The City of Angels Read online

  The City of Angels

  Stefania Gil

  Translated by Virginia Castro

  “The City of Angels”

  Written By Stefania Gil

  Copyright © 2017 Stefania Gil

  All rights reserved

  Distributed by Babelcube, Inc.

  www.babelcube.com

  Translated by Virginia Castro

  Edited by Annie J. Garza

  Cover Design © 2017 La Taguara Design

  “Babelcube Books” and “Babelcube” are trademarks of Babelcube Inc.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  The City of Angels

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  Acknowledgements

  To all my dear readers

  Stefania Gil

  All characters and events described in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  1

  In a deserted spot in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, in the city of Los Angeles, California, Mike, Ralph, Gabriel, and Uryan appeared from out of nowhere.

  They had never been there before. It was a standing order of the boss.

  The city of Los Angeles was the place chosen by the angels who had decided to stay on Earth and give up their wings. A lot of them had lived there for a long time and Jev, always protecting his angels against any temptation, had been pretty clear in his prohibition of visiting that place. His boys were loyal, but he doubted their loyalty while they were on Earth. They could be easily contaminated with human needs, luring them into experiencing more and making them wish to stay longer on Earth. That in combination with meeting the other angels could entice them with their experiences to stay on Earth forever. It could lead them into making the decision of leaving their job and Jev would be obliged to take their wings away.

  He couldn’t afford to lose them. They were his best angels.

  So these four brave men were undoubtedly breaking the rules for a very good reason. They appeared in the depths of the cathedral without knowing what they would have to face when they left there. Although, they didn’t care about what they saw because, at that moment, they were all focused on only one thing. Finding Jev and taking him back home.

  They walked out of the cathedral and the sun received them with all its brightness and brilliance.

  They flagged down a cab that was passing by and squeezed inside it as best they could. They told the driver to take them to the Andaz West Hollywood Hotel.

  The hotel was on Sunset Boulevard. It was very close to The Sunset Strip. The place in which Evelyn, Uryan’s girlfriend had seen Jev walking by during a vision.

  “I’m surprised by Jev’s cleverness to find shelter in this place. A place he knew to be the only place in the world where we would not come to look for him. He was sure that we would always abide by his rules. Even though he was not present,” Mike told his brothers while the cab drove them around the city.

  Gabriel nodded without taking his sight off the car window.

  “Are you okay?” Ralph asked Uryan.

  “I’m a bit tired,” Uryan answered, closing his eyes and resting his head on the car window.

  “As soon as we get to the hotel you can rest,” Mike ordered. “We will go and look for Jev.”

  The driver burst out laughing. “Is someone you know lost in Los Angeles?” he asked and stopped smiling the moment that Mike, who was sitting by his side, turned to him with an unfriendly look.

  “Brother,” replied the cab driver, “Los Angeles could be worse than Las Vegas.”

  “And how do you know that?” asked Ralph before Mike said something inappropriate to the cab driver.

  The man shrugged. “Some years ago, I went to Vegas for the weekend. I spent more money than I had in casinos and visited some strip clubs, even though I was happily married. When I got back home that stopped and my life continued as normal. When my wife left me I came to Los Angeles out of spite. I indulged in alcohol, orgies, and drugs. I had lost my wife, my house, my kids and my job. Now I live in a cheap apartment. I’m a cab driver and I have to attend support groups for alcohol and drug addiction if I want to recover anything of my previous life.”

  The archangels were stunned.

  The situation was much worse than they could have imagined and everyone clung to the hope of finding Jev soon and hoped that things with him would not be so complicated.

  After the comment by the driver, nobody said another word.

  They stopped in front of the hotel and the men got out of the cab.

  Before entering the hotel they noticed that it was surrounded by a strange ambiance. There were some men guarding the entrance. They seemed to be part of a gang of bikers, judging by their rough and scruffy look. Also, all of them were wearing black leather jackets with a pair of wings on the back, and below the wings was the name, Fallen Angels.

  The strange men stared at the archangels when they entered the hotel in complete silence.

  In the lobby, Mike and the others were intercepted by one of the men.

  The man had a face full of wrinkles, white long hair, and a beard. He stank.

  “Room 259. He’s well cared for,” said the man.

  “Sorry?” Mike replied. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

  The man looked at him with a do-you-think-I’m-stupid face.

  “There is no harm in going to the room,” Ralph said impatiently.

  Ralph, Gabriel, and Uryan dragged Mike to room 259.

  When they got there, they found two totally different men taking guard. But these men looked like gangsters. They were wearing flamboyant sneakers, a lot of chains around their necks and the same logo of wings with the same name on their T-shirts.

  “Who are you?” Mike asked, exasperated.

  They smiled and just opened the door of the room to let them in.

  It was a wide space with a small hallway in the middle, a kitchen was attached to the hallway and two sliding doors were at the right. They assumed there were two rooms.

  There was a complete mess inside. It looked like the city garbage dump.

  Female and male clothes were thrown everywhere. There was a musty smell coming from the room.

  Dirty glasses and empty bottles littered the room. Their eyes opened wide when they saw lines of white powder on a table with a straw next to it.

  “He hasn’t touched it,” said a rough voice that came from one of the rooms.

  Mike recognized the voice immediately and he didn’t know whether to be glad or worry more.

  Everyone looked in the direction where the voice came from.

  Methraton observed them with a smile on his face.

  “Mikael,” Methraton greeted him with a nod.

  Gabriel, Uryan, and Ralph looked at him in confusion.

  Mike studied him for some seconds. He couldn’t believe that he was looking again at a being that had been created before him and who had been his mentor. Thanks to Methraton, Mike had turned into Jev’s main warrior.

  Methraton looked just the same as the last time Mike saw him. Even though Mike had seen him thousands of years ago. Tall, blond, well-built. He was wearing jeans, a white cotton shirt and a leather jacket like the one that the men standing at the hotel’s entrance wore.

  Methraton opened his arms and his smile widened.

  “Are you staying there or are you going to give me a hug?” he asked Mike.

  Mike approached carefully and hugged him. He didn’t know what to expect from Methraton. Methraton had been an important person in his life and he had b
een deeply disappointed when Methraton decided to leave his position as commander of the heavenly guard to live on Earth.

  Jev hadn’t accepted his best warrior’s decision and the latter, in rebellion, faded among humans. Without his wings, of course, and not because of Jev. Mike was so furious with the decision Methraton had made that he started an epic fight with Methraton and tore his wings away.

  “Where is Jev?” Mike asked seriously.

  “Relax, he’s inside the room with three beautiful women,” Methraton said smiling when he saw the panicked expression of the archangels. “I’m Methraton, by the way,” he told Gabriel, Uryan, and Ralph. The three of them stood rooted to the spot when they heard the name.

  In the heavenly sphere, he was a legend. The rebellious angel. The one who turned his back on Jev.

  Mike started to walk towards the room that his creator occupied.

  Methraton blocked his way. “Calm down,” he commanded. “Let’s talk and then you can interrupt the party taking place inside.”

  Moans of pleasure came from the room.

  “You stopped being able to give me orders from the moment you decided to leave it all behind.” Mike was getting furious.

  “Oh, Mike,” Methraton guided him to the sofa that was in the room. “I’ve always thought you were a little impulsive. You can’t judge a man who is in love and has lost the woman he loves. What would you do if you lost Cristine?”

  “This is all about Lilith?” Ralph asked, surprised, while he moved aside a piece of red lace underwear that lay on the sofa. He sat next to Mike.

  Methraton looked at all of them with a serious look on his face. “Let’s go to the hotel’s bar and talk there. I need to get out of this mess, have a drink, and eat something.”

  “We’re not going anywhere without Jev,” Mike said.

  “Leave the drama and the impertinence aside, Mike,” Methraton answered while he walked to the door. “I have a legion of angels throughout the hotel ready to take care of Jev at all times. So move your butt and come get a drink with an old friend.”

  ***

  “Would you like a coffee?” Evelyn asked Lilith as she sat comfortably on the living room sofa.

  “I’d love some, thanks.”

  Evelyn went to the kitchen, poured two cups of coffee and returned to the living room. She handed one of the cups to Lilith.

  Lilith sipped the coffee and rolled her eyes with delight. “Coffee is one of the things that could cause me to never return to Eden.”

  Evelyn almost choked on her drink. She was really nervous and it was no wonder. In front of her stood the woman who was responsible for Jev’s disappearance and who was thousands of years old.

  “You have good taste in home decoration,” Lilith said looking around her.

  “Thanks,” Evelyn answered proudly.

  “I’ve met some of your ancestors and I’ve trusted them fully, always...”

  Evelyn remained silent.

  “I could see you looking for Jev through the fire. Unfortunately, I could not see what you saw and that’s why I’m here. I need to know where he is because somehow I know that he’s not well.”

  “You can’t see anything connected to him?” Evelyn smiled with sorrow. “I don’t want to sound inappropriate, but I don’t understand how you could connect with me and you can’t do it with Jev.”

  Lilith sighed. “Your ancestors have a lot to do with that. I mean the most prehistoric ones.”

  Evelyn made herself comfortable on the sofa because she knew that the story she was about to hear would be the best story that someone could ever tell her.

  2

  Lilith gathered up her courage and started to tell the story. “Since the beginning of time, Jev ‘the supreme being’ created the world and all its wonders. Including man. Well,” she rectified, “a woman. I was Jev’s first human creation and after me, he created a man very similar to himself, called Adam.” Evelyn listened attentively. “Adam and I were supposed to be the parents of mankind. Populating the Earth was our mission, but I never got along with Adam. At first, he seemed romantic and charming, but with the passing of time, he started to turn into a possessive and extremely dominant man. I didn’t feel attracted to him. Just the opposite happened to me every time I saw Jev. When he visited us, I felt butterflies in my stomach and I got very nervous in his presence. At first, I assumed that I was nervous about being in front of such an important person. As the years passed I realized that what I felt for Jev was something more. One day, I got fed up with Adam’s behavior and asked for an audience with Jev. Alone.

  Lilith noticed the curiosity that filled Evelyn.

  “I told him that I had decided to forsake Adam because I couldn’t stand Adam and because I felt deeply attracted to him,” Lilith smiled, remembering that moment. “That was one of the best moments of my life, you know. I felt liberated when I confessed what I really wanted,” Lilith sighed. “Jev, on the contrary, was frightened at such a revelation and he dared to confess to me that he also felt attracted to me, but that he couldn’t allow our union because I was human and he was a supreme being.”

  “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” asked Evelyn in exasperation.

  “That was the same thing that I wondered,” Lilith answered with an ironic smile. “But the fool didn’t want to analyze the situation beyond his fear and I wasn’t so sure of being able to fit in his ‘world’ without having him completely by my side. So I decided to disappear.”

  “You didn’t try again to convince him?”

  “You can call me by my name.” Lilith winked at Evelyn. “Yes, I tried to talk to him a couple of times. In fact, one of those times we didn’t talk because the sexual tension between us was untenable and well,” she grimaced, “we ended up liberating the tension on a beautiful meadow in Eden. But that didn’t work either. Jev refused to surrender himself completely to love. He put his important position as the Supreme Being and his responsibilities towards humanity before his own desires. It was admirable. I wasn’t so considerate and since I wasn’t willing to keep insisting I simply disappeared. I became a ghost to Jev and a legend in Eden because stupid Adam took care of telling everyone that I had surely gone straight to hell to give myself to Satan. Which, by the way, Satan and hell are just that, inventions of Adam.

  “But, much is said about an angel close to God who rebelled against him and Mike sent directly to Hell. Is that a lie, too?”

  “No. By the time we appeared on Earth, Jev already had a heavenly guard. Methraton. Sometime after I left Eden, Jev created Eve, Adam’s new eternal partner, and Mikael. Methraton was Mikael’s mentor. He taught him how to fight and other angelic things. Methraton and Mike were the closest to Jev. The rest of the celestial guard stayed apart. Especially in Eden, watching that things on Earth developed well. Everything changed when the angels started to experience certain changes in their mood and they didn’t want to return to the heavens. So Jev sent Methraton to investigate what was happening with that group of angels and his best warrior discovered their defiance was due to all the desires they experienced when they were close to humans. As far as I know, angels don’t have desires when they are in the heavens. But everything changes when they set foot on Earth. Some of them hate the change, others feel comfortable for some days, and others decide to stay on Earth. I don’t blame them. It must be horrible to live without feeling anything.”

  Evelyn nodded at Lilith’s comment.

  “So, Methraton came back only to tell Jev that he was going to leave him. It was a sharp blow for him. I think it was even sharper than mine. Meth was the one who had been with Jev since the beginning and Jev thought of him like a son. Mikael got furious when he found out that his mentor would forsake him and he decided to wage battle against him. He tore Meth’s wings off and this resulted in his imminent transfer to Earth. That’s why it is believed that Meth is Satan and that he is in hell.”

  Lilith snorted.

  “Humans have an amazing imagina
tion”

  Evelyn burst into laughter.

  “How come you’re still alive?” Evelyn asked confused. “Or are Adam and Eve also alive?”

  “Many years after humans were created, Jev started to realize that people were born and didn’t die, so he had to do something about that. He created the famous tree of life and made Adam and Eve grow old and die. He did the same with the rest of those who had been born as humans. He couldn’t do it with me because I vanished off his radar, literally.”

  “Oh!” Evelyn exclaimed. “That was the tree where Eve took the apple from, right?”

  Lilith smiled in amusement.

  “Yes,” Lilith answered teasingly. “They talk about Satan, temptation, the forbidden fruit and the greatest sin of Eve.” Lilith rolled her eyes and sighed. “That’s nonsense. The same as the story that I tempt humans to have siblings who would form a legion of demons. Eve was just a submissive fool who was in love with a man that didn’t give her what she deserved. Well.” Lilith shrugged. “I can’t blame her. He was the only man she knew.”

  They both burst into laughter.

  “I’ve spent many centuries hidden,” Lilith continued with her story, “until I started to find people who believed in magic and practiced it. I’ve met many of your ancestors. From them, I’ve learned many of the esoteric arts I now know and apply to my benefit. One of them helped me to create a powerful spell that could prevent Jev or any of his celestial beings from finding me.” Lilith sighed. She was tired.

  Little Enya was asking for her mother’s presence in her bedroom.

  Evelyn went to get her daughter and Lilith remained immersed in her thoughts. She wanted to find Jev and talk to him. She needed him.

  Evelyn arrived downstairs with little Enya in her arms. The girl looked at Lilith and smiled at her while she unfolded her little white wings.

  “Is she the daughter of one of them?” Lilith asked in wonder. Enya kept smiling at Lilith, who couldn’t resist any longer and picked her up.

  “Yes, the daughter of Uryan. The Fire Carrier”

  “I know who he is.”