A Lesson in Angel 101, Amelia [spiritual books to read .TXT] 📗

Angel 101

"And that's what you call Aquila, the falcon," Jude said, pointing at a cluster of stars in the sky. James looked in that general direction, but honestly didn't really know what the hell Jude was talking about. They'd been sitting on their car for hours, having a break and a few beers in the middle of a field as was tradition. The angel had started on the whole star thing and had a really weird fascination with it.

"You can always find it because of the eye. It's one of the brightest stars from here."

It was nice to see Jude not look like a fish out of water for once. Admittedly, it was a little cute.

"You know an awful lot about this sort of thing, don't you?" James commented, glancing up from his spot reclining on the windshield to Jude sitting on the roof.

"Oh...yes," Jude answered, a bit thrown off his stride. But, a small smile found its way to his face-- "I may be fairly new to humanity, James, but I'm not new to Earth. And the night sky changes slowly."

The hunter grunted in response, and turned back to the sky, trying not to think about how old the angel must be. It was pretty disconcerting; especially considering James always made jibes about him seeming like a kid. Maybe that's why it bothered Jude so much...

Jude continued on his little information session about the constellation, talking about star systems and Arabic or Chinese names, actually managing to describe the formation well enough that James was pretty sure  he could see what the angel was talking about. Yeah, there was the eye, and the tail, and...wait, that reminded him—

"Hey," he spoke up, taking strategic advantage of the lull in the conversation while Jude looked for his next target, "I've got a question."

"I'll do my best to answer."

James sat up, and turned to face him.

"What's up with angel wings?"

Jude blinked, and tilted his head, making his trademark 'confusion' face.

"I'm not sure I understand."

"Well," James started, setting his bottle down on the hood, "basically every story about angels, ever, mentions them having big majestic wings or, like, six thousand of them. And I might not be some professor, but I know a lot about this mythology crap, and that seems way too consistent to be a coincidence. So how come I’ve never seen yours?”

The angel frowned for a moment.

"Yes...you're correct. Angels in the past have revealed their physical wings to people of the Earth. But that's not something any of us would do now."

"Yeah? Why not?"

"It's...difficult to explain."

"Well I'm sure not gonna get it if you don't at least try."

Jude sighed, and glanced away for a moment before turning back to James, expression determined.

"Our 'wings' are...something like a manifestation of our holiness on Earth. They're not wings as a bird would have, but for some reason the human psyche prefers to see them as such. I doubt it was as clear when the first angels arrived, but the legends have strengthened the image beyond change...in any case, manifesting your wings towards an angel is...it's a gesture that..."

He paused, frowning, and turned up to the stars again, like he was looking for the words to say.

"What, is it like...aggressive, or something?" James asked, finding himself enjoying Angel 101 despite himself. It was better than more star stuff, that was for sure.

"No," Jude responded, looking almost shocked at the suggestion. "Exactly the opposite."

The man raised his eyebrows, prompting an explanation.

"It's a very intimate gesture, reserved only for conveying the utmost trust. If you reveal your wings, then your grace is completely vulnerable. Anyone with strength even near an angel's could easily tear them off. And the manifestation...it reveals much about you. Nothing that an angel couldn't see if they looked deep enough, but...it would be as if you took your soul and placed it in the palm of my hand."

James stared at him.

Jude stared back.

"I'm...sensing you don't understand."

"Well, no, I get it. I just don't...get it."

The angel frowned as they reached mutual misunderstanding.

"Perhaps there's another way I can explain..."

James laid back on the windshield again, sensing that this may take a while.

"Go for it."

"Well...relating to your original question, the reason that humans are aware of our 'wings' is because when messengers of our Father came to Earth to speak to you, they unfurl them. They believe the Lord is speaking through them, and He has endless love for all of His creation. It's meant to induce fondness and put the recipient at ease. And...there is one other example I can think of," the angel said, sounding oddly hesitant, "Which, I think will be the easiest for you."

"Yeah? Why didn't you bring it up first, then?"

"It's a very uncommon occurrence. It hadn't come to mind."

"Uh-huh," James said, not quite believing that excuse, "alright."

"I've never heard of it happening to anyone I'm acquainted with, but I've heard stories of angels finding what I believe you call a 'soul mate' in Heaven or on Earth. Someone who they would give their life for without question...and of course, their proof of this is to present their wings to their partner. But they also...well, to a human, I'd imagine that it'd look something like preening. Running their hands through their mate's feathers. It's like...like sharing a soul for a moment. You...know them...profoundly."

"'Know' in a, uh...biblical sense?" the man couldn't help but tease.

"Yes, I suppose you could equate it to that."

Oh.

...

"...oh."

James glanced up at Jude, who stared back. Obviously the lecture was over.

"So...pulling out your wings is like proposing and preening is like..."

He raised his eyebrows in completion of his thought.

"Yes. Though in a much more...spiritual sense."

James stared at him.

Then he glanced at the sky, trying to digest the information. If it were anything else, he might have made a comment about angels having a weird spiritual feather fetish or something, but he wasn’t entirely sure that Jude would know what a ‘fetish’ was in the first place.

Yeah, that would be an interesting conver...sa...

He blinked.

Unfortunately, this didn't make the things that had entered his field of vision go away. "Things", not because it was too dark to make them out, but because they looked an awful lot like feathers. Really big feathers. And if they were, in fact, really big feathers, then...

He sat up, turning around slowly.

And there was Jude, sitting with his hands in his lap, staring at them pointedly.

And, oh yeah, there was a pair of massive black wings sprouting from his fucking back, sort of shifting around like they didn't know what to do with themselves.

James stared at him.

Jude, for once, wasn't staring back.

The human’s mouth sort of opened and closed a few times, before he finally managed to get out, "...okay."

Okay.

So, considering all that Jude just told him, then this was...this was sort of a, uh...this is...

"Jude, what is this."

The wings twitched, and Jude glanced at him for a split second, catching James's look of confusion before turning his eyes downwards again.

"I...thought I'd explained adequately..."

Oh, God.

"So, this is, is...you're...uh..."

The angel looked up at him again, and James could swear that Jude's eyes were glowing.

"Confessing my love."

"Oh. Okay."

Jude frowned slightly, his expression one that James was a bit more comfortable with.

" 'Okay'?"

"Just...give me a second."

He turned away, and ran his hands over his face.

Jude was in love with him.

...that...explained a lot, actually. James wondered faintly how he hadn't noticed before. The staring, the personal space violations...guess he'd just had it all chalked up to "angel" issues. For once he hadn't let his ego do all his relationship analyzation, and look where that got him. Well, he'd learned his lesson.

Anyways, back to the matter at hand.

He got up, and went to sit with Jude on the roof, stepping carefully to not hurt his car. The angel just stared at him, waiting for an answer.

James put a hand on his shoulder, which was admittedly a little weird when you had to make sure to angle your arm away from massive wings.

"I'm, uh, not really sure what you want me to say to that."

"I don't expect reciprocation. Just..."

Jude glanced over his shoulder, and spread his wings out before looking at James again.

"Think of them as proof of my loyalty."

And, James should probably be looking him in the eye, but he can't help staring at the mass of feathers behind him. A wing that, unless he was mistaken, was curling around him slightly.

"Yeah. Alright. I can do that."

He turned back to his angel and squeezed his shoulder slightly, smiling. And Jude smiled back, in his Jude way--his mouth turning up just a hint but his eyes saying everything.

"I'm kind of flattered, actually. An angel, falling for little ol' me."

"...I find that phrasing a little insensitive."

"What do...oh," James couldn't help but laugh a little—a fallen angel, ha--, moving his hand away from the angel's shoulder, "shit. Sorry, Jude."

"No, it's...fine."

And obviously it was, because Jude could hide his emotions about as well as a baby, and James was pretty sure that he could make all the insensitive jokes he wanted and it still wouldn't ruin the angel's mood. The guy was practically glowing.

...Actually, if James sort of squinted his eyes just the right way...

"Though I'd rather you not deprecate yourself."

"...huh?"

"You're not 'little old' James."

"Oh. Well, yeah, but I'm still just, you know, human."

A look of confusion returned to the angel's face, though the usual frown was absent.

"Angels can look past a human’s body and see the soul inside. All that you are, bared and unmarred by physical limitations—“

“Well, I can’t imagine I’m all too pretty, then,” James couldn’t help but interrupt. He’d fought his parents and cursed and murdered things that were near-human, all the while sleeping with more women in a month than he could count on one hand…

"James...you’re beautiful."

And he wouldn't admit it were he under oath in court, but the look in Jude's eyes, the bare naked sincerity behind that deep ocean blue made James's breath hitch, just for a moment.

But, James being James, he couldn't have that, and broke eye contact quickly, looking for a distraction from the conversation. And he found one, in the wing that was slowly but surely enveloping him.

"So, uh, why're--why're your wings black?" he stammered out, fighting the urge to scoot away from the thing closing in on him, because that would mean scooting towards the angel that was currently, well, kind of in love with him, which was still a little weird. Give him another fifteen minutes and he might get over it.

Jude glanced at his wings again, almost like he hadn't noticed what color they were and wanted to check.

"...I think