by J Moon
Smite
Legend of the Archangel
J. Moon
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Smite © 2019 by J. Moon
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
For information contact :
[email protected]
Book design by: Jeremy R. Dixon
Cover design by James T. Eagan
Edited by : Noir literary
ISBN: 9781732081345
Created with Vellum
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Afterword
Prologue
May 6, 1926
Glorious Jazz music spilled out into the corner of 127th & Fifth Ave as Langston opened the door to his apartment building, and wobbled down the stoop in a drunken stupor. He and the three comrades that followed were full of laughter, booze, and a joy that could only come from another successful rent party.
Langston was the first to notice how humid it was outside. The thick air hit him in a hot wave that made him pull off his cap and wipe his forehead. He looked up to a moonless sky, concealed by full grey clouds.
“Langston, I tell ya that was another one for the books,” Thelma shouted as she pulled her cloche hat over her head and down to her eyebrows.
Langston smiled at her direction. “It sure was,” he said with a chuckle. He sat down on the side of the stoop and his knees buckled as he eased himself down. “I appreciate you for coming out Thelma, and bringing that hummingbird cake of yours. By golly it was the bees knees.” He could still taste the velvety cream cheese frosting and nuts in the back of his mouth.
“Hey anytime.” She looked over to her husband Jesse who was holding a royal blue tin container. “Is there even a slice left?”
Jesse shook the tin container. “Nope, not one.”
Jimmy Lee stepped out of the light of the doorway and said, “I had about two or three slices myself. I think my sugar might’ve gone up!"
Laughter swept over the stoop as they stared at the Cheshire cat smile on Jimmy Lee’s face. The bootleg liquor had already taken effect on them hours ago, when the party began around eight-thirty.
Everyone came dressed to the nines with flyers in hand that read, “Hop Mr. Bunny, skip Mr. Bear. If you don’t dig this party, then you ain’t nowhere.”
Jimmy Lee took another step downward. “Seriously, that was some good cake Thelma.”
Thelma nodded, “Thank you, Jimmy.” She leaned on the stoop, and turned back towards Langston. “One thing for sure is that Larry doesn’t have to worry about rent for another two or three months.”
Langston grinned from ear to ear. This party was another notch on his belt as a Harlem promoter. In his head he imagined he could soon get booked to promote for one of the fancy joints downtown. “Yes sir, we did real good tonight.”
Jimmy Lee looked over to Thelma. “The only thing he has to worry about is how will he get his ass home tonight. Isn’t he up there passed out?”
Again they laughed, and this time louder than the music glaring from above. Langston smacked his knee as Thelma struggled to fight back tears. Jimmy Lee clutched his heart with red eyes as Jesse buried his face in his fedora.
Breaking up their laughter was the sudden boom of thunder. Silence followed, and the grey clouds above released an onslaught of rain.
Thelma clutched herself as she felt a slight chill from the rainfall. She tapped her husband. “Come on Jesse let’s get out of here. We have church in the morning and we can’t be late like last Sunday.”
Jesse put on his charcoal grey fedora, “Take it easy fellas.”
Thelma was already halfway down the steps when she looked back, “Goodnight guys. I better see you in church tomorrow.”
Both Langston and Jimmy Lee held up a hand as they told Thelma bye. Together, Jesse and Thelma disappeared into the roaring mist of rain.
Langston watched them scurry down the street, then he looked over and saw no one coming down from the apartment.
Langston turned to Jimmy Lee and said, “Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay? There is plenty of room with me and Zora upstairs.” He paused for a moment and then smiled. “We can put you right next to Larry on the couch.”
Jimmy Lee laughed. “Langston, go chase yourself. I’m fine. You know I have to get back home or my momma will have my butt and yours for supper.”
The smile vanished off of Langston’s face. “Negroes have been disappearing off these streets for the last few weeks without so much as a body or trace left behind.”
Langston held a hand against Jimmy’s smooth brown cheek. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
Jimmy Lee grabbed his hand and held it. “I’ll be fine. Let me go.”
Langston looked into his eyes and held his gaze. Finally, with a sigh he said, “Okay then…phone me as soon as you wake up in the morning.”
“Alright Langston. I’ll catch you later,” He said as he put on his hat. Jimmy Lee smiled at Langston before he walked into the roaring mist of rain.
A dark feeling sunk into Langston’s gut as he watched Jimmy Lee walk away. A terrible sense of worry covered him as the rain fell. He waited until Jimmy was down the street before he walked up the stoop and back inside.
Jimmy Lee had walked only three blocks before he felt a strange presence trailing him. The rain came down harder, and he trembled underneath the suit that clung to his body.
Every few steps he peered over his shoulder because he felt distinctly, someone was right behind him. Rumbling thunder and the sound of the rain did nothing but heighten his paranoia.
He continued walking, and then he felt a pang of fear low in his gut as he heard boots stomp right by him. They were loud and close enough, he could feel a presence near.
Jimmy Lee whirled around, he wiped the water out of his eyes, and yet he saw nothing, he was alone on the street.
For weeks everyone had been talking about the number of black men disappearing o
ff the streets, all along the east coast. There had been rumblings all throughout the neighborhood that the Ku Klux Klan had made its way up north.
It all sounded like a bunch of nonsense to Jimmy Lee. What sounded plausible would be locals mugging and killing men in the streets. That he could believe. He refused to become one of those victims. So after making his way over to Seventh Ave, he turned off into an alley. If someone was following him, Jimmy Lee figured in his head he would handle them sooner rather than later.
He walked into the middle of the alley and pulled out his razor blade. “Come on out then. If you think you’re going to rob me, then you have another thing coming. Come out! I will—”
Jimmy was silenced by a footstep, and he whirled around, only to feel a sense of horror so intense that it blacked out his vision.
There he stood frozen in shock, one hand outstretched, the other dropping the blade, a look of utter shock on his face as thunder roared around him.
Four stripes of red glowed in the darkness of the alley. White light crackled, and red beams of light fell on Jimmy Lee’s head.
“Target identified.” A cold voice said.
The sight of his assailant was so shocking that he stood with his mouth agape, paralyzed by fear.
Before Jimmy Lee could utter a single word, it seized him and then with a crack of white lightning, he disappeared into the night.
Chapter One
Present Day
One, two, three did the scanner go beep as Nia Carter rung one blouse up after another. As she folded them, she looked out at the line ahead of her and sighed. This is what hell looks like, she thought as she looked at the never-ending sea of customers. A fit of dull anger rolled over her like a fog as her hands trembled. Her head throbbed and her knees felt weak as she stood behind the register.
Tired wasn’t strong enough to describe how she felt. She was working the worst shift known to man, the Black Friday sale at J&K clothing store in Midtown, New York.
At midnight customers overran the store, grabbing and snatching everything in sight. Even though the J&K in Midtown was the largest in New York with four floors, twelve registers, three entrances, and thirty fitting rooms, the lines to check out were still ridiculously long. Try as she may, Nia couldn’t even see the end of the line to her register. It wrapped around the corner and twisted all the way towards the kid's section in the back.
All she wanted to do was to spend a quiet Thanksgiving with her Pop. In her mind, they would’ve grabbed a burger or order wings and watched the game, just the two of them. She stood behind the register and could just picture it, the two of them with their dusty blue Giants jerseys, more wings on their plates than they could count, and beer spilling from their hands as they shouted at the tv.
Sadly, things didn’t work out that way.
He got called into work at the factory and she got called in last minute at J&K to help set up for Black Friday. She bagged the blouses and then started on the two pairs of jeans handed to her by the girl standing opposite the counter, a teenage girl with shoulder-length purple hair, reminding Nia of a Skittle.
“Excuse me!” A voice shouted over the beeps of the scanner.
Nia looked to her right to catch the frown of a very round and furious woman with short curled brown hair. She was standing with a younger girl beside her that looked to be her daughter. The two of them could almost be twins and looked like double o’s next to each other.
Nia wanted to roll her eyes. “Can I help you?” she asked as she removed the security tag from the cuff of the jeans.
“You sure can,” the lady insisted in a heavy southern accent. “We were here before this young lady. Did you not see us?” She cocked her head to the side and asked, “How are you going to ring her up before us?”
Nia was already pissed, and now she had to deal with this lady’s attitude. Hold your tongue, she thought. She took a deep breath. “Ma’am, the line is right here,” she said signaling in front of her register. “If you’re off to the right, then you’re not in the right line.”
Angry southern mom gasped, “What do you mean I’m not in the right line?” Then she got louder, “We have been standing in this line for almost thirty freaking minutes. It doesn’t matter if I’m off to the right or not.”
Nia folded the jeans, “Well ma’am, I can scan you right after her. There is no problem.”
“But there is a problem!” Angry southern mom shouted. “We have been waiting in line too long to let people cut us, and you shouldn’t allow it.”
Skittle head looked over her shoulder, “Excuse me? I didn’t cut you. I have been standing in line just like you.”
Nia shrugged it off as she calculated the total. “It will be $163.89. Will you be paying cash or credit?”
Angry mom slapped her hand against the register. “Oh no missy, you will not ignore me,” she said as she shook her head.
That was it. Nia had enough, and her fiery tongue came lashing out. “Yes I am, because you will not talk to me like I’m your child. That’s your ugly duck looking daughter right there," she said as she pointed.
Angry southern mom narrowed her eyes, “Don’t bring my daughter into this.” She stepped closer to the register and smacked her hand again on the table. “Let me speak to your manager!”
“Why?” Nia asked with her eyebrows raised. She placed her hands on her hips and leaned in further. “She will tell you the same thing. Wait in line and wait your turn.”
Angry southern mom waved her hand. “Nope, I don’t want to hear it missy. Let me speak to your manager.”
Nia grabbed the mic attached to her shirt, “Paula can you come to the front please? I’m having a problem with a customer.”
Soon a tall red haired woman maneuvered her way through the sea of people waiting in line. She looked at both Nia and the woman, “What’s going on?”
“Are you the manager?” Angry southern mom asked.
“Yes my name is Paula. How my help you?” She asked breathy as if she had already been running around the store all day.
“This young lady—” Angry southern mom stated as she pointed to Nia. “Is being rude to me.”
“Now wait a minute,” Nia protested.
“I’m sorry. We’ll get someone else to help you.” She said as she pulled Nia to the side. Nia exchanged angry glares with both the woman and her daughter. “Alyssa come to register two please,” Paula said into the mic attached to her shirt.
Once they were away from the registers, Nia continued to plead her case. “Come on Red you know how these customers like to do the most on Black Friday.”
“Look kid I know. Don’t worry about it,” Paula reasoned. “Just go in the back and take fifteen. I’ve pulled Alyssa to take over your register.”
Nia smiled, “Oh word? Thanks.” She pulled off her headset and started her way towards the back.
Then Paula tapped her shoulder. “I also need you to close tonight.”
Nia slumped her head. “Are you serious?” She asked through tight teeth.
“Look you’re the only one I can trust. You want that Assistant Manager position right?”
Reluctantly Nia nodded, “Yes I do.”
Paula smiled. “Okay, then you will close tonight.”
Deflated, Nia strolled to the back of the store. As Nia maneuvered her way to the back, she spotted a lanky dark skinned boy with curly hair who was restocking shelves over in Men’s.
“Hey Jerrell. What’s good?” she greeted.
Jerrell looked up from the stack of sweaters he was folding. “What’s up Nia? I just saw my plug. Are you trying to spark up with me later?” He said as he put his fingers to his lips.
Nia laughed, “Hell yes, I’m going to need it.”
Jerrell grinned at her and she smiled back, as she struggled through the crowd.
Customers packed J&K to capacity, and two steps couldn’t be made without bumping into someone or almost being swatted by a hand that was reaching over to grab somethi
ng marked half off.
Nia looked at the table tops and shuddered inside. Everything was a mess, and it would take her all night to get it back together. When she made it to the break room, she picked up her phone and called her father. After four rings he picked up.
“Hello,” he answered with his voice full of sleep.
“Hey Pop!”
“What’s up baby girl?”
“Nothing…. at work. Mad as hell!”
Pop sat up, “Oh boy. What’s going on now?”
Nia hissed, “Just some bum chick and her daughter.” She was leaning on the wall, trying to see if anyone was listening to her conversation. “Wish we could’ve spent this Thanksgiving together. Like I’m so tight. I really didn’t want to come in, I’ve been on my feet all day, my back hurts, and I just hate this damn job.”
“I know how you feel.” Pop agreed. “Just walked in the door an hour ago. You would think they’ll give me Thanksgiving off after working so many doubles last week.” Sounds of shifting came through on the phone.
Nia heard him get up, and open the refrigerator. Then there was a click. The familiar sound of Pop opening an ice cold beer, his favorite thing after a long shift. “But I tell you something. Work ain’t easy but it pays the bills.”
“Barely,” Nia quipped.
Pops groaned, “Nia what are you doing with your life? You should be in college by now. Nia you are a smart girl, and you were always sharp when it came to the books. I don’t know why you are wasting your time with an old man.”
