Fallen

Chapter 3(edited 4/8/19)

"Ruth," I greeted the angel coolly. "To what do I owe this dubious pleasure?"

"Come now, Gavin," Ruth said, walking up to me confidently. "Don't be so cold. I thought we'd put all of that nastiness behind us."

"Time doesn't heal all wounds, it seems," I replied in the same cold tone. Ruth frowned at that. She stepped even closer to me and looked up at my face. Ruth was quite diminutive in physical stature. She was cute, her face round and cheerful in appearance. Her blonde hair fell in short curls that bounced when she walked, and she put some effort into her appearance. Still, anyone fooled by her attractive appearance could find themselves in a heap of trouble if she decided you were an enemy. I should know. 

"Can't we be friends?" she asked innocently, placing a delicate hand on my shoulder. "We were so close back then, and I hate to see you so angry with me."

"You should have thought of that before," I answered, taking her hand off of my shoulder, my face set in stone. "Get to why you're here before I decide it isn't worth my time."

"Typical Gavin," Ruth said with a shake of her head. "Too cocky for your own good."

"Same old Ruth," I answered. "Acting all innocent and friendly with a dagger behind her back."

"If you want to be that way, fine," Ruth said with a hurt expression, pulling out another message from her gray suit's jacket pocket. It was rolled up and tied with a silver tie, my name emblazoned on the seal. I took it and broke the seal with a finger, feeling the sealing power break under my touch like a tiny static shock.  I unrolled the message and read the writing, my surprise building. I looked Ruth dead in the eye.

"Is this true?" Ruth nodded.

"Yes. All of our sources have confirmed this." I studied her for any sign of deceit, but couldn't find any. Damn. This was serious. Nathan leaned up behind me, trying to decipher the message.

"What's going on?" the priest asked curiously. "Don't leave a father out of the loop."

"A Sword has been discovered," I said flatly, laying it out on the wire. That shut him up faster than a bucket of ice water.

"That's impossible," the priest said breathlessly.

"Obviously not," I said, reading the rest of the message. I looked up at Ruth. "Do we know who it is?"

"A young woman," Ruth replied quickly. "She goes by the name Eliza Cromwell. She's young, barely into her early twenties. We have very little information about her other than that."

"You have any idea where she is?" I asked in frustration. Seriously, what the hell were the boys upstairs doing? Didn't anybody know anything about detective work anymore?

"She was spotted in the vicinity of this city," Ruth replied. "But she was being tailed."

"Demons?" I asked, fairly certain that the answer was yes. Ruth confirmed my suspicion with a nod. "Then we have to find her before they put her in the ground."

"I'm afraid that's the least of our worries."  Great. This day was just turning out wonderful. At least the weather wasn't bad. Oh wait, it was.

"What do you mean?" Nathan asked. "What's worse than the fact that this young woman is being tailed by evil that she can't possibly understand?"

"She isn't decided." 

"That shouldn't be possible," Nathan responded in quick denial. "Swords and Shields are claimed before they are awakened. She can't just be walking around without picking a side."

"It isn't something that we understand ourselves," Ruth replied grimly. "All we know is that she isn't claimed by us or the demons. She is a rogue piece on the board, and that makes us nervous."

"Understandably," I said, rolling the message back up. Nathan had slumped into a bench, reeling from shock. I didn't blame him. I wanted to do the same thing. "And you want me to find her, I'm guessing."

"We would be grateful for your aid in this situation, yes," Ruth replied. "Heaven is spread thin, and since you have been inclined to help in the past, we assumed that..."

"I would leap to your beck and call and clean up this mess for you," I finished sourly. I took a few steps away from the angel with my back turned, staring up at the ceiling in disbelief. I turned back after I'd gathered myself.  "I don't know if you've been notified, but I'm not Michael's personal lap dog anymore."

"But you have been instrumental in solving previous...issues...like this one," Ruth pointed out truthfully "We'd hoped you'd be amicable to helping again."   

 "If it weren't so serious, I'd spit on your face and tell you exactly where you could stick this," I raised the message and waived it menacingly

"Does that mean you're on the case?" Ruth asked, ignoring my usual insults. I growled at being stuck in such a corner but nodded.

"I'll find her," I said. Ruth clapped her hands together and smiled brightly.

"Wonderful," she said cheerfully. "I'll let the bosses know. This will get you one step further in their good graces."

"I don't really care about their good graces," I replied coldly. Ruth looked at me oddly, but then shook her head.

"You really haven't changed," she sighed disappointingly. "I thought that you might have learned your lesson after being here for so long, but I guess some miracles are just impossible."

"The only lesson I had to learn was who I could trust," I answered evenly, looking my former junior officer in the eye. "And I learned it all too well."

"I did what I had to," Ruth said defensively. I didn't bother pushing the topic. It was old news, and old wounds bleed hard if you go picking at them.

"Keep telling yourself that," I replied, turning away from the angel. "I'm sure your superiors will want to hear from you." 

"Goodbye, Gavin." A cool rush of wind blew across my back as Ruth ascended with a brief flash of light and a roll of thunder.  I pushed back a twinge of longing and jealousy and stretched out my consciousness, seeking out any anomalies in the immediate area and coming up dry. The general chatter of both angels and demons was completely quiet. I guess I'd have to do this the old fashioned way.

"So, she's the one?" Nathan asked, poking his head exactly where it didn't belong. I flashed him a cold glare which didn't do anything to stop him. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Drop it," I replied gruffly. "It's in the past, and you definitely don't want any more of the story than you already know."

"Play tough all you want," Nathan replied knowingly. "But we both know what you want."

"Yeah, we do," I whispered. I cleared my throat and stowed away the useless, mixed bag of emotions that had welled up in my chest.  "But that isn't going to happen. So let's just focus on finding this girl, huh."

"I'll start preparations," Nathan replied, standing. "By the way, the man you sent here is doing well. He's resting in the shelter now, and I think he is well on his way back to a normal life."

"Good," I left it at that, though Nathan could most likely see my true feelings by the penetrating look in his eyes. It was time to get out of here before things started devolving into any unnecessary melodrama. I turned toward the exit. "You know how to reach me if something happens, right?"

"I do," the priest said in determination. "Just be careful. Something tells me that we're in for something of a fight soon."

"Probably," I agreed, heading for the doors of the church. The priest and I were thinking the same thing. The appearance of a Sword only ever meant one thing. War was coming, and we were going to be in the middle of it.