by C C Solomon
The pair nodded and went about the standard method for testing us to ensure we weren’t carrying any supernatural illness. Once they approved of our health, they gave us a simultaneous smile and asked us to follow them to the inn.
Had Azrael’s angel magic made entry so easy, or was there something else going on here? “That was so weird,” I mumbled after we got back in the car and followed them down the street.
The ward tingled over my skin as we slipped through them. Monica and Azrael’s words about not being able to leave jumped into my mind. “Stop!”
Felix pressed on the break. “What?”
“Reverse and see if we can get back out past the ward. I just want to see if we get locked in.”
Felix reversed and the tingle passed over us once more but with no issue. He glanced over at me.
I gave a curt nod for him to continue.
“Guess we can rule out the missing angels being trapped in.”
I expected the place to still look devastated since, according to Azrael, the town had only resurfaced a little over a year ago. However, it looked totally void of any damaged buildings or land. In fact, it looked exactly like the old pictures of the town before the great flood. There were small shops and restaurants, grocery stores, beautiful two-story houses with well-kept lawns and other buildings all surrounded by a harbor with crystal clear water and clean boats of various sizes.
I wasn’t surprised. Magic could make anything possible, and it was the common tool among paranormals to bring life back to an area.
Other than our two escorts, nothing seemed out of place. People walked about. Dogs barked. There were no kids but that wasn’t odd in and of itself. It was early on a Friday and it was possible they were in school or that the town just did not cater to families. Old photos on the internet gave the appearance that this was more of an older person destination.
Our escorts paused in front of a large three-story inn overlooking the water, then waved at us in unison before riding off.
An older woman greeted us at check-in with a plastic smile and wide eyes like she was both shocked and happy. It was both odd and unsettling.
I was slightly annoyed to find we weren’t given our own rooms. Instead, we had a total of two rooms. Before Felix could say what he wanted, I nudged Faith to stay with me. She looked perturbed but followed me to the elevator anyway.
Faith glanced over at me as we waited at the elevator. “I know you’re avoiding being with Felix. Don’t want to get his hopes up. But why’d you pick me instead of Azrael?”
The elevator doors opened, and we stepped in with our luggage. It was tiny, fitting no more than two people, which seemed fitting of the old-fashioned waterside inn. It looked like the place was in need of an upgrade. I found it odd that they’d chosen to make the inn the same when they had done the reconstruction.
I sighed. “Except for Carlos, I’m not a big fan of angels. Don’t worry. I won’t ask you to stay up all night, eat pizza, and talk about boys.”
The elevator opened to the third floor. “Well, that’s no fun,” Faith said with a smirk before stepping out.
Once we got settled, we met Azrael and Felix in the lobby. It was still early out, only around noon, and, with it being May, we’d have plenty of daylight on our hands to walk around and investigate.
Everywhere we went, the townspeople stopped what they were doing to smile and wave at us. Joggers waved. Diners stopped eating and waved. Even people on bikes and in cars. It was like Mr. Roger’s neighborhood here.
About an hour into checking out the town, Felix suggested we grab an early dinner at a café. With such a small town, I didn’t expect it to take long at all to cover the area, so we’d already seen everything, although I wasn’t quite sure what we were looking for.
There was, however, one thing I did notice already. I wasn’t certain at first, but as we began to stroll around, now I knew. That icky gloom. Like a film of sweat on the skin that made you want to jump in the shower and wash it off.
I paused the group before stepping into the café and turned to Azrael with a pointed look. “I sense demonic energy in this town. Don’t you?”
The angel tilted their head, unbothered. “Since we went through the ward.”
I threw out my hands. “You didn’t want to say anything?”
“I assumed you knew. If we thought this place was fine, we wouldn’t be here.”
I rubbed my temples. Damn, these angels. “Okay, there are a lot of evil things in this world. It’s not just demons who cause problems.”
Azrael shrugged and walked past me to enter the café. “Well now that you confirmed what I suspected, we have a better understanding of what we are dealing with.”
Felix rolled his shoulders back, looking around. “I could tell there was magic in the town, but I couldn’t tell what type. Is it all demonic?”
I shook my head. “That I don’t know. I can only tell fae and demon magic and I can’t tell strength. I don’t know if there are a lot of demons here or even just one. I just feel a trace of it. That doesn’t mean it’s the whole town. Honestly, you’d be surprised how often I feel demonic presence in the world. They’re everywhere.”
Faith walked forward, following Azrael. “Why am I not surprised?”
A hostess greeted us at the entrance with another bright smile. She was young but she was dressed as if she’d stepped out of the 1950s, including flipped hair and a poodle skirt. I looked around the café. All the patrons were young but dressed in attire from decades long passed. Fashion was only recently reemerging but wearing clothes from so long ago was odd. Everyone wearing vintage clothes was even more strange. We saw people in 1950s poodle skirts, bell-bottom jeans, 80s track suits, fringe vests, slip dresses and oversized plaid shirts. What in-the-time-warp was going on?
The sound of a 1950s doo-wop song played from some unseen speaker. Was this a theme café? It certainly wasn’t designed as such. It appeared to be a modern design from the time right before the world had changed.
The hostess sat us down at a circular table near the window and gave us four menus.
“Excuse me, is this a theme party?” I asked, accepting a menu.
The woman gave me a quizzical look. “Why, no. It’s just a regular old café, sweetheart.” She giggled and turned away.
“I feel like I’m in Back to the Future,” I began. “What’s going on?”
Faith leaned back and looked at the menu with a slight shake of her head. “I’m nobodies fashion expert but this town looks like they fell in a time warp they couldn’t get out of. Did you see the guy jogging in that neon windbreaker suit?”
“I tried to ignore it. So where would we find these missing angels? What are their names?”
Azrael tossed the menu on the table, having made their selection. “They’d be going by Dean and Nancy here.”
“Should we ask around?”
“That might draw suspicion. I was hoping to just run into them.”
Felix made a slight excited noise. “Did you see the description of this roast beef sandwich? I know what I’m eating.”
I snatched the menu from him. “Hey, pay attention. This isn’t a vacation.” They were going to throw me on my own to my doom because it was possibly too dangerous. Now, they were chatting about meal options like they were on a cruise to the Bahamas.
He squinted his eyes at me with a smile. “But isn’t it though?”
I gave the menu back at him. “I feel like you’re not going to be any help.” I looked back over to Azrael. “What do your angels look like?”
Azrael nodded. “That pastrami sandwich sounded good. Ooh, and I was thinking about the mozzarella sticks. Who wants to split that with me?”
Were they ignoring me to be a jerk, or were they being affected by whatever was going on here?
Felix raised his hand.
I looked up at the ceiling. “I’m going to flip this table if you don’t answer me.”
Azrael let out a much put-upon
sigh. “Dean is a tall, skinny white guy with spiked blond hair. Nancy is a full-figured Hispanic woman with blue hair. They will stand out here.”
A hostess appeared and gave us four glasses of water. I looked up at her. She was dressed in 70s style bell bottom jeans and a fitted turtleneck with a fringe vest. Her red hair was feathered back to perfection. She smiled at us with pale pink lips.
However, her style was not the concern.
Although she appeared no older than thirty, her face sagged. Not in the way skin did due to age. It was almost like she was melting. Bags hung low under her eyes. Her jawline hung loose. Her neck was lumpy, and even her ears seemed to droop.
I looked around at the others. Felix seemed unperturbed as he gave his order. Azrael, ever the poker face, gave their order with no look of concern. Faith avoided looking at the woman and gave her order with no pause.
I was the only one gawking at her like she was an animal at the zoo. Admittedly, this was not polite. I gave my order quickly and waited for her to leave before saying anything.
“Is there such a thing as looking young and old at the same time?”
“Not like that,” Faith snorted. “Maybe she’s got a condition or something. I didn’t want to be an asshole and stare.” She picked up her water and gave me a pointed look.
I mean, she wasn’t wrong, however, we didn’t come to this town to just relax. If things were weird we should be questioning them. “I get it, I was being rude. It just felt off and aren’t we here to find ‘off’ things?”
She gave me a wary look. “And her skin condition is the cause for the missing angels?”
Clearly, these people were no detectives. Why did Monica think we could uncover anything?
Felix rubbed his beard in thought. “You know, maybe the angels just decided to stay here. People seem nice. They feel free to be themselves. Might be better than working for creepy Monica.”
Azrael nodded, shifting to face Felix better. “The thought did cross my mind, but I’d rather hear that from them directly.”
I sniffed my water. I wasn’t sure I trusted anything here. “Have angels run off before?”
Azrael raised a brow and gave me an amused look. “Of course. Felix’s dad did. Angels sometimes fall in love with those they shouldn’t and then they go run off to live their best lives, I guess. Being human is like freedom to us. You may not know this, but angels can be uptight.”
I sat straight and put a hand to my chest. “No,” I gasped in fake shock.
The angel chuckled. “Yeah. I mean, no offense against heaven. It’s a beautiful realm and everyone is nice and good. But you don’t get whiskey or weed or deep-fried Oreos. And forget about sex.”
Faith gave a pained expression. “Yikes.”
“Your body doesn’t exactly want it anymore. We’re supposed to be above that shit. But, fuck it, you remember.” The angel slouched in their chair and tossed their head back.
I could see the wistfulness in their eyes. I had to admit, I felt a little bad for the angel. Just a little.
“Is that why you ran around like a maniac when you came to earth?” Felix asked. He glanced over to me. “They stayed up late, went to the strip club, drank and ate everything. I felt like the parent of a bad teenager.”
“I regret nothing.”
I crossed my arms and sucked my teeth. “Well Heaven sounds boring. What do you do all day? Hop on clouds and play the harpsichord?”
Azrael glared over at me. “It’s not that bad. There’s stuff to do. You hang with your loved ones. You cross realms. You see and learn all the secrets of the world and the universe.”
“Do aliens exist?”
Azrael wiggled their brows. “Everything exists. It only sucks for angels like me really, because we actually have to work. It’s the trade you make for getting a chance to return to the world and get higher in ranks. Higher ranks mean more privileges and power. Of course, it also means dealing with more politics and personalities. Sometimes I’m not sure if a chance to eat a cheeseburger is worth all this.”
As if she heard us, our waitress returned with our food. As she placed our orders on the table, I snuck a glance up at her and noticed in surprise that she no longer had any sagging skin. Everything was as tight and youthful as one would expect for someone in their twenties.
What the…
She flashed us another smile before leaving us to our food.
I looked around at the others at the table. “Anyone care to explain her quickie facelift?”
Felix grabbed a mozzarella stick and popped it his mouth in one go. What was he, Scooby-Doo? Did he even chew?
“If you spit that up in my face, I’m going to throw you into traffic,” Faith threatened, obviously on the same wavelength as me.
His eyes widened and he began to chew. Clearly Faith’s threat was all bark because one, there was no traffic here and two, he was way too large for her to even break her back trying to pick up.
Faith dipped one of her fries into a small container of ketchup. “Maybe she got a magic surgery just now.”
“Why is a twenty-something’s face even sagging like that in the first place?” I looked down at my Philly cheese steak before leaning in to sniff it. Would I be able to tell if the food was magically poisoned? “What if it’s in the food? People eat it and then become smiley, wavy, pod people.”
Felix paused biting into his sandwich. He gave me the saddest pout ever. “I’m so hungry.”
They really weren’t taking this mission seriously. Did they think Monica wouldn’t send us to our doom? I didn’t have that kind of faith in her. I wanted to find these angels and get the hell out. If Monica suspected something was going on here then every place and everything was a suspect, including the food. I shrugged. “Fine. Then eat and we’ll find out what happens from there.”
He glared at me and I looked back at him with a sugary sweet smile.
The sudden sound of chomping to my right stole my attention and I turned to see Azrael chomping away at their sandwich. “Really?”
“The food is fine. Angels can detect evil, including poison or tampering, in food. We’re like those drug dogs in airports who could sniff out cocaine in suitcases. We can’t tell you what’s in it, but we can tell if something is wrong.” The angel closed their eyes and shook their head. “This sandwich is heavenly. Not literally because there’s no food up there but you get the deal.”
I began to nibble at my cheesesteak, still not certain about the food or even what we were doing here. It seemed everyone was taking it way too easy.
After eating, we settled the tab using government dollars. Most towns not affiliated with government towns still accepted government dollars because there were so many places they could go to buy items. Government towns covered at least half of the country so even if you ended up somewhere else, the town would still take your dollars because there was bound to be a government town less than an hour away for them to shop.
The waitress, still looking youthful, took our money from Faith, slightly grazing her fingers as she took the cash. “You have such smooth skin. What do you do to take care of it?” She ran her fingers up Faith’s hand and began to stroke her.
Faith flashed her a smile, seemingly unaffected. “Thanks, hon. I use this all-natural cocoa butter a friend of mine told me about. Game changer for me.”
The waitress nodded and backed away slowly. “Thanks, doll.”
Felix got up and smirked down at Faith. “I think she was flirting with you.”
Faith got up with a smug grin. “It happens.”
“Everywhere we go it’s like this.”
“Life of a succubus.”
As we headed out of the café, I took a look back and noticed the hostess and waitress whispering to each other as they looked at us with excited eyes. It was kind of the way a fan would look at some pop idol. Was it all just Faith’s succubus pheromones? I was pretty certain it was more than that and I was going to find out.
Chapt
er 7
We decided to rest up back at the hotel and then head out that evening for drinks to see what night looked like in the town. I suspected it would be quiet and boring. I was annoyed that we were here, unable to determine what was going on. This was a waste of time. I needed to be vying for votes, not trying to find angels I didn’t even care about. The information Monica was going to share with me had better be worth this.
Faith took a nap in the bedroom while I occupied my time scouring the internet on things to help me win a fae throne. I knew the internet wouldn’t have significant information for me, but I could learn leadership skills and build followers. After all, getting the throne didn’t involve a fight or some type of magical challenge like the weres and witches went through. All of the people approved for consideration had proven their power. I had been one of the top fighters in Misandre’s court and a former hitman for Alister. All my competitors, including that punk Sylvester, had strong magic.
No, to get the throne, I had to get support which would be impossible while I was here. It was like running for election. However, I didn’t have a ton of money, and my popularity was mixed. So now, I had to find a way to win over the undecided.
Research was not my thing, and so, having almost gone cross-eyed from looking at the screen, I closed my laptop and paced around the living area. We were supposed to head out by nine, so I’d have to wake Faith up soon.
I looked out of the sliding glass doors of our suite, intending to spy on the neighbors. The sooner I figured out what was wrong here, the sooner I could get back to what I needed to be doing. The inn was off the main road, and the view from our room looked across the street to a large, dark house. Dusk had given way to night. I let out a deep sigh. If we didn’t find anything, how long were we supposed to stay in this sleepy town?
The lights from the top window in the house across from us, perhaps the attic, came on. Who was walking through a dark house only to hang out in the attic?
A tall thin figure, perhaps a man, appeared in the window. I couldn’t make out any details from so far away. He just looked like a shadowy figure surrounded by light. The man raised an arm and slowly began to move his arm from side to side almost robotically.
