The End | {BOOK 5}

5| Nature Versus Nurture

Donatello walked over and took a seat on the couch.

"You okay?" Sam asked him.

"Ah, pretty much," the Prophet nodded. "No soul, thanks to Amos. It's kinda like losing your appendix. You never really noticed it when you had it."

He groaned, rubbing at his temples.

"But now, when I come to a moral crossroad, I ask myself, 'What would Mr. Rogers do?' And as soon as I nail that, I'm usually good."

I swallowed, glancing over at Ellie, who had thankfully not woken up despite the disturbance in the room.

"Why are you here?" I asked Donatello.

"Yes. That is the question we all must ask," he muttered quietly.

"Why are you in Wyoming?" I clarified, rolling my eyes in exasperation.

"Oh! Uh, well," he cleared his throat, "after God left, I said to myself, 'Donatello, you are so retired.' I mean, who needs a Prophet of God when there is no God? So... a few days ago, I'm online, checking out condos in Boca, and I am knocked off my feet by this weird wave of power. Not exactly like God's. More like... something new, something fresh. I was drawn to it. It's here."

Sam looked over his shoulder at Satan Junior as Donatello spoke.

"Wow. Right here. It's..." Donatello also looked over at Satan Junior, "you. Who are you?"

"I'm... Jack," Satan Junior answered hesitantly.

"Jack is a Nephilim," Sam explained further.

"A child of a human and an angel," Donatello nodded.

"Archangel, actually," Sam said, looking over at me. "Um... Lucifer."

"Lucifer?"

"And Donatello here is a prophet," Sam explained to the creature.

"Which means he has a direct line to God, or Heaven," I added.

"Yes, well, not so much anymore. But, uh..." Donatello addressed the thing, "look at you. The waves of power, so intense."

"Maybe less human than we thought," I hissed at Sam.

He glared at me and I just shrugged.

"Fascinating. You know, I've met your father. Your power's nothing like his. Not dark, not toxic."

"That so?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Not yet," I muttered.

"If Jack is sending out a signal strong enough to get Donatello all the way out here... the angels are still out there," Sam pointed out. "I mean, who knows what else might be listening. He needs protection."

⁘

Leaving Donatello back at the motel with the sleeping Ellie, Sam and I took Satan Junior to the only tattoo parlor still open at the late hour we could find.

"Alright, so, uh... I'm thinking something like this, right about here."

Sam put the paper with a drawing of the anti-possession symbol over the creature's chest in the same spot his and my tattoos were.

"Uh, you know what? Exactly like that," Sam continued.

"And you're cool with this?" the tattoo artist asked Satan Junior.

"Y-yeah," he stammered.

"Turn the damn thing on and start buzzin'," I snapped, annoyed.

"W-we're brothers," Sam lied, trying to put the tattoo artist at ease. "It's kind of like a family crest."