Angel Dust by Aurora Morgenstern (summer beach reads .TXT) 📕

our kind?", he sounds sincere and it is hard to argue with him as I myself have never beena big believer. Even now that I have seen heaven I am not enitrely convinced...it always astonished me how far people are willing to go for their faith. But the thought of Lucifer ruling sends shivers down my spine. From what I know about him he is far from ideal as a ruler over heaven. I know that Michael still has faith in his brother but seeing him like this I know that he hasn´t lost that arrogance and vanity that cost him his grace. I wonder once again what the poppies are meant to represent, this is the second time he has had them present in these dreams. Once could have been an act of creativity, twice they must have a meaning. Like this morning I thinkof Plath´s poem of Poppies in July...but something else comes up in my mind as I recall the comparison of the poppies to "little hell flames". It all makes sense for him to surround me with hell flames, however much of a contradiction it makes sense. The poppies around me suddendly seem less beautiful and harmless, but rather threatening. I can hear Lucifer humming a small tune to himself and I recognise the Meat Puppets "Lake of Fire" immediately. He must have been reading my thought again and linked my thought process of the hell flames. Standing in the middle of the field certainly does work as a metaphor for a "lake" of these hell flames. 

"I admire your thinking, I have to admit I have a rather soft spot for metaphors", he isn´t ashamed whatsoever to admit having read my thoughts. How can he go banging on about free will and choice and yet invade my personal privacy like that? Yet another thing him and Michael have in common. In general the similarity of their demeanours is rather frightening, they carry themselves the same way and even speak in the same manner. I can´timagine how close they must have been before the fall and the pain it cause Michael to lose his brother like that. However I doubt Michael was the only one affected as I can see Lucifer wince oh so slightly when I make the comparison in my head. 

"I am afraid our time is limited, dear. I want you to pass a message to Michael for me...tell him the seals are breaking and I will see him soon", he says and I am filled with a sense of dreadful foreshadowing.

"What seals?", I ask as I feel the edges of wakening clawing at me mercilessly. He smiles and vaguely answers me: "You´ll see"

Seals

 I want to shout at Michael as he releases me. I was so close to find out what he meant by the seals and I know that Michael is not going to tell me. He would be far too concerened to keep me oblivious of any actual danger, keep my focused on my training. This encounter with Lucifer made one thing clear to me, fighting might be quite the essential skill to have because I doubt that any sort fo seal being broken is a good thing.

"Are you alright?", his voice is full of concern once again. i wonder what he thinks Lucifer could possibly do to me in a hallucination. 

"I´m quite alright Michael. I have a message for you, but you need to promise me something first"

"No. You will tell me what he said without any condition. This may be of the utmost importance to the high council", his eyes are hard and his voice is severe and cold. 

"No deal. It´s not a big promise", I try but his eyes remain fixed on me, no change in his expression. I feel a lot braver after my encounter with Lucifer, I am not going to let Michael intimidate me now. The only difference is taht while Lucifer couldn´t hurt me Michael surely could and I am not entirely sure how far he is prepared to go to get the information he wants. I know it´s stupid to demand this promise from him, but I am not going to be helpless at the back again. I have found my voice and I am not going to budge on this one. Knowledge is power and maybe with enough power I will be able to face my own demons. 

"Do I need to bring you infront of the council on this? There are things that do not concern you or your safety at this point and the stakes are too high ont hsi one for you to be of help", in other words he wants to keep me in the dark because he doesn´t think I can help in any way. That comment stings quite hard and encourages me all the more not to tell him. I focus my mind on something else to make sure he can´t read my thoughts either.

"I could extract that information forcefully and believe me it would hurt, I have the power to tear your mind to shreds. Now will you tell me willingly or is it going to be the sword of truth infront of the council? Few remain their dignity under the power of the sword, not even I would be able to resist its powers", that surely does not sound good for me and my plan. I suppose I am going to have to give in on this one and ask Nathaniel what he knows about these seals. Or maybe do some reading in Michaels library, however reluctant I am to go back there. 

"He said the seals are breaking", I can see the dread and worry on Micchael´s face. he doesn´t bother masking them and I see my fears were reasonable. The seals breaking is quite a big deal then.

"Michael, what seals are breaking?", my voice mirrors his dread and the sudden dead expression on his face worries me beyond measure.

"It´s nothing to worry about", he tries to sound matter of factly and for his sake I pretend I believe his lie. There is no point in trying to get information out of him if he goes as far as pretending it´s nothing. Nathaniel is my best bet then, or maybe one of Michael´s brothers can be persuaded. I purse my lips in thought as Michael looks at me curiously from my bedside. I am suddendly strangely aware of the fact that I am only wearing a relatively thin nightgown and pull the covers farther up. He moves his eyes away and almost blushes, could it be that the I just caught the archangel Michael blushing? 

"I have to go now, try and get some sleep alright? I don´t think you will be training tomorrow so you have the day to yourself", huh? This must be some seriously important shit...he gave out to me earlier for missing my training... As if ridden by some random impulse he kisses me on teh forehead and leaves. I sit there pretty confused. The news must have been more than starteling to cause that sort of impulse. I shake my head in disbelief and I have to admit I immediately go back to sleep and forget about it. 

 

I am woken for the second time by a loud knock on my window and a grinning Nathaniel floating outside my window. Is that man incapable of knocking on the front door like a normal person? With a groan I get out of bed and open the window for him. To my own surprise he pulls me close and kisses me long and hard, leaving me rather breathless. His hands are on my back, holding me close to him. He smirks and whispers: "Morning" It´s hard to be mad at all after that and I lose my sarcastic comment about knocking on the front door somehwere inbetween kisses. He doesn´t push it any farther than the kissing and I am rarther glad for it although a smaller voice in the back of my mind disagrees. I tell that part to be quiet in a relatively rude way and focus back on Nathaniel. He is insanely good at what he´s doing and a small voice in teh back of my mind wonders how much practice that took. The thought sort of kills the mood for me and he notices it.

"What´s wrong? Did I do something?", he seems concerned and I can´t help but smile at how sweet that really is. Who would have thought that he´s a big old softie afterall. He let´s go of me and I stagger slightly. That sort of kiss can get you out of balance really fast and I´m not exactly a master of coordination under the usual circumstances. He smirks a little when he sees that, all too pleased with himself. I am half tempted to make a snarky remark but decide not to. 

"Now I am guessing you weren´t only here for that, what´s up?", I ask casually whilst rummaging through my warderobe for something more decent to wear than my nightgown.

"I was going to take you out for a short flight, Gabriel told me there was a council meeting so I figured my chances were good"

"Hmmm I´m not sure, I think I might have a better offer", I tease with a half smile before leaving for the bathroom to get changed. I come back and see him sitting on my bed, looking through my sketchbook. I blush slightly seeing that he is looking at the portrait I painted of him with great delight. 

"What do you think of it?", I ask in a small voice, uncertainy and a hint of embarassment nagging at me. He brushes his fingers softly over the page with a smile before he looks up with a devilish grin.

"I like it, but you didn´t quite capture my unearthly magnificent beauty", he winks an casually dodges the shirt I throw at him. I glare at him and he blows me a kiss in return.

"Come on then, I thought you wanted to go flying!"

The grasp of hell

 

Cloud pitch black rolling towards me, full of fiery red in intervals. the flames of hell set loose upon an unsuspecting world. on the clouds I see riders, clad in all black with hooded faces. each of them carrying a scythe like a grim reaper might. Their horses dark as night with eyes of flaming red, foam in front of their mouths. They run and run under their merciless riders command on the clouds, coming closer and