Nathaniel

  It didn’t seem possible that the new city was worse than the old and, yet he could finally feel an awareness of Cassiel nearby. 
 This is the future, he thought mournfully, jumping back as a long, black motor vehicle splashed him with a puddle, soaking him from head to toe.
 “You should not stand so close to the road,” Mari chided him, and he scowled at her.
 He had travelled north into the cesspool known as Detroit and somehow, Mari had stuck with him.
 While he had not put up a formal protest, he sometimes wished she would find a new john and move along.
 “Do you not have friends who will miss your company?” he asked her several times, remembering the idle threat she had delivered when they first met.
 It seemed like a lifetime ago when it had only been two weeks.
 “You do not like my companionship, baby?” she asked coyly, flashing him a teasing smile. “You do not seem to complain when we are alone.”
 She winked at him, reminding him of the one reason he was moderately happy to have her around for - her sexual appetite was insatiable.
 Many times, Nathaniel had been tempted to kill her and get rid of her body, but he knew Josiel was monitoring his movements, as if he was some criminal who required a guard.
 As much as Nathaniel wished to drop Mari for a younger, more beautiful woman, he also knew he could not be trading one hole for another or he would be judged harshly when he returned to Heaven.
 If I return to Heaven, he thought grimly.
 What other reason could his step-brother have for returning to earth after all these years?
 “I do enjoy your companionship,” Nathaniel lied. “I only worry that your family fears for your safety.”
 Mari barked out a laugh, the sound causing him to cringe.
 “Que familia?” she snorted. “My father sold me to Los Zetas when I was thirteen for an eight ball of cocaine.”
 Unexpectedly, Nathaniel felt a pang of compassion for the girl.
 Ugh. The feeling made him nauseous.
 “Where should we look for your amigo?” Mari asked as they continued through the filthy streets. “Who is this man, anyways?”
 Whatever sympathy he had felt for the Mexican prostitute disappeared as he checked his temper.
 She asked too many questions.
 “I have told you,” he replied smoothly. “He is an old acquaintance with whom I have unfinished business.”
 “That tells me nothing,” Mari complained, and Nathaniel felt his hands ball into fists at his side.
 Not for the first time, he wondered if Cassiel had the privilege of killing without fear of reprisal.
 Maybe he got the better deal in Hell after all, Nathaniel thought. I should have the freedom to do as I please also.
 “It is all you need to know,” he replied shortly. “We must find shelter.”
 He was feeling a stirring in his loins which needed to be alleviated.
 Mari grinned and nodded in agreement.
 “Tengo hambre,” she told him, and Nathaniel sighed.
 “We shall find somewhere to eat supper,” he said.
 “Maybe we can get one of those fancy hotel rooms with room service,” she suggested, but Nathaniel had no idea what she was talking about.
 “Of course,” he told her. “Whatever you feel is best.”
 They had been journeying for days, first on a smoldering bus and then on an uncomfortable train. The only thing which had made the trip bearable was Mari’s soft, wet mouth.
 He allowed her to lead the way through the dismal city until they stood before a building taller than anything Nathaniel had ever seen in his life.
 “Dear God in Heaven, what is this?” he gasped, his eyes wide with wonder.
 Mari laughed as if he was joking and grabbed his hand, yanking him inside the revolving doors.
 It was clear they were out of place in the elegant lobby, with their less than sterling clothing, and their haggard hairstyles. But Nathaniel barely noticed as he looked about, impressed with the rich interior.
 His senses were overwhelmed by the lavish sights, and the people in their modern clothes, casting them strange glances.
 “Come on,” Mari urged, and Nathaniel had little choice but to follow her.
 The concierge eyed them with undisguised disdain as they approached.
 “May I help you?” he asked in a tone which indicated he did not believe he could.
 “We are needing a room,” Mari explained.
 His face puckered into a look of contempt as he looked over Mari’s skimpy outfit and Nathaniel’s disheveled look and overwhelming size.
 “We don’t rent rooms by the hour here,” he retorted in a clipped tone. “This is the Hilton, madam.”
 Mari did not seem to understand his reluctance, but Nathaniel instantly recognized the scorn in his voice.
 A tight smile formed on his lips as he reached into his pocket and withdrew a fistful of bills.
 “We will need a room for longer than an hour,” he clipped out. “Possibly a week.”
 Nathaniel placed several hundred dollars on the counter but the man behind the desk was unimpressed.
 “I will see what I have available,” he choked. “But you will need a credit card, sir.”
 Nathaniel’s brow furrowed, and he glanced at Mari who was equally perplexed.
 “I am not familiar with this credit card,” Nathaniel replied. “What is it?”
 It was clear the clerk was losing his patience.
 “I don’t have time for this game, sir. If you do not have a credit card, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”
 Nathaniel stood, unsure if he was being dismissed. They had never been refused service at a hotel, but this was also the first establishment they had been inside which seemed a palace fit for the king of Prussia.
 “What seems to be the problem, Joel?”
 A man appeared behind the clerk and shook his head.
 His nametag read “Manager.”
 “Sir, this…couple does not have a credit card and I am simply informing them that even if we have availability, they cannot have a room.”
 The manager smiled at Nathaniel.
 “Is that true, sir?” he asked. Nathaniel noted how dark his eyes appeared to be, despite the bright lighting of the lobby.
   They almost seemed like ebony globes and for a moment, Nathaniel was at a loss for words as he stared.
 “It’s true!” Joel snapped as if annoyed at being second guessed.
 “Well,” the manager said, turning to the computer. “How long of a stay are you looking for?”
 “Damien!” Joel cried, aghast that his boss seemed to be entertaining the thought of giving them a room. “It’s against – “
 “Joel, I can handle this,” Damien said in a clipped tone. “That will be all.”
 Joel’s mouth dropped open, but he reluctantly rose, shooting everyone a dirty look before he stormed off.
 “Forgive Joel,” the manager said smoothly. “Sometimes he forgets it is our goal to please the client.”
 Nathaniel did not reply but at his side, he felt Mari step slightly closer as if she detected something she did not like.
 There was also something tickling the corners of Nathaniel’s mind, but he was far too distracted with his quest to worry himself with the comings and goings of common people.
 “Ah, here we are!” Damien announced. “I have a beautiful suite that is open for the next seven days. Will that suffice?”
 Nathaniel nodded slowly.
 “Yes,” he replied quietly. “Thank you for your trouble.”
 Damien grinned, retrieving a key card and walking around the desk to meet them.
 “I will show you to your room.”
 On his way past, Damien swiped the cash sitting on the counter and tucked it away in his pocket, but Nathaniel made no comment.
 This is why Mary and Joseph were rejected at the inn, he thought, smirking. They had no money to give the concierge.
 It didn’t matter to Nathaniel.
 As long as they had a room in which to sleep, he did not care what the manager did with the money. Currency had no use to him once he left the earthly realm, after all.
 They stepped onto the elevator and Nathaniel felt his heart lurch at the foreign feeling.
 Again, Mari pressed herself close to him and he noticed that she fingered the gold crucifix around her neck nervously.
 I would have thought that she would be more comfortable in a hotel, he mused but he had to admit, he was curious about her behavior. He had never seen her act so ill-at-ease.
 And I have had her in some rather compromising positions, he thought wickedly.
 He didn’t have time to think about it and as the elevator opened on the top floor, Damien led them toward the far end of the hall.
 “If you should need anything,” he said. “I am at your disposal.”
 He placed the key card in the door and opened it, smiling broadly as they stepped inside.
 To his surprise, Damien reached into his jacket and withdrew the bills, holding them out.
 “You will likely need this during your stay,” he explained, pressing the wad of money into Nathaniel’s reluctant palm. “Welcome to your suite, Nathaniel.”
 The angel’s blood ran cold as he spun to look at manager.
 Mari had already disappeared into the spacious room.
 “How did you know my name?” he whispered but Damien’s beam only widened.
 “I know a lot of things,” he replied easily. “Do you like your accommodations?”
 “Did Michael send you?” Nathaniel asked, a slight relief and annoyance tickling him simultaneously. “Or Josiel?”
 It was the only explanation he could think of.
 Who else would help him and know his name?
 To his surprise, Damien began to laugh.
 “Michael? You believe Michael would help you?” he snorted. “What has he done for you since you have arrived back here? Hell, what has he done for you since you arrived in Heaven? You angels are such unimaginative cretins. Bah! Bah! Bah!”
 Nathaniel had no response, but he could not shake the feeling that he was walking into a trap.
 “Who are you?” he asked. “What do you want?”
 The manager closed the door and shook his head.
 “It is not what I want, Nathaniel, it is what you want,” he replied easily. “I have come to help you find your brother.”
 A wave of dizziness overcame him, but Nathaniel forced himself to concentrate.
 “If Michael has not sent you, why would you help me find Cassiel?”
 “Papi!” Mari called from the bedroom. “Come and look at this bed!”
 Nathaniel ignored her, his attention fully on the man before him.
 “Because Cassiel and I have…an understanding,” Damien explained but his words did not make anything clearer for Nathaniel.
 “An understanding?” Nathaniel echoed. “What does that mean?”
 Damien smiled again but suddenly the angel recognized the leer in his expression.
 “You do not know who I am, truly?” he asked, cocking his head to the side.
 A cold chill passed through Nathaniel and suddenly Mari’s apprehension became clear. He stepped back, staring at the demon, awe and fear sweeping through him.
 “What do you want from me?” he whispered as the hooker called out to him again, poking her head back into the entryway.
 “Go!” he yelled at her and she gaped at him, her face shocked.
 “Leave us a moment, mami,” Damien encouraged her in Spanish. “We will not be a minute.”
 Mari eyed them warily but obeyed the instructions.
 “I want you to go to your brother as you intended,” he replied. “And stop him from making a terrible mistake.”
 “What mistake?” Nathaniel asked, his voice rising an octave. “What understanding do you have?”
 Damien sighed.
 “Fine,” he relented. “It is not so much an understanding as it is a wager.”
 None of what he said made sense and Nathaniel wondered if Michael was not playing some ridiculous joke on him, but he knew the chances were unlikely.
 He would require a sense of humor to play a jest and Lord knows he does not have one. This is Satan himself.
 “You must go to Cassiel and stop him from pursuing the woman he has found. You have one week to steal her from his spell.”
 “His spell? What does that mean?”
 “He has one week to capture her affections and you must intercede.”
 “Why? How?” Nathaniel squeaked.
 Damien shook his head.
 “You truly are not the brains of the family, are you?” he asked. “Because if he succeeds in making this woman fall…in love with him, I will have lost the wager. And I do not lose wagers.”
 The devil seemed to stutter on the “L” word.
 Nathaniel studied his face, swallowing the lump in his throat.
 “And if I refuse?” he asked. As the words left his lips, he wondered why he would dare argue with the lord of the underworld.
   Damien’s face contorted into an ugly mask of anger and he suddenly assumed the beastly demeanor which Nathaniel had always envisioned of him.
 “You will not refuse, Andreas,” he hissed. “You do not think I know about you? You are only in Heaven because you sold out your brother. You murdered that girl in a fit of anger and blamed Cassiel. What do you think God and Michael would have to say if they learned about that?”
 Fear made Nathaniel weak.
 “If you succeed, your secret will forever stay in the depth of hell with me but if you should fail, well, I am sure I do not need to tell you what will become of you. I will save you a seat at our biweekly poker game. You can sit beside your brother.”
 Nathaniel gulped and nodded.
 “I will do as you ask,” he promised. “But if she is in love with him…”
 Damien laughed jovially, his face returning to the nondescript manager.
 “Oh, dear boy,” he chuckled. “I would not throw you in unarmed. I bequeath you with demonic powers for the next week to get the job done. Cassiel has been forbidden from using his so you will have the upper hand in this instance. Use them wisely.”
 A spark of excitement flowed through Nathaniel.
 Oh, what I would do with such an advantage, he thought, licking his lips with delight. The powers of a demon without being cast to the underworld. Who else will ever receive such an opportunity. And for what? To send Cassiel back into the pits of hell where he belongs.
 He found himself nodding eagerly.
 “Yes!” he agreed, gooseflesh exploding over his skin. “But you must promise that when Cassiel returns to Hell, he will remain there for eternity. I do not wish to seek him out every two centuries.”
 Damien nodded.
 “You have my word,” he replied solemnly, and Nathaniel exhaled.
  “I will do this. It will be my great honor, Lord,” he promised the demon.
 Damien chortled, nodding pleasantly.
 “You may call me Lucky,” he replied. “I will not be Lord for much longer.”
 Nathaniel did not question his meaning.
 He was already plotting what to do with his newfound powers.
 Soon I will forget that Cassiel ever existed, he thought gleefully.
 He could not wait to get started.