- CHAPTER THREE -
“No, no, no,” the woman cried, slamming a fist on the wheel.
“Down there,” Cam said, pointing to a side street on the other side of the road.
She spun the wheel and entered the opposite lane, and almost collided with an approaching car that stopped inches from them, honking its horn. She continued to ease out into the lane, making flustered noises and muttering. Briefly mounting onto the pavement, she manoeuvred around the nearby cars—as well as the stunned pedestrians—and turned into the side street.
The narrow road had a few cars ahead, but for the most part, it was clear. The sounds of the honking cars followed them for some time, but faded away when the woman turned into another street. After some time, she appeared to relax a bit.
Cam steadied his breath. “Nice driving,” he said.
The woman held a hand up. “Ok, look, Mr. Nice-driving, none of that now. You’ve got some explaining to do.”
Cam suppressed a smile. She certainly was full of fire. “Just keep driving for now. When we’re a safer distance away, we can talk.”
The car screeched to a halt in the street. Cam jolted in his seat and steadied himself.
The woman pulled the keys out of the ignition and turned to him with a finger raised. “You don’t get to give orders, after what I just saw. Now you start talking, or I swear to God I’ll throw the car keys out the window.”
Cam regarded her pouty frown, for a moment becoming lost in her green eyes. This time he was unable to hide his smile, which only appeared to infuriate the woman. She opened her mouth to shout some more, but he quickly interjected.
“Okay, okay. I promise I’ll explain. But right now we don’t want to be caught by those security men.”
She remained resolute. “What were those things?”
Cam sighed, defeated, but at the same time marvelling at her determination. He knew he couldn’t treat her like an ordinary person. His pulse increased as he locked eyes on hers. “They were demons.”
She remained still, before barking a laugh. She giggled some more, before her expression hardened. “Demons, huh? And that makes you, what, a demon hunter?”
“An angel,” Cam said simply.
Silence.
“An angel,” the woman repeated, looking him over. Her scowl told Cam that she didn’t believe a word he said. “Well that’s enough of that then, isn’t it? Get out.”
Cam blinked.
“Look,” she said. “Thank you for saving me from those… things. But you’re obviously not right in the head. I got us out of there, and now I’d like you to leave. Please.”
Cam shook his head. He quickly held a hand up when she started saying more.
“I can’t do that,” he said. “Those things… those demons, were after you for a reason. And until I figure out why, it’s not safe for you. If they want you, more will come. And they won’t stop until they have you. There’s a safe place, not too far from here, where my friends are waiting. We can figure things out there. But for now, we need to keep moving.”
Silence filled the car as she regarded him, her green eyes shifting constantly. After a while, she sighed, before reinserting the keys and starting the car.
“You get a few more minutes in the car,” she said. “But you keep talking, you hear?”
Cam looked out the window, leaning on the door-frame and hiding his smile with his hand. Her fierceness and resolve stirred something within him… an excited passion. It had been a very long time since a human had made him feel this way. And at the same time, he had never felt anything like it.
They drove for some time and came onto another main road, with tall, glass buildings on either side. The morning rush appeared to be slowly diminishing, though there were still many cars and people around. Cam gave her a rough direction to head in, before he would give her a specific route to his brethren’s hideout.
“How about we check the news for any word about the car park?” Cam asked, turning on the radio.
He switched through the channels, looking for a news report. Eventually he stopped on one playing an old Motown song, and decided to wait and listen out for the next news segment.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
She kept her eyes on the road. “Alyssa. Yours?”
“Cam,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you, Alyssa.”
She turned to him, and he gave her his best smile. She chuckled and shook her head, wiping hair from her face.
“Ok, Cam,” she said. “Remember that talking thing we said you’d do?”
He thought about what to say, knowing that anything he could say would just sound ludicrous to her. Although she had been taking things relatively well so far…
“What would you like to know?”
“So those things,” she said, glancing at him quickly. “I’m not calling them demons. How did they… they looked like normal people, but then they grew.”
“They showed a form that more closely resembled their true selves,” Cam told her. “The… things we won’t call demons, are grotesque horrors of evil. They are made of darkness, like I am made of light. Two sides of the same eternal power.”
“Light,” Alyssa said. “Like that sword you had.”
Cam nodded. “An extension of the light within me. I can channel it outwardly into the form of a blade.”
“And here I thought I was saved by a Jedi,” Alyssa said.
Cam smiled. Fiery, curvy, and tall. And she references Star Wars. Another point towards her being an exceptional creature.
“This left. Here,” Cam said as they came to an intersection.
They waited for the lights to change before turning.
“So let’s say that you are an angel and those things were demons,” Alyssa said. “How does that work, exactly? What are you all doing here? Am I some modern day Virgin Mary or something?”
Cam chuckled. “Who’s to say you aren’t? But no, we’re not all here for you. As unfortunate as that is.” Heat coloured his cheeks when she looked at him. He should have been concerned with how deeply her gaze pierced him, but he was enjoying the moment too much.
“We’ve been around for as long as time has existed. But it’s only in the past few millennia that many of us have been sent to the mortal plane. To look out for people and fight against the influence of the demons.”
“Influence of the demons, huh?” Alyssa said. Her tone suggested that she believed none of what she heard.
“It’s hard to explain,” Cam said. “Actually I’ve never had to explain it to anyone before. So, angels and demons have an influence over the world, in certain ways. If the angels have a stronger force, the world changes for the better. Perhaps someone is inspired to create a new work of art, or advances in medical sciences are made.”
They came to a build-up of traffic and slowed to a stop. “And when the demons are stronger?” Alyssa asked casually. “Let me guess. War. Famine. Bad hair days.”
Cam smiled. “Worse. Missing the bus. Waving back at someone you thought was waving at you.” He gestured ahead. “Getting stuck in traffic.”
“So the demons are currently winning?”
“Actually, they are.” Cam tried to keep the seriousness from his voice, preferring to maintain a casual conversation. “It’s a hard thing to quantify. More like a feeling. The heartbeat of the world, some call it.”
Tiny patters of rain began to hit the windscreen as they started moving along with the traffic. Cam looked up, seeing grey clouds over them. A gap of blue sky showed further ahead, rays of sun shining down, but for the most part the sky had become covered in clouds.
“So much for the British summer,” Alyssa muttered. She turned to him. “Sorry, what were you saying?
Cam got the impression there was no need to explain more to her. She likely didn’t believe a word he said, anyway. That was one of the gifts of mortals, the bliss of ignorance. Something that he occasionally wished he had.
The rain increased, becoming a heavy downpour. Cam wondered if the grey clouds and rain were an omen for the day. Maybe the light would not win this Summer Solstice.
A song on the radio caught Cam’s attention. A piano melody played a slow, haunting tune. He recognised the track; an old Nick Cave song.
As the rain pounded the windscreen and sent people in the streets running for cover, the song sent a chill through Cam.
And to walk, like Christ, in grace and love and guide you into my arms.
Into my arms, O Lord.
Into my arms, O Lord.
Into my arms, O Lord.
Into my arms.
Cam glanced over at Alyssa, her face blocked by her long, wavy hair. He imagined holding her in his arms, and became overwhelmed in the moment. The powerful song, the pouring rain, the flowery scent of her hair. Sitting so close to her that he could just reach over...
Suddenly the car jolted and lurched up, the side crumpling with the force of an intercepting car. The world spun into chaos as glass rained down on them. Alyssa cried out as the car tilted and tipped over, the roof denting, and more glass crashing all around.