Company of Angels 02 - The Demoness of Waking Dreams

green eyes glittering in the darkness. The sound of her footsteps, quick strike of her heels on the uneven cobblestones, faded into the alleyway as she turned a corner and disappeared.
    And Brandon turned to face Michael as the Archangel landed in the empty street.
    The single being, aside from God himself, who had authority over him.
    The one Brandon resisted the most.
    On the night Brandon had died, Michael had answered his prayer. Lying there in the filth of the back alley, bleeding out on the pavement, Michael had drifted down to collect him. Not clad in the traditional armor with sword and shield, like the statues scattered around this city, or the old paintings that existed of him. But in a leather jacket and jeans.
    There was a reason they normally communicated through text messages, not face-to-face.
    You guided me into the afterlife, ordained my soul into the order of the angels. And I never forgave you for it.
    “I haven’t seen you in person for a while,” said Brandon. “What brings you to this neck of the woods?”
    Michael looked calmly in the direction the demoness had fled. “You need help.”
    “She was in my grasp,” Brandon said. “I almost had her.”
    “No, Brandon,” Michael said casually, folding his wings back down, taking on an appearance that was almost human. A glowing, ethereal human. “ She almost had you. ”
    “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    “I have come not just as an Archangel. Not just as your boss. But as someone who cares for you and is concerned for your well-being.”
    “I didn’t know you cared.”
    If you cared so much, why did you let me die?
    If you cared so much, why do you allow me to suffer every night?
    The questions hung between them, as they always did when Brandon and Michael met.
    “I do care. I care about you, and I care about this mission. You must accept help. You have surpassed the point at which you can handle this assignment alone.”
    “She’s just one demon.”
    The doubts began again in his mind, spurred on by the things Luciana had said tonight.
    “Maybe I’m not good,” he gritted, hating to say the words aloud to Michael. But there was no one else to whom he could turn for guidance. “There’s a part of me that wants her. Wants the things I gave up to become an angel. Even a divine calling cannot make up for the things I left behind.”
    “I understand if you’re upset about your human death. But haven’t you seen that death is not the end? I’ve tried to show you that time and again. Each of your assignments has been leading to a point, which is to give you further wisdom about this world. Not everything is the way it appears. Nothing is static.”
    “What the hell does that mean?”
    “It means you don’t have all the information. You aren’t meant to know the circumstances surrounding your human death at this time. You have been told that countless times since you were ordained. Leave it alone.”
    “What’s the point of all this? Of being stuck in this physical body?”
    “Being sent back in a physical incarnation allows you to continue to understand humans. For example, I, who am so removed from the earth and from physical form, cannot help them in the same way that you do.”
    “Those are crap reasons,” Brandon said. “Basically, what your answers have taught me is not to trust you. And that you don’t trust me. ”
    “You know that’s not the case. We trust you implicitly. Right now, that’s not the issue. I simply came here to warn you. Luciana Rossetti is close to tearing a hole in your consciousness. You don’t seem to recognize how much power she can wield, given the opportunity.”
    “Then why did you assign me to this case?”
    “It’s an opportunity for both you and Luciana to grow.”
    “Then let me do it my way,” Brandon said. “Until you can prove to me that it’s not working.”
    “You’re not the one calling the shots here, Brandon. Don’t let your ego get in the way of your mission,” Michael chided. “I’m not going to micromanage you. But Luciana is very persuasive, and you are in grave danger of losing your grounding. I’m giving you two more days to do things your way. And then the Archangels will step in and take over.”
    Brandon didn’t answer, but simply turned and walked away, leaving the Archangel standing in the quiet street.
    * * *
     
    Luciana slammed the door behind her when she returned home. Breathless, she leaned against it, grateful that she had escaped once