Angel Warriors

by Stephani Hecht

Abdiel gritted his teeth in frustration and Gabi couldn’t blame him. It was like pulling teeth to get any information from Rachael. “Okay, who are the other two?” he asked.

  “Appolion and me, dummy.” She blew another raspberry.

  “See, I know right there that you’re wrong,” He rubbed his head, like it hurt. “Appolion wants nothing to do with us.”

  “That’s because he’s being a jerk,” Rachael scoffed out. “You know he shut his mind off to me. His own twin, the nerve of him.”

  Abdiel shook his head in disbelief, Gabi felt the same doubt he did. Sure Rachael had some serious mojo like Cam. But, she was still a tiny, little slip of a thing. There was no way that she would ever be able to fight demons. They would just flick their fingers at her and send her flying.

  The door slammed shut with a loud bang. The mirror on their dresser splintered. Do you believe me now? Before he could even blink an eye, she cart-wheeled through the air. Her legs scissored out and caught his, slamming him onto the ground.

  She opened her hand and a fighting dagger that was on the dresser went flying into her palm. She tapped him on the head with it. “You should never doubt me,” she said out loud. “I never lie. Now do you want to hear the rest of it or not?”

  Okay, she had made a believer out of them. Abdiel shut his mouth and held his hand up to her to indicate that she should continue. Gabi bit back a giggle, nothing like having your own sister kick your can to humble you.

  “You and Cam are right. You guys are the first two of The Order of Four.” Rachael rolled to her feet. She idly flipped the dagger from hand to hand. “Cam, because he can harness fire and Abdiel, because he is the Control. You know, the one that makes sure the powers of the other three angels does not go out of control.”

  “What would happen if it got out of control?” Gabi asked.

  “That would be bad,” Rachael said blandly.

  “How bad?” Abdiel looked concerned.

  “The entire human world would cease to exist,” she whispered.

  “That would qualify as bad,” Cam muttered.

  “What role do you play in the Order?” Gabi asked.

  “I can harness lightning and control the weather. That’s why I can send out energy bolts.”

  “No offense,” Cam interjected. “But that’s not so unique. Douma and Forcas both can zap somebody.”

  “They just barely make a fizzle in the energy field,” she scoffed. “What they do is a hug compared to what I can do. If I had wanted to really hurt you earlier, I could have vaporized you. Just like you could have blown me off of Earth. We both were holding back when we fought each other.”

  “Oh great,” Abdiel ran his hand through his hair. “You mean to tell me that what you guys did earlier was a warm-up?”

  “Well, I couldn’t exactly blow your sister up,” Cam admitted guiltily. “I mean it would just be rude.”

  “But you see, brother, it’s not Cam and I that you have to worry about, it’s Appolion.”

  “Why would we have to worry about Appolion?”

  “The power Appolion has makes Cam and I look like fluffy bunnies. Appolion is the Destroyer.” She gripped the dagger blade in hand, showing how nervous she was about what she had just revealed. A small trickle of blood seeped through her fingers.

  “I thought you said Appolion is an angel?” Gabi said as she reached over to touch Abdiel’s hand. He looked sick with dread.

  “He is,” Rachael spoke earnestly, eager to defend her twin. “He just doesn’t want to believe it yet.”

  “What exactly is he supposed to destroy?” Cam had started to tug on his hair, betraying his own unease.

  “It has no name. It is a monster that is worse than any of our worst nightmares.” She squeezed the blade even tighter causing more blood to spill. Abdiel reached out and gently eased the knife away from her.

  “Are you talking about a demon?” He seemed worried about her. No doubt because her face had gone pale with fear.

  “No worse, it is the most evil thing that hell has ever spawned. Douma and Forcas are growing it. When it’s ready they’re going to release it on Earth. It will completely annihilate both Heaven and Earth unless we can stop it.”

  “You mean to tell me that you guys are the only ones that can defeat this thing?” Gabi asked gently.

  Rachael nodded her head. “That thing won’t be ready for a while yet, but Douma and Forcas thought that they’d get a head start by containing us. They just figured out who the four angels were. That’s why they started to hunt Cam and Appolion.”

  “How did you convince Beezlebub to let you go?” Gabi tried not to let her see how much her words had scared her. “I don’t care what you say, he is no weakling.”

  “Neither am I.” She ran a shaky hand through her dark hair. “I managed to convince him that I was nothing and of no concern to him. He has no idea that Appolion and I are part of The Order. If he knew, then he never would have released me.”

  “How can you be so sure that you’re right?” Abdiel asked her.

  “You had the same dream I did. You were there with me, big brother. You know that I speak the truth.”

  Gabi and Cam looked over at him, their eyes accusing. Abdiel held up both of his hands in defense.

  “Look, I just thought it was a freaky dream. How was I supposed to know that it was all real? Cam and Appolion were in it too and they didn’t say anything.”

  Rachael rolled her eyes at him. “That’s because it was our dream not theirs. They don’t have that gift, just you and me do. Oh, and Michael.”

  Abdiel started to pace the room nervously. “If Douma and Forcas find out about Appolion, he’ll be hunted down and captured. There is no one to protect his back. He’s all alone out there.”

  “I know.” Rachael shrugged her shoulders. “But, he won’t let me contact him, so I can’t warn him. He makes me so angry. You know what? I’ve decided he’s no longer my twin brother anymore. Cam is my new brother.”

  “We look nothing alike.” Cam shook his head in mock sadness. “Nobody will ever buy it. You’re stuck with Mini Dark Angel.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The angel warriors banded together, and soon the demons retreated. Working together with the humans, they stopped the looting and put out all the fires. Healers blanketed Detroit and because of them, the human death toll was very low. Finally the city returned to normal.

  To Abdiel’s great relief, all the visiting angels left their house, leaving only the four of them. It wasn’t just the fact that he hated his privacy being invaded, but there had been other issues as well. After Rachael and Cam had called attention to themselves by shattering every window in the house, there was no way to keep anything secret anymore. So now everyone knew not only about Rachael, but also about the Order. Worse yet, they knew about Cam and Rachael’s special gifts and had started to look at Rachael like she was a science experiment gone bad.

  Cam was a whole different matter, however. The empaths continued to follow him around like lost, little puppy dogs. The archangels had accepted him as one of their own and gave him the respect that the title deserved. Instead of being flattered with all the attention, it seemed to bother the young angel. It was almost like he wanted to disappear into the shadows.

  Abdiel could tell that, even though she fought hard to hide it, it hurt Rachael that the other angles looked at her with a jaded eye. It didn’t help matters that she had no control over her energy blasts and kept zapping anyone that even slightly ticked her off.

  “Did I do that?” she would ask, dismayed as yet another angel was thrown off their feet.

  “Yeah, you did that, Steve Urkle,” Cam would drawl back.

  The one piece of good news was that with Ana’s diplomacy and Michael’s bullying, the council decided to look the other way as far as Rachael was concerned, even though Jehel was far from happy with it. He had demanded a vote on the matter, but he lost. The council even lifted the restriction of flashing in Detroit
. They were free to travel from place to place in their own way. Although Cam still preferred his motorcycle and Gabi was not about ready to give up her Beetle either.

  Abdiel and Cam went out patrolling every night. They rooted out any stragglers that were still left behind from the attack and took care of any locals that showed their faces. Gabi was still too weak to join them, so she stayed home. Rachael was left behind as well. They had all agreed that for now they would keep her improved condition a secret from the demons. Well, everyone but Rachael. She was itching to get out there and hand out some payback.

  “I know how to fight,” she had yelled at Abdiel. “I’m not some child that needs to be coddled.”

  “You could have fooled me,” Cam snickered. “Up until a few days ago you were still in Oshkosh overalls.”

  “How do you know how to fight?” Abdiel asked her. “You haven’t had any training.”

  “I’ve always been able to sneak into your thoughts.” Rachael shrugged as if it were no big deal. “Every battle that you have ever fought, I was there with you.”

  “You do realize that’s too frigging weird?” Cam’s voice was filled with awe.

  They all decided that they were going to live their lives as normal as possible. They refused to let Douma and Forcas rule them. That would mean the demons were winning the war. They were not about to close themselves up and live in fear.

  It would turn out to be the biggest mistake of their immortal lives.

  Cam strolled around the college campus not shielding himself from the humans. He needed to feel like a normal college kid. Not some freaky empath angel that was not really an empath but something else that had never been seen before. Heck it would be nice to truly be a mortal for a day. He wondered what it would be like to not have to worry all the time about demons and evil. It would be cool to have a life where your biggest worry was whether or not you would pass the next exam. Instead he always had to be on alert, ready to play superhero. Oh and don’t forget the fact that every demon was on him like Dog the Bounty Hunter.

  A small female human saw him and waved. She bounded over to him with a toss of her long, blond hair. “Hi, Cam. We’re getting the old study group back together. Are you game?” She flashed him a winning smile displaying her even, white teeth.

  “Sure, Becky.” Cam smiled at her. He really valued the friendship that he had with the human. “I’ll try to make it when I can. I’ve been really busy at work.”

  “What do you do again?” she asked him.

  “Social work,” he lied smoothly.

  “Oh.” She quickly moved on to another subject. “Pam will be very happy to hear that you’re coming. She really likes you, Cam.”

  Cam got uncomfortable. That the human was attracted to him was no surprise even if he hadn’t been telepathic, she made her feelings obvious. She flirted outrageously with him and used every advantage to be near him. Her hands always seemed to find their way to his arms when they were talking, and she took every opportunity available to accidentally brush up against him, but humans were strictly hands off.

  Seeing Cam’s unease, Becky turned to him with a surprised look on her face. “Oh my God, you’re gay aren’t you?”

  “What?” Cam rolled his eyes. “No, I just can’t get involved with anyone right now.”

  “Do you already have a girlfriend?”

  “No, I just can’t get into a relationship. It’s not allowed.” He inwardly groaned as soon as he let that little nugget slip out.

  “Are you in some sort of weird cult that doesn’t believe in sex?” Becky looked horrified that such a thing could exist.

  “Something like that,” Cam muttered. “Don’t worry though, I don’t drink the Kool-Aid.”

  His new cell phone rang interrupting the interrogation. He scowled when the number on the caller ID was one that he didn’t recognize. Excusing himself from Becky, he walked around the corner for privacy.

  If this was, yet another, empath calling him with another problem, he was going to lose it. Ever since they had found out about his special gifts empaths had been calling him with everything from advice to gripes about their archangels. At first he had purposefully given them bad advice just for shits and giggles, but the calls had still kept coming in.

  Why didn’t they just call his Aunt Amiteil? Although she was a cold, heartless bitch who never could spare a moment or a kind word for any of her nephews or niece, she still was the unofficial leader of the empaths.

  “This had better be good,” he growled into the phone.

  “Cam, this is Dina.” The voice on the other end was so weak that he could barely hear it.

  Dina was Jehel’s only son. What in the hell is he calling me for, and how did he get my number? Cam felt his stomach turn over. This could not be good. He tried to scan the other angel, but he slammed into a mental brick wall. He knew instantly that it was Douma and Forcas. Not only were they capable of blocking his telepathy, but this whole set up just reeked of them. What was it with those two? Couldn’t they take one day off?

  “Dina, give the phone to the demons.” He realized he was talking to the other angel like he was a child, but his protector gauge had just gone into overdrive.

  Suddenly he could hear the angel’s bloodcurdling screams in his ear. The old empath part of him took over letting the other angel’s pain soak into him. Shielding himself from the human’s eyes, he sank down on a stone bench. A cold sweat covered him as he started to shake.

  “This is Forcas,” an evil voice hissed into the phone. Duh, I already guessed that one. “Unless you come and meet us right now, I’ll torture this angel. I’ll direct all the pain to you so you feel every bit of it.”

  To prove his point, the demon held the phone near his captive. Cam heard a slap right before Dina cried out again. Cam whimpered as he felt Dina’s fear wash over him. There was no way possible he could refuse Forcas’ demands. They both knew it. They were using his biggest weakness against him. The worst part was that it was Jehel’s son. Here he was about to sacrifice himself for someone and that someone had a jerk for a father. That just stuck in his craw.

  “Leave him alone. I’ll come,” Cam grit out, trying not to get physically ill from all the emotions.

  “We’re in the park by your house.” Forcas laughed evilly. “And don’t even think of telling Abdiel. If you try to contact him by phone or by mind, I’ll know right away and I’ll hurt this pathetic angel even more.”

  Cam flashed himself to them. As soon as he got there, he spotted Dina crumpled on the ground. Cam launched himself at the angel and placed his hands on him. Flashing the captive to Heaven, he turned to fight the demons. A bolt of energy hit him in the chest and knocked him backwards. Before he could recover, they were on him, kicking the crap out of him and wrapping a set of heavy chains around him.

  Struggling to his feet Cam lifted his hand to shoot off flame. The chains around him came to life. Surging with energy, they burned him before they rebounded his own power against him ten-fold. He flew to the ground screaming in pain. As the energy bounced around his body, he jerked on the ground.

  Fuck, I’m in big trouble. He had fallen into their trap and knew they were going to drag Abdiel into it too, using his pathetic ass as the bait.

  Gabi had taken Rachael shopping so Abdiel was home all alone. He was sitting in front of the TV when his cell phone went off. He saw that it was Cam. “Hey, Cam, you get registered for all your classes?”

  “Sorry, brother.” It was Forcas’ voice that answered him. “I think he’s had a change of plans.”

  Abdiel jumped up as soon as he heard his brother. “What have you done to Cam?”

  “He’s all right for now. Do you know that he willingly traded himself over for another angel? He’s almost as noble as you.”

  Abdiel gripped the phone tight. They had Cam and he had no doubt in his mind that they had already hurt him, and they would do a lot worse unless he could figure out a way to get him free.

 
“What do I need do so that you’ll let him go?”

  “Come on, brother.” Forcas laughed. “We both know what you need to do. Don’t make me go into the stereotypical bad guy speech. Just come to the park by your house and get your friend.”

  Even though he knew it was a trap, he flashed himself where Forcas had directed. It was completely deserted except for his two demon brothers and Cam. He cursed his stupidity for not calling for backup. At the very least, he should have called Gabi and told her what was happening. She was going to have his hide for this, and he deserved it for being a moron.

  Cam’s hands were tied behind his back. The bindings bit into his wrists turning his fingers blue. A gag was cutting into his mouth. Already the gag was bright red from the blood coming out of his cut lip. His eyes were starting to swell shut. Forcas and Douma had obviously beaten him bad.

  Yet they had not broken his spirit. Staying upright on his knees, he shot them a defiant look from his half closed eyes. His head moved as he tried to shoot off smart remarks around the rag in his mouth. Abdiel was a little unnerved that he hadn’t heard his voice in his head. Why was he not communicating telepathically?

  Cam’s scrawny frame was dwarfed by a set of heavy chains. They were covered in demon markings and appeared ancient. Since they had already tied his hands behind his back, he thought that the fact that they had him in chains was a bit of an overkill even for his brothers.

  Abdiel saw red. “Let him go you sons of bitches.”

  Cam tried to yell something at him, but it was muffled. Douma walked over and backhanded him. Cam tried to shoot off flame at the demon. However, the chains around him turned white hot. He was thrown onto his back by an unseen force.

  “How many times do we have to tell you?” Douma sneered at him. “Every time you try to use your powers, the Chains of Containment will turn them back on you.”

  So that’s why Cam is not communicating with me telepathically. These chains are trapping his gifts. The young angel jerked around on the ground from having his own powers turned on him. Abdiel stepped forward to help him, but his brothers stepped in front of Cam and blocked his way.