Fallen Angel

Chapter 56: Emily

Chaos was the best way to describe the office of the meeting rooms when I returned. None of them batted an eyelid to my skimpy, sparkly dress. No, they were more concerned about the hundred souls that had been harvested ahead of schedule and sent to heaven rather than where they should be, hell.

There was supposed to be an order for the death of a person. Their soul would be extracted by those commanded by the devil. They would take the soul to the underworld where they would be housed until they were judged. If they were marked as unworthy of returning to the surface, then they would be placed into the permanent care of the devil. And for those who were marked as worthy of a life in the bliss of heaven, they would be sent here. That was after they had been judged and definitely not bypassing the devil and all that he offered with his services.

I went in search of my overseer, figuring he was the best one to start with. The small meeting room was filled with infra angels, Orma was marking a map on the world, sectioning off areas as he formed search teams.

"Excuse me, Orma?"

His eyes swung to me, in fact the whole room looked at me. In the deathly silence, I crossed the room to my overseer.

"Emily, I'm glad you're here. You can take a team down and search."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that."

Orma's eyes widened at me, a little shocked at my refusal.

"I've already been in contact with the person responsible. He has made his demand and has said that there will be more harvesting until he gets what he wants."

"We do not bow down to the demands of hell, Emily." He snapped angrily. "Your refusal to do as you are ordered must be met with punishment. Leave now and when the judgement is handed down, you will be notified."

Idiot my mind hissed.

"As you wish."

I turned away and walked out of the room as casually as I could. Standing in the hall of the meeting rooms, I watched as angels rushed around. They'd bark orders at each other, snapping at another to find all of the souls and generally making life difficult.

No one here would bother to look at the broader picture, like Orma they would conform to the rules of heaven which was that we did not follow hell, we did not comply to their wishes, we did not do what they said. Yet clearly the rules were not going to work in this instance. Brannon wanted something and he was prepared to make heaven sit up and take notice of him.

But who would take notice? A name entered my mind, like a sweet whisper from the nobody beside me. I looked around me, believing that I had heard the word whispered but there was no one near me. Taking it as a sign of what I should do, I left the meeting hall and went to the office of the angels. Well, that was the name of the building. What really resided in the building was anyone's guess, few were allowed in and those that did enter, didn't speak of what was on the inside.

I couldn't fly to a window, the entire building had an exclusion zone that ensured the contents of the building remained a secret. Sitting on a bench in the park opposite, I looked at the glittering glass building and tried to formulate a plan to get into the place.

Ten minutes of me watching the building had passed, still I had nothing. I'd watched angels go in and out, all of them had passes which I knew would be checked. With such little time on my hands, I knew that trying to get a pass would be pointless. There had to be another avenue.

A lunch cart pulled up, the young woman pushed it down the alley beside the building. With a lot of curiosity, I watched her as I walked towards the alley. There was no pass yet she was being let into the building via a door at the loading dock. When she was inside, I grabbed one of the aprons and put it on. Finding a box of food similar to the one that the woman had carried in, I picked it up and walked to the door.

With a smile that seemed casual and maybe filled with a little bit of boredom, I walked to the door. It opened and a rather large guard looked at me.

"You're new."

"Yep, first day."

He nodded at the box.

"My lunch in there?"

"Uh maybe."

I walked in and rested the box on the edge of the bench, opening the flaps. Finding his lunch, the guard was happy and wandered into his booth. I looked through the glass panel, seeing how well guarded this place was. An entire wall of monitors that saw every single section, he would see everything, including me.

With a whisper of sleep directed at the guard, I waited until he was out before I put a veil of indifference over the view of the room. No one would bother to look at the area and I hoped it would be enough for me to find what I was looking for before I was caught.

Continuing out of room, I stopped at an area that was hidden behind the main lobby. I looked down at the apron that covered the sparkly dress and realised how stupid I had been. This was not the kind of outfit worn in this area, nor was it the kind of dress worn by a food vendor.

Pushing back into the guard's room, I opened up a locker and found an extra set of clothes. They were too big but with a waggle of my fingers, they shrunk to a more suitable fit. My dress was dumped into the bin and I was on my way again, this time in an outfit that could grant me access to whatever floor I wanted. Then a thought struck me, what if I was faced with a locked door? Returning to the guard, I borrowed his swipe card and clipped it to my belt, just like he had done.

Slipping into the elevator, I pressed the button for the top floor and ran the swipe card through the reader. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief when the doors slid shut. The car sped high into the building, reaching the top floor within a few seconds. It was a little stomach churning.

The doors opened and I was faced with a receptionist as she stood, frowning at me.

"Can I help you?"

Left the non-existent wind whispered. I was being guided, by who I do not know but it was irrelevant. I had to get past this woman first. Shooting out a freeze spell, I caught her off guard for long enough to make the spell work.

"Sorry." I muttered.

Really sorry. Unauthorised use of spells on other angels was prohibited. I was going to be demoted for sure.

Following the path to the left, I reached a locked door. Swiping the card through it, a buzzing noise emanated until the door clicked open. Opening it, I was faced with a vastly different area. It was serene, everything about the large room was calming. Broad windows spanned the length of the wall, a glorious view over the clouds.

Glossy black marble floors with stark white furniture, it was a cold room that offered little warmth. The tranquil waters of a water feature trickled down into a pool filled with brightly coloured fish. As I walked into the room, the door clicked closed behind me, echoing through the vast room.

I'd not seen the figure before, but he stood by the window next to a rather dominating fire place. He looked out over the view, his hands clasped behind his back. The man in the finely fitted suit was more interested in what was going on outside, yet I knew that he'd heard me walk in. Still, he said nothing.

Carefully I walked closer, looking at the man with wavy brown hair that sat perfectly at the collar of his jacket. The angel before me was like a statue, having not moved a twitch.

That was until his fingers loosened on the grip of his wrist.

"Ah, the cause of and answer to all of our problems."

He turned with a smile that made me weak at the knees.

"Welcome Emily."