Chapter 2 – Getting to Know You
Sunrise in Eden was spectacular. In one corner the black sky with its pinprick points of light slowly gave way to an array of breathtaking colors as the sun rose. It changed from deep purple and dusky rose, to lavender and then to fuscia where the bottoms of the clouds seemed to be set afire. At least that's what Lilith would have called the colors that dazzled her eyes. But for some reason Adam thought that he was supposed to name all of things around here and so she waited patiently to see what he would come up with.
Finally, after much scowling at the scene unfolding before them he said, "Thwerp?"
"Thwerp? Really? We've seen three of these so far and all you can say is 'thwerp'?"
Adam shrugged and leaned back against the pillow-like moss that they had taken as their bed, "I don't care what we call it."
"Isn't it your job to name things?"
"Maybe? Who knows what God wants for any of us—"
"You mean either of us," corrected Lilith, "Because there are only two of us here."
"Whatever. Anyway, who knows what God wants us to do? Though I'm sure he wouldn't have made our bodies fit together so nicely if we weren't meant to indulge in each other as often as possible. And speaking of which," He leaned over and nuzzled Lilith's cheek with his nose, "It's been a little while. Shall we indulge again?"
Lilith looked at Adam's waggling eyebrows and wondered exactly what made him think he was God's gift to women. Yes, he was the only man around but he lacked the finesse of Sataniel and the sweet naiveté of Michael. He also seemed to think that everything he did deserved a standing ovation. Lilith found his performance more deserving of a quiet nod or a polite handshake, before returning to more interesting pursuits like naming the trees or hunting for berries or combing her hair.
Still, at times she missed living with the angels. She missed Sataniel . . . No, she told herself, his name was Satan now and she needed to remember that. It was a little irritating that Satan hadn't come to see her in the three days since her reanimation. Maybe it had something to do with the angel with the flaming sword that God had mentioned guarded the entrance of the garden. Of course, she wasn't supposed to know about that because Lilith had not been "alive" when God had spoken those words to Michael. But Sandalphon had been there, her essence tangled up inside the mess of clay and torn flesh but unable to make it move, to give it life. But God could do it. And Satan had been able to do it, too.
Lilith looked over at Adam. The only spark inside him was the one that had been breathed into him. She needed to get Satan in here or she would be bored to death within the next day or so.
Lilith shook her head and said flatly, "No. I have better things to do with my time."
"Better? Not likely," snorted Adam, clearly offended that she hadn't swooned at his suggestion.
"I don't believe that this is what God imagined for us, Adam. There are things to be done and 'indulging ourselves' will only get in the way of those things."
"But it's so much fun! And with the way you walk around naked all the time—"
"We're supposed to be like the angels while we are here, Adam. We're supposed to live simple and pure lives. But this isn't living. And, quite frankly, if you can't stop leering at me the way you do I'll have to find something to cover myself with because I can't help but feel that you'd concentrate better without this temptation sitting in front of you."
Lilith stood and brushed the dirt and dry leaves from her backside. Adam could just be so irritating sometimes that she wondered how she was supposed to continue with this for . . . for however long God intended for them to live here. Alone. With only each other.
"Fine," Adam said, "I'm taking a nap then." And then he turned his back on her and curled up on his side on their mossy bed.
Lilith had come to hate that bed already. It was not as comfortable as the clouds and it was far too close to the river. It didn't help that Adam's snoring kept her up for most of the night and the constant trickle of water from the nearby river and the insects that lived upon it kept her up for the other half. As an angel she hadn't needed to sleep anyway so the whole concept of sleep was completely foreign to her. At night she often felt as if she wanted to lay her head down but she just couldn't relax.
Lilith spent some time watching Adam. She admired the rise and fall of his chest as he slept. She placed a hand against her own chest and inhaled deeply. She watched the way her ribs moved beneath her skin and the way her flesh became taut over the bones. She liked the feel of the morning air in her throat, in her body, making her feel energized. In Xanadu . . . No, she corrected herself, in Heaven, she had felt energy. It had been raw and powerful and amazing. It had burned her and it had filled her up. But she did not miss it.
Now the body that she inhabited had strength. It took up space. It existed. The beauty of the pure physicality of her own body was multiplied by her absolute freedom. Except for being able to eat from those silly trees she could do anything she wanted. And that was worth everything. Not to mention the fact that she was visible now, which was definitely a bonus. In Heaven it had gotten so irritating to talk to the other Angels because they always looked just slightly to the right of where her eyes were and it drove her crazy.
One time she decided to play a trick on Raphael and she kept moving directly into his line of sight. But every time she scooted to the right to meet his gaze his eyes always traveled a little more to the right. She kept going, however, and soon she had turned him in a complete circle and he hadn't even noticed. She swore God had done it on purpose. Of course, now Adam avoided her eyes for an entirely different reason but she would deal with that in time.
And speaking of Adam, he was already snoring. Lovely.
Lilith stretched. It felt incredible. So good, in fact, that she did it again. This human body is truly amazing, she thought. The angels don't know what they're missing and God has no idea what he has created in creating us.
To prove it, Lilith decided that she was going to go find that gate. And if she happened to see the angel with the flaming sword, so much the better. She walked away from Adam and wandered off into the garden. She didn't worry about having to find her way back. At the moment she wasn't really too keen on going back to the way things were anyway. Maybe she'd become a nomad, live in the forest alone, and create her own language. That sounded much better.
As she went Lilith named everything that she came across. She saw spiders, little creatures with 8 legs and wicked-looking fangs; a kangaroo, which was a tall, hoppy thing with ridiculously long feet and a convenient, built-in pocket; and another little fuzzy, black and white animal that stank something fierce but she couldn't quite think of what to call it yet. Not that it mattered what she named them now because Adam would probably come behind her and name them something entirely banal and hard to pronounce. That man has no imagination, she told herself as she ducked under a low hanging tree branch.
Suddenly she stopped. She didn't want to stop. The forest continued on for as far as her eyes could see but she could not take one more step forward. Every time she tried it was as if an invisible hand was pushing her backwards. It wasn't necessarily unpleasant except that she wanted to go forward and something invisible was preventing her from doing so.
Lilith stomped her foot. Mud squished up between her toes and it was cold and gooey and only irritated her further. She wiped her foot off as best she could on a patch of moss (that shit was everywhere) and was all set to storm angrily back through the forest when she stopped, turned back around, and studied the invisible barrier . . . Or at least she studied where she thought the invisible barrier was. It was invisible, after all, so it's not like she could see it. But she could feel it. And maybe that was something she could use.
Lilith stepped forward once again, this time with her hands reaching out, feeling for the exact moment her progress was impeded. Her fingertips brushed up against something that wasn't quite solid. She flattened her palm against it and pure energy tingled against her skin. The barrier felt smooth and even had a little give to it. So, she thought, this is the wall that keeps us in and keeps Satan out. She wondered if its placement had any meaning or if it was just random, as so many of the things God did seemed to be.
Lilith smiled to herself and started walking, keeping one hand on the wall of energy as she moved. This was how she would find the gate. If it was unattended she planned to fling open the doors dramatically and announce her arrival. If there really was an angel with a flaming sword she was sure that she could think of some way to disarm him. Even if God Saw fit to punish her for her scheming she reasoned that it would be worth it, if only to give herself something to do to keep busy. Well, something besides what Adam wanted to do all the time.
Lilith had to step away from the wall from time to time to avoid tripping over logs or rocks or to walk around trees or bushes. And she was determined to continue even though the errant sticks or thorns scratched her bare legs and arms. Once she even got her long hair caught in a set of low branches and it took her some time to untangle herself again, leaving behind a lot of her golden strands in the process. They trailed along behind her in the breeze like gossamer spider webs.
Lilith walked in silence for so long that she stopped paying attention to her surroundings. Her right hand hummed from being in constant contact with the wall of energy. And then suddenly there was a break. The energy just stopped. There wasn't a real gate, just a gap in the energy field that encircled the garden and Lilith felt a little disappointed that she wouldn't get to make a dramatic exit.
She had only been at the gap for a shirt time when she saw Uriel. He was not naked as he had been when she had last seen him. Instead he was wearing a diaper of sorts in a rich color that Lilith decided to call purple. And he did indeed have a flaming sword. But it was what he was doing with the sword that made Lilith wonder if everyone in Heaven had gone insane in her absence.
Uriel was vigorously waving around his sword as if he were battling an invisible monster. He would jab and dodge and whip his body around in quick succession, his black hair flying and his large indigo wings wobbling in an unsightly way with his every movement. It might have all been very graceful, like some sort of choreographed dance, if Uriel had had any grace whatsoever. But alas, he did not. So the whole exercise ended up looking more as if he were in pain, or as if he were being struck by divine lightning, or possibly even by divine gas. It was really a tossup at this point. She only knew that it looked ridiculous and she found herself wishing that she had someone to share this sight with so that they could laugh about it later over a meal. There could even be reenactments.
And just when she was lamenting the fact that Adam would never believe her and get how funny all of this was, she saw that she was not as alone as she had thought. A movement from within the deep shadows of the trees caught Lilith's eye and she looked away from Uriel's spasmodic performance to see a flash of pale skin diving out of sight. Her eyes followed the quivering of leaves a little to the left and waited for the figure to reveal himself once more. She already knew who it was but she wanted to be absolutely sure before she took action. The energy field that surrounded him was so unmistakable it was surprising that Uriel hadn't already detected it.
A moment later a beautiful face topped with golden hair peeked out over a bush and Lilith felt the heart within her human body stutter. Well, that was odd, she thought. Perhaps that was how the human body reacted to desire, to joy, to excitement. Until Satan had started to rebel the angels hadn't experienced longing of any kind. They had had everything that they needed. But once Satan stood up to God all of that changed. She wanted. She yearned. She craved. And as a human, Lilith had found those emotions intensified until her very nature seemed to be focused solely on wanting.
And at the moment she craved nothing more than to be with Satan once more. She wanted to start their plan, whatever form that plan would take. And she wanted to get out of the garden. Her longing consumed her and actually made her feel a little dizzy and she cursed this body for being so weak in the presence of such raw emotion.
Satan had been watching Uriel but suddenly flicked his eyes to her. He smiled and nodded and Lilith took a deep breath and cleared her throat. Uriel didn't stop swinging his massive sword, the flames streaking through the air and at times coming dangerously close to his long black hair. Apparently he was too much into his routine to perceive her polite interruption. And so she spoke.
"Excuse me," she said loudly.
Uriel's concentration broke and in the middle of an upswing he looked in her direction. The sword continued its movement until it swung around completely and smacked him on the behind.
"Ow!" he yelped and dropped the sword.
Lilith applauded his performance as the Divine Flames of the sword went out and it became just a plain weapon once more, albeit one made of gold and still full of the promise of divine vengeance.
"Good morning," Lilith said sweetly. She batted her eyes and played with a few strands of her long hair to try to be as appealing and unassuming as possible. She absolutely had to lure Uriel away from the entrance so that Satan could sneak in.
Of course, she immediately realized that she needn't try quite so hard because Uriel made no move to gain his sword once more. He was far too fixated on her human form, which, she had garnered, was quite aesthetically pleasing.
"It's afternoon," said Uriel, though how he managed to form words with his jaw completely slack was beyond her.
Lilith giggled and then quickly stopped when she realized how stupid it made her sound. "Sorry. I've been walking since sunrise so I must have lost track of time." She didn't mention that she frequently lost track of time here because she was used to angelic time, which had no way of measuring time at all.
Uriel grinned and approached her, though he was careful to remain on the other side of the wall. "So, you're Lilith, huh? I gotta say Michael did a great job on you."
"Thank you," Lilith said demurely, as if she didn't completely agree.
"So, where's Man?" he asked, glancing to the forest behind Lilith to see if she was alone. "God gave us the impression that you two were a matching set or something."
"I got bored so I went on a walk. And now I've found you. Care to help me not be bored?"
Uriel's grin widened and Lilith knew that she had played him well. The angels were supposed to be extensions of the divine will of God but thanks to Sandalphon's invisibility she had seen that they were prey to any number of vices. Once God gave them individual tasks to help with his creation the angels had become lustful, greedy, arrogant creatures who vied for God's praise and attention. Basically, they were like God himself.
"What do you have in mind?" Uriel asked, taking a few slow steps in her direction, a lecherous grin upon his face.
Lilith looked over to Satan, who had come out of hiding and was now leaning up against a tree. His gaze was divided between Uriel's advance upon Lilith and the now forgotten sword. If she kept Uriel's attention Satan would have the sword in a moment. Or she could do something else . . .
Lilith smiled at Uriel and said, "How about you ease a girl's curiosity and show me that enormous sword of yours."
Satan stopped where he was as Uriel said, "Sure thing," and turned around to retrieve the weapon.
When Uriel saw Satan he stopped. They stared at each other for a long time in silence and Lilith waited eagerly for one of them to make a move. From where she was she could see the muscles churning in Satan's jaw as he considered his options. And Uriel's wings twitched every now and then as if prepared to carry him up into the sky in the event of an attack.
"Hello, brother," said Satan. His voice was dark and gruff, as if living in the forest outside of God's love had changed him, hardened him.
"You look different," said Uriel with no judgment in his voice.
"Life will do that to you, brother," said Satan.
"Living at odds with the Divine will do that to you."
"Who's to say what is divine and what is not? You look different, too. What's with the loincloth?"
"God gave them to us," Uriel said proudly, "And we didn't even have to eat from the boner tree."
"You mean the Tree of Life," Lilith offered and they both looked at her as if they just remembered that she was there.
"Please don't interrupt, dear," said Uriel, "This is a matter between angels and your simple, human, female mind could not possibly understand."
"Female mind?" she asked with a sneer. Lilith felt her face grow hot and she took a step forward but something pushed her back. She couldn't cross the threshold out of Eden. She was stuck.
"Let it go, babe," said Satan without daring to move his eyes from Uriel. "They can't understand what you are and what you will be. You will have your time."
Lilith shut her lips and pressed them together as tightly as she could. She knew that she couldn't just blurt out that she was, in fact, an angel and so yes she did, in fact, understand their little standoff. Who knew what sort of hellfire that revelation would bring down upon their heads? So she shut up. But she didn't like it.
"Her time is now, in the Garden of Eden, with Man. Have you come to change the Divine plan?" Uriel asked. Lilith realized that he was almost imperceptibly inching closer to the fallen sword as he spoke. She looked over to Satan and it seemed that he was doing the same.
"The Divine plan is shit. I've come to prove it."
With that Satan leapt at the sword. Uriel did as well but he wasn't fast enough and by the time he landed on Satan's back, Satan already had the sword in his hand. He shrugged off Uriel with ease and turned the sword on his brother angel. The weapon continued to sleep, all gold and no fire.
Uriel smiled and stood up, ruffling his wings to shake dust from the feathers. "You are not a part of the creation anymore, Satan. That sword obeys the will and the might of God and you no longer have access to that."
"Oh really?" Satan said. "Hey, Lilith, clap twice for me, please?"
Lilith did as he asked and to her surprise the fire reignited all along the blade. Satan turned the weapon on Uriel and the angel backed up until he hit a tree. Satan's back was to Lilith now and she watched the tension in his arm as he struggled to keep the sword from truly injuring his fellow angel.
"Do you really want to slay an angel, brother?" asked Uriel. His voice did not tremble in the face of destruction. In fact, he seemed utterly at peace with the current state of affairs.
"Do not call me your brother," spat Satan.
"Why not? You called me your brother? How come it doesn't go both ways?"
Satan sighed and the hand holding the sword dropped to his side where it ignited a fallen leaf. "I was being sarcastic."
"What's being sarcastic mean?"
"Here we go again," muttered Lilith. She remembered this conversation from her time in Heaven and doubted that Satan could explain it to Uriel in terms the angel would understand.
"Nevermind," said Satan, all menace gone from his voice.
The three of them stood in silence for a while, none of them quite sure which direction this was going. Satan moved first, lifting the sword once more and holding it uncomfortably close to Uriel's throat but his demeanor never wavered. He kept his black eyes trained on Satan's blue ones and his face remained at peace. They stayed that way for a long time until finally Satan dropped the sword at Uriel's feet.
"It's not any fun if you don't play along," he said. He walked toward the entrance to Eden then and called back over his shoulder, "I know you were supposed to keep me out but I'm going in anyway. I have things to do so don't try to stop me." Satan walked easily through the invisible barrier that Lilith could not cross and took Lilith's hand. "Come on. But I want you to know that I didn't appreciate that little trick back there."
Lilith wasn't afraid of Satan in the least and it had been entertaining so she saw no need to apologize. As he led Lilith away from the gate and further into Eden she turned her head and saw Uriel hefting his flaming sword once more. And then she heard him speak, softly, almost like an echo, "You didn't have to be so mean. I was told to let you pass anyway."