Harbinger Ch. 4

“Winging” it

(Jerry)

I feel dizzy and nauseous, like I'm on the verge of throwing up. I'm sitting in the backseat of a car that I don't recognize with no idea how I got here.

Ok, focus. You were almost off when you got a call, so you and Dalton...it's all coming back and I start to panic. There are voices coming from outside the car.

"Wait, hold on a second. What do you mean we're taking him with us? Have you lost your mind?" An angry voice screams from outside the car.

"Gabriel, calm down. I admit this situation has gotten out of hand, but we don't have a choice." The second one is much calmer. "He knows what we are." Everything goes quiet.

Suddenly, a kid with shaggy blonde hair is looking through the window at me. It's a few seconds before he breaks the awkward silence.

"Well, couldn't you have at least hosed him off first? I mean, look at him. He's covered in blood! And...and is that vomit? There's vomit all over my fucking interior! That's going to take forever to get out."

"We need to go, now." A third voice chimes in. "We're kinda exposed out here."

"I'm not getting in there with him. He's gotta smell terrible."

Ten minutes later, the four of us are driving in silence. My three companions look to be in their late teens or early twenties. The blonde one is driving, gripping the steering wheel tightly and just shaking his head. The one that I had met back in the room is sitting up front. The wings I thought I had seen are now absent. I pray they were just a hallucination. The one sitting next to me is hanging his head out of the window, smiling serenely. All of their features are perfect; not a blemish, birthmark, or scar on any of them. Just... flawless. They radiate a light that can't be seen, but you can feel that it's there. It's a hard thing to describe.

"I guess you're wondering who we are." The kid riding shotgun says to me. "My name is Uriel," he points to the driver, "this is Gabriel..."

"Charmed." Gabriel spits out through gritted teeth.

"and sitting beside you is Michael."

Michael doesn't respond, he's clearly in his own world.

“Yeah, hi.” I say dismissively. “I”m officer Jerry Delange. Do you have any idea what that means? You just kidnapped a cop. I should be arresting you right now.”

“Ha!” Gabriel mocks. “You can try!”

“I'm sorry, but it had to be done.” Uriel's tone never changes. There's never any inflection...it's all just a matter of fact with him. “Now, what do you remember about what happened inside the house?”

“My partner and I were on a routine call. When we got there we were too late to help the woman who lived there. This...thing killed her and then it got my partner.”

“His name was Belith. He's a very high ranking demon. You're actually lucky to be alive right now.” Michael adds from outside the window.

Uriel swallows hard. “Do you remember what you asked me back in the room?” “I asked you if you were angel. I thought I saw wings. I was hysterical.”

“You weren't hysterical.” Uriel tells me, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.

“Wait, you said that you “had” seen them. Does that mean you don't anymore?” Michael asks.

“No, should I?”

“Well, no. None of your kind should. That's the point.” Gabriel adds from the driver seat.

“What do you mean, “my kind”? You're?”

“Yes, Jerry.” Uriel pauses as if trying to think of a delicate way to say what’s coming next. “And you knowing that complicates things quite a bit.”

“Look, I don't care, ok? I just want to go home.” My voice quickly becoming more panicked.

“We can't let you go now.” Uriel tells me.

“I want to see my wife.” I try my best to sound forceful and intimidating.

“I told you earlier that you weren't dead, but that's only half true. The life that you once led is over. You're a loose end as far as Hell is concerned. Ours too, quite frankly. You've seen too much and they're going to be looking for you. With us, you're safe. If you were to go back home now, they'd follow you and slaughter anyone you care about right in front of your eyes. Then they would torture you in ways you can’t even imagine before finishing the job.”

“So...what, I just ride around with you until they eventually get to me?”

“Or we can think of something better.” Michael laughs, trying to lighten the mood. “We're kinda making this all up as we go along.”

“Think of it this way, stinky,” Gabriel adds, “you just entered Heaven’s witness protection program.”