CHAPTER 32
Laney looked from her uncle to Dom. Surprise was written across her uncle’s face. He stared at Dom. “Me? I don't know.”
“You are a Catholic priest, right? And an archaeologist? You just need to think about it. I'll give you a hint: ‘They elevated me aloft to heaven. I proceeded until I arrived at a wall built with stones of crystal.’”
Laney noticed Patrick pale, and knew he’d recognized the words. But she also noticed Henry start, although much more subtly. Henry recognized the words as well.
She fixed her uncle with a look. “I think it’s time to share what you know.”
Patrick looked across the table at her and sighed. “The words are from the Book of Enoch.”
Laney struggled to see the connection. “The Book of Enoch? Drew uses that as a reference in his paper.”
Patrick nodded, explaining to the rest of the group. “It was a popular work in the early Catholic church. It’s one of the largest repositories of knowledge on two areas: heaven and angels.”
“Angels? We’re adding in angels now?” Jake mumbled.
Laney shook her head. “I still don’t see the connection.”
Although Laney had been looking at her uncle, Henry was the one who answered. “The Book of Enoch isn’t just about angels. It’s about fallen angels, and it speaks of the stones of great power they brought with them when they fell.”
Laney stared at Henry. It couldn’t be, could it? “Fallen angels? As in beings with superhuman abilities? Such as incredible speed, power, and healing abilities?”
Dom nodded. “Oh, sure.”
Laney sat back, stunned. She knew whatever explanation they came up with for the superhumans would have been incredible. But she still expected it to be more, well, normal. A pharmaceutical experiment gone awry, exposure to some sort of radioactive contaminant, a military experiment. A mutation in the essence of humanity, a la the X-Men. But fallen angels?
Dom bounced out of his chair again. He started to pace around the island. Laney was starting to get dizzy watching him. She finally closed her eyes and just listened to him speak.
“According to Enoch, a group of angels become envious of humans, of their freedom, of their women. Two hundred of them made a pact, and together they fell. They brought with them the knowledge of heaven. Their leader was named Samyaza and Azazyel was his second-in-command. Each of the fallen brought with them some skill that they shared with humanity. Tamiel taught them astronomy. Amazarack and Armers taught them sorcery, and so on.”
Dom paused and looked around the group, his eyes bright. “But it was Azazyel who has done the most to corrupt mankind. Azazyel, as the leader of the guard, taught mankind to fashion weapons, and how to wield them. And most critically, he taught them the use of the stones. Azazyel has had the most influence on mankind’s split into the Sons of Belial and the Children of the Law of One. He tapped into human’s basest desires – lust, power, greed – and manipulated them towards his own goals. And more importantly, he provided the Sons of Belial with the means to defeat the Children of the Law of One.”
The room descended into silence when Dom finished speaking. Laney stared at each of them in turn. Were they really considering this? Henry and Patrick looked thoughtful. Danny’s face was a mask of concentration. He was undeniably running a myriad of permutations with the information that none of them would ever understand. Her eyes fell on Jake. Disbelief was stamped across his face.
She thought back to all that they had been through, all they had seen. How else to explain Paul’s abilities? And the medical examiner’s results? Was this explanation really so crazy compared with any other possibility? The only other options were super-soldier or alien. They knew he was not a normal human. But still . . .
“Okay,” Laney said, drawing out the word. “So, let’s say for arguments sake, fallen angels did exist. Weren’t they all banished?”
Patrick shook his head. “Not exactly. According to scripture, the fallen angels were a plague on humanity. They introduced greed, vice, and encouraged all sorts of base desires. The world became a cruel and vicious place as a result of their intervention. Humanity cried out to God for help and he sent his archangels to punish the fallen angels. They were exiled to a pit in the desert for seventy generations, which is when God said the world would end.”
Jake grunted. “Right, so all the bad angels got locked up. Can we now move back to reality?”
Henry shook his head. “That may not be entirely true. There was a loophole. According to Enoch, God banished the fallen for seventy generations and until the end of the world. And, according to the Bible, God did attempt to destroy the world by a flood, to rid it of the corruption created by the fallen angels and their offspring.”
“But the world didn’t end.” Laney said.
Patrick nodded. “But the world didn’t end. And God vowed to never try and destroy the world again. Because of that compassion, Azazyel and some of the other angels were allegedly able to escape after the seventy generations passed.”
Dom bounced out of his chair and fetched a bag of cookies from the cabinet behind him. He plopped back in his chair, offering cookies to those around the table. “As a result, Azazyel and the others have lived and died thousands of times. And they have the knowledge of all those incarnations to bring with them. As well as the fighting skills they’ve honed over the millennia.”
“Well, I suppose that could explain the abilities we saw,” Laney said.
“Oh, sure.” Dom took a bite of his cookie. He looked at Laney. “And as you well know, when they're here, they’re, for all intents and purposes, mortal. They can be killed.”
No one seemed to know what to say, so they just stared at Dom in silence. Dom seemed not to notice as he rummaged in the bag for another cookie. Finally finding an acceptable one, he looked back at the group and smiled. “Hey, I’ve got some pictures of the angels in their present incarnations if you want to see them.”
Laney was about to ask to do just that, when Jake stormed away from the table.