“Why are the streets so empty?” I asked Ivor.
“I’m a vampire. How would I know?”
“Because of us.”
I jumped at Huriel’s voice coming from behind me.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that.”
“Sorry.” He smiled sheepishly. He couldn’t look me in the eyes. After the failed bet and my revenge on him and his buddies, he’d realized how stupid he’d been, and now he was too ashamed to act normally around me. Still, he had moments when he wanted to try. “Heavenly beings don’t like to receive visitors from the outside, and especially when those visitors are the future Grim Reapers.” He fell in step with me and Ivor.
“What? They don’t like Grim Reapers?”
“They abhor the Reapers. You see, Heaven is proud. For most of us living here, it’s hard to accept that we’re dealing with bad stuff, too. Do you know what cabal reaps the most in Heaven?”
I shook my head. “Merciful Death?”
He grinned. “Violent.”
“What? Why?”
“Because Heaven has the highest rates of depression. And unemployment, but that’s another story. We strive for perfection, and we do achieve it. Easily. We’re angels, after all. And then perfection eats us alive. We get bored out of our minds. Beyond achieving perfection, what other goals might we have?”
“Err… to guide the souls that end up in Heaven but haven’t reached perfection yet?” Ivor tried.
“We don’t get that many souls,” Huriel shrugged. “Too many go to Hell. It’s a fun place, I hear. Can’t wait to visit it next semester.”
An archangel saying he couldn’t wait to go to Hell? Well, I’d known all along that the world was upside down.
The Third Sphere was ruled by Venus and was bathed in the soft, orangey glow of the lovers’ planet. The principalities dwelled here – angels with wings of gold and eyes of emerald, wearing crowns on their heads and scepters in their hands. Or so Professor Maat said, because while we were here, there was no principality in sight. The souls who’d loved without restraint in their previous lives were sent here. The reason they were only in the Third Sphere, and not in a higher one, was because they’d loved other people, and not God. Love was still good and all, but as long as it wasn’t focused on God alone, it wasn’t as worthy as one might have imagined. Indeed, the more I learned about Heaven, the better I understood Huriel’s words. It was a sad place, in fact. So sad that Violent Reapers were summoned to cut the string of life of those who couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to commit suicide. Suicide in Heaven. Crazy, yet real.
In the Fourth Sphere, we stopped at Hotel Fortitude for lunch. The building was like nothing I’d ever seen and like nothing I could’ve ever imagined. And I had a pretty wild imagination… It was built like a stair pyramid, with angel wings protruding from its sides. There were rooms both inside the pyramid and the wings, and Professor Maat told us that those located in the wings were very expensive. At the top of the wings, there were two restaurants, and we were going to have lunch in the left wing one. Everything was modern, though. We walked through the sliding doors, and a beautiful winged creature welcomed us. She guided us toward the elevators and kindly asked us to stick with the group and not wander around the hotel. It was fully booked, apparently, and the guests loved their privacy.
“Why would it be fully booked?” I asked Huriel.
Before he got in the elevator, he tucked his wings on his back. Heaven was his home, and I’d noticed that all the angels, archangels, and seraphs in the RDC walked with their wings spread out as if to show that they belonged here.
“The Fourth Sphere is like a tourist attraction. All the good events take place here because it’s the home of the greatest philosophers. They hold workshops, book clubs, and various meetings. I believe Thomas Aquinas is going to speak tonight, and then there’s a piano concert. Might be why the hotel is fully booked.”
“Oh.” So, there were interesting things to do around here. Not that I would’ve traveled to see Thomas Aquinas speak. I wasn’t exactly a fan of theology.
We reached the restaurant and entered. It was empty, which meant it had been entirely reserved for us. A beautiful crystal chandelier hung from the tall ceiling, and I almost tripped over my own feet staring at the walls and the incredible marble statues guarding every corner.
“Watch it, moron,” Domina spat at me.
“Sorry.”
For a seraph, she truly was nasty. Her two sets of wings were spread out at full capacity, making her look like a feathered butterfly. She was dressed in a rainbow-colored dress that hugged her curves beautifully, and her long red hair was pinned up in a complex hairdo. She’d really done her best to look amazing today. As she sat down at the head of the largest table she could find, she looked like she owned the place.
I bit the inside of my lip. She was breathtaking, indeed. It was hard to believe that Davien had chosen me over her. Any man would’ve been lucky to have Domina’s attention. On the other hand, did it really matter that she was so divinely beautiful when her soul was as black as the deepest pits of Hell? All right, I had no idea what Hell looked like, or whether it had pits. But the comparison stood.
Ivor found a table on the terrace, and I joined him quickly, not wanting to lose the seat next to him to someone else. Huriel joined us, too. What a strange feeling. I couldn’t exactly say that Ivor and I were friends, but right now, he was the only one I felt comfortable being around. Huriel was pleasant company, too, but I wasn’t sure I could trust him completely. I’d forgiven him for what he’d done in year one, but that didn’t mean I was ready to put my life in his hands.
From the terrace, we could see the entire Fourth Sphere, and those who had sharp vision, – like Ivor, for instance, – could see the Fifth Sphere in the distance.
“The Fifth is more beautiful than the Fourth,” Huriel continued to make conversation. “The virtues live there. They’re the angels in charge of miracles, crying statues, and all that.”
“So, those are real?”
“Yep.”
I squinted to see better. Huriel laughed and pointed above our heads. “There’s an observatory up on the building. You can take the stairs.”
I cocked an eyebrow. There was a set of stairs to our right. A beautiful girl brought us the menus, and I opened mine. I was lost. I was sure the food here was amazing, but I had no idea what to order. Okay, so maybe I could trust Huriel with my lunch. I closed the menu and poked him in the shoulder.
“Order for me, will you? I’m going up there to check out the view.”
He nodded. Professor Maat was in deep conversation with the angel who was taking our orders, so I decided not to bother her. After all, I wasn’t leaving the building, and I wasn’t going to be gone for more than five minutes. I climbed the stairs quickly, enjoying the sweet breeze of the Fourth Sphere of Heaven on my face. I reached a platform, and indeed, I found myself at the topmost point of Hotel Fortitude. I took a deep breath, and the fresh air filled my lungs. I couldn’t quite see the Fifth Sphere from up here, either, but the view was incredible. I could stay here for hours, looking at the gorgeous mansions below, with their expansive gardens and clear, private lakes. This looked like the perfect place to live. Since I was only human and I hadn’t died yet, I couldn’t move to Heaven. And even if I died, I doubted that I’d end up here. But I was pretty sure I could vacation here if I wanted to and I had the money. Yes, things in Heaven cost, too. Money was the universal language that created a bridge between Heaven, the land of humans and supernaturals, and Hell. It also linked all the pocket universes around Earth to us, which was convenient, really. Some rules and conventions had to be the same everywhere.