The Devil's Assistant (Watty Awards Finalist 2011)

Devil's assistant [10]

Chapter 10

 

I had sat there for an hour, the only sound was the faint murmurs from inside the room, I couldn't even make out one word of their speech and trust me I had been trying. An elderly woman came up with a trolley full of refreshments so I took them from her at the door and when it turned three on the dot, I knocked on the door. What was strangest was all noise vanished from the room a second before I knocked, like they knew I was coming. Shaking away my paranoia I pushed open the door when someone called for me to come in and wheeled the trolley into the room. I quickly set about making sure everyone had what they needed before hurrying out the room, not liking the way that I was being stared at.

It wasn't until I was safely back in my chair that I realised that the door hadn't completely shut and I could now hear more distinct snippets on conversation. I glanced around the empty space before me before covertly rolling my chair closer to the door and leaning my head towards the sound so that the chair lurched for a moment before settling.

"Now what do we do about the protected? Do we let her remain here or do we take her into sanctuary?" A high pitched woman's voice reached my ears and all I felt was confusion as multiple voices chimed in at the same time afterwards to put the money's worth in.

"Silence." Lucius voice was steely and full of authority and everything fell into silence. "The protected shall remain here until such a time when we know what the upper levels want with her."

Gabriel cut in then. "But under your protection she has almost lost her life once, how do we know she is safe with you?" There was the sound of shuffling and I could just imagine Gabriel lifting his head so that his eyes swept over the room, his very essence gaining attention. "She should come to the sanctuary; she will be safe there until He informs us of her path." Someone scoffed and then a few other people tittered in derision.

"You say that, but weren't you attacked on the same day? But unlike us, you were too goody two shoes to do anything about it? That's the problem with angels, think you're all high and mighty but you have no backbone." The sound of a chair crashing into a wall startled me as my mind ran over Lucius' last words...angels? Either these people were seriously deluded or I was in something that was way over my head. Normally I would lean towards the first option but then I remembered the box and how the contents had been completely incinerated. How does that even happen? Even I know there is no such thing as spontaneous combustion.

 I heard footsteps approaching, so with a surprised squeak, I hastily rolled my chair behind the desk and picked up a highlighter as I pretended that I was focused on the document before me. The door was tugged open so hard that it ricocheted off of the wall so that I could feel the vibrations through the soles of my shoes. Feigning shock, I glanced towards the door in time to see Gabriel and some his 'angel' friends leaving the room with expressions of discontent on their faces. It was strange because even with Lucius riling them up they didn't really display much emotion, even the discontent that was displayed by a slight downturn on the corner of their mouths seemed to be a struggle for them to maintain.

Lucius rushed out after them, grasping tightly onto Gabriel's arm and swinging him around to face him. "Brother, this is a fight we must wage together. She will be safest here; we already have her under our protection as well as her child. We can keep her safe if you cooperate with us." 

Lucius looked almost pained to even say this to the man, his eyes squinting down at his rival. Gabriel looked from Lucius' eyes down to his hand that was grasping tightly to his arm and a look passed briefly through his eyes, so quick that I was uncertain as to whether I had really seen it, but there it was a clear as day as he regarded Lucius with his almost emotion free gaze.