Estelle Ana Baca

Category: Orders

Twelve different occupations assigned to the angels by God.

  • New Things!

    18th Anael, Day of Cassiel, Hour of Gabriel 18.10.3.2.31.23

    While I’ve been working on the final draft of Cherubim & Seraphim—almost done!—I took a break to update the site. There are a few new pages that relate to the Ministers of Grace universe.

    One includes a table on the Archangels and their rulerships.

    Three pages are on time: the first is an index, the second contains the angels’ calendar as it relates to the Western Gregorian calendar, and the third lists the hours.

    One of these days, I reckon I’ll know a programmer who’ll be able to hook me up with an instant human-to-angel-time converter. In the meantime, if there’s a specific date you’d like converted (e.g. your birthday, your anniversary, etc.) please click on the expandy button below, leave me a comment, and I’ll reply with the conversion. Please be sure to provide the month, day, and year, as well as the time and place. (e.g. October 18, 2012, 4:21 am, Oakland, California. This converts to 1st Raziel, Day of Raziel, Hour of Anael. 1.8.3.2.31.23) Bear in mind that angels—particularly the Virtues—are persnickety about the relationship between space and time, so you can’t calculate the correct hour without knowing the place.

    ♥ EAB

  • Musical Interlude #2: Joy

    As I mentioned in a previous post, angels’ Keys are the core of their Graces. It’s part of what makes them immortal, and on a certain level, it operates as a guiding principle. If we humans were able to sense Graces and detect the Key beneath them, they would sound distinctly musical. Nadiel has described the music within them as reminiscent of a humming, chanting engine at work, and the angels refer to this audible quality of the soul as the Magnificat. I’ve always imagined that a Magnificat might sound like a large stadium crowd in which, if you listen carefully, you can pick out various bits of speech. Since Keys are related to Graces, Keys are the music within those Graces, or the song that’s sung by the most hopeful person in that crowd. If you aren’t listening for it, you won’t hear it, but it’s there.

    Each of the twelve Archangels has a different Key with Graces that correspond to it, which isn’t the case with the other angels in all the other Orders. Some angels have Graces and Keys that don’t quite match up. For example, the Watcher Kivati, who had a role in Nadiel’s most recent tale, has a key of Freedom with the Graces of Sympathy, Mercy and Interdependence, which can seem a little contrary.

    The Key that’s associated with the Archangel Camael is Joy. Ironically, if one were to seek expressions of Camael’s brand of Joy within music, one of the last places I’d look would be Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and its Ode to Joy. I invite you to disagree with me, but Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is anything but joyful, for it is a devastatingly beautiful piece that is marked by alternating passages of angst and triumph. Beethoven’s Ode to Joy is about the search for joy in adversity, which isn’t quite the same thing as Joy for Joy’s sake. If I were to identify a piece that embodies Camael’s Joy, it’d have to be Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro. Pick any part of it, and it’s joyful. Yes. The whole thing. He wrote it while he was still a newlywed, after he had a child who survived infancy and while was enjoying a more than decent amount of acclaim in Vienna at the time. It’s easy to infer that he was expressing his joy within the music of that entire opera. Even the tense parts of the opera can’t refrain from expressing Joy. I invite you to have a listen to the Overture. You’ve probably heard it before somewhere, and this particular version features an orchestra that’s about the same size as would have played in Vienna when the opera opened in 1786.

    But what if you were looking to listen to something composed within human memory? Well, the Beatles are a good band to listen to if you want to hear some Joy. I recommend earlier Beatles, though. They stopped being explicitly joyful around the time of Revolver. If I had to choose one song, though, it’d most definitely be this one.

    Nadiel has informed me that she might be going away for spring break next week. If she’s isn’t, you’ll get a fresh recollection from her. If she’s out of town, you’re stuck with me for another week. Either way, have a great one!

    ♥

  • Astaroth’s Wager, the Conclusion (Really!)

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part XVI.

    The police were there, and they were asking questions about what had happened. They wanted to know why the stove hadn’t been repaired. They wanted to know why Thomas hadn’t been at the office when they called. They wanted to know why his wife and infant child were still sound asleep in their beds when the fire took hold at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. They wanted to know why the neighbors had said that his deranged sister was always screaming in the night. They wanted to know if she’d started the fire, or if it had been he, who had been fired from work that day for stealing. They wanted to know why one of the items he’d been accused of at work stealing had been recovered at the scene. In fact, it was the only thing that had survived the entire blaze: a gold lighter that seemed untouched by the flames.

    He vociferously denied everything when they carried him away to the police station and booked him.

    He sat in the cell that night. There was a great part of him that didn’t feel as if it had been real. It had been too much to happen in one day. Too much loss. He couldn’t process it. It was simply unbelievable that everyone he loved and everything he had was gone.

    He returned to the thought that he had felt truly ruined at 24, but he was more than ruined. He was irreparably fractured. There would be no healing. He’d had so much, and it was gone. All of it was gone. He collapsed underneath the weight of his grief and wept in his cell all night.

    The next morning, he met with his court appointed lawyer. The police believed that he’d murdered his sister, his wife and his child, and burnt down his home, and all on the day that he’d been caught stealing from work. There was no evidence to prove that he hadn’t been there. As far as the State of California was concerned, he was guilty. He was a dead man walking. The lawyer said it was inevitable.

    And when he lay on the cot in his cell that night, one thought was set to repeat in his mind. “It’s hopeless. It’s completely hopeless.”

    *          *          *

    “You weren’t supposed to win this one, Astaroth. I’m not ceding my Estate,” Sitri said.

    “You will cede your Estate to me. I killed an angel, a Nephil and six primates in this wager. I won. Thomas Carver is a broken man, and Michael isn’t darkening your doorstep to seek revenge for his fallen brother. And if you don’t, remember that I am now Queen of Greece and Anatolia. I will bring down upon you the fury of Asia Minor if you don’t relinquish your lands.” Astaroth said.

    “Svipul?” Sitri asked in desperation.

    “You offered her your Estate for your mistakes. You never should have offered it up if you weren’t willing to part with it. Take what she gives you,” Svipul said.

    Sitri couldn’t afford to wage a war against Astaroth when his own Estate claims were in question, so he relinquished his claims. Astaroth had become Queen of Britannia, too.

    Astaroth was relatively benevolent, and she bestowed upon Sitri the Estate of President of London and the Home Counties. She made Svipul the Princess of Athens, and Caius became an honorary Knight.

    The Gas Chamber at San Quentin Prison, California.
    The very same gas chamber in which Thomas Carver died. He was executed in February 1939.

    *          *          *

    Up until day the State of California executed him for the murders of his wife, his child and his sister, Thomas never knew another shred of hope. But as he prepared to inhale the noxious vapors that would kill him, he discovered a shimmering, lost thing. Because he believed in his innocence, he hoped that after his heart had stopped and his soul had left his body, that he would see Adelaide and Hank and all his other loved ones again.

    Estelle will be taking the reins next week. I need a break after this one. Dominus vobiscum.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part XI

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part X.

    “Now that I’ve eliminated the angel and the Nephil in the mix, I can get down to business,” Astaroth declared.

    “You know, you could easily have this entire wager sewn up by tomorrow,” Svipul said.

    “Absolutely not. The true destruction of hope requires the investment of time. I have a slightly less than a year to accomplish this, and I’ll make sure it’s done right,” Astaroth said. “Don’t bother with the primate—I’ll take her home. She might require some motivation to accomplish what comes next, and I know just how to do it.”

    Astaroth left Svipul in Antwerp and took Adelaide back to her bedroom. She hovered over Adelaide to gather information, spending more than an hour slipping into the young woman’s subconscious. The sun was threatening to claw its way over the horizon when she called for Caius, and he possessed a small robin and perched on the windowsill of Adelaide’s bedroom to receive his master’s directive.

    A Robin
    Nekus often possess birds, like this fantastic robin, on account of their mobility and relative stealth. They’re never able to survive it, though. Poor little guys.

    “Quiet, Caius,” Astaroth ordered in a barely audible whisper. “I need her asleep. The manipulation of dreams is one of the best tools that Apokomistai have at our disposal. It’s almost a shame that I can’t teach it to you.”

    “What do you wish of me, madam?”

    “I need you to find Thomas Carver’s sister. Her name’s Florence Warren, and she lives in Kansas City with her husband Roy and their two children Eugene and Lois. They live in the Carver family home, and they’ve been, as the primates put it, having a awfully hard time lately,” Astaroth said.

    “What will you have me do, madam?”

    “Possess any creature you like, with the exception of a primate. A bird might work—something the primates are inclined to prefer, something cute—and I want you to stalk that family. You might start with the children and work your way up. I’ll leave it up to you—you’ve always demonstrated a prodigious amount of creativity when it comes to inspiring madness within primates. I don’t care how you do it, but I want a specific outcome.”

    “And what would that be, madam?”

    “I want everyone in that house to die in a fire within six months. Except Florence. I need her alive,” Astaroth said.

    “And in what condition, madam?”

    “As scarred and insane as possible,” Astaroth said.

    *          *          *

    Adelaide Grayson woke from her slumber not long after sunrise. She had a groggy notion that Rose Nielsen had fallen asleep guarding her, but Rose was nowhere to be found. She didn’t give Rose’s absence too much thought, for she was distracted by the odd sequence of dreams she’d had. The first was an incomplete scene in which she and Rose had been transported to a strange location where there were a couple of women who threatened them with swords and knives. The second was a nightmare in which she was tied to a stake and consumed by fire. The third was a pleasant dream that she carried with her into consciousness, and in it, Thomas reported to her that he’d been offered a once-in-a-lifetime job, and that they were running off to Los Angeles to elope.

    Just as she did every morning, Adelaide went downstairs to assist with breakfast for the boarders. She greeted her mother sleepily and asked about Rose while rinsing out the urn for the coffee.

    Mrs. Grayson answered, “Miss Nielsen left about twenty minutes ago. She rang the bell to call me, paid her bill and left in a big hurry. She left a letter for you at the desk, though. She specifically mentioned that you were very kind to her.”

    “Did she say where she was going?” Adelaide wondered.

    “I asked, but she didn’t answer. I’d imagine that she left an explanation in that letter.”

    Adelaide and her mother served the boarders their breakfast, and just as Adelaide was sitting down to enjoy her own breakfast after everyone had left, Thomas appeared in the kitchen.

    “I wanted to check on you before I went in to work. That angel—Kavati or whoever—it was wasn’t around when I woke up this morning,” Thomas said.

    “Miss Nielsen wasn’t around when I woke up, either. She left me a letter when she checked out of here in a hurry before I got up,” Adelaide said, presenting the letter from her apron pocket. “It’s odd, though. I could—” She paused.

    “What is it?”

    “I had the strangest dreams last night. The weirdest was that Miss Nielsen and I—I can’t even remember all of it. I only remember that she ripped me out of bed and transported me to a place where there were these women with swords. That’s all.”

    Thomas refrained from issuing a comment. “Let’s see what’s in the letter. May I?”

    Adelaide handed him the letter, and Thomas unsealed the envelope and laid the Rose’s missive on the table where both of them could read.

    Dear Miss Grayson,

    I hope that this letter finds you well and able to accept my apologies for leaving abruptly. My father returned while you were sleeping to inform me that the matter is settled and neither you nor Thomas are in any danger. My gifts are now required elsewhere, and I must leave San Francisco immediately. I wish you and Mr. Carver the very best in your future together. May God bless you and keep you always.

    Sincerely,
    Miss Rose Nielsen.

    “I guess that’s that,” Thomas replied. “I’d love to stay, but I have to get to work now. I’ll come by later tonight.”

    “See you later!” Adelaide said, sneaking in a kiss on the cheek. She ate the rest of her breakfast in the silence, entertaining a marvelous fascination with the vivid nature of her dream with Rose and the two women with swords.

    *          *          *

    Thomas never stopped by that evening. He telephoned her to let her know that he had been detained by an awesomely fortunate opportunity and that he would stop by with an explanation the following morning.

    Adelaide awoke the next morning feeling far more refreshed than the day before, and she was grateful for the solid, dreamless sleep she’d had. Breakfast came and went without any sign of Thomas, and Adelaide and her mother were preparing for the lunch service when Thomas finally arrived. Although he was absolutely brimming with cheer, his appearance came in tandem with a host of apologies for both Adelaide and her mother. He asked to speak with Adelaide in private, and Mrs. Grayson obliged by leaving them alone in the kitchen.

    Thomas’s lips parted to reveal a brilliant grin. “I’ll tell you, Addie—this has been the most remarkable week! Except for the day I met you, my love, yesterday was the luckiest day of my life!”

    Dominus tecum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part XII.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part X

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part IX.

    “What will you have me do now, madam?” Caius asked.

    “Well—Stolas should be calming down right about now and on his way to come kill me,” Astaroth said. “I know you’re partial to the body of that Prussian primate, but it’s time to let it go. Leave it, and leave here. You don’t want to be around when at least one angel shows up. I’ll call for you when I’m finished here.”

    “As you wish, madam,” Caius replied. He sat down in a chair in their suite. The body that he had possessed went limp, falling into the deep unconsciousness characteristic of a coma. The essence of his Neku self had departed.

    “Did you have to destroy my Kazuko as well when you destroyed all the other Nekus?” Svipul asked Astaroth. “It’ll take me at least two centuries to develop that kind of loyalty in another Neku.”

    “I can’t argue with that. Nekus don’t really grasp their utter dependence upon their Apokomistai masters for at least half a millennium,” Astaroth said. “But you do realize, my dear Svipul, that you have a better chance at getting an audience with God than you do in extracting even the slightest apology from me.”

    “So—what is your plan now?”

    “I give Stolas not long at all before he’s here to try to take back my ellamadus,” Astaroth said. She migrated to the middle of the suite where there was an open space on the carpet.

    “And then?”

    “There’s the rub, isn’t it?” Astaroth said.

    “You’re not even going to provide a hint as to what to expect?” Svipul asked, joining her in the open space.

    “You can expect fun. Draw your sword. If you would be so kind as to provide me with support, I’ll see to it that you’re rewarded for your bravery.” Astaroth held the Ashera Didilak in her open palm. She muttered a few phrases, and the ellamadus glowed brightly again.

    “Is that the Ashera Didilak?” Svipul asked.

    The ellamadus went dull in her hand. “Break my concentration again and you’ll find out just how much damage the Ashera Didilak really can do. Now—be ready. We don’t know how ready for battle the half-primate will be,” Astaroth ordered.

    Svipul drew her sword.

    Astaroth pronounced a few more phrases in the ancient, forgotten language, and for a few moments, her voice changed, so that the timbre of her voice more closely resembled a percussion instrument than a vocalized sound. The Ashera Didilak’s lavender light grew as unbearably bright as the sun for a fraction of a moment, until its light collapsed in on itself. The ellamadus phased out of sight for a similarly tiny amount of time and reappeared in Astaroth’s palm as it had before she had channelled its magics.

    Rose Nielsen materialized out of thin air, and she fell on her knees onto the floor. She looked as if she had been awakened from a nap. Nonetheless, it appeared that she had sensed that she was being unexpectedly ripped from the comfort of where she had been, and with the one hand she had, she had gripped what was closest to her to anchor her. Much to her horror and Astaroth’s delight, it was a similarly sleepy and disoriented Adelaide Grayson.

    Rose and Adelaide quickly tried to scramble to their feet, but Svipul held her blade at Rose’s throat. Svipul said with a voice filled with unnatural menace, “Keep to the floor and quiet. Both of you.”

    Adelaide’s shock took the better of her. Her entire complexion turned grey, and she fainted again.

    “Look, Svipul! Sitri isn’t the pathetic warrior we thought he was. I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that you’re unarmed, Miss Nielsen. I’d be willing to bet that you’ve forgotten your blade, too,” Astaroth said with an unnervingly giddy expression.  “That primate might be able to lend you a hand in a very literal sense, but unless you brought your own weapon to disarm her, she’s useless to you now in every other meaningful way.” She directed her attention to Svipul and said, “What do you think? One pun too many?”

    “Why do you want Adelaide?” Rose demanded.

    “This has nothing to do with her, and everything to do with a miscarriage of a wager. I might even let the primate go when this is all over,” Astaroth said.

    “My father and Kivati will be here soon,” Rose threatened.

    “I’m counting on that,” Astaroth retorted. She held up the Ashera Didlak again and resumed eliciting its magics. The lavender light flowed out of it in long threads that circled Rose until they formed a faint chamber around her. Rose tried to protest, but the chamber only echoed her own sounds back to her. She looked panicked, and she started pounding on the walls of the chamber.

    “Take the female primate with you and leave,” Astaroth said.

    “I’ll meet you at my flat in Antwerp,” Svipul replied. She lifted Adelaide off the floor, and the two of them vanished.

    Astaroth was alone in the suite with Rose inside her mystical chamber for no longer than a few long moments when Stolas appeared.

    “Astaroth! I want it back!” he cried.

    “I told you I just wanted to borrow it. You’ll have it back before you know it,” Astaroth said.

    Rose was furiously kicking at the walls of the cocoon in a demonstration of futility when the entire character of the room shifted: Itzamná and Kivati had arrived.

    Human eyes would never have caught everything that happened during the few seconds in which it all transpired: Astaroth tossed the Ashera Didilak in the air, drew her blade and vanished; Stolas caught the ellamadus; Kivati struck Stolas down and killed him; Itzamná struggled to break into the chamber to save his daughter; Astaroth rematerialized behind Itzamná, struck him with her blade and killed him. There was a jarring blast of light that burst in the room from Itzamná’s death, like supernova in the supremely miniature, and while Kivati was stunned by the explosion of Itzamná’s Graces, Astaroth seized the Ashera Didilak. She issued one final command to the Ashera Didilak, and the walls of chamber around Rose rapidly drew in to crush her and kill her. Kivati struck out at Astaroth to engage her in battle, but Astaroth’s merely lobbed the Ashera Didilak back at her and vanished.

    The hotel suite went still. Kivati was alone in the silence with Caius’ dying human host and a clump of black material that resembled obsidian where Stolas had met his end. There was a shift in the atmosphere of the room from the detectable metaphysical markers that an angel and a Nephil had perished there.

    Kivati reported back to Heaven that Astaroth had been involved in Itzamná’s death, and she requested permission to pursue, detain and destroy her. The response she received infuriated her: no further action was to be taken, for Itzamná had disobeyed when he left his post once again to save his daughter from an Apokomistis with a reputation like Astaroth’s. Rose hadn’t had much of a chance in the hands of any Apokomistis with an ellamadus. Had they not responded, Itzamná’s lifeforce would have remained in tact, and he wouldn’t have died. Without an ellamadus, Astaroth was no more dangerous than the average Apokomistis, and pursuing her wasn’t of the any immediate importance. Kivati was ordered to return to her post immediately and without complaint.

    Kivati eyed the Ashera Didilak carefully in her palm. Her fingers closed around it, and she smashed it, obliterating one of the most powerful magical objects in ever in existence.

    *          *          *

    Adelaide was still unconscious on the floor of Svipul’s flat when Astaroth joined them. Svipul said, “I have an idea on how to tie up this Thomas Carver loose end. You can use the Ashera Didilak to—”

    Astaroth interrupted, “I gave the Ashera Didilak to Kivati before I left the scene, and I’m sure that by now she’s turned it into a useless pile of metallic powder.”

    “Why?”

    “Stolas is no more. I will lay claim to all his territories and possessions at the soonest, after we’ve taken care of Thomas Carver.”

    “But the ellamadus—your power would be unquestionable with it.”

    Astaroth grinned. “My power is unquestionable without it. The only purpose it could serve in the future would be to deliver my own downfall, just as it did for Stolas. The only reason one ever needs a ladder after one has ascended to a rooftop is if one has the intention of coming down. I have no intention of ever relinquishing my title of Queen, and I no longer require the ladder that allowed me to reach this height. That, Svipul, is power.”

    Dominus tecum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part XI.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part IX

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VIII.

    An ellamadus is to white magics what a grimoire is to black magics. Unlike traditional grimoires that feature spells neatly written out in books or scrolls like the Lemegeton or the Picatrix, ellamadi are more like the grimoire known as the Orrery, in that they are objects that are meant to harness a specific type of energy and release it if one can unlock how to use it. They demand that its user possess a fluency in the manipulation of metaphysics that is magic, and without that basic knowledge, they’re just pretty objects. On account of their potency and immeasurable value to demons, any angel who came across one was on orders to confiscate and destroy it, and demons went out of their way to keep them out of the angels’ sight.

    This particular ellamadus was known as the Ashera Didilak, which roughly translates to the children’s lament. When only its lower magics are unlocked, it endows its owner with the sort of metaphysical brawn that allowed Stolas to defeat Dantalion and become a King. Its higher functions include summoning magics, which are far more complicated than you might think, for although summoning a demon is relatively easy, summoning an angel, human or hybrid creation isn’t, and they can reunite all the members of a family, including angels. It’s a highly useful tool for parents, which is why it can be a bane to the offspring of its possessor.

    Astaroth gingerly handled the Ashera Didilak. She uttered a few words in a long-lost language that made the orb emit a pale lavender glow in her palm. It lit up her face, emphasizing the lines of menace that flanked her smile. She said, “Stolas is an even bigger idiot that I could ever ever have imagined. It was common knowledge that he had an ellamadus, which was just what I needed, but this changes everything. Come to think of it, it might have been wise of him never to advertise that he had the Ashera Didilak. I’d’ve come after it centuries ago.”

    “What shall I do now, madam?” Caius asked.

    Her eyes were still fixed upon the Ashera Didilak. She ordered, “Pay the proprietors so we can leave. I’m tired of Athens already. Regardless, we ought to leave before Stolas is finished with that boy and senses that something’s wrong. What’s worse is that the hotel maids haven’t cleaned this suite properly. It smells like all the parts of primates that I despise.”

    “Where are we going next, madam?” Caius wondered.

    “Oh, if only I cared that all the others are going to be upset for calling them back to me so soon. I honestly didn’t think I’d succeed this quickly. Anyway—find Svipul. We’ll meet her wherever she is, and wherever that is, book a suite for all of us that meets my standards. And make sure that it doesn’t reek of mammalian excretion, or this will be the last private errand you make with me.”

    Astaroth wasn’t paying attention to Caius’ nod of compliance, for she was entranced by the Ashera Didilak. “And Caius…”

    “Yes, madam?”

    “Mention none of this to Svipul. Let her believe that she’s ‘helping’.”

    The Hotel Lenox
    An old postcard of the Hotel Lenox.

    Svipul and her Neku Kazuko had been tracking down information about Rose Nielsen in Boston when Astaroth, Caius and the rest of her demon entourage took up at the Hotel Lenox. While Kazuko had gone off on her own to follow a lead, Svipul joined Astaroth and the others in the pretense of dining in the hotel’s restaurant. She looked rather pleased and declared, “Kazuko reports that—”

    Astaroth glared at her, and Svipul went silent. It was clear that a silent exchange had begun between the two Apokomistai. Astaroth said, “Svipul, we must be more careful than to announce our future plans in public. Given the circumstances, I’d imagine that you’d be more panicked.”

    Svipul had switched gears, and she followed Astaroth’s lead. “What were you able to find out about Itzamná?”

    “It’s useless. I can’t defeat him. I’ll just have to negotiate with him,” Astaroth explained.

    “And how do you intend to do that?” Svipul asked.

    “The good news is that I have something that an angel wants. I’ll just have to arrange an exchange with him, like we’d discussed before, and maybe he’ll leave me alone. I was really hoping to get through 1936 without a battle,” Astaroth said.

    “Where were you thinking?”

    “Don’t play stupid. We’ve already booked the suite for the week, and I don’t want to make it too easy for him. Boston’s nice and public. Even kind of quaint. He won’t be at risk to spill the beans about what he is if we take the fight to him,” Astaroth replied.

    Astaroth, Svipul and the others kept up the appearances of dining until the earlier hours crept over Boston. A few of the Nekus left to practice ill deeds upon a few of the humans who’d had the misfortune of lodging at the Lenox, and Astaroth and Svipul had retired to the suite. As the dawn was breaking, Caius reported to his mistress’ side. “It’s accomplished, madam.”

    “Explain,” Astaroth demanded.

    “Stolas believes that you stole his ellamadus so that you might use it to buy your pardon from Itzamná, madam,” Caius said.

    Astaroth clapped her hands. “Excellent! Thank you, Caius.”

    “It’s my pleasure, madam,” Caius answered.

    “Oh, and Caius? Round up all the others. I need to see them now,” Astaroth said.

    Caius did as she ordered, and all her Nekus returned to her suite. It didn’t matter to her who had betrayed her confidence to Stolas or questioned her strength against a Watcher, but after a few fiery moments, the only Neku left in existence within the entire city of Boston was Caius.

    Dominus tecum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part X.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part VII

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VI.

    It’s the solstice! Did you see the eclipse last night? Eclipses are always so beautiful. I watched it with Sidriel and Orifiel, a Cherub who helps me watch the Holloways.

    As the Apokomistis is capable of manipulating his or her appearance, most prefer to assume a human form that resembles a wealthier, idealized version of his or her environment’s common denominator. Astaroth, too, used to shift according to her geographic location, but during the 1920s, she discovered a form from which she doesn’t often vary. Astaroth has ever since fashioned her appearance to resemble that of the Hollywood blonde bombshell in the prime of her youth. Her features are always perfectly proportional, and were it not for the delighted menace that accompanies her smile, she would indeed be beautiful. She most often appears to be wearing light-colored, tailored suit—eggshell is her favorite color—thus indicating that she is a woman who lacks for nothing.

    Lobby of the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco
    An old postcard of the lobby of the Fairmont.

    Of course, women who dress as such are frequently seen in the most lavish of surroundings, and she doesn’t disappoint. Thus, when Sitri had returned from his misadventure, he found her and Svipul, along with a sampling of their Nekus, in the penthouse suite of the Fairmont. He dismissed the Nekus and explained what had happened, along with expressing concern at remaining in a place so close to the action.

    Astaroth wasn’t pleased. “Are you trying to make this more difficult for me? This could be considered a breach of your terms, and then you’d have to forfeit for the second time today. Your prize would be mine, which, I have to say, would be a lot easier than taking on Itzamná.”

    “And Kivati,” Sitri added.

    “There was no discussion about Kivati in our initial wager. If you want Kivati, you need to go after her yourself. I only agreed to one Watcher,” Astaroth said. “Tell me you weren’t stupid enough to let her identify you.”

    “She grabbed me and transported me. She knows it was me,” Sitri said. “I know that I—”

    “If you don’t keep that pathetic explanation you’ve been rehearsing to yourself, I’ll add your name to my list,” Astaroth threatened.

    “So what’s your plan?” Sitri asked.

    “I should think that you’d be aware that I want to win this wager. That said, what makes you think that I would tell you and give you the chance to spoil everything, just as you’ve done so far?” Astaroth said.

    “Kivati will be looking for you. You should leave, Sitri,” Svipul stated.

    “She’s right. You need to disappear. If you’re here, you’re only going to involve more angels. Why not check in with that Neku in Cyprus you’ve been baiting?” Astaroth said.

    “Will you see that the terms are met?” Sitri asked Svipul.

    “You have my word,” Svipul affirmed.

    Without any further salutation, Sitri was gone.

    Astaroth told Svipul, “There aren’t many options available to us now. Heaven knows that Sitri and I go way back, and they might already know I’m here. The Nephil isn’t likely to leave that primate alone. We’re going to have to recruit an Apokomistis who’s dumb enough not to suspect that he or she is our bait, and use him to draw out the Nephil and then the Watcher after. With them out of the way, I’ll be able to work on that primate.”

    “Rose Nielsen is a talented Nephil. If Sitri’s to be believed, she knew that he was there before she got close to him. We have to believe that she’ll be able to sense us in her proximity. She won’t make the same mistakes that a younger Nephil would make, either,” Svipul said.

    “She’s half-Watcher, yes, but she’s half-primate, too. We just have to appeal to her ‘humanity’ and offer her what she wants most, if only temporarily. What else do we know about Rose Nielsen?” Astaroth said.

    “I’ll send my Neku Kazuko to find out everything on her,” Svipul offered.

    “Svipul! I thought you weren’t supposed to help!”

    “Sitri got two angels after us within half the day. What he doesn’t know…”

    “…will cost him dearly.”

    “And he’ll deserve it,” Svipul added, and she stalked off to converse with her Neku.

    Astaroth called her Neku Caius to her. She said, “Tell the others that we’re leaving, and check us out of this hotel. Do assure them that we appreciated everything and make a reservation for this same suite for this same week next year. I’m coming to appreciate San Francisco in June.”

    Stolas the Apokomistis
    Stolas was an Apokomistis who lived in Athens. He was drawn as such in Collin de Plancy’s Diccionaire Infernal, and was so furious at the depiction that he was solely responsible for de Plancy’s subsequent fervor for Catholicism.

    “Might I tell the others where we’re going?” Caius asked.

    “No. Give them leave for exactly seven days to do as they wish and to await your instructions at their finish. You, however, are coming with me. Send a wire to Athens and make our usual booking there,” Astaroth said.

    “Shall I notify Stolas that we will be at his doorstep?” Caius wondered.

    “If you do, I’ll destroy you,” Astaroth replied with her unnervingly pleasant smile.

    Happy Solstice! Merry Christmas! Happy Kwanzaa! If you and your family celebrate something different at this time, please accept my warmest wishes for a wonderful holiday. Dominus vobiscum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VIII.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part VI

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part V.

    Kivati had no time to waste. While Thomas Carver spilled out of the entrance of the Phelan Building, Kivati nabbed the Apokomistis in pursuit and transported the demon to the roof of the building.

    She hadn’t recognized him at first, but as soon as she had him in her grasp, she knew that it was Sitri. She expected him to engage her in a duel, but he fought her just enough to break free and vanish.

    Thomas had ducked into an alley. He hadn’t had a chance to react before the Watcher had materialized next to him, gripped his hand and brought him back to the boarding house.

    Adelaide was flabbergasted. She had been instantly relocated from the kitchen to Rose’s room. Her fiancé gaped stupidly at her sudden appearance.

    “I wish that we could ease you into this, but there’s no time,” Rose said.

    Kivati’s entire form glowed to demonstrate her Grace to the humans. She said, “I am Kivati, and I am an angel of God.”

    Kivati and Rose traded unimpressed looks, for both humans had passed out at the revelation of Kivati’s Grace. After a few long moments of silence, Adelaide had regained consciousness, and she shook Thomas until he blinked his eyes back into proper use. He uttered an impolite phrase as an indication of his disbelief.

    “Are you really an angel?” Adelaide asked.

    “Yes,” Kivati affirmed, and she allowed her form to radiate her Grace again.

    Adelaide smacked Thomas on the arm.

    “What was that for?” Thomas demanded.

    “For cursing in front of an angel, if that’s what the glowing police officer really is. You also shouldn’t curse like that in front of the boarders. Or me, for that matter,” Adelaide said.

    “Thomas, if you would, could you please tell us why a demon assumed your form earlier today, attacked Rose and was chasing you at your workplace?” Kivati asked.

    It took Kivati and Rose much longer than they’d hoped for them to get an answer from Thomas. They had to provide explanations about angels, demons and monsters, as well as rehash what had happened when a demon pretending to be Thomas had showed up at the boarding house. Humans do have the worst time accepting that that which they call the supernatural actually exists. After a quarter of an hour, Thomas provided the details of his day.

    “It has been a strange day. I got up before the sun this morning, and I went to the Western Union to wire some money to my sister in Kansas City. You see, sir, she and her husband have had trouble getting by since our parents passed and left her the family home, and she was worried that the bank was going to take it back. I got a second job at a grocer last month to help her out, in addition to helping Adelaide and I save for our own home after we’re married. My sister was sure that the situation was hopeless and that they’d be out on the street, but as luck would have it, I got a raise at my job at the Phelan. I had enough money to help her out with the debt on the house and still have a little extra for us,” Thomas explained.

    “I’d gotten the day off from my job at the Phelan because I’d received a summons from the court for jury duty. I was selected immediately as an alternate juror, and before we were even called into the courtroom, the civil matter had been settled and we were dismissed.

    “At that point, I felt that everything was going my way. I figured I’d head into work and clock in for the rest of the day. But as I was passing a luncheonette, I realized that I was hungry, so I stopped in for a bowl of soup.”

    “It’s June, and you want soup,” Adelaide remarked.

    “I love warm things on a warm day. Just like I like cool things on cool days,” Thomas said. “Back to my day—I was just enjoying my soup when a gangster came in and accused me of owing his boss seven thousand dollars because of a dice game. I don’t play dice, and I figured there had to be some mistake. It was strange, though. He knew where I lived and he knew all about you, Adelaide—”

    Thomas related the entire conversation he’d unknowingly had with Sitri. “And an hour later, he showed up at the Phelan and threatened me. I ran. I have no idea what I’m going to say to Mr. Leonard about running out in the middle of a workday. He’s been really very kind to me, and I’m indebted to him after giving me the pay raise.” He hung his head. “I’m just a coward, plain and simple.”

    Kivati said, “Don’t worry about your job. I will speak with him in the guise I have now and clear the matter up for you.”

    Rose added, “And you’re not a coward. That demon would have destroyed you if he’d’ve caught you.”

    “So that was a demon—no joshing? Why is he after me?” Thomas asked.

    “We don’t know,” Rose said. “But we’re going to keep an eye on you until we can figure out what’s going on.”

    Rose agreed to stay with Adelaide and watch her for the rest of the day, and Kivati escorted Thomas back to the Phelan and had a word with his employer Mr. Leonard about the gangster. She gave Thomas’s boss a number of assurances that it was a police matter that was being handled. Thomas was permitted to return to work, and Kivati remained close by, albeit in various disguises.

    Itzamná was given half an hour of leave to check on his daughter. He had a few extra moments remaining before he was due back at his post, and so he joined Kivati in the watch over Thomas. Itzamná said, “So it was Sitri?”

    “The one and only,” Kivati answered.

    “You know what it means if he’s making a public appearance, don’t you?” he asked.

    “It means that in all likelihood, Astaroth is around here somewhere,” she said.

    “We’re of one mind, then,” Itzamná said. “We need to figure out what she’s doing here and why, because it’s just a matter of time before she’ll strike hard.”

    Dominus tecum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VII.

  • Astaroth’s Wager, Part V

    Back to Astaroth’s Wager, Part IV.

    All the while Astaroth, Sitri and Svipul were on their way to Market Street, Rose Nielsen was interrogating Adelaide Grayson about her betrothed. Adelaide, her mother and grandfather were beyond baffled at what had taken place. They were all struggling to accept that Rose was adamant that Thomas hadn’t been Thomas, and that the false Thomas had attacked her. Mrs. Grayson had already called for the doctor to come round and have a look at the gash in her arm, despite Rose’s insistence that she would see her own doctor at the soonest. The bleeding had stopped, but the cursed magics in Sitri’s blade were turning Rose’s wound black and causing pieces of flesh to crumble off her arm like charcoal.

    Rose had called out to her father, and Itzamná answered. He appeared at the boarding house, posing as a doctor. He brought with him another Watcher by the name of Kivati, who had adopted the semblance of a police officer. Kivati gathered as much information as she could on Thomas, Adelaide and her family while Itzamná worked on Rose’s wound. Unfortunately, neither he nor Kivati had the gifts to repair the damage that had been done by the cursed blade. Rose understood the situation very well. She told her father, “There’s no time to argue about this. Either you do it, or I’ll do it myself and make a mess of it. I’ll be able to heal up afterward.”

    Itzamná hesitated for a few moments, but in the end, he applied a quick stroke to her elbow with his steel. Nephilim heal quickly from physical wounds, and by the end of the evening, a human would have assumed that she’d lost her forearm at least a month before.

    Now—please do understand that back in those days, we angels all had very specific roles to fill. Watchers had some of the most thankless roles of all the Orders, and they were made to answer to Dominions, the Order responsible for the management of processes within Heaven and the Universe. Every Watcher found it torturous to watch and not intervene, and every last one of them disobeyed and was reprimanded for his or her actions on more than one occasion. I don’t blame them. It’s torturous being here now as an Archangel and not being able to do much of anything. Most of the time, many Dominions were directly supervising Watchers who hadn’t followed their directives and disobeyed.

    Itzamná had been on a particularly short leash at the time, considering that he had been tasked with extra duties as punishment for partnering with a human and fathering a Nephil. It pained him to have to depart from his wounded daughter after less than an hour with her in order to carry out his duties as a Watcher. He promised his daughter that he would return as soon as he was able and help her hunt down the demon who attacked her, and he left her in Kivati’s care.

    Kivati, however, hadn’t recently been censured by Heaven at that time. She presented what she had learned of the attack to the Dominion who was her supervisor, and she was given permission to follow Rose, determine the reason for the attack and dispatch the demon who had perpetrated it. Kivati made sure that Rose and everyone else at the boarding house were in no imminent danger and went out to find Thomas Carver.

    The Phelan Building
    An old postcard of the Phelan Building. It’s still an impressive architectural feat today.

    Kivati didn’t have much reason to hope for Thomas’ safety. Over the millennia of observing humans, she had learned that, under normal circumstances, an Apokomistis who masqueraded as a human had already executed some evil upon that human and was merely tying up loose ends. Adelaide had supplied the address of Thomas’ employer: he was one the elevator operators for the Phelan Building on Market Street, one of the lovely architectural gems from the reconstructive years following the Great Earthquake of 1906. Maintaining her cover as a police officer, she adeptly materialized within the lobby of the Phelan Building so as not to attract any attention from the many humans in the area.

    She’d arrived just in time. Thomas was being chased out of the elevator and through the lobby by an Apokomistis, and she gave pursuit.

    Dominus tecum.

    On to Astaroth’s Wager, Part VI.

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