Cassiel cracked his knuckles and headed toward the dining room. He pulled out a bottle of cola from each of the pockets of his white lab coat and popped the tops off. The drapes stirred a bit, and then Todd’s head poked out. “Hello there, behind the curtains! I’m Dr. Cassiel. Dr. Cass for short. I’m a kid doctor and used to work at Philadelphia General Hospital, but I moved out here, and now I work at Prophet’s Point General Hospital. This bottle here’s for you, son.” He held it out and placed the other on the dining room table. “This one’s for your compadré when he’s ready.”
Todd threw the curtain back. “Thanks.” He took the bottle, drew a long sip, and burped long enough to say the alphabet if he’d wanted to. “Come on, James. It’s the doctor, and he’s got pop.”
James revealed himself and took his from the table. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Why don’t the two of you join me in the living room? That way I can tell you about the exam.”
They followed him and sat down on the couch again. This time, there was no cowering, no huddling. They sat much more at ease, but still close to one another.
“We’ll start with some questions first. Then, I’ll listen to your heart, check your pulse, and examine you to make sure you’re okay physically. If you’re not okay, I’ll fix you up. Once we get through that, I’ll talk to you about healing your mind. Okay?”
“Do we have to take our clothes off? You gonna touch us… there?” Gabriel’s heart hitched when he heard Todd’s small, tremulous voice. He could well imagine what that poor child had been through. What they both had been through. This part always took a toll on him as he wrestled with his own demons that had yet to be fully expunged.
“Your name is?”
“Todd.” He repeated his question. “You gonna touch our privates?”
“Todd, I don’t need to examine your private areas. And I can examine and heal you just find with your clothes on.” He turned to Gabriel and spoke to him through their threaded Brethren connection. “Can I tell them?”
“Yeah, they know about me. When we’re all done with their safe return, you can swipe everyone’s memories and exchange them with the standard ones we have ready to go.”
Cassiel nodded in agreement and focused on the two victims sitting before him. “Boys, like Gabriel, I’m an angel, too. I’m what you call a Savior in the Brethren group. I work with kids who have all sorts of medical problems, and I heal them. If you’d be more comfortable, during my examination and healing you both can be in the room at the same time.”
“Yes, we’ll do that.”
“And you are?”
“James.”
“All right then, James. Gabriel, show us to my examination room.”
“Right away, Doctor. I think this guest bedroom fits the bill.” He led them down the hall, to the first bedroom on the right, and opened the door.
“Thank you. You’ll want to be here for the questioning, and they’ll need paper and pencil to write their answers down.”
“Sure thing.” Gabriel ran out and quickly came back with notepads and pencils.
“Normally, I wouldn’t need to ask you any questions out loud. I’d be able to find out as I do my exam, but I want you to have something written down in your own hand as evidence. I’ll be collecting data as well and documenting it. When I ask these questions, each of you will write down your answers. Understand?”
They nodded silently.
“Gotta ask the hard ones, Gabe, so they’ll need your strength, comfort, and support to answer them. Boys, sit on either side of him so he can help you through this.”
He began by asking how recently they’d been involved in a sexual act. Then, if they’d been penetrated, how many times? Had they been involved in intercourse? If so, how many times? He asked them to write down everything they were forced to do or have done to them. Gabriel kept his hands on each of the boys’ shoulders, funneling comfort and peace to their souls as they wrote their hearts out explaining their sexual nightmare. After about forty-five minutes, Cassiel collected the papers and read through them while the boys took a quick break.
“James, you’re first to be checked out and healed. Lay down on the bed, please. Todd, you can sit on the chair over there in the corner. This won’t take long at all.”
Gabriel headed out the door, but James stopped him. “He can stay for this part, too. I want him to stay.” He turned around and sat down on the edge of the bed.
“No problem, buddy. I’m here for you.”
James flashed a quick smile, and then a pensiveness washed over his face. The Savior clapped his hands together and rubbed. He took a few deep breaths, and starting over James’s feet, his hands roamed and hovered about an inch above his body to sense, examine, and heal any physical problems. To the untrained, or human’s eye, it didn’t look like much was happening. Gabriel, however, saw glimmering auras emanating from his Brethren brother’s hands. They soaked through the boy’s clothing to his body. It took all of five minutes to reach the top of James’s head.
“Exam is done. Now for the mental healing.” Cassiel smiled at his patient. “I’m sure your body is feeling like its old self again. Now, to return your heart and soul to that same condition.”
“Hell, yes!”
The Savior placed one of his hands on the boy’s forehead and the other on his heart. He closed his eyes and went to work. All the Brethren knew what extent a Savior went to while healing humans. They absorbed the maladies and emotional scars and expelled them after the healing session, meditating wellness back into their bodies and souls.
“All done! I’m going to record some notes before moving on to Todd. I’ll be right back.”
As he left the room, James sat up with a brightness in his eyes Gabriel hadn’t seen before. “You all right?”
“All right? I’m awesome!” He leapt from the bed and hopped about the room like a jumping bean. “I don’t understand how he did it, but I’ll never doubt you again. Thank you. You’re the man! And he’s the man! You guys rock! Whoa!”
Before Gabriel could respond, Cassiel walked back in. “All right, Todd. You’re up. Come on over. I’ll do the same with you as I did with your buddy.”
He was more than eager, and the Savior made quick work of his ailments and mental scars. After, the boys joined Hannah in the study and gave her their phone numbers and street addresses, while the two Brethren debriefed.
“Holy shit, Gabe. Those two have been through major sexual and emotional hell. Human beings never cease to surprise and disgust me with their depravity. Your mission is noble, and I’m glad I can be here to help you destroy this scourge.”
“Thank you, my brother.”
“When do we go after these sociopaths?”
“As soon as we find their hideaway and get the rest of the kids.”
“I can help locate them. As I sifted through their memories, I could tell they had no idea where they were being held because they’re not from here, but I recognized buildings.
“I saw buildings when I held Margot’s hand the other day, but haven’t come up with anything. Let’s combine and compare what we saw. Hopefully they are one and the same.”
“I’ll clear my schedule, too. Which of the warriors are you bringing on board?”
“I already called Yofi. You’ve both done these for me before, so you know the ropes and we work well together.”
“Great. Get me on Google earth. I’ll be damned if we can’t find this place together. We’ll have these kids healed and home by bedtime.”
****
Yofi arrived a short while later. When Hannah opened the front door, his cobalt eyes swirled with seething anger and he tromped in as though ready to pound someone into the ground.
“Easy there, big boy.”
“Hey there, Hannah. Where’s Gabe?”
“He’s in his study with Cass making plans.”
“And the boys? I want to see the boys.”
“Sure, they’re in the living room watching TV. But, like I said, you may want to tone it down a bit so you don’t scare them. Here, let me go with you to make—”
He barked something unintelligible and walked passed her. He always was the rough-cut one of the bunch. No social skills whatsoever. But he was a damn good warrior, and he cared about the people he fought for.
Quietly entering the study, she walked over to the desk and watched as the two Brethren scoured the interactive map. She leaned on Gabriel’s shoulder. “Your Warrior’s here. He’s introducing himself to the boys.”
He peered up at her with an amused glance. “Oh, that should be interesting. I’ll be surprised if they don’t come running in here, scared to death.” She giggled.
“Hey, I think I found it. I think I found it.” Cassiel whacked Gabriel in the arm. Back to business.
“Where? Show me.”
“Right… here.” He pointed to a building, in the Alhambra district of Phoenix, tucked away in a huge apartment complex.
“You sure this is what you saw in their minds?”
“Yes, positive.”
“It looks like what I saw, too. All right. I’ll take Yofi and go scope it out. See what we’re up against in terms of security. Hannah, you stay here with the doctor and the boys.”
“Sure. No problem.”
“Call Barbara and Stanley back to base. Let them know we need two of our vans ready to roll. Cass, you can handle healing around ten kids on your own, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Drop in the bucket. It should take a couple of hours, maybe a little more, to examine and heal all of them. That includes recording my findings.”
“Good.” The study’s door suddenly whooshed open and Yofi’s mammoth body filled the opening. “Ah! I was just about to come out and find you.”
“Hey,” he said, trudging into the study and slamming the door behind him. With all three Brethren in the same small study, there was hardly enough room left for Hannah. “Nice kids. You got work for me?”
“Sure do. First we’re going to scope out what we think is the hideout location. Then, we’ll come back here to plan the extraction.”
“All right. I’m ready.” The Warrior shucked the T-shirt he wore and released his wings.
Gabriel removed his jacket and shirt, and unfurled his wings, as well. “Remember to cloak. It’s still too light out to fly otherwise.”
Yofi snorted.
“Just doing my job, brother.”
Hannah never tired of watching the Brethren ready themselves for action. Letting loose their wings, cloaking, it all made her insides quiver with excitement. Not to mention, the amount of chiseled muscles and testosterone in the room made even her, an old friend of the Brethren, a bit weak in the knees. Granted, most of the swoon came by way of Gabriel’s washboard abs and broad shoulders, for reasons as of yet unknown, but she was helpless to do anything to stop it.
“Hey, Hannah,” he barked. “Pretty soon you’ll be able to do this, too. Minus the taking off of your shirt, I guess.”
Well now, that’s a buzzkill. “I don’t think it’ll be half as spectacular as watching you.”
“See you later, Ms. Livingston. Try to spoil the children as much as possible.” Gabriel flashed a wicked grin that amplified the swoon factor, then disappeared before her eyes. Yofi cloaked, and he was rendered invisible, too.
“Good luck to the both of you. We’ll see you soon.”
Cassiel had taken off his lab coat and thrown it over a chair. “When was the last time you had an exam, Hannah?”
“Me? Geez, mom checked me out a couple of months ago. Why?”
“Your birthday’s coming up in a few weeks. I’d imagine there could be changes occurring at any point leading up to it. When these changes happen, don’t be concerned. Just roll with it, and let your mother and the rest of us Saviors know so we can help you with your transition.”
She was so not ready for this conversation. “I need to go check on the boys and spoil them rotten before the others get back.” He opened his mouth to say more, but she dashed out the study to find her excuses. She discovered them playing air hockey in the game room.
Watching them play, it deeply saddened her that these boys, and the millions more children out there, had their childhoods stolen and replaced with a life no one should be cursed with. The only saving grace was, when Gabriel and the others completed the mission, none would have any memories of the trauma or even of meeting the Brethren at all. No, those memories would be swiped and replaced with realistically tailored ones to bridge the past and the present for each individual. That’s how they rolled.
****
Yofi took the lead as the two Brethren flew unnoticed across the sky to the suspected apartments. They alighted in front of a one-story apartment complex.
“Looks like every four apartments are attached.” Gabriel took a quick flight around the various groupings, and waved his Warrior over to one in particular. “One of these groups is not like the others. Can you guess?”
Yofi scanned all the apartments in their vicinity. “Those,” he said, pointing to the one Gabriel stood in front of. “Looks like the windows have been painted black from the inside. It’s also set back further from all the other clusters. Gives it a bit more privacy.”
“Exactly. All the others seem to have curtains or nothing at all because they’re vacant. The boys said there were no windows.”
“I’ll do a sensory sweep.” He flew up to the roof, knelt down, and placed his hands down to get a “feel” for what or who was down below. He scuttled to different areas of the roof top, then flew back down. “This is it right here, Gabe. I sense fear, dread, desperation, hopelessness. I also sense spikes of dark power.”
“Could be the guards the boys spoke of. How many apartments are involved?”
“I sensed four distinct zones. With the size of the spikes, I’m thinking there are two guards in every apartment.”
“Sounds plausible. Can you tell how many kids are in there?”
“Nine souls are screaming out in desperation. Feel for yourself. Check my findings.”
Gabriel, anxious to sense for himself, leaned back against the side of the structure, hands spread out, and crumbled to the ground, shaking from the pain of all the desolate souls within. “I won’t give you my soul! You can’t have it, no matter what you do to me!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Yofi yanked him away from the building and righted him on his feet. “You all right?”
Gabriel shook his head, trying to clear the vile darkness and jumbled horrors of every child reaching out to intertwine with his own.
“Wanna tell me what the fuck that was all about?”
“Ahhh! No! Give me a minute, would you?” He tried walking it off, as though he’d stubbed a toe. There was no way in Hell he’d tell his brother about his past. “Damn, I should have shielded before I went ahead and did that. I usually do. Why didn’t I? Stupid of me. I’m sorry.”
“My fault. I should have warned you it was rough in there.”
“Holy hell, but it’s dripping with baseness and filth. How these kids survived this long, I don’t know. Now. Now we free them and send the depraved straight to Hell.”
“Let’s go tell the others. You all right to fly?”
“Yes.” He shot straight up in the air like an arrow and left Yofi in the dust.
Gabriel wasted no time in barreling through the front door, letting his adrenaline be his guide. “Hannah! Hannah!”
She came running into the foyer. “What? What? Is something wrong?”
“Are Barbara and Stanley here with the vans?”
“Yes, they just arrived. They’re in the kitchen. What’s going on?” She grabbed his shoulders, a sensation he wanted to explore further at a later date. “Where’s Yofi?”
“Right here, ya speed demon.” He flew straight in and set down next to him.
Gabriel tore out of Hannah’s grasp and charged into his study to write down an address. She ran after him. “Give this to them.” He shoved the paper into her hand. “We’re mobilizing now. Let’s go! Let’s go!” He raced around the study searching for his sword. He thought he’d left it in there, but he could’ve moved it to the bedroom. Tearing out of the study, he charged down the hall to his bedroom.
“Gabriel. Slow down! Take a cleansing breath or you’ll hyperventilate. Hey! Hey! We’re not going anywhere until you get yourself under control and talk to me.”
“I’m fine. We just need to get those kids out of there… now. They can’t stay there one more minute. Where’s my blasted sword?”
Hannah closed the master bedroom door and strode over to the closet. She removed his sword. As he reached for it, she blocked him, placed it on the floor, and pushed him backward to lean against his bed. “How are you going to disable the guards? How are you going to extract the children? How are you going to do all of this without anyone seeing?” She clamped her hands on either side of his face and stared him down, refusing to let his gaze wander from hers. “What… is… your… plan?”
Something clicked inside his brain, like a shut-off valve. “My plan. Of course. I must have an extraction plan. With no plan, there’s only failure.”
“That’s right, Gabriel,” Hannah coaxed while caressing his cheeks. “You always have a plan. You just have to think it through and share it with the rest of us. Then we’ll go get those kids.”
His eyes shuttered closed as the anxiety, desperation, and urgency seeped out of his body. Flashbacks to a shameful, nightmarish piece of his past receded into the darker realms of his mind, and a steadier breath returned, allowing his body to relax. She continued to caress his face, his temples, his forehead.
When he next opened his eyes, all he saw before him was Hannah’s angelic face, concerned and filled with compassion. He just felt her tender hands touching and soothing him—something no one had ever done before, nor had he ever allowed in his entire manifested life. What had happened? How could he have come so unglued? He’d always maintained such control over everything—his demeanor, actions, and mind. How did it all blow up today?
He blinked a few times and lifted his own hands to rest upon hers. “I’m so sorry, Hannah. Whatever I’ve done or said. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never had a reaction like this before. I could have jeopardized the whole damn mission.” He hung his head, still clinging to her as though she was his anchor. In many ways, she was.
“No need for apologies. You’ve been holding out on me, though, mister. We’ve known each other and worked closely together for most of my forever, and there are things I still don’t know about you and probably should. I’m going to hazard a guess and say something set you off at that building you went to with Yofi. I’m going to go even further and suggest that something sent you spiraling into a severe reaction due to PTSD. Now’s not the time to dig deeper, but Gabriel, you need to address whatever’s lurking in the deeper recesses of your mind, and I hope you’ll let me help you with that. I’m here for you and always will be, no matter what.”
She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed gently. A surge of energy flowed between them, a vibration that thrummed and connected their souls in a very private, very personal way. He embraced her in his wings and closed his eyes again. An even stronger bond formed between them. Rather than being pleased, however, he was filled with regret and sadness.
Protector, soothe thyself. Don’t get her involved in your dark baggage. He shielded his mind, steadied his resolve, and opened his wings to let her go. At first, she didn’t move. When he peered down at her, a perplexed expression met his gaze. No doubt she hadn’t expected that energy exchange to happen either, and she knew exactly what it meant. They’d have to confront it and deal with it. But not now. Not today.
“I have a plan to create and kids to save. Are you with me?”
“Y…yes. Right. Of course.” Good girl. Shake it off.
He stepped around her, picked up his sword, and stalked out of the bedroom. When she didn’t immediately follow, he called out to her. “Hannah! I need you.”
She hurried up beside him. “I’m here. I’m here.”
“You walk too slowly. Try and keep up, will you?” He smirked.
“Watch it, big guy,” she countered, and nudged him into the wall, “or you’ll find yourself eating my dust.”
As they entered the living room, he called out to everyone. “Everybody huddle up!” Yofi, Cassiel, Barbara, Stanley, and the boys came from all directions. “Come have a seat. I have a plan to create, and with your help, James and Todd’s friends will be victims no more by tonight.”