Thief by Greg Curtis Page B

the trumpets at the end of the world. In one book he found a passage that seemed to sum up the traditional view:
     
    "If the archangel now, perilous, from behind the stars took even one step down toward us, our own heart, beating higher and higher, would beat us to death. Every angel is terrifying."
     
    Was Sherial terrifying? He couldn’t answer that question. Certainly she scared him, but not necessarily in her own right. It was what she represented, what her presence meant to him that troubled him most.
     
    Sherial herself ensorcelled him. Difficult as it was to admit, he knew he would crawl naked over broken glass should she but ask him. Of course she never would. On the other hand he had no doubt she was far more than the simple innocent beauty she looked. She was more dangerous than a tiger, and on an awful lot of different levels. If she chose to harm him, he was certain he couldn’t have stopped her no matter how well prepared. Nor he was sure, could he harm her. Even had he been able to bring himself to that point, he would be no match for her, on any level.
     
    But for all that she didn’t terrify him. She made him feel safe and warm. She made him feel loved.
     
    Reading on Mikel noted that in the Middle Ages theologians had mapped out a detailed hierarchy of the heavens, based on the writings of Dionysius. They divided the heavenly host into choirs, each with its own task. In their layers of heaven, the highest angels were the seraphim and cherubim, those closest to God who existed only to worship him. Then there were the thrones to bring justice to mankind, though what exactly they meant by justice, he wasn’t sure. The dominions regulated life in heaven, again something that defied his understanding, while the virtues were responsible for making miracles. The powers protected mankind from evil, presumably evil spirits, something that Mikel suddenly found he also had to accept might exist. It wasn’t something he particularly relished.
     
    Archangels and angels were considered the lowest forms of angel, serving as guides and messengers to human beings. Looking out at her in the garden he had to disagree. Even if Sherial was only a basic grade angel, there was nothing lowly about her.
     
    Reading on through what he found, Mikel couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief at some of it. These were the writings of the major churches, surely those who must know the most there was to know about angels, yet much of what they said couldn’t possibly be. Cherubs for example, couldn’t possibly be four faced, four armed, four winged angels riding around in chariots covered in eyes. Could they? Who knew? All he could say was that if they were, Sherial wasn’t one of them.
     
    Then there was the question of her body. According to the scriptures, angels were creations of spirit. Though they might appear in the real world to carry out his works, they did not truly have bodies. Yet Sherial was solid. He had picked her up and carried her like a baby. He’d seen blood coursing through her veins. That could surely be no mere manifestation. She was flesh and blood as well as spirit.
     
    Guardian angels were a much more recent concept of the churches, not found in any of the really early works. They, along with many of the other more modern beliefs, didn’t seem to square at all with the traditional view. However, they were found in a lot of religions. Some even believed that every human soul had an attendant guardian angel. Had Sherial come to protect him? Looking at her through the screen, Mikel couldn’t bring himself to believe she had come here just to protect him. She had much more than his well being on her mind. Besides, he could look after himself. Couldn’t he?
     
    Mikel found no place in any of the established scriptures that said people became angels when they died, nor that angels were restricted to playing Mr. Nice Guy either. In fact if anything the older the writing, the more it seemed that