Velvet Redemption

“But I want one really bad. . .,” Lisa said, pouting. She knew that I couldn’t tell her no when she pretended to act that way.

We were walking out of a grocery store and heading back to my car when she walked past a group of fenced-in husky puppies. The owners were giving them away to a good home, and I was determined to avoid becoming a dog owner. Our small house on the outside of Denver could technically fit us and a dog, but I still didn’t want to clean up after it, listen to it whine, etc.

“Have you ever raised a puppy before?”

“Of course. We raised our family dog Thumper from the age of a young pup. I’m great with dogs,” Lisa said, as I popped the trunk.

We began to put the groceries in the trunk, and she finished first and started to walk over to the enclosure of furballs.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her back over toward the car.

“Let’s think about this. The dog is going to be loud. Huskies in particular are a very energetic breed. It’ll be noisy, chew stuff up, crap in the house, and make me crazy,” I said.

“I bet you’ll feel different once I have one in your arms,” Lisa said, smirking. Her green eyes looked right into mine, and I knew she was going to pull every trick in the book to get me to agree to take one of those puppies home.

Lisa’s short brown hair whipped around as she turned toward the puppies once more. I chased her down one more time and stopped her.

“I’m not ready for that kind of commitment level yet,” I said, hoping she’d buy that. She was usually pretty good about my apprehension to commitment.

Lisa raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out if I was faking and using this to get out of getting a puppy.

I don’t usually play this card unless it’s a desperate situation, but Lisa doesn’t really have anything to fight back against this with. This discussion is over, I thought, trying not to smile.

“Nice try, Justin. Here’s what is going to happen. I’m going to walk over and get a puppy. Then, I’m going to walk back with her-”

I interrupted her, “You’re gonna get a girl dog?”

“Then we’re going to name her fang. Then you’ll be Justin Pierce, with a husky puppy named fang,” Lisa said, completely thrilled with herself. Her green eyes really shined when she was giddy like this. Her attitude was frustratingly contagious when she was in this mood, and I tried my best to fight it off, but in the end, she really wanted that puppy. My hands were pretty much tied.

As she approached the puppies for the third time, I sighed. And then, salvation came. Her cell phone rang, and she looked at the caller ID. She frowned and sighed loudly.

Opening her gray flip phone, she said, “Yes mom?”

I began to smile slowly. When her mother called, it was usually to harass her daughter about something she highly disapproved of, even if Lisa had no control over it. Once, her mother simply called to complain to Lisa that TNT was having an “Everybody Loves Raymond” marathon for the entire evening. That conversation lasted for an hour, and I was far away from Lisa when it happened.

I could only speculate as to what her mother was calling for this time.

Lisa walked back to the car, got in, and started the engine. I immediately jumped and checked my pockets.

“When the Hell did she get my keys?”

A voice from behind reminded me that this was an event that I’d lived through before. Going through it a second time could only mean that I was dreaming about Lisa again.

“She was a sweet girl. I can see why you miss her so much,” Death said.

I looked back, and Death was standing right behind me. She had the top half of her robe off, and there were bandages wrapped around her chest and where her arm used to be. I’d cut it off to release her from Lucifer’s spell. That was roughly a week ago, and she was recovering fine. I asked her if she needed someone to be reaping souls while she was down for some rest, and she informed me that she had several reapers below her that obeyed her every command.

“No one person could reap every soul in the world and move them to the afterlife,” she told me.

“There’s really no way to get her back, is there?”

Death put her remaining hand on my shoulder and said, “The only two people that could do that are God and myself. Last I heard, God’s on vacation until he decides to send his Son back, and I don’t make deals, Justin. I’m sorry, but there are too many people in the world who have lost even more than you.”

There it was. Death was definitely a no-nonsense girl. She told it to me straight, no matter how much it hurt.

My dream faded to gray, and I woke up. We were taking a break and hiding out in a small Baptist church on the outskirts of Tulsa. When I picked Death up and flew away from Lilandra, I tried to fly as far as I could, but I was exhausted. I came down in Tulsa and about gave a local minister a heart attack.

His name was Tom Shrader, and he was a heavy-set man with a big beard and an even bigger belly. I told him we needed a place to rest and lay low because demons were looking for us. I left out the part about angels looking for us as well. In fact, I had to tell the man that we were angels just to get him to open up the church’s attic to us. The building was actually pretty old, but the attic was sealed well, and he had left us a space heater.

Death and I had recuperated most of our strength, and I was asking questions about the other horsemen. The only one she knew the whereabouts of was Pestilence. She said that he was in Egypt. Apparently, they used to worship him as a god, so he was busy over there, trying to reclaim his kingdom. He didn’t do this directly of course, but by spreading disease among the leaders of the country and those “peasants” he detested.

“What will become of your arm?”

“I imagine it’ll dissolve like any other body part. Fortunately, there are plenty of options for me to get a new one,” Death said.

“There are?”

“I take people to the afterlife on a regular basis, Justin. When I find a body with an arm I like, I’ll simply take it and use a spell to attach it to me,” Death said.

My eyes widened, and I frowned, “Just like that? If that was all you had to do, why didn’t you do that to start with?”

“I couldn’t detach the limb. Lucifer’s spell was too powerful, so I learned to live with it.”

“Couldn’t your scythe have cut it off and broke the spell?”

“Justin, anything my scythe pierces dies. That includes myself.”

“So Velvet was really the only option for breaking that spell,” I said.

Death nodded and looked outside. She stood up and slid her robe back on. It was close to noon, and this was our seventh day here in the church.

“I think I’m ready to go back to work,” Death said.

I looked at her and tried to think of what to say next. I couldn’t, though.

“You set me free from Lucifer’s curse, and I wasn’t lying when I said I thought we could be allies. I will return the favor someday,” she said.

“Death. . . I’m the one who owes you. You’ve set me on a better path, though now I’m a little nervous to walk it by myself,” I said.

“The world needs a hero, Justin. I’ll help you when I can, because no hero is ever truly alone. If you’d continued down your path of anger and somehow managed to kill me, you and your demon friend wouldn’t be much better off. You’d still be destroying yourself, piece by piece, and your demon friend and that blade would just be along for the ride. They’d ride you as far as they could, from battle to battle, until you finally collapsed under yourself,” Death said.

“I know. . . still, I don’t know what to do now. Do I go after Pestilence?”

“Only you can decide what course of action you need to take, Justin. I won’t tell you what choice to make. One question I would ask myself if I were you though. . . . where do the loyalties of that blade truly lie? Just because it is an angelic blade doesn’t make it righteous,” Death said.

I looked at the ground and realized she was right. For now, Velvet was a tool. The sword had been fairly quiet since I parted ways with Lilandra. Regardless, it was a tool I had to keep using. It was all I had to stop this war with, especially now that Lilandra was gone.

“Like I said, you’ll never truly be alone. Whenever you need my help, just call for me. I’ll come as quickly as I can,” she said.

And then she did something I never expected her to do. She walked over and gave me a hug. It took me a few seconds, but I returned the gesture, and she said, “I’ve no doubt you’ve got the potential to be the hero this planet needs. Your path isn’t easy, and the odds are against you, but I know you have the strength and perseverance to overcome.”

“And for everything else. . . there’s Mastercard,” I muttered. Then, she was gone, and I was alone in the room.

I guess she can’t stand my bad jokes any more than Lisa could, I thought.

Lisa would always roll her eyes at my bad jokes. They were lost on Lilandra most of the time because her sense of humor was highly warped.

Tom’s voice called up the stairs, “Hey, Justin? Could you come down to the auditorium for a second?”

Puzzled, I descended the spiral metal staircase and walked down the hallway into the auditorium. Once the door slammed shut behind me, I knew I was in trouble.

Before me stood Daniel, and he was with four other angels. Two appeared to be female, one with long platinum blond hair, and another with short brown hair. One angel was too androgynous for me to know if it was a male or a female, and the last angel was a larger balding man. They were all wearing the same white robes that Daniel was.

I instinctively reached for Velvet, but stopped before my hand touched the hilt. It couldn’t be used to fight angels.

“Well, I’m surprised to find you taking refuge in a house of God,” Daniel said, smiling. He was holding some kind of amulet at his side. It was very large, golden, gaudy, and had some weird symbols on it.

“Yeah well, I figured demons wouldn’t look here for me. I guess I counted on getting at least a little breather before the other side caught up,” I said.

“Clearly, you were wrong. I told you last we met that you were in the crosshairs of both Michael and Lucifer. Do you still feel the same as when we last talked? Still as arrogant?”

“I’ve been humbled a little, but I’m sure I can still kick your ass if need be. I figured that when we split up, you’d go after Lilandra first. What gives?”

“After your fight with Death when we saw just how much of a nuisance you could be with that blade, we promoted you to a higher urgency than her. We’ll deal with her in due time though,” Daniel said.

“Really, I’m flattered, but you do remember how our last fight went, don’t you?”

“I do. This time, I’m not going to fight you. And you’re not going to fight me, either.”

“Is that why you brought your fan club?”

“I brought them to witness how I solve problems: easily and efficiently.”

Tom stepped forward and pointed his finger at me.

“The devil really does come in all shapes, forms, and sizes. You lied to me and said you were an angel,” he said.

“Okay, but there’s a reason for that. The angels that you sing about in church aren’t exactly the good guys you think they are,” I said.

Daniel began to tsk quietly while shaking his head back and forth.

“Justin, really, you shouldn’t lie, but you definitely shouldn’t lie in the house of God. There are consequences for that,” he said.

“Like what?”

“Tell me exactly what you told Tom when you arrived here.”

“Why?”

“I want to hear you lie with my own two ears. Tell me exactly word for word what you told Tom, as if I were him,” Daniel said, not smiling anymore.

“Okay. . . I’m an angel. Are you satisfied now?”

“More than you know,” Daniel said, as the amulet began to glow golden.

There was a blinding white light that filled the entire auditorium, and I shielded my eyes. While the light was bright, I felt my body tingle and nearly go numb. Then, at last, the light faded, and I opened my eyes.

Angry, I asked “What the Hell did you do?”

Daniel’s smirk had only grown as he said, “I didn’t do anything. You did this to yourself.”

I did what to myself?

It was only then that I noticed my hair which had previously been pulled back now hung loosely. And it wasn’t my hair anymore. My sleek and shiny black hair had been replaced with long bright golden locks.

My clothes had changed as well. I was now dressed in the same white robes that Daniel and his counterparts were. Then, the biggest change hit me. I noticed my wings, previously a deep red, were now pure white.

Velvet was no longer on my back, either. It lay on the floor in front of me, still in its sheath.

Daniel held up the amulet and explained, “Legend has it, this amulet was made for an old Babylonian king who wasn’t exactly the smartest man alive. His three wise men knew this and were constantly swindling him to make themselves more rich and powerful. So, he asked for a way to make them pay for their lies. This was made for him, and he summoned the three wise men while wearing it.”

“Is there a point to this tale?”

“Patience, Justin. He called the three in and told them that he was testing out his ability to tell if others were lying. So, he told them to all tell one lie about themselves. The first said that he was a ghost. The second, said he was a small bird. The final wise man said he was a golden statue. The amulet curses those who lie in its presence by making whatever they say about themselves come true. So, the first wise man died, the second turned into a small bird, and the third literally became a golden statue. Naturally, we angels couldn’t let such a powerful artifact remain in human hands, so we took it. It was sitting in a guarded vault in Heaven, until I brought it with me today. Ruth, will you return it?”

“Yes,” said the angel with shorter hair.

She grabbed the amulet and vanished.

“What does that have to do with what you did to me?”

“You mean, what you did to yourself. You told a blatant lie, and so, it became the truth. The amulet turned you into an angel,” Daniel said.

I moved to summon my usual lightning blade to fight Daniel, but my body wouldn’t respond, so long as I was thinking about combat with Daniel.

“You’ll find that there are two strictly enforced rules for angels to follow. It’s programmed into them, whether they like it or not. The first rule is that angels cannot fight other angels. Michael made that a new rule after Lucifer’s rebellion. Second, no angel may wield a sacred weapon. Only archangels can do that, hence while Michael’s former sword is no longer available to you,” Daniel said.

I was still coming to terms with what he was telling me. He’d played a dirty trick, and I walked right into it. However, there was a silver lining to it, or so I thought.

“If those are the rules, then you can’t fight me either. Meaning, there’s nothing you can do to take me by force to Heaven for Michael to deal with,” I said.

“That’s true, which is why I’ve decided that you’re free to do whatever the Hell you want at this point. You can’t touch Velvet, and you can’t fight or hinder any of us. As far as I’m concerned, you’re practically worthless in terms of getting in our way. Besides, Michael will be here in a few hours to claim his old sword. Unlike us, he can actually fight and kill other angels. As an archangel, he isn’t necessarily bound by a rule he made for the rest of us, and if he decides to hunt you down, so be it. That’s really up to him, though,” Daniel said.

I looked down at Velvet and then back up at Daniel.

“This isn’t over, and when I find some way to break this spell, I’m going to come back here to claim my sword and carve you a new one,” I said, crouching.

Then, I shot up as fast I could. The back of the auditorium was actually an expansion added to the older church building. As such, the attic didn’t cover the back part. So, they had stained glass for parts of the ceiling.

I shot through one and took off flying away from the church, trying to think of what I could do next. I only had a few hours to break this spell, return to my normal form, and reclaim Velvet before Michael got there.

Whatever I did, I had to act fast, or the war between Heaven and Hell could start as soon as today.