Eden (Eden Saga) Read online

  “Not exactly,” Koneh said. “Well, not as you were told. Remember, the men who wrote the Bible were also interested in power and control. Their Hell is much different from Iblis’ Hell. Much like Heaven, Hell was merely a place where Iblis could rule his dominion. Sinners were never sent there and Dante certainly never travelled there. No human could, under normal circumstances.”

  As Koneh’s voice trailed on the last word, Alexandra reasoned that he knew a great deal about Hell. The truth of his words rang clear in her mind and a strange question popped onto her lips.

  “Have you been to Hell?” she asked.

  Koneh’s black-in-black eyes peered into her own eyes and he said, “That would be absurd, now wouldn’t it?”

  She felt a wave of victory, like when she cornered a witness on the stand. “That’s not an answer,” she said.

  For several long moments, Koneh and Alexandra’s eyes were locked. He had never been this forthcoming, and Alexandra hoped for more information from her enigmatic guide. Was her question even founded? Yes, she decided, the question made sense in her new world. One that saw the fall of Heaven and Hell.

  “No,” Koneh said, after turning his gaze to the red-black horizon.

  Before the word was finished, Alexandra knew it. “You’re lying,” she said.

  Returning his gaze to her, he and said, “Prove it.”

  She shrugged. “I’m not the one with secrets. I’ve got nothing to prove or hide, but those demons knew you and it’s the best reason I’ve come up with so far.”

  “May I continue?”

  Allowing the matter to drop, she said, “Please do.”

  She tucked the information, and what it could mean, in the back of her mind.

  “Your grace is immeasurable,” Koneh said.

  Knowing his meaning, Alexandra chuckled and said, “Immeasurably small?”

  Father Callahan laughed and nudged her. “I guess he’s not all doom and gloom.”

  A grin stretched across Koneh’s scarred-smooth face. “So,” he said, “Iblis continued the war against Heaven, but found his numbers dwindling. You see, Iblis could not construct angels of his own. He had his rebel angels and that was all. Each one lost was a soldier he could not replace. Elah, on the other hand, could construct new angels to replace the ones lost in battle. Iblis needed to get creative, and he did – with human souls.”

  After a short pause to gather his rags around his body, Koneh continued. “Just as Elah devised a way to allow souls to journey on to Eden after a human death, Iblis too found a way to capture souls. I don’t know the details, but Iblis discovered how to trap the souls of wicked men and women into a vessel of flesh and bone. Those demons you saw tonight are the end result. A twisted mass of evil souls all crammed into a single being in servitude to their master.”

  “Wait,” Alexandra said, “more than one soul?”

  “Yes. Erzulie believes Iblis’ method is imperfect and only the most depraved parts of the soul are salvaged by the process. So it requires more than one to sustain the creature we know as a demon. Eventually, the most dominantly evil soul comes to the foreground, with all the others simply powering the life of the beast.” Koneh paused. “In truth, I don’t understand the anatomy, science and/or magic of it all.”

  “Magic?” Marco asked. “Like Voodoo?”

  “Sure,” Koneh said, “might as well throw that in as well. I’m just as human as you all are. It all sounds a bit like fantasy to me.”

  Alexandra allowed this new information into her working mind. Closing her eyes, she recalled the encounter with the demon, Lilev. Demons and angels. Servants of Iblis and Elah. Hell and Heaven. Earth caught in the middle. Questions and thoughts. She no longer believed that trial law was the most taxing of mental exercises. Sorting out her new world trumped even the most intense of courtroom situations.

  After the storm of information passed, Alexandra formed a clear framework for her thoughts and assumptions on both angels and demons. One glaring difference leapt from her mind like a cinder block off a passing truck on the highway.

  “So,” she said, “are you telling me that demons have a soul and angels don’t?”

  “Somewhat ironic,” Koneh said, “isn’t it?”

  Chapter 13

  Alexandra awoke to the sound of fireworks in the distance. As her mind untangled from sleep, she realized fireworks seemed out of place in the wasteland. Opening her eyes, she noticed Koneh perched on a nearby rock.

  Alexandra said, “Is that…?”

  Koneh fixed his fascinating eyes upon her and said, “Gunfire.”

  “Sounds like it’s getting closer,” she said.

  “Yes, and a jeep too. Damn!”

  “What?” she asked.

  Koneh stood and adjusted something under his clothing – the sword. “There was an American military base in Veracruz during the war. I think they never left.”

  “You think they’re Americans?”

  “Definitely,” he said. “Army, by the length of their bursts and the weapons they are firing.”

  “What are you so nervous about?” she asked.

  “Can you think of anything more dangerous right now than an army battalion without a commander-in-chief or laws to govern their behavior?” he said. “We can’t be sure what to expect. We need to avoid them.”

  “No problem,” she said. “The wasteland is large. We’ll just hunker down here in the darkness.”

  Koneh pointed to their large campfire and said, “They know where we are and we’re not outrunning anybody in Santino’s rig.”

  By now everyone in the small camp was awake.

  “That sounds like gunfire,” Father Callahan said.

  “Si,” Marco said, “auto fire.”

  Santino’s face poked out of his sleeping bag, but he didn’t speak.

  “Stay in the truck with Erzulie,” Koneh said to Alexandra. “Father Callahan, Santino and I will investigate.”

  “Be careful,” Alexandra said. “They’re firing their guns at someone. Just make sure it doesn’t become you!”

  Father Callahan winked as he walked past her. “I know how to talk to army brats,” he said. “I used to be one of them, remember?”

  Santino grabbed a propane lantern and joined Father Callahan and Koneh as they walked towards the erratic jeep lights and muzzle flare.

  Marco approached Alexandra, rubbing his eyes. “I’m sorry about last night.”

  “Don’t give it another thought,” Alexandra said. “You’ve been through more than most of us.”

  Though Alexandra believed Marco was tricked into helping Derechi and the demon Lilev, something tugged at the back of her mind. Was Marco telling the truth? Did he really avoid his own death by the grace of Derechi? She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Perhaps her internal compass was reeling from the activity of the past few days.

  She jumped into the cab and closed the door. The new interior was more pleasant on the eyes and nose. The smell of beer still lingered, but it lost some of its pungency. Erzulie lay across the back seat, though she looked awkward in a vehicle made for humans.

  “What’s happening?” Erzulie asked.

  “We may have trouble,” Alexandra said. “There’s an army jeep approaching and they’re shooting at something.”

  Erzulie raised her head and said, “I’ll protect you, my Lady. Where is my sword?”

  Alexandra looked around the cab and spotted the weapon resting on the dashboard. Curious about the archaic instrument of war, she grasped the handle and scabbard and then drew the blade halfway out. The metal was smooth, black and polished – nothing at all like Koneh’s rusty sword.

  “Forgive me,” Erzulie said, “but I lack the energy to stand. I have failed you again.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Alexandra said. Then, after a long pause, she asked, “Koneh told us you were constructed?”

  “Yes.”

  “Elah created you? For what purpose?”

  Erzulie smiled, “Eve
ry angel has a task. Mine was to champion Love, the most pure of the soul-guiding forces.”

  “How were you the champion for love?”

  “I reminded humans of the importance of love in many ways. Always indirectly, of course. It was a very important station among the Seraphim.”

  Intrigued, Alexandra asked, “How did you remind us about love?”

  “Oh, in small ways,” Erzulie said. “A song on the radio at the right time. A chance encounter that would never have happened if not for my watchful eye. And many other things - too many to discuss here and now.”

  “You can do stuff like that?” Alexandra asked.

  “Yes, from Heaven,” Erzulie said. “The way our two worlds interacted allowed for many possibilities.”

  Outside the truck, the rattle of gunfire ceased. Alexandra peered through the dingy windshield and noticed the headlights on the army jeep were stationary. Everything was calm in the distance.

  Then, she turned back to Erzulie and said, “Koneh said something peculiar when I first met him. He said that Heaven had fallen. What does that mean?”

  Erzulie frowned. “I do not know what happened, as I was in Jahannam.”

  “Where?”

  “Hell.”

  “Oh, sorry.” Alexandra felt like she had just asked a recently divorced friend how her husband was doing, only a thousand times worse.

  “I was flawed,” Erzulie said. “I failed to carry out my task.”

  “Koneh told me,” Alexandra said. “You fell in love with a human?”

  “That is not possible,” Erzulie said. “I placed the life of a human above the duties of my position as Guardian of the White Sacrament. Such a thing should not be possible, but it happened. And I was exiled from Heaven because of my flaw.”

  “You made one mistake and you were discarded?” Alexandra asked with disgust in her voice.

  “I do not make mistakes,” Erzulie said. “I am flawed in some way. The result would be consistent were I presented with the same set of circumstances.”

  “Tell me what happened,” Alexandra said, curious about the angel’s first-hand experiences in Heaven.

  “Perhaps another time,” Erzulie said.

  “Why?”

  “They are returning.”

  She heard their voices in the distance.

  “Get the first aid kit, Alexandra!” Father Callahan shouted. “Should be in the glove compartment!”

  Alexandra proceeded as instructed and climbed out of the cab. The army jeep pulled to a stop in front of Santino’s truck. Several men in fatigues deployed and pointed their guns into the air, scanning for enemies.

  “Back here!” Father Callahan said as he waved Alexandra to the back of the jeep.

  Inside, Koneh had his hands pressed against another soldier’s neck. Blood trickled from between Koneh’s wrapped fingers. The soldier didn’t look like he was going to survive.

  “We have to switch bandages,” Koneh said.

  “Hold it!” one of the soldiers yelled.

  Alexandra turned to see Marco on the other side of the rig with his pistol in one of his raised arms.

  “He’s with us!” Alexandra said. Then, she saw another soldier approach the rig. “Don’t go in there!”

  The soldier didn’t listen. He opened the driver-side door.

  “Koneh,” Alexandra said. “Stop him.”

  Koneh nodded and left the wounded soldier in Alexandra’s care.

  She removed the old bandage around the soldier’s neck and replaced it with one from Santino’s first aid kit. However, the wound was large, so she also needed to apply pressure with her hands.

  “They got a demon in here!” A soldier said from near the truck.

  “Back away!” Koneh said. Though Alexandra couldn’t see Koneh, she heard the ring of steel from his sword scabbard.

  “Stand down!” Another soldier said. “Stow that weapon, friend!”

  “Let’s put the weapons down,” Father Callahan said, his voice calm and even.

  “Stay back, Padre!”

  “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  “Not another step!”

  Alexandra’s head spun. Perhaps she felt dizzy from the sight of all the blood. Maybe it was the steady decline in their situation. She knew she didn’t want this man to die. However, she couldn’t let the soldiers into Santino’s rig. Erzulie was helpless.

  Everyone was yelling now.

  “I said stow that weapon!”

  “Stop and think about what you are doing!”

  “Another step soldier and you will wish you never came across us.”

  “That’s it! You had your warning!”

  Then, Alexandra yelled, “Stop!”

  To her amazement, everyone turned and looked in her direction. Her breath was heavy and she felt her hands tighten on the soldier’s neck. Faces open with shock, everyone was looking at the white light which radiated from the soldier.

  Alexandra looked down and noticed that the light didn’t come from the soldier. To her amazement, it was emanating from her hands.

  Chapter 14

  Alexandra was a child again. Her friend, Zana, followed her to the schoolhouse every day. Zana was a coyote who became a fixture when she gave him an apple – hence his namesake. Since that day, the animal had eaten many apples. Zana even tried to follow her into the schoolhouse on occasion.

  When Zana went missing, so did Alexandra. She spent the day looking for the animal and found him at the bottom of a small ravine. Young Alexandra knew all about coyotes. She assumed Zana had tried to fly. Birds could fly, girls can go to school. So Zana naturally thought he could do both as well.

  Zana was barely breathing when Alexandra found him. Tears rolled down her cheeks at the sight of her wounded friend. Her only friend. Then she touched Zana’s hind leg and he jumped away from her. The animal licked his leg where she touched him and then yelped his way down the dried river bed. Zana was fine.

  When Alexandra’s mother heard of her daughter’s trip to the ravine instead of school, Alexandra explained that she had to help Zana. Her mother didn’t punish her. Instead, her mother smiled and said, “That’s what I mean.”

  Now, almost thirty years after Zana and the ravine, Alexandra watched the soldier’s wounds close.

  The American soldier appeared a tad older than Alexandra. Gray and black stubble covered his jaw, cheeks and neck. Ice blue eyes blinked open to greet her.

  “Are you…? Am I in Heaven?”

  Alexandra smiled. “Sorry, no.”

  “Then… I was-”

  “Just relax,” she said.

  Alexandra turned over her palms and looked at her hands. The light was gone.

  What just happened?

  One of the soldiers said, “Shit man, get on your knees.” He slapped his forehead. “Oh shit, I said shit! Shit!”

  Two of the soldiers dropped to their knees. Another soldier asked, “Are you all right, General?”

  The man at Alexandra’s knees rose and removed the bandage from his neck. His wound was gone. The “General” looked at Alexandra and his eyes widened. “You… you’re-”

  Alexandra exhaled for the first time in at least a minute. “I don’t know who I am.”

  I am a lawyer. I was born in Mexico. I am not married, but that isn’t my fault. I am a fan of football, old books and awful movies. Alexandra tried to categorize herself in familiar ways. She knew if she looked into a mirror at that moment, she wouldn’t recognize the woman in the reflection.

  “I didn’t choose this,” she whispered.

  “You cannot choose where you come from,” Koneh said, “only where you are going once you discover the truth.”

  This time, she spoke louder. “I didn’t choose this!” Though she tried to stop the tears, her eyes disobeyed. She jumped from the jeep and stumbled into the darkness.

  After many steps she tripped on a bush and fell face-first into the ground. Her tears turned the dirt into mud around her face
. She didn’t bother to raise her head. She breathed the dirt and mud into her nose as she wept and pounded the earth with her fist.

  Her thoughts cascaded like her tears. What does this mean? Am I destined for servitude and persecution? It’s not fair! Someone else should have been chosen!

  Alexandra rolled over onto her back and looked to the sky. “Why?” For several minutes she repeated the one-word question until her voice was hoarse and her body spent. After the mud dried back to dirt on her face, she realized she wasn’t alone.

  “I imagine Jesus had about the same reaction when he finally realized the truth,” Father Callahan said from his seated position next to her.

  Alexandra saw the truth of it all now. The daily teachings from her mother. Zana, Koneh, Erzulie, the soldier in the jeep – all of it fit neatly into her mental compartments to complete the undeniable fact. No longer able to hide from this truth, she felt exposed in a way she never thought possible. Her stomach threatened to empty its meager contents, but she somehow maintained control.

  “Why do I wish it isn’t true?” Alexandra asked.

  Father Callahan brushed the dirt away from her face and said, “Oh, that’s nothing to be ashamed of, my dear.”

  “I keep hoping,” she said, “that I’m not who I think I am. Instead, I’m just some freak of nature.”

  “Above all, you are Alexandra Contreras. The very same woman I have grown to admire and respect,” Father Callahan said with tears in his eyes. “Maybe we finish this small errand we’re on and then be done with it all? Sound good? We can find a nice house, maybe even make Koneh tend the gardens.”

  Alexandra laughed and looked into his eyes. She saw love there. “I never had a father, but you are exactly how I imagined a father would be.”

  He gathered her in his arms. They embraced in a hug Alexandra had never felt. The kind of hug fathers give to their daughters. She felt safe in that embrace.

  After a few minutes, he said, “We should probably rejoin the others.”

  Alexandra wiped some tears from her face and smiled. “Yeah, I guess we should talk with our new friends on better terms.”