The story of the FALLEN

13. Demon trolling in the park

Zack is a bit put off by the detective's insistence that he come along. How can they do their job if he has to babysit a human? How can he kill a demon without giving up his cover? The training swords are as good as taking a spoon into a fight. But there should be that box they brought from the storage for Simon’s training.

“What’s wrong? I don’t like Garry here going with us, but free will and all that…” Nakir asks. They both observe the detective, who is still stubbornly insisting that he will go with them.

“The sword situation.” Zack scoffs. He was always glad that his angelic sword didn’t need to be lugged around, but if he lets it go and the detective sees the sword just disappear into thin air, it might cause more problems for them.

“I see.” Nakir nods. “How about the Shamshirs? We just have to bring those back or Tammy will kill us in the morning.”

“Good idea. I was thinking the same.” Zack nods. He hands his sword over to Nakir. It won’t vanish if another angel is holding it. But this play it safe thing will get tiring very fast, so he better get the detective out of here.

Zack strolls over to the detective and grabs his hand. He pulls him out of the training room towards his office. The sabres are there for safe keeping. Nakir can safely let the angelic swords disappear now. No prying eyes to see that magic trick.

“I just need something from the office.” Zack tells the detective. “You have your gun, but I’m not a fan of fire weapons myself.”

“What are you taking?” The detective asks. “I wasn’t planning on you having weapons at all.”

“Not gonna happen. I always carry something when I go out.” Zack chuckles. “Don’t even ask Niki about it. He’s got more knives on him than you have ever seen in one place.”

“I guess I can overlook that.” The detective sighs. “I have seen your practice run. At least I hope that was practice?”

“Yeah.” Zack laughs. He takes the sabres from the box and his favourite coat to help hide the sabres. No need to antagonise the humans. They are pretty good at ignoring other people, but there are a few that go against the norm and tend to see stuff. If there really is a demon trolling the park, he doesn’t need the added complication. Nakir is waiting by the door for them. His favourite black on black clothes are joined by the long leather coat that is his trademark piece. Convenient, too. Hiding the many throwing knives and shuriken that Nakir loves to carry around.

“Show us where you met that bulletproof man.” Nakir says to the detective.

“I don’t know.” The detective says. “It doesn’t feel right to drag you into this mess. What if he had a vest on? What if I’m just imagining things?”

“You asked for my help. You came here.” Zack looks at the detective. “Why suddenly this change? Even if he had a vest on, you still shot someone. Did you pick up the shells?”

“Oh.” Detective Holland sighs. “Damn. I’ll have to write a report. What the hell do I say? Why did I fire and at who?”

“Let’s go find out.” Zack tilts his head towards the door. “At this point, anything is better than standing around arguing.”

The southside of Holland Park is empty at this time of the night. But it’s also closed. The gate had never stopped Zack before. For one, it’s not very high, and he can fly. Having the detective in tow kind of cramps his style. He wasn’t thinking about how to get inside unnoticed.

“Detective? Would you mind looking the other way while I pick the lock?” Nakir asks. “I’d hate to just break it, this gate is an antique.”

“I thought you were going to jump over.” Detective Holland responds. “But, yeah. I’ll look the other way.”

“We can jump over. Can you?” Zack inquires. It looks like the detective was thinking ahead.

“I’m not that fit any more. I would need help.” Detective Holland admits.

“No need. You can just walk in with us.” Nakir chuckles. He got the lock opened with a little magic. Which the detective doesn’t need to know.

“All right. It’s this way.” The detective beckons them to follow. Zack opens up his senses to track any demonic activity in the park. Nothing so far, but they have a few more steps to go. The bushes are dense so close to the gate, the trees are evenly spaced and the path is wide. The park benches are empty and the lights are on. Why they have the park lit at night if it’s closed is a mystery for another day.

“Stop.” Zack whispers. It’s so quiet he doesn’t need to speak loudly to be heard. “I see your shells by the bench. Where were you standing?”

“The exact spot?” The detective asks. He stops a few feet away from the bench. He seems to be thinking something, but then he turns back to them. “I was here. The other guy was just left of you.”

“Where did he run after you shot him?” Nakir inquires.

“That way.” The detective points. “Deeper into the park.”

“Non aliquid olfacies.” Nakir whispers that he doesn’t smell anything. “Says nothing though.”

“You go that way and we’ll go around.” Zack tells Nakir. He throws one of the sabres to him. “Keep your eyes open. Mutat si daemonium.”

“I really feel included here. What aren’t you telling me? Why do you have this need to keep me out by speaking some weird language?” The detective asks them.

“You tell him.” Nakir shrugs. He adds, before he jumps over the bushes: “He’s your charge.”

“What was that all about?” The detective glares at Zack.

“It’s not a weird language, it’s Latin.” Zack answers. Should he tell the detective the rest? Maybe, but not today. “We follow the path as close to the direction as possible. We can’t know if your guy ran in a straight line.”

“Still keeping me out of the loop? I told you everything.” The detective scoffs. “I don’t like secrets, but mark my words: I will solve yours.”

“One thing at the time, detective.” Zack tells him. He is determined, he’s got to give him that. But if this thing really is a demon, the detective is in over his head.

“Zack!” Nakir shouts. He’s not too far away yet. Maybe he found something?

“Coming!” Zack responds. He picks up his pace, he can pinpoint Nakir even without directions. The black spot on his internal radar is the angel of death. Demons show up red, humans are orange and other angels are white blurs. Even in this, Nakir has to be special. He can hear the detective breathing harder as they walk a bit faster. The guy needs training and a lot of exercise. He’s loud enough to scare anyone away or alert them to his presence.

Zack comes around the bend on the path only to stop dead in his tracks. He stretches out his arm to stop the detective from going further. The sight is disturbing. The fountain and the path around it are full of dead pigeons. Nakir is perched on a park bench looking at the m******e with mixed emotions.

“What in hell?” The detective exclaims.

“Hell has nothing to do with this.” Nakir scoffs. “I hate pigeons, but this is just wrong. This is a bloody m******e. It looks to me that all the pigeons of the entire Kensington area are here.”

“Dead.” Zack says. He keeps staring at the animals in hopes that one will just fly away somehow. It’s definitely a demon they are after. Demons don’t bleed if they are shot, but this one needed energy. Hopefully, it’s only pigeons and not a human body under there.

“Ideas?” Nakir glances over to them.

“You’re not gonna like it.” Zack answers. They will have to tell detective Holland what is going on. Maybe he’ll take it like a man? Maybe he’ll run away screaming? Either way, Zack has another human to keep alive.

“I thought so.” Nakir sighs. He jumps from one bench to another to get to them and lands perfectly right in front of Zack. “You explain, I’ll deal with this mess.”

“Someone needs to call the police, the city animal control, the…” The detective stutters. “I…”

“You are not calling anyone.” Zack shakes his head. “Just sit here on the bench. I’ll tell you what you want to know. I will explain to you what mess you stumbled upon and I promise to keep you safe.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound ominous at all.” The detective looks at Zack.

“You had a hunch about me. Now you get to know what I really am. What we really are. I don’t like it, but it’s necessary.” Zack answers.

“I need to borrow some energy.” Nakir tells Zack. “Unless you’ll fly me home?”

“s**t!” Zack exclaims. He was fighting with Nakir to bring him down before this s**t hit the fan. Now he needs it to clean the park. The thousand dead birds can’t be explained away. “Just leave me enough to walk.”

“What are you two talking about?” The detective asks. He keeps looking between them as if they have lost their minds.

“You will see.” Zack chuckles. He gives his hand to Nakir, so that he could drain his angelic powers. God, he hopes that they don’t get attacked by anything tonight.

The air crackles around them. Zack can see the million tiny lightning bolts jump from him to Nakir. He can feel the flow of power. He can feel how very tired he is. He needs to sit down or he’ll fall over. Nakir knows that too. He helps him sit. He tries to send a few bolts back, but they both know it doesn’t work in that direction. Nakir can only take, never give.

“It’s fine, Niki. Take care of the birds and let’s go home.” Zack whispers.

“Don’t fall over.” Nakir chuckles. He turns to the birds and walks right to the middle of the fountain. Zack knows what will follow, he’s seen it before, but the detective hasn’t. He needs to gather his strength and explain this.

“Garry.” Zack says. He can’t observe the formalities now, there is no time. “Don’t look directly at Niki. Focus your eyes on the top of the fountain. Let him be a blur on the edge of your vision. He’s too powerful right now. Looking directly at him will kill you.”

“What did he do to you?” Garry whispers. He does as he was told. Zack is observing him, not Nakir. He doesn’t need to see what the latter is doing.

“I gave him my powers. It’s a temporary loan, but he needs all the power he can get to send the birds into Heaven. They will be reborn again.” Zack explains. “You will notice the brilliant black wings with white tips. Niki is the angel of death. The one to guide lost souls to their final resting place.”

“Angel? That’s what you are? Angels?” Garry gapes. He looks at Zack in wonder, but turns his eyes over to Nakir just in time to see all the birds disappear and Nakir’s black wings fold back in. He gulps audibly when Nakir turns to walk back to their side. Zack can see Nakir’s eyes glow black. It’s a frightening sight to see, especially for a mortal who just found out he’s hanging around with angels.

“Angels.” Zack repeats. “My real name is Zachariel, but I do prefer the short version. You can keep calling me Zack. Nakir over there goes by Niki, it softens him up a bit.”

“Well,...” Nakir smirks. “The thing Zack left out; he’s an Archangel. That’s why he’s our boss. You will meet Tamiel and Lailah later. Now I need you to help me get Zack back home. I got a little power hungry and took too much.”