The Angels' Pride Read online

  The Angels’ Pride

  The Fallen Angels

  Book 1

  Steven Lindsay

  Copyright © 2013 Steven Lindsay

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1490497579

  ISBN-13: 978-1490497570

  For Mum, Dad and David

  for always encouraging my love of reading

  and for Marina

  whose words put me on and kept me on this path

  Part 1

  A Fall From Heaven

  Chapter 1

  Resentment coursed through her, bitterness consuming all her thoughts.

  Sariel looked out her apartment windows, looking upon the beauty of Heaven from her confines. Rays of sunlight speared through cloudbanks to glance off the pastel buildings of the Citadel and the long white bridge that connected it to the palace. She watched with longing at the Angels that were free to roam as they pleased, walking and flying through the streets and the skies. She heard their songs and their laughter, the music of Heaven filled her ears. She watched them flirting, talking and kissing.

  She saw them living free, and she was jealous.

  She knew that envy was one of the deadly sins and that it had more power over her than an Arch Angel should ever allow, but she couldn’t help it. She was jealous of the other Angels free to leave the palace, free to roam the Citadel and especially envious of those who were allowed to descend to the Surface. A place she had never been. She was rarely allowed to leave the palace, being able to count on one hand the number of times she had been allowed to visit the Citadel.

  She understood her brother’s concern. She had almost no magic of her own, lacking the basic defences afforded to even the weakest of Lesser Angels. It was ridiculous that she was an Arch Angel who could not leave the palace without an escort. She found it weird that she was even an Arch Angel being almost powerless. But she was Michael’s sister and she was the daughter of Samael and Lilith both of whom had also been Arch Angels before being killed in the War.

  But that wasn’t the only problem, not only was she practically powerless, something thought impossible for an Elder Angel; she was also the youngest. The Arch Angels babied her because she was one of their own, and she was at the bottom of that strict hierarchy. But the other Elders worried over her because she was the last of their kind. There had been no Elder Angels born for nearly two thousand years. Not an uncommon situation for the immortals but a troubling one nevertheless. Until Michael and Gabriel managed to conceive a child, they would continue to baby her.

  She wished that someone would birth another Elder, not just for her sake but also for the sake of the Angels. The Elder were the most powerful Angels, but many of their numbers had been killed in the War of Heaven and the subsequent Fall. Despite well over a thousand years having passed since the War they had not recovered to the numbers they had once enjoyed. Many of the Arch Angels had died, forcing many of their children to step up. Including her, as stupid as it was.

  She theoretically had the power of ruling Heaven and Earth, but in reality Gabriel and Michael ruled the world. The other Arch Angels were mostly family members, they simply compounded their ruling strength. But in reality, she was powerless, having barely any magic of her own, and no experience of the world below. She was being groomed by Michael and Gabriel to be all she could as an Arch Angel, but she thought the point moot. She was simply expected to lend her vote to any decision they made.

  That alone would spike anyone’s envy, but the fact that powerless Lesser Angels were allowed to the Surface to whisper in the ears of mortals to fight the waning faith simply stoked her jealousy. Why should they get to go and she not? They were more defenceless than she was, she at least was immortal, the Lesser were simply spirits. But as Gabriel said, they were expendable, and she was not.

  She agreed and disagreed. She was after all an Elder with the potential at least to conceive, they were dead and unable to reproduce. Lesser Angels were everywhere, Elders were much more of a rarity.

  She sighed as she continued to gaze out the window, there was so much she wanted to see and do. She wanted more than anything to visit the Surface. To see real mortals, real land, to see the sea. She wanted to walk among the Humans in their swelling cities, to gaze upon the Heathens, who undermined and resisted the will of Heaven. To marvel at the technology Humans had created. To see the night.

  The Palace and Citadel were a place of ever sunlight, it waxed and waned but never went dark. The skies would streak beautiful pinks, oranges and purples but otherwise, it was near perfect azure skies all the time. Even storms rarely visited the Citadel.

  There was so much she wanted to do, see and experience. Had wanted to do for over a thousand years. But had never been allowed. It just wasn’t fair.

  Gabriel slipped into Sariel’s rooms, moving with all the silent grace inherent to the Elder Angels. She was a beautiful woman, a standout beauty even among the immortal and flawless beauty of the Angels. She was tall and lean, with sun kissed olive skin and six glorious white and gold wings that managed to catch every ray of light. Even her brown-blonde hair seemed to float like liquid sunlight around her head. But above all, it was her extremely rare violet eyes that made her unique.

  Ironically enough most of the Arch Angels had violet eyes. Michael and his sister, their uncle Azrael and her own cousin Ariel all had similarly stunning violet eyes. But no other Angels did. It was a characteristic she found that helped subtly emphasize the difference between the Arch Angels and the other Angels.

  Gabriel was the poster child of Angelic beauty, all sun-kissed and reflections. Sariel, just like the rest of her family were almost polar opposites. Like her brother and uncle she had very pale skin that made them look like they had rarely seen the sun. It was hard to think that they lived in the eternal sunlight of Heaven. They also lacked the blonde or brown-blonde hair most of the other Elder Angels had. They had jet black hair that matched their six jet black wings, once again something completely unique to their family. But then their physical appearances were the characteristics of the Angels of Death.

  For whatever reason that bloodline overpowered all other inherited characteristics. It was, however, a pure breeding bloodline, producing some of the most powerful Arch Angels, all four of them had been Arch Angels. It was this unique power that had made Michael a good match for her own phenomenal powers.

  Not that their powers were doing them much good. The world was changing, faith was dying out as science accelerated Humans’ control of their own destiny. Every Angels’ strength would be needed to reign back in their wayward subjects.

  It was this thought process that accelerated her anger when she saw Sariel daydreaming out the window.

  “Sariel, what are you doing?” she snapped. Elder Angels were far more valuable than any other Angel. They needed every trained Elder they could. Sariel might well be that crucial tipping point.

  Sariel turned those surly violet eyes towards her, why did she always have such an attitude? “I’m watching people live. I’m watching people do everything I’m not.”

  Gabriel twitched her wings in annoyance “live! Ha! The Lesser Angels are dead spirits rehoused in magical flesh, how much living are they doing? You are living Sariel, you are an Elder, real flesh and blood housing powers beyond reckoning.”

  “Powers beyond reckoning, I can barely light a candle. I have more in common with them than with the Elders.”

  “We are their masters. There are problems with your powers granted, but you are still an Elder, still an Arch. You have control over them.”

  “Why should I govern them when I hardly know anything about them? Why should I govern over the Earth when I have never seen a Human let alone their cities? How can I understa
nd the work of Demons when I cannot see it for myself? Instead, I am stuck in this palace day after day, century after century. I’m not even allowed to visit the Citadel, the heart of Angel power.”

  “We’re protecting you Sariel, you’re not well.”

  “Not well! I’m perfectly fine. I can fly, I can walk. I’m not sick or weak. I’m naturally protected by my latent powers. I could fly down to the Surface and see the world for myself. Someone could come with me, half of Heaven could come with me if that is what it takes. You need to let me live!”

  Great, another tantrum. “Sariel many things can go wrong on the Surface, there are a great many temptations and dangers.”

  “Stop judging me by your brother. I am not Lucifer!”

  Even as she said it Sariel realised she had gone too far, Gabriel’s face contorted with rage, her violet eyes seeming to burn. “No, you are not, he at least cared about his duty.” She spat as she stormed out the room. The door slammed shut, and a pink shield bloomed across it. Sariel wasn’t going anywhere.

  Interesting, it was rare for Gabriel to make a slip but she had just praised Lucifer. Of course, that was an indication of her anger if she had just favoured Lucifer over her. Gabriel loathed her brother with a fury that seemed to have no end.

  But then he had divided Heaven with its civil war. He was the reason there were so few Elder Angels. The Fall had extracted a huge price on the Angels unloyal to Michael and Gabriel.

  Sariel wondered what Heaven would be like now if Lucifer had won and Gabriel had lost.

  Gabriel leaned against the door, trying to control her shaking. It was unseemly to appear so angry after visiting Sariel. In court when people failed her yes, when seeing an adolescent girl no. Damn her and damn Lucifer. Damn them both. Why couldn’t either of them just do as they were told? Life would be so much easier if they just accepted their place. At least Sariel was controllable without her magic.

  Lucifer was still someone to be feared. He might be trapped in Hell, but she sometimes worried that he might one day escape. That was, of course, impossible, Hell would never fall. Lucifer would always be trapped as he was. It was a fitting punishment for his sins. Siding with the Gods they had fought so hard to overthrow, convincing so many that they could coexist. He had refused to see the error of his ways, had refused her logical reasoning. He had insulted her and had tried to take away her throne. He had been beyond foolish.

  Now he was paying for that foolishness. But it had come at a terrible cost. One-third of the Angels had Fallen with Lucifer into Hell. Another third had Fallen into Purgatory. They were only a third of the strength they should have been. Was it any wonder they were losing grasp on the world as Humanity thundered down the road to its own control. That could not be allowed.

  Why could Sariel not see how vital she was, that as an Arch Angel she had the power to shape the world, even if she couldn’t access that power. She still had the latent abilities of the Arch Angels. She could invoke wars with simple whispers, she could condemn a nation with a single word. She could bend other Angels to her will with just her voice and aura. Yet she failed to appreciate what she still had. Always pining to see the Citadel and Surface. She was so sick of her whining. Just like a child she lived for the now with no appreciation for the future.

  When she and Michael needed so much of their attention focused on the world, here they were chasing after a spoilt brat. Still she was his sister, he could deal with her. She had to see that they knew how to rule Heaven, she just had to lend her support to them. She didn’t need to govern, Heaven was theirs.

  Nothing would remove her from her throne. Of that she was sure.

  Sariel looked at herself in the mirror. Did people really think she was unwell? She wasn’t deformed or disfigured. She had two arms, two legs, and six wings. Her skin was pale, but then so were Michael and Azrael’s and so had her father’s she had been told. Just like them she had jet black hair and jet black wings. An extreme rarity in Heaven where everything was synonymous with sunlight. The rest had sun kissed olive or darkened bronze skin, wings of white and gold. The rest of the Angels seemed to live and breathe light.

  But her family were no ordinary Angels. They were the Angels of Death. Though of course she didn’t actually get to do anything, and Michael was usually too busy running Heaven and Earth. Most of the duties of Death fell to Azrael and his handpicked servants the Reapers.

  Other than colouring she looked like every other Elder Angel. She was pixie-like, delicate and defined but with the natural strength that was there for all Elders. She could lift more than any mortal, endure exertion, hunger, and thirst for far longer. She healed very quickly, had little need for rest and glowed softly.

  Her other rarity was her violet eyes, of all the Angels only her family and Gabriel’s had them. Of the Seven Arch Angels, only Raphael and Uriel did not have violet eyes. The other Elder Angels tended to have amber or light blue. The Ascended and Lesser Angels had a wide variety.

  No, she was definitely not deformed, she looked like an Elder Angel from her family. Though she would never admit it, she did secretly long for Gabriel’s sun-kissed complexion.

  It was times like these that she especially wished that her parents had survived the War. To have the normal family dynamic, to have Michael as her brother and not her keeper. Maybe then she’s actually like him and Gabriel. Maybe not.

  She sighed and sat down by the window, gazing out once again at the goings-on of Heaven. The sky was streaking gold and orange. It was approaching dinner time. She hoped it didn’t take Michael long to come and sort her out. She was hungry.

  She opened her eyes when she heard the door open. It had been so long she had dozed off. A quick glance out the window showed violet and pink skies, it was just before dawn, not that the sun ever actually set or rose, but they still used the timelines mortals used. It was easier.

  Her brother wore an annoyed expression as he walked over to her. Not that she expected any difference, but just one she would like him to side with her. He sat down next to her and studied her for a moment, looking for something in her eyes.

  “Gabriel is very upset.” He said softly.

  Gabriel was always upset. There was a reason people did very little to annoy her. Her temper was legendary and frequent. “I cannot win. If I sulk, I am a spoilt child, and if I actually form an adult argument then she gets upset.”

  “You shouldn’t have mentioned Lucifer. You know she is extremely touchy on the subject.”

  “But that is who she is comparing me to. You both fear that I might be the next Lucifer and tear apart the fragile control of Heaven. That is the real reason you both tuck me away out of harm’s way. There is nothing to worry about, I have no powers. How could I ever be a threat to Heaven? You are suffocating me with your fears. I am not living. I do not see the world, I do not see how even my own kind lives. Angels go about their lives, and I barely know anything about it.”

  “You know how Angels live.”

  “I know how Elder Angels live, and just how different I am from that expectation. I do not know what the Lesser or Ascended get up to or do for Heaven. I’m one of the Arch Angels, ruling over Heaven and Earth yet I have never seen a Human. I do not know how they live, what they aspire for. I do not understand the merest details about the people I’m meant to rule.”

  “The Lesser were once Humans, their journals fill the archives.”

  “They are not Human anymore. They have changed.”

  “The Surface is too dangerous for you.”

  “And not for the many Angels that have little or no magic? They survive fine.”

  “They are expendable, you are not. Elder Angels are the real might of Heaven, we are the magic that holds it together. The Lesser will never have our power. We are living they are not. We are infused with the essence of Heaven, they are not. They live here at our discretion.”

  Sariel fell quiet, shocked by his words. She hadn’t realised that the Elders viewed the Lesser as expe
ndable. Were the Ascended saints and prophets viewed as equally expendable?

  “You are irreplaceable Sariel. You will not be going to the Surface, and that is final. Put such notions from your head, they will only cause you further problems. You will apologise to Gabriel. It is also clear you need to learn some humility. You will work with the servants until we have decided that you have learned your lesson.” With that, he turned on his heel and left.

  She sagged against the window both furious and sorrowful. She wasn’t being spoilt, she was genuinely concerned about her ability to govern. Why couldn’t they seem to understand that? Yes, she wanted to see the world, but her reasons were more than just that.

  The reason the War of Heaven had broken out was because of the cruelty and ignorance of the Gods. They had once ruled Heaven, had in fact made it. But they were cruel and vain. They lost touch with the world that they dominated. It was from their decaying reign that the Angels had stepped up to lead the world. Naturally the Gods had been unwilling to relinquish their absolute control and war had broken out. Eventually, the Angels had won at a great cost. But Humanity had been given a new chance, a new era of expansion. It seemed to her that the Angels were now in danger of losing touch.

  And if they did, what was to stop them being overthrown by Humanity? Benevolent and understanding rulers remained in power. Those out of touch were so often overthrown.

  Perhaps the greatest concern was the Elder view on the Lesser. It was chilling to hear two of the Arch Angels talk about how expendable they were. Did the other Arch Angels think the same? She knew she didn’t, but then her voice fell on no one’s ears. The Arch Angels were meant to look out for the wellbeing of Heaven and all who dwelled within it, but apparently there were divisions she had been unaware of. That was food for thought, but at another time.