Chapter 3: Temptation

Chapter 3: Temptation

            “So,” Jazz leaned her elbow on my shoulder. “The trailer park.”

            “Yes, this trailer park…where is it?” Darius did the same to my other side.

            I pushed both of their arms off. “No idea.” I really didn’t want to spend my Sunday doing stuff. I was supposed to go home with Jazz and play more videogames and eat junk food. Damn Beelzebub. Damn the church. Just damn everything.

            “Should we catch a bus? I mean, my dad took the truck; he just dropped me off here,” Jazz glanced to me.

            I groaned. “Can I just go home now? Is that still a thing? I mean, what literally is happening today?” I kicked a loose piece of concrete from the sidewalk. We were standing in front of the diner, the building’s shade protecting us from the morning sun above. “Where even is this trailer park?”

            As if God was answering my question a huge white van with an advertisement for my church on it pulled up in front of us, blasting heavy metal music.

            “What the hell?” the van door slid open and Layali jumped out. “You don’t just run away like that!”

            I peered behind her into the van where a carsick Ariel sat in the passenger seat. “In case you haven’t noticed, this all very overwhelming news,” I had to physically crane my neck to make eye contact with Layali, “and I’m not sure how I feel about it.”

            Layali wiped her hands against her black tee shirt. The sleeves were sloppily ripped off and the hem was in shreds, spilling over onto her jean shorts. “Well tough s**t but, your feelings don’t matter�"” she caught Darius’ eye. She opened her big mouth to speak but nothing came out.

            “Don’t look at me like that,” Darius’ tone was so sharp it shocked me. The clueless doofus had a mean side.

            “Don’t tell me this is your sister that Bee mentioned,” I looked between Layali and Darius and found out the answer as I noticed their clear resemblances.

            “I don’t have a sister,” Darius growled.

            “Whoa, alrighty there,” Jazz cautiously put a hand on his shoulder. “I know it’s none of my business and I have no idea what history you guys been through but isn’t that a little harsh?” Jazz had siblings of her own that she was close to, even though they were a lot older than her, so that’s probably why she stepped in.

            “No, it’s fine,” Layali narrowed her eyes at her younger brother. “If that’s how it is, then that’s how it is,” she brought her attention back to me. “Don’t think I’m done scolding you, you little f**k.”

            Jazz made a sound of content like she was proud there was more than one girl around to call me a f**k.

            “Ariel,” she threw her thumb towards the van where the blonde girl was slowly making her way out. “Ariel here was so excited to meet you. And Superior made it seem like you were all ready for you to take your mission. Everyone back at the church�"we’ve all been waiting for you. But before you can even meet everyone else who had dedicated their lives researching and searching for you, you f*****g run away! What’s your deal?”

            “Calm down,” Ariel had finally made her way over. “Roman was just in shock of this news, no doubt, and he just needs time to absorb it all,” she looked at me kindly. She then quickly looked to Jazz and Darius and introduced herself. “And are these some of your followers, Roman?”

            Jazz raised her finger like she did whenever she was about to tell a bad joke, “I prefer the term ‘posse.’”

            Ariel nodded genuinely, the joke going right over her head.  “And how many people are in your ‘posse’ so far?”

            “She was joking, Ariel,” Layali nudged her gently. “I’m Layali by the way,” she put her hand out to Jazz.

            “Jazz,” she shook it.

            I had a bad feeling that I was going to be getting a lot of s**t from these two.

            “You mentioned Bee before, when you were talking to my�"to Darius,” Layali looked to me. “You talked with him? What did he say?”

            “Who is Bee?” Ariel wasn’t in her nun get up anymore. She wore a tee shirt from one of the church fundraising events along with sweatpants and sneakers. Her hair was up in a bun, blonde strands sticking up from it wildly.

            “Beelzebub,” Layali clarified to her. “Roman, what did he tell you?”

            “THE DEVIL!” Ariel threw her hand over her mouth cartoonishly but I had a feeling she was being completely genuine.

            “I’ll explain it later, Ariel,” Layali shooshed her again. “Tell us what happened.”

            I took a deep breath before telling them all the things Bee had just pushed on to me and how he was ruining one of the rare weekends I had with no homework.

            “Oh, I can take you to Mo,” Layali nodded her head to the van. “I know where to find him. Good thing it’s still early too; never visit Asmodeus at night.”

            “Alright, well let’s go,” I stomped passed her and headed into the van.

***

            The man wasn’t really much at first sight; I don’t know what was up with demons wanting to look like college d*****s but it seemed to be a recurring thing. But the longer I was by him, the more uncomfortable I felt like his true demon powers were slowly becoming a lot more apparent to me.

            “Asmodeus,” I rested my clammy hands in my pockets hoping I looked a lot calmer than I felt.

            “Ah, Roman Becker,” he flicked the stub of a cigarette out of his fingers and into the space in front of my feet. “You’ve finally come to see me.”

            “You do realize that I was notified to see you just, like, yesterday,” I eyed his python sized arms, trying not to think how easily he could strangle me with them.

            He gave a deep sigh and stepped out of the doorway, puffing his chest out. Like that lizard that did the same thing to seem tougher to other males and more attractive to potential mates. I noticed as he stepped forward towards me that he walked with a sort of limp, like his right leg was shorter than the left one. It didn’t really take away from his intimidating stature though. He was a whole head taller than me.

            “Do you really think it wise to speak with such sass to an Archdemon? Or more importantly, to me?” His voice made every sentence sound like a growl barking from his strong jaw. His cropped black hair was wrapped with a dark blue bandanna around his forehead and tied all the way to the back. His skin was covered in scars that were a lighter color than his dark skin. His unnaturally blue eyes were such a contrast against all his physical and spiritual darkness. They were exactly like Naamah’s.

            Jazz grabbed my arm and whispered, “I’m gonna have to agree with the sexy demon guy that being sassy to immortal beings probably isn’t your brightest idea.”

            “I hear you have a mission for me,” I forced myself to make eye contact with him and I immediately regretted it. Every sort of dirty and erotic thought or idea I’ve ever had in my sixteen years of life flashed back at me all at once and I was flooded with utter shame. I had to look away from him. “Just…what do you want?”

            “It’s not what I want, Roman,” he placed a thick hand on my shoulder. His eyes flicked from Jasmine then back to me, “It’s about what you want.”

            “How do we know you’re really Asmodeus?” Ariel was obviously eager to change the topic at hand.

            “Yeah, how do we know that you’re not just some perverted jackass that knows Roman’s name?” Jazz pointed at him.

            “Who says I can’t be both?” Asmodeus took his hand off of me and looked over at Ariel. He gave a hefty laugh right at her face and shook his head, “How’s the whole nun gig going for you, Ariel?”

            I looked back at her to see her face was dark red. “Just fine,” she took my other arm, “Roman I don’t want to do this.” Layali and Darius had stayed back at the van. Layali obviously didn’t want to face Asmodeus since the last time she had and Darius had some sort of paranoia of meeting beings who came straight from the depths of hell, especially after seeing Beelzebub. And Ariel said she wanted to tag along so she could prove something to Superior. I think it was just because she was curious.

            But sometimes curiosity just wasn’t enough.

            “Care to come inside?” Asmodeus waved towards his front door.

            “Okay, you guys can stay out here and I can go talk with him inside,” I knew it was a terrible idea as I said it but I didn’t want to feel like I was dragging these two with me into some major trouble. If I had to do something stupid, I’d deal with it myself and not get my friends involved.

            Jazz pursed her lips, “Roman, I don’t think�"”

            “Jasmine, Roman must learn to work by himself, let us leave him be,” Ariel took Jazz’s shoulder and pulled her. “I think I saw an ice cream store down the block�"far enough from this place but close enough that we can come back if Roman needs us.” Jazz gave me a roll of the eyes before following Ariel away from the trailer park neighborhood.

            “Please don’t kill me,” I muttered as I followed Asmodeus into his trailer entrance.

            “No, no, don’t worry about that, Roman,” he shut the door behind him.

            The trailer was like a miniature version of a house from the 70’s; couches patterned with outdated floral prints, cabinets of fading, scratched up wood; messy quilt sheets covering the bed on the opposite side of the entrance, and some out of place fashion magazines lay on the stubby table in front of the sofa. There was also a tiny television set the size of an iPad and with an antennae sticking up.

            “Please make yourself comfortable,” he sat down on the rocking chair across from the sofa so I took a seat stiffly on the old floral couch. “Roman, I want to make things easy for you and assist you with this process you’re struggling through,” he scratched his chin. “I suppose Superior told you about the blessings and such?”

            I pressed my hands into one of the pillows. “Vaguely. I feel as though I’m being put through some sort of test.”

            Asmodeus gave a soft chuckle, “Not quite. You see, if you fail a test, you can always try again and have a higher chance of succeeding because you will have the chance to learn from your mistakes. But this mission you have�"you fail and that’s it; you really only have one chance. And don’t think you’re so special,” he kicked back in the chair, letting it rock hypnotically. “There were plenty ‘Saviors’ before you. They’ve all just failed and or died off and each time this happens a new one is brought into this world. And that new Savior of this time is you!” He pressed his left knee, like the leg was bothering him. I noticed that the left foot was not bare like the right, but completely wrapped in bandages. It was wrapped in such a way that it made it look like it had a deformed, inhuman shape. He noticed me looking at it, “Us demons and angels are the ones who create you Saviors or messiahs, or whatever you guys want to be called. You are not a cambion or Nephilim�"that is half demon or half angel�"you are all humans. But you guys are the epitome and purest forms of humans; you are crafted purely by us divine and infernal beings, not by a mother’s womb and man’s sperm. Though, we found that it was useful to have you come out of a chosen woman’s womb because we didn’t really know where to put you otherwise,” he shrugged.

            “You said you were interested in making this easier for me, right? Because right now your kind of just confusing me more,” my knees started bouncing with anxiety.

            “Right, right, I’m going ahead of myself. My point is, I’m willing to give you my blessing now,” he stopped rocking and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.

            “Beelzebub said I need to get the Archangel’s blessing first before the Archdemon’s. He made it really clear,” I sat on my hands.

            “I bet you Superior told you not to trust the words of us demons as well,” Asmodeus smiled, flashing a mouthful of blindingly bright white teeth. “Which includes the words of good ol’ Bee too.”

            “Well when I get blessings, I get the abilities �"or something like that,  I actually have no idea what a blessing actually is �"of that demon or angel. And according to Bee, getting the angel blessing first will allow me to balance out the demon powers more easily.” I know Superior also said herself that angels aren’t really the “good guys” but the term virtue is a whole lot less intimidating than the term sin so I figured that this made sense; to master the virtue and then the sin.

            “Ugh, you’re no fun,” Asmodeus kicked off the floor again and continued to rock in his creaky chair. “I liked the Saviors who were looking for the easy way and didn’t think logically like you. They were lots of fun.”

            “And now they’re dead,” I pointed out.

            “Yeah but they had fun while it lasted. Whatever, now I have to give you a hint as to where to find Gabriel�"my Archangel counterpart. That’s how it works, you see? You outsmart us dumb demons and we have to tell you what to do next,” he winked.

            “Just give me the hint so I can go, please?”

            “Gabriel is somewhere real high up�"high up with the angels. The dam angels.”

            “…okay. Is that supposed to mean heaven or something?”

            “Oh my God that’s so cute!” he threw a deep laugh. “I guess you’ll find out eventually. Or not and die instead. It’s your followers that will help you, though. They are the ones who decide if you are able to fulfill your duties as the Savior. So make sure you have trustworthy followers�"you know, not backstabbers.”

            “I’ll keep that in mind,” my chest suddenly felt hollow.

            “Keep some other stuff in mind: the Archangels’ blessings require for you to make a promise while the Archdemons’ blessings must be…earned.”

            “Is there a handbook for being a Savior by any chance?”

            “There’s nothing official but I’m sure Superior is hiding some of the other Savior’s writings about their journeys that you could look at. Though since they were all 100% unsuccessful in the end, I don’t know if they are actually worth the read. I know personally I like to think about the old Saviors for a good laugh but that’s probably not what you meant by needing to have a handbook for.”

            “Probably not.” This was just getting more depressing. “You’re really bringing me down, man.”

            “How about I give you a head start? I mean besides giving the blessing early, since you don’t want that anyway.”

            “I guess.”

            He gave a smile as if he was doing me a favor by doing so. “I want you to make one of my cambion sons your follower. That’s how’ll you’ll earn my blessing.”

            “Who is he?”

            “Ask Superior about him. She’ll know and tell you how to get him,” he reached up and took the bandanna off his head, wiping the skin under it like he was sweating. “Do you know what I’m the Archdemon of?”

            I was feeling really uncomfortable in my own skin suddenly�"even more than I already did at that.

            “Each of us Archdemon stand for one of the Sins.”

            “The Seven Deadly Sins, you mean?”

            “The seven and only!” he ran a tongue across his big teeth. “Now think of them and with them in mind acknowledge how you…feel around me.”

            “Why do you guys like me figuring things out? Can you just tell me straight forward?”

            “Get used it,” he stopped rocking again and looked straight at me. “What are your emotions?”

            I remembered the rush of dirty thoughts, “Guilty.”

            “That’s not one of the seven sins. Guess again,” he was talking like this was a game of charades.

            “Oh my God. Uh…dirty? I don’t know what the sins are.”

            He rubbed a finger across his bottom lip in thought, “I was going more for horny.”

            “Is horny one of the Seven Deadly Sins?”

            He gave a hearty laugh like I’d told the best joke he’s heard in a millennium. “Lust! Lust is! Oh, I take back what I said before; you’re gonna be one of the fun ones.”

            “Can I go now? So I can go look for your cambion son?”

            “Just one more thing,” he nodded his head at me. “Keep track of your tools.”

            I looked next to me where he was looking; the two guns had found their way back at my sides along with one other thing; the Amalgamation. “They seem to being do that for me.”

            “Yes but…” he looked like he wanted to say a whole lot more but something was holding him back. “Just, keep track of them. Okay?”

            “Whatever,” I went to stuff everything into the pockets of my sweatshirt when he cleared his throat. “What?”

            “I took the liberty of getting you a gift in order to keep you organized with your tools and such,” he got up and headed to the dining area�"by that I mean the table by the kitchenette of the trailer that had a bunch of dirty plates and more magazines stacked on it. He bent down and reached for something underneath the table.

            “Is it something gross?” I took the box from him. It was wrapped in paper with gingerbread men and candy canes on it.

            He arched an eyebrow amusedly. “What qualifies as ‘gross?’”

            “Well,” I was embarrassed that I said something, especially since that wasn’t even on the Archdemon of lust’s mind. “‘Organized with my tools’ can mean a variety of things.”

            Asmodeus then smiled with perverted pleasure, “You mean like sex toys? ‘Cause I’ve got a whole batchful in the back if you�"”

            “Oh my God, forget�"forget I said anything oh my God,” I almost dropped the box.         

            “I’ve also got some great cheesy-a*s pornos from the seventies too if you want to laugh. You know, if you’re in to that.”

            “I’m leaving,” I gathered my things and stuffed them all in my pockets and grasped tightly onto the box. “I’ll find your cambion,” I headed to the door all confidently when it slammed open in front of me.

            “I knew you were here!”

            It was Naamah.

            “I saw your girlfriend down the block and I figured you followed through with my message,” she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She was wearing her hair back in its ponytail and baseball cap. She sported a white tee shirt tied at her waist and denim shorts.

            “Whoa, whoa,” Asmodeus held up his hands, “Roman has a girlfriend?”

            “You didn’t feel the tension?” Naamah’s face was really beautiful. Her nose was long and elegant, curving at the tip. Her cheekbones were prominent and added a very mature look to her; her lips were thick and perfectly symmetrical. Her skin was light brown and lacked any blemish or fault of any kind. All these details of her beauty were hitting my all at once so suddenly.  “Is Asmodeus losing his touch?”

            “There’s always tension, little girl,” he limped over to her with his weak leg. “I just don’t know why Roman hasn’t told me so,” he looked back to me.

            “The girl with the glasses,” Naamah smirked.

            “Well it certainly isn’t Ariel,” Asmodeus rolled his eyes.

            “Okay, one: Jazz is not my girlfriend. Two: Jazz is not my girlfriend,” I can’t believe I was talking about this. “We’re best friends. It’s ridiculous, why does everyone think a girl and a guy can’t be friends without there being tension?”        

            “You were making out with her in the back of pickup truck,” Naamah gave a laugh just like Asmodeus’ hearty one. “If that’s a friendship, I must be rich with friends!”

            “Jesus Christ,” I grumbled. “Well if you don’t have anything else to say, I will be going.”

            The two of them didn’t stop me this time so I got the hell out of there. I stepped into the hot gravel and blazing sun, shutting the door behind me.

            “He’s cute.” Naamah’s voice was muffled from behind the door.

            “I know…but he’s a lot younger than the others were when they were exposed to the truth.”

            “That’s not gonna stop me.”

            “Me neither!” I could practically see Asmodeus throwing his head back with that deep laugh in my head. “Maybe he’ll accidently come find us at night and�"”

            “You do realize I can hear every word coming out of your mouths!” I shouted at the door.

            “He’s such a virgin too,” Asmodeus probably heard me and knew I was going to hear this.

            “Hey!” I kicked the door before storming off.

            “You’re cute, and�"” he stuck his head out the door to watch me leave, “�"cute people always get what they want if they know how! Just remember that!”

            I don’t know what the hell he was talking about because I’m unattractive as f**k. Even if my body and forehead weren’t covered in dark, fleshy scars then I’d still be just as ugly. Just scarless. They were just teasing, obviously.

            I found everyone at the Ben and Jerry’s around the corner. They were all sitting around one of the outdoor tables, ice cream in each of their hands. I was about to complain that they got ice cream without me but Jazz held up a mini tub of my favorite flavor.

            “Did I ever mention how great you are?” I sat down in the one empty seat left and placed the box on the table.

            “You might’ve mentioned it,” she gave me the ice cream tub and a spoon.  She was indulging in her own S’mores flavored coneful. “But you could tell me again if you really wish.”

            “What’s the gift?” Layali looked up from her banana and peanut butter. “Is it from Asmodeus?” Her face went slightly red. “Is it something gross?”

            “No�"well, I guess we’ll find out now.” I tore through the Christmas paper wrappings and opened the lid of the box. I took out the first thing, “A backpack?”

            Layali’s eyes widened. “Those are so rare! What did you have to do for it?”

            “A backpack?”

            “It’s not just a backpack,” she grabbed it from me. It was black and the fabric it was made from felt kind of strange. When the light hit the material in a certain way, it glittered metallically. “It’s impervious to hellfire and divine flame! This material is forged by the hands of Michael and Satan together! They made these sort of rare objects specifically for the people like you; the Saviors!”

            “Is there only one of each of these things? Because if that’s the case then I’m hogging all of them,” I looked through the box where other things of the same material were. A jacket, pants, gloves, boots, and a pair of some sort of strappy things. I took one of the strappy things out, “What is this supposed to be?”

            Layali took them from me, “Well, you have Divine and Infernal right?”

            The things were weighing my sweatshirt down inside the big front pocket. I cautiously took them out, ensuring that no bystanders were seeing. Layali grabbed Divine and fit it into a sort of compartment that was intertwined with the straps. She grinned, “It’s a thigh holster. For the guns. One for each gun�"”

            “And one for each thigh,” Jazz took it from her and held it up to me. “How sexy,” she snorted. “You’re like Lara Croft.”

            “Thanks, Jasmine,” I grabbed the holster from her and stuffed everything into the backpack.

            “So what else did Asmodeus want? Besides giving you these rare gifts?” Layali asked.

            I carefully told them everything that the Archdemon had told me. Well, everything that was helpful, anyway. Like how the Archdemons require a favor and the archangels require a promise. Also Asmodeus’ clue for Gabriel’s location as well as the favor he wanted me to do.

            “Why are demons so…helpful?” I directed this to Layali. “Like, so far the ones I’ve met have only given me advice or hints at least.”

            “They’re just having fun,” she took a spoonful of my ice cream. “What the heck flavor is this?”

            “Uh, ‘Americone,’” I slung the backpack over my shoulder. It didn’t feel nearly as heavy as it should’ve been. “So do you have any idea where Gabriel could be?”

            “High up with the angels,” Layali leaned back in thought.

            “The damn angels,” I added.

She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead and flicked it at Darius. “Damn all the angels,” she stuck her tongue out at her brother.

            Ariel’s faced puffed up like Layali had just swore something completely vulgar. “Angels are our divine guardians and workers of God whom help us reach our way into heaven. They are the ones who give us little miracles and love us and forgive us and�"”

            “Listen, fairy princess,” Layali pointed her spoon at Ariel. “I have met lots of angels in my time and let me tell you they are no miracle workers.”

            “Have you been to heaven?”

            Layali’s dark eyes filled with a billion things she wanted to say but she only settled on, “No.”

            “Then the angels you have met have fallen from heaven on to earth. Therefore, they are no longer angels because they committed some crime against God’s word and got themselves rightfully expelled,” Ariel raised her chin with certainty.

            “You sound like my mom,” I muttered.

            “Princess, if angels were capable of all the things you said, then I must be abandoned by them because no little miracles or help to salvation has ever made its way to me in the eighteen years I’ve been alive,” Layali said darkly.

            Ariel’s cheeks puffed up again, “You have a place to live, you found a steady job to research what you’re interested in, you have great health�"”

            “Optimist,” Layali crossed her arms and looked away from Ariel.

            “At least she has faith,” Darius mumbled.

            “Oh, you really want to go there?” Layali pointed her spoon at him this time and ice cream flew on to his lap.

            “Okay, okay,” I put my hands out to get their attention away from each other. “Let’s focus on something else like…like telling Superior all this stuff. And asking her for directions to Asmodeus’ cambion kid.”

            “Alright,” Layali shot up out of her seat, her chair squeaking noisily against the concrete sidewalk. “Let’s get on the move.”

            “Ugh, but I just sat down. I have a lot of ice cream still to finish,” I stuffed a large spoonful into my mouth. I had a rare talent of doing this without suffering dire consequences such as brain freeze. It came from lots of practice.

            “Come on, Jesus,” Layali walked on, grabbing me by the top handle my new backpack and dragging me out of my seat with her towards where she had parked the van.

            Jazz had called her dad to pick her up to go home, saying she had a headache. I tried to pay her back for the ice cream but she wouldn’t let me. It was some sort of New Yorker pride or something.

            “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she couldn’t look in my eyes and looked over to the space next to me.

            “Hey,” I slipped a hand at her waist lightly. “See you tomorrow, okay? At school. We’ll hang out after if you want. We have off Tuesday because of some teacher conference so you can stay later if you want.”

            Jazz had given me a smile and her big cheeks reddened and rounded. “Okay,” she got on her toes and pecked a kiss on my lips.

            Of course as she did it became fully aware that her father was parked just behind us and probably had a good view of the scene.

            “I think your dad saw,” I told her before she left.

            “Good,” Jazz kissed me again and then walked on to her father’s car.

            Layali had drove the rest of us all back to the Church. Darius and Ariel had gone to the library to talk about faith and God and Allah and stuff. Layali and I broke all the news and information to Superior, who was in her usual hang out of the small dark room I first found her in.

            “As your destiny of the Savior,” Superior was looking through a wooden file cabinet, sorting through folders and folders of papers. “You will gather a team of Cambions and Nephillim.”

            “What and what?” I briefly remembered Asmodeus mentioning this. “Half angel and half demons or something, right?” 

            “Cambions are children of humans and demons,” Layali broke in. “Nephilim are children of humans and angels.”

            “Wait, angels can have children with humans?” I looked between Layali and Superior. “Isn’t that like, not a holy thing to do? I mean, sleeping with humans would seem more as just a thing that demons would do.”

            “Ha!” Superior smacked my arm with more force than I would think she would be capable of. “Angels are just as flawed as demons are. When both beings were first alive, of course they seemed more other worldly and they both had their own customs and culture. But since creation of humankind, demons and angels have been humanized, therefore being exactly as flawed as we are. They are really just immortal humans with more power in their belt than they should have. It’s outrageous.”

            “Okay, but how can I find Cambions and Nephilim? And how will I make them a part of my ‘team?’”

            Superior pulled out the file she was looking for. “I’ve kept track over the years of all the Nephilim and Cambions in this state. I’ve had my apprentices here, like Layali, track them down and do research of their parentage. Asmodeus has bothered me various times to locate his Cambion children�"being the Archdemon of lust, he’s got a whole lot of children, as you could imagine�"but children of Asmodeus are not trustworthy on any level so I refused to comply with his requests and didn’t ever send my apprentices. But I suppose this time it’s unavoidable because you must follow the Archdemon and Archangel requests to reach for their children. You must make them your followers,” she handed me the file that was all about Asmodeus’ cambion that he wanted me to find.

            “What kind of name is that?” The Cambion’s name was Achilles Weaver, according to the files.

            “You are not exactly named John Smith either, Becker,” Layali rolled her eyes.

            “If you say Asmodeus has a billion Cambions then how do you know this is the one he meant for me to find?” I asked.

            “Asmodeus was very persistent in asking me to retrieve this specific child of his and not giving a reason why. Perhaps he is powerful or contains some sort of knowledge that Asmodeus wishes to know,” Superior crossed her arms.  “If that’s so you must be extra careful. Nothing is worse than Cambions of Asmodeus. The will tempt you with devious tricks,” Superior looked up at me with her sunken eyes. “Make sure you are most careful around him. Don’t fall for any of his lustful desires.”

            “Allah, forbid Roman gets any action tonight!” Layali cackled evilly as I hit her across the arm. “Relax, Superior, Roman faced Asmodeus himself just a little while ago and he’s still the dorky virgin boy. I’m sure he can handle some demon human breed spawn.”

            “I’ll be fine, Superior,” I ignored Layali. “Where is it I’m going, though? Do I get some sort of weird riddle like Asmodeus gave me that’s about where to find Gabriel?”

            Superior took the files about Achilles Weaver, Asmodeus’ cambion, back from me and looked through them. Her bushy, white eyebrow arched upwards angularly and her head tilted with surprise. “Roman, you’re talking Layali with you to retrieve the cambion boy.”

            “What?” I crossed my arms. “This is my mission, I don’t need Layali there. All she does is give an endless supply of put downs.”

            “That is true,” Layali shrugged.

            “The location…” Superior pointed to a section of the files.

            “‘Predator’s Night?’ What the hell is that?”

            Layali burst out laughing. “The gay bar?”

            “The what?”

***

            “When’s the part where everyone tells me I’m on candid camera and that this is all some big, huge, sick joke?” I looked at the blazing lights of the Predator’s Night. It was a large, tall brick building but the club was focused only mainly the first two floors, lights the color of nothing that’s found in nature blinding the whole block. It was smack in the middle of the Strip so it was dark by the time Layali and I got to it. A huge crowd was settled in front of the building, loud and rowdy.

            “If that’s the case, Roman, I’m being just as fooled as you are,” Layali pressed her arms against the steering wheel of the van. “Alright, let’s go. I guess.” She put the metal giant into “park” and swung the heavy driver’s door open. I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes before sliding out my door and heading out towards her.

            “I’m scared,” I whispered to her as we got closer to the crowd. It was 50% sweaty testosterone and 50% cologne.

            “You should be,” she hooked her arm into mine tightly like a mother would to her child as they walked through the crowded streets of a city. “As long as your with me, though, we’ll be okay.”

            We pushed past the crowd and straight towards the entrance of the club. The music was blasting so loud from the inside of the building; I could hear it as we stepped up to the entrance. I was expecting some bouncers to be guarding or something but the only one I saw was busy talking to someone so we were able to just slip through the crowd and straight inside.

            “Can we go now?” I yelled over the music to Layali.

            “Come on, the quicker we get through this, the quicker we get out of this,” her eyes glanced all across and around the room. “I hate this but; the quickest way would be to split up.”

            “I thought you said I’d be okay only if I stayed by you?”

            “I thought you said you didn’t need me? This is your mission, not mine,” her jaw clenched and she raised her dark brows.

            I tugged on the straps of my backpack, looking around self- consciously. All the guys there looked like they could and very much wanted hurt me in the worst of ways. Every now and then, though, I would catch a glimpse of a group of friends who actually looked like they didn’t want to hurt me and might actually be decent. I decided to start there, “Fine, we’ll split up. But keep your phone handy because the second I get the wrong vibes, I’m calling for you.”

            She pulled her phone from her back pocket, clenching it inside her big hand. “If we don’t get any information in the next hour, we’ll meet up at the van and call it a day,” she shrugged. “Okay?”

            “Okay.”

            “Arlight, good luck, Becker,” she smiled half -heartedly before disappearing into the crowd.

            The closest group of people who didn’t look like they wanted to hurt me were hanging out all at the bar. I stepped up over, meandering through the sweaty crowd. A little farther down past the bar was the stage where performers played exaggerated acts. Right now a bunch of tall guys in drag were lip syncing some 70’s disco song. How unoriginal.

            As soon as I looked back to the bar, the group that I was approaching was gone, already dissolved somewhere into the crowd, I assumed. I threw my head back with a sigh and slid onto one of the bar stools. There was one man who was close by but he was too seedy looking. I leaned on the counter, pressing my elbow against the table top.

“It’s on me,” the seedy man slid the beer down the counter and right in front of me, subtly smiling.

            All the alarms in my head went off. “I think I’ll pass,” I slid the drink right back down to him and he rolled his eyes. I got up from my seat and found an isolated bar seat�"one that was hella far away from that guy, may I add�"and ordered a water from the tender who had craters for dimples. I was wondering what my mom would do if I ever told her I was here. She’d probably send me to “Straighten -Your- Attitude” boot camp at the Church or something.

            The waiter slid me my water across the counter top with a big tip earning wink and I just threw the money down and turned away from him, really wishing Layali was here to help me stand up to these homosexual menaces.  

Ah who am I kidding, I was blushing like crazy every time one of the guys smiled or winked. Flirting was flirting and if I wasn’t going to get it from cheerleaders, I guess this was the next best thing.

I was really sure I was watching my water bottle real close but apparently not close enough. I mean, I took another swig from it and almost immediately my senses all felt weird and my nerves were turning really numb. I looked around frantically for some help. I tried to let out a yell for Layali but my voice was refusing to come out and my jaw only dropped soundlessly. Before I knew it, the huge man from before effortlessly hauled my arm over his shoulder�"my muscles were useless and I couldn’t move an inch on my own.

            “Awe, don’t worry boy, I’ll help you out; just hang on to me and I’ll get you out of here in no time.”

            S**t, s**t, s**t! My vision was going blurry but I could see as he pulled me though the crowd and straight out the door. My feet were dragging across the parking lot turf until we reached a large white truck with double doors in the back. Layali, where the f**k are you?

            The man pulled the back doors wide open, threw me in, came in after me, and shut the doors behind him. A stinging pain went up my chest when he threw me face down on the floor of the van. I heard behind me as he ripped at a roll of duct tape. First he wrapped my wrists behind my back and then he covered up my mouth.

            “I don’t want you making too much noise now,” he snorted behind me and my heart rate went up times a hundred.

            My senses felt like they were flashing on and off. I caught a whiff of the air in the van to get a damp, warm stench up my nose. I was telling myself that this was it. I was probably going to die here right after this guy violated me to the extreme. This was how the supposedly great chosen Savior of humanity and earth and heaven and hell would go out; in the back of a sweaty pedophile’s van. This was probably fate’s way of showing I was a fool to think even the slightest that I had a chance at being the Savior. I should’ve just listened to my conscious in the first place�"I was no hero. And this was what I deserved for thinking I was.

            I was already saying my last prayers when a blast of noise went off and light drowned the van. Behind me the man gave a pleading cry followed by the sound of something thumping to the ground. I realized that the van door was opened by someone. I drowsily rolled over so I could get a view of behind me. I thought that the drug really got to me because what I saw made no sense whatsoever.

            This huge, tall, black woman was beating the s**t out of this guy�"with her bare hands. Behind her were other women that were kicking at the man who must’ve been on the ground by then. Something was off about the women though�"I couldn’t put my finger on it.

            “�"f*****g giant a*s hole!”

            It hit me what it was as the black woman shouted at the man�"all the women were guys.

            Drag queens were saving my a*s.

            Literally.

            “Hey,” a figure appeared at my side, hovering over me. At this point, every nerve in my body was asleep and my consciousness was quickly slipping away. “Are you alright?” The voice was deep but at the same time very soothing and gentle.

            I passed out before the figure could get up close enough to me.

***

I’m dead.

            “Are you an angel?” I mumbled, looking at the face above me. Blue eyes like a clear midnight sky; light, youthful skin; and long, curly blonde hair.

            “If he’s an angel then call me motherfucking God!” A voice cackled in the background.

            “No one f*****g asked you, Barry!” The face over me shouted, rolling his eyes. His voice was surprisingly deep. He looked back down at me and my vision started to clear up. “Are you alright?”

            I began to see he really didn’t look that perfect up close. His nose was sort of crooked at the part where it was in between his eyebrows, under his eyes were purple-black circles, and his right front tooth had a large chip in it.

            “Where… where am I?” I managed to slowly sit up straight but my nerves were still drowsy. The room around me was really unfamiliar. It was a narrow room lined with mirrors bordered with lights�" like for makeup artists or something�"stools in front of them, and makeup and wigs everywhere. We must’ve been backstage of the club.

            “Drink this,” the blue eyed guy shoved a mug into my hands.

            I wasn’t eager to drink it after what happened last time I took a drink from a stranger.

            “Relax, it’s green tea. It’ll make you feel better and help wash the drug out,” he was kneeling in front of me now, eye level with my knees. “Are you alright?”

            I took a sip of the drink, “I’m looking for someone and it’s really urgent�"”

            “Are you alright?” he repeated. “Like, are you actually okay? How bad did he hurt you?”

            “What? I’m fine�"thanks to you guys, I mean, I owe you all everything�"”

            “What’s his name?” a person appeared behind the guy kneeling in front of me. I realized it was the huge drag queen that ripped the man off of me. “Oh, would you look at that, the nurse seem to treat you back to health. How you feeling, boy? What’s your name?”

            “He’s fine, Barry,” the blue eyed boy refused to look at Barry.

            “I’m alright… I’m Roman Becker.”

            Barry’s dark eyes widened but it was so quick I was pretty sure I just imagined it. “Well, Roman, you don’t gotta worry about perverted Daniel coming back here again. We beat his a*s and called the cops on him. I told Jerry�"our guard out in the front�"to keep a f*****g eye out for him but obviously he didn’t. As you can imagine, I fired Jerry. I finally tell him to do his job and he can’t.”

            “Anyway, I owe you guys big time, I mean…”

            “That’s alright,” Barry shrugged, brushing his red wig off his shoulder. “As long as you’re alright then you don’t owe us nothing.”

            “But, I hate to ask you for more but I was wondering if you could help me look for someone,” I reached for my backpack, which was placed beside me, and pulled out the file on the Cambion that Superior gave me. “I’m looking for someone named Achilles Weaver. Do you guys know where I can…?”

            The blue eyed guy stood up, “That’s, uh, that’s me.” He wiped his hands on his sweatpants.

            Okay, so a cambion was half demon right? Like half monster from the depths of hell? The Achilles I was looking at right now didn’t look it at all. But, hey, who am I to question Mother Superior?

            “Can I talk to you? Like,” I eyed Barry, “privately? I need to talk to you about… something.”

            Achilles’ ears turned pink, “It’s up to Barry. I have shows that I still have to do and I can’t just leave�"”

            “Achilles, you already had your last performance like an hour ago. Go talk to the boy,” Barry waved his hand dismissively and walked off.

            “C’mon, we’ll talk outside.” Achilles took the lead to the backdoor of backstage and let me outside with him. He shut the door behind us and looked up at me. “How’d you know my name?”

            I looked down at the file with his information on it. “You’re turning sixteen in January, you’re from Levelstown, Washington state. You�"”

            “Shh!” he slapped his hand over my mouth. “You can’t tell anyone I’m that young. Everyone here thinks I’m eighteen and I’d like to keep it that way. If they find out I’m younger, I’m out of a job!”

            I took a glance around the empty alleyway we were in and peeled his hand off my mouth, “You do realize there’s no one here, right?”

            “There are always people watching,” he mumbled, crossing his arms against his chest. It was strange; he had such a deep voice but the top of his head barely reached the tip of my nose. “Look, what do you want from me? And why do you know all these things about me?” He glanced at the paper in my hand.

            “Look, I’m going to sound crazy, but… do you know what a cambion is? Because that’s what you are and it’s my mission to inform you.”

            Achilles rubbed his nose, “Is that like a prostitute or something?”

            “What? No. Okay, Achilles, why don’t I get to the point? Demons and angels…they’re all real. Not so much in a religious sense but in a physical sense… like I was just talking to Beelzebub and Asmodeus the other day and�"”

            “I f*****g knew it,” Achilles snapped his fingers.

            “I know this is confusing but…what? You know?”

            “Go on, what’s a cambion? What do I have to do with any of this?”

            “Well, a cambion is half demon half human. Your father was…is a demon. And an Archdemon at that; you have the blood of Asmodeus.”

Achilles’ eyes quickly dimmed and his cheeks flushed with irritation and I thought he was going to cry.

            “There’s nothing wrong with being a cambion! I haven’t met any angels yet but I hear that they’re just as nasty as demons. But both demons and angels are pretty human, at least based on my experience and what I have been told. But if that’s the case then you yourself might as well be an angel!” It took me longer then I would ever admit to realize what I’d just said. “I mean…!”

            Achilles wiped his nose and gave a laugh. “I get it, Roman. It’s just I don’t like talking about my…family and stuff.”

            “So you knew your father was a demon?”

            “I knew he was straight from hell,” Achilles zipped up his sweatshirt as a breeze brushed by. “I don’t like talking about it.”

            “Sorry.”

            “Why were you looking for me? And what’s up with that file with all my information on it? Are you like a spy or something? I promise whatever you found in my apartment was already growing there, I would never�"”

            “No, I’m nothing like that. I’m just on a mission to find all the Cambions and Nephilim�"half angel, half humans�"of the Archdemons and Archangels and sort of help them with life and stuff. I guess. I’m honestly not so sure why right now but trust me; I’m not as crazy as I sound.” I decided to leave out the part where Asmodeus, his father, wanted me to find him. It probably would not increase my chances of getting Achilles to join me.

            “That’s not really saying much.”

            “Achilles�"”

            “Call me Lee.”

            “Okay…Lee, just please know that you can trust me and if you agree to help me figure out what the hell kind of mission I was given by Mother Superior at Christ the Lord’s Catholic Church and what these stupid immortal f***s want from me, then maybe we can chill or something. Like, we could go for pizza or something and debate how else life can try to screw me over any more than it’s already been doing so. And you can rant to me about your troubled childhood.”

            “Are you…asking me out?”

            “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just asking to hang out.”

            “Why would you want to hang out with me? No one ever does that. There’s usually like some catch. Like, you pay for the pizza and I give a free lap dance�"”

            “I could use a good lap dance…”

“�"I mean, I’m getting over my s**t phase now that I have an actual job but the offers still come up. But like I said, I’m done giving up my body as a way to pay off my life’s needs.”

            “Right, so instead you get money by dancing at a gay bar!”

            “Hey,” he pointed his thin finger at me. “It beats sucking old guys’ dicks in the gas station bathroom for a half-eaten burrito.”

            “So how about you and I meet up another day so you can continue to tell me about your dick-sucking, burrito eating adventures.”

            I could see Lee was holding back a laugh. “Give me your phone.” I fished it out of my sweatshirt pocket and handed it to him. He quickly put his number in it with his slender hands. “I texted myself so I’ll also have you number,” he handed it back. “I’m off tomorrow so I’ll text you a time when we can meet up.” He pulled his hood up over his head and covered his blonde hair. “I’m gonna go call it night, now.” He headed back to the backstage club door we came from.

            “Your apartment is in the club?”

            He pointed at the building. “The actual club is only like two floors but look, the building is seven stories. It’s actually a sort of one night stand hotel kind of gig but Barry lets some of us live here since we don’t really have anywhere else to go. Barry owns the whole building, by the way.”

            “Must be annoying to have all the neon lights of the Strip out your window 24/7, even when you’re trying to sleep.”

            “I kind of like it, I don’t know why. Just the reassurance of not being alone in this huge but small city, I guess.”

            I thought of the sight I had from my own window which was like 90% dessert and 10% distant lights of this blazing place.

            “See you tomorrow, Roman Becker,” he smiled plainly and left through the back door. I took my phone out and look for his number. I typed in “L” to look for Lee under the contact name but he wasn’t there. Maybe he typed in “Achilles,” I thought so I typed in “A.” There was no Achilles typed in but I did find what he put himself under.

            Angel.

            F**k you, I texted him before calling Layali.

Author's Note

Let me know of any inconsistencies or confusion.