Nightside 05 - Paths Not Taken

together we could weaken and diminish her, so much so that the harm she could do in the future would be much lessened."
    "How?" I said.
    "We understand that this is important to you," said Gabriel. "It is not necessary for us to know why."
    "We can make you powerful," said Baphomet. "Powerful enough to deal with Lilith as she deserves to be dealt with."
    "How?" I said.
    "By possessing you," said Gabriel.
    Suzie and I looked at the angels, then at each other, then we stepped back a little way to discuss the matter in private. Neither of us felt comfortable under the implacable gaze of their blank faces. And the unblinking light and the impenetrable darkness of their forms was wearing, on both the eyes and the soul. There was something about the angels that made you want to accept everything they said, unthinkingly. But because they couldn't lie didn't mean they were privy to the whole truth.
    "We can't destroy Lilith," Suzie said reluctantly. "Whatever happens. Because if she dies here and now, you couldn't be born, John."
    "The thought had occurred to me," I said. "But if we could seriously reduce her power, while she's still vulnerable ... it might make it possible for us to deal with her, back in our own time. We know something happens to weaken her in the past, because soon enough her own creatures will band together to banish her from the Nightside. Maybe what we do here will make that possible."
    "We're back to circular thinking again," said Suzie. "Hate Time travel. Makes my head hurt."
    "But... if we can learn how to weaken her," I said, "maybe we can do it again, once we get back to our own time."
    "If we get back to our own time." Suzie considered the matter for a while, then nodded reluctantly. "You mean, we could weaken her again, and stop her destroying the Nightside in the future. Okay. Sounds like a plan to me. Except that there is no way in hell that I'm going to let an angel or anyone else possess me. One body, one vote, no exceptions."
    We went back to the angels. "Explain exactly what you mean by possession," I said. "And be really, really convincing that this is necessary."
    "We will not be controlling you," said Gabriel. "We will merely inhabit your bodies to grant you our power."
    "One of us, in each of you," said Baphomet. "Your human nature will carry our power into Lilith's city, and together we shall bring her down."
    "You will enable us to carry out our mission. And afterwards, we shall leave your bodies, and return you to where you belong."
    "How can we trust you to keep your word?" said Suzie.
    "Why would we want to stay in a human body?" said Baphomet. "We are spirit. You are meat."
    'To stay would be contrary to our orders," said Gabriel. "And in many ways, we are our orders."
    I sighed heavily. "I know I'm going to regret this, but..."
    "But?" said Suzie.
    "You want to get home, don't you?"
    She scowled. "You talk me into the damnedest things, Taylor."
    It was my turn to look at her uncertainly. "Can you cope with this, Suzie? With having an angel... inside you?"
    She shook her head. "You pick the strangest times to get sensitive. Relax, John. "Even I can make a clear distinction between a spiritual and a physical invasion. I'll be fine. I think... I kind of like the idea of having an angel trapped within me, having to do what I tell it to do. I could dine out on that story for months, once we get back ..."
    "All right," I said to Gabriel and Baphomet. "You've got a deal. Baphomet; you take me."
    Even then, I was determined to spare Suzie whatever pain and trauma I could. And I didn't entirely trust the idea of an angel from Hell inside Shotgun Suzie's body. Some marriages are definitely not made in Heaven.
    "I would have taken you anyway," said the dark angel. "We are the most compatible."
    I wasn't at all sure how to take that. Without any warning, both angels stepped forward and into us, like swimmers diving into deep water. Suzie and I both cried out, more in surprise than shock, and as quickly as that it was done. Baphomet was in my mind, like an idea out of nowhere, like a memory I'd forgotten, like an impulse from a place I normally kept heavily suppressed. And with the angel came power. It was like being plugged into the energy that runs the universe. I could see for miles, hear every sound in the night, and every movement of the air on my skin was like a caress. Suddenly I had other senses, too, and all the worlds within the world, and above and beyond it, unfolded all around