Mission Log, Day 18, Monday, September 20th, 1999
My world has just shifted a little south of reality, uprooted by the actions of a certain angel who is supposed to be the epitome of truth and justice. I need some time to decide how I will respond to this turn of events, but in the meantime I can fill in the blanks of the last few hours.
Upon my return to Boulder from my visit with Issan, I decided to walk to campus to talk to Giles about my newest information. A growing racket in the Symphony changed my mind and direction, and I found myself flying to the Painted Pot as the source of the disturbance. As if things couldn't be obvious enough to any celestial creature within two miles, the distinctive twang of an arriving archangel seemed to bring the disturbance to a crescendo, and by the time I arrived, the excitement was over. I flew several laps around the block to scan for fleeing bad guys, but none could be seen and I joined the group.
Arashiel seemed to be at the center of it, looking more disheveled and shell-shocked than I'd ever seen her, hardly recognizable as the self-assured artist I spoke with that morning. And there was another man there, someone I didn't recognize, but who definitely radiated quiet trouble. Oh, and Eli, looking cheerful. "Hey, Ofanite."
Thank His Holiness for Raven vessels, else he might have seen the four shades of flush. "Hi."
But the departure of Arashiel and the stranger alone and the many unhealthy looks from the rest of the angels demanded my attention. "Who was that?"
Different expressions from Jael and Rook, but the same cold tone. "Irad."
"Irad attacked Arashiel?"
"No, Irad helped Arashiel; Fate attacked."
Fate? That seemed rather ballsy. Then again, it was ballsy to kidnap a Malakite. Was Daspit behind it? His target was the Tapestry, and Arashiel was its keeper...but why? What is so damned fateful about a Tapestry full of elemental creatures?
Eli left as quickly as he came, and Arashiel returned alone to go upstairs and get cleaned up. She looked fragile, held together only by the fiercest will, but that fire burned bright and dangerous. I gave the Cherub gut points, that's for sure, especially as I looked around the wrecked storefront. As deadly as a cornered cat, that one.
A knock at the door startled everyone. Matt answered the door, and there stood three people who reeked of Judgment. Oddly, no one seemed surprised to see them but me. Matt cut off any introductions by saying, "Now's not a good time."
"We heard noise," said one without inflection.
"Yes, we know. You might wait and let some people compose themselves to get the answers you seek." I'd never heard Matt speak so eloquently. And what's more, they actually left.
Arashiel came down soon after in her dog vessel, and by then I was plenty ready for answers. There were three of them: a small Djinn, a heavily muscled Calabite, and a tall Balseraph. What's more, they gained entry by posing as a Triad of Judgment, and since Arashiel was already expecting such a Triad and her "spider" sense didn't go off, which I would guess is something like her "loomy" sense, she let them in. Which really bugged me.
"How did Fate know a Triad of Judgment was coming to see you? Did you know?" Arashiel nodded. "Did everyone know?" Apparently yes.
"And we think we might have met Arnu tonight. We aren't sure, but we think he habbalated Matt before he got away."
Everyone met him? Now we're screwed. This is what I get for going off to do my own thing. Which reminded me... "Where is Adrienne?"
"At her house."
"Did you know she was a substitute teacher at the school that is now a Tether to Death?"
Matt replied, "No, but that makes the pieces fit. Arnu has her hooked."
Geased? To Arnu? The thought makes me shudder. But Adrienne doesn't seem anything like him. "Question is, was--and is--she helping him or hindering him?" No one could answer that, but at least it got some angels thinking, hopefully Matt most of all.
Discussion returned to the latest attempt to steal the Tapestry and Irad's help. Arashiel added quietly, "He said the Tapestry could not end up in Hell." Not that he mentioned why, but it gave me reason to think that perhaps the Tapestry could do as much harm to Hell as it could to Heaven. Either that, or there was still a bit of the old Cherub of Dragons in there, and he didn't want Hell to get their hands on the last of his progeny.
But this was Fate, not the Game or Death. Our enemies were growing by the minute, and none of them apparently shared the same agenda, so I began outlining the major players. The Game is after Bob for Redeeming, and apparently in time manages to trick a Soldier of God into murdering Bob for revenge on Bob's past wrongs, although it's possible the SoG had nothing to with the Game and robbed them of their target prematurely. In fact, Giles said that the SoG had reached both his greatest Destiny and his worst Fate by killing Bob. That didn't sound like the Game, and it was way to clean a kill to be Death; his actions seemed influenced by Fate. And speaking of Death, Arnu wanted something. He never got this persistent unless I was getting too close to a pet project, which he usually took quite personally. And what was the importance of that new Infernal Tether?
Hmmm. Of the demons in town, we had Arnu, Irad, Daspit and two other servitors of Fate, two remaining servitors of the Game, and Adrienne. Now either they've been very quiet until now, or our local angels have been very deaf, or something is going on here that a lot of people are interested in...like the Tapestry.
We left to visit Giles, and by the time we got there Dinhabah was visiting too, so we filled them in. Giles seemed surprised that Fate was behind it, and I found myself grumbling again, wondering how Fate could have known about the upcoming visit from the Triad. Could Adrienne have leaked the information? Was Adrienne ever told? At the mention of a spy, everyone naturally became nervous, but Dinhabah took on a distinct scowl. How odd.
Somewhat out of the blue, Rook said, "What about the Cloth of Fate? Perhaps they think this is it. Or perhaps they need Kariel to do something with the Cloth of Fate." This, too, petered out, but the mention of it--along with the discussion of Irad as the possible subject of Gabriel's prophesy and Jael's suggestion that we release all the creatures in the Tapestry--got my gears awhirring about the prophesy. "Neutrality" could refer to the Ethereals, certainly persecuted a long time ago and probably persecuted again if ever released. Or it could refer to the neutral stance of those who would rather leave the Tapestry alone than release it or destroy it. "Chaos" could be sought by releasing the Ethereals upon the Earthly plane, upsetting the mortal world and forcing Heaven and Hell into reacting. "The seller of souls" could be the person who possesses the Tapestry and all the souls within it for sale or trade to the highest bidder; Daspit comes to mind.... We had to stop this seller from "taking the last of those who would not choose," the Ethereals who submitted to imprisonment rather than choosing between destruction at Purity's hands or serving Hell. Of course, no interpretation of a prophesy was ever perfect, but this one felt right, or at least close.
Now that Fate struck us a blow, we had to react quickly. Something the Djinn did to Arashiel broke her attunement and prevented her from restoring it, so Jael protected it. Still, they would try to strike for it again, if they saw an opportunity to do so. If we presented ourselves as weakened and disarrayed, they might make a move and we could trap them. Jael and Arashiel would stay at the Tether with the Tapestry for an appropriate amount of time, then resume their normal activities and attempt to lure the demons into a confrontation where we could all take them on.
That said, discussion died off and Dinhabah excused himself. Curious about his quietude, I swooped out the window and followed him. He returned to his office, and from the window, I saw him make a brief phone call, then take a gun from a desk drawer and proceed to thoroughly clean and load it. Then in the wee hours of morning he left his office for a stroll along the creek, stopping at a particularly quiet spot and sitting patiently on a park bench. In time a tall thin woman approached and sat beside him. Just by the gleam in her eyes I could read her cruelty, but she was not fleeing justice. They began to talk, then argue; I couldn't hear much from my hiding place, but I could make out the gist of the conversation. Dinhabah wanted to break off their association. She didn't know what he was talking about. The wind carried their voices away for a time, then Dinhabah's body language shifted in a way that signaled resolution, and promised to obliterate every last one of her people. To strengthen his words, he stood and leveled the gun at her chest. Uh-oh.
She seemed surprised more than threatened, said something like, "I don't deserve this...."
His voice carried clear for a moment. "You did that to me before. You will not do it again."
And he shot her. Not just once, lots of times, in the chest and the face. No noise, luckily; I guess she was a demon...or an angel. Then calm-as-you-please, he turned and walked away.
Now, angels don't just do this sort of thing. Well, okay, some do...but I'm an angel of Fire, sworn to punish the cruel wherever they may ply their trade. And as for associating with the enemy...it's one thing to infiltrate their ranks, conceal your identity for the purpose of achieving some higher goal (like tracking down a more dangerous target). It's quite another thing to associate with them, work hand in hand with them. At least he had the sense to end it quickly and succinctly. Although it left me with dozens of questions, like "Who was she? What Band? What infernal Word? And why did this happen tonight? Did he kill her because he leaked information on Arashiel to her? Was he the mole? Did he enjoy killing her?" The last made me shudder in revulsion. Not that I had a problem with enjoying a good kill, except where the passionless Elohim were involved. I've already experienced an Elohite's fall first-hand. It's a creepy, subtle shift; they almost become "normal," until they dump all that roiling emotion into you and punish you for whatever follows. I will not go through that again, and I'll kill Dinhabah before he follows the same path.
Which reminds me...I wonder if he'll be getting a visit from one of his own Triads? Or more likely, they knew about this all along, encouraged it even. Or maybe that was actually his mission here, to assassinate that celestial once she was no longer of use to Judgment's agenda, whomever she was.
Which brings me back to the moment where I left off, Dinhabah striding away while the body began to steam in the cold air. I figured I knew where Dinhabah was headed--back home to take a shower and grade some papers--so once he was out of sight I flew down to the body. Time was running out and humans would be coming soon. With my beak I opened her jacket, poked around in her messiness until I retrieved her wallet. No time to look now. But my beak struck something else in the search, and I pulled out a second wallet, smaller, which fell open to reveal the badge of an officer of the law. I blinked, not sure if I was really seeing what I was seeing, but the top unmistakably read "Boulder Police," and underneath an identification number read "Serving the Community."
Oh boy.
I heard hurried footfalls on the creek path. I left the badge, memorizing the number, and grabbed the wallet, flying off into the trees to hide it. If we were lucky, they might think this was a robbery and end it there. But I wanted to see who else might show, demon or otherwise, while I figured out what I should do about this new mess.
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