Claimed by Angels & Demons: Book 1 Page 5

  I went back to my room and turned on my laptop. The mystery of Mom would have to go on the back burner for now, because I had spent years chasing that dead end and there was nothing there. Wherever she had disappeared to, there wasn't a trace to be found. But Gabriel was still expecting me to try and find out who my mother and father were so that he could decide if I would live or die, and that didn't work for me. I needed to find out what I was first, and then decide what I would tell Gabriel, and I needed a way to find that out that didn't involve Mom. The first thing I typed in to Google was "Archangel Gabriel.' Lots of results, he was a popular guy. I clicked on the first one and started reading.

  "In Judeo-Christian religions Gabriel is considered to be the archangel of mercy, revelation, resurrection and death. Gabriel is said to sit at the left hand of God. In Islam, Gabriel is the angel believed to have dictated the Q'uran to the prophet Muhammad."

  I scanned further down the page but it just went on like that for awhile. Lots of dry bible quotes and scholarly interpretations. If I was writing a twenty page paper on the bible for class it would have been gold. But I didn't need the official story, I needed the unofficial story, the dirt.

  I thought back to everything Gabriel had said that afternoon. There had been another word he used to describe witches. He had said we called ourselves witches, and he had called us... the Nephilim. Something about the Nephilim. I had a vague memory of that word from Sunday School, but I couldn't remember what it meant. I stuck it in Google and after a few misspellings Google figured out what I was looking for.

  I clicked on the first result and started reading.

  "The Nephilim were the offspring of the union between the daughters of men and the angels of heaven. They are described in Genesis 6:1-4:

  "'Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.'

  "The Nephilim are also mentioned several times in the Book of Enoch:

  "'And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants, whose height was three hundred ells: Who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another's flesh, and drink the blood.'

  "'And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all coloring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal, taught astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiel the signs of the sun, and Sariel the course of the moon.'"

  Azazel my ancestor, apparently the instigator of a great deal of godlessness and fornication. I wasn't sure whether to feel ashamed or proud. This was getting me a little closer, but still wasn't telling me much.

  I went back to Google and typed in 'Gabriel + Nephilim' and started reading the first result:

  "The story of the Nephilim is one of the more fascinating digressions in Christian mythology, principally contained in the Book of Genesis and the Book of Enoch, though they are mentioned in other texts as well.

  "The Nephilim were the children of male angels and female humans. They are described as giants, and a threat to humanity. It doesn't help the reputation of the Nephilim as bad guys that the fallen angels who had sired these giants also decided to teach their offspring many secrets and forbidden things. To the women they taught various enchantments and incantations, and to the men they taught the making of weaponry and the art of war.

  "These teachings corrupted the Nephilim, and needless to say God was not pleased by this. Neither were the men of Earth, who were victimized and eaten by the Nephilim, and who requested that God intervene on their behalf. In response, God sent his four archangels, those being Uriel, Michael, Raphael and Gabriel, to do something about the Nephilim.

  "The archangels eventually decided that they should cause a civil war to break out among the Nephilim, and in this way the Nephilim would wipe themselves out. The archangel Gabriel was tasked with doing this, and it is reported that he was successful, though how successful is unclear, because this is not the last mention of the Nephilim. In Numbers 13:33, agents of Aaron and Moses are described as exploring the area of Canaan and laying eyes upon the sons and daughters of the Nephilim. Furthermore, many later pagan heroes and kings were described as being of unusual size, far bigger than the average human, and there also entire cities described as being of gigantic proportions. All of this points to at least some Nephilim surviving the civil war instigated by Gabriel.

  "There are several theorized explanations for the discrepancy of the surviving Nephilim, but it appears that those who survived did not threaten or enact any further violence upon the men of Earth, and were allowed to exist in peace by God and the archangels."

  So Gabriel was tasked with destroying the Nephilim, but something went wrong. He couldn't do it, or some escaped him, or something. And apparently here he was, thousands of years later, still involved in some way with the sons and daughters of the Nephilim. Which was me. Except I was different. Somehow.

  I typed 'Gabriel + Seffora' in to Google but there were no real results. Whoever she was, whatever the connection between her and Gabriel was, it hadn't been conveniently written up on the internet.

  I sat back in my chair. It was a start on understanding, but just a start. There were still so many questions that I needed answered. If I was going to survive Gabriel I needed to be one step ahead of him, and he had a big advantage on me, having actually lived through most of this stuff, while I was stuck with reading interpretations of it all on the internet.

  What I really needed was to go back and talk to Henrietta. The way she had bragged about being the descendant of some big name angel she probably knew the entire history of angels and witches backwards and forwards, and could tell me everything that I wasn't going to find on Google. But before I could do that I would have to convince her that letting me through the front door wouldn't result in her immediate death.

  What I really needed to know was who Seffora was, and what her connection to Gabriel was. It was the only reason I was still alive, and before Henrietta had slammed the door in my face I had seen a look of recognition. She knew who Seffora was, she had that piece of the puzzle, and I would get it out of her one way or another.

  I went back to the internet and continued reading, but none of it was any help. Apparently the supernatural world that I had stumbled in to didn't have much of a web presence. No official homepage, no twitter hashtags. I wasn't going to find anything useful. I would go back to Spiritual Dispersion Services tomorrow and convince Henrietta to let me come back. Then I would get whatever answers I could out of her.

  A while later, lying in bed under the covers and starting to drift off to sleep, my mind wandered back to my ancestors, the Nephilim. The offspring of angels and women. I could see what the attraction must have been for those women if the rest of the angels looked as good as Gabriel. He was seriously gorgeous. In the dark, my eyes closed, I started to imagine what it would be like to get wrapped up in his arms, to rip that black suit off of him and find out what was underneath. What must it be like to have a real life angel caress your face, pull
you in close to him?

  I wasn't going to act on any of those thoughts, of course, but there wasn't any harm in a fantasy or two.

  ~~~

  Sometime during the night I started to have a dream. As often happens, the things I was thinking about when I drifted off to sleep became the content of my dreams. So there I was, not wearing much, and Gabriel helping me out of the few pieces of clothing I still had on. He was already naked, and hard, eager to get me on to the bed and do all kinds of wonderful things to me. With that black suit off he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

  Which is when the dream became distorted, and darker, like someone had switched the lighting from sensual to sinister. My dream Gabriel threw me down on the bed and slowly climbed on top of me but I was distracted now by the sudden change, and in the darkening corner of the dream room I could swear I saw something, two eyes, glowing red. But my eyes kept slipping over the two glowing spots, kept being pushed away off to the side, like trying to push two magnets with the some polarity together. No matter how much I tried to focus on those eyes, my eyes would end up looking somewhere else.

  I looked back to Gabriel, who moved his head up from kissing my chest. He smiled at me, and two devilish horns began to grow out of his forehead, pushing through the skin like seedlings bursting from the ground, twisting and thickening as they sprouted upwards.

  He started to kiss my mouth and I tried to push his face away but my arms felt so weak, I could barely lift them. I tried to say something but all that came out was a muffled moan. I kept seeing the two glowing red eyes in my peripheral vision. And then I heard something, a voice, muttering in a deep, guttural tone that was too low to make out, in a language that didn't sound anything like English. Gabriel stopped kissing my neck and came up for air. His features had become horribly distorted and distended, and behind him I could see two massive wings, but not the white wings of an angel, instead the black, tattered wings of something else.

  The muttering from the corner of the room continued, rhythmic and pulsing, seeming to vibrate through me, like standing in the surf and being hit by wave after relentless wave. I wanted to get away, I wanted to wake up. I closed my eyes and desperately willed myself awake, pushing and scratching at the darkness that held me under, until finally I broke free.

  I woke sitting up, screaming in terror, drenched in sweat. I looked around wildly for the red eyes, but there was nothing except my familiar room, lit by a faint bit of light from the window. There's nothing here, I told myself, it's just me, I'm okay, it was just a dream. I slowed my breathing down, from panting gasps to just hard breathing. What the hell had that been?

  My door burst open and I just about screamed again, but it was just Kat. She stopped halfway to my bed, "are you okay?" The fright was evident in her voice.

  I nodded my head and tried to catch my breath, "just a nightmare," I said, "was I screaming?"

  "Screaming doesn't even begin to cover it, that was the most terrifying thing I've ever heard. I thought someone was murdering you in here."

  "Sorry, it was just a dream. I think. It's fine though, go back to bed."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yea I'm okay, really."

  Kat gave me one last long look. "Okay, if you're sure," and then left again, closing the door behind her.

  Was I really okay? I had no idea. I hadn't had a nightmare since I'd believed in the bogeyman. Normally I didn't even remember my dreams, but I didn't think I would ever forget whatever that had been. Was this some part of becoming a witch? Had I triggered something when I started using my powers? It had seemed like so much more than a nightmare, like a dream that had been invaded by an outside force. Something evil. It had all started out so well with Gabriel taking me in his arms, and then that thing, those eyes, had gain control somehow, and corrupted the whole thing. Was that just an elaborate nightmare, or something more?

  I spent the last couple hours of darkness laying in bed, not able to get back to sleep and not really wanting to go back to sleep, obsessing on whatever had happened. It had all seemed so real, but in the light of morning the idea of some sort of entity invading and taking control of my dream seemed a little absurd. Angels and witches, sure, but weird, dream invading red eyes? It seemed so implausible, even for the crazy supernatural world that I was getting dragged in to.

  By the time I was eating breakfast, I was sure the whole thing had just been a strange nightmare. I had been introduced to all this crazy supernatural stuff and my imagination had gotten the better of me. I had overreacted. I left before Kat or Tim got up, embarrassed that I had been screaming my lungs out in the middle of the night.

  Chapter Five

  I was driving to Spiritual Dispersion Services to beg Henrietta to at least talk to me for a few minutes when I sensed something happening beside me, in the car. I looked over just in time to see someone materializing in the passenger's seat. I screamed and completely lost focus, swerving in to the oncoming lane of traffic. Fortunately it was too early for there to be many other drivers out, and I didn't kill myself in a head-on collision. Once I had my car back in the proper lane I glanced over again and saw Gabriel, now fully formed. "What the hell is wrong with you, I'm driving here, I could have hit someone!"

  "Yes," Gabriel said, "you humans seem to crash these vessels often."

  His damned distant and controlled routine was so aggravating. I wanted some emotion, I wanted the Gabriel I had met at the Barlow's house. "I'm a great driver, you're the problem. What the hell do you want anyway?" I really hoped he hadn't already reached some sort of conclusion on whether I was too dangerous to live. I needed more time.

  "Have you learned anything more, about your mother, or your father?"

  I laughed "do you know how many years I spent looking for my Mom, or for any hint of who my Dad might be? No, believe it or not I didn't learn anything new in the last twelve hours." And I wouldn't have told him even if I had. I pulled the car over to the side of the road so I didn't risk an accident. Just remembering what looking into Gabriel's eyes had done to me the day before, well I had had trouble remaining standing, let alone driving. "But I do have some questions for you."

  "I may or may not answer your questions human." He said human the way I said cockroach.

  "For starters my name is Layla, not human. Layla. And anyway aren't I one of the Nephilim, which means I'm not a human?"

  "You witches, as you call yourselves, are pale shadows of the original sons and daughters of the Nephilim. You are not worthy of the name. Though I will grant that you are an exception," Gabriel glanced over and I swear there was just the hint of a smile, "Layla." There it was again, the hint of a personality beneath the cool and reserved outer shell. And there was something incredibly sexy about hearing my name come from his lips.

  "Yesterday you seemed convinced that I was someone named Seffora. Who was she?" I was trying to get some information but trying to get a reaction too. I wanted to know if he had only looked at me the way he did because of my resemblance to Seffora, or if because there was something else there, something between him and me. Because I had known since that first moment that our eyes met in the Barlow's house that I wanted him, but I wasn't going to just throw myself at him and make an idiot of myself if he didn't feel the same way. There hadn't been any hint that he had any feelings for me yesterday at the Spiritual Dispersion Services warehouse, but I guess I was just a glutton for rejection.

  Gabriel let out a long, slow sigh, "yes, I do apologize for how I... lost control of myself. I was struck by your resemblance to a woman that I knew long ago, a woman that meant a great deal to me. But she is dead. And you are not her."

  Of course I wasn't her. I felt like an idiot, imagining all these feelings that he might have for me when in reality there was nothing between us but a case of mistaken identity. I needed to grow up, stop gazing at Gabriel like some love-sick teen and remember that my life was on the line here. "Well maybe I'm related to Seffora, like a descendant?" I ventured. "C
ould that have something to do with my special powers?"

  "That is not possible," Gabriel said, "Seffora had no children. Her line ended with her."

  I got lost in his face again. His eyes, the waves of his hair, the strong line of his shoulder as he stared forward through the windshield, lost in his memories. I wanted so badly for him to look at me again like he had that first time. I blinked and tried to snap out of it. What was wrong with me? He was good looking, there was no doubt of that, but this was something else entirely, like a physical pull. Maybe angels were just super attractive, like vampires always were in the movies, or they had crazy pheromones, or something. Whatever it was I needed to snap out of it and learn more about Seffora. "You loved her," I said, not so much asking as stating.

  "She was the first human that I loved. And the last." He looked at me and then glanced away again. "This is immaterial, we should be speaking of you, not me."

  "I know," I said, "it's just when you said I looked like someone you had known, I thought there could be a connection there, that it might be able to add some context. Background. Something."

  "I thought a great deal about the possibility of some familial connection between you and her while you slept. In truth it would explain a great deal, but it's not possible. As I said she died childless, and was the last of her name. It must be only a coincidence."