Chapter 12

Chamuel woke up to hard knocking at his apartment door. He shared an apartment with Raguel but it was early in the morning and he had no doubt Raguel was back in the office. Raguel had said he'd be leaving early to bring the imprisoned Ariel and Raphael some food. Raguel had let him sleep in today but it didn't matter. He hadn't slept all night. He'd been tossing and turning the entire time.

The knocks got heavier and heavier.

“Hold on,” he found himself saying shaking it off, “I'm fuckin' coming. Goddam it.”

Chamuel got up off the bed. He'd shook off his nightmares. The third eye caused him to have a lot of crazy dreams. Something was coming. He knew something horrible was coming to DC but he didn't know when or what it was.

Leviathan had warned him something was coming up in 7 days. They were almost on those 7 days. He wondered if his dream was trying to tell him what was coming It was so hard to interpret some of the visions he saw with his 6th sense.

“Sorry to bother you.”

It was Uriel. Chamuel was surprised. Uriel had come over once or twice but usually to talk to Raguel when he was learning about his powers. Uriel was usually a really attractive well put together guy but right now his seemed pale. He was shivering.

“Hey Raguel's back at the office.”

“Actually I came to see you...”

“Oh shit. Well um... come in. You look like shit...,” Chamuel told him.

He had to be honest. He laughed hoping that Uriel wouldn't take it too seriously though. Uriel didn't seem like the type of guy to really get into his feelings. He was a real man's man kind of guy. Uriel normally would have laughed but right now he just shook his head as though he had something on his mind.

“I've been out all night,” Uriel replied, “Walking around trying to clear my head.”

“Oh no. What happened?”

“Can't you see it---in your third eye, I mean?” Uriel asked.

Chamuel wished that was the case. He hadn't been able to see much with his third eye lately. His third eye was heavy with visions of coming dangers. None of them ever made sense and many nights he'd wake up just screaming. He'd had visions of Uriel as well. He had visions of all of them dead. He'd had to figure out if this was a metaphorical vision or a realistic vision. Sometimes his eye showed him possible futures. He wasn't sure.

“That's not exactly how it works. My eye I mean. How about you just tell me? I think that'll be easier. Here. Sit. My coffee isn't Rag's, but it's decent. It's not poison at least. Ha.”

Uriel sat in the chair of their small apartment. It was a temporary apartment. Raguel had gotten it just for them to sleep in. There was no decoration in the house. There was no character. Even the coffee he was pouring now for Uriel was bland. Chamuel knew that Raguel's one and only goal was winning this war. Human things like luxury didn't mean anything to Raguel. Chamuel tried hard to adopt that kind of philosophy but it was more than hard.

“Gah---you sure it's not poison?” Uriel asked after a sip.

“Listen, for someone who has been walking out in 14 degree weather all night, you definitely seem to be picky. Why the hell were you out there anyway? Last time I checked you had a car.”

“I just needed to clear my head,” Uriel replied.

“From?”

“Him. Michael,” Uriel stated.

Chamuel didn't need a third eye to guess that Uriel would be thinking about Michael. It had become clear that their relationship was evolving extremely fast. And as Uriel and Michael's relationship evolved, Michael's relationship with the other angels were unraveling. Chamuel knew Uriel would take Michael's side no matter what. Now Chamuel was somewhere stuck in the middle hoping these issues resolved themselves.

“He's all over the news,” Chamuel stated, “The cops are looking everywhere for him.”

“He's at my house.”

“You sure that's the best place for him right now?” Chamuel asked, “You got a fugitive on your hands...”

Uriel looked nervous. Chamuel could tell by the way he staring back at him. Uriel wasn't himself right now. He was full of nerves.

“I'm not sure of much of anything right now to be honest,” Uriel replied, “I thought me and him were...getting better. Last night I caught him having sex on my couch with my roommate.”

Chamuel's eyes shot open. Fuck. Michael was cold. Michael definitely made it hard to like him. Uriel was a good guy. He definitely didn't deserve some shitty situation like that to happen. Chamuel just shook his head. He had met many a thot in his day, but there was something going on with Michael. There was something much more complicated.

“That's why you were out all night, huh? Wasn't it? Be honest. You got it written all over you.”

“I was falling for this dude. I don't know why. I didn't have a reason to,” Uriel admitted all of a sudden, “Shit. Matter of fact. To keep it 100, I had a lot of reasons not to fall for Michael. It's like. I couldn't help it you know.”

Chamuel nodded, “The heart wants what it wants.”

“You don't think it's crazy.”

“Hell no. I fell in love with a girl before that was all kinds of bad for me,” Chamuel replied, “This chick fucked every guy from here to Sri Lanka. Real slut bucket, that one. Jesus Christ. I get hot just thinking about it now.”

“How'd you get over her?”

“I never did. Everyone has their demons. Trust me. I got mines too,” Chamuel replied, “Being gay though. I don't think is a demon. Don't tell Raphael that. You know how he is about his religion. He's been trying to get rid of that emotion too. It ain't going to work. He thinks its the worst thing ever. He feels the same way about Michael that you do...”

“What?”

“Um...did I say that out loud?”

Chamuel knew how Raphael felt about Michael. It was clear. He had seen it with his third eye. He had seen it with his own intuition. He knew Raphael was struggling with his sexuality and somehow blaming Michael for that struggle. Truth was Raphael was infatuated with Michael. However where Uriel was hoping to win Michael over, Raphael had taken a different approach all together.

“You got to be fucking kidding me,” Uriel replied, “He's a hypocrite. He sits there and dogs me out about my feelings when he really likes Michael too. ”

“Like Gandhi said. I like these your Christ. But you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Chamuel had lived by that. He was religious. He'd always been religious but he had seen the dangers that religion could have when interpreted incorrectly firsthand. He'd seen the hate and dismay it could cause in the world. He and Raphael had once been close but religion was driving Raphael crazy. He was fighting so much against his own nature that he was losing himself.

Chamuel felt like it was up to him to help Raphael but he had no idea how.

“Does Michael? You know...” Uriel started.

Uriel was looking shy. Chamuel could kind of read where he was hinting too. Uriel didn't seem like the shy kind of guy. Chamuel knew he was touching on some serious emotions right now. He knew he had to tread carefully with everything he said moving forward.

“Does Michael feel some type of way about Raphael?” Chamuel asked him.

“Right.”

“No. Not that I've seen.”

“Um. What about me? Does he...feel some type of way about me...”

Chamuel knew now why Uriel had really come over. Whatever Michael was doing was contradictory to how Michael really felt and Uriel was hoping to find out about that. Chamuel had seen the pink and purple auras around both of them when they were around each other. He'd seen the auras before with his third eye but no one had them as strongly as Michael and Uriel...especially yesterday. They were in love with one another.

But love was a dangerous thing. It was something that Chamuel didn't want to interfere in. His abilities weren't given to him for matters of the heart.

“Don't you think that's cheating?” Chamuel asked.

“He has this wall up. I just need to know. I just need to know what he's thinking,” Uriel replied, “Please...”

“Well, what do you think?” Chamuel asked, “What made you come over here and ask me these questions?”

“I feel like he really cares and he's doing things just to...I don't know. Protect me or something. I'm not sure sure what he's trying to protect me from.”

“Well then that's what you should believe in,” Chamuel stated, “You should go with your heart. Go with your gut. My third eye isn't gong to help you. This shit is more confusing than a Kanye West rant. Everything that you need to know...about Michael and about yourself. Is right there. Right in your heart...”

He pointed at Uriel's chest at that moment. Chamuel could get deep when he wanted to. He wasn't going to admit it. Not out loud at least but he wanted them to get together. He liked Uriel and for some reason he found himself liking Michael too.

“You're right. I just have to...figure this out with Michael. Somehow. I should head back to the house and check on him.”

“He's not at the house. He's...fuck...FUCK they are so stupid.”

Chamuel hadn't meant to say it out loud.

“What. What did you see?” Uriel asked.

Visions had come to Chamuel. He saw Raguel plotting. He wasn't sure what they were saying but he knew Raguel was plotting. Raguel was plotting against Michael. His third eye was showing him the present. He could see it as clear as day. Maybe Uriel's energy was helping to clear his third eye for him. He just kept shaking his head.

All of a sudden his dreams became true. If they kept on the road they were on right now they'd all end up killing one another.

He had to stop them, “I have to tell you something, Uri. I just had a vision. Now no matter what I am going to need you to remain calm.”

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I headed over to the office. When I got there I noticed that it was open. No one was anywhere to be seen. I saw some sleeping things on the lounge couch which I figured was where Raphael slept. As I made my way over to the conference room I opened it to see Ariel still tied up.

Her eyes widened as she looked at me.

“What---what do you want?”

“Relax. I'm not going to hurt you,” I told Ariel.

She didn't look like she believed me. She as actually looking very shaky at that moment as if I had already hauled off and tried to kill her.

Ariel shook her head, “Listen. I heard about your mother. I'm sorry. I...”

“I don't care about your apology. Your boyfriend killed my mom. You feel bad about it? Tell me where he is and your conscious will be clear.”

Ariel looked like she was hesitating at that moment.

“Listen. I don't know where he is.”

“You're lying.”

“I didn't. Look. I didn't know that he would kill your mother honestly. That didn't even seem like him. All he wanted was you. All he wanted to do was kill you.”

Ariel was playing that role that she was so good at playing. She was playing that innocent victim. I wished she would cut it out because I saw right past her.

“He had the chance,” I replied shaking my head, “If he wanted to kill me he had many chances actually. I lived in the same house with him for god sakes. No. He didn't want to kill me. He wants to hurt me. And I would hurt him by hurting you. But to be honest. I don't think he gives a damn about you.”

She rolled her eyes at that moment. All of a sudden her face hardened and she became herself.

“What do you know about love?” Ariel asked at that moment, “You worthless piece of shit. What could you possibly know about love. Your own mother didn't love you. He told me. Leviathan, that is. He told me she didn't love you.”

It was a stab. She was really showing her true colors and they were black.

Luckily I wasn't easily hurt by words. I knew my mother loved me.

“Why are you protecting a demon?” I asked, “Honestly Ariel, be realistic.”

“He's a fallen angel.”

“Same thing.”

“You might as well be a fallen angel. I might as well be a fallen angel,” Ariel stated at that moment shaking her head, “What's the difference? Huh? I love him. Have you ever loved someone in your life?”

Uri. I sighed at the thought.

I shook my head, “This has nothing to do with me.”

“I want you to relate,” Ariel stated shaking her head, “Even if you didn't love someone. Say someone loved you. No matter how bad they were if it's true love, you find an excuse to make for them. You find a way to justify your love. No matter what.”

I sat there thinking. Was that what Uri was doing? Was he finding a reason to justify his love? I struggled wondering if this even made sense.

“He killed...my mother. I am a dangerous man. I'm extremely vengeful. If he wants me dead. Take me to him. He'd probably want to see me anyway. If your boyfriend is so powerful then why are you afraid. Do you think I'll hurt someone as powerful as Leviathan?”

“Don't make me fucking laugh. He'd kill you. I'm doing you a favor,” she stated.

“Then take me to him.”

“Alone?” she asked.

“Just me and him. I don't want the other angels involved.”

Ariel looked at me hard but then nodded, “Fine. Let's go. I'll show you where he is.”

I walked over to her. I warned her not to try anything as I untied her hands from the chair. As we got up I was able to get her loose. Once Ariel was loose she didn't try anything. She just stared at me.

We started to walk all of a sudden into the main office space but I notice something was different. One thing was different and then everything was different.

We weren't in the office space any longer. We were somewhere else.

“Tricky, tricky, tricky,” I stated shaking my head, “Rag...you might as well drop the act. You can't keep this up forever.”

We were in a black room instead of the office space. His illusions never lasted long at all. There was darkness all around me. What was going on?

“He doesn't have to...” I heard a voice say.

Before I knew it I could feel someone hitting me from behind. I hadn't even seen the person. Rag's illusion had covered them up and I knew once I got hit that there was only one person who could hit me so hard. It was Gabby. I was tossed from the one hit and landed on a desk. I realized at this moment that the office space went back to normal.

As my eyes cleared Gabby was standing there. She wasn't alone. Right next to her was Raphael and right beside him was Raguel.

“How'd you guys know I was taking her out of here?” I asked assuming they had attacked me in order to stop me.

Rag shook his head, “We didn't.”

“You...attacked me just now.”

Rag nodded, “We did.”

At that moment I started to laugh. I couldn't help it. I just had to keep laughing. This was amazing. I was being attacked. The looks on their faces were all serious. They had snuck in here early in the morning and were waiting to ambush me. Maybe there in the room when I walked in. Maybe Rag's illusions had made them invisible to me. That had to be what it was. They were just waiting for me to walk out of the conference room to come at me.

“So what? You going to kill me now.”

I watched as Ariel moved towards the window. She was clearly trying to show that this had nothing to do with her. I didn't expect her to defend me. Hell she had her chance to try to kill me too. Maybe this was the thing for the angels. How many of them could try to kill me. I wondered if Leviathan had put Rag, Raphael and Gabby up to this too. No. Not Rag. He'd come up with this on his own.

“No,” Rag quickly added in, “Give up Michael.”

“And die?”

“No one's going to kill you,” Rag stated, “I'd prefer not to hurt you either. We need to tie you up. We'll tie you up right with Ariel. You saw how we treated her. We were very amicable.”

I looked at Ariel. She was cowering by the window sill.

“I don't make much of a prisoner,” I replied shaking my head.

“We're going to take you either way,” Gabby threatened.

I was afraid of her the most to be honest. My back was still hurting from when she hit me. I was finding it hard to talk. I couldn't take many more hits like that from her. A few more and my lungs could possibly collapse. She literally hit someone like a ton of bricks. Her strength was something inhuman and it scared the hell out of me.

“This is your last warning,” Raguel stated.

“This is your last warning,” I retorted, “Let me pass.”

He didn't listen. I didn't think he would . He blinked a few times and I saw them disappear again He was making an illusion. He was making Gabby disappear.

My heart raced. I had no doubt she was coming at me. I had no doubt but she wasn't the only invisible force out there.

I prayed to Michael. I prayed to my father to send me his cherubim.

In the next few minutes I heard a piercing scream.

“FUCK!”

It was Gabby. I could see them now again. They were visible. Gabby was bleeding. The cherubim had come. They had cut her for me. She was bleeding on her chest. Her entire chest was filled with the blood from the top of her right shoulder to the bottom of her left boob. She stumbled back and fell into the arms of Raphael. He wasn't far behind her. He cut her almost immediately.

“I warned you guys...” I told them, “Leave me alone.”

“You'll need to come harder than that,” Raphael stated.

I noticed what he was doing at this moment. He was healing her. He was healing Gabby. In the next few seconds her wounds started to close. Shit. No.

My cherubim came to my aid. I had to stop him. I had to stop Raphael. Cuts were appearing all over Gabby and Raphael at that moment but just as quickly as I attacked them they healed. Raphael was stronger than I remembered. His healing powers were working so much fucking faster!

The fact that he was right underneath Gabby wasn't helping this either.

“Give up,” Rag stated, “We can do this all day.”

All of a sudden they disappeared again. Not only did they disappear again but the room turned black. Raphael had set up another illusion. I looked around. I couldn't fight what I couldn't see.

The cherubim were panicking. I knew they were. I could hear them fluttering around me surrounding me with confusion. Rag couldn't hold his illusion forever but even if he didn't it wouldn't matter. If I attacked Gabby, Raphael would just heal her.

When had they learned to fight together? Where was all this teamwork before when we all needed it? I guess they banded together finally to attack the true enemy.

Me.

All of a sudden the illusion dropped. I saw a desk flying my way. Gabby had picked up an entire fucking desk and hauled it at me!

The cherubim had tried to surround me. The force of the cherubim angels blocked the table from me and the desk came clashing to the ground. However for some reason it made me lose my balance and I landed up dead on my ass.

Gabby didn't wait for me to get up, “I got you now.”

She was running towards me. Her steps were loud. She had the strength and the footsteps of a giant but the body of a normal girl. I attempted to move away but I wasn't fast enough. She delivered a swift soccer kick to my abdomen sending me hitting against the wall.

She attempted to grab me from the wall but luckily my cherubim got in the way. The whisked me away with fluttering wings like invisible fairies.

Before I knew it I was on the other side of the room far away from Gabby and far away from danger but my side was killing me from when she kicked me.

I was bleeding.

“What the fuck is going on here?” the door had opened.

I noticed it was Uri. Shit. He wasn't alone. Cham was with him as well. They had entered the room and saw the smashed up desk.

“They're trying to kill me,” I stated.

I wasn't saying it as though I needed help or anything. I was just stating it how I saw it.

Rag seemed disappointed at the idea of Uriel standing there, “We aren't trying to kill him. We are trying to restrain him. To be judged.”

“And you'll judge me guilty and have me killed,” I stated.

I was stupid. I wasn't going to sit here and just be a victim. If I was going to go down to their tricks then I was going to go down in the best way ever.

Uri shook his head, “Cham had a vision. This isn't going to end well. This isn't going to end well if we keep going at it.”

“Scared we going to hurt your boyfriend?” Gabby asked.

Rag shook his head, “No one is going to hurt anyone if Michael just gives up. When the representative from the church comes to judge Ariel, he will judge Michael too.”

“Ariel...where's Ariel?” Raphael stated.

We looked around the room. Now I was pissed. Ariel wasn't here. They had fucked around with me so long that Ariel was able to get out of the room. That was my only hope of finding Leviathan and they let her fucking get away. I couldn't believe it.

I was raging. My heart was pounding. My mother deserved her justice and they had just stolen that from me. I wasn't mad before. Maybe that wasn't why I wasn't as powerful. I was getting angrier by the second and I could feel the cherubim coming to me. I understood it now. The cherubim came when I was angry. That had to be it. They reacted to how angry I was...just like the hulk. Except while the hulk got more strength when he was pissed I got angrier invisible warrior angels.

“She's gone,” I found myself saying, “You fucking people ruined it.”

Uri looked over at me, “Calm down Michael.”

“I don't fucking need your help. I don't need you to calm down. I need to be angry right now. Stay the fuck away from me.”

I didn't need Uri coming anywhere close. Uri had the ability to calm me down. I had seen it happen before. Just hearing his voice weakened me. I didn't need to be weak right now. I needed to be strong. I needed to be angry. I needed for Uri not to interrupt.

“We need to end this with him and go after her,” Rag stated.

“You think I'm just going to let you attack Michael like that?” Uri asked.

Why was he still defending me? I had slept with his roommate for godsakes. What else would I have to do to get this guy to hate me? How bad would I have to be to get him to really hate me? I didn't get it.

Rag looked over and nodded as though finally giving up, “You're right.”

“Good,” Uri replied, “We should all just talk about this---”

“No. You're right. Gabby. Knock Uri out first,” Rag ordered.

All of a sudden the room went black again. It was Rag. Gabby had disappeared and I knew what this meant. No. They wouldn't. They were turning on Uri now too. These motherfuckers were turning on him. For some reason that hurt me more than them attacking me.

I heard him scream. He didn't even have a chance to defend himself. He didn't have a chance to call his flames because he didn't know what was going on. All I saw was Uri's body hit the wall and he was knocked unconscious.

His head was bleeding.

“What the fuck?” Cham stated.

Cham ran over to Uri. My heart was racing. This was all my fault. They hurt Uri. They hurt Uri because of me. Everything I touched turned to shit. This was exactly why I didn't want Uri taking up for me. I knew him taking up for me and him caring about me would just get him hurt. Now his head was bleeding and he wasn't even responding to Cham touching him.

Gabby and the others came back and Gabby had a smug smile on her face. I didn't know how she had attacked Uri but she seemed to be happy with the way she did it.

Raphael shook his head, “Relax. I'll heal him after this is over.”

“You can't just attack people because you have a healer,” Cham stated, “Uri was just sticking up for Michael. That was so uncalled for. What the fuck is wrong with you people. This is the vision. This is the fucking vision that I had. It was Uri covered in blood...”

“He's still alive,” Rag replied, “Stay out of this Cham.”

“Or what. You going to hurt me too?”

“They won't get the chance,” I stated.

Rag, Raphael and Gabby looked over at me. I was beyond pissed now. They had hurt the only person I cared about. They had really fucked up now.

“Give up,” Rag stated.

“This is going to end badly,” Cham kept saying, “Stop. Stop ALL OF YOU!”

“You hurt...Uri...”

I couldn't control what I was thinking at that moment. I had lost it again. I was just seeing red. I was going to protect Uri. I was going to protect Uri no matter what. The idea that these people were sick enough to hurt him just because he was speaking out against what they wanted pissed me off. Uri was innocent in this. He was fucking innocent.

Rag looked over at Gabby, “Finish this. You ready?”

Gabby nodded smugly, “I was born ready.”

Rag cast his spell again. They disappeared but right before they did I could feel my cherubim completely go crazy. They hadn't felt it but I think Cham did. Cham was screaming something. I didn't know what he was screaming. It was too late anyway. The other angels had begun there attack. It was too late.

Glass shattered. All the windows in the office space shattered and shards were being sent everywhere. A whirlwind of shards formed every which way. The furniture was tossed every which way.

The cherubim were raising hell in the darkness. They attacked everything and nothing all at the same time through Rag's illusion.

And then all of a sudden Rag's illusion was dropped.

And we could see the damage.

“Oh my god...” Cham stated.

I was shocked as well. There was a reason that Rag's illusion dropped so abruptly. I looked over at him and I saw a hefty piece of glass had shattered from the window lodged into his heart.

We all looked in shock as Rag fell over and before he hit the ground...Rag was dead.