A Deafening Silence In Heaven by Thomas E. Sniegoski

stated, appearing to have some difficulty getting the last word out.
    “He is,” Francis confirmed. “A Seraphim, to be exact.”
    “From Heaven . . . He’s an angel from Heaven that has come to Earth.”
    “It’s a little more complicated than that, but yeah, basically that’s it.”
    “And you’re an angel?” she asked, watching him with a combination of fear and fascination.
    “Yeah, but I’m of the fallen variety.”
    “I thought that fallen angels were bad.”
    “Who said I’m not?” The admission stirred more emotion in Francis than he would have expected after all this time. “I made some bad decisions a long time ago, and I’m paying for them now.”
    “Is Remy fallen, too?” she asked, reaching out to gently run her fingers through his hair.
    “Not at all,” Francis said, impressed with this woman. Most humans would have been quivering in a pool of their own piss by now. “Remy is one of the good guys. He came here by choice—couldn’t quite stomach the politics after the war and was looking for some peace and quiet.”
    “The war?”
    “The legions of God against the Morningstar and his armies.”
    “The Morningstar,” she repeated, the meaning starting to sink in. “You mean like the Devil. . . . He’s real?”
    “Of course he’s real,” Francis said, unable to keep the irritation from his tone. “Why is it that you can accept that he . . . that we’re angels of Heaven, but not the existence of Lucifer?”
    “I don’t know,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “Wishful thinking?”
    “If it makes you feel any better, organized religion has had a field day with his story. Responsible for all the evil in the world? Not even close,” Francis explained. “Sure, there were some pretty heavy doings with the Big Man upstairs, but very little fallout ever made it here to Earth.”
    “But the Bible says . . .”
    “The Bible says a lot of things, but not much of it is all that accurate.”
    Linda looked as though she’d been slapped.
    “Look,” Francis said. “The Bible was written by a bunch of guys trying to explain what they understood of God’s glory and the ills of the world. It’s a helluva lot easier explaining why a guy would slaughter twenty innocent people in a McDonald’s when there’s a supreme boogeyman to lay the blame on.”
    “I guess that makes sense,” Linda said.
    “Happy to set things right for you.”
    “You say that he’s one of the good guys,” Linda said after a moment, looking down at Remy again. “I knew it the first time I met him. . . . It just came off him in waves. I didn’t know how to describe it at the time; I just knew I’d be safe with him . . . that he would protect me.” The tears started again, pouring from her eyes to spatter upon the floor beside Remy’s head. “Who’s going to do that now?” she asked, looking imploringly at Francis. He was about to tell her that he would gladly do that for her, but then his phone vibrated.
    “Is it the doctor?” Linda asked, the expectation nearly palpable.
    “Yeah.” Francis stood and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. “I’ve gotta go get him.”
    He headed for the kitchen but stopped. “Stay with him,” he said, turning back to gaze first at Linda, and then at Marlowe. “And you keep them both safe.”
    The dog woofed as Francis stepped into the kitchen and out of sight, opening a passage to the physician.
    •   •   •
    Linda leapt to her feet, wanting to know if there was anything she should be doing before the physician arrived, but the kitchen was empty; Francis had already gone.
    She had no idea how he had disappeared so quickly, but the air appeared to be strangely unsettled in a corner of the room. She moved her hand through the area of turbulence as it dissipated.
Angel stuff
, she thought.
    She turned to go back to Remy and caught sight of Marlowe through the kitchen doorway, still sitting loyally by Remy’s side. It broke her