A PALE HORSE

The afternoon outside the little bistro wasn’t aware of what was taking place inside La Cuisine Ouverte. The tourists still came and went, the sun traced its way across the sky, and the Mississippi continued to roll and roil. Life went on. Inside, at Rose’s tea table, Abe couldn’t have been more stunned by the conversation than if he had been hit by a bus. Vampires, werewolves, and the grunch, real?! Amazing, and scary all at the same time. Abe was never much of a movie-goer, but he had enjoyed the occasional Creature Feature on TV. That wasn’t this. What he knew of the creatures that were suddenly very much real, learned from Hollywood and popular culture, was definitely highly romanticized, inaccurate, and outdated hogwash. His mind suddenly flashed back to his time awaiting evac with Mike, and as he examined what he thought were fevered dreams of a wounded soldier in shock, he realized that he was not dreaming. He shuddered, and was suddenly very glad that he had given Naomi a can of mace and the self-defense lessons now. Abe wasn’t going to lie to himself, he did remember seeing things out in the desert. Some of the images he remembers seeing seemed to come straight out of horror movies. Now hearing that creatures like vampires and werewolves exist, he could totally imagine the horrors in the desert were real and he could distinctly remember Michael, not Mike, making an appearance. A fierce angel warrior, wielding a gigantic gleaming sword, fighting… something away from Abe. Abe looked up into a pair of golden eyes and found the truth in their endless depths.

Abe watched as Michael turned back to Peter and said, “Are you ready to hear the rest, brother?”

Abe could hear the audible gulp that came from Peter before he said, “Yes. I think so.”

Man, Abe thought, the kid really did have guts! If all of this heavy stuff had been laid on me when I was in my twenties, I would lose my mind! He wouldn’t have thought it at first glance, but Peter was tough, and he had Abe’s respect.

“Okay. Peter, I know we discussed this briefly, but I need to get Abe on the same page as us,” Michael turned to include Abe in the rest of the story. “There is balance in all life,” Michael started. “The Master created everything to have a place in this world, just like the tool outlines on your workbench,” he smiled at Abe, “and the assigned places for your creations in your shop, Peter. Some of the angelic forces were sent to keep a watchful eye on the Master’s creations.” Michael stood and started to pace the small room. “As humans progressed through the ages, the Watchers were moved and developed feelings for the humans. They wanted to show them things to make their lives easier and were looked upon as gods themselves. They forged bonds with the daughters of Earth and created children with them. These children, beings,” Michael corrected, “were formidable. Larger, stronger, faster, smarter, but they were savage in actions and beliefs. Corrupt and lacking in compassion.” Michael paused in his telling and turned to the others. “They were the cause of wars and suffering for many thousands of the Master’s creations, both human and animal,” he said quietly. Age upon age went by before the Master had had enough. He tried to reach the masses but in the end they were too far gone… given over to their wickedness and corrupted by the power of the Watcher children, the Nephilim. Giants and abominations in the land of men, who caused destruction and chaos wherever they went. They were never happy with what they had, and were always in search of war and lands to conquer.” Abe thought that Michael was looking a little sickly with the retelling of this particular story, almost as if it physically hurt him to recount it. “The Master had seen enough in the world to know it was not the same world He had originally created. Although it hurt to do so, the Master decided that the only recourse was a complete white out- cleansing the world completely with holiness and a fresh start.” Michael swallowed hard and Abe thought he could see a glisten in the angel’s eyes. He sat up as a thought hit him.

“The flood was holy?” he asked Michael.

Michael turned to Abe and with a sad smile he said “Yes, the Great Deluge was consecrated and sent with the holiest of purposes. Since everything in the world was created by the Master, it had a place to go when the Master chose to send the flood to kill it. He had chosen to spare Noah as an incorruptible man, but he had also chosen to include Noah’s wife and three sons. So, ideally, Noah would have closed the ark with his family and two of every land and air creature onboard.” Abe watched Peter nodding his head at the retelling, like he was listening in Sunday school class.

Abe shook his head and looked to Michael, “I really hope you aren’t going to tell us that Noah was a vampire or something… are you?” he asked concerned.

“No, Abe. I’m not. Point of fact, Noah and his family were the last pure humans on the Earth. When the Master flooded the earth, everything died except for what was in the sea or on the craft,” Michael told his rapt audience. “Unfortunately, that did not get rid of the Nephilim taint on the Earth. You see, Noah petitioned the Master shortly before the flood to allow Shem, Ham, and Japheth to take wives. This was not in the Master’s original plan, and the Master forbade it. Noah was so disheartened for his sons, that the Master, moved by the love he had for his sons, relented, and instructed Noah to find them wives. Noah did not have a lot to work with when choosing brides for his sons. He chose the best of what was available to him, choosing among the humble and devout, but even there, he could not escape the corrupted flesh. In two of the women, the taint was diluted but present.” Michael said, and Rose began to softly weep and pray. Abe and Peter looked at her, and then each other, surprised, knowing the implications of what came next. “After the flood water receded from the Earth and the doors to the ark were opened. Noah and his sons went in separate directions, charged by the Master to repopulate the Earth,” Michael said looking at his audience in turn. “In the years following the flood, the population of the Earth began to grow and creatures and humans of the Earth thrived. With each new generation the corruption grew a little more in the lines of Ham and Japheth. Their children received the taint through their wives, and their children passed it on to their children, and so on down the line. It was through these lines that they still work today,” Michael said through gritted teeth. Abe could tell that Michael was at a point in his retelling that he really didn’t like.

“Wait, how could the Nephilim use the tainted lines if they were all killed in the flood?” Peter asked, clearly confused about something.

“Now we are getting somewhere!” Michael said excitedly. “When the Master created the world, every living thing in it had a place and a purpose. They were all part of the greater plan. Everything at that point that was supposed to exist, did. The Nephilim were not created by the Master, but by the Watchers. They did not have a place in the world, so when the Earth was flooded, their Earthly bodies perished, but, because they were not created by the Master, there was no place for their souls to go. Do you understand, Peter?” Michael watched Peter for any sign that he was following what was going on.

Abe thought he understood, but checked his theory by asking, “So, because they weren’t created by the Master, they couldn’t go to heaven?”

Michael smiled broadly at Abe and said ,“Or hell. They have no place except Earth in which they can dwell.”

“But, if they died, there shouldn’t be any of them around to worry about,” said Peter, still trying to comprehend this new information.

“Right,” said Michael, “however, the spirit of the Nephilim, since they did not go to heaven or hell, had to find another way to survive. They found that they could attach themselves to any of the survivors that had the taint.” Michael waited a few seconds for the others to process that information before adding, “Each time a new generation was born, another Nephilim would attach to the helpless newborn and the taint would grow stronger in that line.”

“That doesn’t explain the vampires and werewolves and such, though,” Peter pointed out. “They would have been attached to a human and been vulnerable to disease, famine and many other things that could cause an infant back then to die, right?” Abe nodded in agreement.

Michael smiled at Peter and said, “The Nephilim didn’t want to spend the rest of their lives waiting for new infants to be born into the world so they could inhabit them. A grown group of them that had already been born onto the Earth got together and started to experiment with the strongest creatures they could find to create bodies which they hoped to inhabit,” he told them. “They started with creature to creature experiments; hybrids, if you will. You’ve seen them, in your mythologies and histories. Things like the griffins, dragons, centaurs, dinosaurs…”, Michael went down a list of what he hoped were recognizable creatures to the two men.

Peter interrupted, “Hold up…” Peter said in awe, “are you telling me that the T-Rex was a science experiment, created by a bunch of power-hungry ghosts?”

“Well, in a manner of speaking, yes,” Michael told him, pointedly. “The Master never made a tyrannosaurus. Any of the great beasts he made would have been herbivores.”

“How did the T-Rex come into being then?” Peter folded his arms waiting for Michael to give his a credible answer.

“Please remember that the Nephilim are a product of humans and angels, they would have powers that a human would not; speed, stamina, long life and extra intelligence to name a few, but when they mixed their tainted essence to the souls of the creatures that the Master created, it warped them and made them into creatures that should not have existed,” Michael told them. “A little bit of Nephilim goes a long way… it can devastate the stoutest animal or human. For example, a bit of the Nephilim taint mixed with a peaceful herbivore and it twists into a hungry killing machine.” Peter looked astonished at this news.

“How did the Nephilim corrupt them if they were all killed in the flood?”

“Well,” Michael said, “remember I said that when their earthly bodies died in the flood their essence was left in limbo because it was not created by the Master and had no place to dwell?” Abe watched as Peter nodded his head emphatically. “Well, their essence looked for, and attached itself to, new hosts. They basically stole new bodies for themselves from those left,” Michael said. “Once they attached themselves to new hosts, the host was warped and twisted into something different. They have tried all kinds of hosts throughout the years, but the host always dies within a very short time of habitation and the Nephilim has to search for someone, or something, new.”

“What is being done about it? It seems to me that God could have stopped this from happening a long time ago,” Peter said indignantly.

Michael turned to Peter and said in a gentle voice, “The Master has a plan, Peter. We don’t always see what it is, but do not ever doubt that it’ll work out to His purpose.” Michael turned back to the others and finished his story. “Now, you know what is out there and you know why. The new questions are, why are you here and what is your purpose in all of this?” Michael said. “The Nephilim have reached the point where they grow stronger and they are recruiting others to find ways to prolong their host bodies in order to stay on the Earth for longer periods of time. When Nephilim die they have to go through a period of regeneration before they are strong enough to inhabit a new host. Usually, it is a period of years. However, in recent months, they have been quietly gathering new hosts together and experimenting to see if they can transfer before the host dies to spare themselves from that transition cycle.”

“So, what you are telling us is that these Nephilim are bypassing the regeneration cycle and just jumping from host to host?” Abe said, scratching his beard stubble. “What do they do when they transfer? Do they have to seek permission, or can they just jump from one person to another by touch?” Abe couldn’t get the implications of this through his head. They could be anyone or anything… it was like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Abe shivered a little at the thought. “What are we supposed to do if we don’t know what they look like?” asked Abe. Michael put his hand on Abe’s shoulder and Abe felt a peace flow through his body and the tension drain away.

“Peace, Abe. You aren’t alone. We have a network of people who have been recruited to help, and they are working as we speak.” The angel crossed to the window and peered out at the horizon above the opposite rooftops, orange and dark blue with the waning daylight. “It’s time we lift our eyes to the hills, people.”