Chapter 8

It had been days since everyone had found out that the entire world was going to end. You would think the others would have just given up. That's what I did. That wasn't the case though. Raphael was spending hours in Ariel's extensive library with Cham being the nerds they were. Gabby was spending all her time whining and bitching all goddam day throughout the halls to anyone who was close enough to listen. Then there was Uri. Uri was becoming much of a recluse really just trying to build his angelic abilities.

I was on my way to my bedroom this particular afternoon when I saw him in the hallway. Flames were all around him. The red flames circled him like leaves in the wind, licking and almost scortching the walls as they went. They floated around him with this intensity of power that made me stop completely and just stare.

"You're getting really powerful."

His eyes opened at that moment and the flames disappeared. Uri was sweating. Maybe he did feel the heat of his own flames. He didn't have any shirt on and the sweat drained down his rock hard abdomen.

"Have you been training your powers?" he asked me.

"What's the point?" I asked him.

"To get stronger."

"Didn't you hear Jo? It doesn't matter. The world is going to end anyway."

Uri gave me a hard look, "I don't trust that guy. I keep telling you that. What's the point of all of this if it is inevitable?"

I shrugged. I wish I could have said I would spend a lot of time thinking about it but I didn't. Uri and I were still somewhat distant. He smiled at me. He stared in the corner of his eye but that was it. He was still being 'respectful' to Gabby but a part of me knew where he wanted to me. A part of me wondered if he was sitting in this specific hallway in this huge mansion, almost just hoping for a chance to run into me. I guess I could dream. I could hope that was what he was doing.

But I had no way of knowing what was on Uri's mind.

I found myself staring at his sexy biceps, "Maybe we're here together to enjoy ourselves until the end. Until it's over."

I had walked close to him. I could smell his sweat. Uri had such a man's scent that was clear he had been working hard. For some reason it didn't stink though. It was strong and potent, but didn't stink. It just smelled masculine. It smelled like hard work. I had caught him training his flames over and over. He didn't stop. Out of all of us it was always Uri who worked the hardest to get stronger. It shocked me that he still hadn't found his wings.

I wondered if he was the strongest out of all of us. I could feel strength exuding from him. I got so close and I could feel him breathing heavier and heavier.

"Soon..."

He knew what I was referring to. My lips so close to him. My touch so close to him. My body ached to be with Uri. I loved him and I didn't understand how he could resist me. The chemistry was far too much.

"How is it fair that I'm sitting around waiting?" I asked him, " I just feel like we've been playing with each other. This game. You know. Maybe Jo was right? Maybe me and you just were never meant to be."

"Is that what you believe?" Uri asked.

I wanted to scream no to him. I wanted to shake Uri and bring him back to his senses. I wanted him to scream and be as emotional as I was. That wasn't the case though. Uri was just sitting there.

"No...but I want you to decide."

"What do you mean by decide?"

"I can't do this anymore. I can't do this back and forth. Either we are going to be together or ----"

Just at that moment Uri started to kiss me. His tongue pressed in my mouth. Then he started pressed me up against the wall in the hallway. I damn near slammed my head. As it happened I realized there were flames at Uri's back. Yes. The heat. The heat was all around us. It was almost like Uri's emotions were bringing forwards these flames and he didn't even seem aware of it.

"Is that answer enough?" he asked.

"Hell yes..."

"Here...I learned a trick. Don't move..."

At that moment Uri grabbed onto my shirt. In the next few seconds my clothing began to burn away. My shirt, my pants. They all turned to ash right on my body. I could feel the heat of a very small flame scale up my clothing until I had nothing on but my underwear. Next Uri seemed to concentrate on that. In a matter of seconds my underwear was nothing but ash on the floor. The amount of control this took seemed fucking AMAZING!

"Holy shit..." I started.

"I've been training to try that trick on you for days," he replied.

He kissed me on the side of my cheek. He looked my body up and down. I felt naked being in the middle of the hallway like this. Uri's sweaty body was pressed up against me but I didn't mind. Something about it turned me on. He worshipped my body, rubbing his hands up and down my body until my dick was hard.

"You have, haven't you..."

"Yeah. I wanted it to be special the day that I decided I wanted to ask you..."

"Ask me what?"

"Michael. Will you be my man?" he asked, "Officially."

"What about Gabby?"

"She'll have to...deal with it. You asked me to decide. Once and for all Michael. I choose you..."

After all this time this was what I wanted. After all this time I finally got it. The tingling feeling ran through my stomach at that moment. I couldn't help but to start kissing on Uri again. His pink puckering lips pressed up against mine. Our tongues intertwined together. Uri's dark frame pressed up against me.

We kissed and he moaned. I could feel him undressing taking off his shorts. We were still in the hallway. I could feel my mind drifting into ecstasy. I didn't know what it was. My mind was going somewhere. It was almost as though I had been here before sometime. It was almost as though I had lived this before.

In the next few minutes I could remember being in a room...in a hallway. This room was all white. And I was naked. And the kisses. They were so similar...but no. No these kisses were different.

They came from Jophiel.

"Stop!"

Uri stopped and looked at me. His dark skin and chocolate body was bare naked up against me but his face now held confusion. I couldn't believe I had stopped him but something was wrong. Why the hell was I thinking about Jophiel at a time like this? Uri was the sexiest man I had ever known in my life and he was naked up against me. I should have been all in the moment but instead I was remembering something else. Like another lifetime or something.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" Uri asked.

"We should wait. You know. I mean wait until tonight. Set some candles. Some strawberries. Make this thing perfect."

That wasn't the reason I had to stop but I had to think of something. There was no way it was ok for me to have sex with Uriel while I was thinking about Jophiel. Something was definitely wrong with that.

Uri laughed looking down at his hard dick, "Lil' man is just going to have to wait huh? It's ok. You're actually right. Can't just have sex with my 'official' boyfriend in the middle of a hallway, huh? I'll wait. Tonight then."

I nodded at Uri, "Yes...tonight."

He gave me a kiss and started to dress watching me as I walked down the hall. As I got to my room I closed the door behind him and took a deep breath. I couldn't believe how horny I was and I couldn't believe I just turned down Uri of all people for sex.

"You ok?"

I jumped at that moment. I turned to notice Jophiel. He was standing there. His eyes looked over at me at the doorway. He must have gotten through the balcony again. Jophiel had on his priest robes. He must have been here for a while because usually you would have to go shirtless in order to open up your wings. Seeing him there kind of made me nervous.

"You need to stop sneaking in this house," I told him.

"I apologize, do you forgive me?" he stated.

Jo got close to me. Too close for comfort. It was that same feeling that I felt in the hallway. That feeling of remembering him took over. Whatever love that Jophiel and I had in the past must have been strong. It must have been too strong. This feeling right now was almost overwhelming. It was the same sort of feeling that I felt for Uri. I remembered feeling that same thing for Jophiel at a point in time. It scared me...

"Can you not..." I struggled.

He put his hands up, "I apologize. I just can't help myself. After not being able to see you so long. Listen. I'll give you your space. I apologize, again. Here. I brought you these."

He handed me an envelope.

"What is this?"

"Invitations."

"To where?"

Jophiel took a step back, "My church. I want all of us angels to meet and try this again. You know? At my church. It's important everyone come. I think it's important we bond."

I nodded watching at Jophiel smiled. I looked down at his invitation. How the hell was I going to convince the other angels to agree to seeing him.

Cham leaned back on the chair. He'd been waiting outside the bathroom for a while. After he had seen Raphael and Gabby having sex he started to follow her. His third sense started to penetrate her thoughts. Gabby was one of the easiest to read in the house. His third eye seemed to see right through her. He saw her motivations. He saw what drove her.

Maybe it was because Gabby was so simple with her thoughts. Maybe it was because Gabby was so proud and open about getting what she wants. Either way Cham could read her like a book.

"Goddam it," he heard her say.

He watched as she threw something in the garbage walking out of the bathroom. He knew exactly what it was that Gabriel had thrown away.

"Now why would a girl who claimed to be pregnant be taking a pregnancy test?" he asked her.

Gabriel had just realized him sitting there. They were in the lower wing of the mansion. No one normally came to this side of the mansion. It's smelled of animals. Cham had assumed this was where Ariel kept her stray animals when she had them come over to her mansion. There were no more animals though. Not even birds seemed to fly over the mansion anymore.

"What are you doing?" Gabriel had asked.

Her face seemed to sell her out.

"I could ask you the same question," Cham replied, "What are you doing? Faking a pregnancy...having sex with Raphael."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gabby replied.

"The only reason that I haven't come out to everyone is because Raphael is my best friend and I feel like you are tricking him into your web of lies."

Cham was many things and loyal was one of them. He had no intentions of outing Raphael. He could see Raphael's true intentions. He knew that Raphael was being coerced by Gabriel. Gabriel was pulling all the strings. If he could he would have blown it all up but he didn't want Raphael to get caught up in the cross hairs. He needed peace in the group. The only way to get that peace would be by removing Gabriel...the poison.

"Of course you don't. Well then if you are going to be difficult, I guess I might as well go tell Uri exactly what kind of manipulative bitch you really are," Cham replied.

Cham usually wasn't so negative but Gabriel brought it out of him. It was important that he keep the peace in this group and there was always one very negative strain in the group that kept everyone from getting along. At a point everyone believed it was Michael, but Cham knew better. Cham knew who the poison was all along. He knew it was always Gabby.

"Wait. Don't do anything crazy. You don't understand. Please Cham..."

Cham watched as Gabby crossed the room at that moment. At first he thought she was going to attack him but instead she did the opposite. Gabby grabbed his dick at that moment through his pants. She held on tight to it. He watched as she moved her hair to the side and gave him the sexiest look she had. Cham had seen Gabby looking at Uri like that a million times.

"You really think I'd fall for that?" he asked pushing her away, "I understand. More than you know. You're obsessed with this game about winning. You think Uri is some prize being that he is the most attractive guy here and probably the strongest so far. So you want to win him for yourself. It'll make you feel better about yourself, won't it. You can't stand the fact that Uri actually is in love with Michael. You're jealous aren't you..."

"You don't know me..."

"I know you," Cham stated rubbing onto the center of his forehead, "You are jealous of the love they had, so you want it for yourself. Your mother never gave you any attention."

"Stop it...stop it..." Gabby was saying.

Gabriel had never heard someone read into her like that. He knew that Gabby had never shared so many of her intimate details, but Cham could see them. His third eye was seeing so much of her that he had never really paid attention to before. The more she tried to close herself off, the clearer it became. Cham was getting stronger and his angelic abilities were raping Gabby's thoughts.

"No one gave you attention growing up. So you feel like in order to get attention, you have to take it by force. Everything is taken by force with you. Isn't it Gabby? You have to be the most beautiful. You have to be the strongest. You have to take and take and take. "

He hadn't expected her to break down so soon. He knew it was coming but when she fell on the floor and hit the ground and broke down in tears he knew that he had finally exposed to Gabriel who she really was. She was a girl so needy to be seen and recognized that she would do anything. Life was a game to Gabriel and it didn't matter unless she was winning.

"Please stop."

"Leave."

"What?"

Cham looked down at her, "Leave here. We don't need the negativity you bring to this group. Leave here. I'll make up a lie about what you left. They'll never know the truth about you. Let Michael and Uri be happy together. They deserve it. And you don't deserve anything but to be ignored..."

I had gathered everyone asked Cham later that night to bring everyone into the living room. We looked at the invitation. I had gotten ready and dressed and I told them to meet me.

"Where's the fire?" Uri asked.

He was the first one to walk into the room. He had on his coat and everything already. He was so handsome. He grabbed onto me and gave me a kiss. Normally a kiss like that would have felt so good but the truth was I was so confused. I was confused about Jo and what I had seen earlier. I didn't know how to react to this kiss that he was giving me.

"I'll tell you in a second," I stated.

"Is something wrong?" Uri asked, "Ever since I asked you to be my man...you've seemed...distant. Do you not want to?"

"Jophiel."

"What about Jophiel? I don't get it. Are you into him?"

"It's more complicated then that. He says we were together in another life. I have all these memories. I can't shake them no matter how."

"Are you---"

Uri was about to say something but we noticed Raphael and Cham walk in the room at that moment. Uri stopped. I could tell he was a private person but I could tell he just seemed upset. I knew he was upset but I had to be honest with him. I wanted to start a new leaf with him and I felt like honesty was the only way that I could do it.

I needed to be 100 with him. I had spent so long not letting him know how I really felt and hiding my true feelings. I refused to be that person that I was before I went to jail ever again.

"You guys ok?" Cham asked us.

I looked over at Cham. He was always the peacekeeper. He was always trying to make sure everyone was good. I watched as Uri tried to return his face to normal as best as he could. I did the same forcing a smile.

"Yeah. Where's Gabriel?"

"She let me to tell you guys goodbye. She's went to have an abortion."

The entire room paused. She went to have an abortion. Raphael looked over at Cham. Uri looked over at me. There was a mix of confusion and doubt.

Uri turned at that moment, "An abortion. Alone? Um...damn..."

"Yeah. To be honest. She preferred to get it done alone. I doubt she's coming back," Cham stated shrugging his shoulders.

There was silence again. The elephant in the room had appeared. I could only speak for myself but I wasn't upset. Uri wasn't having a baby. I looked at Uri trying to read his emotions and see what he felt about it.

Raphael was the first one to speak on it, "Maybe it's for the best..."

Uri didn't comment on what Raphael stated. He instead just turned to me. I watched as he walked over and he held my hand.

"What were you saying, baby?"

The way he talked to me was almost as though he was over the situation all together. I guess that was how things happened when you were just a nasty person. No one felt bad to see you go. It was kind of sad for me though. I knew how Gabriel felt at one point. I was once the one that was angry and bitter towards everyone. I was once the guy who didn't fit in. Now Gabby had gotten her chance. No one seemed to be ready to lose any sleep about the fact that Gabby was gone.

"I was telling everyone that Jophiel wants to meet us tonight...at his church."

Everyone got quiet.

"You're joking?" Uri asked.

"It's in Baltimore. We can make it in an hour and a half."

Uri looked me up and down, "Does this not seem like a set up to the rest of you?"

We all looked at one another. Raphael and Cham looked like they were considering it as well. Something just seemed odd about the way they were talking.

"You think he could be ambushing us?" Cham asked.

Uri shrugged, "I don't know this guy and there's something about him I just don't trust. That's all I'm saying."

Raphael shook his head, "Listen, I don't know if I trust that guy either but what other options do we have. He seems to know things that the rest of us don't. Besides we may be able to use the muscle. Our numbers are dwindling in case you haven't noticed."

"What muscle?" Uri asked, "Does anyone know what this guy's abilities are besides the fact that he wants to fly around with my boyfriend in the middle of the night?"

"Your boyfriend?" Cham asked.

Uri squeezed onto my hand a little tighter. Uri confirmed it boldly, "Yeah, my boyfriend."

I watched Cham smile. Raphael just crossed his arms. He didn't say anything directly about it. I knew he probably didn't like the idea of this but then again he wasn't throwing some hissy bitch fit like Gabby would have been doing at this point.

"Well I'm happy for you guys," Cham stated, "Believe me, I really am. Like I said a long time ago...if you guys like it, I love it. But if you don't trust Jophiel because of personal reasons, we need to put that aside. We need Jophiel for whatever he can bring to the table."

Uri looked reluctant.

I squeezed onto his hand a little harder, "Get ready guys. Let's head out in 20..."

The drive to the church felt...tense if anything. We hadn't been out of the house in a very long time. It was Uri who ended up driving. I was in the passenger seat. Raphael was behind me and Cham was behind Uri. The only person that really said much of anything was Cham. He was just talking trying to clear the air. He wouldn't shut up really. I guess that was nervous talking.

As we drove through the streets it just seemed like every care we pulled up with we got strange stares. I just felt uncomfortable.

"Anyone feel like the world is getting smaller?" Raphael asked.

No one answered. I guess no one really had an answer to this. I felt different when I was away from the mansion. I didn't know what it was. Maybe it was the fact that things felt smaller. Every face seemed to look at us with this uncomfortable face of recognition. I just didn't feel right. Uri's hands was the only thing that provided me comfort that night.

It was late. The evening came heavy and we walked out to the church. The church in Baltimore was an older church. It almost looked run down.

"You have any visions?" Uri asked Cham.

Cham shook his head, "No. This place seems safe...for the most part."

Uri didn't seem so convinced. I watched him walk forward in front of everyone. I could feel the heat in the air as he walked past me. I didn't see any flames but I knew in any minute Uri would engulf the air into fire if he had to. Raphael was close behind Uri and then Cham went. I followed up from behind walking as slowly as I could trying to keep up with the others.

As we got to the church Uri knocked hard on the door. The metal door rattled against the church door and in a few seconds we heard footsteps.

There was a slim woman that came to the door. She was Asian and had silky black hair that fell to her shoulders. She didn't look really attractive in any particular way. She had a forgettable face. The kind of woman that you could see again and probably not recognize.

"He is expecting you. This way please," she stated.

She walked us into the room. I noticed her wardrobe. It seemed very ceremonial. I knew she wasn't a priest though. It must have been some other thing.

The church was black and old. We walked past a television break room and into the main alter room. At the bottom of the altar there was Jophiel. He was sitting alone. He was praying silently.

"You may sit," she stated before walking away quickly.

We took seats in the pews...everyone except Uriel. I wasn't surprised when he stood up at the end of one of the pews. He crossed his arms in an manner that showed he had no interest in trusting Jophiel. This church was eerie in a way. It felt safe enough but it just seemed abandoned and lost. I could see why Uriel wasn't exactly comfortable in a place like this.

Jophiel had finished his silent prayer. He dipped his hand in a cup of what seemed like water or oil. Then he crossed himself.

He stood up and looked back at us.

"Where's Gabriel?" he asked.

"Hello to you too," Cham laughed.

"Where is Gabriel?" Jophiel repeated.

"She didn't make it," Cham replied, "She decided this isn't for her..."

Jophiel looked like someone had just hit him with a ton of bricks. I was confused. The look on his face was just pure anger. Jophiel just looked down at us with this anger. He looked beyond pissed at that moment.

"It's all your fault..." Jophiel stated looking at me, "WE NEEDED HER!"

"Excuse me?"

"Yo watch your mouth when you talk to him," Uri replied, "We don't need her. She was nothing but negative energy."

"You fuckin' idiot. You have no idea," Jophiel replied shaking his head, "She was most important than any of you. I've been watching you and Michael for so long. I've been trying to avoid this little love triangle the three of you had going on, but you still made her uncomfortable enough to leave."

"You really want to disrespect me right now?" Uri stated.

I tried to stop Uri but I wasn't fast enough. Uri ran at Jophiel. I watched as the flames went with Uri. Uri dashed across the room in the fastest way possible. I watched as Jophiel dodged past Uri as soon as he got close however and I watched Uri pull something out of his robe. At first I didn't know what it was because my view was engulfed with Uri's flames.

Uri's flames twirled around in the air. They blazed towards Jophiel. It was definitely something I had been expecting to go down. Jophiel ran towards him bringing what looked like a cyclone of flames with him. The flames scared the rug. Uri had so much precision and control of his flames.

The flame danced across the room licking at the altar. I wasn't sure if Uri was attempting to just scare Jo or really do harm. Either way Jo didn't seemed moved.

Jo said something. I wasn't sure what it was.

But in the next moment I saw what Jo had pulled from underneath his robe. It was a sword. Jo's sword slashed past Uri's flames fanning them away enough so that Jo could get through. Jo seemed fast and quick. Jo's kicked Uri down the altar relatively quickly and his sword and he kicked Uri down the steps. In the next few minutes Jo was over Uri with his sword at Uri's throat.

"Stop..." I started.

The lights in the room flickered. I could feel my cherubim coming to me. The anger was spreading all over the place.

"He's weak and so are you," Jo explained, "That's why we needed her. You guys have no idea what abilities she was really capable of."

"She was strong, so fuckin' what?" Cham asked.

"It's not just strength. Everyone's abilities has layers. Her strength was just her first layer. Gabriel also had the ability to amplify other people's power. You all needed that amplification and you basically let her walk out of the front door!" Jo replied, "Because Michael and Uri just HAD to be together...just like old times."

"Just like old times?" I asked confused, "I thought you said that you and I were together..."

Jo stopped talking. We all looked at him.

I was confused. Uri was right. There was something about Jo that wasn't trustworthy. He wasn't telling us the whole truth.

"You have some explaining to do," Uri stated from the ground.

Jo didn't seem in a rush to explain. He looked like he was just caught in a lie. His anger had caused him to say something that he hadn't meant to say. He clearly stated that me and Uri were together in 'old times'. There was definitely something more to what he meant by that. He had once said we were enemies but now he was going back to say that we were together.

In the next few minutes the little Asian girl ran into the room.

"Father Jophiel," she started, "It's begun."

"What is she talking about?" I asked.

Jo backed away from Uri at that moment. We watched as the Jo walked over to the assistant. He said something to her and the assistant started to walk away.

I went over to Uri to help him off the floor. Being here was getting stranger by the minute. Raphael and Cham had made their way to Uri and I. The four of us stood back to back around each other. It was clear that we didn't trust whatever Jo was doing.

I didn't know what I expected. Maybe I expected Jo's assistant to bring him another sword. I didn't know where the hell they thought we were. Who just walked around with medieval fuckin' swords tucked in their robes?

"I've seen it all," Cham whispered to us.

In the next few minutes the assistant brought in a television on wheels. She rolled it into the middle of the altar room. The four of us looked at one another confused as she found a plug and plugged up the television.

"Don't be so quick," Jophiel stated, "We needed her. You all don't know what we are facing. But you are about to find out."

The television came on and what I saw blew my mind.

A video of me. Me flying. The day I broke out of the prison. I was on the news.

"Tonight we have Michael Vorhees on. Michael Vorhees was a man wrongly accused of killing his mother. Right before evidence came out clearing him of this crime...Michael escaped prison by flying with the wings of an angel. The video has gone viral without over 750 million views...causing Youtube to crash momentarily. People have already begun calling this a miracle. Some have praised this as possibly being the second coming. The search for Michael Vorhees concludes today as he has come out of hiding... "

They caught me. They saw me flying. I had no idea that I had gone viral. I had been locked up in the mansion with the others so long. The fact that they were calling it a second coming though? Really? Who the hell did they think I was?

"Jesus Christ..." Uri stated.

He wasn't talking about my Viral video. He was talking about what happened next. Someone had walked out onto the news room floor at that moment.

Someone who looked like me.

Someone who had my face.

But someone who was not me...

Jo looked back at us. This video was live. I was standing here. So who was that? Who was that on the television pretending to be me?

"2 Corinthians 11:13-15," Jo told us, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light..."

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