Infernal Justice (Angels at the Edge Book 2)

by Michael Arches

  Two seven-foot-tall devils stood in front of the sofa. They wore black karate uniforms, but their cloven hooves were visible below, and their hairy, reddish-brown arms extended beyond the uniforms’ sleeves. Long goat’s horns grew out of their foreheads and arched backward.

  They’d been watching a horror flick on a large TV. A naked woman ran down a dark corridor with a hellhound chasing after her.

  These two devils had to be Bonito’s bodyguards. They quickly extracted their swords.

  Not that it would do much good. We surrounded them and pointed our blades at them.

  The black angel said, “If you’re smart, you’ll lower your weapons. We didn’t come for you. Sit back down.”

  To my surprise, they did. Maybe they figured they didn’t have much choice. If they resisted, they were sure to be slaughtered. Loyalty to their boss only went so far.

  “Where’s Bonito?” Jack asked.

  One of them pointed at a closed door across the room. Jack ran at it and smashed it open with one shoulder. Bonito, his vampire fangs fully extended, stood in front of his desk. As he rushed forward, his long black hair flowed behind him. He held a flaming red broadsword over his left shoulder.

  Jack got his sword up just in time to block a crashing blow. They slashed at each other repeatedly just inside the doorway, and that made it impossible for the rest of us to help.

  Bonito must’ve realized his end was near, and he seemed determined to take a few of us with him.

  Jack was the quicker of the two, and after a moment, he managed to force Bonito back into the room. Four of the angels, including me, slipped into the office. I circled behind the vampire and slashed at the backs of his legs, but he seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. With blinding speed, he swirled, and his long broadsword swooshed out.

  I ducked, but barely in time. His flaming blade burned the hair off my head, leaving me bald. The stink of sulfur mixed with the smell of burning hair. My skin on top of my head burned.

  The vampire was strong, but he couldn’t hold off five angels for long. Seconds later, with a single slice from a saber, one of my teammates severed Bonito’s sword arm near his shoulder. Blood spurted out from the wound.

  “Where are the three demons who attacked the girls?” Jack asked. “They will suffer the same fate as you.”

  Bonito didn’t answer.

  My friend motioned for me to check the vampire’s mind.

  I slipped into his head and felt his pain, his hatred, and his fury. The answer to Jack’s question was front and center in the demon’s mind.

  Bonito’s flunkies were hiding in a storage warehouse in Oakland. I saw a street sign near the building that showed the cross streets. They’d been given new faces.

  When I switched back to fighting angel form, I said, “Got it, and I know what they look like now.”

  “Good,” Jack said. “We’ll go as soon as we’re finished with this monster.”

  The black angel and Jack used their swords to slash vertical lines deep into Bonito’s torso, slicing him open from the shoulders down to his waist. They purposefully didn’t cut deep enough to kill. The vampire screamed with agony as poison from the magical blades invaded his body. Within a minute, he was covered with blood from the neck down.

  He fell to the ground writhing, and I looked down without a bit of compassion. His screams, which echoed off the walls of the house, pleased me as I remembered how Cassandra had suffered at his order.

  Jack and I grabbed Bonito’s thrashing legs and dragged him into the living room where the two bodyguards were still sitting. Inga and the other angels who’d gone around the back had shown up in the living room and brought three harpies in human form with them. They were apparently house slaves because they stepped forward to spit on their former master.

  All ten of us stood in a circle around Bonito’s writhing body. Over the course of a few minutes, his movements slowed, and I felt his magical aura dissipate. No reincarnation was possible for immortals, so he was destined to enter the great void.

  Finally, his body vanished in a cloud of black smoke. All the blood that he’d shed across the carpet disappeared, too.

  Honah’s sentence had been harsh but fair. Iris and Cassandra were at least partially avenged.

  Jack spoke to the other demons. “We made him suffer so much because he attacked children. The same fate will be handed out to any other dark creature who dares to follow his example. Spread the word to your kind.”

  Even if Jack hadn’t ordered them to carry the message, I had no doubt they’d tell everyone they knew about their close escape from divine justice.

  Chapter 5

  Wednesday, August 9th

  A NEW DAY began, but our work was only partially finished. I sent a message to Honah telling them the location of the storage building where the three demons were hiding. While waiting, I healed my burned pate and regrew my hair.

  I had to look ridiculous, but nobody pointed that out. I’d been wounded in battle, and there was honor in that, even if my suffering was minor in comparison to most injuries.

  The chief sent all ten of us to Oakland, and we reformed as our human selves. I recognized the building in front of us as the warehouse from Bonito’s memory. We crowded around the front entrance. This time, Inga cut a hole in its steel door large enough for us to step through. We rushed inside to find an office area. There were a dozen cubicles with desks, computers, phones and chairs, but no demons.

  “Something’s wrong,” Jack said. “I can’t sense dark immortals anywhere nearby.”

  Neither could I. Dang it. “I know this is the place, and Bonito was sure they were hiding here.”

  The black angel patted me on the shoulder. “They were, Gabriel. I can still smell their stench. Four devils in all.”

  Jack rubbed his temples. “How did they figure out we were coming? We didn’t know ourselves until a few minutes ago.”

  “Maybe one of the guards at the ranch sent a warning,” I guessed.

  Inga shook her head. “I was expecting them to try, and paid close attention, but they didn’t.”

  Several of the angels threw out ideas, but none made any more sense than my idea had.

  To be sure they weren’t cloaked somehow, we fanned out inside the building and checked everywhere they could be hiding. We also searched for clues that pointed to where the demons might’ve gone.

  Jack paired me up with Inga. She and I ran up the stairs to the building’s top floor.

  This was my first chance to get to know her. She had the muscular build of an Amazon, and her long, brunette hair flowed in waves down to the small of her back. When she smiled, pretty dimples formed in her cheeks, giving her an innocent, childlike appearance.

  Most guardian angels kept me at a distance. I wasn’t sure why, but probably because I wasn’t part of their caste. Maybe it was because my first guardian, Griffin, had barely survived a fight he, Cleo and I had fought a few months ago. The word might have gotten out that I was bad luck.

  Thank God, Inga didn’t seem to have gotten the memo. Or she’d gotten the straight scoop from her friend Cleo. Anyway, Inga play-punched me in the shoulder. “Cleopatra tells me you annoy her less than most of her former partners. I hope I'll find that to be true.”

  Cleo was the nicest angel I’d ever met. “She’s been a great friend since the day I first saw her on top of a mountain in Colorado. She doesn’t let my mess-ups annoy her.”

  Inga nodded. “She puts up with my tough-gal, guardian angel nonsense, too. A wonderful friend.”

  Within the legion, the guardians were most prestigious angels because they kept the rest of us safe. Cleo belonged to one of the middle castes, a peacemaker. I, on the other hand, being both a baby angel and a spy, stayed beneath everyone else. “She doesn’t look down on me.”

  Inga flipped her long hair back out of her face with her hands. “She says you listen to her more than most men. Keep it up.”
>
  “Yes, ma’am.” I could count my angel friends on one hand, and I was hoping I’d just added her to the list.

  -o-o-o-

  WE ROAMED THE upper floor, always staying close enough to see each other, but found no sign of the demons or any helpful clues.

  Then a thought popped into my head from one of the other team members. I found where they were hiding, the southeast corner of the second floor. And I sense the echo of a spell used to capture them. Then all four devils were teleported away.

  Our team congregated at the corner on the second floor. Even I could sense an echo of magic. It created a distinct tingling in my head, but the more experienced angels recognized the signature much more specifically as a capture spell which would’ve immobilized them. “Is there any way you can tell where they went?” I asked.

  Several of the angels shook their heads.

  “I still don’t understand how they figured out we were coming,” Jack said.

  Neither did I, and I fought to tamp down my disappointment. The three demons who’d grabbed Cassandra and Iris were every bit as vicious as Bonito. They deserved to suffer the same fate. But they’d slipped away. So much for my skills as a detective. I had no idea where they’d gone.

  -o-o-o-

  WE COULDN’T FIND anything helpful in tracking our quarry. Honah sent us to the San Francisco office of the Angelic Legion. It was a skyscraper, similar to the headquarters in Denver, and it mainly served as a gathering place for members of the legion as we waited for new assignments. Not that any of us stayed idle for long. There was too much trouble in the world in general and Northern California in particular.

  One by one, the other angels headed out on tasks, but Honah asked me to stay and use the computers there to learn what I could about Bonito’s businesses. The three demons might’ve been moved to a different office without knowing we were hot on their trail. The only problem with that theory was explaining why they were first immobilized.

  It didn’t take long for me to find two other buildings Bonito’s business owned. Honah sent Jack and me to one, a business suite in Richmond.

  The office was located in a warehouse district, and the entire building appeared deserted. To be sure, Jack and I went through each individual room to make sure no one was hiding inside.

  That didn’t pan out, so we headed to his second business, a carpet supply company in San Jose. We were searching the empty building when Honah’s voice sounded in my head.

  Is there a TV where you are?

  I’d noticed one in the manager’s office. Sure.

  Turn it on to any news channel. You will see where those demons are.

  Jack joined me in the office, and I turned on CNN. The screen contained a banner saying LIVE COVERAGE! Three tall, narrow forms had been lit up by lights. They were mostly gray against a black background. I suspected they were people, all dressed in gray clothes from their necks down, but the picture was too fuzzy to be sure.

  “What’s going on?” my partner asked.

  I turned up the sound but still didn’t hear anything. “Beats me. Looks like a home video.”

  A white angel in his fighting form stepped into the picture with his back toward us. He was in sharp focus. I’d seen lots of angels over the last few months, but none had been completely white from head to toe. “Do you know him?”

  Jack stepped closer to the screen. “He’s fake. There are no pure white angels. Everyone’s wings are colored in a unique way, and nobody’s skin is pure white, not even Milton’s.”

  It was a relief to have him there to answer questions. He knew so much more about both angels and demons.

  The fake angel looked back at the camera and smiled in a creepy, hungry way.

  “I know who that is,” Jack said. “Somebody copied a statue’s face.”

  I was getting more confused by the minute. “What?”

  Jack nodded at me. “Ten angels decorate a famous bridge in Rome, the Ponte Sant’Angelo. One of those statues there looks exactly like this imposter.”

  Was that a signal to his demon buddies that this was some kind of joke? Or maybe he was mocking the legion.

  Onscreen, the fake angel strode through tall, dry grass toward the tall figures, and they came into better focus. I immediately recognized Iris’ killers. They stood in a line at the edge of some drop-off. Their feet were bound and their hands hidden behind their backs.

  A chill ran through me. Was somebody else as pissed at them as the legion? It sure looked like they were about to be exterminated. I had mixed feelings. We had no idea where to find them, and it was better for someone else to annihilate them than for them to remain loose to terrorize others. But this whole stage affair was beyond creepy.

  The fake angel spoke in a deep voice. “Woman, tell our assembled multitude what foul crimes you three committed.”

  The woman who’d driven the getaway car spoke in a pleading voice. “We’re ashamed that we were forced to kidnap the mayor’s daughters. Our boss, Ralph Bonito, made us do it. The older girl died in an accident. We’re all incredibly sorry about that, and I didn’t hurt her in any way. Look, we’re not professional enforcers. And remember, we let the younger one go without hurting her at all.”

  “What bullshit!” Jack said.

  He was right. I remembered Cassandra’s hollow, vacant eyes the first time I saw her. “Those three deserve to die in the most painful way possible. At least somebody has their hands on them to deliver justice. I don’t feel any pity for them.”

  “Where is Bonito now?” the fake angel asked.

  The tall devil said, “At his ranch. It’s near Lake Tahoe. I can show you exactly where.”

  The white imposter asked, “Why did he want you to abduct the mayor’s daughters?”

  The woman said, “The mayor refused to approve a new building in the city. Bonito wanted to encourage the mayor to change his mind.”

  The fake angel looked into the camera. “You see how reckless these vermin are. No need for endless delays. I will punish these monsters now.”

  He turned to face the devils. “By the power invested in me by the Almighty Lord, I hereby commit your bodies to the deep, to be turned into corruption.”

  His right hand held a large revolver instead of an angel’s flaming sword. Without hesitating, he fired three quick shots. The bullets hit the demons in the forehead, one by one, knocking them backwards into the darkness.

  The camera moved forward to where they had stood. As the lens peered down, it revealed a light-colored cliff that dropped to a raging ocean. The surf crashed against several large rocks. I couldn’t see much except a small pine was growing on the almost-vertical slope.

  The shooter began singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic. When he got to the part about lightning from the Lord’s terrible swift sword, the video went blank.

  Neither the bullets nor the fall would’ve killed those devils. “That was all staged,” I said. “Who’re they trying to fool?”

  “He wants the public to believe they’re dead,” Jack said. “I’m sure the fall hurt like hell, but we need to find those three and really destroy them.”

  The video hadn’t provided much in the way of clues to identify the spot where the fake executions had taken place. “The only distinct thing I saw was the small tree.”

  “If Honah commits enough manpower to the search, I’m sure we can find the spot, assuming this video was shot on the California coast. They probably stayed close to the Bay Area.”

  I was relieved to hear Jack wanted to continue the chase, too.

  Honah’s voice sounded in my head. We will begin the search at first light, Gabriel. I will return you to Colorado until tomorrow evening. This controversy is just beginning.

  -o-o-o-

  THROUGHOUT THE DAY, I focused on my work at the ranch. Ellen could drop her kid at any moment, and I didn’t want her to worry about whether the critters were in good hands. We’d reduced the size of
her goat and sheep herds so I could handle them on my own. I also made sure I kept plenty of gas in my truck so we could leave for the hospital at a moment’s notice.

  Over the course of the day, she and I chatted about everything that came to mind, except those executions. She didn’t seem to know about them, and I sure didn’t want to tell her. Dwelling on something that morbid wouldn’t help her peace of mind.

  My main worry was that she’d go into labor at night when I was off in California. I was her Lamaze breathing coach. Honah had promised me he’d know when her labor started, but he wouldn’t explain how he’d know. I had to trust him, which was tough because the most important person in my life could suffer if we messed up. Just in case, I kept my cellphone fully charged. If he overlooked her labor, she could call me. Then he could send me back in the blink of an eye.

  -o-o-o-

  ANOTHER HOT, DRY day passed uneventfully, and as soon as Ellen went to bed for the evening, I notified the chief.

  He teleported me to a headland overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We were about a mile west of a busy paved road running along the coast, probably the Coast Highway.

  Cleo greeted me with her normal big smile, and I gave her a quick hug. “What’s new?”

  She motioned for me to follow her to the edge of a cliff. “This is where it happened. One of the San Francisco angels originally noticed the tree growing on the slope. We’re about ninety miles north of San Francisco. I can see where the three devils stood, but we haven’t approached that exact spot on foot.” She pointed at an area near the edge of the drop-off.

  “We didn’t want to disturb the area before you could see it.”

  That was kind of them, but I didn’t see the need to collect much in the way of standard forensic evidence. I could see where the three had trampled the tinder-dry grass, and I spotted a few drops of blood that had blown back from the shots fired. Most of the blood and brain matter ejected by the bullets must’ve splattered along the cliff behind the three.