Hell's Detective

Chapter Ten- Doubt, Demons and Deals

Sometimes things just happen that are so completely unbelievable that one has no choice but to go along with it.

Which was why, when Zadrian asked, Follows had let him borrow his car.

They drove in silence; Follows wouldn't have spoken even if he could think of something to say.

Zadrian turned down a little tucked away street, glanced at Follows out of the corner of his eye. "Your staring is becoming quite disconcerting, Reverend."

"You're an angel," Follows said.

"I am."

"Can you fly?"

"That is the first question every human asks me. I can, but I avoid it as much as possible. Humans might become a bit startled if I was flying over their heads all day."

"So, you've been to Heaven?"

"It is my home," he said.

"What's it like?"

"Sorry. There's a reason God doesn't tell humans these things." Follows had expected as much. It was equally frustrating and awe inspiring that the creature before him knew the answer to every question he had tortured himself over, every doubt that had plagued him, but was contractually obliged not to indulge him in this information.

"Have you met him, then?" Follows asked quietly. "God?"

He'd thought many things about God over the years, first that he saved him, then that he abandoned him, then that he hated him, then that he simply didn't exist. Follows had always imagined seeing a sign, like in a dream or a message in the sky, that he was wrong, or God hadn't left, or there was a reason all this was happening to him. He had imagined the joy he would feel. And now he'd met Zadrian, and all that joy...simply wasn't there. Though he'd never admit it, the notion that there was no God had become a comfortable one. No one to impress, no one to say sorry to when he did bad things. And the bad things he did... they were just bad things. Mistakes. Not sins or reminders of his great, pathetic separation from God. Just echoes. And to know that somewhere in a realm beyond human perception there was a God, a God that could look at the pain and the sickness in the people of this earth, the wars, the famine, the abuse, and somehow find it acceptable to let it continue, didn't make him seem like a father. It made him seem like a lesson. You disobeyed me, now this is what happens to you.

"Only once," Zadrian said, shaking him out of his thoughts. "I was in a field."

"What did he say to you?"

"He told me my name."

Follows leaned back against his seat, closed his eyes. "This can't be happening."

"It's very normal human reaction," Zadrian said helpfully. "To be unable to believe what you can't understand. It's why most people struggle with the idea of religion."

"Why me?" Follows asked. Of all the people, he was quite possibly the least likely one on Earth for God to ask a favour from.

"God does not tell me his reasoning. He doesn't have to. All I know is you have been called to do a duty, and I have been called to mentor you."

"Mind if I have a cigarette?" Follows asked weakly.

If the look on Zadrian's face was anything to go by, he did, in fact, mind, but Follows lit up anyway.

They drove to an alleyway sitting behind a fast food joint. Zadrian stopped the car, and Follows shot him a questioning look.

"What are we doing here?" he asked as they got out.