Thus it began, my journey into the great unknown. She didn’t have a name, so in light of the situation she asked me to name her. Alyssa seemed fitting enough. Well, according to Alyssa’s highers, she was sent to look for some long forgotten fallen angel. It was all coming together; that angel was on a slab in my lab.
Midnight, everyone was at home. Something like this could get me fired, but we needed to check the body. I felt like one of those guys from the crime dramas. Sneaking around, staying off the radar, seemed to make Alyssa happy. Giggling like a kid in a candy store. And here I thought angels were supposed to be all goody goody. I haven’t seen anyone this giddy since Mark Kennel played ‘you show me yours and I’ll show you mine’ with me back in the fourth grade.
“Would you calm down,” I stopped her before we entered the morgue.
She was biting her lip, smiling from ear to ear, “I’ve never done something like this. You humans have all the fun.”
I groaned, “I’ve told you before, this is illegal.”
She waved away the statement, “I’m just taking a look. If she is our missing Fallen, we need to start looking for her killer.”
I raised my eyebrow, “‘We?’”
She nodded, “Yes. Now that you know who I am, we are bound to each other. Where I go, you must go.”
My head hurt, “There better be some divine reward for this.”
Alyssa shrugged as we entered the morgue, “I couldn’t say.”
“Great,” I took her over to the body, “Don’t touch it.”
I don’t need to.” She put her hands over the body, “If she is angelic, I’ll…” She stopped short when particles of light started to rise from the body, “I think you can guess what this means.”
I thought now was as good a time as any, “Why did they send you?”
“Out of all the other angels you mean.” She turned her back to me, giving off the sense that she was hurt, “Under different circumstances I’m sure they would have.” She hugged herself, gripping her upper arms, “Haven’t you been wondering why my wings aren’t your expected white?” Her body shivered; she was crying, “Long ago, the archangels came to Earth and had ‘relationships’ with your women. At the time, this was considered a grievous sin and the angels and their children were punished. After that, strict rules were put into place and the archangels were restricted to dealing only with the underworld.” She stuttered as she breathed, “We are called the Lilim; the children of the angels. For centuries we were held in captivity, only let out when we are needed. I was needed.”
I was never good at these types of situations, so I stayed quiet and waited for her to continue.
“I thought that maybe if I could solve this, stop it from happening again, I would no longer be confined.” She faced me, her eyes red from the tears, “So please just bear with me while I try and enjoy this while it lasts, because there are no guarantees.”
The look in her eyes, on her face, told me what I had to do, “Where do we start?”
“You need to sleep,” She took a deep breath, gathering her composure, “You’ve been up for two days.”
“Right.”
I had about a month of leave time accumulated and cashed it in saying a relative needed me. My bosses didn’t like that I was taking leave in the middle of an investigation, but since I had so much and the investigation was going nowhere, they complied. Alyssa said that the only way any Fallen could end up like that was if another Fallen had burned the missing wing. You see, an angel is labeled as ‘Fallen’ when they tear off their wings (even just one). The wings then need to be buried on holy ground. Those wings are their life line. Sever the life line, and the Fallen dies.
A weeks worth of investigation showed that in a cemetery in northern Virginia there was a string of grave desecrations. Better than nothing I suppose. During my investigation, Alyssa went apeshit at the mall. Something about the whole “consumerist quality it instills in today’s youth.” Though she did like the clothing. Women, even from Heaven they still make no sense.
“Even though I’m still enjoying this,” Alyssa beamed a smile at me as I parked the car outside the cemetery, “I get the sense that it’s wrong.” She giggled, opening her door.
I popped the trunk, “Breaking into a cemetery is above breaking into a house,” I tossed Alyssa a shovel, “Digging around a cemetery is called desecration.” I look up at the wall, “Up, up and away.”
At my command, Alyssa put her arm around my waist and pulled me close. “Superman, right?”
I laughed slightly and shook my head as she leapt over the wall.
“Though in my case, Superwoman.”
“Enjoying TV I see.” She never ceased to make me smile.
“If there was any angelic presence,” She made her way down the path to our right, “it won’t be as flashy, but I’ll know.” There was a slight skip in her step, making her one piece baby doll dress flutter in the midnight moon light.
“I guess now’s as good a time as any,” I said as I followed behind, “How many Fallen are there?”
Alyssa slowed down and let me catch up, “Only He really knows; but word has it that it ranges in the thousands.”
I sighed as we started to weave through the graves, “Why would they do this to one another?”
She shrugged, “Fallen are practically immortal. All those years, grudges build, feuds happen, differences cause rifts. Once they’re Fallen, they are basically Human..” She stopped, “It happened here.”
I looked around the darkness to check if it was clear, “How far do I have to dig?”
She smiled, “I want to dig.” With that, she plunged the shovel into the ground.
The hole she dug was about a foot deep, just below the grass roots. She then asked for my pocket knife. I was a bit weary to give it but complied all the same. She grit her teeth as she cut into her wrist, spreading the blood in the hole. Sparks of light sprang from the dirt. A hazy cloud rose, engulfing Alyssa.
“The Fallen who was killed, she was over 300 years old,” She informed from the cloud, “Her killer, a 412 year old male. Apparently they were lovers. On and off for centuries till she wanted out a few months ago.”
I shifted on my feet, “So how did her body end up at a golf course?”
The cloud around Alyssa cleared, “We are spirits, first and foremost.” She started to fill the hole, “Even in death we will try to tell our story. She put her bones there so someone like you would find them and someone like me would find you.” She tossed me the shovel and used a handkerchief to wipe the remaining blood from her wrist. “It’s fate that we met.”
Fate, she said. I guess I can’t really complain. Over the past week she grew on me.
“Where do we go from here?” I asked as we landed next to me car.
“Well,” Alyssa waited till we were both in the car to continue, “I have the guy’s scent. He’s still in town.”
Now here’s where it got good. Using my contacts in the local PD, I found the guys house. The car hadn’t even come to a full stop by the time Alyssa was out the door and up the path. She bashed the door in with a single palm thrust. The guy was on his feet ready to fight. But it didn’t matter. She moved so fast that in the blink of an eye, the man was crumpled against the opposite wall. Before he had a chance to stagger to his feet, his head was no longer attached to his neck. And like the vampires in Hollywood movies, his body dissolved to dust.
After the battle, she stood there silently, her lips moving in prayer. When she finished she turned to me, her blue eyes red from crying, “Even though he was at fault, it still hurts, you know.” She took a deep breath, “The others always leave the dirty work for me and my sisters.”
I embraced her, stroked her head and whispered quietly, “It’s over, no one can make you do what you don’t want to any more.”
She returned the embrace and finally let go. She cried, her tears soaking into my shirt.
“I want to do what you do.” Alyssa said as she stood on the edge of a cliff looking out over a valley somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.
“Why?” I was a few feet back; I’m not one for heights.
“The sneaking around, the investigating, catching the criminal. It was fun, it felt right.”
“Are you sure you won’t have to go back?”
She looked back at me with a warm smile, “No, but,” she looked up at the sky, “it does sometimes snow in April.”
A medium wind blew, steaming her hair. At that moment, she didn’t look like an angel, or even a human. She was a Valkyrie before a battle. Ready to fight for what she believed in. I loved her, more than anyone else in my life. I’d follow her to hell and back again. Alyssa, my own personal Angel.
