by S. L. Gavyn
He looked confused. I bet he’s wondering how someone managed to get Lucifer’s sword from him then sell it to me because that’s exactly what I’m wondering. Oh well, I can think about that later. I attacked Jael again. This time coming in from the left and, again, he blocked then pulled his blade back toward the left, swiping it across my stomach as he did. Damn, that hurt. Blood immediately started to flood out. It wasn’t deep enough to allow my innards to fall out, but it was going to cause me to lose a lot of blood. I needed to end this as quickly as possible so I played the pity card. After all, he thought I was so much weaker than him.
I slumped forward holding my stomach.
“I warned you that I was stronger. Now, we will stop this, and you will accompany me. I will tend to your wound at my home.”
He came to me and tried to wrap his arm around me. I stabbed him with the stiletto. I wasn’t sure if it would actually hurt him but it’s made from part of the Hell dimension, and I would think Hell wouldn’t feel too good being inside an Angel. He looked down at the knife, and looked more disappointed than anything. Then his eyes widened and he took a step back. I held onto the stiletto, and as it came out of him, I heard that it was sizzling. Looking at it, I saw Jael’s blood turning black and smoking. The blood pooling on Jael’s side was also a black color. Jared’s blood earlier looked a normal red color so I’m pretty sure Jael’s shouldn’t be black.
He started to stagger away. “W-what have you done to me? How...?”
He back up to the sedan, and looked at his hand that he had been holding to the wound then he looked at me, and his eyes narrowed. Then he was gone. I searched the parking lot, but he was nowhere to be seen. He probably went home to lick his wound. Talking about wounds, I looked at my own, and saw there was blood covering the lower half of my shirt. I need to get somewhere quick. Where can I go that I know Jael won’t come and kidnap me while I’m healing? Well damn, it looks like my freedom was short lived.
Eighteen
I walked into Jared’s house. The door had been unlocked so I didn’t bother knocking. I started toward the bathroom to clean my wound when Jared came out of the game room with the phone pressed to his ear.
“She’s back. Yeah, she just walked through the front door.” He paused. “Not if I do first. I’ll see you in a few.” He hung up the phone, and shot me a dirty look. “Did you have fun on your little trip? Everyone has been going crazy looking for you. You could have been captured by Jael.”
I was going to tell him to go fuck himself, but my body chose that moment to shut down from blood loss.
I woke up in bed. I looked around, but didn’t recognize anything other than Jared sitting in a chair close by.
“Where am I?”
“You’re in my room. I wanted to make sure you were alright.”
I waved my hand. “I was fine. I just needed to take a break, and let the wound heal. It was the lack of blood that had me passing out.”
Jared looked like he was praying for patience.
“You were injured by an Angelic weapon. There would be no healing without intervention.”
“Oh, well then I guess it’s a good thing I came here instead of that bar I was thinking about hanging out in.”
“Jael stabbed you with his weapon and you thought about going to a bar?”
“He didn’t stab me. He just sliced open my stomach. It was all done in the name of love. If I would have just went with him, it never would have happened. You know me though. Always gotta do things the hard way.”
“That is true. The question is, why didn’t he take you with him once you were injured?”
“Oh, he tried. I stabbed him with this.”
I pulled the stiletto out, and showed him. Jared moved closer to look at it and started to reach for it when his eyes widened, and he jumped back into the chair.
“What are you doing with that?!”
“This? It’s a little trinket my mom left me. Guess she didn’t want any Demon harming me. Apparently, it works well on Angels too.”
“You stabbed Jael with that?”
“Yep. He didn’t seem to like it too much.”
He barked out a laugh. “I’m sure he didn’t. Did you see what happened afterward?”
“He didn’t seem to be bothered by it at first. More pissed off than hurt, but then it started to sizzle, and he pulled back to find his blood was black then he kinda had a freak out. A second later, he was gone. Do you think I killed him?”
“Where did you stab him?”
“In his side.”
“Probably not. It would take being stabbed in the heart or perhaps the brain to kill him quickly. But, it’s likely the wound will never fully heal. It will instead fester until it eventually does kill him. That could take centuries.”
“That doesn’t sound very good, but given what he did to Amber, he deserves it.”
I realized Luke was standing in the doorway.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Like a million bucks.”
He smiled. “Did he happen to give you any information?”
“You mean like ‘I’m going to take you back to my place at two fifteen Apple St. You’ll like it there it’s a red brick house with a black roof, and we’ll be arriving there in my Lincoln Continental. Tag number UF56243.’ Whoa, wait a minute. That last part wasn’t made up. He really was driving a Lincoln and that was the tag number, but he left it at the diner when I stabbed him.”
“I’ll have Zach pick it up on their way back,” Luke said as he pulled his cell out, and walked away.
“I’ll call Cop and have him run the tag. I need to check on Davis anyway,” I said as I started to push up from the bed.
“Oh, no you won’t. You’ll lay right there and rest. Luke can look up the information on the car, and I’ve already called the hospital. Davis has been moved to stable condition,” Jared said as he pushed me back down.
It didn’t take much effort on his part. I just didn’t have the energy to fight him.
“How is Luke going to find the information? You would need access to the DMV’s records,” I said.
“He can find it. Just rest. I could join you if it would help you sleep better.”
“Actually, you not being in here would help me sleep.”
“Having trouble resisting my boyish charms?”
“It’s more like, you watching me sleep creeps me out.”
He smiled. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Ha. That’s not going to happen.”
“We’ll see. I’ll let you be alone for now though.”
He leaned over and kissed my forehead then straightened and walked out of the room closing the door behind him.
Nineteen
I awoke alone in Jared’s bedroom. I took the opportunity to look around the room. It was surprisingly tasteful for a bachelor’s room. The walls were an ivory color with black trim. All the wood of the furniture was painted black. The bed was covered with a black and ivory damask duvet with matching throw pillows. The chairs in the alcove matched, and also, had throw pillows in them. Who ever said men don’t like extra comfort? The only decorations on the wall were two black electric guitars hanging over the bed. I was actually pretty impressed with his decorating skills.
I slowly got up and sat on the edge of the bed so I could survey the damage to myself. The wound was completely healed. That was cool. By the way Jared talked, I thought I would be out of commission for a few days. I looked out the window and saw it was bright outside. Probably close to midday. I got out of the bed, and made a dash for my own room and the attached bathroom. I showered and dressed then went in search of the guys. There was no one in the game room or kitchen so I went up the stairs to see if anyone was up there. There was one door open at the end of the hall so I headed for it. I’m not sure what I expected to find, maybe another bedroom, but it certainly wasn’t what I saw inside that room.
It looked like command central. Hell, the HR’s command central w
asn’t as well equipped. There were three computers set up on a huge computer desk with a smart screen hung on one wall. Another had a huge cork board with newspaper clippings, police reports and other informative paperwork. While another had two huge maps of the greater Atlanta area.
“Hello, Caru. Like what you see?”
I turned to see that Jared had just stepped out of a doorway behind me.
“What is this?” I asked while pointing toward the room.
He walked into the room and turned to look at me.
“This is where we track the evil plaguing our city.”
“You...track evil? Why?”
He laughed. “We are Angels, Caru. We can do nothing but.”
“But, you’re Fallen. I thought you were evil. That’s why you got the boot.”
He looked at me for a moment before his expression turned sad.
“You really believe that don’t you? I would have hoped after spending time with us you would have realized we don’t fit the image you had concocted in your head.”
“What am I supposed to believe Jared? Why were you kicked out then, huh? If you did nothing wrong, then tell me.”
He just looked at me again before he turned and left the room. Well, I guess I was right. No Angel gets kicked out of the Kingdom unless they did something to warrant it.
“He didn’t kill a Human. He’s never killed anyone that didn’t deserve it,” Luke said from the doorway.
“Then why wouldn’t he just tell me?”
“He has his reasons.”
Yeah, that’s not evasive. I’m tired of his shit. One minute he acted like the perfect male, and the next he was a total dick. I walked over to the wall of maps to get a closer look. I need to put Jared out of my mind. I have a psycho to kill, and I’ll never be able to find him if I spend all of my time thinking about Jared.
“What do you really do here, Luke?”
“Exactly what Jared said. We look for evil and extinguish it. We have taken out twenty seven Demon in the last six months, plus a rogue Vamp, two homicidal Shifters, and a Dark Wizard.”
I looked at him. “How?”
He walked over to the computers, and typed something on one. The smart board came on and showed a map of Atlanta with green dots covering most of it. There were also some yellow, orange, and red dots. Most seemed to be moving slightly.
“What you’re seeing is a map of Others using Angel vision. I created the software that would allow a three dimensional image similar to what we see when we look at people. The green represents good souls. The yellow are not really bad, but they are not quite good. Orange represents your average criminal. Red is evil. Demon always read red. Anyone who is a capable of cold blooded murder also show red. Now, that doesn’t mean they have actually committed a crime. Just that they are capable, and have darkness in their soul. The reds almost always commit a crime eventually, and we try to keep tabs on them when possible.”
“You keep tabs on potential murderers?”
“Yes, it helps us if there is a murder by an Other to figure out who did it, and where the guilty currently is.”
“What happened with Jael?”
“Jael is different. As an Angel he is invisible to us. He could be standing outside, and I wouldn’t know it unless I looked out the window.”
“You know that reminds me. He pretty much told me he had been watching the house. That’s how he knew I left.”
Luke nodded and pulled up surveillance footage.
“I figured that was how he found you so fast. I’ve upped the surveillance, and the guys have been taking turns searching the grounds.”
“The guys? You all work as a team?”
“Oh, yes. We are quite effective.”
“I guess I know now why crimes are so low here. When I transferred from Savannah, I expected the crime rate to be high in such a populated area, but was surprised to find it was actually lower than Savannah. There are only eleven agents working all of Atlanta. Well, I guess there are five more.”
He smiled at me.
“Wait. Do you let the HR task force know when you make a kill?”
“Uh...” He looked guilty.
“Damn it, Luke. We are wasting man hours hunting for criminals you have already killed. How do you kill them anyway? You know Demon can return if you kill them with a regular blade.”
He smiled. “We are Angels, Avery. They are our paradoxal enemies. The polar opposite of what we represent. We have but to share our essence with a Demon, and they cease to exist.”
“You mean they are sent back to Hell.”
“No, I mean they are no more. They are wiped off all planes.”
“Wow.”
He smiled again.
“I take it you are the technical guy?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s what I do best. I can’t really get out there with the others.”
“Why not.”
He ignored me and changed the subject. “I traced the Lincoln back to an elderly man by the name of Joseph Jones. He reported it stolen two days ago.”
“Where does he live?”
“Silver Hills. Hash and Sam have been canvasing the neighborhood.”
I nodded. “So you have access to DMV. Do you have access to all of the government databases?”
“For the most part. The ones we would need in apprehending a killer anyway.”
I thought about that for a minute. That would be mostly all of our files at HQ and a few of the feds. They would need to know if there were any similar crimes in other areas to gather information on the perp. Gathering information reminds me.
“Did you do a background check on me? Is that what Hash meant when he said that about knowing a lot about me?”
Luke looked guilty. “We were trying to find out who your father was. Jared said you didn’t know him so I thought I would give it a try.”
“What did you find out?”
“Nothing really. Just that your mother gave birth to you twenty eight years ago. It was an at home birth, your mother disappeared shortly afterward, and you were raised by your maternal grandmother.”
“I believe that’s the same information I gave Jared.”
“We just wanted to be sure.”
“Why did you need to know about my parents?”
“Jared wanted to know where you came from.”
I walked up to the other side of the computers. “And, you just invaded my privacy because he asked you too?”
He held his hands up in surrender. “We were all curious. You are an anomaly.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I’m surprised you couldn’t figure it out.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing, I’m going to check in with my boss. Let me know if Hash and Sam find anything.”
“Alright.”
I started toward the door then thought about him invading my privacy so as I passed his work station I reached over and hit him on the arm.
“Don’t!” Jared screamed as I made contact with Luke’s arm.
Luke jumped back as I touched him. You would think I hit him as hard as I could instead of a friendly punch.
Jared pushed me out of the way as he entered the room and ran to Luke’s side. “Are you alright? What did you see?”
“I barely touched him,” I said.
“N-nothing,” Luke said as he stared at me.
“What do you mean ‘nothing’?” Jared asked.
“I saw nothing when she touched me.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“How?” Jared asked.
Luke shrugged. “Perhaps she has no fate.”
Jared was looking at me too. “Everyone has a fate. How could you not see hers?”
“Alright. It’s time you tell me what you are talking about,” I said.
Instead of answering, Luke reached out and grabbed my arm then looked at Jared. “Nothing,” he said then gave me a hug.
When he pulled back he was smiling from ear
to ear.
Jared looked confused.
“Now would be a good time to explain what is going on,” I said.
“I am cursed. When I was banished from the Kingdom, a curse was placed on me. Any contact with a female will result in my experiencing their death. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I am also forced to tell the woman how she will die. I have not been able to touch a woman in an extremely long time,” Luke said.
“Wow, that’s gotta suck. So that’s why you keep your distance?”
He nodded. “It’s horrible. I’ve been able to prevent touching women for the most part. There have only been a couple of instances over the last few years, and I needed Jared to wipe their memory since I can’t.”
“Why can’t you?”
“It’s part of the curse. I have to tell them how they die, and I can’t erase it once it’s told.”
“Damn, you got screwed.”
He smiled.
I smiled back. “Well, I guess I’m your new BGF.”
“What?”
“Best girl friend.”
He laughed. “More like only girl friend.”
I shrugged. “Best, only. I’ll take what I can get.”
“As will I. I suppose you should pull up a chair. You can help me go through the traffic camera footage for the ten miles surrounding where Mr. Jones lives.”
“You know. I’m not loving this friendship so far.”
“You’ll get used to it.”
“Ha ha.”
“Well, I guess I’ll let you two do your work then,” Jared said as he started for the door.
“What are you going to go do?” I asked him.
He shrugged and I smiled.
“I guess it’s a good thing there are three computers. You better find us a couple of chairs.”
He smiled. “I’m not very good with computer work. I like to go where the action is.”
“Oh, is there any action going on right now?”
“Uh, not currently, but I’m sure I will find something if I look hard enough.”
“Well, then look no further. I’m sure there is plenty of action captured by these traffic cams.”