More Speculation, and plans.
Lynne had stopped taking notes whilst Jason spoke, and she nodded from time to time, listening. "It almost sounds as though it makes some kind of sense when you put it together like that," she said slowly, with a wry smile.
"Uriel has returned. Michael has some plan which we don't know about. I'm not sure that the fighting has really begun yet and.. I worry, for the mortals if it does. It seems that Fate is stronger than Destiny, but what Yves said was that they were coming together... so things are hotting up. Do we know for certain that it was an angelic superior and not a demonic one who Uriel was taregtting?"
Jason answered her. "I guess it is possible, but somehow I doubt it. From what Karen said Uriel can't stand impurity in subordinates, and the most likely explanation is that one of the ArchAngels became dissonant and Uriel struck... twice. Maybe Novalis would tell us. I don't know."
Karen seemed very distracted and quite troubled, but at the mention of Uriel she looked up "Hmmm? Oh yes...Uriel wasn't at all tolerant of dissonance - in any form. It would seem to make sense for it to be an Archangel. Afterall, whatever it is has to be of enough significance to drag Uriel out of the higher reaches of Heaven. I doubt that even a demon prince parading around in downtown LA would be cause for that." She looked as if she was heading back into her troubled reverie when suddenly she said softly "The other possibility..." She slipped back into silence as Lynne continued speaking.
Orli continued. "Anyway, there were two points I wanted to make. The first one is that we probably could make an ally of Nathaniel, much as I hate to say it." She took the card from a pocket and flipped it onto the table. "Azazel told Jason that he hadn't been able to contact him, and I know he was in touch with Evalyn since then. She gave me this number from his detective agency -- 'Seven Swords'. It seems half-familiar for some reason but I can't think why -- ring a bell with any of you? Definitely an odd association for a Russian Orthodox Priest, though. I rang them yesterday and did a few quick checks and they seem like the genuine article though. I think one of us should phone him."
Jason said, "It doesn't ring a bell. I think that he is a priority. He probably has information that could help us, we probably need his assistance with Evalyn's legal defense and if he hasn't fallen, or chosen a Prince, we may be able to save or redeem him."
"The... other thing.." she paused and looked at Jason sympathetically. "I'm sorry but .. why do you think Ashikel summoned Baal if she was so sure he was going to destroy her?"
"I don't think that she was an Angel when she called. We could ask Selindeal but according to Yves her Fate was to betray the only person she cared about more than herself. Her Destiny was to die protecting three hearts from Hell. Yves also said that he saw his Destiny and Fate coming together, just like Ashikel's. I think that calling Baal was her betrayal of me or Raphael, and her dying with our hearts was her saving them from Hell. I am not sure if she achieved her Destiny or succumbed to her Fate, or both."
Karen finally spoke, the creases of worry fixed firmly upon her vessel's brow. "What I was going to say before, is that there is a possibility that all the rules have changed after the last seal was broken. Uriel might have a new task, as may the other archangels now. We might be through serving to protect humans and now rushing headlong into simply detroying the other side. Mind you, leaving most of your angels uninformed about what is going on is probably not the best strategy in that case. And you never know... it might simply be a case that God's mind has been changed. The Grigori, the Nephelim - there's certainly been precedence for this. I simply don't know..." The tone in her voice took on a trace of sadness, or perhaps regret, as she spoke the last few sentences.
Jason said, "I guess it is possible, but I think they would have told someone. Raphael certainly wasn't aware of it, and Novalis didn't mention it to him/her."
Karen sighed and softly mused "If the change of plans involved only God and Uriel, then perhaps the archangels don't know..."
"What i do know is that Seven Swords is the firm that Sandalphon works for." She took out a business card embossed with the name Seven Swords and several phone numbers, and handed it over so that Lynne and Jason could look at it. "It is simply too much for my mind to deal with to think that Sandalphon may have Fallen, so i can only suggest that perhaps Nathaniel isn't as far into trouble as we thought, or perhaps members of both sides work for this operation? I think it would be a good idea to look more closely at this company. From here i can call up the police database and see if there is any mention of them..." She proceeded to quickly go to the police database and type in the request, since she still has the modem connection open and the laptop is sitting on the seat beside her.
Karen then continued "I think that while going to LA might be a good idea at some point, I agree with jason that there is so much for us to uncover here, and possibly elsewhere... I think that the trip to LA might be delayed a day or two? At the very least it should be delayed until we speak with Novalis, Selindeal and Nathaniel. I would also very much like to speak with Sandalphon again. He is much more likely than i to know what his superior (whoever that may be) knows, and he will also be able to tell me about seven swords and possibly about Nathaniel. That is if i can catch him at the right time. Last time i called he was in the middle of a high speed chase." She smiled briefly at this, or perhaps at some private thought... "Last I knew he was serving Yves, but i lost track of things over the last hundred years or so... so i don't know who he is serving at the moment."
"Anyway, I think that speaking with these people should be our highest priority simply because our actions may need to be reorganised or redirected once we gain more information. Then there is the matter of all Laurence's people being away from their posts and off meeting somewhere in Paris. There is the possibility that we could use the tether to go there and back to see if we can find and talk to them at some point, again in the hope that more information will make matters clearer. Helping Selindeal to create a vessel would also be good, for the sake of information, but also in the hope that he can join and help us in our other tasks - especially if the tether no longer needs guarding, which -may- be the case since it no longer goes to Heaven. As for Evalyn, I'm not really sure where she fits into all of this... or how urgent helping her is. You both are likely to be able to judge this matter better than I, but i'm more than happy to help out with leading her towards becoming a Soldier of God - in any way i can. I'm sure Melanie will be too, and will perhaps be able to give her some of the support she needs to get over her problems emotionally."
"Finding out about the thorn would also be good, and we can probably do that if we talk to Novalis - it does seem to be our best weapon at the moment, although we're going to have to be very careful with it." She glanced down at the slowly spreading bloodstain on the bandage covering her hand. "Now as for healing Denis - I've had a few thoughts about that. My heart says that we should go right ahead and heal him now - as soon as possible so that the chances of him being hurt are lessened. But the thought occurred to me that if we heal him of AIDS, then isn't that changing everything? Changing the path of his life, changing his fate and destiny? And if such a change happens, then there is also the chance that those on the other side might find out that we've done this, and simply change their plans to harm him to something that would be more effective. We can have a look at whether he is going to be in danger after we heal him to see if this is the case, however until we know the demons know about what we have done - if we do it - then we won't know if they know what we have done hoping that they won't find out...um...i think i've gotten a bit off the path there.." She rolled her eyes and sighed "So perhaps we should leave healing him until after he's been infected? I sensed that he wouldn't die straight away. This might make healing him all the more difficult, but it does mean that i know the exact moment that he and Sonja are going to be together - which again means that we can be there lurking and waiting for her. There is also a chance that Azazel will be there too, so perhaps we can plan to try and spring whatever trap we come up with at that time?" She shrugged "Whatever happens, i'd rather be playing with known dangers rather than unknown ones - particularly if it means there is more of a chance to save Denis. By then i'll hopefully have far more essence than the one i currently have, as well - which will give us a better chance to be successful with the healing when we do it. What do you two think?"
Jason nodded. "My thoughts exactly. Our attunements should warn of any immediate danger. Much though I feel I should protect my attunements from every cut and scrape, I realize I have to let them live their lives too. It is hard, but they have to be given that opportunity. When there is danger ahead I can concentrate more fully on helping them through it. As to changing Fate and Destiny, I don't think you can. They are potentials, not events. I would prefer to leave Denis as is for the moment. Maybe healing him can be used to inspire him."
Karen nodded as she listened to Jason "To inspire him to continue with his work? Well it's 10 days until the moment he will be in danger, so we have some time. One other thing is that we are going to have to come up with some plausible excuse for him suddenly being well - both for him to use, and for him to believe in. Perhaps we can find out what it is that the cure will be and then use it to cure him?"
"No one but him will necessarily know he was healed. When they come up with a cure he can say he used it on himself. We can tell him whatever we want. As inspiration for his work we could tell him that AIDS is curable, we are Angels, and he will someday figure out what the cure is." Jason smiled.
Orli sighed and looks through her notes again. She didn't comment on this, the pen merely pressing more heavily into the notepad as she scribbled, trying to catch up.
Karen continued "A final thought: I was thinking that we need more reinforcements - the help of more angels or even archangels if we can get it, and i thought back to the research Melanie and I did to try and locate anyone just after the Silence. We located articles that mentioned what i now realise must have been you two - one about a boy being rescued in the New York Daily Courier, and one of the articles Lynne wrote in News of the World. What we also found was something from the LA Times mentioning a woman with blond hair that helped save most members of the family of a police sergeant from a Mafioso hit. Perhaps trying to find her when we do go to LA would be something helpful. But anyway - the other thing - the thing that just made a connection in my mind, is an article i found in NME about an interview with a band called Ethereal Skies. At the time it seemed likely that there was some sort of celestial being in that band, particularly once we found out that they cancelled some of their concerts about 20 minutes after the Silence happened. Then it occurred to me that Selindeal also mentioned Etherial Skies when Yves was here. He said something about paths being made open from ethereal skies from the hand of the light bringer to the hand of the lost god. Mind you he said a whole pile of things that i don't really understand, but i think it might be worth at least trying to get hold of whatever angel is in that band. They mentioned they played Versailles because one of their members lives there. They also mentioned playing in Luxembourg and Darwin, so presumably their players live there also - i can't think of any other reason for so strange a schedule. They cancelled the Luxembourg concert - perhaps we could find out about the Darwin one? We should at least find out if this band is anything to do with Yves' and Selindeal's words."
Jason nodded enthusiastically. "I agree. I keep thinking of things Yves said, and one of them was that 'the second horseman takes four of nine against one of three and meets the one given his own name.' The second horseman was War - Michael - and the one given his name is Baal, the Demon of War. Both of whom we have heard/seen around here." He pondered this for a moment.
"Maybe it is Michael who will help us rescue Rapahel from Baal? It might be worth trying to get in touch with Karlial. He seems to be knee deep in whatever is going on. Hangin' with Michael, at the Church during the fire, at the tether with Gabriel. I just don't want to be the one, because I don't know why he warned me off." He shrugged. "We could probably get in touch with Ethereal Skies through their agent."
Karen nodded "Well i have absolutely no problem in being the one to call people, so give me the phone number for Karlial and i'll call. And as for contacting Ethereal Skies, it's probably easiest to contact them through the net since that is where most of them spend much of their time. I'll do a search for the address in a moment."
Karen then glanced down at the computer screen to see if the police search request she put in came up with anything about Ethereal Skies.
She also did a quick net search to find out if there were homepages or contact addresses for any of the members of the band. She will tried to figure out which one - if any - appeared to be celestial in nature.
Karen's search of the police datanet revealed that the band "Ethereal Skies" had no known criminal associations, except for the flagged mention that Melanie made, that the lead singer had several drug related charges a number of years ago. There did not seem to be anything further on them.
But, on the net in general, there was a bit more info. The band had several web pages, some maintained by fans, others apparently by band members. There were a few email addresses. Checking out the home pages, Karen got the distinct impression that the lead singer had some rather unusual ideas. And his on line articles on music sounded suspiciously like he was alluding to Symphonic sound and its echoes in mundane music.
Karen spent a minute and sent a brief email to him.
After this she asked "Do you know what name Nathaniel is using at Seven Swords? And where do we want to meet: here or at a cafe somewhere? I have to say i'm hesitant to leave our charges sleeping here while we all wander off somewhere."
Orli said shortly, "Just ask for Nathaniel." Her eyes were troubled.
Jason shrugged, "Anywhere is fine. You two could go and meet him somewhere. Then if you want to try to contact Karlial or Ethereal Skies... Darwin is about 13 hours ahead of us, so it will be morning there... you could do that. I will stay here and spend a few (read 'six') hours studying the thorn problem. After that we can see where we are and look into contacting Novalis or Sandalphon or going to LA. Since I will be here, we don't have to worry about our mortal friends. In the morning we can deal with Selindeal and the mortals. How's that?"
Karen nodded "Sounds fine to me... know any good early morning cafe's nearby? A 24 hour McDonalds even? Lets show Nathaniel we have some class and style!" She grinned, with real good humour for the first time in many hours, perhaps relieved to finally be moving into action.
"We are about a half dozen blocks from Times Square. A pretty anonymous place to meet someone. Also a great place to be a Mercurian!" Jason handed Karen a phone number for Karlial. Karen heads over to the phone.
Jason looked at Lynne. "How does this sound to you Orli?�
"I've given you my thoughts and opinions," she commented. "In any case, I am happy to go along with the will of the majority, if there is any way in which I might be able to assist. Even if it means hanging out in fast food chains."
"I do remember seeing the articles you mentioned, although I hadn't had much time to look at them. I try not to waste time on hunches when there are more substantial leads but if you think they are important I could probably get hold of one of the NME hacks in London to talk about this band. Maybe find out who arranged that interview, or at least get the band's fax number. Paging random potential-celestials from halfway around the globe does not seem to me to be especially helpful, but maybe I am just cynical." She shrugged a shoulder.
"Unless you need me for anything else tonight, do you mind if I go for a walk or something? I think I need some air."
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