Zero II (5 page)

Michael extended a hand. Alan took it
as Michael made eye contact. “I’ve been around for quite a long time. There are
just some things I know. I know you’re stronger than you think you are, Alan.
Trust me.”

 “How’d it go?”

Alan took a moment to gather his
thoughts as he closed the car door behind him. He stood silent for a moment
staring at the gray car dash before answering.

“Oh my gosh, you’re in shock! Alan,
Alan, are you okay?” Danielle turned to him and placed a hand on his arm. Her
eyes were huge as she searched for an answer on his blank face.

“I’m not in shock. I’m fine. I mean as
fine as I can be after having a heart to heart with an angel.”

“Archangel.”

“What?”

“Michael is an Archangel. He’s like
the boss of all the angels. I just kinda left that part out. I figured you had
enough on your plate. You should probably start reading up on this kind of
stuff.”

Alan raised an eyebrow in Danielle’s
direction and noticed she still had her hand on his arm. Danielle must have
noticed it at the same time because she retracted her arm like she had been
burned. “Oh, sorry. Ummm… So yeah, crazy stuff right? I remember when I was
first told the truth.”

Danielle pulled into the busy midday
traffic and headed back towards Alan’s penthouse. “So, first things first.
We’ll go to your place and gather your things. Since they know where you live
now it won’t be safe there anymore.”

Alan was woken from his daze at
Danielle’s words. “Wait a minute, I’m moving? Where?”

“Yep, we can’t have you stay at your
penthouse anymore. You’ll move in with me into the facility the organization
provided for us. It’s pretty cool, lots of—“

“You’re still going to call them ‘The
organization’ even though I know that they’re angels and I’ve talked to Michael?”

Danielle shrugged as she switched
lanes. “Why not? Unless you can think of another name we can safely use in
public without drawing attention. And it’s really not that far from the truth,
they are a kind of celestial organization.”

Alan had to admit she had a point.
They couldn’t go around talking about angels and demons in public, at least not
without a fair amount of stares. “What are we called now?”

“What do you mean?”

“Yeah, we have angels which are
apparently real and our employers, the Fallen are demons. But what are the
humans called that have entered this war on both sides?”

“Nephilim.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“The technical term for us would be
Nephilim. It’s Hebrew and refers to the combination of angels and humans. I
mean it’s not a perfect translation we aren’t half-breeds but it works. You
know the saying, ‘When you have oranges’.”

“I don’t think you’re saying that
right.”

“Of course I am. When you have
oranges, make orange juice.”

“It’s lemons.”

Danielle turned from the road and
fixed Alan with a look that said she realized she was wrong but was not going
to admit defeat. “Let’s agree to disagree Alan.”

Alan let out a deep breath as he
stared out the window. Danielle’s insistence wasn’t what was bothering him, not
after his conversation with Michael. Life would never be the same.  He
looked at unsuspecting people walking to and from stores. He saw hands hailing
cabs, drivers tuning radios and talking on cell phones. They had no idea what
was really going on, and now that Alan did, life for him would never be normal
again.

 “Don’t worry about packing
things like a toothbrush or shampoo, we have all of that,” Danielle said as she
wandered around Alan’s penthouse. “Sweet place by the way. You really went all
out with that stolen money thing.”

Alan was in his room throwing clothes
into a dark duffle bag. He smirked as he was reminded how he had thrown money
into the same bag years before. Then a thought crossed his mind. “Danielle?” he
said over his shoulder as he threw another pair of jeans and socks into his
bag.

Danielle popped her head into his
room. “You have a home gym and a library?”

Alan looked up at her and smiled. “Yep.
Lifting and reading, two great thing to do to pass time when you’re a loner.
Hey, I’ve been wondering about something. What about all the money I took?”

“What about it?”

“I mean, am I going to get punished
for stealing all those years? I Can’t imagine angels are big on things like
theft.”

Danielle crossed her arms and leaned
against the doorframe. “Don’t worry, they aren’t going to lynch you or make you
pay everything back. Sure, they would rather you started to use your gifts for
something constructive but as long as your thieving ways are behind you, you’ll
be fine.”

Alan nodded and continued to pack. He
was reminded of the voices in his head that would speak up when he was about to
steal. The whispers telling him he knew deep down he was using his gift for
self-gain when he could be helping others. “These years they were watching me,
they wanted me to make the right choice. They wanted me to stop stealing and
look deeper into why I was given my gifts.”

Danielle’s face was solemn. It was
clear she did not enjoy the topic. “I don’t want to beat you up about it but,
yes. They were giving you a chance to make the right decision before they
stepped in and nudged you along. Who knows? They might have given you a few
more years to find your why if it hadn’t been for all the recent demonic
activity. But you’re here now and that’s what’s important.”

“No way, this is it?”

 “Sure is.”

“And you’re sure there is no way we
could have just used my penthouse?”

“Nope, trust me it’s not much to look
at but it’s safe and wait till you see the inside.”

Alan was trying to imagine living in a
warehouse as Danielle pulled to a stop. The building looked like it would fall
apart during the next storm. Rust covered the steel outside paneling from warped
roof to bent door.

Danielle had taken him to the city’s
warehouse district outside of town. “It’s perfect,” she said. “With your speed
the distance from the city won’t be an issue.”

Alan shouldered his duffle bag as he
followed Danielle to the door. “Am I being punished?”

“What? No.”

“This feels like some kind of
punishment.”

“Easy there, give it a minute.”

Danielle walked right to the corroded
front door. From what Alan could see it was a ordinary looking door with a
rusty knob and a worn place for a key.  Danielle looked up to the roof.
Alan followed her gaze but saw nothing. “Agent Danielle Turner, code name Valkyrie.”

There was a brief pause before the
door slid open with a puff of steam. Alan jumped back surprised by the motion
and steam rising from the door.

“Welcome to your new home,” Danielle
smirked and walked inside.

Alan coughed, embarrassed. He gathered
himself and slowly walked inside. Danielle was right. The inside of the place
was nothing like the outside.

The warehouse was huge with a high-domed
ceiling and intense bright lights spread all around. Alan steadied himself so he
didn’t jump as the steel door hissed close behind him. The warehouse walls that
looked like they were ready to crumble at a moment’s notice from the outside
were actually camouflaged. Thick steel paneling met his gaze on all sides.

“Come on, roomie,” Danielle said,
“I’ll give you a tour of the place.”

Alan followed her through the large
building as she pointed out specific rooms and areas on the way to his own
living quarters. “So, this is the training room. You’ll be spending a lot of
time in there. Over here is the communication room, that’s where I do the bulk
of my work. Kitchen is on the left, conference room on the right and you’ll
have your own private bathroom attached to your room.”

Alan nodded, taking in the scene. The
inside of the warehouse is what he imagined the future to be. Everything was
brightly lit with very little decoration and large amounts of free space in
every room. White mats covered the training room floor; the conference room was
one large area with an oval table and chairs and a monitor on one side of the
room.

“And here you go,”

Alan nearly ran into Danielle, still
looking over his shoulder at the spotless kitchen area. He stepped through a
door into a mid-size room furnished with a bed, dresser, closet and a door leading
to his bathroom. “Ange—I mean our organization isn’t too fond of
decorations, are they?”

“Nope, but there aren’t any rules on
what you can or can’t put up.” Alan threw his bag on the bed and turned.
Danielle was smiling to herself looking around the room. “I don’t know. I kind
of like the look. There’s something about simplicity. I think a lot of people
trade the idea for material things they don’t really need.”

Alan nodded thinking about her
statement. “So, what’s first?”

Danielle snapped back to reality from
wherever her mind was traveling. “Oh right. After you settle in, you start your
training.”

“Right, training.” Alan crossed his
large arms and looked Danielle up and down. “I don’t want to seem rude. I mean
you can heal people so who knows maybe you can do all kinds of other things
too, but how are you going to train me? And in what?”

Danielle adjusted her glasses and
looked down on her slender but not necessarily athletic frame. “Hey, what are
you trying to say? I’m tough.”

Alan opened his mouth to apologize but
Danielle threw a punch that glanced off Alan’s shoulder. Her fist was half the
size of Alan’s and felt like someone was tapping him more than trying to hit
him.

“Just kidding,” Danielle laughed. “I’m
not the one that is going to train you.”

Before Alan could ask another question,
the sound of the warehouse’s front door sliding open met his ears. Danielle
looked at Alan with a smile as he squinted over her shoulder to see who was
walking towards them. All he could see was a group of massive figures, descending
down the hall.

Danielle threw a casual thumb over her
shoulder clearly enjoying the moment. “They’re going to train you. Good luck.”

“And you left him alive?” Her voice
was smooth. She had a way of talking that was silky to the ears while still
being intimidating to anything that lived. It was one of her many traits
Dominic admired.

Dominic Drencher rocked back and forth
in his new slippers, heel to toes. “Yes, your excellence, as was instructed.”

“Good.”

The room was dark, too dark for
Dominic to see more than a figure hugged in shadows. She sat in a tall chair covered
in darkness at the far side of the room. “What shall I do next? We have more than
enough followers. Alan Price is nowhere near able to compete with me, much less
our superior numbers. Maybe, I should have killed him altogether and just ended
the possibility of his future meddling.” Dominic paused thinking about his
brief interaction with the young man. “He didn’t even appreciate my cooking.
Everyone likes my cooking.”

The woman spoke, clearly not amused
with Dominic’s ramblings. “No, let him train and prepare. Michael needs
somewhere to direct his attention. I will allow him to have his pet. I need you
on something else.”

Dominic smiled ear to ear. “Oh, does
someone else need killing?”

“No, not this time.”

“Oh,” Dominic could hear the
disappointment in his own voice. “Killing is my favorite. What then?”

“Dominic, are you aware of our
heritage? Of how the Fallen were first condemned to earth?”

Dominic was aware that she already
knew the answer to her own question. Of course he knew, she had told him
herself many times before. He hated when she did that but he had no choice but
to humor her anyway. “Yes, your excellence. After the war in Heaven the Fallen
were cast out to await their punishment on earth. An understanding was met
between the Fallen and the angels to abstain from physical confrontation. And
that’s why you have people like me to do your bidding.”

Dominic’s tone took on an air of
disdain. He couldn’t help but fill a lip rise in disgust. “And that is why
Michael has people like Danielle Turner and Alan Price.”

“Very good Dominic. You are correct.
My Fallen brothers and sisters are unwilling to engage the angels. Not only do
they have superior numbers but the strength they possess is hard for even us to
rival. However, what if I were to tell you that I’ve discovered something to
tip those scales. Something to even the odds that have been so unfairly stacked
against us?”

Dominic licked his lips. He squinted
trying to cut through the darkness. In vain he sought to see her. “What is it
your excellence? What have you found?”

“Weapons, Dominic. After the great
fight in Heaven all the celestial weapons were ordered destroyed to ensure
nothing like that could ever happen again. The knowledge of celestial weapon-making
has been lost for millennia, until now.”

Dominic dared to shuffle his slippered
feet forward just a few inches. He had to see her, just a glimpse would be
enough.

She continued with a silky voice from
the dark that practically corrupted men with a sound. “A book may be in the
possession of a mortal, abook that I have spent my entire earthly life tracking
down. We need that book, Dominic.”

He would do anything for her. He took
another step forward consumed with her voice. “Whatever you command, your
excellence. You will have your book. You will have your weapons. Heaven and
earth will belong to you.”

Alan Price, Danielle
Turner and Dominic Drencher will be back in Zero III coming March 2014.