Angelology(80)

angelological text we have. It is the only record of the true origin of evil on earth that was written by

a man and passed among men.”

My envy of Gabriella disappeared, replaced by an intense curiosity about what Dr. Seraphina

would tell us.

“When religious scholars became interested in restoring The Book of Enoch, a Scottish explorer

named James Bruce found a version of this text in Ethiopia. Another copy was found in Belgrade. As

you can imagine, these discoveries were at cross purposes to the church’s attempt to wipe out the text

completely. But it may surprise you to know that we have helped them along the way, taking copies of

Enoch out of circulation and storing them in our library. The Vatican’s desire to pretend that Nephilim

and angelologists do not exist is equal to our desire to remain hidden. It all works out quite well, I

suppose, our mutual agreement to pretend the other does not exist.”

“It is surprising that we don’t work together,” I said.

“Not at all,” Dr. Seraphina replied. “Once angelology was the center of attention in religious

circles, one of the most revered branches of theology. That quickly changed. After the Crusades and

the outrages of the Inquisition, we knew that it was time to distance ourselves from the church. Even

before this, however, we had moved the majority of our efforts underground, hunting the Famous Ones

alone. We have always been a force of resistance—a partisan group, if you will—fighting them from

a safe distance. The less visible we became, the better, especially because the Nephilim themselves

had contrived to create an almost perfect secrecy. The Vatican is aware of our activities, of course,

but has chosen to leave us in peace, at least for the time being. The advancements the Nephilim made

under the cover of businesses and government operations made them anonymous. Their greatest

achievement in the past three hundred years has been hiding themselves in plain sight. They have put

us under constant surveillance, emerging only to attack us, to benefit from wars or shady business

dealings, and then they quietly disappear. Of course, they have also done a marvelous job separating

the intellectuals from the religious. They have made sure that humanity will not have another Newton

or Copernicus, thinkers who revere both Science and God. Atheism was their greatest invention.

Darwin’s work, despite the man’s extreme dependence upon religion, was twisted and propagated by

them. The Nephilim have succeeded in making people believe that humanity is self-generated, self-

sufficient, free of the divine, sui generis. It is an illusion that makes our work much more difficult and

their detection nearly impossible.”

Carefully, Dr. Seraphina rolled the scroll and slid it into the copper cylinder. Turning to the woven

basket containing our lunch, she opened it and placed a baguette and cheese before us, encouraging us

to eat. I was famished. The bread was warm and soft in my hands, leaving the slightest slick of butter

on my fingers as I tore off a piece.

“Father Bogomil, one of our founding fathers, compiled our first independent angelology in the

tenth century as a pedagogical tool. Later angelologies included taxonomies of the Nephilim. As the

majority of our people resided in monasteries throughout Europe, the angelologies were copied by

hand and guarded by the monastic community, usually within the monastery itself. It was a fruitful

period in our history. Outside the exclusive group of angelologists, whose mission was narrowly

focused upon our enemies, scholarship on the general properties, powers, and purposes of angels

flourished. For the angelologist the Middle Ages were a time of great advances. Awareness of

angelic powers, both good and evil, rose to its prime. Shrines, statues, and paintings gave pervasive

awareness of the basic principles of angelic presence to the masses of people. A sense of beauty and

hope became a part of everyday life, in spite of the illnesses that ravaged the population. Although

there were magicians and Gnostics and Cathars—various sects that exalted or distorted angelic

reality—we were able to defend ourselves from the machinations of the hybrid creatures, or Giants,

as we often refer to them. The church, for all the harm it was capable of doing, protected civilization

under the aegis of belief. Frankly, although my husband would say otherwise, this was the last time

we had the upper hand against the Nephilim.”

Dr. Seraphina paused to watch me finish my lunch, perhaps concluding that my studies had left me

starved, although Gabriella—who had not eaten a thing—seemed to have lost her appetite

completely. Embarrassed by my lack of manners, I wiped my hands on the linen napkin in my lap.