by Skyler Andra
“Mr. Seafur,” the shorter rat said with a deep bow of his head. “Nice to see you.”
The one in the slacks, cowered. Busted talking bad about his boss.
Someone else came into view. Expensive navy cotton suit. Silver cuff links. White shirt. Dark hair, ashen skin, dark eyes.
My blood iced over with recognition. Luc. Lucifer. Luc Seafur. Fucking clever. What the fuck was he doing here? He rarely showed his face above ground. This must be important for him to attend and not just send his rats to do his bidding. I guess delivering a concert to douse the city in darkness ranked high on his agenda these days.
Fuck me. Zak was trapped in a truck with our fallen brother a few feet away. Trust him to get cornered. Shit always went wrong with Zak as if he courted trouble. If Luc discovered his presence, we were screwed. Zak wasn’t strong enough to face the prick alone. The darkness had almost taken him, weakening him from his glory days. Pumped full of that shit, our fallen brother was far stronger in a head to head challenge. He’d kill Zak with ease and steal what little was left of his untainted grace.
Somehow, I had to get us out of here before either of us was discovered.
I squinted at the risky task ahead. Careful with my feet, I took light steps like a goddamn cat sneaking up on a mouse.
From thirty-feet away, I spotted my prick of a brother, his hair slicked back, navy suit tight, an intimidating presence even from far away.
“You need to get the ticket sales up,” he ordered.
To anyone else, Luc appeared like a typical Wall Street fucker. But to me, he looked like a walking fucking corpse, a dying angel. Only my brother wasn’t terminal. Stronger than all of us, he swelled with darkness, his ego exceeding the size of this planet. Hard to find. Hard to beat. Even harder to kill. Like one of those fucking enemies in a computer game that you had to fight for like ten minutes to kill. But in the process, you lost a lot of your lifeline and sometimes died taking him on. Unlike the world of games, we didn’t get a second chance to kill him. That’s why I’d lost a hell of a lot of my warriors on this mission.
Still, this situation was a blessing. We didn’t get opportunities like this often. I could sneak up on the fucker and stab him in the back. In doing so, I risked my own life and the success of the mission. Without me as a leader, the angels were doomed. Who would lead the team with me gone? Zak? Fuck no. Jojo? Didn’t have enough experience. Uri? Just as reckless as Zak, using his grace to fend off the darkness and kill rats. Probably the reason Luc was here. Zak had stamped this city with a target for destruction.
We had to weaken Luc enough to face him and defeat him. Jojo had helped with that but not enough. With the rest of the angels on our side, we could face Luc with enough strength to beat him for good.
“We tried,” the first man stuttered. “Ticket prices are too high.”
“Then slash the price.” The coldness in Luc’s voice sliced through me like a blade of ice. “I don’t care how you get it done. Just do it. I need this city.”
Many thoughts swamped my mind. Why was this concert so important? In Sterling City of all places? The shithole capitol of this world.
I ran a hand through my hair, torn about saving Zak or striking Luc while he was weakened. If I didn’t do anything, I was a coward. If I did, I was an idiot. Which one was smarter? One thing about Luc, he always seemed two steps ahead of us.
Adrenaline pulsed through my veins as I contemplated the greater good. Was it saving the humans from Luc’s deathly grip? The safety of my team. Strength in unity like Jojo spoke about. A message from the Most High to find the others and face Luc together as a stronger unit.
Fuck. I can’t believe that I was leaning towards pussying out of this. Zak’s voice, dishing out endless grief, haunted me. I’d never live down choosing this option. But sometimes a leader had to make the tough decision to retreat and save their men. We could battle Luc in other ways. Namely preventing this concert from going ahead and saving this city from his darkness.
I withdrew, taking careful steps. I bumped into a parked car. The owner had left it open. I slipped in but didn’t shut the door properly. I glanced up through the windscreen. Luc was out of my sight. By now he could have finished with his conversation and be anywhere in the stadium. Not letting that worry me, I ripped my cell phone out and dialed 911.
In seconds someone answered. “911—what is your emergency?”
“There’s a fire at Sterling City Stadium,” I breathed heavy into the phone. “In the loading bay.”
“Can you give me any more details, sir?” the operator asked.
Fuck. Like what? My brain seized.
“Are there any explosions?” she asked. “Is it a kitchen fire?”
“Explosions yeah.” God, I was a terrible liar. The Most High had made me in his image. My name translated into He is who like God. I was too reliable, too responsible, too honest for my own good. “A spill of gas near some electrical equipment.”
“I’ll send the fire department immediately,” she said. I heard her typing.
“Can you give me your name, sir?” she asked.
“Luc,” I lied. “Luc Seafur.” The name my prick of a brother went by on this Earth in his business ventures. Eat shit, brother. Let’s see how you get out of a false report, wasting emergency services time.
“Thank you for reporting the incident, Mr. Seafur,” the woman said. “God bless.”
The line went dead.
God bless. I hadn’t heard that in years. Everyone had seemed to have lost faith. Yet, this was proof that wasn’t true. And in my moment of most need. Seventh heaven yeah! I needed all the luck and blessings, I could get right now, if I was to get Zak and I out of here alive.
I snuck out of the car and left the door ajar. Shoving the phone back into my pocket, I crept back up towards where I’d spotted Luc. I stopped at the same vehicle as before. This time I pressed my back to another mini-van, keeping my eye on him in the reflection of the window in the vehicle beside it. He spoke on his cell phone, waving his hands around animatedly. Strange. He was normally quite a slick, cocky, and composed guy. Something had obviously gotten under his skin.
“What do you mean they found you?” Luc roared into his cell phone, his fury was on full display from his warped lips to his creased nose. “They took the bracelet? You fool!”
What the fuck? Was he talking to the rat Zak had stabbed with his spear? Impossible. Zak had cleared him of darkness. Or had he? The muscles in my face slackened. An awful thought crossed my mind. Was Zak losing his touch? The darkness reducing his ability to free a rat from its grasp.
Luc rubbed his pinched forehead. With a sneer, he lifted an arm and aimed it at the truck nearby. Three blasts of darkness erupted from his hands and hit the back of it. The rear lifted up and smashed down on its side. Black fire crawled along the entire shell, burning the metal and leaving it looking like it had been set on fire.
“I’ll deal with it,” Luc snapped. “They’re not going to ruin my concert.”
He ended the call and shoved his phone into his breast pocket.
“Moron,” he snarled.
Fuck. That dirty rat. I’d fucking kill him if I saw him again. Luc was on to us. The loss of the element of surprise deadened my insides. The slimy bastard would put precautions into place to protect his precious investment. That’d only make our job ten times harder.
In the distance, sirens started blazing.
Luc’s attention snapped to the direction of the stadium entrance.
Good. Not long now. The arrival of the fire department would keep him busy. Plenty of explaining to do. Distractions to get him out of my hair, while I got Zak and I out of here.
Luc stormed off into the heart of the stadium.
I estimated I had at least five to ten minutes. My eyes landed on the smoldering truck and dark thoughts twisted in my mind. Fuck. I rushed over to the open door and grabbed it. Pain seared my fingers and I hissed.
“Christ, Zak,” I s
aid. “Please tell me you’re alive.”
A groan sounded from deeper inside the cabin. “You took your sweet time, asshole.”
Yep. That was Zak alright. Thank the Most High.
I moved deeper inside the blackened, foul mess, despite the horrendous churning inside my stomach and the suffocating effect of Luc’s darkness, gripping my lungs.
Sirens wailed even louder outside, growing closer with each second.
“Where the fuck are you?” I pulled out my cell phone and activated the torchlight. Boxes had tipped off shelves. Some smashed and torn open, others blown apart from Luc’s temper tantrum. All of it was a charred mess.
“In the back,” Zak moaned.
“Can you walk?” I climbed over a set of destroyed debris.
“I’m trapped.” The strain in Zak’s voice spoke of his pain. Luc must have hit him pretty good. “Not a fucking word, ass hat.”
I found him at the rear of the trailer, wedged between the cabin and the metal which had buckled from the impact of Luc’s blast. His head lolled back. Pain pinched his brow. His shoulder rested at a funny angle as if it had popped out of joint. His face, hands, and exposed wound were stained with soot. White powder coated his clothing, the floor, and walls.
Small pills with symbols on them were scattered all over the floor spilling from a couple of busted bags. One glance at the ruined bags told me what the substance was. Cocaine and ecstasy. Drugs for the masses of crowds attending the festival.
But I didn’t care about that for now. My gaze returned to Zak. Blood and grace trickled from the long cut on his trapped leg. Luc’s foulness mingled with the mess. Zak brushed it away, smearing it on his skin.
“Jesus, Zak,” I said. “He got you good.”
“He always does,” Zak groaned, jamming his hand over his bleeding wound.
I deposited my phone on a nearby box, standing it upright, so that I had some light.
“Fuck.” I bent the metal until it gave, releasing his leg.
“Thanks, man.” Zak rubbed his leg.
“You good to stand or you want my help?”
“I’m alright.” He used the fallen shelf behind him as leverage to lift himself. But he slumped, weakened by the effort.
By now the wailing of the sirens was practically upon us. A block away or less.
Shit. Time was running out. We couldn’t be caught here by the authorities. They’d force us to hang around and give witness statements, drawing Luc’s attention. We couldn’t afford to lose the upper hand. He might know we were onto him, but he didn’t know what I’d done, or that we’d been here.
“Come here.” I weaved Zak’s arm over my shoulder and lifted him to his feet. Slowly we navigated the fallen mess of shelves and boxes to the wall where I propped him up for a moment. “Wait a second.”
I extricated myself from his arm and toed through the mess to grab my phone. With it I took a couple of pictures of the broken bags of powder and pills all over the floor.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Zak asked.
“Drugs for the concert goers,” I replied.
“Evidence for the cops?”
“Yep. We’ve got to stop this concert.”
“There’s more over there.” I followed the trail of his lifted finger.
Right at the back of the truck. Hundreds of taped bags of the stuff, all tossed from their boxes, courtesy of Luc tipping of the trailer. Evidence that I could take to the cops and cause a real mess for Luc. While he might have gained the upper hand over us, we’d been handed our own weapon.
“This doesn’t prove shit you know,” Zak said. “The truck could be a courier. The stadium not the intended recipient.”
“Oh yeah?” I lifted one torn box and twisting it upright to check the delivery address. The Sterling City Stadium address was printed in big letters on the sticker.
“Well alright then.” Zak smiled and dusted his hands. “Our work is done here.”
“Unless Luc has rat police under his control.” I shifted a box of coke and another with ecstasy next to each other, snapping a photo of them then stuffing my phone back into my pocket. “Guess we’ll find out soon.”
At that exact moment, the howling sirens and screeching tires signaled the arrival of emergency services in the parking bay.
Shit. Time to clear out.
18
Jophiel
Uri and I wandered the streets of Sterling City, our heads down, lost in our own thoughts.
What were we going to do now that we’d failed to cancel the concert? Mike would be disappointed in us. I wondered how he and Zak were faring investigating the stadium and—
“You ever been on a swing?” Uri asked me, interrupting my train of remorseful and dreadful thoughts.
I turned to meet his gleaming brown gaze. “What’s that?”
“It’s like flying without wings.” He grinned, intriguing me with his words.
“Come on I’ll show you.”
I loved how he could remain upbeat in a time where everything seemed so dark. More than ever it reminded me that we all needed each other. We all had different strengths to bring to the table. If only Mike could recognize that.
My steps hurried to keep up with Uri’s as he led me to this mysterious thing called a swing.
“Here it is,” he announced as we reached a barren field with rusted equipment. He swung open the gate for me, which was covered in dust and cobwebs.
The space called to me, begging for me to restore its glory like the park had. For the moment I resisted the urge tugging at my grace. I had done enough for today. Mike didn’t need more fuel to be angry with me.
“What is this place?” I asked, closing my hands and squeezing tight, trying to push aside the call of the dying grass using the last of its breath to scream for life.
Our shoes crunched on the bare ground. Wind blew, stripping the dirt away from the soil. Long dead trees were curled over, their forms twisted, dark, and lifeless. They reminded me of Lucifer in a way and I shuddered.
“This is called a playground,” he replied, his chocolate eyes sparkling. “It’s where parents bring their children to play and socialize. It’s another place I come to lift my spirits from all the joy in the air. A kid’s laughter is infectious and reminds me of the innocence and good in the world. A bit like you.”
My heart exploded with the delight of that idea. Of the light he wanted to share with the world. What a sight it would be to see—all those children playing together, sharing, interacting. All acts I wished to witness today, but sadly the place was barren and empty, soulless like society.
“Over here.” The angel led me past a flat, round structure with four bars on it. He jumped onto one edge of it with one leg and pushed with the other, making the device spin. “Jump on.”
He waved at me and I stepped closer. I hesitated for a moment. But when he spun around again, his hand grabbed my arm, hauling me up beside him. Laughing, he caught me with ease as I fumbled. Air rushed out of my lungs from crashing into him and for being so close to him. With one hand he held us steady as the structure twisted. His other held my waist, and a fire lit in my belly. We stared into each other’s eyes. Behind his gaze I caught a flicker of something. Glee. Contentment. Desire. The same emotions that flared in my grace.
“What’s it called?” I asked as Uri shifted to push the device and circle us.
“It’s called a roundabout,” he explained. “Lean back and tilt your head.”
“What?” I asked, obliging, and my head spun a little from the motion. I wasn’t sure about doing for fear of wobbling and falling off.
“Just do it. I’ve got you. Don’t worry about falling.”
I put my trust in him, putting my arm around his back, clinging to him as I leaned back. The world circled behind me. My head whirled in a delicious glory that I’d never felt before. Blood rushed to it, making me dizzy. Delights swirled in my grace and I let out a short, excited cry.
“Told you.”
Uri chuckled.
“This is incredible!” I shouted, throwing my arms up, suffering another round of dizziness, but this time sweet and enjoyable.
When I’d received the order to fall to Earth, I promised myself to experience as much of the human encounters as I could. I wanted to understand them better. To be intimately familiar with their ways and actions. To understand their struggles, their pain, their joys, their exhilaration. And right now, I reveled in the latest one.
The roundabout slowed and Uri sped it up again. I straightened my back and lifted my head again, spinning, holding both arms out while squealing, inspiring more laughter from him.
“This is heaven!” I cried.
Heaven might be a place beyond the grasp of humans, where highly evolved beings of light dwelled, but its light stretched to every location in the galaxy. Even to the dying planet of Earth. The blessing of the Creator could be found everywhere, in the smallest of things or even in the wonder of a child’s play device.
Uri let it come to a stop. “Don’t move yet,” he warned. “Or you’ll fall over from dizziness.”
We waited for a few moments, leaning against the raised bars, until my beating heart slowed, and the swirling inside my skull subsided. The angel stepped off and offered me a hand, helping me off the roundabout where I wobbled.
“I’ve got you.” His voice became hoarse as I fell into his arms.
His heartbeat sped up, pulsing in the vein in his neck. Desire sparked in his grace, calling to my own. My breathing raced and I felt like I couldn’t get enough air.
“You okay?” Uri’s question crashed through me like torrential rain.
Losing all thoughts, I gulped, unable to answer him.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, tracing my cheeks and jaw. “You know that?”
“Archangel of beauty,” I joked, heat creeping up my collar.
His eyes slid to my mouth, and he brushed my lower lip with his thumb. I realized how close we were, the fire from our bodies twisting together as one. He licked his lips as if imagining how I tasted. I wanted to taste him too.
