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It turns out broken ribs are extremely painful and I struggled to breath let alone properly ride my bike. If it wasn’t for the hindrance of the impressive three meter wing span trailing me, I might’ve opted to have someone else take me. But pride is a funny thing and there was no way I was going to let my bothersome plus one know I was hurting. The call for the clean-up crew was short and sweet and already they would have most of the children relocated and refurbishing the orphanage as if nothing had happened for when the rest of the media swooped in. What I wasn’t looking forward to was the conversation with Haymen if he thought all the extra activity as of late was bringing in too much attention.
I went to the outer edge of the city, to an old burger joint which made the best fries simply because they changed their oil daily. To the rest of the burger places out there, honestly, it’s not that hard and on top of that their burgers were the size of my face. After a hard day’s work, I had quite the appetite. My ribs have almost completely healed together as I pulled up on the curb to the dodgy looking burger joint and walked in. What I liked about these parts of the neighborhood was it wasn’t glistening like the central city, there weren’t many cameras and best of all there was silence.
I was certain the couple who owned and cooked at the shop knew that I was one of the Guardians, but they were discrete and served me all the same. They treated me as if I was a normal customer. Which at times was rather refreshing opposed to the elite meals and photos that would be taken of me. It became ridiculous that whenever we ate publicly it was considered a trend. Sometimes I just wanted a big old cheeseburger or chunk of meat that our chef refused to cook because he considered it too ‘cheap’ and ‘not real food’. Seeing some of those posts on blogs have actually made me realize how much I could shove in my mouth at once. Even I was impressed. Not glamourous but still entitled to media coverage apparently.
The blue of my tattoos glowed bright and I shifted back into my normal form. The ribs were nicely knitted together and I didn’t have to lift my shirt to know that bruising would still remain for a bit longer. That would heal overnight.
The burger joint was long overdue for a window clean and the door sometimes struggled to open as it caught on the bottom of the ‘welcome’ mat. I wanted to turn and see the face of Angel Boy who probably preferred his delicacies of rich snails and bleeding steak with a side of Crème Brûlée.
The old man smiled when I walked in and I looked at the board only briefly already having in mind of what I wanted to order. “Two chicken burgers with the lot and a large serving of fries with chicken salt. A large Fanta too, please. Oh, and two deep fried mars bars, please.”
Gabe choked behind me and I gave him one effective look over my shoulder.
“It’s not the meal size that shocks me but the use of manners. Like a child in a candy store,” he retorted back.
I turned my back on him irritated. I had gotten giddily excited for my food, I always did. “And he will pay when he orders, make sure to charge double,” I said pointing at Gabe and walking to the singular booth in the corner. The white and black squares of the dining floor reminded me of a very retro time. There were only a few chairs and tables and I made sure to sit at the one that had no window view and was tucked in the corner with only a one booth chair. I liked to remain out of sight here. It was like my own little moment of silence.
The wife of the shop owner walked over to me and placed three books downs for me to select from. “I liked these three, the other two were okay but I thought they might interest you. We have similar tastes so I would probably recommend this one,” she said placing one on top of the others. I read over the blurb and gave her a smile. Oh yes, this is definitely one I would read.
I began reading it before my meal was brought out to me and scooted over my large Fanta, ignoring the masculine angel who looked far too big to be sitting in such a small room. He was careful not to brush his wings against anything.
“What is this, some kind of book club thing? And romance of all things, really? You’re a demon-“
I tsked him to stop interrupting me and continued reading.
“Surely you aren’t hoping to fall in love one day? Will I find an online dating profile?” he asked.
“I don’t believe in love,” I simply said as the woman came and placed my burgers and fries in front of me. With book in one hand and a burger in the other I began multi-tasking. Sir pretty boy hadn’t ordered anything as I anticipated but he did pay for mine... shockingly. Such a do-gooder.
“You did once. I’ve seen the pictures to prove it,” he said.
My gaze shot up to his. “That was before I died and was inhabited by demons. You’d be surprised how much that might change one’s character and ideals.” I said taking a massive bite out of my burger and breathing out from frustration. I purposefully made sure to eat loudly and with my mouth open. He said a few more things but I chose to ignore him. About halfway through my book and two burgers later I was still grazing on my chips when I came across the page I was after.
A day, time, and location were scribbled into the book of when the next black-markets would be held. One week from now. I held in my sigh. One week seemed so far away. Especially having to deal with an insufferable follower. I took a mental note. I would keep busy until then. Surely I would find something using other resources. I polished off my deep-fried chips, keeping my head down in the book as the next customer came in, hoping that they wouldn’t recognize me. I enjoyed this quiet spot and although most that walked through here were those who were familiar with the black markets, there were a few who were just ordinary people walking off the street.
The man’s audible gasp made me realize that was utter stupidity when a brilliant angel was sitting in the middle of the room staring at me. The man wouldn’t be able to see me past the mass of his wings but I finished the paragraph I was on and put it down taking note of the page number. As if reading my thoughts, the woman collected my dirty dishes and told me to keep it because the ending to the story was rather good.
I walked passed and barged my shoulder into the gawker. I was getting up to a good part in my book too. I jumped onto my bike and allowed the thrill of zipping through the streets and challenging Gabe to keep up. He had given up on telling me to stop and just followed me in silence. I wondered who would exhaust first. Me or the angel who was hundreds of years old, if not more. I certainly knew I’d give it my best, old man.
*
After doing rounds in the city, I parked my bike in the garage to our lake house waiting for the electric gates to come down. With very little space remaining Gabe swept in low and came onto his haunches standing as the becoming dark room lit up with light from his wings. Damn, and here I thought he might either get locked out or the rolling door might crush him. I walked through the side door which led through the Japanese garden and pool and into the side of the kitchen. I noticed that he was scanning everything, exit points, entrance points, and surveillance cameras–and there were plenty. Haymen did like to keep a close eye on his property. I opened up the white French doors to the kitchen and was welcomed by Tahmeed’s black blood pillowing out from her stomach and onto the white tiles.
“What the hell happened to you?” I asked. Destiny was pressing a towel against her, to help stop the bleeding. Tahmeed winced at the pain and pressure. The side of her stomach had been sliced open deep.
“Just seal it shut,” she hissed at Destiny.
“You will still have internal bleeding. We should call Doc,” Destiny said. I went over and compressed the towel to make room for Destiny. Internal bleeding was an issue but Tahmeed would heal in due time. It was the nasty smell of burning flesh and scar that would remain, that would be the bitch. Tahmeed didn’t even have to explain why she didn’t want Doc called. Because then she would have to admit her failure of a mission. We were weapons, if even for a moment of compromise, Haymen would be displeased. I looked over my shoulder at Alexa who had her hands crossed over her chest and watched from the door with a vacant look. I wasn’t even ready to tackle that issue right now. I could feel Gabe’s eyes glued to us from the door, taking everything in. I suppose it was odd that we actually helped one another from time to time, it wasn’t a common thing for demons who we were made up of. But our generation seemed somewhat closer opposed to the others I had heard about. This was only something small and honestly, we had nothing to gain to see one another die sooner rather than later.
Destiny’s blue tattoos lit up and not much about her physical appearance had changed except that every hair on her body had turned into flickering flames. Her fire demon was her most powerful and even I was weary of it. She had shown that at times she couldn’t fully control that much power. She had set alight an entire building accidently. If she weren’t snapped out of it sooner; if she had forgotten that she needed to rein in and control the flames, she could’ve burned down the whole city.
“Push it close together,” she said. I looked down at the wide gash questioning how on earth I was supposed to do even that. With a quick second I threw away the towel and black blood began spilling over my hands. I pushed the skin as close as I could, Tahmeed was screaming from the pain as I tried to get the edges close. There was still a large gap and trying to make sure her guts didn’t spill out the side was quite a serious matter. As soon as Destiny’s finger touched the edge of her skin and began to meld the skin together, Tahmeed passed out from the pain. Before I moved my hands, Gabe came and collected her in his arms so she wouldn’t fall to the ground.
Destiny merged the two pieces of flesh together melding it. It was gruesome and far from perfect. There was internal bleeding and with her little control, I knew Destiny had singed some bits internally. But Tahmeed was right, even with internal bleeding her body would mend itself. It was her weakened state while she slept that was the real issue now.
They would come for her in the shadow dreams. I hoped that she wouldn’t be compromised.
“I glitched the cameras the moment she came in. Put her to rest,” Alexa said from behind us. She had a tech demon which was rather savvy with all things modern and technical. Which reminded me to ask her for a favor later so I could research certain things that might be off the records. If anyone could dig deep it was Alexa but I had to be careful about how I worded what I was after.
Gabe collected her in his arms and asked which room was Tahmeed’s. Destiny reverted to her normal self and shoved him. “Give me her. We don’t need help from the likes of you,” she spited. She was slickened with blood when she grabbed her from him and took Tahmeeds dead weight without issue. She turned back into her normal form so the flames wouldn’t lick at Tahmeed. She walked her down the hallway. Blood glistened from the doorway all the way to where she stood. She must’ve only arrived when we had.
Not that I liked to clean but we had to dispose of the evidence before any one realized the cameras were playing funny business. I went straight to the cleaning cabinet, which I don’t think any of us had used since being in here. We had a cleaner come in every day. But this would be reported. I grabbed paper toweling and sprays that smelled of lemon. I don’t know why we all banded together to help her. We usually looked out only for ourselves. But then I wondered if I had been the only one that had made contact with the others. Were they just as scared as I was? I wasn’t terrified of anything, it didn’t run in our nature. But it was instinct to know when something was greater than ourselves, and that we were fighting against something larger which might’ve been there since the beginning of time.
“She went to clear some demons that are taking humans in the forestry on the edge of the city,” Destiny said walking back in and staring deathly Gabe with hatred. Her blonde curls and arms were sticky with Tahmeed’s blood.
“I’d say it didn’t go well,” is all I said as I scrubbed the flooring.
“No. They still need to be eradicated before they come into the city. They’re still days out of Shabeah so we have time. We’ll just have to wait to see who Haymen wants to reassign. He won’t be pleased with her shortcomings.
A loud screaming gargle came from Tahmeed’s room. Destiny and I looked at one another and continued scrubbing. That was a lot sooner than I thought.
“Is she okay?” Gabe asked as he mopped up a black pool on the floor. Destiny hissed at his question and involvement. Even Alexa came over and began making small circles with a cloth. We didn’t talk about it. There had been an increase in attacks as of late, we were being attacked almost every night now. We never spoke to one another about it nor were we about to with a war angel in the room. Surprisingly he stayed quiet but I knew that he was absorbing and calculating all that he could.
A small beep dinged in my ear and I wiped away the hair that had fallen over my shoulders with the back of my hand. I swiped the top of my ear to initiate the implant. The blue screen opened in front of me and I read the brief of Haymen’s new assignment. Great. So those demons who had just split Tahmeed’s stomach open was now my problem to deal with tomorrow morning. Thanks Homie.
“Looks like I will be finishing the job off for Tahmeed tomorrow,” I said and continued scrubbing. Destiny didn’t say anything after that and we pretended like the large angel in the room wasn’t looking over us intently with questions that would not be answered.
