First Estate

"Mariha, what was that," Mom asked.

"I don't know. I seem to be receiving a message."

Her face began to be difficult to look at it was so bright. "This is the word of God:" she said. "It is my will that the demon Oniah be no longer a demon but a human. She is granted a soul and released from her compelling. She has no assignment, but if she serves me and remains in righteousness, she will be blessed and may seek her destiny. Should she return to her former madness, she will be destroyed. Do not abuse my grace, little human."

She sprang to her feet. "I'm whole," she laughed. "I'm not a demon anymore. What did you mean, 'a human,' Mariha? I'm not a human, I'm a Nephilim."

"Parker and the girls are judged human, too," Mariha told her. "It means they can go to heaven. They can be redeemed. They are redeemed. It doesn't seem like you've gone that far yet, but you might. You got the chance you asked for. What are you going to do with it?"

"I don't know. Can I stay with you?"

"You can," Mom told her. "It doesn't sound like that's what you should do. God said, 'seek your destiny.'"

"What if it's my destiny to stay with you?"

"Then I guess you need to find that out," Sagan told her. "We've all come to love you, Oniah, and we want what's best for you. Is there anything you want to do?"

"I have my power back. I can do anything I want to."

"I think you should be very careful about that," I told her. "If you use your power to compel people, I think it's going to get ugly."

She began to cry again. "How can you even think that, Parker? Do you still not trust me?"

"No, sweetheart," Mariha patted her. "We trust you, but you've got a lifetime of bad decisions behind you. It's going to be hard to overcome that. Your instincts are messed up and if you make too many mistakes; we're afraid for you. Everyone makes mistakes, but it seems like you're kind of on probation here."

"Maybe I should stay with you guys for a while then. I won't get into any trouble with you."

"That's fine, honey," Mom said. "But you don't just want to sit around here. What do you like?"

"I don't know. I never did anything before. I was a princess, remember?"

"There aren't a lot of princess jobs open," I laughed.

"I like working in the garden. That's the only thing I know of."

"Do you think you might like doing landscaping?" Sagan asked her. "Parker, would you give her our landscaping contracts? There's a huge job coming up with the new office complex. Bronley told me about it last week."

"Would you, Parker?" Her eyes were shining with excitement. "I promise I'll do good. I won't be any trouble."

"I'd like that," I told her. "I can keep an eye on you and we'll let you move into the new house next to Bronley's if you want."

"I'd rather stay here, but maybe I should do that. Bronley likes me, and maybe she'll be my friend. Yes, I'll do it, Parker. Thanks Sagan, you're very smart."

"I have the feeling we're going to need your bedroom," I told her. "When your six months is up I suspect we'll get our next case to work on. Do you know, I think God sent you here so this would happen. He knew you were looking for a way out and that you wanted to change. I think your time in purgatory is over, Oniah."

When her two weeks were up she moved in next to Bronley and when she got the office complex done we never used another landscaper again. She started getting jobs from other people that saw her work with us and she got quite a business going. She met a contractor we worked with and they dated. I don't think she ever quite got comfortable with being touched by anyone other than us, but she loved this guy and he seemed like he couldn't get enough of her. They never lived together but they were a steady thing and she told us she was happy for the first time in her life.

The baby was born four months after Oniah came to live with us. She was a perfect, miniature version of Mariha. We named her Greyson and she stole my heart from the beginning. It turned out that Mariha could lactate and if that wasn't a sexy sight. In two days, Mariha was back to her old toned self and the belly was gone. There was some question in my mind as to exactly what Greyson was. She was some kind of new Nephilim. This was sanctioned by God. Mariha told me that Haniel had selected the father and that he was one of the ancient, imprisoned Nephilim. She was more than half angel and I wondered about that. Mariha didn't know and we asked Haniel the next time he dropped in. He said that she was human. That didn't tell us much except that she had a soul, but he wouldn't say more than that. Raphael came back for two months and he was willing to speculate, but he didn't know for sure.

He said that she couldn't be a Watcher; they weren't human. I asked him if he had a soul. "Not in the sense you do," he said. "I have no need for redemption and no need for sanctification. I'm an immortal like you, but you're fallen. Well, you were. She isn't a demon, so she must be a Nephilim. A female Watcher has never given birth before. Does this make Mariha a Siren?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," I said. "Can you sing, Mariha?"

"I have no harp," she said.

I sat there stunned for a minute. Then I laughed myself silly. "Did you just tell a joke, Mariha?"

"Yes, it was quite a good one, wasn't it?"

"It was awesome, but you do have a harp. Boston got you one for Christmas, remember?"

She laughed. "I can't really play a harp, Parker. I never took the time to learn."

"I can," Raphael said. That set me off again, and he chuckled a bit, too.

"No," I gasped, "don't tell me you paint, too."

"I am the prince of Art," he said. "It would look peculiar if I didn't."

Mariha had to shush us to keep from waking Greyson laughing.

It turned out that he was better than the painter named after him. He painted a portrait of Sagan and I that would bring tears to your eyes. Mariha was able to sing, we discovered, but Raphael said she wasn't really a Siren. "She's a Watcher and she just has an extra ability. You should ask for a raise, Mariha."

That set us off again and Greyson woke up and was hungry.

"I can't wait to see what her wings look like," I said. "Do you think they'll be Mariha's kind or the blue and orange?"

"I suspect Mariha's. She's really very close to an angel. Her grandfather was an angel on both sides, Parker. She's got a double dose. I suspect she'll be like you. You have that double dose, too. Maybe that's why you're so powerful."

"Yes, and so beautiful," Mariha said.

"Sorry, Parker; you're not my type," Raphael said.

"What is your type? I've always wondered?" Mariha asked him.

"I prefer a large breasted, blonde Watcher," he said. "Female, of course."

We hooted and Mariha blushed. "This one is taken," she told him.

"So I see. Taken by how many, I wonder. One man and three girls?"

She stuck out her tongue. "None of your business."

"No, but I had to ask."

Greyson could walk at seven months and she was talking at fifteen. She was a little confused at our domestic situation and Sagan, Mariha and Mom were all, "Mama." Boston was "Bos" and Raphael and I were "Da." When he went away to do archangel stuff for a month he lost his "Da" status and never regained it. We didn't know exactly what to tell her, but she always called me Dad. Mom thought it was best not to tell her about her heritage until she started manifesting some sort of power. That had worked well for her with me, and other ways hadn't worked at all with her other kids. Mariha disagreed vehemently and since she was Greyson's mother, I thought it should be up to her.

Greyson's living arrangements were so odd anyway, that I didn't think it was possible for her to not notice once she got to know other kids. We all spoiled her rotten and yet she had a very firm hand on the wheel. She had a very sweet disposition and all anyone ever had to do was frown at her and she was immediately contrite. We found out that she could walk the Ways by accident when she followed Raphael halfway to heaven one afternoon.

"I thought the Way was closed to heaven for anyone but Watchers," I told him when he noticed she was following him and brought her back.

"It is," he said. "That may tell us something about her status. Apparently, Heaven considers her a Watcher. Who was supposed to be watching her, anyway?"

"You were, Ninja Turtle," I told him. "You never told anyone you were leaving. You're her official Watcher and unofficial one, too."

"Oh, sorry about that. I'm not used to the whole Watcher thing. This is my first time, you know."

"Jesus, get used to it, Raphael. What if you had been going somewhere scary or she wandered off into the chaos?"

"Sorry, it won't happen again. You won't need to mention this to Mariha, will you?"

"No, not if you promise to pry some information out of Haniel. I really want to know what the deal is on my kid."

"I'll work my wiles," he said. "If he won't tell me I'll give him a slash with one of my swords.

"Dad, need to find Mama," Greyson said.

"What for, baby?"

"Bath," she said. "All dirty."

"Damn it, Raphael. She's got catsup all over her. What did you feed her?"

"French fries," she said. "Very good."

"Yes, baby, but you're not supposed to eat them for breakfast. You were supposed to eat fruit."

"Why? I like French fries better. Nanas are yucky."

"Now you're yucky. Oh well, let's not get Mama, honey. I should make Raphael give you a bath. Come on, button."

He obviously couldn't be trusted to really watch her. He was just a likely to wander off after a butterfly as keep an eye on her and he gave her everything she wanted.

I cleaned her up and took her to work with me. You could give her anything and she'd be fascinated with it for hours. I had a wire contraption in my office that you pushed marbles around on and she played happily with it until lunch. I sent the secretary out for chicken and she ate strips dunked in gravy and mashed potatoes while she watched a movie.

I was done and I took her to the zoo. It was amazing to have this little bundle of love along with you. Boston had been a lot like her just a few years ago and I realized I missed that. I've always loved kids, and this one was mine, even if I wasn't her biological father. I rented a stroller and we looked at the animals for a couple of hours. Sagan met us for dinner, we had fish; Greyson had spaghetti and cheese sticks. She was a mess again by that time and we took her home and gave her to Mama to clean up.

She came running into our room with her nightgown on and climbed into bed with us. "Going to sleep with Saver," she told me. "You sleep with Mama."

"Which Mama?" I laughed.

"Mama Lilith," she said. "Mama Mari went somewhere."

Being unceremoniously booted out of my own bed, I went to Mom's room. Boston was already there and she didn't want me so I slept in her bed. When I woke up, Mariha was in bed with me and I loved on her a while, then asked her where she had been.

Raphael had called her and told her he had some information about Greyson. According to him, Haniel had said that he believed Greyson was considered to be a class all her own. If I had kids with Sagan, Boston or Mom, they would be considered in the same class. This was something new in Heaven and they were going to be called Reapers. That sounded ominous to me, but Mariha said it had nothing to do with death or the grim reaper. It had something to do with the end of time and they'd have a special job to do. Haniel thought it would be escorting souls to heaven and not something unpleasant at all. He thought God had been planning this all along, and the time would come in the next 100 years. They were to be allowed access to Heaven and there was going to be some kind of special training when they were mature.

"He still thinks Lilith is going to have a child. There are supposed to be seven of them. I hope that means I can have another but I think Sagan is supposed to have twins. Boston isn't old enough to conceive so I guess we're on some kind of clock."

"I don't want to know this stuff, Mariha. I don't believe in fate. You said you were just going to live life."

"I am, Parker. Raphael said you asked him to find out. If you don't want to know, don't ask."

"I just wanted to know about Greyson. I wanted to know why she, never mind. I didn't ask for having the future foretold."

"Is there something you're not telling me?" she frowned.

"Yes, but it isn't important. I promised not to tell."

"Okay. Do you want to make love again?"

So my options were to love an angel or not. It was a tough choice.

The tough choice was Boston. She was obviously sexually active with Mom and Mariha, although she never said anything, and she looked like an older teenager. She was very physical with me and she was probably more mature about life than I was. She constantly rubbed those maddening teenage boobs up against me and she loved the contact. I didn't want to make her sad or stifle that Siren nature Mariha had told us about. She seemed happy if I would just snuggle her, but she wanted more and more of that and she became bolder about rubbing up against me and began to find opportunities to be naked around me. When she came in and got in the shower with me one morning I asked her what was going on.

"I'm seducing you; of course," she said.

"You are? Well, I guess I kind of knew that. Why are you seducing me and what does your sister think about that?"

"I haven't asked her, but Mama did. She said I should show you that I want you and that I'm not a little girl anymore."

I looked at her. She had a little patch of glossy black hair down there that she obviously kept trimmed. Her breasts were amazing and she had all the right curves in all the right places.

"I can see you aren't a little girl anymore, baby. I just can't get over the idea that you've changed so much in four years. Four years ago I was carrying you around and you were a little girl. You know you can't get pregnant, right? God doesn't want that yet. I won't marry you yet either."

"Yes, I know. I won't get pregnant unless I will that to happen. It's stupid that you want to make me wait until I'm 21, but I respect you and I'll wait if you want me to. Are you going to make me wait until I'm 21 to make love with you? I can't help it that being a Siren made me grow up so fast. I'm a woman now, Parker. I'll always be your little girl, but don't you think I'm a sexy little girl?"

It became obvious that I did.

"Oh, my," she said. "I guess you do. Is that for me?"

It was, and it was my delight to show her how much I had for her.

Chapter Twenty One

Three years passed with a succession of Watchers, demons and humans taking up residence with us for shorter or longer periods of time. They didn't all have happy endings. One of the humans was the son of the ruler of a Southeast Asian dictatorship. It stated off well and he seemed to be making progress toward some degree of humanity. He was so entitled and so used to ordering people around that he struggled with basic human emotions. He had absolutely no empathy and he seriously clashed with Boston and Mom. They showed an utter indifference to his self-importance and immoderate pomposity.

He was the typical politician in so many ways. He had a streak of kindness, but it only showed toward people who deferred to him. I think he came to hate Boston because she was so beautiful, but she was immune to the idea that he should be treated any differently because of who his father was.

He suffered from the same syndrome Oniah had, but he couldn't get over himself. When he found out what we were, he coveted power. He wanted us to transfuse him so that he could manifest the Presence. None of us would even think about it and he became bitter and resentful. I don't think anyone had ever said no to him in his life.

I came home from Seattle one day and found the house full of his father's goons and Boston handcuffed to a chair and trapped in a sigil. He was going to take her blood by force, evidently. I called Mariha and we manifested among them. They managed to shoot me twice before we got Boston out. We dropped into the garden and Oniah was there. She joined us and we went back in.

It ended with a lot of dead thugs and Mr. Dictator's son strapped into the same chair he had Boston in. I didn't know what to do with him but Oniah suggested that she knew a place we should drop him. We super glued his hands and thighs together and left him naked in an alley with a crew of third world rapists alerted to his whereabouts and availability.

Haniel wasn't happy about that but we weren't very happy with the situation he had placed us in. I told him to clean up the mess in our house and left him muttering while we went to Austin to visit the McDonalds.

We never heard anything else about him. We failed on a Watcher, too. It was much less spectacular, but she couldn't get used to the idea that creatures such as ourselves were the elect. I think she viewed humans as little better than animals, and our "disgusting" lifestyle did little to change her opinion. Greyson especially disturbed her.

Greyson was an enchanting little sprite. She was seven, and she was a prodigy: a little blonde headed pixie with violet eyes and the sweetest little voice you've ever heard. She could sing the Siren's songs and she had her mother's pure heart. It seemed like she was immune to the temptation to misbehave. She never gave us a minute's trouble and I had thought it was impossible not to love her. The Watcher was immune to her charm. She viewed her as something repellent and it made me angry that such a being existed. She didn't last her six months. She continually asked to be reassigned and finally Mariha demanded that.

"If you don't get rid of her, I'm going to have Lilith eat her," she told Haniel. "I won't tolerate her in our home another instant. This isn't going the way it's supposed to. She's becoming worse; not better. I'm serious, Haniel. If I see her sneer at Greyson one more time, I'm going to attack her. Do you want Watchers sneering at the Reapers?"

He took her away and Raphael told us she had been assigned as the Keeper's assistant in Tartarus.

Our successes were very gratifying. Two more demons had become part of our reformed Nephilim crowd and we had a maybe a dozen Watchers that didn't want to do anything but Watch over us. We only had three humans to our credit but they were good ones. They were all young, but ready to step into positions of considerable power in political families or large, multinational corporations.

I never knew what the criterion was for choosing them. It seemed like they all came in with a bad attitude. I understood that they might resent being forced to be with us. We tried to assure them right away that we had no hand in their selection and had nothing against them personally. We were assigned to them as much as they were assigned to us. The problem was, they lived in our home and we expected them to act like guests. If they didn't, they sat in the chair; the humans shackled to it.

I never knew either what kind of a deal had been worked out with the humans. Were angels revealing themselves to heads of states or corporate big shots?

Haniel dropped in New Years Day of the fourth year to announce that the time was right for Sagan to have children. Boston wasn't yet approved, but he spent an hour closeted with Mom. I don't know what went on but she was very cool to him when he left.

Sagan was ambivalent about the whole idea. She had gotten her MBA and was working full time in the development business. She and Bronley had worked out some sort of an arrangement and they worked well together. I know she wanted a baby but she didn't like the whole, "it's the right time" idea.