The Damned Holies (The Fallen Wars 1)

Chapter Seven

Xavier convinced me to stay another night with him, because he kept getting me beers until I was definitely tipsy. He was evil. That morning, we ordered room service breakfast and just talked about nothing in particular. I suggested that we go for a walk so we toured the city by ourselves until lunch time, when we stopped at a little French cafe. I couldn’t resist getting a crepe with Nutella and strawberries. It was my heritage, after all. Xavier reminded me about the museums in Dublin while I was munching on that and I said I still wanted to do it.

We arrived at the National Museum of Ireland half an hour later, due to traffic in the city. We walked around quietly talking and teasing each other for a few hours. I kept pointing out facts and dates that weren’t true.

“That was invented in the previous year.”

“That was painted in Italy, not France. Come on, how could they get that wrong? Italy was the birth of the Renaissance.”

“That uniform was actually owned by a lieutenant, not a general. You can tell by the number of stars.”

After the millionth correction, Xavier’s hand shot out. “Aimee, stop. You’re ruining my museum experience.”

“I was just saying…” I grumbled under my breath, too low for him to hear. My eyes raised to his. “Want to know about the angels?”

His eyes lit up at the opportunity that I laid out in front of him; the chance to learn definite knowledge and he eagerly nodded.

I told him the condensed version of what Reven told me. “The angels were created by God, after the first few humans were. God created only sixteen. There are eight hierarchs, designated in three different spheres, with different jobs, and two angels per hierarch.” I went into explaining how the angel system worked. “It’s complicated. In order from closest to God to farthest in the First Sphere; the Seraphim, Ariel and Hope; the Cherubim; Raphael and Uriel; the Thrones; Sarah and Amelia. In the Second Sphere: the Dominions, Reven and Adam; the Virtues, Belle and Cecilia; the Powers, Thaddeus and Elias. The Third Sphere; the Principalities, Zella and Marion; and the Archangels; Michael and Gabriel.”

“That’s a lot to take in. I might have to make a chart.” Xavier joked and elbowed my ribs. “Gabriel is your father?”

“Yes…”

“How many of them have you encountered, or have you seen all of them?”

I counted the numbers in my head. “I haven’t met either of the Seraphim, the Powers, or the Cherubim. Usually the angels are with their partners. So, it’s odd the encounter one by themselves.”

Xavier bobbed his head, his body language telling me to continue with my story.

“The angels had been to Earth, but at the same time they haven’t. Travelling between the two planes takes massive amounts of energy, and the angels don’t have enough. Their physical bodies stayed in Heaven while their metaphysical souls wandered among the humans. They were observers. They watched while humans grew, evolved, and changed the world around them. God has always been big on ‘free will’, with the humans, that is. That immentity was never given to the angels. They were basically slaves, with no escape of death.” I tried not to get choked up when the memory flashed before my closed eyes. “You should have seen it, Xavier. They just wanted to be like us; to have choices.”

“You’re sympathizing with them.”

“Yeah, actually I am.” I snapped back.

“So what if they wanted free will? It’s no excuse to kill millions of people.”

“No, but can’t you see what you humans are doing to this planet?!”

“Aimee, keep your voice down.” Xavier’s ice blue eyes narrowed as he hissed the words at me.