What the Halo? I ONC2020 I

Chapter 5: Michaela

His chest smelled of fire, of smoldering embers and pernicious ash. What my Father had been thinking when he gave this beast the lead, only the devil could know. Just look at him, all dark, smug and mean, thinking he could throw me off my game by groping me and staring me down. He obviously hadn't touched many angels before.

I splayed my hand over his heart and did the most angelic thing: I beamed happy thoughts into his black heart. Every sugarcoated, fluffy thing I could think of that this demon would loathe, was injected right into the core of his being. Let's see... pink marshmallows, a bright rainbow, lollipops so sweet your tongue glued to them, a set of white turtle doves, a teddy bear with a tutu, a Celine Dion-tune and vanilla fragrance ... How d'you like that, you stinking beast?

His superior expression changed into one of disgust, and the hand around my wrist loosened its grip to cover his mouth as he gagged.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" I asked in my most velvety voice, "It's the smell of the coffee, isn't it? Ah... sweetheart. How many times have I told you that you don't have to accompany me in."

"He just can't stay away from me, the goof." I grimaced at the barista, calling on his sympathy. "Could you get my boyfriend a water, please? No, no flavor, nothing extra. Plain tap water will do. My boyfriend is a very sensitive man."

"And it's all over your shirt too, aww." I meowed, meanwhile beaming an endless stream of cute kitties and cotton ball puppies his way. By the time his water was shoved onto the other side of the counter, I think his appetite for coffee was really gone.

"Thanks, you're a doll!" I shouted over my shoulder to the barista, while leading Cain to the table in the quietest corner of the coffee shop.

He took the seat that was furthest away from me and shoved it a few inches back. "Don't you ever touch me again!" he huffed.

"I'm so sorry. Did I misread the signals? It's just ... You looked so into me, hugging me and all. I must've gotten the wrong impression. My bad." I slurped at my straw, watching him dab a napkin to his ruined sweater. "You could rapidly swivel into something else?" I twisted a lock of hair around my finger.

He glanced around the coffee place and groaned, "Too many humans around."

I shrugged. "Go ahead, I won't tell."

He leaned forward, elbows on both sides of his water, his breath dangerously close to my face. "Who are you? Cause you sure aren't an angel."

This demon needed to learn some respect. I'd better give him a hint of what working together was going to be like. "I'm your superior for the next couple of days."

He chuckled but doubt made his eyelid twitch. "Oh no you're not. They said working with you, not for you."

"Hello! Heaven and hell calling for Cain! I'm an archangel, you're one of the fallen. God himself ordained this mission. You didn't think he'd put you in charge now, did you?"

I waited for his retort, a snarl or a haughty declamation of rules I was breaking, but nothing came. He ground his teeth, crossed his arms over his chest and stared at them. Was he sulking? I hadn't expected it to be this easy, but there was no other explanation than that he believed me. Just like that. I must've touched on a sore spot.

Watching him, a tinge of guilt emerged, an apology growing on the back of my tongue, but I bit it back. All the foul things he had called me would not be forgotten.

"Aren't you going to drink your water?" I pointed at his untouched glass.

He glared at me, eyes so dark from under his bestial brows and thick lashes. "Why don't you tell me what it is we're supposed to do? Or has the big beard in the sky summoned me only to keep you out of his hair for a few hours? I can imagine parenting a child of your caliber is rather draining."

"Oh!" I smiled. "You bet I can make you very tired if I want to, but back to business ... Your kind has managed to lose one of its devil spawn. A demon infant infiltrated the human world."

"Good for him."

"Our fathers don't seem to think so. They want the child back in hell before its sixth birthday which is six days from now to be precise, so no time to waste."

A flicker of interest sparked in his gaze as he straightened his back and righted his shoulders. "Shouldn't be too hard, I know my way around ..."

"Tut tut, Cain!" I shoved my seat back, the legs shrieking cruelly over the tile floor, and took my coat. "This is my show, remember? You observe and keep very quiet. Once I have located the child, you can secure it and take it back to your delinquent daddy. For now, follow me, chop-chop."

Outside, I turned up my collar against a biting breeze and glanced up to the sky. Would there be repercussions for what I had done? I had broken the rules before, but literally dumping my father's words in with the trash was a first. An ominous grey had painted over the heaven's earlier blue and a faint rumble growled in the distance. With the nervous sizzle in my gut, a grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. Thunderstorms are so deliciously chaotic. Bring it on, dad, bring it on.

Cain's elbow stabbed my side as he overtook me, his steps deliberate and upbeat. "You getting cold feet, angel?" He snarled over his shoulder and popped on his sunglasses as if the sky wasn't clouded enough to his taste.

I almost tripped over my feet to catch up with him. I didn't know what stunt he was trying to pull, but it wasn't going to work. At the next cross street, I turned right, yelling "Wrong way, Cain! Better keep up!" At least for a short while, he was forced to follow me. Unfortunately, that demon had the physique of a machine. By the time, we got to Bleecker Street I was a little short on my breath, but that would disappear once we were inside the school.

This was my playground. A little over two hundred five-year-olds equalling two hundred snotty noses, four hundred sticky hands and bouncing feet, thousands of broken crayons, and a chorus of shouting and whining with the decibels of Beethoven's fifth: Heaven!

Cain sniffed the air once and turned his back to the building. "It's not here. You're barking up the wrong tree." He shoved his hands in his pockets and watched down his nose. I had never hated somebody being taller than me with such ferocity in my life. "You sure you know what you're doing, ... Chae-la?"

I gasped. Was that beast Chaela-ing me?