separation treaty took effect, no demon has ever survived an encounter with one. We usually pop over here for some short time fun, then get the hell out of Dodge before they kill us. They can sense us when we convert, although no one is really sure how much energy usage or how close they need to be for us to show up on their radar. Once they lock in on our energy signature, it’s difficult to come back. Pretty much game over if one is on your trail.”
Back home, we didn’t talk much about the angels or the wars. I know we used to live together in Aaru, what the humans called heaven. We’d always had strong philosophical differences though. Angels are all about self control. They hold to their spiritual form and only become corporeal when absolutely necessary. When they are in physical form, they endure it by holding themselves apart from the form and denying themselves the experience of the flesh as much as possible. They believe that physical manifestation sullies their purity and dims their capacity for enlightenment. We on the other hand feel that experiencing everything we can in the physical realm, diving deep within the sensations of the flesh, is a necessity of life. How can one possibly be whole without feeling, touching, knowing everything one can?
I knew that these differences set the stage for the war and eventual separation. I suspected there was more to the war than philosophy, but either no one remembered or no one spoke of it. It’s not like we could just walk up to an angel and discuss it. The treaty completely separated our kind. And if we met one over here, we were dead. Not much time for an enlightening conversation.
Candy waited to make sure I was done, and then dusted off a lounge chair, sitting down and putting her elbows on her knees as she leaned forward toward me.
“By our count, there are about fifty angels in this realm at any given time. I don’t know what a lot of the angels do, but there are groups that are enforcers. There’s one in charge of Werewolves, and one is a liaison to the Vampires.”
Vampires. I hadn’t seen one of those in six hundred years and I’d assumed they’d died out. Candy continued.
“These enforcers catalog everyone in their group. They ensure everyone acts within the parameters of the existence contract and kill anyone who violates the contract. Basically, werewolves all exist at the whim of the angels. This isn’t a paternal kind of relationship.”
“Wow, sucks to be you,” I told her cheerfully. I couldn’t imagine having an angel breathing down my neck every second, waiting for one to pop out of nowhere and lop your head off because you forgot to put the cap on the toothpaste or something.
She ignored my comment. “The angel in charge of enforcing the werewolves is named Althean. A few years ago, he started killing werewolves, and we knew the kills weren’t justified under the contract. Lately, he’s escalated.”
“So why is he killing you off? Why now?” I asked suspiciously. “If he’s just gone off the deep end, can’t you report him up the chain of command? He’s got to have a boss. They all have bosses.”
Candy looked uncomfortable.
“Some of the angels hold the opinion that we’re Nephilim. I’m not sure how far up this goes. It could be that Althean’s boss approves of his actions.”
“What’s Nephilim?” I asked. It sounded like a type of cookie.
“The offspring of fallen angels and humans. Back when humans were just starting to evolve, a group of angels began having sexual relations with them. They had supposedly spawned a whole race of hybrid beings before the rest of the angels found out and came down on them with holy fury. There were no werewolves prior to this event, so many angels figure that we were the product of this joining: the Nephilim.”
No way. She had to be making this one up. Angels hated being in the flesh. They would never have lowered themselves to reproduce with humans.
“Others think we
Back home, we didn’t talk much about the angels or the wars. I know we used to live together in Aaru, what the humans called heaven. We’d always had strong philosophical differences though. Angels are all about self control. They hold to their spiritual form and only become corporeal when absolutely necessary. When they are in physical form, they endure it by holding themselves apart from the form and denying themselves the experience of the flesh as much as possible. They believe that physical manifestation sullies their purity and dims their capacity for enlightenment. We on the other hand feel that experiencing everything we can in the physical realm, diving deep within the sensations of the flesh, is a necessity of life. How can one possibly be whole without feeling, touching, knowing everything one can?
I knew that these differences set the stage for the war and eventual separation. I suspected there was more to the war than philosophy, but either no one remembered or no one spoke of it. It’s not like we could just walk up to an angel and discuss it. The treaty completely separated our kind. And if we met one over here, we were dead. Not much time for an enlightening conversation.
Candy waited to make sure I was done, and then dusted off a lounge chair, sitting down and putting her elbows on her knees as she leaned forward toward me.
“By our count, there are about fifty angels in this realm at any given time. I don’t know what a lot of the angels do, but there are groups that are enforcers. There’s one in charge of Werewolves, and one is a liaison to the Vampires.”
Vampires. I hadn’t seen one of those in six hundred years and I’d assumed they’d died out. Candy continued.
“These enforcers catalog everyone in their group. They ensure everyone acts within the parameters of the existence contract and kill anyone who violates the contract. Basically, werewolves all exist at the whim of the angels. This isn’t a paternal kind of relationship.”
“Wow, sucks to be you,” I told her cheerfully. I couldn’t imagine having an angel breathing down my neck every second, waiting for one to pop out of nowhere and lop your head off because you forgot to put the cap on the toothpaste or something.
She ignored my comment. “The angel in charge of enforcing the werewolves is named Althean. A few years ago, he started killing werewolves, and we knew the kills weren’t justified under the contract. Lately, he’s escalated.”
“So why is he killing you off? Why now?” I asked suspiciously. “If he’s just gone off the deep end, can’t you report him up the chain of command? He’s got to have a boss. They all have bosses.”
Candy looked uncomfortable.
“Some of the angels hold the opinion that we’re Nephilim. I’m not sure how far up this goes. It could be that Althean’s boss approves of his actions.”
“What’s Nephilim?” I asked. It sounded like a type of cookie.
“The offspring of fallen angels and humans. Back when humans were just starting to evolve, a group of angels began having sexual relations with them. They had supposedly spawned a whole race of hybrid beings before the rest of the angels found out and came down on them with holy fury. There were no werewolves prior to this event, so many angels figure that we were the product of this joining: the Nephilim.”
No way. She had to be making this one up. Angels hated being in the flesh. They would never have lowered themselves to reproduce with humans.
“Others think we
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