I am not quite certain what I feel just now. Weary, certainly. Worried. And maybe just a little bit afraid.
Yesterday after work, I went home with Alysse, and I stayed with her all evening. I soothed her, and I blessed her evening with her fiancé David—I haven’t forgotten everything I learned as a Cupid! Then I withdrew a bit, still watching, but not close enough to be sensed by her or anyone else.
It was as she was preparing for bed that it came.
My senses have been so sharpened in my time as a scout that I felt it even before Alysse’s good mood began to fade. I felt its creeping cold sliding into her room. I heard its low whispers, and though I could not hear the words, I felt the spite in them. I could see the same spite rising in her spirit, which responded more quickly than it ever had to my own words.
“Now, Orison,” I said, but I did not wait for him. I sprang into the house myself, reaching out for the creature I could not see.
As I seized it, I felt its regard turning to me, and its sly anger spiked high. “Asa’el!” it cried.
The cold speared into my heart.
Then Orison was there, and it dragged both me and my captive away from Alysse. “A Resentment,” Orison said scornfully. “I might have known. I have a few questions for you.” It squealed shrilly in his grasp, begging for mercy that would not come.
“Orison,” I said urgently, but I was cut off when his burning eyes, all three of them, turned on me.
“And what were you doing, flying into danger that way?” he demanded. “Your place is with Alysse—she is frightened.”
“But—”
“Go!” he ordered me, and I went.
Alysse was sitting up in bed, her heart racing. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so afraid—perhaps there had been a noise downstairs? She stared at the dark wall across from her, already half-reaching for David in the bed next to her.
“It’s all right,” I said to her, settling down with her. “There is nothing that can hurt you now. You’re safe now.” But my voice was shaking as much as her body was.
How had that creature known my name? Orison and Ruhamah have told me that sometimes the Fallen learn the names of those they consider their particular enemies among the heavenly host. This often makes those angels into targets. But why would any Fallen know me, when I have yet to fight even one of them myself?
I wanted nothing so much as to join Orison in his questioning of the captive, but I had my orders. Still, I was less comfort than I might have been to Alysse. Her sleep, when it came, was uneasy.
Finally Orison called me back, with the Resentment nowhere in sight. “It’s done,” he said. “Alysse is safe—”
“Orison,” I said, unable to restrain myself any longer, “it knew my name.”
He looked at me with wide, wary eyes. “What?”
“It recognized me when I took hold of it. It called my name. Asa’el.” I shivered, remembering the pain of hearing my own name spoken with such hatred.
Orison set his hand on my shoulder. “Asa’el,” he said himself, and then he lowered his head. “I should not have kept you from speaking. I am sorry, Asa’el.”
“I forgive you,” I said. “But what did you learn? Anything of use?”
“Only that it was set on Alysse by a superior, but it fought me when I tried to get that superior’s name, and I gave it mercy rather that press harder. Now I wish that I had given it a bit of pain to learn more.” He bent his head closer to me. “You set hands on it, too. Do you think that you had ever met the creature before?”
“No, I have never had contact with a Resentment before. And you’re certain it was a Resentment and not a Violence?”
“Quite certain.” His eyes narrowed. “Are you thinking of Asoharith?”
I nodded, my mouth stopped by my fear.
Orison looked up at the dark window of Alysse’s house. “Asoharith was of low rank,” he said. “She had no more authority than this one. Nor would a Violence usually have influence over Resentments. That is left to Apostates.”
I could not find comfort in this. Orison himself told me that for Asoharith’s success in Ananiah’s capture, she may have been granted more power. She may well be an Apostate now.
And Apostates hunt angels.
“Asa’el,” Orison said, gripping me tightly. “Do not let your fear overcome you. We will not leave you vulnerable. Do you believe in your siblings?”
I returned his gaze, and some of my fear faded. “I do.”
“Then know that we will find the truth of this. For now, our work has been accomplished. The enemy is gone, and Alysse is safe. We can return to heaven with easy hearts.”
We did return to heaven, and yet my heart is not easy. I have never had an enemy before, or at least not one who wanted to harm me, specifically. I do not know what to do with such knowledge. Does it help protect me, or only hurt me with fear? The latter seems most true right now.
And what if I am not the only one endangered by this?