The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) (5 page)

Once Lila found a speed she liked, Sophie finally
let go of the door handle and relaxed in her seat. Studying her savior, Sophie
realized Lila loved the danger of being hunted.

“We’re definitely being followed,” she said,
bouncing her head to REO Speedwagon on the radio. “This guy isn’t giving up
either.”

Sophie glanced back, noticing only a few cars, all
at least several miles away.

“How do you know?”

“I can feel it in my gut. Give it time and you’ll
feel it too.”

“What do we do?”

“Just keep driving and wait for him to make his
move. You shouldn’t stress it. Take a nap and when you get up, we’ll be nearing
Nevada.”

“Unless he tries to kill us first.”

“Well, yeah, there’s that. I’m a glass half full
kind of hunter though. Just sleep and I’ll wake you, if there’s trouble.”

Hoping to dream about the handsome man on the
beach again, Sophie found herself in a helicopter hovering high over the ocean.
Next to her, Lila flew the helicopter by swinging it right and left. When
Sophie asked if Lila knew how to fly, the woman only smiled and told her to
have faith. As soon as the words slipped from Lila’s grinning lips, the
helicopter crashed into the water.

Sophie awoke startled and found the sun warming
the horizon.

“Hello, sleeping beauty,” Lila said, chewing on
licorice.

“Are we almost there?”

“Nope. We’re taking a little detour first.”

Sophie straightened in the seat with a yawn.
Studying the location, she quickly realized they were on a side road with
nothing significant in any direction. The only object of interest was a compact
car a few miles in front of the SUV.

“What are we doing?”

“Hunting.”

“I thought we were in a hurry to find Joaquin and
kill him before he causes more havoc?”

Lila glanced at Sophie with a grin. “Scared, huh?
I figured you needed some practice before we started taking on big dogs. God
apparently felt the same way because He showed me this villain on the freeway
about an hour ago.”

“You’ve been following him for an hour?”

“Yeah, I’m waiting for a good spot to kill it.”

“And he’s okay with that?”

Lila grinned, still chewing at the licorice. “It’s
not a he. It’s an it and it’s dropping off a body.”

“Did God show you that?”

“No, but why else would a fake Average Joe be out
in the boonies on a workday?”

Sophie shifted in the seat, her stomach cramping
from the sudden onslaught of angry juices.

“I can’t do this.”

“I’ll do it then. Either way, this villain doesn’t
have much time left.”

“What happens to them when they die the second
time?”

“Back to hell or destroyed completely. I don’t
know and I don’t care. My job description doesn’t include the afterlife.”

Sophie twisted at her fingers. “What if you’re
wrong about this guy?”

“No, it’s a villain. I can spot them across a
football field. Actually did once,” Lila said with a wink.

“I just mean what if he was evil in his former
life and then he got another chance and is living a normal human life? Maybe he
wants to be good?”

Lila rolled her eyes, still grinning. “Riddle me
this, Sophie, why would Lucifer release a soul who wants to do good? Why waste
a vessel on a poor slob who made some bad decisions his first go around? And by
bad decisions, I mean things like genocide. Yeah, the villain is evil. They’re
all evil.”

“I guess.”

Lila bounced in her seat as the compact car made a
turn down a tiny road leading towards a long stretch of nothingness. Sophie had
to admit the location was ideal for dumping a body. This realization did little
to calm her stomach though.

“Here we go,” Lila muttered as the car pulled to
the side of the road.

“But he can see us. Why would he dump a body when
people are around?”

“It doesn’t know we’re hunters, so it’ll act like
it’s having car trouble. They always play the same game.”

Lila parked the SUV a few yards from the silver
compact. A man emerged from the car with a friendly wave at Lila who was
exiting the SUV.

The man’s build was slight. With his balding head
and average face, he was far from memorable. Sophie noticed immediately
something wrong with his face though. It was like one face on top of another,
fading back and forth. Not monstrous, as much as unsettling, Sophie still recoiled
at the sight of it.

As Lila approached the man, she slid a gun into
the waistband of her jeans. Sophie’s brain screamed for her to avoid seeing
what promised to be a bloody end to at least one of the people standing on the
side of the road. Instead of retreating though, Sophie left the SUV. Scared yet
excited, she embraced the thrill and pushed herself closer to the action.

“Having car trouble?” Lila asked the man who continued
to smile.

“Yeah, but I’ve got triple A coming. It’s fine,
but thanks for your concern.”

Lila removed a gun from her waistband and fired
once into the car’s back tire. Air gushed against the man’s pant leg, but he
barely reacted to this development.

“You really want to play this game?” Lila said,
still walking toward him.

“I don’t know what I’ve
done…”

Lila fired at the compact’s trunk, breaking the
lock and allowing the lid to creep open. Even from her spot near the SUV’s
door, Sophie spotted the top of a woman’s body.

The man’s smile widened. “Hey, if it makes you
feel any better, she didn’t look too upset when I strangled the life out of
her.”

Lila returned his grin. “My friend thought you
villains might be able to go straight once you got your ticket back upstairs. I
think we can see how being good just isn’t in the playbook though.”

“Big hero, showing up after she’s dead. Your god
will be so proud,” the villain said, running his tongue over his front teeth.

Lila fired twice, one bullet for each kneecap. The
thing fell to the ground, groaning. Eyeing Sophie, Lila moved behind the man,
gun at his head.

“Did you notice how it didn’t scream out in pain?
The body doesn’t belong to it, so it’s detached from the pain.”

“They’re looking for you,” the monster said,
gazing up at Lila. “And when they find you, it’ll be your head that rolls.”

Lila shrugged as if its words didn’t bother her. She
smacked it in the head with her gun nonetheless. Sophie watched as Lila retrieved
a sword from a holster on her back. She raised it over her head, ready to kill
the monster in the nice guy suit. An impulse, almost like a craving for sugar,
overcame Sophie and she stepped forward.

“Wait!” Sophie cried.

Lila frowned. “You still think it’s a good guy?”

“No. I just…I want to do it.”

Lila stepped back with a curious grin. “Well look
who’s ready to dress up in big sis’s clothes. It’s all yours then. I just love
to share.”

Sophie rushed to where Lila stood. The monster’s
knees were already healing and he grinned at Sophie. Taking the sword from
Lila, Sophie stepped behind the villain, her heart beating wildly and the pain
in her stomach gone. The thrill in her chest told her this act would bring her
the answers she so desperately hungered for all her life.

Standing there with the weight of the sword in her
hands and the aroma of the thing’s cologne filling her nostrils, Sophie’s
enthusiasm faded, quickly replaced by fear and uncertainty.

Lila stood a few feet in front of them, watching her.
If she was angry by Sophie’s reluctance, it wasn’t apparent in her mellow eyes.
Standing patiently, Lila waited for Sophie to make her move.

Instead, the villain moved.

On its feet in seconds, it swung around and ripped
the blade away from Sophie. She could only stare at the monster as it lifted
the blade to take her life. All those answers were once again slipping away.

As the blade lowered towards Sophie, a fist burst
from the villain’s chest. The monster’s face fell lax and its hand released the
sword. Sophie stared at the fist with the red mass sitting in its center
without understanding what the sight meant. Lila dropped the heart and yanked
her arm back.

Watching the body flop to the ground, Sophie
stared into the cool hazel eyes of her savior. Lila watched Sophie a minute
before retrieving the sword and cutting off the villain’s head.

“Taking the heart should do the job, but never
assume that’s enough. I knew a hunter who swore up and down he killed a villain
by blowing a hole through its chest. The thing then showed up on the streets a
month later. The head keeps them down. Never get lazy about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

Lila grinned, pouring bottled water over her
bloody hand to clean it. “I knew you couldn’t do it. Yet it was pretty cool
when it jumped up like that. These villains can be fast little buggers. Don’t
stress your nerves. You’ll be ready next time.”

Sophie nodded, heading back to the SUV, while Lila
searched the body and car for a cell. Finding it, she called 911 and left a
message about the bodies, claiming she was a vigilante who had executed a
serial killer.

Lila studied the woman’s body in the trunk. After
fiddling with her skirt, Lila shrugged and returned to the SUV.

“As long as there are no more interruptions, we’ll
be at Sawyer’s in less than two hours.”

Sophie was flooded with disappointment as they
left behind her first real chance to prove her worth. For Lila’s part, whether
it was from the kill or her
Best of REO Speedwagon
CD, she didn’t seem
to have a care in the world. Smiling brightly, she just turned the SUV around
and headed back to the highway.

The harsh landscape was unyielding as one tiny
town after another broke into view only to be discarded in the rearview mirror.
Joaquin knew he couldn’t drive through the night and the girl had to be
uncomfortable slumped in the backseat. Yet he still refused to stop in a place
unless it felt safe.

The woman stirred occasionally, shifting in her
awkward pose, but she never poked her head up nor spoke a word. Joaquin
embraced the silence, suddenly unnerved about the situation now that he had
time to examine its meaning.

Even with him bound to her, this woman was a
stranger. She might be a drug mule, the girlfriend of some cartel bigwig, or a
tourist who saw too much. These possibilities felt wrong to Joaquin though.

The man who came to his room didn’t know the
woman’s worth. He didn’t seem to care either, even though he was willing to
kill to find her. It made no sense to Joaquin and only added to his growing
frustration at the situation.

If the cartel chasing after her made little sense
then God racing to her aid made even less. She was someone special, important
enough to bring her to Joaquin. Without him, she would already be dead. If she
had agreed to this deal with the cartel, she deserved to die. Joaquin saw no
reason to extend his life just to save some nitwit with daddy issues.

Clinging to the idea that she was special, he
found her silence helpful. Once she started whining, his acceptance of this
purpose and that wisp of hope in his chest would evaporate.

As the sun began to set, Joaquin came upon a small
resort town full of foreigners where his charge might fit in for the time
being. Finding a bustling hotel in the center of town with plenty of young
people and middle aged couples, Joaquin pulled into the parking lot.

Twisting to peer into the backseat, he found her
lying contently in an awkward position. Her green eyes stared back at him -
seemingly unafraid, though clearly confused.

“I’m going to hide you in this place.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

Joaquin studied her a bit longer then reached for
his bag.

“I will find us a room. You stay here until I come
back.”

“Thank you.”

Joaquin nodded then opened his door. Eyeing the
happy scene of vacationing foreigners, he moved quickly to the main office.

This hotel had a front door and instead of a
lustful couple behind the counter, he found a stern young woman who clearly
found him to be suspicious and unappealing.

Signing for the room with one of his preferred
aliases, Manuel Martinez, he handed the woman a few hundred dollars. With
keycard in hand, Joaquin hurried back to the car. He was certain the girl had
gone missing, even suspecting she might have run off.

Joaquin found her lying in the backseat soaked
with sweat. He extended a hand to her which she used to pry herself off the
floor of the car.

With one hand holding his duffle bag and the other
hitched in his belt near his gun, Joaquin led her up to their room on the third
floor. Joaquin’s eyes were focused on possible threats and he never really took
notice of his charge’s appearance until he locked the door and shut the
curtains. Standing in the middle of the room - arms limp, hair stuck to her
cheeks, faced flushed - the woman was a sweaty mess.