Pure Soul Book 2

7. Azael

I’m berating myself wanting to know why my stomach felt like a flurry of butterflies were flying around inside it at having spotted Cassiel out on the front porch when I went outside to smoke. The only explanation for these ‘feelings’ is, I’m losing my mind. Seriously, what other reason could there be for the sensation of emotions coursing through me? My heart started to beat faster and a grin I’ve never worn before took hold of my lips. I was going to walk across the street and say hi but then one of the dudes I saw sitting with her at the café last evening stepped outside. I bristled as I watched him sit down extremely close to her, as in thigh touching thigh. An overwhelming urge to yell at him to get away from her, that she’s mine consumes me. I shake my head at the ridiculousness of it. Instead, I take a long drag from the cigarette captive against my mouth and watch the scene unfold.

My hearing is top notch, and I can hear every word being spoken between the two. I’m not sure what kinds of powers the angels work with, but most fallen ones have excellent hearing, humans would refer to it as supernatural. When I saw him sitting so close and being a little too touchy feely, I had been concerned that he was her boyfriend which would have made my task a bit more difficult, not impossible mind you, just difficult. I’ve been the cause of many breakups in the past and prided myself in having done so. This time around though my conscience is taking over which is baffling to me. Never in my life have I cared about being the cause of a situation such as the one I’m currently observing. When I heard Cass say she cared about him my blood pressure went up, but as quick as it skyrocketed, it plummeted as the next words I heard were ‘I’m not in love with you’. I breathed a sigh of relief and then watched as the guy went back inside. Once he was out of sight I decided to go over and say hi.

Cassiel seemed zoned out as I walked up to the porch and as I said hello it looked like she was lost in thought. When she turned her eyes up to meet mine, I saw her offer a small smile and though it didn’t appear upon the rest of her face, her eyes lit up, causing them to sparkle. How can someone’s eyes shine like that when there isn’t any light minus a little bit of light coming from the kitchen. Walking up the two steps to stand in front of her as she sways on the swing, I nod my head silently asking if I can sit down next to her. Something is compelling me to ask what had just happened even though I heard it all, Cass doesn’t know this, and she looks sad. This urge to comfort her is all consuming, fun fact, I don’t comfort anyone... I never have until now. Something is seriously wrong with me!

Suddenly she jumps from the swing informing me that she has to leave, she and her friends were going on a ‘day trip’, and I told her to have fun. To my surprise she leans over and plants a quick kiss on my cheek before saying she hopes to see me later. That same damn grin takes root upon my lips, but I ignore it and say okay. In the next instance she’s in the house and I find myself back over on my front stoop. With a sigh I light up another cigarette and resume staring at the house. Five minutes go by before I see a pale shimmering purple light coming from the lower portion of the house, the living room maybe. This is when I realize they must have stepped through a portal instead of hiking to where they needed to go.

Thankfully when I sat down next to Cass on the swing, I was able to brush against her and in doing so attached a microscopic tracking device onto her shirt. Pulling the mobile device out of my back pocket I unlocked the screen and opened the app so I could see where she ends up. After seeing her location, I send a message to Asmodeus to inform him and the rest of the team where they were and then I decided to do a little intel of my own. Walking across the street once more I knock on the pretense of ‘borrowing’ some coffee. Really though, I knock to see if anyone will answer. Wrapping my knuckles against the door, I wait a few moments and then I pick the lock and walk into their home base.

Beginning with their bedrooms, I take the stairs two at a time to find myself standing in the hallway. The first two rooms across from each other were empty, barring some clothing in the closets and bathroom items in the shower and on the sink. I got the distinct impression that males resided in each. Moving on I make my way into the second room on the right and can tell a female occupies it but somehow, I know it isn’t Cassiel’s dwelling spot. The room is sparse as well, just clothing and whatnot, nothing that would be considered as valuable information. Heading back into the hallway, I walk across it entering the second room on the left. Immediately I know this is Cass’s room. Besides the scent of cherry blossom and mint assaulting my nose which is distinctly Cassiel, there’s a few more personal items lying about the room to indicate it’s hers. Unfortunately, there’s nothing useful in her room either and as much as I would love to find out if her twin-sized bed is comfortable, that is something I’d rather find out with her in the room... Leaving I go into the last room on the right. Right away I can tell this is a room used by someone in charge. But though there are important papers about the room, I don’t think this is the one who is commander of the unit.

Finally, the last room on the left has the type of information I’m in search of. Laid out flat on a desk in the corner of the room are two maps. One is Canada in its entirety and the other is of the United States. A few different regions on both maps are marked and I grab my cell phone, snapping a few pictures. Once I’ve sent the photos to the rest of my teammates, I make my way back downstairs and wander through the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Making sure there is nothing of importance in those rooms, I leave and go back to my place. Since the angels are out exploring, and the rest of my unit are tailing them, I decide to take advantage of the few free hours I have to myself and take a nap.

I’m not sure what time it is but one glance out the bedroom window and I can tell that I’ve slept way longer than I intended to. I had heard a noise coming from one of the rooms below and remembered this was the cause of me waking in the first place. Sitting up in the bed I hear the noise again. Quickly I toss the blankets aside, scrambling to get out of the bed. I run down the steps and hear the noise coming from within the kitchen. Quietly I enter the room and hesitate for a second before flipping the lights on. “Belial? What in Hell’s creation are you doing here?” I ask sighing as my body relaxes.

Belial smiles at me from where she’s standing by the stove stirring something. “I figured you could use some company...”

I know what she’s implying and normally I would take her up on the offer but as I’m on assignment, I can’t have her around if I’m going to win Cass’s trust. “You can’t be here! Are you trying to blow my cover or something? Shouldn’t you be on tailing duty right now?”

She doesn’t answer me right away. Instead, she places the spoon upon a holder and with a coyness about her, walks slowly towards me where I am leaning against the counter across from the stove. When she’s standing right in front of me, she takes her forefinger and runs it up and down the front of my black tee shirt. “Oh silly,” she says with a giggle. “They all returned to their base about an hour ago, but you wouldn’t know that because you were soundly sleeping in that bed of yours upstairs and might I add what a comfortable looking bed.” I try to slap her hand away, but she ends up grabbing it, interlocking our fingers. Tugging on my hand she says, “come on, let’s go upstairs and have some fun.”

Yanking my hand out of hers I ask, “are you crazy? I can’t be playing around with you when I’ve got this assignment going on. Besides you shouldn’t be here anyway, you never know when one of the angels could stop by.”

Belial steps away from me with a pout upon her lips. “You’re no fun. What’s so different from this assignment that you and I can’t hook up? We’ve done it many times when you were on a mission to seduce other women...”

And she’s right, we had. But since having met Cassiel, I’ve not thought about needing to have sex with anyone. As that is my profession, to be a seducer, I should be a bit concerned by this fact, but I’m not. “It just is. This mission is very important, and I don’t want to screw it up, okay.”

Belial rolls her eyes and I hear her mutter, ‘whatever’. “Well at least, let’s go outside and have a cigarette and then I’ll leave.” I concede to her for two reasons, 1. I want a cigarette and 2. I want her gone from here sooner rather than later. So, I follow her out onto the front porch and perch myself on one portion of a black metal railing that surrounds the porch. It’s a convenient spot because I can keep an eye on the angels’ front door and still be able to chat with Belial though honestly, I’ve nothing to discuss with her. I lit her cigarette for her because I’m not a complete monster and then I brought the lighter up to mine. Taking a long drag from the cigarette I let the smoke billow out my nose and mouth and I wonder if I look like a dragon. The thought has me laughing which turns into a coughing fit as I notice Cassiel is standing on her front porch staring at me, at us.