“You could’ve handled that situation much better,” he said. “You were correct in believing you should stop the crime, but your actions were ineffective. Worse, you inflicted a severe physical injury upon a human.”
“He might’ve killed her,” I said. “The force of his blow could’ve crushed her skull.”
The chief nodded. “That doesn’t justify you inflicting pain and injury. If you had reacted more quickly, you would’ve had time to stop him without injury. You could have caught his fist in your hand, for example.”
Sure, but it’s always easy to second-guess a split-second decision. In hindsight, I always imagine ways of doing things differently, but I’d done my best in the heat of the moment. “I’m only human,” but then I caught myself. “I mean, nobody is perfect.”
“As an angel first class, you are held to a much higher standard than when you were a police detective. I’ve decided that the appropriate punishment is a formal reprimand. Consider yourself admonished not to harm mortal sentient beings. You are, of course, entitled to appeal my decision.”
Honah had always been very fair with me, and any appeal would go to Milton. He was no softie and was even busier than the chief. Milton would probably make my sentence longer instead of shorter. “Nope. Do I have to go to angel jail?”
“There is no such thing. If you fail to heed my admonishment, you will find me considerably less understanding the next time.”
“Fine. I won’t do it again.”
Honah nodded. “Let us turn to other matters. Cleopatra was unsuccessful today. The cameraman does not know Caligula’s address. He always visits the tower blindfolded, and he did not know why Caligula annihilated the three devils.”
“We’re striking out left and right,” I said.
“Indeed. On a pleasanter note, I’ve arranged for you to meet Inga at a blues club near our San Francisco headquarters this evening.”
That was a much pleasanter note. I’d thought about her all day while doing my ranch chores. This date wasn’t likely to lead to much, our huge difference in status within the legion would be too much of an obstacle to overcome, but it’d be fun to socialize with one of our kind for a change. And she was very easy on the eyes.
“Terrific,” I said.
As dressings down went, that one had been much milder than I was used to, but all the other angels would know I’d screwed up. Maybe that was the real punishment. My relationship with the others was shaky before this latest mess-up. I could only wonder how it would change.
Chapter 8
HONAH TELEPORTED ME to the sidewalk outside the club, and Inga was waiting. I’d dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants on the off chance I’d get to see her, and she wore a pink dress that showed off her curves very nicely.
The club was popular even though it had a twenty-dollar cover charge and a two-drink minimum. After a bit of searching, we found a table in the back. The band hadn’t started playing, and Inga wanted to ask me about my experience at the spa. For privacy’s sake, we shared thoughts instead of talking.
Cleo told me about your squeamishness when Ophelia became aroused.
My face warmed with embarrassment. I’m the new guy, remember? I don’t need any more trouble with the powers that be.
She patted my hand. The only way you can get into trouble is if you encourage one or more humans to have sex with you. If you’re just a bystander, enjoy the ride.
That’s what Cleo had done, but she was blessed with a long and friendly relationship with the bosses. Good to know. Listen, I have to tell you something before you hear it from somebody else. I got in big trouble with the chief.
I told her about the guy in the building who’d almost punched out his date.
That wiped the smile off her face. When I mentioned the formal reprimand, she grimaced.
I’ve been there, she told me, but the incident arose after a century of service. You haven’t even been on the job six months. You might’ve set a record for the earliest sanction.
I groaned. She was going to look at me differently. And I hated to know that she’d think worse of me.
Not a great start to my immortal career, I know. I’ll have to be more careful.
She nodded. Milton and Honah hate it when any angel encroaches on God’s province.
Inga had made it clear that if I was looking for sympathy, and I was, I’d come to the wrong immortal. Guardian angels were a tough bunch. How often do angels get suspended? Kiko thought that’s what he’d do to me.
She scrunched up her face as though thinking. Honah is known for being easy on his staff. That’s one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to work for him. There are seven hundred of us working for him, and he hands out a couple of suspensions a year, so what are those odds?
Before I could answer, our waiter brought our drinks. I’d ordered rye whiskey, and I sipped mine as I tried to calculate it in my head. Alcohol doesn’t affect angels, but even with a clear head, I couldn’t come up with a number. No idea. Ellen got the math gene in my family, not me. Whatever the number is, it’s pretty low. I sure don’t want to get on that list.
She giggled and tasted her white wine. Isn’t it odd that they work us almost to death, and when they want to punish us, they give us time off?
That was strange. But even though I was a rookie, I knew the answer. Our jobs were incredibly satisfying. Every so often, we get the chance to save the world. That’s priceless.
She grinned at me like we were sharing a secret. Truth is, I’d pay him to perform this calling, and I’d pay a lot.
I was going to agree, but the band started playing, loud and fast. They started out with “Sugar Mamma”. I had a thing for John Lee Hooker, and we seemed to be in the right place. Nowhere was better for forgetting your troubles than a hot blues bar.
As the band played, I kept glancing over at Inga to see if she was enjoying herself. She was tapping her high heel shoe and smiling. I took that for a yes.
After an hour, the band took a break. I asked her about musicians she’d liked over her long life. She was telling me about Johannes Brahms when she glanced at the front door. “Trouble is approaching.”
A few seconds later, I felt a tingling on my spine. I whispered, “The last time this happened, Cleo and I hid out in the kitchen until the bad guys left.”
She snorted. “I don’t hide out…from anybody. You take the djinn. I’ll handle the troll.”
That was the biggest problem with guardian angels. They never backed down from a fight, no matter how tough the opposition. It was part of their whole macho thing.
Inga stood and reached behind her neck for her sword. When she pulled it out, it looked to be about nine feet long, a broadsword. I whipped out mine, and it looked like a paring knife by comparison. But so far, it’d worked like a charm. And it would be a lot easier to swing in close quarters without bringing the whole building down on us. Angelic blades wouldn’t harm mortal sentient beings, but they could cut through steel and concrete like they were cotton candy.
The room was packed with people milling about, and they all froze in place. The two demons glared at us from the opposite side of the room.
“How do you want to play this?” I asked in a whisper.
“I’m old-fashioned,” she said. “Forget strategy. I swing hard and fast, and I don’t stop until every dark immortal is gone.”
That sounded straightforward enough. I tried to keep up as Inga wove through the crowd to reach the only empty spot in the room, namely the stage. The opposition headed in the same direction.
While I hated to have our first date interrupted, I didn’t have much choice in the matter except to run. There was no way I’d go without her.
If we survived, it’d make a great story at legion get-togethers.
The troll was almost as wide as he was tall, and I guessed he weighed three hundred pounds. I probably should’ve offered to take him, but that was ridiculous. Hell, I was going
to have my hands full with the djinn, who was considerably taller than me. Her arms seemed to hang to the ground.
“Just keep your back to mine,” Inga said, “no matter what.”
She was the expert. “Yes, ma’am.”
The troll swung a double-sided battleax at me, but Inga shifted position to bring up her blade and deflected his blow.
His partner jabbed at me with a thin fencing épée. She didn’t need to slice me open to win. If she could run me through, my next destination would be the great void, forever lost.
The djinn leered as she stabbed at me. “You must be new. I love baby angels…for snacks.”
I deflected her weapon, but she was lightning quick and struck again. Over and over, she thrust her weapon at me, focusing on my chest and face. The thought of that pointy blade sticking out the back of my head sent a chill down my spine.
It was longer than my sword, but the stage didn’t provide much room to maneuver. I appreciated my shorter weapon more when she hit a support beam and sliced through it. The roof groaned as it sagged.
I stabbed at her face and missed, but my flaming blade set the collar of her blouse on fire. “Bastard! That’s French silk.”
In retaliation, she struck at my face over and over.
I saw an opening down lower. When I knocked her blade away, I lunged for her stomach. Only an awkward twist sideways saved her.
When I tried to follow up with another blow, she darted into the back of the stage.
I was about to chase her, but then I remembered what Inga had said about protecting her back.
So, I regained my composure and waited for the djinn to reengage. In that brief pause, I imagined our master warrior, Diana the huntress, telling me, Keep moving. Dance. Maintain your balance. Stay on the offense.
She rushed at me again and let loose with a flurry of strikes too fast for me to keep up. Once, she stabbed with her épée and almost ran it through my forehead. She did catch part of my left ear. Dang, that burned as the poison from her cursed blade flooded into my mind.
As I tried to keep her away, my legs went rubbery. I lunged for her and tripped.
As I was down on one knee, she cackled and thrust.
I had to roll across the scarred wooden floor to save myself, and she overextended. With one leg I kicked at her, knocking her backwards onto the drum set. Then, on hands and knees, I scrambled toward her, still holding my sword in my right hand.
She shrieked and tried to get up, but it was too late. I stretched out with my right arm as far as I could, piercing her in the center of her stomach.
She fought to scramble back, but the drums blocked her way. With a final push, my weapon penetrated her back. Her shriek ended, and she vanished in a puff of black smoke.
Yes! But no time to celebrate. Behind me, I heard grunts from both fighters and the loud clanging of steel against steel.
As I turned, I asked, How can I help?
He’s tough. Get behind him. Slash at his lower legs.
I followed her orders. From behind, he seemed tall enough to touch the ceiling. I couldn’t imagine how she’d held him off for so long. His thick legs were hairy and covered with scars.
I jabbed at his right thigh, hoping to weaken him. Instead, he spun, swinging his battleax waist high.
I had to cower in order to save myself, throwing me off balance. Sulfurous fumes burned my nose.
Inga yelled at him, “Not him, me, you piece of shit!”
The troll roared in anger and turned to attack her again.
This time, I aimed lower, slashing at his left calf. By staying low, I could reach my target without exposing myself too much. Blood squirted from an inch deep cut across his calf.
He shrieked in pain but didn’t turn to slash at me again. Instead he chopped downward with his ax, slicing Inga open from her left shoulder down across the center of her chest to her right hip. That had to be incredibly painful, but she merely gritted her teeth.
This fight had gone on too long. The troll’s overwhelming strength and long reach would eventually win the day. We had to end this quickly. I told her, I’m stabbing at his lower back on three…one, two, three.
With all my strength, I stretched out forward like a spear, holding my blade out ahead. Inga did the same from his opposite side.
The troll couldn’t juke away from both of us at once. My sword penetrated his back, but not deeply enough. Luckily, the tip of Inga’s blade poked through the demon’s back.
With an anguished groan, he vanished in a huge cloud of black smoke.
That was when I got a good look at my partner. She stood stiffly, as though every movement was agonizing. The cut across her chest had been deeper than I’d thought. The troll’s blade had sliced her breastbone and ribs open. It would’ve cut into her heart if she had one. It did open up one of her lungs
“Ugh, I have to get back to headquarters to get patched up,” she gasped.
She needed more than a few patches. “I have healing powers, and I happen to be right here. Happy to help.”
She gave me a crooked grin. “Jesus, what are you waiting for?”
“Sit on the edge of the stage.” I took her long sword and laid it against her back so it would vanish into her scabbard. “Hold mine to keep the space between time open. I need a moment to clear my thoughts.”
She took my blade. This is perfect for close quarters, like this room. Diana chose well for you.
I sat next to her and closed my eyes to meditate. She stayed quiet to avoid interrupting my concentration, except for one whimper that she bit off. Inga was one tough gal.
It took me longer than I’d expected to connect with God’s perfect grace. I was too wound up from the fight that had just ended and from watching her suffer. Eventually, though, I slipped into that divine state of mind where everything was possible.
After steeling myself for a shock, I touched the center of her chest, spanning her cut with my fingers. Oh, dear God! She’d hid her agony too well. Waves of stabbing pain ran up my arms and filled my whole body.
She snickered. “Hurts like crazy, doesn’t it?”
I tried to answer, but the pain kept my mind from functioning. My connection with the infinite wavered. As it slid away, I switched to a pure spirit. In that state, I could recover the connection, and I firmed it up before changing back.
With my renewed strength, I pulled her suffering into me, and it dissipated into the eternal harmony of the universe.
Her body relaxed under my touch. Once I’d taken her pain, I concentrated on healing the long, gaping wound. From each end, the edges pulled together like zippers.
Soon her body had knitted. She was perfect again. As soon as I lifted my hand, even her pretty pink dress wove back together, so her injury was only a nasty memory.
Dang, that’d been a rough ride. Relief flooded through me. “Warn me next time that you’re really hurting.”
She threw her arms around me. “Gabe, you’re a miracle. I feel great.”
Who was I to blow against the wind? I hugged her back, feeling her firm body seem to tingle under my hands. “Happy to help. I think of healing as one of my side jobs. It comes in handy every once in a while.”
After holding her a moment, and sharing her happiness at no longer suffering, I asked, “What now?”
She brushed my cheek with the fingers of her free hand and kissed me. “The band’s great, and I’d hate to miss the second set. Put your sword away, and we can return to our table.”
I did as she suggested, and I held her hand as we wove through the crowd that began milling around again. When we got back to our seats, I ordered a second glass of rye. It didn’t affect me like alcohol used to, but drinking was still a comforting ritual.
We talked about her family and mine until the band began playing the second set. The second set started with Coco Taylor’s “Wang Dang Doodle”. Inga and I swayed with the music. I tried to forget the battle, b
ut that was impossible. This immortal world was so unpredictable. Another pair of monsters could walk in the door at any instant.
-o-o-o-
THE BAND WAS still winding up its set when Honah’s voice broke into my mind. I hate to interrupt, but duty calls. Caligula is acting as Avenger again.
Without waiting for a response, the chief yanked Inga and me back to headquarters. A crowd of about twenty angels stood around our leader watching a video on a twenty-foot-wide movie screen mounted on one wall. The video seemed to be a repeat of the earlier one, except this time a single person stood on the edge of a cliff in the darkness. He was standing in tall, dead grass, but I couldn’t see enough detail to tell if it was the same spot where the first three murders had occurred.
Inga and I hurried over to where Cleo was standing.
“What did we miss?” I asked her.
She gave both me and Inga a hug. “Not much, it just came on. All we’ve seen so far is the guy standing there, tied up like last time. No audio yet.”
“What have you done?” The voice was the same as Avenger’s from before, but he was not visible onscreen.
“I-I started a fire in the Oakland hills, except I didn’t expect it to spread so fast. I just wanted to burn the house owned by a roofer who screwed me. I didn’t think other homes nearby would burn, too. There wasn’t any wind before I lit the fire.”
“How could anyone be that stupid?” I asked the women standing next to me.
Inga rolled her eyes. “I suppose it’s possible. There was a long stretch this morning when the wind did die down. Still, that was incredibly reckless. I know those hills where the fire is burning, and they are packed solid with dry brush and houses.”
Cleo sighed. “That fire wasn’t set by a demon. We’ve been busy at the fires in Napa County that were.”
Our primary job was fighting dark immortals, not stopping forest fires caused by humans or acts of God.
The camera panned back from the man about to die and revealed the same fake angel we’d seen in the last video. His hands were concealed in the pockets of his white gown.
Infernal Justice (Angels at the Edge Book 2) Page 8
