Angels are androgynous, and above
the baser cravings of humankind.
Above reproach.
However, in the Book of Enoch, we meet the Grigori or
Watchers.
Angels were considered sexless
and above reproach, which presented a challenge to the church—to explain how
they mated with mortal women. The
thirteenth-century Bishop of Paris adopted a typical compromise. According to his theory, there were nine
orders of angels but it was a separate one, the tenth that fell. These Sons of God saw the Daughters of Man
and, we are told in Genesis 6, lusted after seductive flesh and took
themselves wives from among them.
This was an efficient solution to
a theological catch twenty-two—the difficulty in reconciling a theology that insisted
angels were sexless with evidence from the Scriptures showing these lusty
celestials enthusiastically proving the opposite.
In angelic lore, the Grigori are
nearer in form, genes and sexual interest to human beings, and that they had a genuine
friendship and desire to teach humankind the secrets of Heaven. Azazel, the
protagonist in my Night Before Doomsday
taught women the arts of seduction—makeup, how to dress, etc. He also taught men the skill of making
weapons.
By the fourth century, the ten
leaders of the Grigori, once illustrious angels, were all listed as
fallen. Of the two hundred angels who
descended to Earth, nine-tenths fell to lust, siring the Nephilim. The Bible has this to say about the
Nephilim: The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also
afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by
them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.
Anyone who has seen Supernatural or the short-lived series The Fallen will be familiar with TV’s
version of the Nephilim.
The Night Before Doomsday, an alternate history, is the tale of the
Grigori told in first person from the leader Azazel’s POV. The picture to the right is the sigil (a mark
given at his creation to each angel) of the angel Azazel. The sigil and the characters of any angel,
light or dark, are used in alchemy to summon that angel. There were nights when I was writing The Night Before Doomsday and I, Azazel, an as yet unpublished novel,
when the hair at my nape would stir, and I’d curl closer in my bed.
Blurb: The angels sent to Earth to teach Mankind how to survive after
Eden lost heaven to lust—or was it love?
Azazel
fights temptation until the wrong woman comes along.
Excerpt:
Eyes lined with
charcoal as I’d taught them, lips rouged by my own hand mocked me. A bold hand slid beneath my robe, up my
thigh, and gripped my shaft. The hot
vibration deep inside trembled along my organ, growing longer and stiff.
Like a spider's
web touched by a candle's flame, memories of Home shriveled.
Gentle Magdalene
smoothed the hair back from my face, staring at my shocked expression. “Oh, Azazel.” A fingertip traced my cheek. “Did
we hurt you?”
“No.” I clamored
to my feet, bewildered by the feelings torturing me.
None would meet
my gaze. Lord of Hosts, if they were
afraid of me, I was doubly afraid of them. I’d never felt desire or the effect
passion had on the body. If I had
experienced sexual longings, I’d ignored them.
Now, I could no longer pretend.
My body yearned for something I’d believed to be the province of Man
and the beasts.
Ruth winked a
painted eyelid. In her dark eyes,
amusement twinkled.
“Ungrateful
rabble.” I tossed my hair back and folded
my wings around me, brushing the dust from my feathers. “I make you alluring. You repay me by rolling me in the dirt and
trying to tickle me to death.”
“You’re an
angel.” Ruth undulated her
shoulders. The lush breasts pointed at
me swayed. “You can’t die.”
Oh, but I was dying. More than they could possibly
know. Dying to touch them, dying for
them to touch me, caress me there again.
Before my face revealed forbidden desire, I schooled my expression
stern.
I wheeled,
tossing a command over my shoulder. “Back to work. Embroidery I think.”
A chorus of
groans rose from the women.
Fighting a
smile, I folded my arms across my chest and faced them. “I know you love the
fine, detailed work—”
"Sometimes
you act like a brother, Azazel.” Mary
laughed. “A very overbearing
brother."
I smiled, tucked
blonde hair behind her ear. “You’re all my sisters…in a way.”
A sly smile
parted Ruth’s lips. She winked at me.
“Then the other angels, we’re their sisters too?” She danced backwards, pointing at Mary. In a sing-song voice, she accused, “Mary has
lain with her brother.”
The petite
blonde’s cheeks flamed. Her lips
trembled as she tried to speak, but no excuse or denial interrupted the
stillness. On a cry, she fled the field.
“Ruth,” I
scolded, “you mustn’t say such things.”
She
shrugged. “Tis true. Your brothers have gone into women.”
You’ve made them more beautiful for us. Amarazak’s words echoed in my ears.
Ruth stroked my
wing. “Do you have a lover, Azazel?”
Desire and heat
blazed through me. I yearned for her to
continue caressing my wing. If she did,
I would pull her to me…Stop.
“No.” I bent, retrieved
a skein from the ground and handed the fine blue thread to her. “I am your
teacher.” My gaze brushed each pretty
face. I shrugged. “Too many from which to choose.”
It was true,
wasn’t it? If the choice were mine, I
didn’t know which I’d take to my bed.
What was I thinking? Love was one
thing; lust quite another.
Ana caught a
wingtip, spun me to face her. “Thank
you, Azazel, thank you. I’ve always dreamed
what it would be like to fly. I’m sorry
I spoiled it.”
“I shouldn’t
have flown so high.”
“Take me! Take me.
I want to go flying!”
Quiet at the
center of the cacophony of voices, Ruth stared at me.
Red lips
smiling...perfect white teeth...black hair falling over her face....
She flung
herself into my arms, covered my startled gasp with a hungry mouth. A warm tongue plunged into me. I went rigid, considered shoving her away,
but a sensation like pain tightened in me.
A need, that I’d never experienced, pulsed between my legs. I surrendered totally to feeling.
“Ruth, get off
him.” Magdalene’s voice sliced through
the haze of passion. “Why do you do these things? Help me get her off him, Ana. Azazel doesn’t ask for favors. Help me,
Elwen. It’s not funny anymore.”
Like a blanket,
they plucked the heat of Ruth's body off mine. Ana’s gaze swept down me. Her eyes widened. Mortified, I gaped at the tent in my angelic
robe. I had an erection. Men not angels got hard. The girls stared at me. No, they were staring at the long weapon I
couldn’t control.
“So the chaste
Azazel falls.” Ruth laughed and, thank God, my erection wilted.
The Night Before Doomsday is available from
Amazon for $.99.
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