I reached for the camera, but he hid it behind his back. “Don’t touch, just look.”
He held the phone out toward me, and I took a hard look at the picture. It was shaking in his hand, and half of it was fuzzy, as though the vampire had been hiding behind something when he’d snapped the shot.
He’d taken the photo through a window peering into someone’s living room. The curtains had been mostly drawn, but a narrow gap remained. I spotted four people sitting. Two were men, and one of them had the same curly hair and face that I’d seen in many memories of Caligula. He looked like the right guy, but I couldn’t say for sure because the picture wasn’t particularly sharp. Then I recognized Ophelia sitting next to him. That combination convinced me this vampire had seen what he’d claimed.
“How did you get this?” I asked, trying not to sound too excited.
The vampire smirked. “I was prowling around, looking for a house worth breaking into. The curtains were mostly closed, but I recognized Caligula. He’d got me kicked out of a bar once because he thought I was staring at his then-girlfriend. I’ll never forget that beating.”
“Where is he?”
The demon wagged his finger at me like I was a naughty child. “Five hundred grand first, then I tell.”
The place couldn’t be that far away, but there were hundreds of townhouses and apartments surrounding us. “We’ll only pay if Caligula is still there.”
The vampire snarled at me but then began to cough again. After he finished hacking, he said, “It’s less than one day old. Caligula knows you’re after him. He won’t move around because he thinks he’s safe where he is. But you better hurry.”
Excitement welled inside me, but I tried not to let it show. I nodded at one of the guardian angels next to the vampire. “I’ve seen Lucero here fight. He can take your hand off before you could stab yourself. Why don’t you put that knife down and let me confirm this isn’t a trick?”
I hadn’t been exaggerating. Lucero was lightning-fast.
The vampire glanced at him with narrowed eyes. “Okay, but if you’re lying, you’ll end up in hell, just like me.”
I merged with his mind and tried to ignore his raging desire for heroin. Drugs had brought him to the edge of life. I found the memory of him sneaking through yards and finding the house with Caligula and Ophelia.
There was no time to lose. As soon as I reformed in my human self, I sent a mental message to Honah briefly summarizing the situation.
While waiting for a response, I looked at the other angels. None of them had commented in any way, not even mentally. I definitely needed clear authority before going forward.
At this point, speed is vital, Honah told me. I’m assembling a team to strike. We’ll be there shortly with the cash.
“We’re bringing the money. How far away is Caligula?” I hadn’t seen his memory of where he’d traveled that night.
For the first time, the vampire smiled. “Close, less than a mile.”
“Subject to all the usual conditions and limitations, you have yourself a deal.” I sent a message to Honah, He also needs a new body. He’s destroyed his current one with drugs.
Honah appeared next to me holding a large black briefcase. He set it on the bed and opened it to show stacks of hundred-dollar bills. “Where’s the residence?”
The vampire rubbed his face, like he wasn’t sure he could remember. Then he said, “Three blocks north and two blocks east. The townhouse is on the north side of the street. The tree in the front yard has a red porch swing hanging from it.”
Honah left Kiko guarding the vampire and the money. The rest of us teleported to the general location the vampire had described. There, we fanned out, looking for the right townhouse. Someone quickly found it, and we assembled in front. Now we had seven angels, including Honah. We should be able to fight an army of demons.
My sword’s handle appeared at the back of my neck, so I knew dark immortals were inside. The biggest of us, an angel built like a defensive tackle, ran up the front steps, and we followed. He put his shoulder into the door and blasted it open.
I ran inside with the others, but Honah said, “Gabriel, stay to the rear, and do not fight unless you have no choice.”
I was as ready for battle as any of them, but the stern look on his face told me to do exactly what he’d said.
Screams, both male and female, came from upstairs. When I got my bearings, I noticed that two demons were fighting against Bianca and another guardian in the living room. The others had disappeared.
I was going to fight with Bianca, but Honah motioned for me to stay back. Then he disappeared into the kitchen. One door in the living room was open. I peered into it and found a set of stairs leading down into the basement. One or more of the angels must’ve headed that way.
Bianca was much bigger in her fighting form. Her wings were pink, and she moved with extraordinary grace. The ogre she was fighting didn’t last long before she lopped off his head. Blood gushed everywhere and pooled under him on the oak floor.
That left two angels to take on one centaur. He ran for the front door and escaped.
Honah returned from the kitchen and raced upstairs. For a short and stout guy, he was surprisingly quick.
A moment later, he walked back down with three other angels. All their shoulders were slumped. Soon, all of us were alone in the living room.
“What happened?” I asked.
“The vampire was correct,” the boss said. “Caligula and his entourage were here until a couple of hours ago. They have left for parts unknown.”
Jesus H. Christ, that was a letdown. “I hope you don’t mind if I look around. There’s a small chance I might find something that helps us track the monster.”
Honah nodded. “Bianca will stay with you.”
“By the way,” I said. “I made it extremely clear to the vampire he would not get paid unless we found our target.”
“Of course,” the boss said. “I’m sure he will be disappointed, but I will give him a chance to renounce Satan and reincarnate as a mortal.”
Most of the team took off. Bianca and I headed into the basement, but we only found two house slaves there. I checked their memories, but they knew nothing useful. Then I searched the entire house from bottom to top, but no luck.
Then I noticed a blank notepad on a desk in one corner of the bedroom I suspected Caligula had used. I shined the light from my smart phone across the page at an angle and noticed indentations. Someone had written a note on a page above and tore it off. I tried to read it, but the impressions were too faint. To preserve the evidence, I gently set the entire pad inside an expanding folder and carried it away. There was only a small chance that a good quality lab could make something of it, but a small chance was better than none.
By the time I’d finished searching the townhouse, I needed to return to Colorado. I thanked Bianca for her help, and she smiled in return. “Newbies have to stick together.”
That was the God’s honest truth. Most of the angels I’d met had been a pleasure to work with, and we all were sharing the disappointments from near-misses. I just hoped we could end Caligula’s reign of tyranny before other demons began copycatting him.
-o-o-o-
WHEN I SAW Clara that morning, I compared her to a picture I’d taken of her right after she’d dropped down the chute. In only a few days, she’d changed a lot. In particular, her complexion was much better, and her forehead wasn’t as sloped as before.
“Looking great, kid,” I whispered to her as we headed out to our new tradition, a morning inspection of the ranch. While she didn’t seem too interested in details, she did pay better attention than the day before. Her deep blue eyes remained the same color as her father’s, and I was convinced they’d never change.
While we walked, I explained how the sorcerer had given us the slip. If I verbalized what’d happened, it somehow helped me to put it in perspective.
Late in the morning, Ellen and Jackie took Clara to visit her daddy’s family in Colorado Springs. I had already finished the day’s chores, so I let Honah know I was available. He immediately yanked me to the San Francisco headquarters.
Jack was waiting. “We got something off of that notepad you collected yesterday. The writer had written the word Bodega on the page above it and torn that off.”
I didn’t understand. “Isn’t that what they call those little convenience stores in New York City?”
He nodded. “Bianca knows more about that than I do. Out here, there’s a popular vacation spot along the coast called Bodega Bay, about thirty miles north. You know how Caligula likes to stage his murders on seaside cliffs.”
I sure did. “You think he might stage an attack up there?”
“The area is very scenic, worth checking out. Honah is ready to send us.”
Jack must’ve told the boss to proceed because he and I appeared on a hill with a fantastic view of the coastline for many miles in both directions. The early evening sun was bright, and the glare stripped away most of the colors looking south. In the opposite direction, the blue sea was edged with white foam where the water broke against the beaches and headlands.
I slowly took it all in. “Wow, quite a view. A wonderful backdrop for a video.”
Jack grinned like he agreed completely. “This is Bodega Head. To the south, you can see Point Reyes National Seashore. To the north, I can barely see the area where the last attack occurred, past Jenner. It’d be a damned shame if this beautiful bluff became the site of Caligula’s next murder.”
That didn’t seem likely because this area was too popular. At least a hundred people were roaming the trails leading to various vistas. He liked his privacy. Then I thought of another element he liked. “He seems to prefer executing people after dark. I’ll bet this area is deserted then.”
Jack pointed at another hill to the south of us that also had a sheer drop-off to the ocean below. “It’s harder to reach that spot. Caligula could pop up there in daytime, shoot someone, and vanish before anybody could react.”
Not a happy thought.
We waited until no one was looking our way and converted into our bird forms. Flying along those cliffs was amazing. We soared upward effortlessly as the wind from the west pushed us skyward. Angelic life was different in lots of ways, but flying was the part I loved the most. I was able to leave all my worries behind for a few moments.
We flew to the highest promontory and flew back and forth looking for signs of infernal activity. I didn’t notice anything, but Jack landed on one spot and converted back to a human again. I landed next to him and did the same.
“What have your found?” I asked.
He pointed at the ground in front of us. “It’s faint, but I sense the echo of an immortal changing shape here—probably weeks ago. I doubt it has anything to do with Caligula or Avenger.”
Despite a closer inspection, I couldn’t see where anyone had walked through the dead grass over to the edge of the cliff overlooking the water hundreds of feet below us. “Maybe some demon was sightseeing. Do they do that kind of thing?”
“I think so. It’d be hard to find a more dramatic spot to look out over the ocean.”
Jack and I cruised along the cliffs, hoping to notice more signs of infernal activity, but we found nothing. Caligula hadn’t killed anyone with magic near Bodega Head yet, and I hated to think of such a lovely area being soaked in blood.
-o-o-o-
BECAUSE THE OFFICE wasn’t that far away, we flew south past Point Reyes toward the city. Murder was nasty everywhere, but it seemed particularly offensive in an area with so much natural beauty. God had truly blessed this region.
Jack and I landed next to the rooftop garden at the headquarters and transformed back into human form.
He whispered, “I hate to say it, Gabe, but you look all done in. It took me decades to get used to the problems the legion deals with, and these days, the threats from dark immortals are much worse. Back when I was a lad, the Spanish Armada was our biggest worry.”
“We're all dealing with the same tough situation now,” I said. “I gotta pull my own weight and prove the bosses didn’t make a mistake in hiring a detective.”
Jack raised his hands, palms up, in frustration. “Foolish,” he muttered under his breath.
As we walked inside, he said, “I transmitted our findings to the chief. He’s going to arrange for guardians to fly past Bodega Head every so often and check for new demonic activity.”
That was the best we could do. “It’s a pleasure doing business with you, sir.”
“Likewise.” He laughed. “I’d love to chat longer, but I have to get back to the bureau.”
I patted him on the shoulder before he disappeared. Then I sat down at my desk to find out what I could about the coast north of the Golden Gate.
I didn’t get far before Inga dropped by looking particularly lovely in a white dress with tiny red roses printed on it.
“Good news,” she said. “The boss is giving us a few hours together, unless you’d rather slave over that infernal device you call a computer.”
“Electrons are your friends.” I smirked. She’d told me before how much she hated technology. The printing press was the last bit of high-tech gear she’d approved of, but Inga was a people person.
I was more of an introvert. I’d never met an electronic device I hadn’t liked. People, on the other hand, could be trouble.
“Gee, I don’t know,” I said. “Hard to choose between more mind-numbing online research or sharing a fun evening with such a beautiful woman. Well, if you’re going to twist my arm, I guess I’ll choose you.”
She punched me in the left shoulder. “I appreciate your incredible sacrifice.”
What a woman. “Don’t mention it. Where can we go?”
“There’s a jazz club about ten minutes away on foot. I thought we could try it.”
My mom had particularly loved jazz, and I’d grown up listening to it in the house, at least until she passed. Dad was more of a country music guy, but Ellen and I tended to favor whatever Mom liked. “Works for me. Lead the way.”
We took the elevator downstairs, and I strolled out into the cool evening. The fog was moving in again, after a sunny day. I took Inga’s hand in mine, and she didn’t object. How had I gotten so lucky? She actually wanted to spend time with me. All I could imagine was that Cleo had put in a good word. May God bless you, Cleopatra.
Music wasn’t scheduled to start for an hour, so we managed to get a great table up front. The band was called the Blue Cougars, which sounded weird, even for this bizarre city. I ordered a rye whiskey, and Inga asked for a German beer. As we sipped our drinks, she told me about growing up in medieval Germany.
“My mother and grandmother worked for some duke whose name I can’t remember. They cooked for hundreds of people in a massive kitchen inside his castle. I decided to become a nun to avoid that same life. I’d always had a soft spot for helping others.”
I could easily believe her. She’d been helpful to lots of other angels. “Was that life harder than a nun’s?”
She shook her head. “Just different. Nuns were treated with more respect than commoners. Some of the fighters who worked for the duke assumed pretty underclass girls were theirs for the taking. I first learned to fight to defend myself from them.”
My heart ached for her. She had no father to stick up for her. I didn’t want to dwell on the bad parts of her life again, so I asked, “How’d you become immortal?”
She shrugged. “I never learned how I came to the attention of the angel in charge of Northern Europe. He just showed up one day and made me an offer I would’ve been crazy to refuse.”
I told her my story, which by comparison, was pretty dull. Mom had died of cancer when I was young, and Dad had done his best for Ellen and me. Their parenting styles had always been wildly different from each other,
although Ellen and I had been loved equally by both.
The band took the stage, then I understood the cougar part of their name. They were all middle-aged women and older. The blue part was still a mystery, until they began playing. Their first song was “Freddie the Freeloader”. One of mom’s favorites, from Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album.
Inga pulled her chair closer to mine, and I held her hand. This was turning out to be a great date. We swayed with the music, letting it wash over us. The first set ended with a version of Chuck Mangione’s “Land of Make-Believe.” In a minor key, it was poignant rather than happy, which fit my overall mood. Caligula was still driving me crazy.
I was strongly attracted to her, but it seemed smarter to go slow on that front. We hardly knew each other. It was much better to develop a relationship as friends first.
I was having a great time until I got a mental message from Honah. A demon started a fire in the heart of the wine country. I will need help from both of you. Jack and one of the other FBI special agents, Ben Torino, are on the scene to investigate with you.
I groaned at the same time Inga did. She’d received the same message.
I’m sure the idiot Torino will think I started the fire, I told Honah and Inga. Before we leave here, we need to firm up our alibis.
Of course, Honah told me. Then return to the headquarters and take one of the vehicles in the underground garage. The fire is five miles north of Napa near the main highway.
My fond hopes that we could spend more time relaxing together vanished. At least she and I could talk on the drive north.
Before we left the jazz club, I asked our waiter to take a picture of me and Inga with the leader of the band, a trumpet player with spikey pink hair. I told her how my mother had loved Miles Davis, hoping that would be enough for her to remember me if Torino came sniffing around. I also tipped the waiter extravagantly, which he deserved, but probably didn’t receive very often. And if both happened to forget me completely, I had the photograph which had been automatically time-stamped by my phone.
Infernal Justice (Angels at the Edge Book 2) Page 16