Archangels- chapter 1

“I don’t get it, Gabriel,” a man complained to his associate; “we’re supposed to be Archangels. We’re supposed to be watching Heaven’s monarchy and make sure it doesn’t go down the toilet. Why God assigned us to interrogate demons is beyond me.”

“I think you’re thinking about it too hard, Michael.” His associate replied. “As Archangels, God assigned us to protect the humans from demon influence.”

“But interrogating demons, Gabriel? That’s for the young ones! Our jobs should be above this.”

Gabriel nodded his head in agreement, “True. But God’s worried about the number of our trainees disappearing without a trace. He was more so worried over the fact that even his divine sight couldn’t catch these instances. He is just as blind as we are about it.”

“Okay. But if there’s a demon behind these instances, don’t you’ll think that we’ll be better off in our angel forms, rather than these powerless human forms?”

“I have no doubt that a demon is behind this.” Gabriel agreed. “It’s only a matter of which demon is behind it-”

“Lucifer; I vote Lucifer.” Michael shot out. “That guy just has to be behind it.”

“I’m not so sure about that. I mean, Lucifer is pretty busy being the “King of Damnation” and what-have-you. You know how he loves a challenge; I don’t think kidnapping Angels-in-Training would give him the greatest satisfaction, you know?”

“Well, if it’s not Lucifer, then who do you think is behind the disappearances?” Michael asked his companion. “I’d like to know how our trainees are vanishing right off the grid like this.”

“I don’t know, I’d like to find out too. Now, just order something so we can eat.”



Michael and Gabriel sat inside an IHOP trying to order some breakfast. Michael, the man with short black hair, brown eyes, and a small scar across his left cheek, is the strongest warrior of Heaven. Whereas Gabriel, the second strongest, his partner with curly red hair, hazel green eyes, and a narrow face, balances the two out as Michael’s “voice of reason” if you will. Normally Angels don’t need sustenance to survive; but in their human forms, they must make an exception.

Michael skimmed through the IHOP’s menu, but couldn’t find anything to order. In his human form, he gets very picky about what he eats. At least that’s what he thinks. Gabriel not so much, though. “I just don’t see how humans like this stuff, Gabriel.” He complained. “All of these items look mildly upsetting.”

“Just order something.” Gabriel griped at Michael. “I know you don’t like human food very much, but you can’t go without sustenance in that form. And besides, I already know what I’m having.”

“Really? What are you having?”

“This pancake breakfast with eggs-” Gabriel showed him page where it had the item. It consisted of: a stack of two pancakes, two pieces of bacon, two eggs, and two pieces of sausage. Michael, of course, showed minor disgust with Gabriel’s choice.

“I think I’ll just have some French toast.” Gabriel said.

“Well, that was fast. Usually you take longer to decide what to have.” Coming in the niche of time was the waitress to receive their order. She looked to be in about her late-twenties and had her long blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She greeted her customers with kindness “Hello, gentlemen. May I take your order?”

Gabriel volunteered to go first, “Oh, yes. I’ll have the pancake breakfast with two eggs, bacon, and sausage. And also with some unsweetened tea, please.”

“Okay, and how would you like your eggs?”

“Erhm, Sunnyside-up?” The waitress scribbled his order down on a little notepad. She turned to Michael and asked “And what would you like?”

“Just get me three pieces of strawberry French toast and a Dr. Pepper, please.”

“Not a big eater, are you.”

“Yeah, you can say that.” He remarked. Nonetheless she took the order anyways.

“I’ll have your orders out momentarily, gentlemen.” The waitress took their menus and left their company.



The two Archangels sat in their booth for minutes. Michael practically covered the table with multiple Dr. Pepper cups, whereas his partner was still on his second cup of tea.

“Whoa, Mike, better slow down on those things.” Gabriel warned. “You’re running on a human liver. Any more cups of that stuff could completely shut you down.”

“I think I’ll go the distance.” He replied. Though Gabriel was right, it was an amazing feat for a human to down about eight cups of Dr. Pepper like Mike did. Either his human form was a caffeine addict or just really, really thirsty. As they waited for their food, Michael searched through his iphone for any new messages.

“Hey, Gabriel, do you have any new messages from Uriel yet?” He asked.

Gabriel became curious, and searched through his phone as well; “No, not that I can see.” He replied.

Uriel is the Angel in charge of communications between God and the Angels on Earth. It’s basically her job to relay all the Earthly Angels the information God tells her. She does this through the special iphones they all carry.

“Damn, what’s taking her so long? It’s been a while since the last update.”

“Be patient, she’ll send some updates on our mission sooner or later.”

“The longer we wait, the more Cherubs will potentially disappear. We can’t just sit around like humans all day.”

“Calm down, Mike. I’m sure she’s doing her best with the updates. Don’t forget she’s giving the other agents their missions too, you know.”

Michael sprawled across his booth, “I’m hoping we get one soon. Frankly, I’m getting a little bored just sitting here.” He isn’t used to the boredoms of being human. He is a bred and trained warrior of Heaven. Sure, he agreed to watch over the humans, but he never desired to actually become one.

“If it’ll make you feel better I’m a little bored, too. I want to do Angel stuff, too. But we have to act like human beings. This is what humans do. We just need to act tasteless and boring for a little while longer.”

“Tasteless and boring- that’s asking a little too much from me. From what I’ve seen, not all humans are like that.”

“As long as we stay incognito, we won’t arouse suspicion.” Suddenly, Gabriel’s iphone began to ring. He was receiving a call from Uriel.

“She finally decides to call.” Michael remarked sarcastically.

Gabriel tried quieting Michael to take the call, “Yes, Uriel?”

“I have updates on your and Michael’s mission, Gabriel.” The female voice said over the phone. “There are too many details to say over the phone. You and Gabe must come back to Heaven, pronto.” Michael was listening in on the call, and he shot hand signals to Gabriel that say- “Now’s not the best time.”

“Urhm, how urgent do you need us back there?” Gabriel asked her. “You kinda caught us at a bad time.”

“I need you guys back here really urgently, like “it’s a matter of life or death” urgently! And what are you guys’ doing that is so important right now?”

“Well, uhm, you see- Mike and I are in an IHOP in New York waiting for our breakfast orders. I’d hate to just dash off like this.”

Uriel sighed frustratingly, “Ugh, fine. But as soon as you get your food, eat it quickly. The more you just sit around, the more our opportunity will slip away from us. We don’t want our elite Archangels fall behind, now do we.”

“No, ma’am, we don’t. We’ll try to be there as quickly as we can.” Gabriel ended the call with Uriel. The long minutes finally paid off when their food finally arrived. Gabriel’s full breakfast platter of: eggs, pancakes, and sausages dwarfed the aroma of Gabriel’s stack of French toast.

The waitress said with a sunny voice “Here you go, boys. I hope you enjoy-”

“Actually, can we get these to-go?” Gabriel asked her. “Our boss put us on the clock again.”

“Certainly. I’ll have your to-go bags right away.” The waitress walked away and momentarily came back with those foam to-go packages, and their bill. Gabriel paid the bill and the two were off.



The Archangels wandered the streets of New York for a while. They were in an alley, in search of something, but couldn’t seem to find it. Uriel wanted them back in Heaven immediately.

“Do you even know where it is?” Michael barked. “We’ve been going around in circles! I bet our food is already soggy.” They both were patting the brick walls of the alley down like crazy.

“I know where it is,” Gabriel replied; “I just can’t remember where it is exactly.” They’re trying to find a stairway back to Heaven. They are scattered across the world, but most are found in America and parts of Europe. Stairways are marked by crosses etched in brick walls. Actually, the stairways act more like elevators, since Heaven is “getting with the technological times.”

“Are you saying you lost the stairway?”

“No, no! I remember it being around here, but I don’t-” suddenly his hand felt a strange indention in the wall; “oh, hang on-” his hand mapped the indention, and sure enough it felt like a cross pattern; “Okay, I think I found it.” It seemed that their problem was the cross wasn’t placed at eye level as it is supposed to.

“See, that’s why I don’t like the stairways in these alleys. They don’t place the bloody thing at eye-level.”

“Michael, chant to the cross to open the stairway-”

“I know, I know. It’s not like I’m new at it-” Michael went down on one knee, cleared his throat and chanted “Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore. While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.”

Suddenly the etched-in cross started to fill with a blue light. The light formed the contours of a large door on the face of the wall. The brick wall opened like an elevator door, and shone a brilliant field of light. The two Archangels stepped into the light, and were transported to Heaven.

You’re probably wondering why the Stairway to Heaven only opens to the first verse of The Raven rather than any Biblical verse. Long story short God was worried that if a human cited any verse from The Bible in front of the stairway, there would be at least a 1% chance of them actually citing the right verse; the stairway would then open, and the human would enter Heaven unauthorized. Sure 1% is a pretty small chance, but it was a chance God dared not to take. Instead he chose a more recent poem verse to open the stairways. Ironically it’s been working in God’s favor pretty well so far.



The stairway opened back up, and Michael and Gabriel were in the headquarters of Heaven, work site of the Angel Liberators. There’s not much difference between Heaven and your average federal agency building, except Heaven’s better at keeping itself a secret. It was like a hive of Angels just squirming around and about.

“Gentlemen, glad you could make it.” A woman stood in the midst of the unrest. She had long brunette hair that was curled with a curling iron. Her sharp blue eyes could cut right through a man. Her white shirt, red tie, and black skirt emphasize more on her adorability than formality. “I see you both brought your breakfast.”

“What’s our mission now, Uriel?” Michael asked eagerly.

“Oh Gabe, as always you’re very eager to get down to the nitty-gritty. Gentlemen, follow me to the communications room, and I’ll update you from there.”



The Archangels followed Uriel through what seemed like a maze that continued for eternity, but they eventually reached the communications room. From the get-go the wide room sported four ultra-wide screens that help the Angels watch over the human world; just another upgrade in Heaven’s plan to be a technological utopia.

Both Mike and Gabe were chowing down while Uriel started to debrief, “Gentlemen, as you may know more and more Cherubs have been disappearing without a trace. Last month alone we’ve seen about four-hundred sixty-three disappearances; during this week, we’ve seen around three-hundred-eight. Not even God’s sight could prevent these.”

Usually the Liberator’s one and only priority was to “save” lost human souls from damnation. But with increasing numbers of their agents disappearing, they temporarily gave their comrades part of the lime light. Humans still get their judgment, though; they just camp out in Purgatory afterward until Heaven calms down from this incident.

“This is bringing nothing new to the table.” Michael remarked as he stuffed his face with soggy French toast.

“Hold on, I’m getting to the good part. Now it’s true that our searches in the past have turned out fruitless. However, we may have caught our biggest break in Houston, Texas-” the giant teleprompter showed the coordination to an abandoned apartment complex.

“Why are we just now learning this?” Gabriel asked.

“When Adriel was sent to investigate this location he found a seal on one of the walls of the complex. When he broke the seal, we immediately received a dramatic spike in signals coming from the area. After that, I lost contact with Adriel.”

“So that’s why I didn’t hear anything back from him. He’s been dead.” Michael said.

Ignoring his lack of respect in his statement, Uriel continued on, “The seal Adriel discovered completely jams the signal between an Angel’s iphone and the Communications Room.”

“Okay. So that explains why we can’t find them, but it baffles me how this slipped under even God’s nose.” Gabriel commented.

“That is something even he is interested in finding out.”

“So if we find these seal-protected areas, we might also find the missing Cherubs, right?” Michael inquired. He was getting more and more interested in the mission, now.

“Well that’s the gist of it,” Gabriel replied to Mike; “though no one guaranteed that all the Angels-in-Training are being held captive behind these seals.”

“He’s right, Michael; it’s just a theory. For now your mission is to investigate this apartment complex. There’s also one more thing I need to tell you- there is a succubus living inside somewhere in these apartments. A young succubus who goes by the name Aleka Wiser-” the giant teleprompter showed the photo of the young she-demon. She appeared to be in her early twenties- twenty-three, maybe twenty-four years in age. Her straight-ironed hair was pure black, with the tips of her bangs dyed a deep blood red. Her emerald green eyes pierced through the screen.

“I had a feeling a demon was behind this.” Michael said to himself.

“As part of your mission, God wants you to capture her for interrogation. She might have information regarding the rest of the missing trainees.”

Michael gave a quick thought about it and said “By the looks of her, I’d assume she’s in her adolescence. Why can’t you just send any regular Angel to capture her?”

“Because during an Incubus or Succubus’s adolescent phase, their seduction powers increase eleven-fold; meaning if any ordinary Angel were to go in there, including me, we might get caught in the spell. But since you two are the highest ranking Angels, the spells will not affect you.”

“Well, at least something exciting happens this morning. I was getting tired of playing human.”

“Hold your horses, Michael. You still need to be in your human form for this mission. Just the presence of your Archangel form alone will snuff her out like a candle flame. Remember, we need to interrogate her.” Michael does understand where she’s going with this, but he couldn’t help but groan in boredom.

“Don’t worry, Uriel. We’ll bring her back in one piece.” Gabriel assured her.

“I sure hope so. You can’t really interrogate a dead demon.” Uriel pressed a button on her iphone, and a stairway opened in the room. “Gentlemen, the stairway to Houston is open now. Safe travels.” Uriel dismissed the Archangel duo, and they went on the stairway.



The ride down to Houston was a little quiet. The only thing making any noise was the elevator music playing. But the duo didn’t seemed to mind it.

“I think we need something faster than these old stairways.” Michael broke verbal silence first.

“I can’t help but be a little upset at you right now, Mike.”

“What? What did I do?” Mike was clueless as to what Mike was talking about.

“You could’ve been a little more sympathetic for Adriel. We know that we might’ve lost him. We don’t need you abruptly confirming it the way.”

“Okay. My bad. You don’t need to beat me up over it. I’ve been a little on edge lately.”

“Next time could you be a little more respectful for the dead? Uriel just lost her brother, she doesn’t need you to make her feel any worse.”

“Right, because she can do that herself.”

“What do you think we should do about the succubus?” Gabriel asked. “What I’m thinking is she probably seduced those three-hundred Cherubs into the complex, possibly even more. For one so young, her powers are very strong.”

“Seducing Cherubs doesn’t sound like an amazing feat to me,” Michael countered Michael’s theory; “Cherubs have the naiveté of a ten year-old. But I do share your concern. She does sound like a strong succubus for her age. We just need to be very careful capturing her.”

“Easy for you to say; caution isn’t exactly my strong point.”

“Yeah, I know.”



The inside of the elevator dinged to tell its riders they’ve reached their stop. The doors slid open, and they were introduced to the Texas heat. The Angel duo stepped out of the elevator, and outside a large church. A few blocks ahead of them were the apartment complex. Even from their distance they could see that the building was just a shell of its former self.

“Geez, I can see why that building is abandoned. Humans need to learn better care for their things.” Michael said.

“Uriel sent me some more info- she said there was a major gas leak in one of the top floors; some unsuspecting fool sparked his lighter for a smoke, then BOOM! It’s scheduled for demolition in about a week in human time.”

“Well then, we can’t waste any more time just standing here. Let’s take a closer look.” And surely that’s what they did; nothing like a good walk to clear the mind of trouble.



The complex wasn’t any prettier close up. Needless to say it got a whole lot worse. The upper floors of the complex showed more destruction than the lower. It was bordered by yellow police tape- something they didn’t notice way back. There were signs around warning of the demolition site- just as Michael said.

“I thought demons had better tastes in hiding places.” Michael remarked.

“If she even is hiding here, she would more than likely hide in the lower levels of the building.” Gabriel hypothesized; “the upper ones seem too open and revealing. They prefer more secluded places.”

“We had over three-hundred Cherub signals come from this area alone. I want to go inside.” Michael crawled through the police line. Why follow human rules when you’re beyond human?

“I don’t have a good feeling about this, Mike.” Gabriel said. “I’m already picking up a strong aura from here- evil, feral, and unsatisfied.”

“Come on, she’s just one demon. What is she compared to us Archangels? What’s the worst she can do?”

“Fair point. Should we split up to cover more ground?”

“Well, since you’re sooo worried about getting hurt, I suggest you take the upper levels. I’ll search the low ground.” Michael suggested. With that point in mind, Gabriel agreed to search the higher parts. After all, he did just say there wouldn’t be a demon up there. The duo split up to cover a better radius.



Michael decided to search the first room he saw. He tried to open the door, but no luck- they were locked. He had no choice but to his powers to phase through it. The apartment shown was totally barren- a few cobwebs in the corners here and there, dust painting the walls, and mildew scenting the air.

But the living room did show some promise- the wall immediately facing Michael had a pentagram seal; evidence of someone being here recently.

“Hey, Uriel, I found a pentagram seal in the apartments- possibly made from Cherub blood.” Gabe reported in his phone. But he didn’t hear anything back. Uriel wasn’t one for taking her time in replying. “Uriel, can you hear me? Uriel!” His signal back was being jammed. Maybe that seal was responsible for the jamming? “Michael, can you hear me-?” Same thing happened, just silence.

Michael slowly approached the pentagram. It looked sloppily drawn like it was made in a hurry. He licked his thumb a little to rub off some of the blood. He’s dealt with pentagram seals before, just not those that jam communications- despite their weakness pentagram seals can hold all kinds of magic. All he had to do was break the circle and whatever spell it held would be lifted. Immediately after breaking the circle he received a call from Uriel. He put the phone on speaker-

“Michael, I can read your signal again; did you come across a seal?”

“Yes, In fact, I did. It was a pentagram seal. I’ll send you a picture-” he took a quick snap of the seal, and sent it to Uriel.

“Hmm, out of all the seals to choose from, this demon chose the weakest one?”

“Looks that way- our baby succubus isn’t the brightest in the bunch.” Michael agreed.

“Thanks to you, I’m suddenly reading a spike in signals. Did you get anything from Gabriel, yet?” She asked.

“Not yet. He’s probably jammed by another seal somewhere. Uriel, I’m telling you, this room is utterly empty- how can there be signals when there isn’t anyone here but me?”

“That’s why it’s called an “investigation.” I suggest you search the rest of the apartment. I’ll be watching your progress.” She ended the conversation without a moment’s notice. She also wasn’t one for “helloes” or “goodbyes,” either.

Michael first searched what was the master bedroom- nothing was in it. It looked like the living room, except smaller and had more cobwebs. There were bloody prints rhythmically dotting the walls. What caught Michael’s attention was the closet door being suspiciously open. He looked into the closet, and found nothing but a cardboard box. He took the box down from the shelf, and opened it- the box was neatly packed with iphones.

“Uriel, I think I found the source of the signals.” Michael reported. “I found a box packed to the rim with phones.”

“Interesting. Any Cherubs yet?”

“No, not yet. Though I found some bloody hand prints all over the walls. They’re no higher than my waist-” again he took a picture for Uriel to see.

“Maybe our succubus friend has a fetish for blood art.”

“Well then, she already has better taste in art than I do-” suddenly Michael heard tapping from another room. “Hang on a sec, I think I heard something.” He whispered to Uriel. He turned the speaker off as to not spook whatever was making the sound.

He followed the noise to one of the smaller bedrooms. He readied his gun for when he needed it. As he turned into the room, he caught a glimpse of someone from the corner of his eye.

It was Adriel- barely conscious, and barely breathing. He sat in the corner writhing in pain. His torn-off clothes were soaked in blood from his deep scratch marks. Michael ran towards him for support.

“Please…help…me…” he asked. His weak voice could barely be heard.

“Uriel, I found Adriel! I repeat- I found Adriel!” He shouted into his phone.

“What? Really? Is he still alive?” She bombarded his speaker with worried questions.

“He won’t be for long if he doesn’t get medical attention immediately!”

“I’ll send an extraction team for him! Just watch over him until they get there!” Adriel’s condition was pretty bad. He even attempted healing in his Angel form, with little success. Those scratch marks looked deathly deep, he was sitting in a puddle of blood. His legs didn’t look too hot either. They both looked broken, maybe that’s why he’s unable to stand.

“Gabriel, please hear me!” Mike attempted to phone his partner. “I found Adriel- he looks almost ready to die! Gabriel, please respond!”



But again Gabriel couldn’t respond back; he didn’t even receive the call. He was investigating the upper levels of the complex. From the inside it looked like the roof could collapse right on top of him- there were little to no walls covering the support beams. Whatever walls it had were charred black.

“hello, Uriel? Can you hear me? Uriel?” No luck. His signal was being jammed like Michael’s earlier. “No signal. Could there be a seal around here?” From out of nowhere a woman’s voice replied-

“You have a unique scent to you, Angel. You smell more…mature than the others.”

Gabriel was staggered by her voice. He frantically searched about his environment trying to find the woman. “Who are you? How did you tell I was-”

“An Angel? All you Angels smell alike. Your scents are like wine, really. You older ones have a more mature, richer scent.” Someone could tell he was an Angel by his scent? Obviously this woman wasn’t a human. Then it suddenly dawned on Gabriel.

“Do you happen to be Miss Aleka Wiser- the succubus who lives in these parts?”

“That depends,” the woman slowly erected from a black, inky hole forming on the ground; “who’s asking?” This woman shared the same physical traits as the woman Uriel shown: the straight, long, black hair, and the red bangs; the green eyes; she was also wearing a tan long coat that covered her legs to the knee, and black stockings with red stiletto shoes.

“My name is Gabriel- Archangel of Heaven, and 2nd Lieutenant of the Angel Liberators. By God’s decree, you’re under arrest for the suspected abductions of Cherubs.” He poised his hand on his holstered gun, giving Aleka mixed signs that say- one false move and you’re wall art.

“Oh my, an Archangel; I never thought I’d attract that much attention, you guys are as high as they come.” The woman was certainly surprised. She thought she would’ve been unnoticed by the Archangels. “I guess I’m out-powered. I surrender to you-” she threw her wrists out straight like she willingly wanted to be cuffed. Something about her couldn’t be trusted.

Gabriel approached her cautiously, all the while pulling out special silver handcuffs from his jacket pocket. When an unholy being comes into contact with silver they will be rendered powerless: demons, vampires, werewolves, the list goes on.

When Gabe got close enough Aleka tugged him to the ground by the neck; Gabe’s gun misfired, and slid from his hand out of reach. Before he had a chance to get back up Aleka quickly mounted on top of him. He struggled to get up, but her strength overwhelmed his human form.

“Get…off of me!” Gabe shouted.

“No, no, I can’t let that happen~” She hummed. “All the other Angels I had sex with immediately drained out. I wonder how you’ll fair~”

“So you admit it, you had something to do with the disappearances!”

“Hey, I was gonna let those Angels go after I was done with them. It wasn’t my fault they were too weak to satisfy me. You’re gonna do a fine job of filling that void!”

Gabriel grabbed her by the wrists. He started to emit a strong light from his hands; “I said get off of me!” Suddenly Aleka felt a strong burning sensation. She jumped right off of him when the pain became too unbearable. One of a demon’s few weaknesses is pure light- they are very allergic to it.

Gabriel had to react fast. He rammed her straight into a support beam; he tried restricting her as he applied the cuffs. Aleka wasn’t taking any of this seriously; for the most part, she was quite turned on.

“Ooh, I never knew Angels can be so kinky~”

“As I said earlier, you’re under arrest by God’s decree.” He said as he applied the last cuff behind her back.

“The metal feels so good on my burnt wrists.”

“Is there anything that doesn’t turn you on?” Gabriel asked her in disgust.

“Nope. I love everything. My entire being is love.” With the cuffs on, Aleka’s succubus powers were instantly negated.

“Your entire being is sex. There’s a difference. Let’s go.” Gabriel pushed at Aleka and herded her out of the ruin.



They headed out of the apartments and met with a band of other Angels outside. Among them Michael watched the Angels apply medical attention to one of their own. Gabe was astonished to see who it was-

“Hey Mike, is that Adriel?” He asked worriedly.

“I tried calling you. I found him in a bedroom, nearly bleeding to death in a corner.” He responded. The Med team took Adriel back to base for further attention. Now it’s just Mike, Gabe, and their little groupie. “I see you caught our demon. And you did some damage to her- kudos.”

“He caught me before I showed him a good time.” Aleka replied flirtatiously. Gabriel nudged at her to keep her quiet; Michael knew there had to be something going on.

“What’s she talking about?”

“I…I really don’t want to talk about it. Can we please just go back to Heaven?” Gabriel had never been this upset over anything before. But Michael didn’t feel the need to question his discomfort. They went back home with the captured succubus. Their mission is nearly accomplished.