by Michael Todd
“Shit, if I had her abilities, I’d do it and rake in the fucking dough.”
“I’m pretty sure she has plenty of money.”
As the guys talked, the door creaked open just slightly, and Gabriel, cloaked in the shadows, slipped through and stepped into the corner. No one saw him enter, and no one noticed him standing there watching Katie from afar. The hood of his cloak was pulled up over his head, and his eyes were fixed on her. It had been a while since he had come around, but he had to step it up.
Calvin stood in the living room of Sofia’s San Diego bungalow, her hands in his. She was smiling comfortingly, but he was struggling to do what he needed to do. Work couldn’t wait any longer. Things were getting crazy out there, and he knew it was time to get his ass back in the game. Still, the idea of leaving Sofia here was terrifying him. He had almost lost her twice already, and not being here to protect her was a struggle for him.
“I’m going to be fine,” she told him for the hundredth time. “You have to continue fighting this war. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I know. I’m just worried, that’s all.”
Korbin walked up and put his hand on Calvin’s shoulder. “We got this. We won’t let anything happen to her. We rented a small apartment one block over, top floor, and can even see her house from the living room window.”
“You rented a place out here?” Calvin asked surprised.
Korbin shrugged. “The sea is a bit nicer than our home in the country, at least for a little while. It’ll be like a working vacation for us, and we will keep our eyes on her all the time.”
“I’m just going back to check for potential hits, and I’ll only be gone for a little while. I want to make sure that no one is coming after you. We’ve got a great intelligence center at the base, and you know Timothy. He will be all over making sure you are safe.”
Sofia smiled. “I trust all of you. I know that nothing is going to happen. And if it does, I’ll just start kicking their asses. I learned a few moves by watching you guys.”
Calvin chuckled and Stephanie stepped up beside her. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea. I could teach her some martial arts while I’m here. Give her a little bit of self-defense so she can protect herself if anything ever happens; drug lords, or just some asshole in a bar.”
“Yeah, that would be awesome.” Sofia smiled. “Would have come in handy in Mexico.”
“I really appreciate that.” Calvin nodded at Stephanie. “And Sofia, I’m sorry you have to learn martial arts just to make sure you can protect yourself. You should be living a nice comfortable life with no worries. This is only going to make things harder for you.”
Sofia shrugged. “The world is a scary place, and everyone is going to eventually need to know how to defend themselves, I might as well get a head start on it. Besides, it’ll give me something to do to keep my mind off missing you.”
“I’ll miss you too.” He smiled. “I promise I won’t be gone too long.”
“I know it won’t do much good to say, but take your time searching. Make sure you know for sure, and you are satisfied. Stephanie and I can stay for at least a month if we need to.”
“Thanks, Korbin. You always did have my back.
Korbin smiled. “I don’t remember that, but knowing you now, I have a feeling that is more than true.”
“It sure was.” Calvin smiled. “And I truly appreciate this. A month should be more than enough time for me to do the intelligence work and then plan what to do next. I owe you.”
Korbin smiled and shook his hand. “Nah, you don’t owe us anything.”
“I need to do some training, but not just hand-to-hand combat. I need to use weapons.”
“We have those,” Harry told her.
He was a short, stout guy, and wore long gym shorts and a zip-up track coat with dirty old gym shoes. No matter what the temperature was outside he had his stock cap on, the sides rolled up above his ears. His hair was cut really short, and you could only see the grey and silver stubble coming out the back. He was a private man and a hell of a coach, and he had worked with some of the greatest boxers out there. In retirement, he ran the gym where he was born and raised and spoke with a thick Brooklyn accent. His name wasn’t really Harry, but that was what everyone had always called him. He couldn’t even remember when it had started.
“I don’t need guns or anything like that, obviously, but I do use a staff a lot and I want to work on my defensive moves. Offense comes naturally to me, but reading the demons, knowing where they’re gonna strike next, leaves me rolling across the floor in an all-out brawl half the time. With as many demons as there were this last battle I was in, I don’t want to be on the floor for any reason.”
“Heard. Give me five, and I’ll have two guys meet you in the ring.”
“Thanks, Harry,” Katie smiled.
She walked over to the ring and pulled herself up on the side, stepping through the ropes. She cracked her neck and rolled her head from side to side, getting ready to spar. The other guys in the place slowly stopped their workouts and took a seat to watch. That was the only time she didn’t mind a crowd, she knew even if they weren’t sitting there they would watch her, and so she might as well not distract them like that. They could get injured with the equipment if they weren’t careful.
A couple of minutes later two of the guys walked out from the back, agreeing to use the staffs to work her out. They were two of the most accomplished guys with that kind of weapon, which was perfect. Harry took a stance next to the ring and crossed his arms. The guys climbed in and stood in front of her, staffs at the ready, ready for her signal.
She nodded and waved them forward, her hands up. They started in on her, not wasting any time, just blowing right into the hard stuff. She used her forearms and legs to protect herself, large welts building up on her skin. The guys moved fast, but she was doing well, only getting hit in the side or back a couple of times. She knew, though, that if that had been a demon’s claw she would have been done for. She needed to be so good the staffs never touched her. That took quick footwork and reading their body movements, something she definitely needed to work on.
Ouch! What the fuck? This shit is crazy. Can we go back to living at the base and sparring with your teammates?
First of all, I don’t have but two, and secondly, not to be cocky, I am better than them. It’s not a workout, and I don’t learn anything if I’m not challenged. These guys don’t give a fuck who I am. They are here to train me, pain or not.
I didn’t take all that time giving you beautiful skin just to watch it get all red and puffy. I’m going to have to work all night to get the damn swelling down in those arms.
It will make me tougher. Besides, it’ll get numb after a while. Just got to give it time.
Katie narrowed her eyes and watched her opponents for any twitch that would give their next move away. The one to the right swung low, and the other high. She blocked the high strike with her forearm and jumped, tucking her knees to her chest to avoid the low blow. She landed back on the pad, and the guys clapped on the sidelines. The two fighters nodded, appreciating the her skill. She looked at her forearm to see a nasty contusion forming, blood ran down her elbow where the skin had split at the point of impact. She walked over to the edge of the mat and Harry tossed her a clean towel. She wiped the blood away and stood there pressing on it for a second. By the time she lifted the towel off the wound had healed.
She dropped the towel over the side and moved forward again, wanting to keep going. She could tell from the way they were backing off that they were a little worried about making her bleed. She shook her head and waved her hands, keeping her feet moving.
“I’m practicing here, don’t let up! I can heal from this stuff but I don’t heal from bad timing, so fucking WORK IT!”
The guys shrugged and kept after her, using as many moves as they could pull out of their bags of tricks. After a while, she got nailed a couple of times; a couple of really good tim
es. She didn’t stop, though. She knew that was part of it, taking the pain, learning from the mistake, and pushing forward. The demons would have no mercy and take no time-outs. They were out for blood and Katie had to be in it that way too, no matter what cuts or bruises she might acquire. She patted each of her shoulders slapping away the sting from the constant jolts of the staff.
The guy on the left stepped forward, lifting the staff high over his head. Katie watched him move fast and swirled around, kicking his stomach. All the air in his chest blew out of his mouth, and he flew back into the ropes.
“Sorry, you okay?” she asked, realizing she had to tone it down or she would kick right through someone.
He nodded and waved her off as the other guy stepped forward. He twirled his staff all around, over his head to each side and near his knees. He stopped and snapped the staff straight up and down before going to town swinging at Katie over and over again, her body moving and twisting to miss as many blows as possible, the others blocked with her arm or upper thigh. The guy breathed heavily stepping back and putting up his hand for a break.
Katie smiled and slapped his hand, walking over and catching a bottle of water from a guy below. She had to give him a break, they didn’t have the same kind of stamina that she did, and that was mainly because she was part demon and part angel, rewarding her with a higher tolerance than most.
Across the gym in the shadows Gabriel shut his eyes, searching the gym until he reached Katie’s mind. He blocked her and reached inside, pushing into Pandora’s consciousness. Neither of them even knew it until he started speaking. Pandora was shocked as hell.
Pandora.
What the ever-loving fuck? How are you in my mind? Where the hell are you, angel boy?
Close enough.
Why is Katie not responding?
She can’t hear me. This conversation is for you and me alone.
Normally I would tell you to go fuck yourself, but since I don’t particularly want you talking to Katie, I am going to make this exception. But get on with it. I don’t like the feeling of you inside of mind. It hurts.
You haven’t given her the information I relayed.
I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about. Some armor and weapon bullshit? If you haven’t noticed, I’m a demon, not an angel. I ignore angels whenever possible. I did the research, but I couldn’t find a thing about your sword and armor bullshit.
It seems I was wrong. I thought maybe you just hadn’t told her out of spite, but you really have no clue.
No shit, Sherlock. Fuck, why does this hurt so much?
We are two very powerful beings with opposite powers. They are clashing, so I will get through this quickly.
Why don’t you tell Katie yourself? I am not your messenger.
I can’t tell her these things, not directly. It would cut too close to having too much involvement. I am not allowed to give her knowledge she doesn’t already possess. If you remember, humans have free will, and it will decide the fate of man. I can only guide. This is the best way I know to give her insight into who she is without breaking the rules. They don’t really like it when angels break the rules.
Fuck, so you really aren’t going to tell her the information. You really are going to let her figure it out unless I help her.
Yes.
Pandora sighed and then groaned from the intense pressure building. Fine, lay it on me, but hurry. I feel like I am about to explode into a thousand pieces. I won’t promise I’ll tell her. I’ll be the one to make that choice.
Of course. As with all beings, demons have always had free will as well. They just tend to point themselves to the darker side of things.
Thank you for the lesson on demons. Can you hurry the hell up? I knew this was going to be bullshit from the first time I saw you. The whole “God is on my side and will give me the answers” shit. No, they withhold the truth to preserve free will, because magical wings preserve free will.
She has the choice to use them or not, and when she chooses to use them for good, it increases the human ability to make wise choices.
Gross.
Gabriel started speaking fast and straight, giving Pandora the layout as fast as he possibly could. Halfway through, he had to stop and block out Pandora’s screams of pain from Katie so she wouldn’t know what was going on. His power was too pure, too light to connect with any mortal or dark creature for more than a few seconds. For Pandora it was different. She was feeding on Katie, which meant that unless he held her there for a long time, she wouldn’t die. She would just be in one hell of a pain spot. If he had told Katie directly, she would have died. Even the strongest person on earth couldn’t hold it together with the touch of pure angelic power.
You sick son of a bitch, this fucking pain is worse than the time Lucifer bound me to the volcano for a week to punish me for skipping the yearly ceremonies. He fucking hung me on the volcano using nails. Your boss knows what the fuck that shit feels like.
Concentrate. One last thing, and this is really important.
Pandora took a deep breath and focused her attention on what he was saying long enough for him to finish. When he was done, he moved out of their minds and released Pandora from the pain. She breathed deeply and cursed at him, screaming all kinds of things before she realized that he had already slunk away into the shadows. Pandora quieted and ducked down into Katie for a moment to think. She couldn’t believe that Gabriel, a messenger of God, would treat her Katie like a mushroom. She deserved to be told the truth, not kept in the dark and fed a line of shit.
Pandora had always been a demon, but being so close to Katie, the way she looked at the world had changed drastically. Every fiber of her being fought against the compassion she’d developed for Katie and the other humans close to her. She didn’t want to be evil, not anymore. The days of inflicting pain—the bad kind, at least—were over for her
Gabriel was right. No matter what her impulses tried to dictate, she had the free will to choose differently. Now the knowledge was Pandora’s, and the secrets were hers to divulge—or not.
It seemed so odd to her that the survival of the human race was in the hands of a creature from the other side. She didn’t know why Gabriel had trusted her with the information, since she could easily give it to Lucifer. He couldn’t know that she wouldn’t do that.
If they won, then she’d lost. She could go to Lucifer that day and give him the ticket to win, and he would still throw her down in the pits of hell if he didn’t just kill her outright. Besides, she had something else to contend with. Something that had been growing inside her steadily since her first day with Katie.
Her conscience.
Chapter Eighteen
Calvin’s plane was on its descent into the airport in New York. He sat with his bag at his feet staring out the window of the plane, watching as they dropped over the outskirts of the city. His mind was locked on Sofia, and all the things that went along with that. She was this amazingly strong woman that had landed in his lap at a time he wasn’t looking for anything other than a good summer vacation fling. He knew it wasn’t the damsel in distress kind of attraction, he had saved beautiful women before. This was something more than that, something pure, something right, but at the same time, something that seemed almost impossible to hold onto.
The plane touched down on the runway, shaking Calvin from his thoughts. He sat patiently and waited for it to taxi to the gate. He was close to the front, so he grabbed his bags from the overhead bin and headed into the jetway, nodding to the flight attendant as he passed. He kept his sunglasses on, not feeling quite as brave about showing his eyes without Sofia there to remind him that he was still an amazing man.
Calvin hadn’t packed much on his race to San Diego, so he didn’t have any luggage to grab. He put his carry on over his shoulder and headed out of the airport to the curb where all the taxis were waiting. He jumped inside the first one he got to and gave him the address to the condos where Katie lived. The traffic was horr
endous as usual, so he sat back in the seat and relaxed, watching the droves of people walking along the sidewalks as they passed by them. He was shocked, even with the world in peril, even with so many demons on the loose that people still went about their lives, vacationing, working, doing what they did without even a pause. Even in the city that had seen some of the worst terrorist activity in the states, they soldiered on, not willing to pause their lives for even a second.
The difference was that they had a future they were holding onto; something they were looking forward to. They had goals and plans, and up until Calvin had met Sofia, his goal each and every day was just to make it to the next day alive, and preferably in one piece. With Sofia, there was a possibility for a future that wasn’t exactly compatible with the reality he was living in.
The problem was, he was struggling to grasp onto what that future looked like. He was in angst over it, trying to figure out what he had to offer this woman, what he had to give that would make a future with him worthwhile or even possible. He was a demon hunter, a mercenary, floating from city to city, living out of military bases. He never knew if he would come home that night alive or in a body bag.
What would a woman like that do with a man like him? Sit there every day, dreaming of his red eyes, waiting for the call that he didn’t make it back? He knew better than most that the next day was never promised, especially not to people like him and Katie. He had buried and mourned so many amazing warriors, some even stronger than he was at the time. He had watched them run off into battle and then carried their broken bodies back out in the end. Calvin sighed and leaned his head against the window. He wasn’t sure about anything in life at that moment. Not his future, not their future, not anything.