Heaven and Hell (56 page)

Chris’s letter went on to speak of his life in Heaven with his mother. It described the wondrous world that surrounded him. He spoke of meeting Jesus. It all sounded so wonderful. And it proclaimed his love for her, over and over again.

When she came to the end of it, she read the letter from her mother-in-law. She seemed so wonderful. How Serena would have loved meeting her. At last she came to the mysterious package. Her eyes grew large at the sight of its contents.

“Abaddon, come look! Seeds, all sorts of seeds. Seeds for flowers, vegetables, vines, even trees. It’s a miracle. There are so many things here for the garden.”

“Garden?” queried Aaron.

“Yes, I have preserved some of the native vegetation of this world in a large cavern below,” noted Abaddon, in an attempt to break the tenseness. “Under the crystal lights, they have survived quite well. Serena has been caring for it. Perhaps you would like to see it.”

Aaron nodded. “It surprises me not that you would embark on such a mission. You always held the green Earth in such reverence. Yes, I would like to see this thing you have done.”

Abaddon turned to Serena. “We will be adjourning to the garden. I will show Aaron that which you have worked so hard to preserve. Remain here if you wish, read your letter again. I know how important it is to you.”

Serena nodded as the angels walked toward the tunnel that led to Hell’s only garden. After a minute, she looked up from her reading; then set it aside. She rose to her feet.

Aaron scanned the wondrous realm of green before him. Never had he expected to see such a thing here. He turned to Abaddon. “It is truly a miracle, truly it is.”

“It is all that I have left,” replied Abaddon, “this and Serena.”

“I understand,” confirmed Aaron.

“Do you?” said Abaddon, a flash of anger in his eyes. “It is not like that. It is not like it was. She is my companion, my friend, no more.”

“I didn’t mean to offend,” assured Aaron, attempting to be consoling. “We have all suffered as a result of what we did.”

“Excuse me if I don’t mourn your fate,” retorted Abaddon, turning from Aaron and walking deeper into the garden. “I have been sentenced here for all eternity, here among the fallen. I am a true outcast, abandoned by God, rejected by my fellow angels, even scorned and mistrusted by satan and his brood. Not that I would want it to be any other way in their case, but I am truly alone here—until Serena came into my life.”

“And do you think I get pleasure in what I do?” said Aaron with a trace of anger in his voice. “Do you think I find joy in delivering the lost directly into satan’s hands? I do not. I was brought low over what we did all those years ago, demoted to the lowest level in the ranks of my fellows. I am shunned for what I did. I have suffered too, Abaddon; do not think otherwise.”

“Yes, my heart truly bleeds for you,” growled Abaddon, turning once more toward Aaron. “I would give anything; become the lowest of the low, if I could be in the Father’s presence once more. I long to be with Him. I made a mistake, a terrible mistake. I would do anything if I could take it back, but I can’t. That thought torments me constantly, and it will do so eternally.”

Aaron’s anger dissolved into nothingness, his expression held the deepest sympathy for his former angelic brother. “I’m sorry. You’re right; I cannot imagine how it has been for you and the others here. I was fortunate that the Father showed me some measure of leniency. I have been feeling sorry for myself, rather than being grateful for God’s mercy. I deserve no better than you.”

Abaddon’s anger too ebbed. He placed his hand on Aaron’s shoulder. “No, your sin was not as great as mine. I fear the pain of my loss has festered within my soul for a very long time. Forgive me, my brother. I should not have felt anger toward you. God’s judgment was just.”

Abaddon pondered if he should reveal his greatest secret to Aaron. “There is something I have to show you. Yes, I will show it to you,” he looked back toward the cavern entrance, “and to you too, Serena.”

Serena stepped from the shadows and into the brightness of the green cavern. She was embarrassed that she had been caught listening to their conversation.

“Yes, I knew that you were there,” said Abaddon, a slight smile on his face. “You have not offended me. Come, join us.”

Abaddon turned and stretched his hand toward the green leafy realm. “It goes beyond this. The thing that has kept me alive all of these years, the work of my hands, my creation. It is the thing that shall one day strike a blow against satan and his minions, strike a blow for the saints against the adversary, against the very kingdom of darkness.” He turned to Serena. “It has been here all the while, but you have never seen it. It has remained hidden from you, hidden by design.”

Serena was confused. “What has remained hidden?”

“You shall see.” Abaddon stepped into some tall bushes nearby and searched for something for more than a minute. Then he emerged with some sort of creature in his hand. Serena cringed at the sight of it. Apparently it had been here all along, but she had never seen it.

Abaddon walked back toward his compatriots, creature in hand. “This is genetic manipulation on the highest level. I created it through selective breading and genetic engineering over the period of some twenty centuries. It is not of the quality that the Father might bring forth, still it is a noble attempt for an angel. I doubt that any of our kind has ever accomplished this. Come close and meet my friend, one of my children.”

Serena cautiously approached his creature. It was the size of a very large insect, four or five inches long. At first she assumed that it was just that, but she was wrong. Its body did have six legs, though two of them were directed forward, more like arms. They even had primitive hands with long sharp nails with which to grab things. Yet, unlike insects, this creature was not covered by some sort of dark exoskeleton, but rather, with tan-colored skin, which in turn, was covered in some areas by brown fur. At its hind end was a large barbed stinger, like a scorpion, but larger and more ominous. It could be retracted partially into its tail. Its legs were covered with fur, with claw-like feet that were used for grasping. It had large almost leathery, translucent wings.

Its large head was far from insect-like. Its eyes were small and black, and had eyelids like those of a human being. Its nose also had human qualities. It had long hair that swept back from its head, and when its mouth opened, a set of sharp white teeth were clearly visible. It cocked its head and gazed toward Serena.

“There are currently about thirty of these things flying around in here,” noted Abaddon. Mostly, they live in the small side tunnels, only occasionally venturing into the garden itself. You see, they are mostly meat eaters, feeding on cave worms, small insects in the garden, and ground slugs—keeping their populations under control. They are not immortal, but they are incredibly resilient, very difficult to kill, fast, and highly intelligent. They sense my thoughts and obey them.” Abaddon stretched his hand toward Serena. “Here, take her, she won’t hurt you. I promise.”

Serena stretched out a trembling hand and the creature immediately stepped from Abaddon’s hand to hers. Amazingly, the creature started to stroke the fur of her belly and sides against Serena’s skin, rubbing back and forth, walking in a circle, almost like a cat. It sort of tickled. The creature glanced up at Serena. Serena was certain that it had smiled at her.

“She likes you,” announced Abaddon, “I knew she would. I’m not making her do that, she is doing it of her own volition.”

“So, you use these things for pest control?” Serena asked.

“For now,” said Abaddon, “but they one day will be called to a higher purpose. You see, they have their own set of unique instincts, and they are capable of thinking for themselves. They will do no harm to any sort of plant life. Yet, they have the instincts of a predator, a very selective predator. They prey upon demons and all those who follow them. They can sense the contents of the heart, the purity of the soul, the aura. They would never harm you, for that very reason. They hid their presence from you until now. Yet I tell you this; one day, when the time is right, I will release them and their progeny, and I will have my revenge upon satan and his minions. I will make them feel the pain that they have made others feel. My children will feed upon their blood and in doing so multiply. I will make satan and his minions beg for the mercy of oblivion, but they will not find it.”

Serena looked at Abaddon incredulously. This was a side of her guardian angel that she hadn’t seen until now. Quite abruptly, the creature on her hand flew away.

“It sensed your fear,” Abaddon said. “It will not trouble you again.”

Serena looked toward Aaron. There was a sense of deep concern in his troubled eyes.

“Have you nothing to say about what you have just seen?” asked Abaddon, looking toward Aaron.

“I don’t know what to say about what I have just seen,” admitted Aaron. “Does not vengeance belong to the Father and the Father alone?”

“I couldn’t say. I am no longer in contact with the Father, remember? When the Father has called upon me, it was to destroy. Long ago, he called me from this place with instructions to kill the first born in Egypt. I obeyed him without question. He has, from time to time, given me other missions as well, any mission that requires my special talents. After all, I am the destroyer. Still, he has not called upon me for twenty-six centuries. In the absence of his guidance, I have busied my hands with a new project. I will decide the best time to release my children.” There was a pause. “Let us speak no more of it. I will show you the rest of my realm.”

Abaddon led the angel on a tour of the green realm, yet what Aaron had already seen was apparently very troubling to him. Abaddon’s isolation had changed him, and not for the better.

After a few minutes, Serena prepared to depart their company. The call of Chris’s letter was too strong to resist any longer. She would allow these two angels to visit with one another in private, while she soaked in every word of the love she had found anew.

“I will wait for a time,” announced Aaron. “I will give you the opportunity, however long it takes, to write a response to your beloved husband. Rest assured that he will be most glad to hear from you.”

“I’m more grateful than you could possibly know,” said Serena. “Thank you.”

“A remarkable human,” Aaron said as Serena departed. “Her soul is so pure.” He looked over his shoulder to see her vanish into the tunnel leading back to the main chamber. “It is strange, her experience in Hell has, if anything, refined it. How can that be possible?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Abaddon, “but she is unique. I recognized it the first time I set eyes upon her, there in satan’s infernal chambers. I don’t even know why I was there that day. Perhaps it was chance, but perhaps it was something else. I saw it again when she arrived here at my island home. I just couldn’t cast her back into the fiery sea, though I knew the dangers of offering her comfort. Aaron, she has reawakened something within me, something that I thought I had surely lost, an angel’s love and concern for others. That love which dwells within her is contagious.”

Aaron nodded. “Strange that she should find her way here to you.”

Abaddon nodded. “It is a circumstance for which I have no answer. It is pleasant to be in her company, so I shall not complain of it. Yet this purity within her may be her undoing. I may have seen it from that first day, but satan saw it too; and I fear that he will one day come looking for her.”

“Yes,” confirmed Aaron, “I fear that her days of peace are numbered. It is best that we make those days as pleasant as possible.”

Abaddon’s countenance changed, becoming angry and determined. “Aaron, I won’t let satan take her, not without a fight. He will have to destroy me in order to get to her, I swear it.”

That comment caught Aaron by surprise, an amazement that was reflected upon his face. “And you think you can stop him, my brother?”

“No, I don’t. I can only make it difficult for him. It is the task of a guardian angel to protect humanity. I shall fulfill that responsibility to the best of my ability. If necessary, I shall fall in the performance of my duty.”

“Then you have contemplated the unthinkable?”

“Yes,” confirmed Abaddon. “Yet there is more, much more. In the event that Serena and I would fall to satan and his minions, my small friends in the cavern have instructions to escape into the vast realm beyond. They are not as ready or as numerous as I would have liked, but I have taught them much. Perhaps enough to survive and multiply, to bide their time until they are ready. In time, they could make things difficult for the prince of Hell. They might even manage to rescue Serena and me from our tormentors.”

Aaron considered the situation before he responded. “I would very much like to help you. It might be that I could keep you apprised of the situation, warn you of any impending problems. There are resources in Heaven, resources at my disposal. I shall consult them and inform you of what I discover.”

“That is very thoughtful of you,” Abaddon said.

“It is the least I can do for an old friend.”