Samantha had kept her word once the children had gone to bed. She had pulled Alex into their bedroom and threw him on the bed after which she had soundproofed the room with a snap of her fingers. Which was just as well because what followed was definitely not for sensitive ears. With her supernatural powers, she had simply ripped his clothes off his body. And while she was doing it, he couldn't help but purr and growl like a wildcat in heat. Perhaps Nickelback could have written a sequel to their song Next Go Round, in Alexander's words Next Go Round 2.0.
A long time later, exhausted but very, very satisfied, they lay in each other's arms. Enjoying the silence until they were suddenly alerted by a feeling they were getting from inside Elise's room, Sam said:
"Honeybee is having a nightmare and is about to wake up. I'll go over there."
Alex only nodded They had been warned this would happen and of course, it was the youngest of the four who was the first to start reliving everything in her dreams. Sam quickly put her sleep shirt on and rushed through the connecting door to the side room to be with Elise. When Elise shot awake and wanted to scream, she saw Samantha and immediately wanted to be lifted. The intention had been to reassure her and stay a while until she fell asleep again, but the girl's next words drew a line through that intention:
"Daddy, want Daddy!."
She knew there was no way the girl would change her mind given that she was a complete daddy's girl. Quickly Sam shot a thought to Alex that he'd better make himself a little decent since they would have an unexpected guest for the rest of the night. He quickly manifested a pair of boxers and put them on. Less than a minute later Sam entered the room with a sheet-white girl on her arm. Elise saw Alex and extended her arms to him while the water taps opened:
"Daddy help, Angels bad..."
He took her from Samantha after which she almost crawled into him. As he stroked her hair he murmured over and over again that she was safe, that he and Samantha were there, and that nothing would happen to her. It took a long time before she stopped crying and finally fell back asleep between Samantha and himself. Only when he was sure that she was asleep deeply did he say to Sam:
"Red, do you remember that night you made me promise to tell you everything that was done to me?"
"How could I forget that night Alex."
"I think another night like that is coming."
"You mean..."
With a steely face, he said:
"Yep."
They lay in silence for a few minutes and Alex switched to noiseless conversation. From Elise's breathing, it looked like she was deep asleep again, but he didn't want to take any chances of her noticing anything.
"Sam they starved our kids, abused them, traumatized them, experimented on them and they killed 141 of them. I thought the punishment they received would be the end of the matter. Elise is the first of our four to begin to relive the things that have been done to her. David and Sarah won't be far behind. And we simply have no idea what that whole fucking thing is going to do to Jasmine. How long will it be before Trixie also starts having nightmares and reliving that Decker killed her father even though Dan is here, safe and sound. Fuck Sam..."
"Alex come back to me..."
" What do you mean Red, I'm lying next to you?"
"Your body is next to me Alex your mind is somewhere else, look at your arms."
He looked at the arm he had wrapped around Elise and Samantha and saw them. They had appeared once again, the scars, the burn marks. He was almost certain there would be blood marks on his back very soon.
"Six thousand fucking years and still they come back. For fuck's sake... When will it stop..."
"I'm so sorry for you Alex but do you really think this is a good idea?"
"We are facing the biggest logistical nightmare imaginable possible. I am responsible for over eighty billion, maybe even a hundred billion souls, no one in Heaven has any idea how many there are. I cannot let this fester in my heart and my mind. I cannot take the risk Red that I am venting this feeling to an innocent person out of frustration."
"I understand that love. But you are not responsible for all those souls, WE are responsible. You made me the Goddess of this universe, so WE are going to get this done. It's time we shared the burden. It's time to stop carrying everything alone Alex let your Goddess help. Together we can manage anything. Nothing is impossible, nothing."
She heard him laugh a little sadly in her head:
"If you throw my own words back at me then I can't argue with that babe. But you are right. Six thousand years I have carried this alone, and it is time that this Heaven gets a Divine couple, and if we link my universe to yours that your universe also gets a God and Goddess allowing your parents to rest. Thank you for setting me straight babe."
He gently leaned over the sleeping Elise and kissed her.
"Alex of what you will do on Earth I don't need to know anything about that and I'm sure I don't want to know. Promise me you won't do it alone, take Celine with you."
"I can handle this alone Red, I'm not thirteen anymore."
"I'm not saying she has to come with you to help you, Alex. I know you can manage what you want to do on your own. They are human now and you are still God when on Earth. I want you to take her with you to keep an eye on you. You're already full of injuries and you haven't even done anything yet. I don't want to know what your body is going to look like when you come face to face with them and you become furious. And furious you will become when you see their faces and think about what they did to our Honeybee, Sarah, and David."
"I ask her. If she wouldn't, which I doubt, I'll ask Dad. Am pretty sure he will want to come along and have a few well-meaning words with them."
"Thank you, Alex, that reassures me a little already. Not much but still."
Samantha wanted to distract him and pull him back from his dark thoughts. He obviously knew what she was doing but let it happen. She had brought him back from the edge of the abyss so many times before. It might clear his head.
"Now that we have decided to literally go through life as Mr. and Mrs. G, how are we going to divide the duties?"
"No idea, I regret to say I never thought about that. Jeez, I was so stuck in my thinking and doing that I had to do everything and be responsible for everyone that it just didn't occur to me. That I haven't adjusted my thinking in that regard. I think we should pull the departments apart. No longer one big group but two smaller ones. Divide and conquer let's say."
"That seems like a good way to go. Celine and Michael are staying with you because that is something that has never come up with me. With us, the warriors are the responsibility of our Micky, and he controls that department to perfection. Such that Dad and Mom haven't cared about it in ages. I think Jo, Cham, Azrael, and Ella are with me. Those four fit neatly together."
"Yes, that seems like a logical combination. But I need Ella for the next three weeks along with Lucifer. After that, as far as I'm concerned, the two of them can go quietly to your division."
"Lucifer to?"
"Yep. Let's call his new department Night Entertainment. On Terra Nova he's not going to have that much to do, the new Hell will not need a King. If he wants to be King let him be the King of nightlife, then. Because I think I have a surprise in store for him. Once we've built a small town for the Angels that are on this trip and got the first volunteers out of the dimension, I'm going to ask BAM to put down an exact copy of Lux but a bit bigger. That way Ella and Lucifer will feel more at home when they get the club and his Penthouse back and letting off a little steam would be healthy for everyone. I'm even going to crown him in Lux. Sort of a symbolic transition from the heavy crown of Hell to the fun crown of nightlife."
"Oh, Alex I love that. We absolutely have to keep this a secret from them."
"Yep, BAM can do it in a few hours. So while he's in the new Hell and Ella is kept busy with one thing or another for a few hours, LUX 2.0 and quack-bang-out!"
They laughed for a moment as they visualized the faces of the two.
"We'll leave Zadkiel out of the division for a moment because I would like us to look at his proposals and make decisions together as we draft the new laws. Your mom and dad are my big example in that regard. They did it together back in the day in your universe and I want to emulate their example as much as possible. The same with Anthony. His department doesn't actually need much oversight, we can let him do it up nicely and let him yell at his plants."
"Pardon? Why is he yelling at his plants."
She asked dumbfounded. Alexander laughed:
"Why exactly I don't know. Azi once told me that as a Demon he didn't want to lose face if it ever became known in Hell that he gardened. His excuse was that this way he could secretly practice scaring people. The crazy thing is that his technique works. His garden on Earth is incredible."
She looked at him incredulously:
"Alex, you have some strange types running around in your universe."
"You have no idea Red..."
He said with a hearty smile.
"What do we do about Azi?"
Alex thought for a moment and said:
"I actually have no idea. Like Anthony, I gave him a monster project as a reward for all those years of loyalty. Something I was sure he wouldn't be able to resist and salivate over. Just like Anthony and his island for that matter. Azi absolutely understands books and writing. Buildings and classifications not so much. You should have seen his store in Soho, it always looked like a hurricane had passed through it. I have an idea but it's pretty off the wall."
She laughed and had to restrain herself from laughing out loud because of the sleeping Elise.
"Alex when you have an off-the-cuff idea it usually turns out to work."
"I know but this idea is so way off the mark. I would like to ask Micky to come with us. He had Notre Dame built and knows the library there almost as well as your Laila. Put him together with Azi and it can work. Azi the knowledge of what needs to come in, Michael the knowledge of the orderly filing of what Azi gets in and the buildings. Come to think of it I definitely want the Notre Dame for some or all the religious texts."
"According to your plan, it doesn't matter how long our trip would take anyway, Micky would only be gone from my universe for a few hours. Alex, I really think we should ask him. I think he would be up for it and make his passion his profession for a while."
"You think?"
"Yep, I'm just going to do it. I'll ask him to come by this morning."
"Okay if he does then I think that department should be given the same status as Anthony's and so can disappear from our desk. Just a weekly meeting, a sit-down with the two of us where they give an update and where we can support them if they need additional things."
"Yep done. Next, Gabriel who will remain your assistant and I would like to ask Chassan to be my assistant."
"Ask Gabriel to have him come tomorrow just before the council meeting, if he says yes, he can join us immediately. Jeremiel, Darel and Mercury will stay with me, I think those three are going to be the main part of my daily work. For certain projects, we will sit with them together. But I have to set aside extra time for Raphael with his medical nightmare project. Metaron?"
"Just leave him alone at first. Let him with a small group, well relatively small group because it is at least eighty billion files, get his archive in order and let the departments that need information from the archive step directly to him, so it stays away from our desks."
"Yes, the less we have to intervene the better it is because then we have our hands free for other things. Barachiel with me as well as Laila. But at least one of Laila's people is with you."
"Why?"
"Her department is wisdom and sciences. Jo can then collaborate with that Angel to set up the education project. The kids and adolescents are required to go to school and a balanced curriculum must be established. Jo kindergarten and elementary. Part of high school they can do together and Laila's Angel does the advanced training for those who want it. They can as equals run the department together and share the workload. We ask Laila if she has anyone who feels a special connection with education for kids of all ages."
"Wow, yes that's perfect. I think I want to take the arts and merge them into one department like you did with BAM. So, Ariel, Narel, Salinaphiel and Liwit. Let them come up with their own Department name."
"Yep, that sounds good. And finally, Rae Rae, on Terra Nova she's not going to have to do much because we only work with souls from the dimensions there. If she comes along anyway then I want to put her to work for both of us, along with a few of her Angels. If any of our departments need more volunteers from the pocket dimension Rae Rae can take care of that. Same with the kids but that will take a while until everything there has settled down a bit."
"I think Rae Rae would be unstoppable Alex and try telling her to stay behind."
"Hmmm, I think I'm going to pass on that. Fuzzy's not here to patch me up. Then we've divided them neatly dear. Now see this is an efficient collaboration. I would so like to get nasty with you again but unfortunately, we have a stowaway on board."
He heard her giggle:
"I fear it will not be the last time we are going to have one or more stowaways, Alex, we will have to choose our moments in the near future."
"Hmmm, maybe I should revise my idea of wanting children with you."
He said slyly.
"If you do that mister you will be sleeping on the couch for the next hundred years."
Said Samantha playing menacingly.
"That's threatening punishment for which Kings have had wars stopped or started."
"No that's girl power, my love."
"Red, I'm sure Zadkiel would call it extortion."
A few hours later, Alexander had sat down on the throne just before the council meeting was to begin and created an office for Samantha. The interior of it he would leave to her. There was a double sliding door between both offices that could be thrown open. There would be times when quick talks between the two groups were needed. Moments later, everyone was seated at the council table including the newly appointed council members. Alexander opened the meeting by listing what they had discussed in bed. The department heads gave their list of volunteers. To the relief of Samantha and Alexander, there were only about five hundred Angels who did not want to join or wanted to be evacuated to Sam's universe. Mostly warriors and healers. Of the departments they would need most, there were only a few who would be left behind. BAM was complete, and Q's department was complete as was that of Laila, Zadkiel, and the arts. All the council members wanted in, which was quite a relief for both Sam and Alex. This was going to be a short meeting before Alex closed and chaos would break loose. The last thing he had to share with the council was personal and Sam was immensely proud of him.
"Well finally let's discuss the elephant in the room. Since I pretty much always wear a T-shirt, everyone will have noticed that my arms are again full of scars and burn marks. This is not just on my arms this is all over my body and it is painful as fuck. I may be God, immortal and invulnerable with these that does not apply at all, and I feel the pain in every fucking wound and in every burn mark, and as mentioned my whole body is full of them so do the math yourself. These scars are the result of my life on Earth in Lady Samantha's universe. I am not going to go into details. The people who had seen them before, because they had reappeared shortly after I kicked Godfry out of this universe, I want to thank them for not immediately bombarding me with questions. They are a physical manifestation of my PTSD, so yes even God can have PTSD. Why are they here again today? Because last night Elise was the first of the five children to have a nightmare about what was done to them and that in turn caused my PTSD to flare up. So, it will happen several more times in the future, of that, I'm sure. In the beginning, they manifested every time I had a nightmare where I was reliving things about what was done to me. Samantha was the only one who could bring me back, so I calmed down and they disappeared after a day or two. I will also confess immediately that I resolved to visit Earth!"
He looked around the table. He saw different emotions on their faces but not one objected. Nevertheless, he said:
"Now is the time friends to say something. I am not Godfry who made a statement and would not tolerate contradiction. So go ahead."
It took a few long seconds for Jo to speak:
"I am the Archangel of love and mercy and after what I have seen in that cursed building, I cannot find any mercy or love in my heart even if they are my brothers. Their place is hell!"
Zadkiel was the next to speak:
"I am the Archangel of Justice. What should I say? That it is a summary execution? That it is not allowed? In how many of these executions did I stand by too afraid to say anything for fear that I would be next? We stood by and did not speak a word when Amenadiel wiped the first Nefilim, their parents, and the entire community off the map. We stood by and did not speak a word when Father destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. We literally stood there in the throne room when Jesus was pulled in and wiped out of existence and we didn't speak a word. We stood there, watched it, and out of fear did not speak a word when he murdered yet another one of our brothers or sisters. Everyone here at this table knows that you are different. You proved just now that you as Dei do want to hear us. Should I say that we must first have a trial, that the evidence must be presented to prove their guilt?"
With a gruff tone in which pain resounded, he said:
"The proof is right there!"
He pointed to the garden:
"I don't need any further proof. I am ashamed of my father; I am ashamed of them because they are my brothers and I am ashamed of myself because I was too afraid to say anything for millennia. Do you want the support of my department? Well, this is my statement as chief justice. On behalf of 141 innocent murdered children and the three who survived but are now scared by the trauma, they are guilty and send them to Hell!"
Next up was Lucifer:
"I am the King of Hell, I punish evil. Amenadiel is evil and he belongs in Hell just like those Zealots who killed without a glance. In the millennia that I have been the King, I have seen tens of thousands like them arrive in Hell. I know what evil is. So, no I am not in favor of wiping them out of existence because that would be far too easy for them. They should be punished like all mass murderers, like the Nazi scum that are sitting in Hell now."
He looked deeply into Alexander's eyes:
"What I do know and what I will proclaim everywhere is that I am proud of my son. Because at first, he found the strength to give them a chance after all they had done. But these twelve belong in the deepest caverns of Hell."
Azrael was last. What she said was short, powerful, and full of hate:
"Kill them and do it as soon as possible and I will personally deliver Amenadiel to Belios and Bearus. They are not worth wasting any further words. Do it!"
No one else seemed to want to say anything else so Alexander closed the meeting:
"Okay people it's time we get to work, this is turning into a full-blown nightmare. My people can go to my office now. The five who are going to work independently also please go to my office where I am going to work you into the work schedule of myself and Lady Samantha. Ella, Lucifer, for the next three weeks just join my people please because you know what to do on Earth during that time. Lady Samantha's people with her, please. Celine, will you stay for a while?"
She already knew what was coming and nodded but to his surprise Michael, Lucifer, Raphael, Azrael, Azi and Anthony also remained in their seats without moving an inch. After the rest left the council chamber Michael said while looking Alex tightly in the eyes:
"What were you thinking that you can go and do this alone? You are our God. I'm sure everyone left at this table here wanted to do on day one what you need to do now."
"I'm the head healer Alex. I am going with you. Not to heal them but to make sure they are actually finished. I need to see with my own eyes that these monsters are gone."
"As I said, son, I'm proud of you and I'm sure the rest here are too because finally there is a God who seeks solutions other than shedding blood. That's why we accepted your judgment. You wanted to give them a chance. My feeling, our feelings, I think is that you were too lenient here. Send them to Hell where they belong but I want to be able to look into Amenadiel's eyes when you do."
"I can't talk you out of doing this?"
At the table, there was only shaking of heads. Alex lit a cigarette, and everyone sat in silence very well aware of the weightiness of what they were about to do. Finally, Alex said:
"Azi, Anthony you are not used to this, you are too gentle. I ask you to think carefully about this before you commit because this is going to be brutal and bloody."
It was Anthony who spoke:
"Yes, boss we can imagine that. We have known you longer than today and know that you can literally unleash Hell on someone. Although you and Sam have adopted these children and see them as your own, somewhere they are our children too. Ask any of the nine thousand Angels in this Heaven and they will all say the same thing. Sarah, David and Elise are our little Princesses and our Prince, and now so are without exception, Beatrice, Jasmine and Maila. So yes, I will go with you and Azi will also go with you."
Alex said ice cold:
"Tonight, after the children are in bed, I haul them to a deserted island because I want their bodies never to be found, to rot in the open, and their bones to fade in the sun. I will conduct the execution myself and I know from experience that this is bloody. My children don't need to see this when I step into the suite covered in blood."
Alex was sitting with his people in his office at the conference table and he was just about to begin the discussion when the door blew open and Samantha's Michael flew in. Without caring a shit about the rest of those present or protocol, he wanted to ask rather bluntly what kind of off-the-charts plan Alex had next. He saw the scars on his arms, sighed deeply, and said:
"What now Brother?"
The only answer Alex had to give was:
"Elise..."
Michael turned completely red with rage:
"Motherfuckers, My Lord permission to go to your Earth?"
"If you can stay and if you want to go with me yes. We are going tonight and apparently, I have a lot of company."
"Good!"
"Michael please sit down, you're here for what Lady Samantha told you?"
"Lady Samantha, my Princess, your Goddess, my baby sister, whatever, told me something I'm pretty sure she was hallucinating or must have found a damn good drug in your universe MyLord. If the latter, I want a rather large quantity to take back with me!"
"Yes, granted it is quite unorthodox."
"Are you serious? I call it too crazy to run loose!"
"You know me by now Michael I have crazy ideas more often than not."
Said Alex with a mischievous smile. Micky was looking at him and finally got a wide smile on his face too:
Oh, this is going to be good I can already feel it coming."
"This is going to be very good Michael."
He pointed at Azi:
"This is Aziraphael. A good friend of mine who means a lot to me. He has been faithful and loyal for thousands of years. It is time for him to be allowed to retire so as a sort of retirement and wedding gift all in one I have promised him an entire island where he is to house everything that has ever been written by a Human, Angel, or Demon that is of course of historical or general interest."
Michael looked at Azi and said:
"You are the one who is going to marry that Demon next to you?"
The two nodded, expecting the Angel to be dismissive of this. His answer therefore pleasantly surprised them:
"Cool, congratulations. Mazzeltoff on your house gentlemen. Why did you wait so long? A strike on public transportation?"
He nodded to Alex to continue.
"Azi is an absolute expert when it comes to written text because he was on Earth before humans started writing. Unfortunately, Azi has no understanding of buildings and filing in an orderly fashion. I not only want to see the material displayed in a logical way. I also want to have digital index cards of everything so that everyone can access them digitally or physically."
"Okay so far, I can follow but why buildings? Why not like ours one building and house a pocket dimension in it?"
Alexander nodded:
"We could do that. But The Notre Dame like yours only works for Angels not people because they have no translocation. I want no or as little segregation as possible here. But above all, it is also about the experience, the feeling you get in libraries and from books for both Angel and humans. And I'm sure there are Demons out there with the same passion. We have the same passion Michael; you know what libraries and books do to us. We can be far from the only ones who have that soothing feeling. I would like a Notre Dame for the religious texts but also a copy of the Library of Alexandria, the library of the university in Amsterdam, the High-rise building in Rotterdam but raising it to fifty floors, Oxford, Cambridge, La Sorbonne, Harvard, the Library of Congress. Well yes, I think you are beginning to see the picture. In other words, a whole series of buildings spread over an island with a lot of parks and ponds. An island to unwind and enjoy literature of all kinds."
Michael sat looking at him with wide eyes and an entranced expression:
"You know this is going to take centuries, right? That every stone tablet, parchment, and book has to be processed by hand? Me and Azi here alone won't manage that brother."
"Did I say you guys are going to have to do that alone? If Azi just looks in the direction of a computer, it will blow up and you certainly don't have the patience for it. I really do not care much to have to manifest five new computers a day because that's at least the amount of hardware that you are going to destroy left unattended. We tried that before remember and Haniel lost his sense of humor pretty fast. I have in Hell alone a hundred thousand souls ready, tugging at the bit to be let loose on a project."
"Let me guess, the nothing is the impossible principle?"
"Yep"
"With all due respect, MyLord but my baby sister must be as crazy as yourself to have chosen you of all people to spend her eternity with. I usually get a headache and an attack of dizziness after only five minutes."
The Michael from Alex's universe spoke:
"I wonder if a mix-up happened at the time of our creation. That you are my twin, and that Lucifer belongs to your Samael because I usually have exactly the same reaction."
And with this reaction, everyone shot into heartfelt laughter.
"Okay, MyLord count me in. Azi we are going to be very good friends for the next few centuries because this is going to be a ball."
With a broad smile, Alexander said:
"Fine, that's that settled then. Welcome aboard the crazy train Michael. Hey, that should be our theme song."
All aboard ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay, ay
Crazy, but that's how it goes
Millions of people living as foes
Maybe it's not too late
To learn how to love
And forget how to hate
Mental wounds not healing
Life's a bitter shame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
Let's go
I've listened to preachers
I've listened to fools
I've watched all the dropouts
Who make their own rules
One person conditioned to rule and control
The media sells it and you live the role
Mental wounds still screaming
Driving me insane
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I know that things are going wrong for me
You gotta listen to my words, yeah
Heirs of a cold war
That's what we've become
Inheriting troubles I'm mentally numb
Crazy, I just cannot bear
I'm living with something' that just isn't fair
Mental wounds not healing
Who and what's to blame
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train
I'm going off the rails on a crazy train