Blind Spot
868 Words
Blind Spot
The trees at the edge of the garden were burning. We stood outside and watched embers float up into the sky. Danny’s resolve to stay remained unwavering. I was at a loss to explain why, when all around us the forest burned. Wildfire was raging, flames licking at our door.
We stayed and watched the trees around us burn, until there was no more fuel to burn, yet the garden and cottage remained untouched. It was nothing short of miraculous.
“How can this be happening?” I marvelled. “We should have been burnt to a crisp.”
“Apparently He, in His infinite wisdom, created what I refer to as blind spots. These are safe havens. From above they cannot be seen and from the ground they can only be found when stumbled upon. To all eyes outside the boundary of this blind spot the area appears to have been consumed by fire. No cottage or garden exists. We do not exist.”
“That’s amazing,” I said, “but how did you find it if it’s a blind spot?”
“A few centuries ago I was in pursuit of a lesser demon through this area. When he vanished I knew something wasn’t right. In my haste to catch him I transported to where I had last seen him, and started running again. I caught him here, in this very clearing. It was unfamiliar territory to me, which was strange, for I’d been patrolling these lands for thousands of years.”
Danny showed me a demon running, with him following close behind, and the clearing. It was an image that would have been familiar, if the cottage and garden had sat upon it.
“When I had turned him to ash I sought the skies, to see what this area looked like from above,” the image changed to an aerial view, “and found I could not see the clearing, or the pile of ash. It baffled me and I returned to the ground, some distance away. Still I could not see the clearing. I knew I had not imagined it though.
“I covered the area using a spiral search from my starting point, until I came upon it again. For days I looked at it from all angles — in different light and conditions, and at different times of the day. I wanted to see if there was a window of opportunity for discovery, yet there was none.
“In the last century two more blind spots were revealed to me, though the most recent one is not like this one. Anyone can find it, anyone can see it, but no one can detect what type of being — angel, monster, demon or mortal, resides within it. The blind spot has been secured and is available should this one become compromised. Of the other, I discovered that to call the name of an angel out loud acted as a summons, allowing them access to the blind spot. Luckily the angel I called did not realise what he had been called to.”
“So that’s why you won’t let me say your superior’s name out loud, why I can’t say any angel’s name except yours.” I felt a sudden dread. “What about Amrael?” I whispered. “We’ve both said his name out loud.”
“Only after Amrael was dead did we speak his name. The dead cannot be summoned here,” Danny said.
“And demons? We discussed Satan often enough.”
“It doesn’t work that way either, though I don’t know why. Perhaps I can only summon other angels because I’m an angel.”
“Then what about me? I’m part angel, part Satan-created monster. Surely if I called a demon by their name they’d come?”
“I’d rather not take the chance. We’ve spoke of Satan, true enough and he hasn’t appeared, but neither has He whom we have also talked about.”
“What, God?”
“Yes, Him.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Maybe we’re not important enough in the scheme of things.”
“All of His creations are important,” Danny lectured me. “You just don’t realise your own worth.”
Yeah, right. God afforded me the same importance He gave angels and those who dedicated their lives to Him. Even Mary Magdalene was a saint compared to me.
“Okay, if this is a blind spot, how did the cottage come to be here? You said yourself this was a clearing. The cottage wasn’t here in the beginning.”
“You should know the answer to that already,” he replied.
“Right,” I thought about it for a moment, “and that would be because you made it so?” He nodded. “Why a cottage though?”
“It had to do with something from my past, a long time ago, that was once important to me. At the time, I think I needed to hold onto it. I couldn’t let it go.”
“And it’s not important anymore?”
“No.”
“So are you going to elaborate?” I asked.
“No, let’s just leave it at that.”
“What if I asked you to make it more like the type of home I always dreamed of living in?”
“I would change it, for you. What would you like me to do?”
“Not a thing,” I replied. “I just wondered if you were really ready to move on and leave the cottage behind.”
Danny laughed and pulled me to him, nuzzling my hair.
I knew now that provided someone didn’t stumble upon us we’d be safe. We could spend eternity here if we had to, making the odd hunting trip when my hunger became too much for me. If the angels thought we were dead — killed in their fire — we could live in peace, just the two of us, without a care in the world.
“I have made some changes,” Danny said. “Nothing major, but I think you’ll enjoy them.”
“What?” I asked.
“Why don’t we start in the bathroom,” he replied. His smile said it all.
- Writer
