Faith of the Fallen Angels

The life of a fallen angel isn't easy, folks. If someone told you that, then someone lied. However, there are some perks. My name is Falafel. Don't laugh. It ain't funny. And yes, it's my real name. I used to be an angel, until I decided to make my own way into the world. I didn't leave Heaven to follow Lucifer Morningstar and his parade of sycophants. I left Heaven because I was chronically bored, and tired of taking orders from Dear Old Dad. He, uh, didn't take it too well. Hence my expulsion from Paradise. That's okay. It's what I wanted anyway.

When moving about the world of man, I am invisible, since I'm essentially bodiless. Ever since Lucifer and his buddies left Heaven and had their little war, the Almighty decreed that all angels who lost their place in Heaven would henceforth be bodiless. Lucifer and his friends left just in time. The curse didn't apply to them. However, it applies to me and all others like me. Which makes my life quite painful. I tried to make the best of a bad situation, though. Currently, I'm walking through the streets of Boston, Massachusetts. Trying not to look over my shoulder because I know I won't like what I find. It's my life these days.

I'm constantly being hunted. Housed in the body of one Sophia McGinnis, a five-foot-ten, dark-haired and brown-skinned young woman of African-American and Puerto Rican descent. She was a freshman at Boston College who had the misfortune of doing drugs. It cost her the most precious thing she had. Her life. I leapt into that body just as the previous owner's soul departed for the ether. Fallen angels cannot inhabit the bodies of still-living humans. It's against the rules. Quite often, we inhabit the bodies of dead men and dead women. In spite of our powers, they never last. It makes our existence difficult, to say the least.

This isn't the first time I've taken a human host. I've lived in the bodies of thousands of men and women during my painfully long stay on the planet Earth. Princes. Princesses. Kings. Queens. Paupers. Barbarians. Travelers. Philosophers. Shamans. Priests. Nuns. Scientists. Criminals. Warriors. I've lived inside all of them. It's my lot in life as a fallen angel, I suppose. Now, there is a good chance that my present host might be my last. You see, there are these angels after me. I've really pissed them off and they now want my head. Fallen angels, especially the earthbound kind, aren't as powerful as humans and their fabulous mythologies would have you believe. I cannot fly. I cannot travel through time. And I cannot bring the dead back to life. I'm just a spirit trapped in a freshly deceased human body. I'm only as strong as the body that I inhabit. It sucks, but them are the rules, I guess.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. These three angels were after me. The angels Rykiel, Sadkiel and Gabriel. I've known all three of them in Heaven. Back in the day, I was a poet and a musician. Contrarily to human belief, not all angels carry swords and wage war. We all have our different powers, gifts and talents. I'm a poet and a musician. Rykiel, the leader of the angels which Heaven sent to destroy me, is a warrior. He looks like it, too. Six feet six inches tall, broad-shouldered and muscular, with dark brown skin and long black hair. He wears a long black trench-coat over a red silk shirt, black jeans and black cowboy boots. His second-in-command is the angel Sadkiel, another old friend of mine. He's around six-foot-four, slender, with long red hair, sharp features and pale green eyes. And he looks rather dashing in a black leather jacket, blue T-shirt, black jeans and boots. Last but not least is the angel Gabriel. She's around six-foot-one, curvy, with long black hair, light bronze skin and pale green eyes. Girlfriend looks absolutely stunning in a dark gray leather jacket, black T-shirt, black leather pants and black cowgirl boots.

Humans looking at them only see a trio of tall, well-dressed and exceptionally beautiful people. Well, that's what angels look like. Once, I looked like that. When I had a heavenly body. When I fell from Heaven, my corporeal form was destroyed and I was doomed to wander the universe as a bodiless entity. A powerful mind without a body. My only choice was to make my way toward the planet Earth, where plenty of human bodies were available. Like many fallen angels, I float around all day, invisible to human eyes, waiting for a human to die so I can take over his or her body. Quite often, the bodies we catch are damaged. And we have to let them go and wait for better ones. I lucked out when I leapt into Sophia's body. She died of a drug overdose. Her body looked normal. Hot, even. So I moved in.

As I was saying, my three old friends came to the earthly plane to destroy me. Heaven often sends angels to hunt down the fallen. As if we didn't have enough problems. Unlike our heavenly counterparts, fallen angels are mortal. The only fallen angel who's truly immortal is Lucifer. That's because he was an archangel. As far beyond an ordinary angel as we are beyond you humans. Also, the Almighty has placed a special curse on Lucifer. He cannot die simply because Heaven won't let him. He must wander the universe, suffering until the end of time. His suffering wouldn't be eternal if death were a respite for it now, would it? Yeah, that's what I thought.

The moment I heard Heaven sent a trio of Hunters in the city, I knew I was in trouble. I knew they came for me. Recently, I ran into an old friend of mine. The fallen angel Laschiel. In Heaven, he was a warrior. Now he was housed in the body of a big and tall, dark-skinned and grim-looking Massachusetts State Trooper by the name of Henderson Brown. He had a good body. One that he would be able to maintain for a few decades. Most of us aren't so lucky. Even with pristine maintenance, the bodies we acquire only last about a decade or so. Laschiel told me he and his friends were looking for the Cup of Restoration. If you're a fallen angel, the Cup of Restoration is your holy grail. The Cup of Restoration would restore a fallen angel's destroyed heavenly body. Now there's a thought to light up your day. No more jumping from human body to human body. You could be restored to your true self. A heavenly body. With all the powers that entailed. Only high-ranking fallen angels like Lucifer's Legion retained their own heavenly bodies. Those of us who were differently cursed could only dream of such luck.

The Cup of Restoration was a myth, I thought. Laschiel didn't think so. That's why he and a band of fallen angels went roaming all over the planet Earth, and a few of the other dimensions, while looking for it. Laschiel drew many in his quest. My good friend, the fallen angel Jothiel was among them. In Heaven, Jothiel was a chronicler of humankind's stories. On Earth, he was housed in the body of a tall, plump but quite sturdy, forty-something black woman named Meredith Butters, a Boston-area schoolteacher. They went looking for the Cup of Restoration. And many claimed they were close to finding it. All they needed was the Way-Finder. In Heaven, when I wasn't composing music the likes of which you mortals can only imagine, I worked for the Acquisition Division. I helped find magical objects of great power. They called me Way-Finder. I'm good at finding things. However, I wasn't foolish enough to join Laschiel's band. Whenever fallen angels gathered in large numbers, Heaven sent its warriors to dispatch us.

Usually, Heaven's Warriors only come after the most dangerous of fallen angels. Some of us are quite nuts. My old pal, the fallen angel Ragniel fits that description. In the Middle Ages, he inhabited the body of one of England's most bloodthirsty kings and slaughtered thousands of people in warfare before Heaven sent the warrior archangel Michael to take him out. Permanently. I didn't know why Heaven's goons were zeroing in on me. I wasn't even involved with Laschiel's scheme. I just wanted to live my life in peace. I didn't want to die. Isn't that a funny thing for a formerly immortal being of awesome power to say? How times have changed.

When I was an angel, I could do almost anything. That's what the life of an Angel of the Lord is like. Angels can teleport themselves anywhere in the universe. They can travel through time and space merely by thinking about it. They can read the minds of other angels, and also enter the minds of human beings. They understand the language of animals. They can control the forces of nature. While on earth, angels are invulnerable and can also render themselves both intangible and invisible. They are capable of astonishing feats of physical strength and speed, when they choose to display their abilities. Yeah, I had it good. The life of a fallen angel, however, is quite different.

Lucifer and the original fallen angels, who number in the hundreds of thousands, were lucky enough to retain all of their powers when they fell from grace. Going after them isn't easy, even for the most driven of Heaven's warriors. However, cursed fallen angels like myself are a whole other matter. While on earth, we are forced to inhabit recently deceased human bodies. Once inside, we can imbue these bodies with certain abilities. We can dramatically increase a human body's strength and speed. We can also heal it when it is damaged, but only up to a certain point. We can read human minds, but not angelic minds. We can make ourselves invisible, and even walk through solid matter, but that takes a lot of energy. Most of us don't do that unless we absolutely have to. The biggest difference between heavenly angels and fallen angels is that we can die. Heaven's Angels can bind a fallen angel to whatever body he or she happens to inhabit. Then it's only a question of destroying the angel in that body. Only Angels from Heaven can bind. It takes the Word of God to bind a fallen angel. Fallen angels, demons and humans, all of us have had the knowledge removed from our minds. And any angel from Heaven who reveals it to anyone other than a denizen of Heaven will be hurled down into Hell.

Yeah, I guess you can say that I'm scared shitless. I dodged the heavenly trio as long as I could. But always they found me. I even willed myself to change form. It's not easy. Especially for a fallen angel. However, through sheer force of will and concentration, most of us can make ourselves look like someone else. Thus I went from a tall, curvy biracial woman to a stocky, red-haired and green-eyed white male in his mid-fifties. It didn't fool the angels. Not for one bit. You see, an angel can see a being's spiritual signature. Our metaphysical handprint, if you will. Thus, they can differentiate the souls of identical twins. And they can always tell a fallen angel from an ordinary human regardless of whatever form we assume. In my new guise, I ran. They chased me all over the city. In the Boston Public Library. At Copley Mall. On Harvard Square. On a boat across the Charles River. Everywhere I went, the angels followed. Finally, I decided to stop running. When night came that day, I went to Boston Common.

It's always been my favorite place in the city. Especially late at night, when most folks have gone home. It's so quiet and peaceful. Almost reminds me of home, you know. I sat there, and waited for the angels to come to me. And they came. Rykie. Sadkiel. Gabriel. Sons and daughters of the Lord in Heaven. They looked at me, and smiled. A frightening smile. The average human thinks of an angel as a chubby, winged and pretty-faced creature. They are anything but. Angels are terrifying. Scarier than anything you might see in your nightmares. And they delight in doing violence when God grants them permission. I waited for them. They surrounded me. Gabriel waved her hands, and I found myself trapped in place. Bound.

Rykiel and Sadkiel smiled, then their magnificent white wings unfurled from their backs. In their hands they held blades of fire. Electricity crackled in Gabriel's hands. Her wings were huge, and silvery. So, this was to be the end of me. Okay, then. Gabriel asked the questions. She demanded to know where Laschiel and the other fallen angels were. I told her that I didn't know. She smiled wickedly, then lashed out with her lightning. I screamed in pain as electricity rocked my body. I fell to my knees. Rykiel and Sadkiel smiled. This time, Rykiel proposed to let me go for now if I told him where my fallen brethren were. I told him to go to Hell. Angrily, he lashed out with his blade of fire. And I watched my left arm fall to the ground. Gabriel shook her head. I knew what she was thinking. She couldn't figure out why I wouldn't give up my fallen brethren. Angels live in Heaven. A perfect place. They know nothing of struggle, or pain. The pain shared by all fallen angels binds us to one another. Even though most of us can't stand each other. Angels could never understand this. They know nothing of struggle. All they have to do is obey God and they're granted almost unlimited power. It doesn't cost them anything. They know nothing of loyalty. Because most of them have never been tested.

I asked Gabriel to come closer. She did, so sure of herself was she. When I spat in her face, you should have seen how surprised she seemed. I laughed, even as Gabriel and her angelic companions readied themselves to slay me. That's when something impossible happened. Lightning struck in the sky above, and a horde of winged young men and winged young women descended from the heavens. At first I thought it was more angels. Great, I thought. Just what I needed. When I saw the expressions on Gabriel and friends faces, I felt a surge of hope. Rykiel, Sadkiel and Gabriel readied their angelic weapons, prepping for battle.

I looked, and saw the most beautiful sight. Angels. And not just angels. Fallen angels. Young men and women with wings. Brandishing swords of fire. And leading them was a tall, lordly fallen angel with a broadsword. The fallen angel Laschiel. How? I wondered. A shocked gasp escaped Gabriel's mouth. Rykiel and Sadkiel looked about nervously as the fallen angels surrounded them.

Laschiel spoke for all. He ordered Heaven's angels to leave, otherwise he'd send them from whence they came, in pieces. Rykiel roared in rage but did nothing. Sadkiel summoned two spears of fire and prepared to fight. Gabriel hesitated. Like all of the winged automatons found in Heaven, she did as she was told and never questioned orders. However, Heaven's angels seldom found themselves in a situation where they weren't automatically at an advantage. They loved hunting us fallen angels because, thanks to the curse, we were mortal while they were everlasting. Well, not anymore. Apparently, Laschiel had found the Cup of Restoration. He raised his sword, and ordered the fallen angels to attack. That's when Gabriel and company decided to teleport themselves elsewhere. The fallen angels screamed, rejoicing as the warriors of Heaven fled from them for the first time in eons.

Laschiel walked up to me, and with a wave of his hand, removed the holding spell placed upon me by the angel Gabriel. I fell, weakened from blood loss. As I lay there, dying, Laschiel knelt by my side. In his hands he held a magnificent metallic cup made of an alloy found only in Heaven. The Cup of Restoration. It was filled with water. He put the cup to my lips, and made me drink. And the most amazing thing of all. Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, I felt myself shedding the human body I wore. I began to glow from within, and the body I inhabited was instantly incinerated. And I was free. Once again, I was in my own original celestial body.

Laschiel smiled at me, then helped me rise. I rose. Once more an angel, in every sense of the term. I looked at my angelic brothers and sisters. They smiled at me. Laschiel told me of how he found the Cup of Restoration. It was buried in the Middle East. Left there by who knew what. He found it, and instantly drank from it, regaining his celestial body and full angelic powers. He then restored dozens of fallen angels to their former glory. Now, it would be up to us to restore all of the fallen angels in the universe. No longer would we hide in fear of Heaven's warriors. We would meet them on equal ground, with equal might. I embraced Laschiel. Then I did something I haven't done in tens of thousands of years. I flew like a bird. And all of my winged brothers and winged sisters joined me. Exciting times were upon us. For the first time in eons, there was hope for the fallen.