Ella brushed her hair from her face to get a better view as she looked down at Peter falling rapidly. “Hey, what about your coat?” Ella screamed.
“Don’t worry, I will be back for it…” Peter’s voice rippled in the midnight atmosphere as he descended. Eventually he disappeared in the darkness.
Everyone watched as he fell to his doom.
“I can’t believe that crazy bastard jumped.” Sam chuckled and looked over at Ella with a confused look. “He’s as good as dead.”
“Don’t worry about him. He will be okay.”
Sam put away his firearm and asked, “How do you know that? You tryna tell me he can survive that fall?”
Ella noticed everyone’s eyes were fixed on her, waiting for a response. “He will survive because he’s an angel.”
On his way back to his apartment, Peter had a strange feeling. He remembered that someone was watching him on the roof of the hospital earlier. He wondered who it was and why would someone be watching him. He could tell that the person was not human because the spiritual energy was not normal.
Peter got back to his apartment at three in the morning. He wondered why Beruser was in New York City and if the Hellgates had opened in Manhattan. He knew Ablis was breaking the rules. It was too early for the Hellgates to be open. ‘Why were the Hellbounds crossing over? Second Coming was not near.’
Peter noticed someone was in his apartment moments before he had entered. He wondered if the individual would attack him the moment he got inside. But still he was not threatened. He placed his weapons on the desk and sat in his office chair.
“Come on out. How long do you intend to stay hidden?”
A petite lady with short black hair walked out of the kitchen and into his office. She was young and beautiful, looked to be in her late twenties.
“Oh, so you were the one that was watching me at the hospital earlier.” Peter shook his head and held a small grin. “What do you want?”
“Gevurah, long time no see. How have you been?” She walked behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder.
“I told you all that I don’t go by that name anymore. That name reminds me of my dark past.” He could see the delightful look on her face. He knew she enjoyed making a mockery of his situation. “What do you want, Demeekur?”
“Now, now. I don’t like to be called by that name either. The name is Celina. Celina Devine.” She walked away from him and looked around his small apartment. “Nice dump you got here. Good to see you still live like a pig. All that money you have—and you still can’t hire a maid?”
“We haven’t seen each other in a while, and this is how you insult me?” Peter leaned back in his chair and rested His feet on his desk. “I can’t believe how much you’ve changed. I remember that beautiful, young, innocent lady I fell in love with and eventually married centuries ago. Now look at you, Demeekur. Are you still Gabilon’s watchdog? Is he still trying to gather that synthetic armor that he claims can give him ultimate power?”
“Maybe, maybe not. His agendas changes so much I can barely keep up.” She walked to a bookshelf and analyzed the books on it.
“But I must ask, what do I owe this visit?”
Celina smiled and turned to him. “I though you’d never asked. I’ve come to ask you to join us again. We are in need of your skills. You and I did make a great team.”
“You know I don’t do Ablis’ dirty work anymore. I’m trying to earn my way back into heaven.”
“What? That’s absurd.” Celina chuckled. “You can’t earn your way back into heaven. You should know your creator wouldn’t accept you after all the wickedness you have done with us. Have your wings grown back as yet?”
“No,” Peter mumbled. She just reminded him of the torment he felt as his wings were ripped away from him. “Tell Ablis that I am not doing his dirty work anymore. Now if you are finished, close the door behind you.” Peter stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. He looked keenly at her, trying to predict her next move.
Celina pulled out two handguns from behind her back and aimed them at him.
Peter didn’t move a muscle. He smiled and said, “What do you think you’re gonna do with those? Those kind of bullets don’t hurt me.”
“Well, we shall see about that,” Celina pulled back the hammers. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. There is one thing I failed to mention. Gabilon is here in New York City—and I am under his command.”
Peter gasped. “Gabilon? What does he want? What’s his sudden interest in North America?”
Celina knew that her words would distract the Demon Slayer. She fired two shots at Peter.
He ducked under the table to avoid the projectiles.
Celina ran around to where he was but Peter had vanished. She looked around for him and saw that his weapons had vanished as well. ‘Quick bastard, he always was…’
But to her surprise, he was behind her, ready to strike her down with his large sword. Celina managed to jump backward to avoid his vertical swing with the Redeemer. The apartment floor was cracked after Peter's sword connected with it.
Peter watched Celina jumped over him and did a summersault to land on the office table. ‘She still has the moves I see…’
She aimed at him once again.
Peter snickered after he pulled his sword from the floor. He watched her fired four rounds at him, which he easily deflected with his sword.
Celina smiled and said, “Dodge this, child of Sephirot.” She reached behind her and pulled an uncanny looking weapon.
Peter looked at her in confusion.
In an instant, the shimmery weapon that resembled a handgun began to merge with Celina's right-arm. She smiled devilishly at him as she aimed her weird looking weapon. The weapon began to give of a shrieking sound and light began to glow from the base of it.
Celina fired a laser beam-like shot at Peter.
The Demon Slayer managed to dodge the projectile. He gasped after he saw the beam created a small flame.
Swiftly, Peter darted to the front door, crashed through it, and jumped over the railing. Boom! The explosion pushed everything from inside his apartment. He looked up and saw his bathtub flew over his head, crashing into another apartment building. He was glad he escaped the carnage as he landed outside of his apartment. Peter looked up at his fourth-floor apartment burning away with his things inside of it. “That crazy bitch blew up my apartment.” Peter cursed after he remembered his most valuables were inside.
On the roof of the apartment, Celina was snickering at his loss. She waved at him playfully, taunting him.
Peter attempted to go after her, but he could hear people crying for help below his apartment. Innocent people were trapped inside, and he had to save them.
‘That should teach him…’ Celina watched as Peter ran back inside the burning apartment building. She jumped off the opposite side of the roof.
Chapter 6
Angel in Disguise
“Can you believe this, Charles?” Gloria asked her cameraman while she was on the cellphone with him. “His third appearance, and I still haven’t gotten an interview.”
She had been wanted to interview the Demon Slayer from the first time she had heard about him. It disturbed Gloria deeply. She hated not being in the right place, the right time whenever he appeared. She had promised her editor that she would get an exclusive with Peter and she wanted that desperately. She knew an interview like that would change her career forever. Journalism was her first love and she wanted to be famous.
“He is on most newspaper covers and on our rival networks stations, but still I can’t find this mysterious man.”
It was a little after eight a.m. and she was on her way to the ABC7 network station, her place of employment. She was from Brooklyn New York, Gloria Sanchez was a Hispanic American, Brooklyn native to be exact. She was beautiful, angelic face and all. She had charisma, an athletic body and swagger like Eva Mendes.
Gloria picked up a newspaper on a newsstand and s
aw pictures of Peter in front of the Marriot Hotel after the explosion. She could not help but to be angry.
“I can’t believe this…” Gloria mumbled. She used her shoulder to hold the cellphone to her ear as she skimmed through the paper. “…He’s all over the papers.”
“You also missed the big explosion last night. I saw it on the news when I woke up. I bet your mystery man was the cause of that.” Charles teased.
“Shut up, Charles. Why would you think that? I heard he saved two women. You’re not making it any better. Why weren’t you there taking footage?”
Charles chuckled at her response. He enjoyed getting under her skin.
Then, someone else got Gloria’s attention. Her eyes were fixed on the article.
“Charles, you gotta hear this. Business mogul William Van Crouzer has bought more shares in Zeta Tech.”
“Oh, that guy. I don’t trust him. They must have some new gadget coming about or something. I wonder how long this one is gonna last? Did you hear that he is planning on running for president on the next election? People nowadays think because they have money they can do anything.”
“Stop it, Charles. I’ve met Mr. Crouzer and he seems alright.” She continued to read a bit more. “Hey, check this out, He is having some kind of get together in a few days from now. Some kind of seminar.”
“Hhmmm, interesting.” Charles seemed to not care.
“He’s meeting with the mayor in five days to have a conference on how Zeta Tech's projects can help New York City's technologies.”
“Yeah, I heard Zeta's technologies would be the new acclaim of the 21st Century. But hey, who cares.”
“Wow, you should see the guest list,” Gloria continued. “They have celebrities and business moguls from across the country coming to the conference.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. These people go all out when they are trying to get out to the public. When it concerns them, they try to get as much media as they can.”
“Tell me about it,” said Gloria. She rested the newspaper back down and proceeded to her destination. “If it involves money, they try to get as many people out there.”
“I hope the Demon Slayer will be there. What do you think?”
“Think about what? If he is there, he’s there. I don’t care. I will get to him one way or another.”
Charles giggled. “You make me laugh sometimes, Sanchez. I will see you at work later. Call me if you need me.”
“Okay, Charles. I’m heading in now. I’ve got to listen to Gordon and his threats.”
“Good luck with that,” Charles chuckled.
“Thanks.”
Later that evening
Claudius stood before the Lyceum Theatre in Manhattan anticipating the time the next show would start. He looked at his ticket and then to his flipped phone to see the time. He was an hour early; no one was there as yet. But he knew the actors must’ve been rehearsing for the next play and he was tempted to go inside and watch.
The young man loved watching Broadway plays and he never missed a show. One actress stuck out in his memory was Dawn McCarthy. She had a beautiful voice and sang at his favorite Broadway plays, ‘her acting was not half bad either,’ he thought. He loved her caramel skin tone and black wavy long hair. What the young man admired most about her was that she had alluring, chinky brown eyes.
Claudius often thought about her brown eyes, which seemed to be looking at him when she performed. He would wave at her and smile. She often smiled when he did so. But he wondered if she could see him because she had the lights in her face. But he didn’t care if she did or not. If she did it would have made him feel a lot better.
Claudius often checked on her from time to time to see if she was doing okay outside of her performances. He often acted like a guardian angel toward Dawn because he knew New York could be a dangerous place. He secretly did so because he didn’t want to come off as being a weirdo.
Dawn McCarthy lived in Manhattan, but she was originally from Long Island. She was the last of four siblings and met her father once when she was seven. His family was originally from Egypt, and he had been in and out of jail. Her stepfather raised her like she was his own daughter, and Dawn had a special bond with him. Her older siblings moved away, but Dawn loved the city. She never dreamed of leaving the NYC.
Dawn often went outside the alley to clear her head and get some fresh air before and after her performances. She never felt threatened by stalkers or muggers because she was only known locally. But that night was different. Dawn McCarthy had never seen anything so bizarre.
She was standing outside and heard a garbage can being knocked over. A shadowy creature that looked like a pit bull with red eye, and a spiked chain around its neck approached her. The demon’s jaw was as big as an alligator, and giant thorns ran down its spine. It was dark and hideous. Its fangs were almost as long as a saber-toothed tiger’s, and saliva dripped from them. The demon dog was almost as tall as she was.
It growled at Dawn, and she tried to head back in the theater—but the door was locked. She banged on the door, but no one opened it. She ran down the alley, and another demon dog was waiting in the shadows. The creature eyes began to glow red in the darkness as it walked toward Dawn.
Dawn tried to run in the opposite direction, but she was cornered. She dropped to her knees. She could not believe what was happening to her. She began to curse herself for being so careless and irresponsible. She covered her head with her hands as both creatures dashed toward her.
While Dawn wept, she felt a warm wind brushed against her body followed by a whooshing sound. She looked up and saw a wave of flame headed toward the demon dog to her right. The crimson flame devoured the dog on impact, and it cried out in agony. She heard a thud about a foot away. She looked up and saw a boy no older than seventeen standing beside her. His skin color was almost as dark as hers but he had orange shaggy hair. A midnight blue coat covered him and she saw a red sweatshirt under it. He wore tennis shoes, and black jeans.
The other dog jumped toward the young man, but the boy fired another wave of flames at the creature. The fireball connected and the dog rolled around as the flames ate its flesh. Both dogs recovered from the flames and charged at them again. The kid pushed her behind him, and his arms began to glow with crimson flames.
The entire alley lit up as the boy aimed his hands at the demon creatures on both side of him. He unleashed an even more powerful flame, and a huge explosion erupted in the alley. The boy jumped to protect Dawn from the explosion, wrapping his coat around them.
The two demon dogs had exploded. Their insides and limbs were scattered all over the alley.
Dawn watched as the lad closed his eyes to focus. He held his hands out, and the flames around them began to disappear. She gasped. ‘That looked familiar’
When no trace of the flames was left, the air was left with a foul stench from the dogs’ remains.
The kid reached his hand out to Dawn and asked, “Are you okay?”
She hesitated. “That was weird…who are you?” She looked around again and tried to make sense of it all with a perplexed expression.
“My name is Claudius.” He stooped down before Dawn with a smile on his face. He could tell she was a bit baffled.
“I’ve seen that done before,” Dawn looked into his eyes and noticed they were hazel. “Were you the one who saved those children from the orphanage?”
Claudius looked away to think and then he smiled at her. “How do you know about that?”
“I remembered because the flame that surrounded the orphanage disappeared the same way. I was there. I worked next door to the orphanage. I saw you saving those children, but I didn’t see your face.” Dawn said after she stood up.
Claudius grinned and stood up also. “Yes, it was. I was in the neighborhood, and I managed to stumble upon the burning orphanage.”
“Really, you sure you not the one who started it.” Dawn scoffed then smiled at him playfully. She reached
out and rubbed her hands on his to show a bit of affection.
He blushed and looked away with bashfulness in his eyes.
Little did she know that he resided at that orphanage a few years ago, he spent quite a few years there.
“How did the fire started in the first place?” Dawn asked.
“I was pursuing someone and there was an accident.” He could see the confusion so he tried to be brief.
“I did saw someone or something there also. He was a odd looking creature, like these things that’s in this alley way with us.” Dawn turned her nose up after she looked around again at the massacre he created.
She was right; someone else was there also. Claudius’ goal was to capture him but he failed.
“Thank you for saving me,” Dawn threw him a comforting smile. “Were you the man that saved those two women from the explosion in the Marriot Eastern Hotel?”
The lad was a bit confused. “Sorry. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Suddenly, one of the doors to the theater opened. Dawn shielded her face from the sudden light and saw that it was her director.
“Dawn, what are you doing out here? Your scene starts in five minutes.” He sniffed the air. “It stinks out here. I heard another voice before I opened the door. Were you talking to someone?”
“Yes, I was just talking to—” Dawn turned around to introduce her guest but Claudius had vanished from where he was standing. She looked around but he was gone. ‘Where did he go?’
The director asked with a perplexed look, “Are you feeling okay?”
She heard a ruffle above her and she looked up and saw that Claudius was climbing up the fire escape. When he got to the top of the building she saw him waved and smiled before he vanished like a puff of smoke.
“It was no one. I was talking to myself... rehearsing my lines… I guess.” Dawn smiled and shook her head.
“Crazy girl, get back in here. You’re causing me money.”
Manhattan, New York
Hellbound Second Advent Page 5
