31.3

 

Roisin is torn. She didn’t want to become Famine, but she didn’t originally want to become Justice either, and the taste of angelic power she has experienced thus far has been difficult but rewarding. She has made a difference in the world, albeit briefly. One little boy still has both his parents thanks to her, and while the protests against the White England Party ended in chaos, it was the arrival of Hasmed that caused the chaos. Left to her own devices she would have diffused the whole situation.

On the other hand, she declined the mantle of Famine once. Why does it still trust her – and wouldn’t Hasmed just rip it out of her like he did the mantle of Knowledge?

On the third hand, if she had a third hand, taking up the mantle would make her immortal again, and this time she wouldn’t offer Hasmed the mercy she had before. And after all…

She’s a fucking angel.

She is saved from the choice out of pure selfishness by the appearance of Astaroth,  who seems to slip so easily into the flat that he might as well be a resident. And perhaps he is. Given that he and Steve have known each other for a very long time, perhaps it is Astaroth who gives Steve tips on where to find fragments embedded with soul fractals.

His arrival, although noticed immediately by Roisin and Namaan because they can sense the presence of the Elohim, and Steve, who happened to be looking in that direction anyway, makes Paul jump, though the assistant seems completely unfazed by the comings and goings of immortal beings, despite her earlier terrors.

He sees Roisin on the floor — pale and shaking, flanked by Steve and the Nephilim like the image of Rembrandt’s ‘Death of Lucretia’ — and his expression shifts from anger to concern. He crosses to her and kneels at her side, holding her left hand with both of his. “Are you alright?” he asks, in a voice gentler than her mother ever used. “I confess I did not expect Hasmed to take the mantle by force.”

Her lips thin as she bites back a sharp retort. Astaroth is many angelic ranks above her, after all. “No. My fault for showing him compassion, I suppose.”

“You showed him humanity, and humanity is never to be regretted. It’s what we’re here for in the first place.” He looks around the room as if expecting applause, but no one offers any. “Anyway, Hasmed didn’t just remove your mantle.”

Roisin looks down at her body,fear gripping her heart as she wonders what else has gone. Is she no longer angelic, either?” She looks up at Astaroth. “What else has he taken?”

“He taken your place.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t follow. He took the mantle so now he’s Justice instead of Annihilation?”

Astaroth sits back on his heels. “It means he made the decision that you are not the Fifth.”

Steve swears under his breath. Roisin doesn’t catch what he says but Astaroth looks up and releases her hand to hold a finger up to him. “Peace, Christopher. All is not yet lost.”

Paul whispers, “What does that even—”

Astaroth stands, barely giving Paul a glance. “It means he has rewritten the architecture, so Creation is now malleable. We can take advantage of that.”

Roisin’s stomach drops. “He’s going to come after me.”

Astaroth waves away her irrelevance. “No.” He looks down at her. “I mean, yes, but that wasn’t my train of thought. I mean, thank you for your service and all that and I look forward to our time together under the winds of Limbo,” he smiles faintly, “but my point is if he’s become the Fifth, the mantle of annihilation has become unattached.”

“And I can take it?”

“What?” Astroth looks down at her. “No, of course not. You would have to be of a much higher order of angel to be able to control that one. No, it means that any of the Seraphim can take it

“And that is the problem?”

No. The rules and duties of Annihilation are extremely rigid as you no doubt observed. It means there’ll be one seraphim less in the coming battle.”

Paul crosses the room. “What battle?” He looks at Roisin. “You never said there was going to be a battle. I thought your whole job was to avert the Apocalypse?”

“And I failed, because although I defeated Hasmed, he stole the mantle from me.”

“I still don’t understand how that was possible.” Namaan leans forward to change his centre of balance and stands in one fluid motion. “Do you know, Lord Astaroth?”

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