Louise finished her call for an ambulance, as Leah continued to mumble incoherently things I pray Louise cannot decipher.  I lifted myself higher to the roof of Leah's apartment complex to think more on what I have witnessed. 

Louise must be the woman named on the crucifix. Leah must have saved the life of her son, Joey.  Not a name you hear normally in these parts, but, propres à chaque son, or as they say, to each her own.  But the name, Louise Benoit, common enough last name long ago.  What struck me was her face when she looked over Leah.  Why do they both bother me so? 

I must leave for now.  I have to think. There are things right now that need tending to, and I don't have that long to tend to them. Archangel Uriel had made a deal with a woman to retrieve the Spear of Longinus, the very sword that pierced Jésus-Christ in His side as He hung on the cross.  I must stop him somehow.  I know Uriel, at least I thought I did.  He explained why he took time from the underworld, and I understood at the time why.  But as an Archangel, it is their obligation to follow the commands of the God.  I have not know, except for the fallen angels from long ago, of an Archangel to be disobedient.

I must find a way to stop him...but how?      

"Leah?"

I found directions to her home easily among her belongings.  With two easy trips, just one block away, I was able to bring her, and her belongings safely home.  After laying Leah on her bed, I then start to wonder more about Leah, and if the demon who attacked her would find her to finish what he started.  The legend of the cold ones vary, but one thing is consistent, they all have different gifts.  One gift is some can read minds.  It would be nothing for him to pick from Leah where she lives, works, and who she knows.  During the last hours of life, I have learned that humans will think of others they know and love, and the cold ones will pick their next victim easily.  I have heard of humans falling prey at funeral services of the very one they killed.  Déplorable!

I know I can't stay long, but I must be sure she is safe, and will live.  I don't know who will come to see her, and I have no excuse why I am there.  I don't won't to be blamed for her condition.

As I sit by her bedside, I can't help but look at her crucifix. I turn it over in my hand and read an inscription. 'To Leah, Nurses are angels in comfortable shoes. Thank you for saving my Joey, Louise Benoit.'

I know that name. Louise Benoit? Where have I heard that name?

I stared at her a little longer.  She is slim built, about 5'9", and has reddish-blonde hair.  She has a Creole look about her with full lips, dark freckles across her cheeks, and a perfect straight nose.  She is a beautiful woman. I can tell she is of French and Caribbean ancestry like myself. Her eye color would tell me even more. My eyes took on more of my Haitian ancestry, but the rest of me is a blended ancestry common among the mixed raced French Creoles in Louisiana, or gens de couleur libres, as they called us long ago, free people of color. I silently laughed at the oxymoron. Free and people of color.    

Just then there was a sound of a key at the front door and the door opening. Qui est-ce?  I didn't think to ask who as I lifted myself from the bed and soared out the window.  I don't have the power to mist.  A gift that I know is possible, but I haven't learned to do quite yet. Just haven't practice.  That is another story.

A brunette woman walks through the door and walks straight to the bathroom.

"Don't you think its time to wake up Leah? You have to be at the hospital in an hour!"

The brunette, came out of the bathroom, through the bedroom, and quicklyback again.  As she stops at the mirror she is still talking. It's difficult to see her face at the angle she is in at the mirror.  But, her voice stops my breathe. A deep baritone, husky with a hint of an accent known to belong exclusively to those from these parts.  

"Girl, you don't mind if I borrow those green pumps again? I have a date later, and those shoes are nice on me," she pauses and looks back at Leah. "Leah, you need to get up! Leah?"

She walks over to Leah and places her hand on her forehead, and then to her neck.  With a look of panic she reaches for Leah's wrist, and looks at her watch.  

"Leah wake up, Baby! Please, Sweetie, wake up!"

I know that Leah will be fine, but is just sleeping deeply.  Just then, Leah mumbles.

"Angels...so bright....bright"

"No Sweetie, it's me Louise, it's Louise. You're not going to die on me!"

I clench the window sill in shock, "Vous êtes Louise! Alors...?"

Louise picks up the phone with shaky hands.  She wipes tears from her eyes a few times to see the numbers she dials.

"I need an ambulance, PLEASE!"

Her face was so pale, her lips blue, her neck red stained with her own blood. I can see her face, her eyes were open in a look of peace, but I could see what look like a tear in the corner of her eye. 
"Mae," I whispered, but she can't hear me

My  mind goes back and forth. Oh, mon chère amie, Mae. I still feel the guilt of her death.  It drifts to past things that matter not longer, but they hurt regardless. Je le sens regardles.  I digress on things that matter not, because..she is dead.  Mon Dieu!  It has been long since I have spoken with anyone, or spoken her name.  I am ashamed to even tell you where I have been for the past year.  But oui mon ami, Archangel Uriel is part of the story.  I would not call our coupling a... how do you say, maîtresse, or boyfriend.  Non, I have spent the year hiding as he has.  I have dodged my true nature. J'ai été caché. Who have I been hiding from you ask? Everyone.

If you remember, before I started to tell you of my beginnings, back in part 3 of Shiny Beings. It was almost 2 years ago, as I walked the streets and my mind was filled with the story of my past. But let me take you back to the present for now. This is important for you to understand why I hid for a year, or why I allowed Uriel to take me with him. If you will remember, I was walking the streets;

My mind is filled with the thoughts of my first encounter with the celestial entities I call the "Shiny Beings". I get around the corner and notice a park. I feel the desire to go there to sit for a while. I don't sense other angels there.  At that time, I hadn't ran seen them in quite some time.  The Archangel Uriel was unknown to me, personally, but he was known to me in legend.  Others have spoke of Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.  There are seven in all. Legend also told me to beware of them.  They were not to be trifled with, nor to be dismissed.  They were warriors.  Their mission is to see to the call of notre Dieu, our Heavenly Father.

It's wonderful when I do come across the others like me. I love hearing about their own adventures. Our communication consists of bursts or vision sent back and forth between one another, as if I'm a witness as it happens. This kind of "dance" can be done from a distance, without ever seeing one another face to face. But it has to be sent, and I have to be in the mindset to receive. 

There was a nice bench by a tree and some wonderful flowers. I decided to rest there for a while.

My inner thoughts were quiet because I had learned to turn off the voices coming from other souls. It wasn't easy to do. It was so difficult to learn how to turn off or out the volume of voices and images coming from other souls.  I felt I was weak because of it. I didn't learn until a few years later that all of us, with the exception of the Archangels, have difficulty with the barrage of images. When you are off guard, they can impose upon some of my most tranquil moments of peace.   It was even harder to know which to listen to among others.  Now I can do it without having at stop and concentrate too hard.

The park I found was nice, tranquil, very quiet and secluded. The large water fountain just a few feet from me has carved stone cherubs pouring water from vases. C'est magnifique!  I can hear the water as it cascades out and down stones laid beneath them. What a lovely vision. The lights in the fountain pool illuminate their faces. Is this how they see us? They have such peaceful expressions on their faces. If they only knew the truth. I could just sit here and stare at them. I envy them.

I feel a few stirrings of other souls nearby. Only one who.....? What's that? Qu’est-ce que c’est? My God, oh mon Dieu! Something unpleasant is happening. I feel it in my whole being. The dizzy spell that comes, and goes, then comes again. I can feel another soul crying...., in distress. I think it's coming from the other side of the fountain. Just like the first time, I feel my body transform to my angelic form, and lift my soul up from within to see what is wrong. other side of the fountain. Just like the first time, I feel my body transform to my angelic form, and I feel my soul lift up from within to see what is wrong. I am hovering over the fountain to see the other side from where my senses tell me the distress is. As I came around to the other side of the park fountain, what I saw stopped me.

What I first noticed was a unconscious woman, with eyes partially seen between half-open eyelids. She was dressed in a white nurse uniform, and what seemed to be her purse, and another bag with food discarded. Groceries, I assume, were scattered on the ground. Her mouth was wide opened with traces of blood coming from the corner and a gurgling sound deep in her throat. Her white nurses dress was soaked on the shoulder, and down her arm, dripping from her finger tips as her arms lay limp to her side. Her head, arms and upper torso hung loosely as she was cradled in the arms of a "Cold One".

It was obvious he didn't hear me, because as I rounded the fountain, he jerked his head up and with sharp canine-like fangs he hissed at something, but not knowing what. The Cold One was crouched close to the ground as he cradled the human. His head jerked from the left to the right, trying to get a sense of what he 'feels' but does not see. Just as he starts to set down his victim, he sees a cat pause in step, and hiss back at him. He laughs a nervous laugh and looks back at his prey.  He was set to drain clean the rest of her blood. She was an innocent soul with a pure, good heart. I could feel her soul had not departed her, and I could still hear her heart beat.  Mon Dieu, why had I turned off my inner senses?  But I don't believe I would have heard the Cold One had been listening. 

I could tell she was a believer of the of God, our Father, for dangled to the side and hanging from her neck is a gold crucifix. The Cold One pulled her closer, and ripped the collier from her neck. I gasped. Legend told that the cold ones could not even look upon the crucifix. They were wrong, and so was I to have gasped.    

"What do you want with me Mal'akh! She is mine, and already doomed! Go away!" he says to me through clenched teeth. He looked up and saw me above him. His eyes were glowing red, like fire. I can tell he feels me pushing him back from her with the force inside me.

"You know as well as I, Cold One, that none of them belong to you," I replied.

"She is worthless. They all are....pathetic! She wanted this, her mind told me so" he hisses to me.

I cut him off, as he starts to say more and I calmly say, "I can tell you are very old Cold One, you have existed long enough to know you cannot lie to me. I am commanding you to leave her, and depart from here now...and you know you must obey. Mon Dieu has cursed you, you are not to be allowed in His gates"

He hissed at me again, and I can tell he doesn't want to depart.

"And what of you, Mal'akh! You are right, I am old, and I know of your story too. Where do you belong?"

So I allowed myself to see into his mind. Something I don't like to do, because to do so means I will see a history of things this dead one has done.

He reads what I am doing and tries to force me out, but he is in a weak condition. He hasn't fed in a while, and not enough of this woman to fight me back. Just then I take a quick breath in and my eyes focused more on him, and see he has come across an angel like me. He stops his hissing to concentrate more on why I gasped.

"So you know I've seen your kind?" he says, "and have killed one too."

I stay quiet as he laughs at me, because it's dangerous to engage in conversation with their kind. They have been known to deceive. They are not to be trusted. It is known, too, that they are skilled at glamour. It is how they obtain their prey. Even angels like myself.

"What do you see Mal'akl?" he asks.

Taking note that he is calling me Mal'akh, is what confirmed his age.  Mal'akh is a Hebrew name for messenger of God, or angel.  It's a name that a human would not call us, unless they know what we are.  It is also a name not commonly used unless you have lived a long time.  Unlike an Archangel, Mal'akh, is both human and divine, as I am.  Above Cherubim, like the stone figures below me, but below Seraphim as Heavenly hierarchy goes for celestial beings, I don't know much else. 

I ignore his question and quickly back away from my probe. I saw what I needed to see. He then realizes I have and starts to laugh even harder. My thoughts turn to the human he still holds in his grasp.

Just then I notice a brighter light reflected from his face. Brighter than just the light that comes from me. The Cold One hisses even louder, and lifts his hands to block out the light.

"Yes," I say. "The darkness has always hated the light."

I realize then that I am not alone. I know that behind me are the Shiny Ones, coming to aid me. I wonder briefly why they had come, and maybe this aged demon is stronger than I thought. Normally, the older they are, the stronger they are. Can they be stronger than us?

The Cold One starts to back away, and with quick vampiric speed, he departs.

I walk up to the unconscious human and bend down to lift her in my arms. As I touch her, more about her comes in my minds-eye view.

She is young, maybe 25 or 26 years old. She has also just come from her night job at the hospital just a few blocks away, and had stopped to get groceries before going home. A nurse, as her uniform indicates, she had just completed 12 hours at the hospital two blocks from this fountain. That explains the items scattered on the ground. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or but so was the demon when he came upon me, at least that is what I tell myself.

As I hold onto the human,.....Leah....I feel the familiar songs cry coming from deep within my being. But this time, I hear a harmonious song, like an angelic chorus, singing with me, and above me. The shiny being are singing as a beautiful choir along with me.  It is the song of healing. I won't need to spend all my power this time healing her, because I'm not alone. My wings envelope her entire body as they envelop me. 

My eyes close as I lift my face to heaven, and I cry to mon Dieu....Leah.

What does it take to be who you are? Is it just about being true to yourself? What of the others? There are many who ask of you, one thing or another.

 To me, it's a calling that I feel deep within. It has taken me over a year to find myself. I had to let go of earthly happiness to know for sure what I am, who am, who I am to be. With the gifts I was given, I know they weren't given for selfish purposes. Soyez fidèle à vous-même? Oui, be true to myself. That may mean, and it is true in my case, letting go of some of the things that made me happy. It can lead me, and it has, to a road of pain.

In the underworld, I have seen what pain is, and my emotional pain is nothing compared to it. I was placed here, and blessed with powers to heal. Heal, not just physically, but if I can, emotionally and spiritually. Its not for our own glory, but for my Father.

There are others just like me, as I have told you before. Some are earth bound, like me, but have been succumbed to the temptations of pleasure available to any who only but looks for it. I have seen it, and it almost trapped me. As, Sir Elton John wrote in "Someone Saved My Life Tonight";

-You almost had your hooks in me, didn't you Cherie
You almost had me roped and tied, alter-bound, hypnotized
Sweet freedom whispered in my ear-

It was close, the darkness almost took me. But, how did that happen. Loneliness? Weariness? Loss of faith? Maybe some, maybe all. But I will say that loneliness takes on a distant first.

I met him by accident. We were both answering the call of distress, the call for help, that only we can hear at great distances. I did it because I was following my nature, I was following my call. He did it because, like fairies, we have a smell. Can you guess what it is? Well, its not sweet like a fairy, but its a smell of a scent as old as time. Used by camel caravans overland from areas of production in southern Arabia, used in Catholic religious ceremonies when placed in the Paschal candle during the Easter Vigil, and according to Matthew 2:11, they were given to our infant Jesus as a gift from the Magi; it's frankincense, and myrrh.

My scent peaked his curiosity, and next his desire.  I was initially alarmed, being that I haven't met many of our kind.  Then I was excited to get to my destination.  Being mind readers, I knew who he was once I calmed myself to where I needed to get to.  He was the Archangel Uriel. 

We are all messengers of the Father, but Ariel ranks among the top, with a more specific job for the Father in the heavenly realm, or hierarchy. He is an Archangel, and there are seven; Michael, Phanuel, Gabriel, Zarachiel, Raphael, Simiel, and Uriel.  But, of the seven, Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, are the ranked the highest. 

Uriel, which means 'God is my light', or 'Fire of God', leads us to destiny.  The light is wisdom.  Because our ways, are not the Lord's ways, Uriel shows humans the light, he gives humans the wisdom from the Father. Uriel brought the Divine Fire that ignited and fused in the center of the Sun, and the center of the Earth.  The Devine Fire that created the worlds, universes, and life.      

 To be continued....

How terrible, what I see! Il est très horrible. Multiple visions of something, someone biting on the necks of people. They are drinking their blood. Licking and lapping it like dogs. Mon Dieu there is so much blood, this is too much! What a horrible sight. I can feel the warm wetness of tears coming down my cheek, matching the warmth of the blood I see in my mind's eye. I feel as if I can't catch my breath. Its a vision I know will never leave me. I have never seen evil as horrendous as this, not knowing too, that this is the first of many, but the shock gives in to sadness.
What I thought was a act of rage, was a frenzied hunger, that escalated as the blood pumps from the victims wound.
"No, Uriel. This can't be."
Just as those words came from me, it looked at me.
"Pourquoi! Ce qui est impossible!"
"Yeeesssss," it says at me.
"Mon Dieu, mon Dieu."
The demon throws his head back with a look of pure evil ecstasy.
"Mon Dieu?"
Does he see me? I didn't dare to ask that out loud. I was frozen with fear. I don't feel my feet moving, but I feel myself being moved.
"No, child. Not God."
Is this where the voice is leading me? To this creature with sharp fangs tinged with the blood of that poor woman.
I dared to take my vision to her, to see her, and then I saw her.
"Mae!!! Nooo! Il ne peut pas être, it can't be"
I wanted this to go away. This can't be real! Not my Mae, my sweet friend. My only friend.
Her face was so pale, her lips blue, her neck red stained with her own blood. I can see her face, her eyes were open in a look of peace, but I could see what look like a tear in the corner of her eye.
"Mae," I whispered, but she can't hear me.
I felt it building in me as I looked at her. The realization of it all, the finality. She is dead, and I won't see her again. I knew in some way this must be real, but I don't know how. It was like a flood gate that suddenly breaks free, giving way to a waterfall of tears and raw anguish. I shut my eyes and I screamed.

I've been in suspended animation for a while and I"m back to tell you my story.  Thank you, my patient readers, for waiting for the rest of my history, and my current story today.  I love you. Merci