In The Arms of an Angel - 22. Chapter 22 - I'm Coming to Get You

There was a light in the darkness. A full moon hanging pendulous in his dark sky. It had been dark for as long as he could remember. Once, there had been someone here with him, drawing him towards their dark light. He’d never quite managed to reach them and then, suddenly, they’d gone. Now something else was coming and it scared him.

At first he’d been happy about it— finally something to relieve the monotony— but then he started to get nervous and the nervousness turned to fear. This might all have happened in a day, a year, or a second. He had no means to measure time.

“Pasha.” The sound of the name shot terror through him and the darkness pulsed red.

“No,” he screamed, without making a sound.

“Come now, Pasha. Have you no courage in you at all that you run from me before you know me?”

Courage? No. He had none of that. His heart was pounding in time with the red flashes, and the screaming went on and on. Then it stopped. Everything stopped. In the cool darkness a voice spoke. “Be brave. I know where you are. I’m coming for you.” Something about the voice calmed him, made everything alright, and he opened his eyes.

He was horizontal, looking up at a dark ceiling. Between him and the ceiling was a face, which was attached to a body, which had…wings? The shadow of wings. For a dizzying moment he was utterly confused, then everything clicked into place and he tried to sit up.

He shouldn’t have been surprised he couldn’t move. Thinking about it, he wasn’t. It should have frightened him, but it didn’t. It was the voice, that presence inside him, that kept the fear at bay. There was urgency about it, something fighting to be with him, to protect him and an all-encompassing feeling of being loved.

“Uzzi’el.” He was surprised the word slipped out. He hadn’t intended to speak it aloud. Laughter welcomed it into the world.

“Ah yes, little human.” The face came into sharp focus and he watched the lips move around the words. “Uzzi’el doesn’t seem to be as closely linked to you as we thought. He managed to break the connection, didn’t he? Couldn’t have been strong, could it? I’m so sorry, little human, but it seems your precious Uzzi’el wasn’t your soulmate after all. Do you love him? Did you really think an angel could love you?” The face, with the beautiful blue eyes and curly blonde hair drew the full, bow shaped lips into a smile that should have been sweet but was anything but.

“He does love me.”

Micha’el laughed, a sweet sound, full of malice. “Silly little human? If he truly loved you. If he truly was your soulmate, he wouldn’t have been able to break the bond between you and he would still be imprisoned in the cage your mind created for him.”

“He…is still there. He…is still with me. I…feel him.”

“You do?” Micha’el looked surprised, then pleased…no gleeful. “Oh how delightful. I was going to kill you. You’d have been no use to me. But if that fool Uzzi’el really is still connected, we might yet make that connection work for us. Thank you. Thank you for telling me that. If I chance to meet your ‘soulmate’ before he dies I’ll be sure to let him know you were the one to give me the information that brought him down. If you can feel him, then he can feel you. Think about that.”

The face smiled again, and stroked his face. “Such a beautiful boy. If I wasn’t so busy I’d play with you and let your ‘soulmate’ feel that. Unfortunately I have to leave it to others. Try not to die too quickly.”

Pasha’s dulled mind couldn’t comprehend what Micha’el was saying but he was aware enough to know it wasn’t good. He watched the archangel walk across the room.

Something sparked in him, brought the tiny flame inside he knew was Uzzi’el, into blazing life. He knew what Micha’el was talking about, what he was intending to do. He knew Uzzi’el was searching for him. He had to stall as long as he could.

“It won’t make any difference, you pile of shit.” He tried to shout. It came out as strained gasp, but it stopped Micha’el in his tracks.

“What did you call me?”

“A…pile of shit.”

Micha’el wasn’t laughing anymore. He strode back across the room. “A human? A measly, pathetic, weak human, would dare speak to an archangel in this way?”

‘No,’ Pasha’s mind was screaming. “Yes,” his voice said, speaking out of the place where Uzzi’el had his spiritual arms around him.

“Are you not afraid of me?”

“Yes. But you’re a bully and I don’t run away from bullies.”

Micha’el narrowed his eyes. “A bully? That’s a human term. It means nothing to me. Do you have any idea how much power I have? How much damage I could do to you? I could blast you out of existence with a thought.”

“Then do it.” Pasha was terrified. The more awareness he gained the more he realised how crazy his actions were. He was taunting an archangel, one of the most powerful beings in the universe. And this wasn’t a very nice one.

Micha’el smiled. “Oh no. I know what you’re doing. You’re trying goad me into killing you, to save your precious Uzzi’el. How sweet. What a shame it didn’t work.”

Michael’s smile seemed to be growing wider and wider as his face swelled to dominate Pasha’s vision. He couldn’t turn his head, couldn’t close his eyes, couldn’t shut it out in any way. The eyes bored into his, deeper and deeper into his head, burning him. The pain started and it grew at a frightening rate. It might have driven him insane if he didn’t have something to concentrate on, something to hold on to. Uzzi’el. He had to protect Uzzi’el.