The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) (4 page)

As the cavalry approached, Joaquin slammed his
door shut and sped toward the woman who was still running full speed. Pulling
the car alongside her, he was surprised to find her mumbling to herself.

“Get in the car,” he said.

The woman glanced at him, her pace never slowing.
Peering back at the motel where the wisps of dirt grew closer, she jerked to a
stop and he followed suit with the car. Joaquin waited as she rushed to the
backseat passenger door.

“I knew you’d come,” she said quietly as she
climbed in.

Joaquin nodded, taking his first close look at the
woman he was apparently tasked to protect. He wasn’t surprised to find her
beautiful in a shiny American way. Those few freckles splashed along her nose
and cheeks created a strange stirring in him though.

Jamming his foot down on the gas, Joaquin sped
into the barren horizon with a touch of hope in his normally dormant heart. He
didn’t know who his passenger was or even where they were headed. He did have a
purpose now though and one delivered by God Himself. Joaquin’s existence was
suddenly bigger than the horror of his past - a concept which made him smile.

Lila raced the SUV onto the freeway, her eyes on
the rearview and not the traffic ahead. Managing to dodge cars even with her
mind elsewhere, she sped into the carpool lane before finally slowing the SUV
to eighty.

Quickly accepting her savior might be the worst
driver in the history of the world, Sophie watched all of the lane changes with
horror. Lila then swerved around a family’s minivan, the sole purpose seeming
to be to make Sophie carsick.

“You’re going to get us killed or at least pulled
over,” Sophie said, glaring at Lila. “Is anyone even following us?”

“LA is infested with bad guys and the vibes in
this place are crazy. My gut says we’re being followed, but I can’t see him.”

“Followed by whom? Joaquin?”

“I thought it was some hunter named Roman, but after
my vision, I don’t know.”

Lila pressed the gas pedal and took the SUV to a
brutal hundred miles per hour. Glancing at Sophie, she smiled casually, obviously
loving her passenger’s terror.

“The thing you have to understand is that our
world and the human world aren’t the same. It’s like the smackdown at your
apartment. Neighbors didn’t hear anything. Cops weren’t called. I made that
happen because God let me. He’s letting me drive like this because He knows we
need to get out of LA before the villains rain down on us like locusts. If God
wants me to slow down, He’ll send me a signal.”

Lila did slow slightly before gunning for the next
lane.

“These cars don’t even see us. We’re living in a
bubble now, protected from the view of humans. Not from villains or a rogue
hunter though. That’s why I’m going to keep speeding until I know we’re safe.”

Sophie frowned at Lila who zig zagged through
traffic.

“You just keep doing things until God says no more
and you end up dead or in jail? That’s your life plan?”

Smile growing, Lila jerked the car to the right to
avoid hitting a semi.

“Life plan? You sound like a human.”

“Yeah, well, I am a human. What do you think you
are?”

“How’s that life plan working out for you? You
livin’ the dream, darlin’?”

Sophie glared at Lila, wishing for a snappy response,
but instead all she could manage was a whine. “My life was fine before you and
those villains showed up.”

“Yeah, I was totally sensing how great your life
was when you did so little to protect it.”

Crossing her arms, Sophie fumed. She really didn’t
need a lecture from a crazy woman.

“Oh, don’t pout. It’s not like I’m wrong. You
don’t have a good life because you aren’t living the life God made for you.”

“And you are?”

“Yep. Now, anyway. A year ago, I was like you,
living a lie and being really lame at it. I was an awful human. I had a job I
not only hated, but didn’t even seem to know how to do well. I had no friends,
just work people and acquaintances. My family didn’t live far away, but I
didn’t visit them and they didn’t visit me. No falling out, no fighting with
them. They just stayed away from me and I stayed away from them like it was all
very natural. Except it wasn’t. Nothing about that life was natural for me and
I’m assuming you feel the same.”

Sophie thought to her disinterest at losing her
latest job, as if she always knew it would happen. She remembered how she paid
her coworkers little mind as she walked out and how they showed so little
concern for her. What Lila said made sense, but Sophie’s old life, no matter
how boring, had been safe.

“You still haven’t answered me about what you
think you are, if you’re not human?”

“A hunter and I think you are too. You’ve got a weird
vibe coming off you, but other hunters say the same about me. Maybe we’re alike
and that’s why you’ll come in handy on this mission? I don’t really want a partner,
but God’s will trumps all. So here we are now, partners in crime.”

“And you hunt what exactly?”

Lila ignored the question, instead gunning the SUV
toward an open spot between two semis. Once she cut in front of one of them,
she smiled.

“Something nasty is coming for us. I feel it
crawling up my spine. You feel it too, I’m sure.”

Sophie didn’t feel anything except nauseous and
Lila wasn’t helping by talking around the real issue.

“Yeah, I can see how you’re loving this. Since
you’ve pretty much kidnapped me for the purpose of helping you, it might make
sense if you told me something besides being a human sucks.”

Lila sighed, rolling her head back and forth.
“Okay, you’re right. We should dumb this down and get to the meaty center.
There are gateways in the human world that lead to hell. These gateways are now
open and they allow evil souls to return and jump into the recently deceased,”
Lila said then gunned the SUV into another lane.

“Just imagine a guy has a heart attack and
flatlines. The real guy’s soul has left his body because he’s meant to die.
Instead of the body remaining empty, an evil soul jumps inside. When the
doctors bring the guy back, they don’t bring back the original guy.”

“Like possession?”

“No, that’s when a demon shares a body with a
human soul. These souls aren’t strong enough to do that. Even weaker than a
demon, these villains are still dangerous. Being in hell has made them stronger.”

Lila’s voice drifted as she watched the rearview. Her
eyes finally returned to the road and she regained her focus.

“When the devil started sending up the souls to
steal human bodies, God created hunters to even out the playing field. It’s our
job to kill the bad guys and protect humans. Simple enough, right?”

“Why doesn’t God keep the evil souls from stealing
the bodies?”

Lila shrugged. “Why does God let Satan seduce
people? I can’t imagine why God does anything He does. In this case, I figure
it’s just one of those ‘when life shuts a door, God opens a window’ things.
We’re the window, so I’m feeling pretty good about His choice.”

“If God can’t close the gateways, can anyone?”

“What are you dense?” Lila asked, glancing upward
with a dark frown. “He can hear you, dummy. Stop with the God can’t do stuff,
okay?”

Sophie shared Lila’s frown, but nodded.

“God created a hunter to close the gateways, but
he’s dead or missing or whatever. Without Micah, the gateways remain open and
we keep killing villains.”

“I had a dream before that evil guy came to my
apartment. In my dream, there was a guy and he mentioned Micah.”

“Mentioned him how?”

“Just said that I never trusted him and that was a
good thing.”

Shrugging, Lila frowned. “No idea what that’s
about. I have weird dreams all of the time and I just try to figure out which
ones are important and which ones are gibberish or plants by the enemy.”

Sophie wasn’t in the habit of imagining evil
lurking around her. She certainly didn’t want to imagine herself destined to
kill anything. Changing the subject, she wanted to focus on something she figured
would be Lila’s problem.

“Why did Joaquin go rogue?”

Lila shrugged, whipping the SUV into another lane
and throwing Sophie into the armrest.

“Then why are we killing him?”

“Because God showed him to me and I saw despair
and violence and then God showed me you.”

“And that’s it?”

“Visions aren’t usually full of details. Much of
it is the vibes I get. Like how I sensed he was a big dog and dangerous. I
sensed you were like me. Well in that you are likely a hunter and have a weird
vibe. I’m not sure we’re anything alike otherwise.”

“Agreed,” Sophie said quickly. “What’s your plan
besides speeding down the freeway and trying not to die?”

“We need to find Joaquin and I don’t know exactly
where to start. He’s down south, maybe in Texas. I’m just guessing based on my
vision and we need something more specific. We’re going to visit Sawyer and
Daisy to get some leads.”

“They’re hunters?”

“Yeah, they run a gun shop in Nevada and have a
ton of contacts. Sawyer said something about a rogue big dog. If there’s a way
to track down Joaquin, he’ll find it.”

“Why do you think Joaquin went evil?” Sophie asked
again.

Lila twisted her lips, clearly annoyed by the very
idea of rationalizing a rogue hunter’s motives.

“The usual reason is that they want to be human. God
won’t let them, so they punish Him by killing hunters. Some hunters go rogue
because they feel like God doesn’t care about us like He does humans.”

“Why would they think He doesn’t care?”

“We have no covenant with God, no promise of salvation.
We’re just here to do a job.”

“What happens when we die?”

“Don’t know,” Lila said with a shrug. “There’s no
Bible for hunters. No operating instructions. We don’t know when we came into
being or what will happen when the gateways are closed. Hunters have theories,
of course. We become human. We go to Heaven. We just disappear into nothingness.
I’d like to think it’s one of the first two. In the end, it doesn’t matter.
We’re God’s weapons and we have to do what He says. These rogues are just being
big babies about the whole thing and they need to die for that.”

Staring out at the passing cars, Sophie realized
she must believe Lila on some level or else she would signal someone for help.
The idea of being a hunter wasn’t appealing, but Lila made it sound as if
Sophie didn’t have much of a choice.

“How does this hunter thing work?”

“Hunters roll as lone wolves or in packs. The
whole dog jargon is big, though I don’t know who started it. All I know is I’m
a lone wolf. Most hunters work in packs. A powerful, skilled hunter is called a
big dog. If you want to insult a hunter, you call him a Chihuahua if he’s
cowardly or a Poodle if he’s prissy. No need to use any other dog references. I
personally think the whole dog thing is a bit much. With that said, I’d love to
be a big dog.”

Scowling, Sophie eyed Lila. “Isn’t pride a sin?”

“Not even sure we have souls to damn, but yeah I
should be careful about that.”

Lila revved the engine as the traffic thinned.

“Do villains work in teams?”

“Sometimes. Normally a villain just takes over the
life of the person whose body it’s stolen. Say Carol Jones worked at the bank,
lived in the suburbs with a husband and pair of kids, enjoyed speed walking and
scrapbooking, then the villain keeps up the image and does its evil deeds on
the side. Other villains don’t want to play human, so they go underground.
These villains often join forces and kill hunters and do real damage to
humans.”

“How can you fight them when there’s just one of
you and a bunch of them? Seems like a pack makes sense.”

Lila glanced at Sophie then pushed the car to over
a hundred miles per hour, barreling into the quiet night.

“Yeah, but I don’t play well with others. My
contribution to the harmony of the world is being on my own.”

“Good move. If we aren’t human, what about our
families?”

Lila considered this question. “I really don’t
know. I haven’t been a hunter long and I’ve never wondered about such things. I
do know I never missed my family after leaving Indy. I just walked away from
that life and never looked back with any sense of loss. I know no one in my
family is a hunter.

“I personally think God likes to tempt us with a
human life we’re not supposed to have. He gives us a family and a normal life.
He also lets us feel like we don’t belong in that life and then we have to
choose. Maybe it’s just a temptation, like having mates.”

“Huh?”

“Sawyer and Daisy are married. I’ve met a few
hunters with mates, but we can’t have children. We aren’t meant to have
families, so what’s the point of the distraction? God does it to tempt us, I
think. In the end, it doesn’t matter. If God tempts you, you handle it the same
way as when the devil tempts you. Ignore it and do the right thing. If you
don’t, you’ll end up rogue like Joaquin.”