Stuart Slade - Pantheocide

“You drugged me as well. You tricked me into addiction.” Lemuel was uneasily aware that the complaint had come out as petulant whine rather than a soul-searing indictment.

“I did, and if you wish to confront me on that, I will concede it. You have every right to be upset. But, look at the situation Lemuel. Yahweh was going mad, you know that now but back then his madness was obvious to only a tiny few. How mad was something that even we did not guess. Yet you were the chief investigator of the League of Holy Court, the de-facto head of Yahweh’s secret police. You had to be separated from Yahweh, you had to see him for what he really was. Much of the blame here lies with you Lemuel, how often did you close your eyes to what the League was actually doing? As you had the victims of your investigations tortured into confessions that might, or might not, be true, did you ever doubt what you were doing?”

Lemuel flushed red and looked at the floor. “No.” His voice was small and weak.

“There was that human you picked up. The one you identified as a heretic because she had a small bottle of human garlic seasoning in her possession. You had her tortured, Lemuel. She was three-quarters drowned, raped and murdered while your prisoner and yet your faith was still not shaken. You Lemuel, you were Yahweh’s right hand when that and much more happened. It was a small step, Lemuel from the dungeons of the League of Holy Court to Yahweh’s concentration camp. So small a step from vigorous enforcement of the law to oppression and mass murder. A step so tiny and easy to make that its implications frighten even the humans.

“You are my friend, Lemuel, we had to save you yet you were so firmly under Yahweh’s spell that regular argument would have been futile. So we hooked you. We got you just addicted enough that being with us was pleasant while being away from us was the reverse. Then, we slowly showed you that heresy had its values, that a degree of dissent was essential for a culture to move onwards. That the people who held different ideas from you were not necessarily bad persons because of their beliefs. Nor were people whose beliefs were conventional necessarily good or of pure heart. We showed you that people had to be judged for who they were, not for what they believed.”

“So you did it all for my own good?” Lemuel spoke with tones laden with disbelief.

“Of course not.” Michael was derisive. “We did it so I would not have to kill my friend. We would have done, Lemuel, we would have had to. But, above that, we needed you as a messenger to the humans. We had to send them the keys to Heaven by a messenger they would believe. Anybody else, one of us, they would have treated our information as a trap. At most they would have used the information to come in their own way at their own time. But when the head of Yahweh’s police came over, having given up power and prestige to save his brutally-injured mate, they believed him. Your participation was needed Lemuel, so that also fitted into the schemes.” Michael held his breath, almost noticeably. Will Lemuel notice the great flaw that lay in the center of that carefully-spun account? I’ve massaged the truth so carefully that I really ought to buy a human newspaper. He held that thought in his mind, buying a human newspaper and running it had an almost hypnotic attraction. It could be almost as much fun as running his nightclub.

“But all the plots, the schemes… “

“Some were other archangels who had seen Yahweh’s mind going and were moving to take over. Others, most of them, were Yahweh himself. He set them up so he would have an excuse to bring down his tyranny on The Eternal City. Either way led to disaster. Only one led to the salvation of the Angelic Host and that meant engineering an end to the war that left humans in undisputed charge. And got there without them using their military power to overwhelm us. And yet those same schemes Lemuel were as dangerous to you as they were to us all. You stumbled upon them while investigating something quite routine.” Even if I did have to hold your hand and lead you to them. “What would you have done if you had found them at some other time. Gone to Yahweh?”

“I suppose but…”

“And he would have killed you. On the spot. Luring you away from Yahweh was more than avoiding the necessity of me killing you or providing a messenger to the humans. We had to do it to save you from Yahweh. You were in deadly danger Lemuel, more so than you realize even now.”

Lemuel stared out of the windows at the rolling hills and green forests of Heaven. He felt deflated, without purpose or aim. Once his life had been filled with his loyal service to Yahweh and that had gone. Then it had been filled with his hatred for what Michael had done to him and Maion and a burning desire for revenge. Now that, too, was gone. He had nothing left and that left him with an intense desire to weep.

“I’ll say it again, Michael, you are a double-dyed bastard. I’ll accept that you were doing what you thought right and it all worked out the way you wanted. And that all Heaven benefitted from what you did. But I can’t forget Maion’s shattered wings or her selling herself in your club. You’ll have to live with that as well. Those memories and all the other things you did will torment you from now on. Every time you look in a mirror you’ll remember them. They’ll tear you apart and you’ll understand how I feel now.”

Michael nodded solemnly. Lemuel, you poor innocent sap. You’ve been watching too many human television soap operas. I did what I had to do and that ends the matter for me. I’ve been running this scam for centuries and, believe me, anything regrets I had are long gone. And if I had any left, there’s a valley of black glass that will act as a reminder of what would have happened had Yahweh had his way.

The door banged open and Maion bounced in. “Lemuel, I’ve got news. Doctor Gunn gave me an examination just to check on how I was recovering. He says I’m pregnant.”

Michael snapped forward in his seat. “Say again?”

“I’m pregnant. About four or five weeks he thinks.”

Lemuel reached out and hugged her while Michael watched complacently. Well, that was unexpected, but at least it will give Lemuel something to do. At least until the humans give him the police force back. And they well, he’s a good cop. But, an angelic baby? That’s a once-in-a-millenium event. Then Michael thought carefully. What if angelic infertility was a by-product of Yahweh’s obsession with people’s private habits. What if now he was gone, there would be more angels born? Interesting.

“Congratulations, both of you. Would you like to stay here and rest? You’re both welcome.”

Michael saw them both shake their heads, realizing they both wanted to be certain what was in any food they ate. “Sorry Michael, we have to get back to The Eternal City. We’ll be back though.”

After they’d left, Michael went for a walk through his grounds. He needed to relax, to run over the events in his mind. Almost without thinking, he made his way to the great greenhouses that housed his marijuana plant collection. Letting himself in, he took some of the prepared product and took a deep breath. It was a blend Elhmas had spoken highly of and Michael could see why. He felt his mind relax and drift away on a sweet and gently-scented cloud.

“Well done Ehlmas. You surpassed yourself with this blend. You know, I really hated having to kill you but you and Yahweh were too powerful a combination for me to beat. You had to go just as Uriel and all the others did. It was the only way. But, I really am sorry.”

For a moment, Michael thought the slow handclap coming from the plants was his imagination. He dragged his mind back to reality but the sound continued. Then, a familiar figure stepped out from the serried rows of greenery. “Hello, Michael. I see you took my recommendation.”