Interlogue 4

Michael sat on the roof of a massive warehouse in North Carolina on a hot summer morning, watching a giant parking lot where several large trucks sat in rows. Normally, the heat would boil him while he was perched on a hot tin roof under the sun’s overpowering glare, but Michael tapped into his heavenly glory to protect himself.

A large man in a flannel shirt and jeans came out of the warehouse carrying a backpack as he strode toward a truck backed up against a loading dock. The warehouse team had finished packing it full of box-laden pallets half an hour ago.

Michael only had to blink to access the Observer files on this man, the information appearing right over his eyes:

Name: Marvin Jonathan Driffen
Age: 43 years 1 month 29 days
Weight: 248 lbs
Height: 6’3”
Eye color: brown
Hair color: brown
Occupation: truck driver
Fausti score: -22
Marvin started the truck and drove it to the weighing station. After leaving the station, he parked in another area of the lot, where he got out again and began a safety inspection while holding a tablet. As he went through the check, he was approached by a woman with silver hair wearing a pair of low-rider denim shorts and a coral T-shirt tucked into her waistline.

Michael was too far away to overhear the conversation, but he wouldn’t let that stop him. After veiling himself, he unfurled his wings and flew near the truck. While it was possible for Gabriella to sense him even while he was veiled, Michael believed she would be too distracted to notice the subtle signs of his presence.

On top of that, Michael was a mighty angel—among the most powerful. His veils were much stronger than most angels, which meant not all angels could detect him, even using all of their senses. Gabriella had flaws, one of which was she allowed her focus to become solely bent on one thing while neglecting her surroundings. In a time of war, this could be a terrible, fatal flaw.

However, there had been no violence between angels and demons for hundreds of years. She was not likely to be in danger now. Angels, in general, had become complacent during this great era of peace. Michael remembered all too well how deadly things had once been. It used to be an angel could hardly stroll through a field of tulips without being ambushed by imps and demons. One always had to be on his guard.

Nowadays it was the opposite. Any aggressions taken by either side could be fatal for that angel or demon due to reprisals by his or her own kind. Just three years ago, a demon had attacked an angel with a sword in China. The angel had nearly died. Later that same day, the demon had been beheaded by his superior using the same blade in front of several angelic witnesses.

Gabriella and the truck driver were discussing his route, and she wondered if he could drive her part of the way. She spun a story about being abandoned by her girlfriend in town and having no money or way to get home. Marvin Driffen, the truck driver, was uncertain about allowing her into his cab. Gabriella offered him twenty dollars, insisting it was all the money in her possession.

“I could get into a lot of trouble for doing that,” he insisted. “Twenty bucks just isn’t worth my job. I’m sorry.”

“I’ll blow you,” she added quickly.

Michael raised an eyebrow. Gabriella had chosen to seduce a trucker. That didn’t pass the smell test, as humans liked to say. Michael could not recall Gabriella ever having a propensity for these types of encounters, but he had been encouraging her to find a way to blow off steam and relax for several weeks. Part of him was glad to see her get some stress release. Another part of him was puzzled.

Prim and proper Gabriella seeking carnal knowledge with a trucker with a Fausti score of -22? That didn’t fit her profile. Usually, he would have given her space and privacy while she pursued this, but Michael’s gut told him this rendezvous bore further examination. Something was off.