First Estate

"I came up the river," he said. "The gate was warded."

I got ready to toast him and he held up his hand.

"Please, I was hoping you'd be willing to chat before you begin hostilities. I swear in the name of Yahweh that I mean you no harm."

I relaxed. "Who are you?"

"My name is Haniel. You might say I'm God's secretary. He tells me what he wants and I write the orders and pass them out where they're supposed to go. Today I got the order to come and talk to you."

"You're kind of a big deal then?" Boston asked. "Are you an archangel?"

"Yes, third order."

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked.

"I'm sure we'll think of something. I have somewhat of a proposition for you."

"What sort of a proposition," I asked. "Who is the principle and what will it cost me?"

"Well, the offer is from God. It's a job offer. It will cost you nothing but time. God is very interested in all of you, Parker. He's interested in Boston and Sagan. He's interested in Lilith and Mariha, too. He likes what he sees happening between you. He sees lovers that are willing to share; Nephilim that aren't monsters, Sirens that sing love songs and a Watcher that has the emotions of a human. This is something that he has been waiting for a long time. He views you as the sign of a time he's been working for millennia to bring about."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Speak clearly, Mr. Secretary," Boston said. "What, exactly, does all that mean?"

"What it means, little Siren, is that he wants to watch you. He wants to send specially selected Watchers, humans and even demons to you. He wants them to become part of your lives and for you to allow them to become part of your family. He wants them to observe you and interact with you. He wants you to teach them all the things you have discovered and all the things you feel."

"I'm sorry, Haniel. That sounds like a very attractive offer, but we just want to be left alone. We aren't a zoo exhibit. We're people that just want to live our lives in peace. What were we going to get out of this?"

"You were going to get friends, confidants, perhaps lovers and advisors. You were going to get freedom. You were going to gain access to the Ways. It's okay though. I'm still going to give the order that you are all to be left strictly alone. You may live your lives in peace and be left alone. God told me this would be your answer, but you needed to make the choice. He doesn't compel anyone to love him or follow his will."

"Parker, maybe we should think about this." Boston squeezed my hand. "I do love God. I think he gave me you and Mama and Mariha and Sagan. I think he sent you to save my life. I do want to do his will. I think we should talk to Mama and Mariha. How long is this offer open, Haniel?"

"For the rest of your life. That could be quite a long time, Boston."

"You seem like a legit guy," I told him. "Let me talk to the rest of my girls. I have a problem though. I'm about to start running for my life. I'm going to a meeting and I'm not sure I'm going to survive it."

"Yes, I know. Camael is planning to betray you and the other two. He believes you are too dangerous to live. He plans to bring two seraphim with him. They will be concealed out of the Presence. His plan will fail. The seraphim have orders not to allow you to be harmed."

"Why don't you just give the order and stop all this," Boston asked him.

"God wants this situation to play itself out. Call it an angel test if you will. Things have been going off the rails a little. Watchers are beginning to believe they are free to act without orders. They need to be weeded. Those who honor God's inaction will be rewarded. Those who act on their own volition will be educated. They will be reminded that God's will is expressed as much in his silence as in his speaking. This is his will for you. Will you assist him?"

"Yes, I don't like the idea of unrestrained Watchers any more than he does. What happens if somebody dies?"

"The seraphim will not allow you to die."

"How can they prevent it? We're talking an archangel here. Who knows how many followers he has? How many Watchers are involved? What if he shows up with Netzach and hundreds of his boys?"

"This is many questions. I will attempt to answer. The seraphim will act to protect you and if you are harmed, they are authorized to heal you. Should you die, they will resurrect you. The size of the faction is unknown to me. God has indicated that it is sizeable. It is likely that a great many of the faction will show up. You may destroy them if they attack you. Those that survive will be given penance in Tartarus. This will be considered a righteous act."

"Well, what if we just don't show up?" Boston asked.

"This is your right. It might even be considered wise. It is not God's will. He is not compelling you to go, nor is his offer contingent on any action you may or may not take. It is a gracious offer. God will fulfill his promise whether or not you cooperate in this matter. You are given grace sufficient to survive the encounter should you chose to go."

"I can't decide on my own," I told him. "I have a family to consider."

"I am aware of this complication, as is God."

"Doesn't he know what we're going to choose?"

"God's foreknowledge does not preclude him offering you a choice. Neither is it to be regarded as compulsion. This is a mystery that, because of your physical limitations, you are unable to comprehend. It has not been revealed because you are creatures of time. I am going to take my leave. Your actions will be your answer. You may pray to me when you make a decision on God's offer. I await that time. May his favor rest on you and your family."

He flickered once and he was gone. Boston and I talked for an hour and we could not agree. She was very much in favor of accepting both our part in exposing the rebel faction and accepting the offer. I didn't like either idea. I felt like God should clean up his own house and just leave us alone.

Her reasoning was logical, but I wasn't feeling cooperative. If God's favor was resting on us, how did Boston get cancer and why did he allow us to be persecuted for healing her?

"Parker, if God feels like we're special, we have something that he wants others to learn; why wouldn't we want to teach them? I want to help God."

"He's God! Why does he need our help? Why doesn't he just make the knowledge available? He could just zap everyone and teach them."

"Maybe it's something that has to be experienced. You said it; 'He's God.' Who are we to question him?"

"Lilith is my mother. I question her all the time and so do you."

"She's not God. Lilith can make mistakes and sometimes she's just wrong. God can't be wrong and he doesn't make mistakes."

"Well, I don't trust him. I'm sorry, Boston, but it seems to me like he's losing his touch. Look what's happened to us."

"How can you blame God for any of this? He never told Netzach and his bunch to do any of this."

"I blame him for you having cancer to begin with. How could he allow that to happen? Everything that happened after that was a result of him allowing you to have cancer. I don't want to serve a God that let's little girls have cancer."

"Parker, I'm more grateful than I can ever show you for saving me. I didn't want to have cancer, but I don't blame God for that. It's an accident of genetics or environment or something. It's a result of humans choosing to be evil. Why is that God's fault?"

"It's his fault because he could do something about it and he doesn't."

"The only way he could do something about it is by removing choice from us. Do you want to be a robot, Parker?"

"No, I want to have choices."

"Then live with the consequences. Your head is messed up about this."

"Maybe so. I'm trying to understand. You make a lot of sense, but I think we have the right to just live our lives and be happy. Why do we have to get involved with a lot of other people's problems? Why do we have to be the world's teachers?"

"Because we can. We have the experience, the opportunity and the ability. That makes us responsible. If we can help people, we should because that's what good people do. You helped me. I didn't have anything to offer you, but you helped me anyway."

"You're wrong about that. You had everything to offer me. The first time I met you, you said you were going to love me forever. I needed someone to love me and I needed someone to love."

"Do you remember everything I've ever said to you?"

"Every word; how could I not? You mean the world to me, Boston. You, Sagan, Mom, Mariha; that's all I care about."

"That's selfish, Parker. Everyone in the world that needs someone to love them and needs to love someone matters to me. If you can't grow and be like that, too; it's going to make me very sad. I don't believe you're being honest with me or with yourself. Your heart is bigger than that. I don't believe you don't care about other people."

I laughed. "I guess you've got me pegged, kitten. I do care about people. I just don't care about them as much as I do you."

"I don't either, and I don't expect that God thinks we should. They have to find their own people to love and be loved by. You belong to me and I'm only willing to share you up to a point. It seems to me like he just wants us to show people that there are possibilities beyond what they imagine. Spending time with us shows them that."

I pulled her to me and kissed her thoroughly. "You have an amazing heart, baby. Let's go find the girls and let them argue about it. I suspect you'll have to talk Mom around. She's a cynic and she won't like any of this."

I was right. Mariha was right on board with Boston from the start. Sagan just wanted an end to all the trauma and it made sense to her to go along with everything that would favor that. Mom argued and objected. She reasoned and sobbed and threw a tantrum but she was unable to resist a "Mama" or two from Boston. She melted like ice in July when a little Siren crushed her lips and she threw up her hands.

"Oh, all right. I know what you're doing, Boston, and it's a dirty trick. You think just because I love you, you can get me to do anything by petting me and buttering me up. You're right, but it's still emotional blackmail."

"I know. I'm sorry, Mama, but I do love you and I can't allow you to be selfish. It's bad for you and I need you to be the kind of Mama that that helps people. I believe you want to, but the experiences of your life have told you that people don't love you. Parker started changing you and we finished the job. You know that everyone in this room would die for you and you don't know how to deal with that. You pretend to be tough and hard, but we all know you're a fraud. You're really soft and beautiful and warm inside and we love you. Now stop acting like a badass and be my Mama."

Her mouth opened and closed a few times. She started crying and then laughing and she grabbed Boston, pulled her face down over her lap and gave her two swats on the butt. She squealed and covered her butt with her hands.

"That's for being impertinent," Mom told her.

She pulled her up, squeezed her tight and kissed her on the lips. "That's for being my baby and being so smart. I won't say any more. I'll do whatever you want me to. You're plainly a more moral person than I am and I'll allow you to guide me. Are you satisfied?"

"No, I'm not. When I know the name of every angel, the history of the world, Parker marries me and you let me sleep with you for a week, I'll be satisfied."

That settled the matter and we all laughed like hyenas. We discussed plans for our meeting with the archangels and Mariha took us to the plain of Megiddo where we were meeting the archangels. We used the last of our angel tears to make wards around an area just below a cliff face. That was our fallback position in case everything went south. There was only one way clear, in and out. We would be safe from attack from everywhere but there.

"This is a very ironic location," Mom remarked.

"Why do you say that?" Sagan asked.

"This is the site of two famous massacres. Once the Israelites massacred the Egyptians here and once they were massacred by the Egyptians. I was at the first battle."

"It's also supposed to be the site of the last battle before the end of the world," Mariha said. "It's a false interpretation of a passage in Revelation, but prophecy nuts have been preaching it for years. It is ironic that they wanted to meet here."

"Why don't you tell us what the right interpretation is?" I asked her.

"No, that isn't my function. You must discern the truth for yourself. This is God's decree. The interpretation of scripture is a human endeavor. God has made it easy, but humans delude themselves."

It didn't seem that easy to me, but I wasn't an expert on scripture. I was never much interested before. It seemed like a collection of myths and fables to me and now that I knew that it wasn't, I hadn't had time to look at it. I intended to when I got around to it. Maybe after this was over I'd become a whiz at it.

We checked out the lay of the land and went to Las Vegas. It seemed likely that no one would be looking for us there and with the amount of tourists around; we could blend in pretty well. The problem was, I'm six eight and tend to stand out in a crowd. The girls all looked like they stepped off the stage at the Miss America pageant. They weren't going to blend in anywhere. It's really difficult to describe what having them around was like. When they walked into a room there wasn't an eye that wasn't on them; when they talked, there wasn't an ear that wasn't listening. I'll do my best by describing what happened when we walked into the lobby of our hotel in Las Vegas.

First, there was Mariha. That white-blonde hair, hanging to her waist, floated like a halo around her. It was so fine and soft that you could hardly keep yourself from reaching out to touch it. Her face was, well, angelic. Huge violet eyes and full lips that looked like they had been inflated. Her teeth flashed white in that beautiful smile and she looked as innocent as a baby. That was above the neck. Her breasts weren't as big as Sagan's, but she was tiny. They looked very large on her small frame. She had a very narrow waist and full hips. Her butt was a perfect bubble and the clothes she wore showed every curve and hollow. She was the stuff of young men's dreams.

Sagan, I have described, and she had changed in the last year. She was even more stunning now than the day we met. Her breasts were bigger and firmer, her waist narrower and her hips wider. Her legs were muscular and slender and her butt was heart stopping, full and tight and round. Her hair was to the back of her knees and it glistened and moved in waves. She had taken my breath away then and being a Siren had given her a magnetism that drew men like moths to a flame.

Mom had always been beautiful to me, but I never really appreciated just how beautiful she was until I saw her naked in the shower. I had a whole new perspective on her now. She moved like a big cat and she was a big, beautiful bundle of woman. She was slim, but muscular. Very tan skin was flawless. She was small breasted and slim hipped. Her hair was that flaming, almost orange color you sometimes see. When I was a kid in kindergarten and we drew family pictures, I always used the orange crayon to color her hair. She had the most beautiful legs you can imagine. They were very long and slender but you could see the definition of her muscles every time she took a step. It was hard to watch her walk across a room and not be excited by watching her move.

Of course, Boston was really the star of the show. She had grown up a lot in the last year. I suppose that her transformation was partly just human growth but it was also pure Siren. Her hair had grown past her shoulders and it was the purest black; glossy and shining around the most beautiful face any girl ever had. She had that same dusting of freckles across her nose that Sagan did and baby blue eyes. Her body had developed to the point that she was everyone's wet dream. Every person in that lobby stopped whatever they were doing when we walked in and stared at us. Conversation died and everyone stopped moving.

When we got on the elevator, the hum of conversation started again and I could hear what they were saying.

"Did you see that? Who were those people? My God, man; did you see those women? Let's try to meet them."

"Yeah, I saw the guy they were with, too. He could eat us for lunch. He's probably their security guy."

I smiled to myself. With Boston holding one hand and Sagan on the other arm; Mom and Mariha walking in front of us, I felt like the luckiest guy on the planet. That they were all mine was a very humbling thought. We didn't leave our rooms for five days. We ordered room service and watched movies. We drank champagne and lay around like the idle rich. I had a lot of vacation built up and I used it.

I spent a lot of time in bed and there was always a beautiful, naked girl or angel there with me. If this was the final push to the end, we were going to make hay while the sun was shining. I could have stayed there for a thousand years. Unfortunately, I only had five days. On the sixth, we got up and I escorted the girls to a waiting limo. We took a tour of Hoover Dam, rode the rides at the casinos, ate good food and took in a magic show. Boston loved the whole experience. We gambled in the evening. We all swore not to cheat and we covered for Boston. The casinos all let her play after some persuasion and she was the only one that came out ahead.

I've never understood that particular compulsion. I always liked to play cards, but the idea of giving people money and getting nothing in return always seemed like a losing proposition to me. Drugs make more sense. It was a novelty, but I'll never be addicted. I suggested that we visit a brothel and Boston was down, but the other girls viewed the suggestion with disfavor.

"He's joking, Boston," Mom told her. "It might be interesting to see, but the misery there would overwhelm you. The idea of selling ones integrity is repellent."

Boston didn't seem all that repelled, but she didn't say anything.

"I was joking," I told her. "Let's go see the tigers instead."

They were fascinating. I asked Mom if she thought she could take one hand to hand.

"Believe it, baby," she said. "That was quite a sport in the past. I found that repelling, too."

"You're quite the wet blanket," I told her and she laughed.

We spent the night in Tel Aviv and the next morning we were waiting at Megiddo when the big guys showed up.

Chapter Seventeen

Adonael was the first to arrive and he greeted us. "This is very important. I don't think there has been a gathering like this outside heaven for more than 5000 years. It's very important that you be respectful and truthful. Your souls will be weighed and the result is in some question. The death of The Guardian has not escaped notice. Mariha is in peril. Her activities have placed her future in some jeopardy."

"So where are you on that?" Mom asked.

"She has acted properly in every aspect except for concealing your existence. I don't expect that to be a problem, but it is, shall we say, unprecedented."

"Well, when Camael tries to kill us and you, will that be unprecedented?" Mariha asked him.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said. "This is a holy convocation. Bloodshed on this ground would be a great sin."

"Maybe, you should watch your back anyway. When the two seraphim show up they'll be on our side," I told him. "Don't attack them."

He started to speak and the other three dropped in. They were very impressive; I'll have to admit. They must have been twelve feet tall or so. They were wrapped in fire and their heads could swivel all the way around. They had faces on both sides of their heads and it was pretty creepy looking.