Finding It-666: the Beast

Gabriel plays a very important character in the saga. We meet him in the first book as incarnated Doctor Gabriel Purallee.
Strangely enough that ambivalent Angel is the one that all turns to for some sort of stability. His clinic and his house serve as a refuge, the safe haven where one can hide to stay alive.

Gabriel landed the tough job, appointed by his uncle Raphael, to become the Guardian Angel of Walter Workmaster. The undercover incarnated Angel went about it by befriending the law student which was dating his younger sister, Caroline. Although there were many things Gabriel disapproved about Walter, they also had a lot in common, and the two befriended in a big way. Taking holidays, doing road trips together, the unconventional Walter was a human most suited to be looked after by the aloof Angel Gabriel.

Gabriel felled in love during his job with the twin sister of Walter Workmaster, the free spirited Wendy. Despite the disapproval of his uncle Raphael, the younger incarnated Archangel went ahead and betrothed the human. Opening his own clinic, closer to the large woodland he inherited from his father, Gabriel sought to distance himself as much as he could from his overwhelming uncle, and his Army of Angels. His wake was easily followed by his younger sister Caroline, now a doctor in her own right who went to work for him at his clinic. Her fiancé Walter did not go along very well with Raphael, so she was kin to follow suit her brother and avoid the war of words that Wrath and Workmaster always seemed to have. The crew was completed by Wendy, who accepted Gabriel’s offer of becoming his receptionist.

If Caroline turned out to be a happy young bride at the sides of Walter Workmaster, with a thriving little boy to show for it, Wendy became increasingly worried by the possessiveness and insane jealousy of Gabriel. When just smiling to male customers, just like she did with everyone as a receptionist, caused questioning, she put her betrothal to Gabriel on standstill and ask for a proper re-think. She also stepped away from her job in order to distance herself from the suffocating distrusting environment that reigned by Gab. It was meant to be a month of rethinking. Yet Wendy went to work as a PA for politician Paul Peterson. She followed him on his campaign around the US and failed to come back. Peterson, worshipping and a servant of the devil, human sacrificed Wendy to him, like he did with many humans, ritually.

Let alone to say, we have a mourning Archangel, with a massive guilt trip on his hands in Gabriel. He devoted his entire attention to the brother of his betrothed and his young family. Bringing back Walter from his breaking down brink mattered to his grieving self deeply.

The character of Gabriel bestows a heavy heart. That taciturn Archangel has a long past where grievous mistakes have been made on his part which he never mentions. From incarnation to incarnation, he carries a weight in his heart which prevents him to be truly happy. Unlike the other Angels, belonging to the Army of Raphael, and considering his past credential, Gabriel has decided to not take part in fights nor battles. He always steps aside from the other Angels, very much the outcast. Despite any efforts of Raphael to keep Gabriel involved and within the boundaries of their Angelic society, it is tempered down by their personalities who clashes more often than not.

Archangel Gabriel has a pattern in all his incarnations to chose occupations which will allow him to be solitary, but devoted to the welfare of humans via medicine. Hermit, monk or Doctor, Gabriel has the mind of a genius which despite impressing others can disconcert. A trip to his lab will unsettle many to the extent that they think of Gabriel as a somewhat mad professor. Seeing bits of demon in his test tubes and jars, many Angels have the fear of becoming Gab’s lab rat for his strange experiments.

The somewhat independent and darkly clever Archangel has his curiosity rather picked by the young Beast that Workmaster brings to his clinic. She becomes a subject that he is only too eager to analyse very thoroughly. Intrigued by her, he is also touched by her apparent gentleness and fears the usually impulsive reactions of the leader of all Angels, Raphael, when he will learn the existence of the Beast.

However his tentative to hide It from the knowledge of his uncle fails. Too soon for his taste he has the heavy cavalry of the elder Archangel at his doorsteps taking control of the situation.

His strong interest in the mysterious teenager, but also his care to the welfare of her Being, accompanied by his medical attention have an unsuspected result: the Beast falls in love with him big time.

Despite seeing his position more as a mentor and a guardian of It-666, he gradually develops strong reciprocal loving feelings for her. Their forming partnership, is cautioned by others who monitor it closely.

The loner’s life of Gabriel turns to its head by the arrival of the Beast. He is suddenly surrounded by many he would usually rather shun and his house is invaded. His odd ways, idiosyncrasies, brilliant creations, mad yet genial plans and projects come to the scrutiny of the community of Angels, especially of its leader, who conceives a scheme to reintegrate the younger Archangel amongst them by taping into his enormous potential.

I wrote Gabriel as a relentlessly industrious character, house proud, a tad OCD, with a quick temper which comes to the surface like a volcanic eruption, yet which will recede to provide full forgiveness for treading on his peculiar larger than life toes (just an expression although very tall, Gab is no BigFoot). An incredibly generous and caring host, only he thinks more of your needs than your own self, preceding them with a humility and humbleness of character which makes him serve you in his own house almost like a king.

He would crave for a little bit of respect however doesn’t think he deserves any. After what happened to Wendy, the same applies to love in his mind.

If his home is desperately pristine clean with no speck of dust in sight, his soul harbours cob webs at every corner, where Gabriel gets tangled with only a desperate wish to atone for his heavy past. However he hardly confides nor lets anyone go near his internal trouble. The Beast somehow feels his strong pain and has only the desire to palliate it, throwing her devoted self at his feet.

Although Gabriel is an intensely sad and stern character, a severe one: life is not to be taken as a joke or a fun fair ride, he bursts hilarious bubbles by his short temper properly scolding others. The other characters take bets to guess the reaction of Gab to their actions, did they provoke the short fuse in the usually gentle and caring Gabriel or not?

Almost sown onto his shoulders is the nickname of ‘Killjoy’, the one that thinks the World will end if he sees a drop of water not wiped up in his sink. Stepping a little too far of his particular line in his own house can potentially unleash Big Gab fetching his baseball bat to correct you a tad. Walter Workmaster had a memorable taste of his bat which did become a teasing banter between the two. If the bat broke the shoulder of the man, it did not break their strong bond and friendship. Beside Gab felt ever so sorry of that particular event, despite the human having pushed his boundaries.

Boundaries, this Archangel is full of them: if they were straightforward, it would be easy not to cross them however they are peculiar and complicated, as intricate as his massive hand built tree-house. Environmentally friendly, the craft that went into his home mesmerises whoever steps into it. Built from scratch from his own sheer laborious plans and work, the tree-house of Gabriel is any child’s dream come true. His woods are the perfect place to hide a Beast, his home, her perfect nest, his heart a protective place for her to recover from any of her hardship.

Gabriel possess the strong welcoming heart which can harbour an hailing Beast. He knows the toll of hardships of the soul to and through to try to teach It to overcome them. This intimidating Archangel is a colossus with Achilles’ heels, yet also with all encompassing wings. He is the Angel who tamed the Beast to be his Bambi, his nickname for her.

The choice of his surname, Purallee, was to symbolise what the character represent: the laws of the forest. That character full of principles not only lives in a tree-house in vast woodland, he is a marginal with self made laws.

Let’s meet Gabriel in quotes and passages:

Walter holding It-666’s left hand reassuringly, pointed to her left foot and stated, -I think for her ordeal, it has all to do with her mark, Gabriel, branded on her foot.
Purallee took a good look at the bridge of her foot and put it down immediately, as if he had burnt himself somehow seeing her triple six mark. He couldn’t believe his eyes, thinking that his worst nightmare had finally taken human shape. He gave a bewildered look at Walter,
-Holy mother fucker, Walt! What did you fucking bring in my clinic? Shit, man, bloody hell! All of a sudden I prefer Bambi ran over by you, and plucking bullets from a man’s arse! Holy crap, It was under a pentagram made with blood, has a heartbeat to sky-rocket you to the moon, and the bloody mark of the Beast on it. It’s in my bloody damn clinic, you must be having a laugh, man! What the hell is that? What the hell is going on?’
(verse 5: Stating It-666)

-Walt seems to think you had the bad luck to be born on the wrong day, is that so? What is your date of birth? Time and place if you do happen to know them too, please. I thought I told you to cease crying. She bit her lip and wiped her tears with the palm of her left hand before picking the pen up to reply,
-Six of June ninety six. London. Six sixteen in the morning.
Gabriel grinned at the paper and raising one of his brows mocked,
-Are you scared of writing your date of birth in numbers, Beast? Don’t you think it would cut the chase, making it simpler and faster?
It-666 closed her eyes taking the full blow of his remark. She could feel her other type of tears coming slowly but surely to her eyes. If she didn’t want him to see how freaky she was, well this would not happen. She wrote down quickly,
-I am scared. I am a freak, I know I am. Sorry for these coming tears, don’t be frightened, please don’t.
She hid her face, lifting her arm to cover her eyes as much as she could, and the blood tears pouring now from them. Gabriel read her note, removed her arm from her face firmly yet with care, and lifted her chin to inspect them closely. He asked in a softer more concerned tone of voice, trying to tease and ease the mind of the Being in front of him,
-Well, well, what have we got here? Do you want to play peek a boo, Beast? I bet those hurt. Come, now, let’s dry those. Do not be scared of me, I won’t hurt you but I will examine you and assess you. I need to figure you out. Presently I have got to come to terms with seeing you being so sensitive, if I ever imagine an Antichrist you would not fit my bill. I am pretty damn sure you would rather want me calling you Bambi than Beast too, am I not right?
She managed to smile shyly as she agreed with him by a positive blink of her eyes. Gabriel pursued, as he collected a little blood of her tears upon a small tool and dipped the instrument into a test tube,
-Here we have it, finally a smile. I have to say that given all the shit that must have happened to you, I find you a rather gentle thing, polite and well behaved. Of course I am not going to give into it. So 1996, makes you sweet sixteen on human terms, a teenage Antichrist, but like Walter said some mistakes must have been made somewhere, for if I read my holy books correctly, I was rather expecting the opposite sex to yours. As I have my blood tear sample now let me wipe the rest, and try to be less emotional Bambi.’
(verse 6: Dark Angel Gabriel)

Now, let me ask, Bambi, what went on with the Bud thing? This was a tad unsettling. Can you explain this to us? It-666 clutched tightly Gabriel’s hand as she confessed, her eyes pleading for his comprehension,
-I do something to animals. I don’t know what. They always come to me, are extremely well behaved and friendly to me but they also become overprotective of me. However, I talk to them directly or their minds and they obey. Maybe it is because I am truly a beast, and we speak the same language.
Gabriel welcomed her confession, stating,
-This skill doesn’t make you a beast for some humans were bestowed with this peculiar gift, the most famous of all, King Solomon.
Walter went to one of the windows, opening it wide, and told full of circumspection,
-Right, saying ‘Down’ to my dog and him executing the order doesn’t ring Solomon’s mythical skill to me. Impress me, Bambi, call the little birds in here, and as you will fail, it will prevent Gab, going all biblical on us!
Doctor Purallee shook his head in disapproval, and ordered,
-Close that damn window, you, Muppet! I don’t want any fucking birds shitting in my clinic.
Birds, large and small came flocking in, yet all perched upon the window sill, with some singing melodiously. Caroline clapped her hands like a child at the sight of the little robin, blue tit, wood pigeon, blackbird and collared dove mix. She expressed her emotions with a bright smile,
-Looks like Walt Disney’s magic to me, Bambi!
Walter looked totally bemused, and nodding to the girl, he admitted,
-That’s cutting my quack short! I am dumbfounded. You can let them go now, before one of them poops in his damn clinic, and before Gab gets his magical bat to show he is all out of patience with me!
Gabriel stood up with authority. All the birds went. He closed the window then ordered,
-Focus,children! Task at hand.’ …
(verse 14: Solomon’s Power.)