michael said. "More ideas? We're just brain-storming now."

Israfel said, "Can God protect us from the process in a special way? Can we be double-knotted or locked?"

Mary said, "I already asked. He said there's no technique that would prevent it."

Israfel said, "Will he consent to re-creating any angels destroyed by this process?"

Mary shook her head. "I asked that too."

Momentary quiet from everyone.

An Archangel said, "Is Satan preparing to defend against a full-scale assault right now? We ought to consider his expectations as we decide."

"I'll investigate that," Saraquael said. "I'll also try to recall Remiel."

"Do that," Michael said.

Everyone returned to quiet.

"Are we out of ideas?" Michael scanned the room, then added, "Let's take a break, and when we return, we can work out a solution."

The meeting dissolved, some angels moving outside, others gathering in different parts of the room in smaller groups. Zadkiel and Ophaniel joined two Thrones by the long windows that stretched floor to ceiling, framed by the green sky outside. Some Archangels and Angels had gathered in another corner and sat on the multi-colored carpet; one read poetry to the rest of the group. Saraquael departed on his assignments.

Michael turned to Uriel. The Throne's wings sagged, and the purple eyes had darkened to black. Michael leaned closer, then backed off a bit, projecting that if the Throne had something to say, to feel free to say anything at all.

Uriel simply sent back exhaustion. Tension.

Michael tried to offer reassurance.

He noticed Raguel talking animatedly with Zadkiel. Good—let them work it out.

Ophaniel appeared beside Uriel, calling over a chair and feasting his eyes on the Throne. "So, how is it done?"

Uriel focused on Ophaniel, who sat back sharply.

"How could it be wrong to know?" Ophaniel said. "Knowledge is knowledge, and this is God's best-kept secret of all!"

Uriel's eyes narrowed.

"How much
can
you tell me?" Ophaniel said.

Uriel sighed.

Ophaniel leaned forward, eyes bright.

Sidriel approached.

"Uriel won't tell us," Ophaniel said.

Shock and frustration rolled off the other Cherub. "They're allowed to know it, but we're not?"

Uriel glanced at Michael, then back at the pair of Cherubim. "Some things we shouldn't know."

"That's crazy," Sidriel said.

Ophaniel paused. "Maybe it's true." When Sidriel regarded him with questions, Ophaniel added, "I wouldn't care to know how to perform a Satanic sacrifice."

"You wouldn't do it, but the knowledge of how to do it, that wouldn't be wrong."

Uriel snapped, and both Cherubim looked up.

"God will reveal only as much as I need to know to do the repair," Uriel said, and then before Ophaniel could ask to know that much, added, "and afterward I'll have to surrender it back."

"No!" both Cherubim cried out simultaneously.

"This is something that's never been done—"

"It's our identity—"

"It's who we are as angels—"

"It's God's decision," Uriel said.

When Sidriel huffed, Michael hid a smile.

Ophaniel said, "You said you'd do the repair. Can I at least watch?"

Uriel's eyes flashed.

Sidriel said, "I hate to ask this, but—how are you expecting to be able to repair him? He looked pretty torn up."

Michael said, "He should recover." When the Cherubim and the Throne turned to look at him, he added, "I asked Jesus."

Sidriel brightened. "Oh! That's good."

Ophaniel said, "What exactly did he say?"

Michael thought for a moment. "That it depended on Raphael."

Uriel expressed surprise.

Michael looked at the three sets of curious eyes and could feel their disbelief. "What do you think I'm missing?"

"Give me the whole conversation," Ophaniel said.

"Just that I asked if Gabriel would survive, and Jesus said it depended on how tightly Raphael would hang on."

He didn't feel from them the relief he'd expected.

Ophaniel said, "And that doesn't frighten the daylights out of you?"

Michael shook his head, hesitant.

Sidriel said, "That's hardly a yes."

"It's not, but—"

Uriel flagged Mary over and repeated Michael's conversation with Jesus.

Mary looked concerned. "It sounds a lot like 'Destroy this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days' when he knew his listeners were going to think he meant the building."

Michael said, "But we know Raphael would hang in there for as long as it took. That's why I'm not frantic."

Uriel said, "He's discouraged, but he wouldn't give up."

Sidriel said, "Ophaniel and I have primary bonds with him. We can try to help keep his spirits up."

Uriel said, "And check out Gabriel at the same time?"

Sidriel sighed; Uriel grinned.

Michael said, "Is there any way to help Raphael? If he's really the lynch pin, we need to keep him going also."

Uriel said, "I'll keep an eye on him. I really don't want Gabriel exposed to too much residue. Raphael shouldn't have come here before, but he so much hungered for contact with the rest of you. It's hard on him to be alone with only me and Gabriel, and Gabriel isn't even responsive."

Mary said, "I knew a mother who cared for a child like that. He never responded either, but she took care of him all the time, no matter how tired she was."

Uriel said, "She had help from her family, and we need to provide Raphael the same kind of respite."

Michael leaned on the desk and closed his eyes. The room sounded so loud: Raguel and Zadkiel all but having a fist fight in one corner, poetry from another, laughter from a third. How could they be laughing when Gabriel lay in pieces?

He felt Uriel's touch on his arm, but he didn't raise his head.

"Is it true Raphael didn't get everything?"

Michael had projected that more than said it, his voice blending into the hum of the room.

Uriel's heart stirred in his own: it was true.

"Then we have to send someone back inside."

Michael thought about whom he could send. Remiel, already established in Hell. Himself because he couldn't ask his own to do something he wouldn't. An overextended Raphael, who might be best able to find what they were looking for. Israfel, also one of Gabriel's primaries and possibly strong enough to defend herself if attacked by all five of Hell's commanders.

Uriel said, "I think it's necessary."

Another decision. Gabriel usually handled this kind of thing. Maybe that's why Satan had singled him out. One of the others should have stepped in as the decision-maker. Michael worked better like a weapon: aim it in the right direction and fire, but don't expect it to select its own target.

"You'll do fine," Saraquael said, abruptly at his side. "You have a knack of responding instantly the right way."

Michael turned his head. "I don't know what's right to do this time."

Uriel had departed to speak to Mary, and the Cherubim were going head-to-head about whether knowledge itself, in its pure form, could possibly be wrong to have. For the moment, it left Michael and Saraquael in relative privacy.

"You second-guess yourself." Saraquael sat back in his chair. "You know, ordinarily I love the fact that every angel understands and reflects God's infinity in a different fashion, but it's times like this I wish we all just reflected it one way. Working stone against stone is a nice way to get down to the nugget of truth at the center, but the friction is pretty intense while we're getting there."

"We're in agreement about the important things," Michael said softly. "There's no question about those. But yeah. This one's going to be rough."

Saraquael said, "Remember after the Crucifixion, you had to stop a meeting and make everyone repeat to everyone else in the room, 'You are not the enemy'? Keep that in your toolbox in case we need it again." He put a hand on Michael's shoulder. "I've got the information you wanted." Then he hesitated.

"You want to pre-brief me?"

"You might want to know this first."

"Is it something that requires immediate action?"

Saraquael shook his head.

"Then hold off." He looked at Saraquael. "How does Gabriel do this?"

"You never studied him?" Saraquael chuckled. "He walks in, presents a logical and thorough description of what he intends to do, explains why he's discounted all the alternatives, asks if anyone has any objections, and then suddenly—surprise—we're in agreement."

"In other words," Michael said, "he's always right." When Saraquael laughed, Michael said, "Do you want to take over?"

"And get it from all sides? To be honest, I'd much rather be your lieutenant."

"Then there's nothing else for it." Michael got to his feet. "Gabriel has to get better."

He called everyone back to order.

Saraquael stood. "Camael has admitted that he as well as Mephistopheles and Beelzebub were to take part in the annihilation, so he understands the rudiments."

Ophaniel said, "We'd do well to assume the other two also know the whole procedure."

Sidriel said, "Mephistopheles has to be the one that developed it."

Michael waved the Cherubim down.

Saraquael continued, "Hell has sentries posted everywhere, but they aren't in formation to defend against a full attack."

Michael nodded.

"Everyone in Hell believes Gabriel was successfully annihilated."

Saraquael shifted his weight. "This last is a potentially damaging situation. Camael's involvement is not coincidental. He was chosen to participate because he supposedly used Remiel to direct Gabriel to Earth for spurious reasons."