Chapter 3: Angels Among Us

Have you ever stared at the sun so long that it leaves imprints on the back of your eye lids? So even when you close your eyes there is still brilliant light.

Riley could only describe what she was seeing, and she was pretty sure she wasn't dead, so she was actually seeing, as something akin to that. It was like the remnant of light, an imprint on her eyes of something indescribable.

Which is the eloquent way of saying Riley was staring at wings. In fact, Riley was staring up at the man who was holding her, and apparently he had wings. They were translucent, but brilliant. Phantom things made of light.

It was morning.

Well almost. If she could take her eyes away from the wings she could have seen the sky was just tinged with pink and violet. The sun not yet gracing the sky, but it would in moments.

Riley was still in pain, but it had dulled to a muscle ache. Like she'd run to long or exercised too hard. But the pain was no distraction from the guy's wings.

The tiredness was, but only a little. She felt bone tired even though she'd dozed off at some point.

She'd woken in a flash of light. Once her brain caught up, she noticed the light was coming from her. Her whole body had been soaked through with pure sunlight, the glow intensifying until it had filled the room and seemed to burst out until she was blinded. Then, it had disappeared, and Riley was left sitting on her floor, back to normal, with the man still holding her. Except now he had wings.

She hadn't spoken, hadn't been able to form coherent words to adequately ask what she wanted to ask. And her new friend was staring at her like she was some sort of foreign creature. Which, maybe to him, she was.

Now, in the silence, which seemed to stretch, Riley took in the man, or angel…. Even in the pre-dawn grey world, she could appriciate his looks. He was not how she could have imaged an angel. Though he was quite handsome. He had honey colored hair, soft and wavy. Dark whiskey eyes, though she remembered those, even through her pain tinted memories. He looked charming, and mischievous.

It seemed like forever, but was probably only a few minutes when the the man finally moved, withdrawing his arms and pulling away until he was sitting back several feet. He studied her still, eyes seemingly drawn to something just over her shoulder.

Finally drawing her eyes away from him and his wings…. Jeez, he had wings! Riley followed his gaze to find, oh! Oh holy shit, she had….

"What the fuck?"

"That's one way to react." He muttered in response.

She'd gone from mesmerized to terrified in quick succession. The phantom wings that he had were not nearly as distracting as the fact she found herself with pair. Riley razed a hand to her back, and squeaked when felt the feathers. "Did I do something? Did you do something?" There was a slight edge of panic to her voice.

"Jack did something."

"Who?"

"The kid you met. My nephew."

"Ah….."

"It's a really long story." Gabriel sighed and leaned back on his arms, "The short version is Jack is a Nephilim who is trying to save Heaven by making more angels. Except he's gone off on his own and is going about it wrong. He's choosing humans to turn into angels. But that is not supposed to happen, human souls and grace do not mix in the same person. I mean, there's vessels, but the two don't to interact."

"Hold on, there's a lot packed into that sentence. And I have a lot of questions."

"Yeah, and I'll get more detail later. For now, just understand that Jack tried to turn you into an angel. It shouldn't have worked. Humans tend to die. I tried to get here in time to stop it and save you. But was too late."

"I'm not dead." Riley stated. "I mean, I don't feel dead." This time it came out more a question.

"You're not." Gabriel said, eye brow quirking up, "Somehow, it worked."

"Well, that's….."

"Yeah."

Riley shifted, "So I'm an angel?"

"Appears so."

"And you're an angel."

"That's a yes."

"Huh." Still slight panic. Riley really wanted to crawl into bed and hide. Pull the covers over head like a child and pray the scary monster under her bed away. Except…. except in this case the monster was her, or well, the situation. "So what now?'

"That's a great question."

Well, he was no help. "Is it reversible?"

"This is new territory, sugar snap, but I doubt it."

"Can other people see the wings?"

"Nope." He popped the word, "Though the explanation is a bit more complicated." Gabriel gave her a half smile. "Angel wings don't exist on this plane of existence completely. What you're seeing is a shadow of them. They work to allow us to fly here, but to truly have them in this realm would melt most people's eyes."

"Ah. We don't want that."

"No. We can pull them through in levels, sometimes enough for humans to see the shadow version. Sometimes enough to interact with the world. Such that other angels could see what they really look like, color wise, and feel them. But for the most part they're shadows of our wings, and don't tend to create any issues. Otherwise we'd be knowing things off shelves all the time." His voice had a slight tinge of humor.

This calmed Riley down more than anything else. An angel with a sense of humor was, surprising. But it was nice. She joked back, "Does that make you my fairy godmother? Or Hagrid?"

"What?" He seemed baffled.

"Well, in stories whenever some kid gets the 'you're special' talk or 'you were chosen' or 'you're a wizard, Harry', there's always a character that shows up to make that pronouncement and explain the new rules. Thus…." Riley trailed off.

"You're making a joke." Gabriel grinned at her. "Humor in the face of fear."

"Well," she smiled back. "It's better than jumping out the window.

"I would not recommend that until you learn to use those." He pointed at her wings.

"Can I?" Her eyes widened, "Fly I mean?"

"Probably. You're the first new angel in millennia. An angel with a human soul. Made by a Nephilim." He chuckled, "Yeah, I wouldn't want to be chosen for that role."

She frowned, "I'm not sure I do either." Riley rolled her aching shoulders, which she now realized ached from the weight of the phantom wings. "Now what?"

"Well, I would just leave you to go about your normal day, but…."

"Probably not." Riley stood and offered the man a hand up. He took it with a raised brow and nod of thanks.

"Nope. I'm going to take you to meet some friends. Maybe spend some time at their place, getting adjusted to make sure you don't suddenly combust or that you don't start turning blue or whatever. Just until you get handle on this situation."

Riley frowned. "It's the weekend. But I'm supposed to meet with clients on Monday. Will I be back?"

"Um… I wouldn't count on it."

She sighed and started heading to the kitchen, thinking about the list of appointments she'd have to reschedule, the coverage she'd need for a couple hearings, and what she'd need to bring with her to get everything worked out.

"What are you doing?" the man was following her.

"I can't face the day without caffeine. Or sugar. So I'm going to make chocolate chip pancakes. Might as well bring out the big guns. Want some?"

"Oh Father, you are my new favorite person."

Riley cocked an eyebrow at him, glancing over her shoulder. "What's your name anyway?"

The man, angel, whatever, gave her chuckle, "Gabriel. They call me Gabriel."