Chapter 15
Raphael walked down the steps the next
morning. His head was aching. Ariel's mansion seemed to let in an
uncommon amount of light that he couldn't escape. He knew that it was
pretty late in the afternoon but his hangover had caused him to sleep longer
than usual.
As he walked into the huge Victorian structured dining room his eyes
connected with Uriel. Uriel wasn't the only one there though.
Gabriel had been talking to Uriel.
"Good morning," he told them.
Uriel didn't reply at that moment. He just got up and walked out of
the room. The clear animosity in Uriel's body language sent a shiver down
Raphael's spine.
Gabriel remained in the dining room and a smile spread across her face.
"What's his problem?"
"You slept with Michael. He's pretty pissed."
"They aren't in a relationship...," Raphael quickly added, "Michael wanted
it. Michael wanted it just as bad as I did."
"Michael's telling him something else. He's saying that he thought
you were Uri..." Gabriel replied
Raphael shook his head. He hardly remembered last night. He
remembered finding Ariel's liquor cabinet. He remembered Gabriel coming
into his room and telling him that now would be the best time for him to go
make his move on Michael. So he did it. He decided he would go make
his move. Even with his mind fighting off Michael...his body was so ready.
"Michael's lying," Raphael stated.
"That's what I was trying to tell Uriel."
"Where's Michael? I'll go talk to him---"
"He went out. He went out with Chamuel and Ariel. He was really
upset this morning about last night so they took him out. Don't ask
me. I don't know when everyone started to become so goddam supportive of
Michael."
"I need to talk to him."
"He'll be back later. We are going to have a meeting. Ariel has
some information she wants to share about Leviathan at dinner. Maybe you
can talk to him then. I'd be more worried about Uri getting to him first
though. Uri seems like he feels bad."
His heart was racing. He didn't understand it. He could feel
his heart racing. All of yesterday was just like a blur to him but he
wouldn't take it back. Yesterday had changed everything. Everything.
"Feels bad?"
"I think Uri is in love with Michael..." Gabriel replied.
That was all he needed to hear. It had tossed Raphael over the edge
before he knew about it. He turned around at that moment and started to
walk into the next room.
"Where are you going?" Gabriel asked.
Raphael didn't respond to her. He was beyond pissed. He saw her
walking after him as though trying to stop him but he couldn't stop himself.
Raphael found himself walking out into the front garden area. The
door he left out of was lead tot eh garden. Access to the house and
garden area was through imposing large wooden entrance gates.
Raphael found Uriel standing there in a secluded and very pretty private
courtyard, with garden and a beautiful Moroccan-style swimming pool.
Raphael was staring out drinking something staring out the skies and seeming to
be absorbing the mountain air as it whisked over the secluded mountain home.
"Are you really going to act like a fucking brat about this?" was what came
out of Raphael's mouth as Uri glanced thoughtlessly at the distant mountain.
Gabriel attempted to grab him but Raphael managed to get away from her
grasp despite her inhuman strength. Uriel's eyes aligned with
Raphael. Raphael expected more of a challenge but instead there was this
weakness.
"You have a point to this?"
"My point is I've never had any problem with you. I don't want to
start now. So let's put this on the table. Me and Michael had sex
last night. That's what happened. Now you're turn. What's
your attitude about?"
He had attempted to sound as blunt as possible. He could tell this
was making Uriel uncomfortable. This was probably making Gabriel
uncomfortable too. Clearly Gabriel had her little crush on Uriel and this
love triangle thing that was going on between all of them seemed to be done in
the shadows. Raphael was tired of the shadows. It was time to bring
it to light.
"You knew how I felt about him. That's all I'm saying," Uriel
replied.
"He chose me."
"That's not what he said. He said yesterday that it was all a
mistake."
"You can't believe that," Gabriel told Uriel, "With Michael's track
record. You can't believe that..."
Raphael knew that before yesterday he would have been the first to warn
someone about Michael. Last night had changed everything though.
Fighting it was pointless now. This hate that he had for Michael had
transformed into something else. It had revealed itself as something
more.
For the first time in his miserable life Raphael felt like Michael was
something that he could have. He felt like Michael was something that he
could own. He never owned anything. He had grown up a sewer rat,
living in homeless shelters and struggling in street corners to survive.
Finally this was something that was his...just for him.
Uriel shook his head, "I'm not going to discuss my relationship with
Michael with the two of you. You both clearly aren't a fan of him.
You never have been. I just need time to clear my mind."
"Relationship? You are planning on having a relationship with
Michael?" Raphael asked.
"That's between me and Michael. If I calm down and decide maybe this
was a miscommunication then maybe I'll believe him. I'm closer to him
than I am with anyone in this shit. So who knows? I just need to
calm down. I just need time to clear my head and talk to Michael.
Regardless. That's between me and Michael. My beef with you
----Raphael--- is that you acted like hated him but are trying to have sex with
him every chance you get. So no. I won't believe you."
Raphael looked over at Uriel. He couldn't believe it. Uriel was
already turning down. Just hours ago Raphael was balls deep in
Michael. Uriel must have saw the passion between them. Yet somehow
he was still planning on making a move on Michael.
Gabriel shook her head, "I thought you were stronger than this Uri...I
honestly did."
"Right. Michael's just trying to spare your feelings," Raphael
stated.
He was desperate. He finally found something...just for him. He
couldn't let Uri get it. These people were rich and never needed anything
in life. None of them were like Raphael. Raphael had to struggle
and fight for everything in his life. Nothing came easy to him.
There was no way that he was going to let Uriel and Michael get back
together.
"What are you saying?" Uriel asked.
"Tell him Raphael---tell him that Michael is lying," Gabriel stated.
Raphael wouldn't let Uri, who had everything he needed, get Michael
too. Raphael was just as strong. He was just as handsome.
"He knew it was me," Raphael stated.
Necessity was the mother of invention. After last night,
Raphael needed Michael.
"I don't have time for this," Uriel stated walking away.
Raphael wasn't going to let him walk away. He wasn't going to let him
get away that easy. He found himself grabbing onto Uriel. He swung
Uri around.
"He looked at me. He was looking into my eyes. He was screaming
my name," Raphael told him.
"You're fucking lying," Uriel told him.
Raphael knew it was nothing but lies. It didn't matter now though.
The two faced each other down though. Even if it wasn't true it might
as well have been for Raphael. The connection that Raphael and Michael
had in that bedroom had to be right. Nothing wrong could have felt so
good. There was no way in hell he was going to be a loser. All his life he'd
lost.
Gabriel must have known too but that didn't stop her from joining him, "I
heard him. I heard Michael screaming Raphael's name."
Gabriel must have had her own motivations for backing him up. Raphael
was sure of it. Gabriel wasn't his concern though. Not anymore at
least. Whatever she wanted didn't matter to him.
"You might want to get off of me," Uriel warned.
Flames. There were flames everywhere around Uriel now. The
anger was legitimate. The threat was legitimate as well. Uriel's
flames swirled around his body threatening to engulf Raphael to embers if he
didn't move back. Raphael didn't let go though. He held onto
Uriel. He held onto him hard with his hands.
Something else was there in Raphael. Something that wasn't there
before. As Raphael held onto Uriel he realized that all the energy he
once used to heal someone with a touch could also be used in another way.
It just came to him.
It started as a flicker. Then Uriel's bright flame slowly started to
dim.
"Raphael...what's going on..." Gabriel asked.
Raphael didn't answer her. He wasn't sure what was going on
either. In the same way he was once able to heal now he was able to
disrupt. The flames of Uriel lowered by Raphael's touch until there was
nothing more than a spark. And he held on...sucking more and more energy
out of Uriel. He could see Uriel's eyes turning inside the back of his
head.
Uriel soon started to spin around and fell over...laying still and almost
lifeless on the floor.
Gabriel walked up to Raphael, "Holy shit...what have you done."
Raphael wasn't sure what he'd done but as he looked down he knew that he
had figured out a way that he wasn't just the healer anymore. He wasn't
just their sidekick.
He replied coldly and bluntly, "I just didn't want to be a loser anymore."
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We were headed back to the house in Ariel's truck. I sat in the back
seat. The two had been talking about nonsensical stuff the whole time.
They'd taken me out of the house when things got heated between Uri and I
earlier this morning. I couldn't sleep. Uri had actually been
screaming at me all morning. He kept telling me to "stay away from him"
or what not. It was Cham's idea that we leave the house for a while and
give him a chance to calm down.
"So I put something on my instragram about Raguel's death."
"You have Instagram?" Ariel asked him.
She was going pretty fast. I wasn't a huge fan of Ariel to be
honest. I mean she had tried to kill me, been in a relationship with a
demon and gave the boy I was interested with head. I don't know if her
taking me shopping today was her attempt to try to make up for some of this
stuff. I had taken advantage of it, buying clothes and what not. It
didn't help though. My mind was still stuck on Uri. I couldn't get
him out of my head.
"I got a lot of followers. Of course no one knew who Rag was. Still
I think it's important, you know? Don't you ever wonder. What if we
all die tomorrow? No one will know why we died. No one will know
that we are some defenders."
"God will know," Ariel stated.
"I guess that's ok too," Cham replied to her, `What do you think Michael?"
"About?"
"Is it enough to fight knowing that we probably won't get any recognition for
it...at least on earth?" Cham asked.
I shrugged, "I don't need any recognition."
I looked outside the window. The last thing I wanted to be doing was
talking about this shit. I couldn't get Uri off my mind. I knew I
was being anti-social especially when I looked outside of the window as Cham
attempted to make me join the conversation.
"You have to have some kind of opinion though in the matter."
"Look, Cham. I don't give a fuck."
"Then why are you here."
I shrugged shaking my head. I had thought about it. I didn't know
why I stuck around. Maybe its because Ariel actually had a good secluded
home in the mountains. The cops were still looking for me because of my
mother's death. They were still looking for me in order to arrest me
because I had been framed for it. I had no life to go back to. I
had nowhere to go from here.
"He's here for Uri," Ariel replied.
Cham's reply to that was a laugh. I couldn't help but to look over at
Ariel. She was way out of line. If she thought taking me out of the
house, calming me down and letting me use her credit card made a difference in
all the things she'd done she was wrong.
"You don't know about my relationship with Uri."
"I know he loves you and you love him," Ariel replied, "I know me and Uri had
that...moment of weakness but trust me he cares about you. I can't take
back all the thing's I've done but---"
"But nothing. You can't take them back. Leave it at that," I
replied.
Cham took this as a chance to butt in, "Everything happens for a reason.
There is fate in all things, you know. Cheer up...Michael. It's ok to
care for him and it's ok to feel you've done wrong. You weren't born
perfect. You know? Everything happens for a reason and if the stars
align I do think you and Uri will be just fine. I think he knows you're
learning. All angels have to earn their halos."
Halos. I shook my head at the thought. A guy like me was more
likely to grow horns than a halo. Still, that cold in my heart was
melting and it was all because of Uri. Maybe what Cham was saying did
have some legitimacy to it.
I looked in my bag. I had used Ariel's card to buy Uriel a card. It
was a simple card that just said...Sorry in it. It was one word but it was
the most powerful thing I'd ever seen in my life.
Mind you I wasn't the type to ever get emotional, let alone buy a guy a
gift. I didn't know why I was saying sorry for. Was I apologizing
for the mistake that I made last night by not noticing who I was having sex
with in the darkness or was I apologizing for the mistakes I've made in the
past. Maybe I was just apologizing for being myself.
Still maybe there was a halo for me out there somewhere.
We got to the house and as we walked in I noticed Cham's face twisting
up. It made me nervous when his face twisted up because I got this odd
feeling as well. It must have been a the third eye that I had. It
wasn't as strong as Cham's of course but I did feel something was wrong in the
house. Something was off. The energy in the house seemed to be
misplaced.
As we got into the dining room I saw her...Gabriel. She had Michael in her
arms. She was holding him. Michael looked a little pale. He
was awake though. He seemed to be getting comforted by Gabriel in the
most intimate way possible.
It seemed as though if we didn't walk into the room at that moment they would
have started kissing.
"What's going on here?" Cham asked.
Uri just looked at me as though not knowing what to say. It was Raphael
who walked into the room at that moment as though he was being summoned.
Things got awkward. Uri, Raphael and me in the same room at the same time was
beyond awkward but having Gabriel sitting there basically petting Uri like a
wounded dog was too much.
"Uri and I got into a little disagreement earlier," Raphael stated.
Ariel raised her eyebrows in disbelief, "And Uri is the one who looks down and
out? Am I the only one a little confused by this?"
Ariel was right. She may have not been my favorite person in the world but I
could understand a lot of the things she said. I could relate. She
seemed in disbelief like me. Raphael had gotten into a fight with Uriel
and he didn't have burn marks all over his body? Was I missing something?
"I think I have a new power," Raphael stated.
"I feel it..." Cham stated, "I see it actually all around you."
"Usually when I touch people I can give them energy. Their body can use
that energy to heal itself. However it seems like I am also able to take
energy. Some sort of energy dampening. It completely negated his
powers and then started to negate his own power."
I could feel anger all of a sudden. I had no idea what they were arguing
about but I didn't care. Before I knew it I had Raphael pressed up
against the nearest wall with my arm clutching onto his throat. I didn't
know what came over me but I was angry. It seemed like a flood gate from
the heavens opened and angels poured out.
Shit was flying around the room everywhere.
"You hurt Uri!"
The anger I carried seemed to devastate him however Raphael put his hand on me
around waist and all that anger that I had slowly...but surely started to go
away. The vengeful invisible cherubim seemed to go away with them.
Soon I found myself mild...calm as if about to go into a deep sleep.
I stepped away from Raphael lost and confused.
"I didn't mean to go so far. I am learning to control it. It's new
to me however," Raphael replied, "But I'm not as passive as before..."
He was saying this as though making it seem like he was somehow more powerful than
the rest of us. I wondered if this could possibly be true. With all the
abilities we had, did it matter if one touch from Raphael and we were back to
regular?
"It's ok," Gabriel stated, "Uriel's fine. I got him..."
Almost immediately my anger came back. It came back so fast that I had to
go to the other end of the room and take a seat. Gabriel was holding onto
Uri as she said what she said. She was playing through his goddam hair
and he let her.
"This is good news," Cham stated, "It feels like Raphael just found out he was
more powerful than he thought he was. Maybe the rest of us can learn to
use our abilities different as well."
"Maybe I can control humans," Ariel stated.
I didn't know if she was trying to lighten the mood or not. The only
person that laughed was Cham but that wasn't saying much because Cham laughed
at almost everything.
Uriel ignored her and seemed to be sitting up on his own, "We need to take this
serious. We can't hide out in this mansion forever. We need to face
Leviathan. You said you had something to tell us Ariel. Now would
be the time."
"I know where he is," Ariel replied.
We all looked at her. This was really important. If she knew where he was
then we could confront him. If we could confront him then I could finally
have my revenge. He killed my mother and he would pay for it. I
knew that much. I wouldn't be letting him get away with this.
"Where?" I asked her.
"A place in the woods. I can take you."
"We should trust you?" Gabriel asked.
"I'll take the risk. Take me. You guys can sit in here and I'll go
end Leviathan."
"You aren't going over there," Uri stated almost immediately to me with the
hardest look, "We saw what happened the last time we went up against
Leviathan. Look. If we can get stronger than maybe we all need some
time to prepare."
"He killed my mother."
"I'll go with you," Raphael stated almost immediately.
It was very random that Raphael of all people. The closeted, self-hating,
overly religious hypocrite was the one jumping to my aid. He looked over
at me with these brave eyes that I had never seen before. Maybe his new
abilities was making him think he had an S on his chest. I didn't really
care.
"So what...you and your boyfriend just going to take the circus animal trainer
and think you'll fair well?" Uriel asked.
I didn't know if he was upset with just me but calling Ariel a circus trainer
was ridiculous. Then he actually called Raphael my boyfriend? I
could tell Uriel was taking stabs at me. It didn't matter though.
Whatever personal issues I had with Uriel could wait. Right now I needed
to go find him.
"Fine. Let's go," I stated looking over at Ariel, "Now."
"We need time," Uriel replied, "Weeks to train and master our abilities.
Maybe even months."
"We don't have time," I told him.
Cham looked over at us and nodded, "I have to agree with Michael. Rag
always wanted Michael to be the leader Uri. As much as I respect you I
have to follow Rag's wishes. Something is coming. I can see it in
my 3rd eye. I believe it is one more of Hell's generals. We need to
get rid of Leviathan before it comes or else we won't stand a chance."
"What about you Gabriel?" I asked, "Are you going to be the bitch I thought you
were or are you going to stay here with Uri?"
"I go where Uri goes," she stated.
Interesting. They might as well have just admitted they were in a
relationship by this point. I could feel the heaviness in my heart.
I cared. I wanted to show I cared but this my chance to get back at the
man who killed my mother. This was my chance to fight the Bull. I
wasn't going to let that go.
"Fine," I stated.
I found myself walking over to Uri. I handed him the card.
"What's this?"
"Open it when I leave."
As I walked away Uri got up to his feet. He clearly wasn't 100 percent
himself but he still managed to get to his feet.
"Michael."
"What?"
"You're going to die if you fight Leviathan now. You're not strong
enough. None of you are. Please. Stay. Don't do this..."
"What do I have to live for? Are you going to give me a reason to live?"
I asked him at that moment with the sharpest eyes I could give him, "Huh,
Uri? You want me to stay with you...instead of Gabriel?"
I don't know why I asked that question. I was so blunt. I was so
blunt that I could feel my heart racing. A part of me was hoping that he
said yes. A part of me was hoping that he begged me to stay with him. A
part of me wanted him to send Gabby away so that I could stroke his head and
caress him.
I finally wanted all the things that he used to want from me and I was putting
it all on the table in front of everyone to get it.
Uri shook his head, "No."
He made his choice. He preferred the company of Gabriel.
Maybe this was for the best then. Maybe I was finally freeing Uri of me.
Maybe our emotion wasn't worth him fighting for any longer. He didn't
have that longing in his eyes like he always did. Something had
changed. Maybe it was Gabriel getting to him. Maybe it was Gabriel
stroking his hair and making him feel good about himself. Either way I
knew that I had lost Uri forever.
I could have cried at that moment but I didn't. I had to stay
strong. Tonight would be the biggest night of my life and I'd the only
crying I'd be doing was a war cry.
I looked at the others. The others willing to follow me at least, "Get
dressed. By night fall we are going to send Leviathan back to Hell or we
are going to die trying."