The Deal (19 page)

I turned my attention back to the
frosted glass panes which blocked any view of the room that lay
beyond. Without further
thought,
I pushed forward into the
dormitory.

In its
heyday,
I was certain
the asylum was probably an exceptional place. I knew very little
about how mental institutions worked, but I assumed a holding
dormitory would be where the new arrivals were stored until a
doctor could properly assess their various mental
conditions.

The dorm was easily the size of a football
pitch. Six barred windows on either side of the room allowed light
to flood in, which strangely enough, made it seem even creepier
than if I had been visiting in the dark.

Rows of cots with little bedside
cabinets
were
neatly laid out before me. Some of the
cots
had been knocked over or pushed askew which broke their neat
formation. All the sheets and blankets had long since been removed.
Probably pillaged by the many homeless
folks
who had
seen
the building as a possible home for a few nights?

As I looked around though I saw no
signs that anyone, not even the junkies, had attempted to bunk down
even for a night. In a strange
way,
I thought it was sad that
the city had this huge building at its disposal and choose to let
it go to ruin when there
were
so
many
homeless people in the
city that could do with a roof over their heads.

It’s all politics.
I thought as I took in the room. I noticed down
near the far left corner there was a nurses station and next to
that was another set of doors which could only lead upwards. Even
from this distance I could see papers, probably preliminary patient
reports, spread across the nurses’ desk. Behind that was a cupboard
with a sink and couple of medicine cabinets which I was certain
would be void of their contents by now.

Double checking that the magic was
still working and my skin
were
still glowing, I decided
to head towards the nurses’ station. I must have been a few yards
away from the metal framed desk when the
clash
of metal hitting
the floor came from behind me.

Jumping, I quickly turned in the
direction of the noise, certain the Grimoyle was still on the prowl
for me. The winged demon was nowhere to be seen, but I noticed one
of the beds had been deliberately pushed
onto
its
side.

Trying to contain my ever changing
heart rate, I focused back on the desk and took another step
towards it. I could clearly see the neatly typed writing on one of
the sheets of paper when another loud bang came from behind.
This time,
it sounded like something being thrown against
the wall.

Sure
enough,
when I spun around I could see one
of the
bedside
cabinets leaning crookedly against the far wall
where it had landed. Now I was starting to get worried.

Those cabinets
were
made from
solid wood and had to weigh at least forty pounds. Even a
bodybuilder would have to make a considerable effort to pick one up
and throw it across the room. Before I had left my apartment I felt
certain I was being watched. Followed even.

This was the proof I had been waiting for. My
body tingled with fear and anticipation. Was it simply trying to
scare me off, or was it trying to make me aware of its
presence?

I glanced between the magical symbols on my
wrists and the nurses’ station trying to decide which was the
better option. There was no certainty that the spook following me
would show its self even if I removed the magic spell hiding me
from Satan’s demons.

I decided to carry on to the extra few yards
to the nurses’ station. As I went I listened for any more noises
sounding out behind me, but it seemed my spooky stalker had decided
to keep a low profile once again.

The papers on the nurses’ desk appeared to be
exactly what I had originally thought. Patient reports. There was
at least four of them sprawled across the blood smeared wood.
Smears which looked like someone sitting at the desk had been head
smashed into the table and then dragged away from it by very
powerful hands.

I ignored the blood and studied
the names on top of the papers. Three of them
were
male and
one female. There was no recognition as I studied them, no fleeting
memory of ever being near these people. Nothing.

‘
Your boss will be very upset with
you.’ The voice that came from behind me was soft and
calm.

Jumping, I sent the papers flying to the floor
as I turned to face my stalker. He was at least two feet taller
than. His skin fresh and unsullied. Crystal clear blue eyes stared
down at me under a mop of short blonde hair.

‘
How can you see me?’ I asked
without really understanding why.

The man that stood before me wore
ornate golden armour that seemed to be impossibly bright and a
heavy looking sword which hung proudly in a golden scabbard. It was
his wings that caught my
attention,
though. They flapped lazily
behind him as he spoke and had quite a mesmerizing effect on
me.

‘
Your magic is only good for
demons. Check out the wings. I am not a demon.’ He said proudly.
‘Oh, and by the way, the name is Gabriel.’

It took a few seconds for my shattered brain
to put together the pieces of the moment. Here I was invisible to
demons but perfectly visible to a man, who according to his cocky
attitude, was an angel.

‘
He’s only my boss for the time
being.’ I said, feeling a little pissed at being under Satan’s
thumb.

Gabriel crossed his arms over the impressive
gold breast plate and his smile broadened. I’m glad someone was
getting a kick out of my misery because I sure as hell
wasn’t.

‘
You mean from here to eternity?’
His smile continued to grow and I could tell he was just goading me
now.

‘
Why are you here, Gabriel. Isn’t
there some sort of rule that states you can’t be seen hanging
around with the dark lords’
right-hand
man?’

I watched his wings rise and fall as he
breathed. The smile waned a little but there was a glint in his
eyes that told me he wasn’t following me just for the sparkling
conversation.

‘
No there is no such rule. I just
thought I would check in on you.’ He spoke as if he had been
following me for quite some time.

I decided that if we were going to have a
conversation then I should at least take a look at the remaining
area of the nurses’ station for anything useful. I began my search
in the medicine cabinets which again, as I guessed, turned out to
be empty.

‘
Why, would an angel be checking
up on me? I’m pretty sure there is no amount of hail Marys I can
say that will grant me access to the kingdom of heaven.’

As I hunkered down to check the bottom cabinet
I could hear Gabriel chuckle as if I had just told the funniest
joke he had ever heard.

‘
What’s so funny?’ I asked opening
the cupboard doors to find both its shelf where devoid of anything
except a few years’ worth of dust.

‘
Well,
only god’s creatures are permitted to enter his
kingdom upon repenting their sins.’

I stood up and looked the angel in the eyes,
my face a picture of puzzlement.

‘
Listen I’m having what could only
be described as the worst time of my life right now. This is as
close to hell as I want to get, so by all means be as cryptic as
you want to, but don’t expect me to fucking listen.’ I could feel
my anger and frustration bubble up much quicker than I had
expected.

‘
Now there’s the anger I
remember.’ Said the Angel gleefully. ‘Now we just need the rest of
you to come out.’

My anger gave way to all-out rage. I could
feel my heart, head and stomach turn into a raging
inferno.

‘
What the fuck are you talking
about you winged asshole!?’ I screamed, clamping my hand on the
desk hard enough to make it crack down the middle.

It was the sound of the wood cracking under my
grip that brought me back to a slightly calmer state. Gabriel
looked as if he was so happy he could burst into a
dance.

‘
You know when I got word that the
great one was returning, I thought to myself,
Nah
that can’t
be right. He long handed over the reins to his son. But when I
heard the dark lord made a deal to get himself a new
right-hand
man I just had to kill my curiosity, and by god
I’m glad I did. I can see why Pertilius is so protective of
you.’

Of
course,
it all made sense once I heard the
monks name. I should have known that he would have had a hand in
this little intervention somehow. Although I will admit I did feel
a little better knowing that someone had my back, even if it was a
monk from hell. It was comforting in a way.

‘
I wouldn’t go rooting for me just
yet. I’m only a lowly
hit man
with a couple of artefacts
under my belt.’ I said, turning my attention back to the remaining
cupboards in the nurses’ station. I needed something to help keep
me focused and on track while the conversation with the angel
continued.

‘
I see Pertilius hasn’t completely
filled you in on why those are important.’ If he was trying to be
all mystical and god like it just wasn’t working. He was actually
beginning to annoy the shit out of me and if I thought I could, I
would have punched him.

‘
Can we please cut out all this
mystical bullshit? Just get to the damn point. I know you’re not
here to witness me in action.’ I opened the last of the cupboards
and was surprised to find a small tin inside.

Holding it in both hands I sat it
down on the drainer next to the sink for closer inspection. It
looked like the kind of tin you would get a variety of candy
in.
Usually,
it was given as a gift. Other than the images of
candy pieces there was nothing out of the ordinary about the
tin.

‘
Well,
the last one was the sinner’s heart which was
supposed to represent the broken heart of the original sinner, or
Beelzebub as you
other-worldly
folk like to call him. So
I’m guessing that each artefact has something to with various parts
of his body.’ I was speaking absently as I hesitantly began to open
the tin.

‘
His soul.’ Gabrielle corrected
me.

‘
Yeah
well,
all I give a
shit about is getting enough power to knock Satan’s head off his
shoulders and break this damn deal.’

Gabriel suddenly put his hand down on top of
the tip, stopping me from opening it. I was about to give him my
best pissed off expression but when I looked at him the smile had
gone and instead I could see darkness spread across his face like
thunder clouds.

‘
Those artefacts are only keys to
the locks within you, Samuel. You always had the power
within
you.’

Frustrated and tired I took a step away from
the tin and rubbed at my throbbing temples. I was unsure if it was
the stress of the situation or glow from the Angels aura that
causing the most pain.

‘
So what are you saying? I'm the
reincarnation of the creator of all things bad?’ I had expected the
smile to return to his face, but when I looked at his piercing blue
eyes the thunder clouds
were
still hanging over him.

‘
Yes. Think about it Samuel. Why
on earth would Satan need your help? He has countless millions of
minions who can easily do what you do for him?’

He had me stumped there as I looked at the
candy tin under his protective hand. I had wondered why the
all-powerful prince of darkness would need the help of a mere
human.

‘
Well,
he must have a reason. I'm sure he wouldn't be
making deals with us humans if we didn't have a use for us.’ I
said, staring blankly at that tin the Angel was now protecting from
my prying eyes.

The smile returned to his face and
for the first
time,
I noticed that he had a small
spattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose. They weren't
prominent but definitely there now that I was paying
attention.

‘
Your right! In your
case,
he just wants to keep you close. Deal or not there is
actually very little he can do to you.’

‘
I find that hard to believe. He’s
the devil and I’m just an above average hitman. He’s the one with
all the supernatural power, not me,’ I said.

I watched as the Angel lifted his
hand off the sweet tin just long enough to feign despair and I was
so tempted to snatch it away from him during that split second. I
seriously doubted I would have been quick
enough,
though.