Black Wings

Chapter 7

I sat on the sofa, elbows resting on my knees and hands over my face.

"We messed up." I sighed through my hands. "We messed up so bad. We should have been more careful."

"We couldn't have know." Michael said.

"Rachel could have gotten seriously hurt, if not killed!"

"But I'm okay. You showed up right when I needed you."

Rachel sat down next to me and rest her head on my shoulder. I sighed and nodded. It wouldn't do any good to feel broken up about this, we had to protect Rachel until she could fight for herself. And that would start with warding the house.

"I'm going to ward the house."

I stood and went into the next room. I could hear the other two speak.

"Aren't you going to help her?"

"No, she needs her time alone. We may not know each other that well, but I know enough about her to leave her be. My brother Gabriel often tells me that she goes off on her own when upset. She's not one to seek comfort in others."

"Oh."

Gabriel, he always talked too much. I went to the window and saw a line of white. It was salt superglued to the windowsill. I frowned in confusion. This was demon and spirit warding, and it was no accident. I checked about the window and found devil's shoestring, an herb that repels demons. Silver plated doorknobs, burns a lot of supernatural creatures. Rugs marked with devil's traps. Tiny sigils etched into walls, door frames, and windowsills. This house was already completely warded and the warding wasn't that old, maybe a few years older than Rachel.

"Rachel, does one of your parents travel a lot?"

"Yeah, my dad. Why?"

"Is there a room that your dad won't let you in?"

"Yes, his office."

"You know, Michael needs some help learning about humans. Who better to help learn about humans than a human."

"Sure."

"What are you doing, Blackwing?" Michael asked, tuning in on angel radio.

"Something's going on, trust me. I just need Rachel out of the way for a moment."

Michael nodded and they went upstairs. Once they were safely out of the way, I headed towards the office. I went to open the door, but immediately stopped. Instead I flashed in, and it was a good idea. The door was locked, holy water and salt would have been dumped on my head, a devil's trap in front of the door, and a silver bullet would have been embedded in my flesh. None of it would have affected me, but I didn't feel like getting wet or having to pull a bullet out of my neck.

There was no doubt this was a Hunter's place. Books on lore, weapons of all kind, newspaper clippings about possible cases, jugs of holy water, bags of salt, what hopefully was deadman's blood. And right there on the desk, the key to every Hunter, a Hunter's journal. I opened it up and flipped through the old pages. This one was big, probably passed down at least a generation or two. If Rachel's dad wanted to pass this down to Rachel, she would have started training. Someone obviously didn't want her knowing sbout the supernatural world. Oops.

*****

"Rachel, are these your friends?" Rachel's mother asked.

"Yes, I'm Rina and this is Michael."

"Rina? That's a pretty name. It's nice to actually meet some of Rachel's friends."

"Mom, I know how dad will feel about it, but Michael and Rina have nowhere to go. Please mom, can they stay here?"