4-The Story and the Truth

Back when she loved him and he loved her, Michael had told her a story, a little known Myth that he declared the truth. That Myth is fuel for her fire and the only way she will have her revenge.

Pompeii 78AD

The rising and falling of his chest as he slept was almost hypnotic; Nareena concluded that she would pay all the gold in the world just to be like this with him every morning for the rest of her life. 

For once she had risen before him, the early rays of dawn bathed her in warmth as she revelled in the glow of his body. She knew that once he woke he would say goodbye and wish a her a quick day until they could see each other once again, he never stayed later and had rarely spent the day with her. Nareena had been bought and sold as a slave from being a young girl, she knew nothing else of the world, even her home was a distant memory now; thankfully her current owners, an elderly merchant and his wife were good people, good to her and her days were not as demanding as they could be; she was even given a free day, to spend how she pleased one her Mistress was dressed. 

He probably sensed her gaze on him or perhaps he was aware that she was no longer resting peacefully, he stirred slightly beside her "Do I see this?" his soft chuckle vibrated lightly against her cheek "You never rise before me!"

"You do see!" she replied gleefully. She craned her neck towards his face in order to capture his lips with her own, she was rewarded when he moved his face closer to hers. His lips were soft, warm and tasted perfectly familiar; it was a sweet kiss, that made her melt into him all the while he ran his hands languidly through her long raven hair, curling and twisting it between his fingers. 

"My lady won't rise for a while, we still have time." she told him she tracing invisible patterns across his chest. Her mistress was prone to sleeping later in the mornings, a pleasure she enjoyed in her later years, a luxury Nareena also enjoyed. She was handmaiden to the Lady of the House, but Drusilla thought of Nareena as more of a companion than a slave, someone to accompany her throughout the day; Julius Marcus Volpus, Drusilla's husband paid Nareena a fair salary to ensure his wife's happiness. She counted herself lucky, not many slaves were afforded as much freedom and saftey as she had been, she tried to never take for granted the independence she had.

 

"Tell me the story again?" she begged. 

"Which story?" he mused quizzically.

"The one about your brother."

"That's not just a story, it's true" 

"Tell me the truth then" she retorted playfully. Her hand interlaced with his while his other hand continued to play with her hair "Very well, as you wish."

"Before I was born, my father had another son. His name was Lucifer, the Dawn Bringer." Michael smiled at the memory of his brother  "He was brilliant to behold, he loved our father, he loved us too, Me, Gabriel, Raphael and all our other siblings; in the beginning we were happy." a sombreness  trickled slowly into his voice, it was  clearly upsetting him, in an attempt to sooth him so removed her hand from his and splayed it across his chest. " But he grew restless and wanted dominion over man, but they were too young, too fragile and our father said no. So Lucifer planned to take Heaven's heart; the source of God's power; the life force of the Angels. You see to own the heart is to have the power of God." his breath steadied as his hand tangled deeper into her tresses "When I learned what he planned, I told our father, Lucifer's ego had grown too much. All of us, we waited in the Sanctum where the Heart rested, we waited for Lucifer to come, my Father, the other Arch Angels and I. When we saw Lucifer's betrayal to be true, Father pushed him from Heaven and made him fall. Lucifer was not alone, with him fell another of our brothers, Samael and some of our youngest siblings who had had been tainted by Lucifer and Samael, we lost so many." He recited to her a poem that she had heard before.

And so from Heaven

he did fall.

From Grace of God

and love of all.

Across this Earth

was forced to roam.

A fallen Angel with 

no home. 

Michael cleared his throat in order to continue "To stop Lucifer or any other Angel from taking the power of the Heart, we broke it into 7 pieces, each piece represented one of the seven Archangels that remained. Over time  pieces were sent to Earth and hidden in Holy Relics, there are already some here, but others will come in time." 

He had shared so much with her in their time together. He told her of his adventures and his family, in that moment, when his face was covered by a mask of betrayal and longing she realised that she loved him. She sat up, and looked down at her beautiful Angel "I'm sorry." she told him, she cupped his perfect face, looking deep into his eyes "I love you." she told him as she watched his mask dissolve from his face, replaced by a boyish grin filled with pure satisfaction. 

"Finally."

"Finally?" she was confused.

"I knew from the moment I saw your soul. Long before you were born that I loved you." he said bluntly.

"For so long?"

"For so long." he told her. "I don't think souls were meant to be for Angels. But you. You were mine from the moment I saw you created. And I was yours."

His words were real and she could feel the love pouring from them, it filled her with a tremendous joy. Their's was an unsure future, he was a creature of Heaven and she was a mortal. But she felt in her heart that they would somehow triumph. 

*

She drove in silence for a while,  scarcely able to believe that they had finally found the Ark after all this time. Hopefully it would be another few hours before anyone would find out that it was gone. Of course she had the benefit of no one having seen the inside of the Tablet Building, some might think the disappearance of the Ark was a way for the church to hide the fact that there was never anything in there, others would think it was a publicity stunt. The laptop she used to contact the professor had already been destroyed and any evidence of the alias she had used, Natalie Browning had been erased from existence . 

As she continued to drive she thought about Levi and their first meeting when she decided to hire him...

New York, 2000

"Do you know why they say the Devil is beautiful?" she asked a beautiful 19 year old Levi, he was so full of life it made her think back to when she was his age.They were sat in a quiet New York Diner having a cup of coffee. She had seen met him several times, he was a delivery boy for a postal company and had delivered plenty to her apartment. He made conversation every time they met and she found herself becoming fond of him. Today's meeting had been by chance in the street, her mind made up that she wanted to hire him, she had offered him a cup of coffee. 

"No?" he replied curiously his face unmarred by age. It amused her that he found her so peculiar, but nowadays people were less inclined with religion of old, a question like this would surely seem odd to anyone of his generation.

"It's because he was the first of Heaven. Before Michael and the other Angels. He was God's most perfect creation." she continued. In all her years on this Earth she had told only a few people about who she really was, once Christianity grew and the Pagan God's were all but memory she no longer felt safe declaring that she had been punished and was no longer mortal. Where Pagan's would have found her mystifying, Christians would have declared her a heretic and tried to kill her. The last person she had told was a young man she employed some 200 years ago during the French Revolution. He had only really believed her after several years when he started to grow old and she remained the same. 

After she told the young and naive Levi her story, he laughed at her and although it was a jovial and hearty sound it still offended her. She told him of Samael, the Archangel that fell with Lucifer and how he had not followed his brother into Hell but instead wandered the Earth as a nomad. Having not accepted Lucifer as his Lord, Samael maintained the gift to recognise Heaven's light. Since his fall he had watched for the Relics as they came to Earth, although he had lost their location over time he knew which Holy Relics held pieces of Heaven's Heart.

She told Levi that in the early 1900's she and Samael had come across one another in Spain. Knowing who she was he sought her out, desperate for an understanding person. By this time however Nareena had grown bitter and cold;instead of being understanding and consoling him she realised that she could use Samael and the information he so willingly gave. She wanted to make Michael jealous and to hurt him, his lonely little brother had provided her with the perfect opportunity in more ways than one.

"Samael and I had a brief affair, it did not have the desired affect, it ended soon after it began. But he told me more about the Relics Michael mentioned many centuries before. He knew what they were and trusting me, he told me." she explained to Levi,who sipped his coffee absentmindedly "With this knowledge I decided to collect each relic and destroy the Heart. I want to punish them for what they did to me. I've been alone for almost 2,00 years." she concluded. His eyes were wide with curiosity and fascination, he remained silent as their eyes held a shared gaze.

He was almost hooked so she told him more. She recalled how long it had taken to acquire the resources she would need; told him about the money the art and everything else she stole, borrowed or bargained for, all to help her cause. The way she told it made it sound like an enticing adventure, she was good at her job, she always had been good at getting what she wanted. 

"I want you to come work for me." she said to him "You will be well payed for your loyalty and help." She needed people like him, with minds she could mould to fit her needs, people that wanted the chance at adventure. As she predicted, the promise of adventure and good money called across the table to him, it wasn't long before he agreed to take a leap of faith and join her.

Levi joined the hunt after she had been searching for 3 decades. Most of the people she hired cared little for her reasons and were loyal to her as long as they were payed, Levi, a young delivery boy from New York was the only one who knew the truth, he believed her, he would always believe her even when she gave him little reason to, he remained loyal to her until this day.

 

*

For the whole car journey she thought back on her life, past her chance meeting with Levi and back to some of her earliest days and best lives, to some of the best and worst times; soon it would all be worth it. With a renewed sense of purpose she pressed the accelerator and made her way to the airport where Levi and some of the others would soon meet her.