Cardinal Vices Series: The Coming of Pride

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Actually, your true form is only masked,” a male voice rings from behind me.  I whip my body around to see a man in a white suit and black tie leaning against the table I bumped into.

“You look familiar,” I tell him suspiciously, yet unable to place where I’ve seen him.  He pushes himself off from the table and walks over to me, placing his hand on my shoulder, which I shrug off.  “Who are you?” I demand, shocked at his gesture. 

“I’m Uriel,” he sighs, backing off a little when he senses my annoyance.

“Uriel?” I snort, “The archangel?”  I can’t help but laugh at this; never in my life have I actually seen an archangel, but from what I have been able to gather throughout my years, is that they’re pathetic at their jobs.

“How so?” he asks curiously.  I look back up at him.

“What do you mean?” I ask.  He crosses his arms and looks down at me.

“How are us archangels ‘pathetic’ at our jobs?” he asks with a smile.

“Uhh,” I start, I didn’t say that out loud, did I?

“No, you didn’t,” he smirks.  I look at him in shock.

“How can you read my mind?” I question, archangels aren’t supposed to be able to read the minds of devils, same goes with the other way around.  “You are only supposed to be able to read the minds of…”

“Humans?” he asks, cutting me off and shifting his eyes to my bloody, mess of a hand.  My breath hitches.

“I’m not actually human am I?” I ask, repulsion lacing my voice.

“Not technically,” Uriel starts, “Like I said before, your true form is only masked.  It’s a little trick Asmodeus grants to his demons in order for them to fit into the human world during their… visits,” he says disapprovingly. 

I suppose since Dalitha worked under Asmodeus, she was able to transfer the power to me.

“You didn’t answer my question, Lilith,” Uriel says, interrupting my thoughts.  I look at him confused.

“What question?” I ask.  He just laughs, which only annoys me further.

“You definitely have the memory of a human my dear,” he chuckles, “I am still curious to hear why you think us angels are pathetic at our jobs.”  I look at him in disbelief.

“Really?” I ask, “I have never in my existence seen any angel try and stop me, my brothers, or any of the demons on our assignments.”  He just laughs.

“Who do you think helped the police find that young couple that you and that demon tried to corrupt even further?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.  I blink my eyes a few times.

“You were there?” I ask perplexed.

“Not me specifically, but yes, there were angels present.  We like to hide ourselves from demons in order to avoid the conflicts that would likely arise if they saw us,” he explains.  I shake my head.

“Why are you telling me this?” I ask, you’d think that it would be unwise for an angel to be telling a devil their trade secrets.

“Well,” he starts, “that actually ties into the next point of business I would like to bring up with you.  We would like you to rejoin us in Heaven as an angel again, to live under God’s power and will.”

“Wow,” I start, “Lying is a pretty big sin for one of you isn’t it?” I ask laughing.  These guys would have to be insane to want me to join them as an angel.  I shudder at the word; there’s a reason my brothers and I left and it wouldn’t do any good to go back now.