Death Among Us

by Jack Crosby

  He laughed as only a horse/car can. “Maybe you will go back to being a little more professional in your appearance.”

  “No comments from you. Besides we are here.”

  We were pulling up to an empty parking lot beside an abandoned bowling alley. No one bothered coming here once The Strike Zone had closed down due to people thinking it was haunted. It was not, just home now to someone who hated visitors.

  “Wish me luck friend and pray that he is in a good mood.”

  “He is never in a good mood.”

  With those words of wisdom, I got out of the car and made my way to the front. I knew he was watching me, so I waved at the entrance and patiently waited.

  The minutes went by and nothing happened. I was used to this, so it didn’t really bother me. I had pulled out my phone and was playing a game when the door creaked open. I took that as my cue I was being allowed to enter.

  The place looked pretty much the same since my last visit. I made my way passed the front desk and the snack bar, headed towards the old pro shop. My contact had taken that up as his place of business, whenever he wanted to do business that is.

  I got to the door that lead to the pro shop. The light was out and it looked empty, so I just pulled my phone out. Isn’t it amazing that you can play games on these devices? I still remember the day the Atari came out, that was a huge accomplishment.

  “Are you going to dick around all day or are you going to come in?”

  I looked up and the door was now open. Smiling, I put my phone away and entered. “Hello old friend. I hope I am not catching you at a bad time.”

  “Any time you come is a bad time. What the hell do you want today?”

  He was still hanging back in the shadows, trying to get rid of me quickly. “Just wanted to check out the merchandise you know? I was thinking about outfitting Khloros with some weapons this time.”

  This must have intrigued him, because he stepped out at the shadows. His head was clean shaved, a scar was running down the side of his face, and the only way you would have known he was an angel was by his bright blue eyes. “Death, what have you gotten involved in that you need weapons for your horse?”

  Haha, I got him hooked. “So I guess you got some time to talk then, Azrael?”

  Chapter 10 – Khloros Gets an Upgrade

  “There is a sucker born every minute, but the granddaddy of them all is standing here in front of me.” I couldn’t tell if he was trying to laugh or what.

  “What exactly do you mean by that?”

  No doubt about it, he was laughing at me. “Can’t you see, my brothers and sisters are using you. If a Horseman is the one to stir shit up, then it is on your head. But if you find something worthwhile, you know as well as I do, they will swoop in and take the credit.”

  Azrael was one bitter dude. He is not technically a fallen angel, as he still has a home upstairs if he wants. Much like me, he was disenchanted with his role and came to Earth to be left alone. Unfortunately, celestial beings are never left alone and he doesn’t have my endearing personality.

  “No wonder people think you are me. You need to lighten up a bit.” His nickname was the angel of death, which some took as he was me. He is not, but I can see the confusion. His personality probably resembles what most think.

  “I’ll lighten up when someone gives me reason too.” What a buzz kill. “You are hiding something.”

  It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. “I’m hiding a great many things. I’m glad to see you can still spot the obvious.”

  “No something else is there. It matters not, but it does make me curious.”

  I crossed my eyes and used the Death stare. “Secrets aren’t for sale but weapons are. What do you got?”

  It was at that point we got down to business. He led me into the back where they used to keep the bowling balls. Now the shelves were covered in weapons, ones that could kill demons and celestials alike. As he showed me his latest inventions and arrivals, I couldn’t help but marvel at the amount of destruction was laying in this back room. He had everything from swords, axes, and spears to guns, ammunition, and explosives.

  He came over when I picked up what looked like some sort of rail gun. “That is a perfect choice right there. You could mount in under the hood and bring it out whenever you want.”

  “That sounds pretty awesome! If I buy it, will you do the installation?”

  And so the back and forth in negotiating started. I won’t get into too much of the boring details, but in the end I think we both won out. I got the rail gun, a pretty sweet revolver for Roxanne, and a bumper death trap (to be completely honest, I had no idea what it did) plus a few cases of ammo. It cost more than I wanted, but the extra payment was worthwhile because Azrael installed it all too.

  When he finished, he called me over. “This switch here will release the trap from the bumper. You get five reloads with it, so use it wisely.”

  “What does it do?”

  “You’ll find out.” His expression was almost terrifying. “Now I retrofitted the cruise control to work the rail gun. When you enable cruise, the gun will come out from the hood. Once out, the speed set button will fire the gun. If you keep it pressed down, it will go into automatic mode.”

  “Well that sounds freaking awesome!” I poked my head into the car further. “Everything cool on your end Khloros?”

  “Yes, the angel did a fine job in outfitting me. I did make one request and I hope you do not mind.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Azrael gave me a manual override. If I fear you are in trouble and incapable of defending us while in the vehicle, I can take over the weapon systems.”

  That sounded fine to me. He already could manually drive whenever he wanted. “I have no problems, better to be safe.”

  I poked my head back out of the car and turned to Azrael. “I must thank you again. You have certainly outdone yourself this time.”

  “I do not know what you have gotten yourself into, but be careful. I sense dark time coming.”

  We shook hands. “I will be careful. Besides, if I die, who would take your shit and buy your stuff?”

  He waved me off and went back into the bowling alley. Our business was done and it was getting close to noon. I got back into Khloros and resisted the temptation of setting off every weapon Azrael had just installed.

  “I think someone owes me an apology.”

  “Why? Because you lucked out and Azrael seemed less hostile today than usual. What did you do? Tell him what we were up to?”

  Why did he have to be so smart? “I told him what the angels told me, but that was it.”

  “At least you were smart enough to keep your mouth shut about your Lust demon. What did he have to say?”

  “He said we need to watch our backs, that we are being used. You know, the normal stuff he tells us when we are working for the guys in white.”

  For some reason though, this time it seemed like sound advice. Normally I would chalk t up to him being paranoid, but I would take his words to heart.

  “I would agree with him. If it was not for the agreement already in place, I would say we should turn this job down.”

  “Yeah, I probably would have.”

  You’re probably curious about the agreement and we have a few minutes, so let me tell you a little bit more. I lived in Eden with my brothers and some angels for a very long time. Every so often, I would come to Earth to do my thing and each time I came I was more intrigued. Combine that with frustration over my limited role in the universe and one day I told them I was leaving the Garden.

  Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy. The archangel Michael himself came to talk me out of it. When he realized I would not be swayed, he came up with an idea. I was given a choice, either stay in the Garden and do my job or sign an agreement that granted me freedom on Earth for a price. The price was I could not turn down any request from upstairs.

  I don’t regret my decision, as most days I am left al
one. Sometimes though, it really comes back and kicks me right in the ass. I got the feeling this job would be one of those times.

  We rolled into Pepe’s a few minutes early. I didn’t see Maggie’s car, so I went on in awhile and got us a table. As I told you before, I love food and the aroma of fresh pizza filled my nose. It was almost Heaven on Earth.

  The front door opened and Maggie came in. My lord she was an attractive lady, this time wearing a skirt and blouse combo with those tall heels again. I stand by my previous comment, I have no idea how any males managed to pay attention to the subject matter in her classes.

  The hostess brought her over and I got up and pulled her chair out. “It is great to see you.”

  Sitting down and putting on her cardigan, she looked at me. “I don’t even know what to say right now.”

  “Take your time, I’m not going anywhere.”

  Her eyes pierced into me. “You look so young, but I know what I saw was true. And you have been so sweet to me, it is all just a total mind fuck.”

  I smiled. I knew she was in her mid thirties, so to see someone who was ageless would always be a total shock to anyone. “This is me. Yeah, I am the great and scary Death but it is only my job. It doesn’t define me as a person.”

  “Can we actually talk about that freely? Will no one hear us?”

  I shook my head. “Mortals only hear what makes sense to them. I enlightened you last night, so now you are in the loop so to say. To everyone else, we are just two people getting ready to enjoy amazing pizza.”

  “Can I ask you some questions?”

  This was more like it, what I expected. “Of course you can.”

  “Did my husband suffer?”

  I was taken aback a little, but also rather touched. She might not have loved the man, but she still cared. “No, he was definitely terrified, but he didn’t suffer. I don’t torture those sentenced to death.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. The asshole was a horrible man and treated me poorly, but no one deserves to suffer.”

  I reached out with my hand and she took it. “His soul has departed the physical world. I truly hope it went upstairs and if he lived a good life, a slip up at the end doesn’t change that.”

  “My next question is about me. You said it was my destiny to die yesterday. Now that I haven’t, what happens next?”

  This was the one question I wished I had an answer for. “I do not know, truly. You are the first mortal I ever gave a reprieve to.”

  “Take me with you then, where ever you are going. Once people here find out Mark is dead, they will think I killed him. I do not know what it is you do, but I would like a place in it.”

  “You want a new identity basically?”

  “Yes, but more. I want a fresh start and make my own destiny now. I don’t know why, but I feel as if I am tied to you now.

  The waiter came by and gave us a basket of breadsticks. I grabbed one while I was thinking and started munching. “You feel connected to me?”

  “I can’t explain it, but when you left last night, I felt incomplete. That feeling lasted until I saw you sitting in here.”

  Oh hell, what did I go and do now?

  Chapter 11 – Two Girls and a Guy

  Watching Maggie’s car sink to the bottom of the lake was rather surreal. She was standing beside me, out of view from everyone else. The witnesses all saw the same thing; the driver had lost control of the car and went off the bridge into the water below. By the time police got there, it would be too late.

  “Are you sure this will work?”

  I was watching the scene intently. “Yes, I am. You were supposed to be dead and due to certain laws of the universe, the mortals will accept the outcome. Granted, when they find your husband, they will assume you killed him and then killed yourself.”

  “I guess that really doesn’t matter now huh?”

  I put my hand on her shoulder. “Not really. The folks who matter know what truly happened. If anyone is going to catch shit for this, it will be me.”

  We continued to watch for a little while longer. My phone buzzing in my pocket broke me out of my zone and I saw it was Khloros texting me. How could he do that without hands?

  “I think it is time to go.” Khloros message was simple, we need to leave and prepare for our journey.

  Maggie gave one last glace back at the lake and then headed towards the car. Getting in myself and driving us away, I knew that she was experiencing an overwhelming sadness.

  “I worked so hard to get where I was Derrick. It pisses me off that Mark went and fucked it all up. If he wanted to leave, I wouldn’t have stopped him. Why did he have to want to kill me?”

  Tough questions to answer. “I can only sense death, not the intent. But, if I were to guess, it would be that if he couldn’t have you, no one could.”

  Understanding flashed across her eyes. As we drove back into town, she rolled her window down and tossed her cell phone out. A tractor trailer was coming the opposite direction and smashed it into hundred and tiny pieces.

  The rest of the ride home was in silence. There was a still lot of work to do and preparations to be made. With a fourth member to the party now, I had to figure out a way to in cooperate her.

  That reminded me; I needed to tell her about Roxanne. “When we get back to my place, you will meet Roxanne. She is a Lust demon who I inadvertently saved from her previous master.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Let me try this again. Have you ever heard of Beelzebub?”

  She thought for a moment. “The Lord of Flies?”

  “Exactly, that is one of his many titles. He is a powerful Arch-Demon downstairs and Roxanne was one of his servants. Long story short, she came to me for help and I inadvertently gave her asylum and trust. She is now bound to me and my household.”

  “Am I bound to you as well?”

  Shit, was that what had happened? “I don’t know, honestly. You very well could be, as I’m responsible for your life continuing.”

  “If I may interject.” Maggie jumped. Thank the Almighty she had her seatbelt on or she may have accidently fell out.

  “Oh yeah, Maggie this is Khloros and Khloros this is Maggie.”

  She was feeling the dashboard with her hands by now. “Your car talks?”

  “He is not really a car. His real form is a horse, but we adapt with the generations.”

  She sunk back in her seat. “I’m guessing there are a lot of surprises coming my way.”

  You could say that again. “Khloros, I can only imagine what you have to say.”

  “You would do well to listen.” I bit back a snarky retort. “Much like when you granted the Lust Demon asylum, you granted Margaret asylum as well by shielding her from murder. The situations are different, but the end result is the same, you are most likely responsible for both of their well-beings now.”

  “Derrick is responsible for me? That sounds so misogynistic.”

  “I apologize for the literal interpretation ma’am. You still have free will to do as you please, of course. If my memory serves me correctly, those bound together will always feel a strong pull towards each other. In this case, Grimm brought you into our world and he is responsible for your survival.”

  That was a better way of putting it, I think. “If it helps you, just think of me as your bodyguard. If what I did marks you to others, whether demon or celestial, I will protect you.”

  “That is reassuring, I think.”

  “It’s best not to think bad thoughts. Let’s just get you home now and go from there.” We weren’t that far and soon enough we were parked and heading up.

  When I opened the door, Roxanne came bolting from the kitchen. “Derrick, you are home! And you brought a friend?”

  Roxanne looked positively thrilled at the thought of another companion in the house. Maggie, on the other hand, seemed even less comfortable than when we were at the lake. This presented another problem, I only had one bedroom.

  “Maggie,
this is Roxanne and vice versa. This is the mortal who I broke the rules for.”

  Roxanne walked right up to Maggie and started sniffing the air. “Oh my, the sexual tension within her is high. If she doesn’t release it soon, she might blow up!”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Ladies, we can talk about sexual tensions and what-not later. Roxanne, we need to fill her in on what we are doing and then proceed.” I looked back at Maggie. “What you are about to hear is classified. I don’t expect you to get involved in this part of my life, but you need to know what’s going on too.”

  Finding our way into the kitchen and sitting down, Roxanne and I explained to her what was going on. We hit on everything from the assassination plot of the President to the artifact that could open Hell on Earth.

  As we were wrapping up, she actually seemed quite engaged and not scared or unbelieving. “What is this artifact that could do such a thing?”

  “George Washington’s axe.”

  She slammed her hand down on the table. “I knew there was more to your visit than just casual interest!”

  I put my hands up. “Guilty as charged. Imagine my surprise when you brought the topic up with little to no prodding from me!”

  “That is certainly interesting information, but I don’t see how an axe can be so special?”

  “Oh, you never know how these things happen…”

  “Derrick made it for Washington, which is how this whole mess started!” Roxanne was practically giggling with terrible secret keeping.

  Maggie’s eyes got really big. “You made the axe for Washington?” I nodded. “Shut the fuck up! You knew George Washington?”

  “Yeah, him and I were quite the good friends back in the day.”

  Both girls looked at me intently and I knew what they wanted. Well, Maggie just wanted the back story where as Roxanne I think just enjoyed my discomfort.

  “What the hell, the night is young and things are probably only going to go to shit when we get to Washington. Why don’t I toss a few steaks on the grill and crack open a few beers. Sound good to everyone?”