Camael's Battle
Angelic Hosts Series, Book II, Episode 1
Are you enjoying the angels? Are you ready for book two? Let’s go!
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When an angel falls in love, his heart forever belongs to that one soul. For Camael, loving Hannah Adams has been the blessing of his very long life. The only thing more amazing is the fact that he is going to be a father. However, his joy may be short-lived as the forces of darkness plot to spring Lucifer from the pit of a thousand years releasing hell on Earth, and they plan to use Hannah and her child as the key!
With the goddess, Astarte, orchestrating her fallen lover’s release from the pit, secrets long buried are revealed causing chaos, and throwing obstacles into Camael’s path to rescuing his true love. Even with help from the rebellious Gabriel, and reluctant Michael, he may still be too late to save them.
Welcome to the new series of short stories by Michele E. Gwynn, Angelic Hosts, Book II, Camael’s Battle.
Episode One
“The human woman is with child.” The archangel Michael paced the mountaintop temple. His friend, and eternal brother, Cassiel nodded.
“So I see,” he said. Cassiel stared somberly into the shallow holy water of the seer’s basin. Reflected within, Hannah Adams stared at a pregnancy test result in shock. She stood in her bathroom looking at the positive blue cross that showed she was, indeed, to be a mother once again.
Michael ran a hand through his golden-brown curls. His blue eyes flashed as he took in his brother’s reaction. “How can you be so calm? You know what this means!”
Cassiel, the Keeper of Sorrow and Tears, looked at Michael. “As do you. You also know that this is His plan. So why are you so agitated?”
“Because Camael still doesn’t know, doesn’t understand. And if he has no clue, then how can he protect himself from what is to come? Worse, how can I protect him if I’m forbidden to tell him?”
Cassiel sighed. Michael had always been passionate. His passion for fairness and justice made him a good leader. It was why he was chosen. But sometimes, Michael’s passions sent him into overdrive, and that’s where he came in. As the calm one, Cassiel could talk Michael down from his emotional ledges. Once he ran out of steam, he could be rational once more.
The Keeper of Sorrow and Tears shook his platinum-blond hair and smiled. His dark brown eyes conveyed the patience he’d perfected over millennia in dealing with his friend. “You already know the answer, Michael. You can’t. What is to come must happen as it is designed to. Camael will handle it, and he will understand…in time.”
Michael thought about it. He knew that in all things, he must submit to His will. In truth, he had no problem with this most of the time, but that didn’t mean he didn’t suffer as a result. He cared deeply for each and every one of his brothers and sisters. He often felt more like a father to them, one who had taught them all what they needed to know, and now must sit back and let them go. It wasn’t easy. Didn’t fathers always want to protect their children?
He stopped his runaway thoughts and rolled his eyes.
Understanding dawned as it always did, and he shook his head. “You are beyond wise, old friend.” Michael sat down next to Cassiel.
For his part, Cassiel tried not to smile. “I suppose it’s about time you came to that conclusion.” Cassiel lifted his arm and looked down at his bare wrist, mimicking staring at a watch. “It only took you, what…forever?”
“Don’t gloat. I may change my mind tomorrow.” Michael nudged his shoulder into Cassiel’s nearly knocking him off the boulder.
“I’d simply find a way to prove it to you again.”
They looked into the basin. Hannah had left her house to go to work. She seemed rattled, and yet she glowed. All mothers-to-be had a certain aura that angels could see. It was the spark of life growing within them, the touch of divinity that made them into holy vessels. Hannah’s aura was brighter than those of most human women. But then, Hannah’s child wasn’t an average human child. Her child was part angel, part warrior angel to be precise. The Nephilim growing within her had a destiny greater than any who’d come before. She was the key.
“So now what?” Michael’s full lips pulled down at the corners indicating he’d accepted his role as objective voyeur, but he wasn’t happy about it.
Cassiel put his arm around his friend’s shoulders and gave him a good-natured shake. “Now, brother, we wait. It is up to Camael and the woman.”
“But she’s so fragile, so…human.” Michael’s tone caught on the last word. Clearly, he didn’t have much faith in the resiliency of humankind.
Cassiel chuckled, a rare sound coming from the somber angel. “She is far stronger than you give her credit for, Michael. Do you really think He would choose a woman incapable of coping with all of this?”
“I suppose not. It’s just that I’ve not witnessed very many humans withstanding encounters with our kind. They don’t usually fair well, especially the females.”
Cassiel was quick to remind him of a few. “Then surely you’ve forgotten the Marys? Joan of Arc? Harriet Tubman? Tamoe Gozen? I can keep rattling off names, but all are fine examples of strong, righteous human women.”
“The last two were such a surprise to me.”
“Why is that?”
“I wasn’t informed when He sent down a lower angel to guide Harriet. That one stayed with her night and day until the very end.”
Cassiel nodded. Being the older of the two of them, he knew the story. He also met many of those Tubman tried to help make their way to freedom, but weren’t strong enough, and perished along the way. He visited each one, removing their sorrows and cleansing their souls so that they could enter the afterlife with joyous hearts.
“And why were you surprised by Tamoe?”
“Well, she was a Samurai warrior. A bit of a rebellious heathen too.”
Cassiel smiled. “A rebellious heathen. Yes. That was her charm. But that all changed in her later years when she gave up her sword and dedicated her life to the Almighty at the nunnery of Echizen.”
Michael looked over at his friend. “Your influence?”
Cassiel looked surprised. “Me? No. Rafael. Remember, she was finally defeated, mortally wounded, but He stepped in sending Rafael to her. It was that encounter as she lay on her deathbed that turned her around. She still maintained that ‘heathenish’ spark you refer to even after taking the veil. It made her quite an effective nun. She was a warrior for Him thereafter till the end.”
“You admired her.”
“I did.”
“And what of Hannah Adams? Does she have what it takes?” Michael watched as the human woman went about her day at the office. She didn’t appear like a warrior to him. She seemed more like a delicate petal in bloom, easily broken and crushed.
Cassiel looked at her, watching for some time. “She has more. It’s not a physical strength, but an immense strength of will. She survived the death of her only son. Such is often too much for most human mothers. She will meet her challenges head-on, and she will protect her new child with ferocity, even in the last hours of her life.”
“And what of Camael?”
“He will endure. He must.” Cassiel began to glow brightly, then faded away as he left Michael sitting alone staring at the basin, forced to watch, but not interfere.
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