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Now - about vessels. There are three types of vessels.
True Vessels, always capitalized are the most permanent. The four archangels and the seraphs Created the bodies they wear as Vessels. There was never a soul inside, their were merely a shell. But while they are able to leave them, they are very much bonded to them and so do require things such as sleep and food, though far far less than anything mortal (and it takes far more of a drug to effect them). Leaving a Vessel cannot be done for more than a couple days, and the Vessel is left comatose but stable and helpless. Normally if an angel must leave their Vessel, they leave the Vessel in the care of one of their brothers.
It is not a light thing to take on a permanent Vessel, as they cannot occupy a body long term which also has a soul inside it - and consent for possession must not only be given, but given without cohesion. Thus far, the only archangel to have their Vessel destroyed was Gabriel, but it was a valuable lesson.
The second type of vessel is a member of a vessel line - that is, the descendants of the angel inside his Vessel and a human. The archangel who heads the line may take any of the vessel line as a temporary vessel - again, consent must be given - without any harm being done to the person (temporary, however can mean upwards of a year). It's rare that an angel must do so, but on occasion it's needed. But regardless, the angels are very protective of their vessel lines against certain types of threats. And on occasion, they take special interest in one of them.
For an angel to take someone as a permanent Vessel, the soul inside must freely give up everything, including existence. What happens to them? Only Father knows, and he isn't sharing.
The third type of vessel is a borrowed vessel. Not all angels have a Vessel and of those that do, only the archangels and seraphs are allowed to have vessel lines - all but one of the seraphs do. Angels who need a vessel borrow a member of their archangel's vessel line. They are able to possess that person for a period of time ranging from a few hours to many days, depending on the power of the angel (the less powerful angels are able to stay longer) without harming the person, and can leave the vessel to come back later, if needed. Although this wears on the person and does do damage - if however, an angel needs a permanent vessel, he must convince the person he using a vessel to consent to making it permanent (as well as getting permission from the angel who started the line). As such, very few angels have vessels.
