Angelina glanced up at Raphael questioningly. “You were tiring, Raph.”
Raphael sighed. “I know. Thanks for pointing that out, Ange.”
“You were great,” Angelina stated solemnly. “We’d be crispy critters if not for you.”
“How close were we, Raph?” Catherine asked, still mesmerized by the vicious battle going on only twenty yards from them.
“I’m not sure I had more than a few minutes left in me. It seems I could use a little of my brother’s darker side.”
“We like you just the way you are, Raph.” Angelina hugged the Archangel.
“Thanks.” Raphael stroked Angelina’s hair. “I hope I can get through to Abaddon soon.”
“How do you mean?” Catherine tore her attention from the ongoing battle reluctantly.
“I need to remind him he ripped Lucifer from hiding by sheer will. He could do the same with this demon. I have been unable to break through to him. My brother is so much in his element it may be a while before I can interrupt his single minded pursuit.”
“He sure is something,” Angelina mumbled, watching Abaddon’s nearly enveloped form.
Raphael straightened suddenly, reaching over to Catherine. “Take my hand, Cat. You and Ange will have to help me.”
Catherine took Raphael’s hand, closing her eyes and joining her thoughts with Raphael’s. She gasped, her eyes popping open to search out Angelina’s face. Angelina had gripped Raphael strongly, closed her eyes, and transmitted a vision of Abaddon locked in a naked embrace with her at the hotel they had stayed at.
“Angelina?!” Catherine exclaimed as Raphael burst into laughter.
“Look, it worked.” Raphael pointed.
Abaddon had ceased flailing away at the creatures, looking toward the shielded bubble covering his friends. He spun suddenly into the air, throwing off the creatures swarming over him. With practiced ease, Abaddon quickly sheathed his sword, and returned his shield to its place over his back. Fists clenched in concentration, Abaddon bowed his head, smiling grimly at the task Raphael reminded him of. In moments, a hissing demon plucked from its lair, materialized near Abaddon. This time it held its own shield and gleaming black sword.
“A soul sword,” Raphael said, unable to hide his uneasiness.
“That’s not good, is it Raph?” Angelina asked as Abaddon filled his hands with sword and shield in the blink of an eye.
Raphael shook his head, watching the two circle each other warily. The horde of creatures halted their attack. Raphael could feel the excitement pulsing through Abaddon. His brother recognized the danger now present. Knowing the cost of diverting Abaddon’s attention, Raphael resisted the urge to join his thoughts with his brother’s.
“How did that thing get a sword and shield?” Catherine asked.
“There is only one person from whom it could have attained the weapon: Lucifer.”
“Will…” Angelina began, but shut up immediately as the two mammoth figures clashed in a blur of sword strokes. “Hol…holy Father in heaven.”
“Amen,” Catherine muttered.
Without stop the titans battled with Abaddon at a disadvantage. He endured the demon’s talons slashing at him in addition to its sword attack. Abaddon employed his shield with incredible efficiency. Raphael, Catherine, and Angelina cheered unabashedly, seeing Abaddon lop off the monster’s limbs as they sought to rip him under his guard. They delighted in hearing Abaddon’s laughter of pure pleasure at the demon’s screams of frustration and pain.
Hours passed as minutes, the demon gaining expertise as the time passed in vivid battle with Abaddon. The two moved in a concerted dance of deadly intent until finally Abaddon seemed to stumble. In the split second of his miscue the demon buried its sword to the hilt in Abaddon’s chest. Angelina cried out his name, collapsing in Raphael’s arms.
“Have faith, Ange,” Raphael whispered in the heart broken nun’s ear. He forced her to face the battle again.
The demon rushed forward screaming in triumph. Abaddon dropped his shield. He gripped the hilt of the demon’s sword, locking it in place. Abaddon ripped free of the creature, twisting away in an arch, and bringing his own sword up. With sudden realization, the demon tried to pull back. Too late, it cried out in a whining moan as Abaddon’s sword stroke clove it nearly in half. His facial scars glowing in anticipation, Abaddon hacked the demon into pieces, his sword a blurred cutting machine. No restorative power could withstand the Archangel’s raging blows. With sudden flashing yellowish black flame, the demon burst into hundreds of small flaming pyres.
“Stay here,” Raphael ordered, exiting the shield without losing his focus on maintaining it around the startled nuns.
Blindingly white wings spread out around him. Raphael streaked toward his brother’s now staggering figure. From the Archangel Raphael thousands of tiny lights shot out all around him, disintegrating the soulless minions scrabbling toward the wounded Abaddon. White fire engulfed the horde as Raphael clutched Abaddon to him.
“Hey… Raph,” Abaddon said, his blood flowing out from the demon’s sword at front and back.
“I have to pull it out or I can’t heal you, my brother,” Raphael explained regretfully.
“I know.” Abaddon turned to allow Raphael to grasp the sword hilt jutting from his chest.
Angelina buried her head in Catherine’s chest as Raphael wrenched the demon sword from its victim. He tossed it aside distastefully. Clutching Abaddon to him, Raphael placed his hands over both the entrance and exit wounds in Abaddon’s chest, drawing out the evil injected by the demon’s soul sword. To Catherine’s eye, Raphael appeared drained as she watched him retain his hold on Abaddon. The two Seraphim remained as they were for many moments, each gathering strength from the other until they were able to walk toward Raphael’s shielded bubble. The demon dimension began fading. The room where their adventure had begun took its place.
Angelina grabbed hold of Abaddon with a sob of joy as Raphael helped him regain his human accouterments. Catherine managed to get Gorbachev to stand up while she checked him for any injury.
“Do you know where you are, Gorby?” Catherine asked.
The former Premier of the USSR nodded hesitantly, smiling benignly at Catherine. “I am finally free of it.”
“You are indeed. Do you remember who you are?”
“Yes,” Gorbachev replied with some sadness in his voice. “I know what I was and why. I will be that man no longer.”
“I guess you can help us get through all this to our vehicle without any trouble then?”
“And I will forever be in your debt, Sister Mary Catherine. Come, my friends, I will have some of my men escort you out of here.”
Gorbachev reached into his suit coat pocket with a shaking hand, extracting a business card from it. He handed the card to Catherine. “These are my private numbers. Never hesitate to call me if I can be of service to your mission.”
“Thank you, Mr. Gorbachev.”
“You may always call be Gorby, Sister,” Gorbachev said with a laugh. “I promise never to be worthy of the name Watermelon Man ever again though.”
“Be careful of how you change your ways,” Catherine advised, taking the Premier’s hand gently. “After all this, I don’t want anything happening to you.”
Gorbachev patted her hand. “I will be discreet, Sister. Remember though, I can help you in your quest.”
“We won’t forget. I believe my friends will need a little time to regroup. It had been our intent to find a place we could make our base of operations.”
Gorbachev’s face lit up in delight at Catherine’s words. “I know of such a place. My conglomerate of environmental front groups owns many retreats in the mountains of California. One of them has never been used. It is North of Placerville - a place called Pollack Pines.”
“That sounds wonderful.” Catherine embraced Gorbachev. “Are you sure you won’t get into trouble over it?”
“Over what?” Raphael asked curiously. He fol
lowed Angelina and Abaddon over to where Catherine was conversing with Gorbachev.
“Gorby wants to give us a place in the mountains to work from,” Catherine told them.
“Very kind of you, Sir,” Abaddon said, smiling down at a beaming Gorbachev.
“It is nothing after what you have done. Come, we will go hunt down my former employee who I fired so I can hire him back. Then we will take care of the paperwork in my office. I will permanently lease the property to all of you. All the utilities work. Moving in will be the only thing left to do.”
Angelina threw her arms around the blushing ex-Premier of the Soviet Union and kissed him on the cheek. “You’ll come and visit us, won’t you?”
“Of course,” Gorbachev said enthusiastically. “As I explained to Sister Mary Catherine, I will do all I can to help you. Follow me.”
* * *
“Well, do we go up to our new place or stay in town another night and get shit-faced?” Angelina asked as she drove the Hummer away from the Presidio.
“Sister Angelina!” Catherine gasped out in annoyance as both Raphael and Abaddon laughed. “You two need to stop encouraging her.”
“Ahem,” Raphael cleared his throat. “That will be enough of your colorful language, Sister Angelina. Shame on you.”
This remark caused Abaddon to laugh even harder, his booming laughter bringing a quick tap on the back of his head from Catherine. Abaddon immediately whipped around in his seat to look accusingly at Catherine. He rubbed the back of his head comically.
“Sister Angelina,” Abaddon complained, “Catherine hit me.”
“He started it.”
Raphael laughed uncontrollably, unable to believe Abaddon had purposely played along with a joke. He held up his hands defensively as Catherine made ready to repeat her previous slap, only this time to Raphael’s head.
“I am surprised at you, Sister Mary Catherine,” Raphael rebuked her, “so pure, so angelic, and yet so violent. Soon, we will need a substitute for you on our missions if you keep up this unseemly behavior. Or perhaps the demons will leave their hosts in joyous anticipation of your touch.”
“Very well then,” Catherine relented, leaning back in her seat and folding her arms across her chest. “I vote we go get shit-faced.”
“Do we have to have an after mission jam session too?” Angelina asked formally after the laughter died down.
“Of course,” Raphael replied. “We must incorporate the knowledge gained so dangerously, Ange. It will go down better with a little wine, will it not?”
“I’m thinking shots and beers tonight.” Angelina glanced at Catherine while stopped at a red light on Van Ness Avenue. “If that’s all right with you, lightweight?”
“Lightweight?” Catherine echoed the comment, sitting up and leaning forward. “I did not let myself get out of control when we sampled the wine a little, did I, Raph?”
“Could I earn a slap to the head if my answer does not match your preconceived notion?” Raphael asked to the delight of a giggling Angelina.
“I may have been slightly tipsy but I…”
“Tipsy?!” Angelina exclaimed incredulously. “You were staggering all over the bar, you lush.”
Catherine chuckled. “This is so amazing. After all we saw today it is almost unbelievable to be poking fun at each other while riding through the city.”
“Let’s stay at the Top of the Mark,” Angelina suggested. “They have a bar overlooking the city. We can make it up there before sunset. You and Raph will have to materialize yourselves suits though because they have a dress code.”
“Will you and Catherine be dressed well enough?” Abaddon asked. “Raphael can…”
“I’m becoming more and more comfortable just as I am, my Lord,” Angelina interrupted, squeezing Abaddon’s hand momentarily. “If you weren’t so cute, I bet I could be as goody two shoes as Cat.”
“I would like to stay at this Top of the Mark,” Raphael said. “It sounds very nice to be able to sit at a table where we can see out over San Francisco. Perhaps we can even avoid any trouble while enjoying the skyline.”
“Just so we don’t get any sudden directions to launch another mission,” Catherine added. “We do need some down time. How is your wound, Abaddon?”
“It is healing a little slower than I anticipated. It will be fine by tomorrow.”
“I don’t think I care much for your new battle tactic, my love,” Angelina said. “Can you figure something else to do other than get stabbed through the chest next time?”
“Although we kept from endangering others by battling the demon in its hellish dimension, the place had a leaching effect on me. I did not want to take the chance of being worn down gradually to defeat. Did you feel it too, Raph?”
“I did,” Raphael agreed. “These next generation demons are not to be taken lightly.”
“This Top of the Mark truly has shots and beers, Sister Angelina?” Abaddon asked.
“Oh yes, my love,” Angelina replied with vigor. “I doubt they will cause you any distress but they are a dangerous drink for us mortals. I’m thinking Zombie, Cat.”
Catherine laughed appreciatively. “I will tattoo your eyelids and do unspeakable things while you lay passed out.”
“You brat!” Angelina laughed. “You would too. My Lord Abaddon will protect me from such hazing, right my love?”
“I would wish to know more about these hazing rituals perpetrated upon the passed out,” Abaddon answered professorially.
“After Sister Angelina drinks two Zombie drinks, we can carry her unconscious body up to our room and subject her to all forms of humiliation,” Catherine explained, ignoring Angelina’s gasps of indignation throughout her discourse.
“What is in this Zombie drink?” Raphael asked. “I thought Zombies were undead creatures who ate live humans’ brains.”
“Pretty good, Raph,” Angelina complimented him. “This drink is named for the movie Zombies because after you have one you walk like a Zombie.”
“And if you have two, Sister Mary Catherine humiliates your unconscious body.” Abaddon added.
“That’s the plan,” Catherine laughed.
“Your plan maybe,” Angelina replied.
“I think it wise to not overdo these celebrations, Sisters,” Raphael admonished. “You will give my brother a bad example.”
“I believe I can handle this celebration after a battle,” Abaddon stated, smiling as the others laughed at Raphael’s declaration of moral authority. “Constant confrontations like today, without some form of recuperative time will burn us all out.”
“After watching you today, it would not seem possible for you to burn out, brother.”
“It was glorious, Raph,” Abaddon admitted, grinning back at Raphael.
“Enjoyed the added danger of possibly being destroyed, did you?” Raphael asked.
“When he materialized with a soul sword, I knew it could not have been completely independent of Lucifer.”
“He could not stay hidden from you either,” Angelina chimed in. “I hope they don’t get any more powerful than Gorby’s demon.”
“We will grow stronger too, Ange,” Catherine stated with certainty. “I felt much stronger than the first time.”
“You were very confident, Cat,” Raphael said with admiration. “You and Ange definitely helped me today. I found out I was not as recovered from my ordeal with Lucy as I had thought. I agree with Ange. I hope the Gorby demon was as formidable as we will find.”
“Here we are, guys,” Angelina announced, parking the Hummer near the front entrance area of the hotel, Top of the Mark. “They’ll park the Hummer for us if we want them to. See, here comes a guy now.”
Chapter 11
The Key
The young man approached them at a jog, smiling in greeting. He opened Angelina’s door first and helped her step down. Gaping in amazement, the attendant watched first Raphael, and then Abaddon exit the Hummer. Catherine had already slid over and left t
hrough Raphael’s side. The attendant was thin of build with reddish blonde hair cut short. At nearly six feet tall himself, the young man was dwarfed by the two Archangels.
“Sor…sorry,” the attendant managed to say in way of an apology for not moving quicker. “Any luggage?”
“My brother has them.” Raphael placed a reassuring hand on the young attendant’s shoulder with the immediate accompanying awareness. “Will you show us the way to your check-in please, James?”
“Yes, my Lord Raphael. Will you be staying long?”
“I think just for a night or two. Will that be a problem?”
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