Demon Hunters: Book 1 Faith [editing]

Chapter 18

A few students loitered about the front of the school building, most of them texting on their cellular phones. Zoe stepped into the school and walked down the empty hallways. She preferred using the back wall of the girl's bathroom near Mr. Brady's classroom to make her portal because it was the most isolated restroom and unlikely to be visited before or after school hours.

Her thoughts kept floating back to how Mrs. Roland looked at Lexi her daughter. Although all angels knew that life in the Earth dimension was just a passageway towards the Heavenly Spaces and that in the totality of all time a human's existence on Earth was less than a mere blip, she knew that humans couldn't understand life in this way. Indeed, God, the Father, the Almighty knew all that had happened, is happening, and will happen. In the Holy of Holies, the space where God resided, the boundaries of past, present, and future don't exist.

Humans couldn't understand this. Well, honestly, only a handful of angels had ever entered into the Holy of Holies. So while most angels hadn't experienced this reality for themselves, they knew of it with great certainty. Nonetheless, Zoe still couldn't get the thought of Lexi from her mind. All humans die, she rationalized. They must in order to enter the Heavenly Spaces. A corporeal form cannot pass through the gateway. But she found herself asking the question that all humans ask: Why, God? Why?

Mrs. Roland had been embezzling money from the school for years. Wouldn't any mother do whatever it took to preserve the life of her daughter?

Zoe rarely engaged in this kind of thinking. She simply wasn't that kind of angel. I'm the greatest angel warrior on the planet! I am not sweet. I am deadly. I do not fraternize with humans. I kill scions.

She hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings and failed to the notice the footsteps coming from around the corner of a hallway—not until they were very close. Zoe jumped back and pulled her dagger free of its hidden scabbard. "You!"

Mr. Osaka bowed in greeting, but said nothing. Instead, he held up a mop and motioned to the bucket that he was rolling down the hallway.

"Sorry." Zoe quickly replaced her weapon. "I wasn't expecting you." She glanced across the clean floors and nodded in approval. Impeccably clean. "I was just leaving."

He kept his eyes down. Zoe inspected him further. A Japanese man, middle-aged, very calm heart rate. The custodian seemed to emanate a certain kind of peace that made her wonder about its source. Was he a monk or some other mystic in his spare time?

She waved and then scurried down the hallways to the girl's restroom. In the last stall, she ignited her dagger, opened up a portal to the tunnels, extended her wings, and flew in. After an initial turn, the trip consisted of a straight shot in one direction. She ripped through the passageway with incredible speed, far faster than was necessary, but after another day of feeling so confined in a student desk Zoe wanted nothing less than to fly.

Ten minutes later, she floated about near her exit location, frowning at how fast the time faded and feeling tempted to keep traveling. Instead, she pressed the dagger against the wall of the tunnel into a circular archway, its outline sizzling with electricity. The archway became translucent, offering a view of the den with its large rug and crackling fire in the fireplace and Zacharias standing with his arms crossed not looking happy. What did I do this time?

"What in heaven's name were you thinking?" He didn't even wait for Zoe to completely enter the room.

"Well, I was thinking about dropping my cooking class. We're making cookies. Do you know how much sugar is in each batch? It should be a sin." She smirked.

Zacharias balled up his hands into fist. "I'm talking about the phone call I got from school today?"

"I didn't kill anybody today. Well, not that I remember."

Muriel entered the room, holding a tablet in one hand and a cell phone in the other. She stopped. "Here we go again."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "What's the big deal anyway?"

"Mr. Laycock called today."

"My math teacher?"

"Yes. Your calculus teacher." Zacharias sighed. "What part of keeping a low profile do you not understand? We've been over this an eternity of times."

"My calculus teacher?"

"You aced a test in five minutes that most of the class didn't even complete in 50 minutes."

"Oh. That." Zoe had rushed through it to read Ren's note. "I got distracted."

Zacharias clenched his jaw, fuming with anger. He always played by the book. Everything had to be perfectly planned and executed.

Muriel placed a hand on Zacharias's shoulder. Zacharias turned to her, seeking confirmation. She nodded. "Listen, Zoe, your carelessness complicated our cover story at the school."

Zoe frowned. While she could be sarcastic with Zacharias, arguing with Muriel felt wrong. Muriel was that kind of angel, the model of saintly love and compassion. "Sorry."

Zacharias looked away still angry and let Muriel explain. "We told Mr. Laycock that you were actually in the witness protection program and needed to stay at the school for a couple of weeks before moving to a more secure location. We alluded to you being a part of some top-secret government program."

"But I thought that we would be done by Friday."

Muriel nodded. "We uncovered something, something big."

"What?"

"I'm not sure yet. I still need more time to sort it out. We think that a group of teachers is running some kind of Internet trafficking or pornography ring or something like that. One of its leaders could be our scion."

Zoe's shoulders slumped.

"Zacharias and I are going to spend the day tomorrow looking into the data and tapping into cell phones. We should have a clearer picture of what is going on in the next twenty-four hours."

Zacharias pointed a finger at Zoe. "Keep a low profile and don't compromise this mission." He stormed out of the room.

A few moments of silence passed. "So, what did you find out about Mrs. Roland?"

"She's a widowed mother, and her daughter, Lexi, has cancer. Not the evil type. More like the desperate-mother-trying-to-save-her-child type."

Muriel nodded. "Tragic, indeed. Human beings sometimes carry such heavy burdens. It is very sad." Muriel took a long breath, as if feeling Mrs. Roland's emotional pain. "And the teenagers? Diego and Riley."

"Still just regular kids."

"Well, since you are blending in, I think it would be helpful for you to stay integrated with them. You know, be friendly and use them as a social group."

"I guess, I can do that, but these teenagers are very confusing."

"That's what I've heard."

"Oh, one more thing." Zoe almost reached for Ren's note, which was stuffed in her pocket, but decided against it. "I think Ren is in the school."

"I figured he would be. He's a clever demon."

"He is."

"Just be careful."

"I will be."