Chapter: 49 of ?
The Healer of
Angels
“I am Raphael, one of the
seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and
out before the glory of the Holy One.”
Tob 12:15
Vin, Buck and Josiah had finally got
Chris settled on his bed. The man was
still high as a kite, but Vin found that more refreshing than him being Mickey
or being suicidal. Unfortunately, there
was nothing that could determine if that would change.
Nathan had entered the room after
leaving JD and Lucien in the other room, hoping to examine his patient.
He moved quickly to the bed and started
examining the blond Archangel although it proved difficult with the man moving
around so much.
One of Chris’ hands slapped Nathan
lightly on the arm and Nathan glared at him annoyed. “Chris! Stop that!”
Chris glazed eyes stared at Nathan and
then without warning he burst out laughing.
“Damn! He’s really high,” came Buck’s
statement for behind him.
“It seems our fallen angel has found
his paradise,” commented Josiah.
Vin and Buck both eyed the big
Archangel with doubt.
They all then turned back to look on at
Nathan’s work in trepidation. They had
hoped that maybe Chris was getting better, but with this set back, they were
worried about the repercussions to the blond man.
When Nathan had finished his evaluation
he found the three other Archangels staring at him. At this point, he had nothing good to relate to them. The man was re-injected and Nathan could
only determine it meant trouble for him.
Nathan looked at the three men and
said, “It’s the same effects as before.
The difference is the depression hasn’t kicked in yet.”
“But how is he, Nate?” asked Vin
standing worriedly with his arms crossed in front of him.
“Well, right now he ain’t feeling no
pain, that’s for sure. But it ain’t going to last long. His heart rate is up and so is his
temperature, but not as bad as it was in the hospital. I just don’t know, Vin. This drug is new to me and new to most
doctors. It’s a designer drug and being
a mixture of three different drugs doesn’t help much for us to find the cure.”
“I know, Nate. I’m just wonderin’…what kind of set back its
gon’na be for Chris,” said Vin hesitantly.
He was afraid for his friend. Afraid of what the drug would do to his
physical well being as well as his mental one.
He would hate to see Mickey return, but then again, there was nothing
that pointed to the drug being the cause.
“So what do we do now?” asked Buck,
also concerned for his long-time friend. He had pulled Chris through some
scrapes in the past, but this one just seemed to be out of his league.
“Watch him and wait. Until we can find out what the other drug
was, well…”
“Nate,” interrupted Vin. “I plum forgot!”
“What is it, Vin?”
“I kept the syringe that Nadia used on
‘im. It still had some of the drug
left,” answered Vin hurriedly.
“What?” exclaimed Nathan. “Where is
it?”
“On the dresser in the other room. I’ll go get it,” said Vin starting for the
door.
“No, no. You just stay here with Chris.
I’ll get it. I don’t want anyone
else touching it,” said Nathan.
“Nate, did ya think it will help,
Chris?” asked Vin hoping to hear some good news for a change.
“It might, Vin. I need to get it down to the hospital so
that they can send it for testing.”
“I’ll do it, Nate. You need to stay here with Chris just in
case,” offered Josiah.
Nathan nodded and knew the man was
right. “Okay. Come with me,
Josiah. I need to package the syringe
and write down what I need done by the hospital.”
He then walked out the door with Josiah
following close behind. That left Vin
and Buck to handle Chris, which was not much as this point. They looked at the
blond on the bed and found him fast asleep. But they both knew that it would
not be long before the man awoke and they had no idea how they were going to
handle him then.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Roberto DeCorsia sat at a table with
his son, Marco and Nadia’s right hand man, Devon. Christopher “Mickey” Larabee had failed to make their appointment
and now Roberto sat fuming. It was all a roost. The Mickey act, everything. The man had betrayed him and he would
pay along with his friends. His men stood ready to carry out his orders. Frank and
Jack stood behind Roberto, waiting for his instructions.
Marco sat next to his father, his mind
thoroughly in a quandary. He did not
know if his father got the disk back or Larabee. He knew he was safe as long as his father did not have one or the
other. But both would mean his
death. And Nadia. She had disappeared without a trace. His thoughts turned to her and betrayal, but
he knew Nadia did not think of it as such.
She would say that it was survival and Nadia always survived. He glanced at Devon from across the
table. The man was busy fidgeting and
could not seem to keep still. Probably
because he knew that if he went down, so would he.
Roberto had not told Marco of his
discussion with Larabee or his discoveries.
He would not until he had positive proof. Marco it seemed had a lot of followers in the organization,
although he was inept, Marco was not stupid and Roberto could not get rid of
him without some repercussions. He
needed the disk and Larabee.
As for Nadia, her own men did not know
where she was and even though it did seem a little strange for her, it still
would not be difficult to believe that she got the hell out of Dodge before
things turned sour. It was the one
reason he knew his son loved about the woman.
She knew when to cut her loses.
It was why she was so successful at what she did.
Roberto turned to Jack and Frank. They had failed him and frowned upon failure
and they knew it. He said, “You will
find him and bring him and the disk to me, do you understand?”
“Yes, Mr. DeCorsia,” answered Frank.
“And this time, make sure you don’t
fail. If you do, you might as well not
come back because I will put a price on your head so big you won’t be able to
hide anywhere in the world from my wraith, do you get me?”
“Yes, Mr. DeCorsia,” they both replied
and walked away.
Roberto then turned his attention to
his son. “Now, Marco, when are our
associates expected in?”
Marco knew this was only a ploy. His father knew that they were already here
in the hotel. Marco knew to lie, would
just compromise his position more. “They arrived yesterday, father. They’re just waiting for us.”
“And of course, we don’t know where Nay
is?” Roberto asked eyeing Devon.
“Uh, Mr. DeCorsia, I was told by one of
the men that he thinks Nadia was taken from her apartment, forcibly. Probably by Larabee and his gang of thugs.”
“Well, Devon, it is your job to get her
back or else,” said Roberto smirking at the smug bodyguard.
He watched as his comment dissolved
Devon’s smile. He was no longer smug as he realized that Roberto had just given
him a veiled threat.
“Yes, Mr. DeCorsia,” he said sitting up
straight in the chair.
Roberto knew he would have to clean
house and very soon. His list was growing and now he had to add Chris Larabee
and his six men to it, along with Nadia and his own son.
“Ah, Sergio, my son, I wish you were
here,” he thought to himself.
He missed his firstborn and he knew his
brother had something to do with his demise.
Time, time was what he needed and he did not have much left. He did not know how things had become so bad
between his second born son and himself.
He had loved both boys as they grew up
among the safety and prestige that came with money.
But it seemed that where Sergio became
strong, his other son Marco had become weak and greedy.
He wondered if his wife, Madela, was
alive, would things have been different.
He knew how close Marco was to his mother and when his mother was killed
by a rival fraction of the organization as revenge against him, he knew his son
blamed him for it.
Well, it was too late now. Things have become what they have and son or
no, he would have to punish Marco for his traitorous acts, and Nadia too, of
course.
Nadia.
The girl was enticing and he could see how Sergio could easily fall for
her seductive ways. Too bad she could
not be trusted. He knew about her
before his son decided to marry her. He
had told him it was a bad idea and then when he found out she had a connection
to Larabee, that made it even worse.
But he would have Larabee and Nadia
too. He would teach them both about how
dangerous it is to play with fire.
Roberto smiled as he pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it
up.
The light from the flame of the match
danced in his eyes and the evil there shined like beacons, cutting a ray into
the darkness of the room. Roberto would
have his empire whole again and his revenge.
He smiled wickedly as the smoke he blew out of his mouth rose to the
ceiling of among the dancing lights of the club.
*************************************************************************************************************************
Ezra had tied Nadia into a chair, of
course to Nadia’s insistence that it was cruelty to humans.
Ezra smiled as he watched Nadia
struggle within her bonds. He had tied them tight, not because he was afraid
she would escape, but to make her more uncomfortable. He found that when one was uncomfortable, any other type of
discomfort was multiplied.
Nadia eyes followed the gambler while
he removed his gun from the back of his pants.
He then started nimbly to take out the bullets, playing with them as he
placed each one into his hand.
“It is said that one’s fears can be
determined if one had the right tool,” said Ezra putting most of the bullets
away into his pocket except one. “I
wonder if that’s true or just an allegory.”
“What?” exclaimed Nadia. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Ezra placed the one bullet he held in
his hand into one of the chambers of the gun and spun the barrel hard.
“I wonder how much damage a bullet in
the right place would do,” said Ezra pensively.
Nadia started to squirm again in the
chair. “What are you planning on doing,
Mr. Standish?” she asked, her eyes staring at the gun in his hand. She did not think that Standish or any of
the men were capable of doing what she thought he was about to do. It was not in their profiles that she had
studied. They had too many basic
morals.
“Well, Miss Diaz… Or do you like to be
called Mrs. DeCorsia?”
“Diaz will suffice.”
“Well, Miss Diaz, as you probably
already know, I love gambling and I love the high stake risks associated with
it. How is your luck, Miss Diaz?”
“I…ah…”
Ezra quickly pointed the gun at Nadia’s
head and pulled the trigger. Before she
could cry out or scream, the hammer fell and she heard the click of an empty
cylinder.
“What the hell are you doing?” screamed
Nadia. “Are you nuts?”
“Moi? Have I lost my faculties? I think not, my dear. It is just that I get very perturbed when
someone hurts my friends,” smirked Ezra pointing the gun at her head and again. He pulled the trigger and Nadia flinched at
the sound of the hammer hitting another empty chamber.
Nadia remembered in the profiles put
together by her investigators that they had said that they held basic
morals. She forgot about the line where
it said that they did not kill unless they had good reason. Good reason. Like maybe someone hurting a friend.
Nadia realized that she had fucked up
good this time. She should have paid
closer attention to the details in the reports.
“Mr… Mr. Standish. Please. You…you must understand…” stuttered
Nadia.
“You seem to be having a hard time
articulating your thoughts, Miss Diaz.
Is there a problem?”
Nadia heart was beating in her chest.
It was the first time in her life that she was ever really scared since she was
little girl. Her breath came in quick
gasps as she tried to get her breathing under control.
“Listen…Ezra…maybe there’s
something…that I could do to help,” she answered frantically.
“Oh, I think there is some way you can
assist me, Miss Diaz. And that is to
just roll over and die,” replied Ezra.
He lifted the gun again and aimed it for the woman’s head. Nadia eyes
widened in fear. She knew her luck
would not last for long and the odds were that sooner or later the barrel would
land on the chamber with the bullet.
“Wait!” she yelled. “Let me say
something!”
Ezra smiled and started to pull the
trigger. Nadia closed her eyes, praying
for the chamber to be empty again. She heard the click of the hammer against
the chamber, but no loud explosion came.
She opened her eyes slowly and saw that her luck had still held. She knew she had to stop this and fast. She was running out of empty chambers.
“Listen to me! I can give you the
missing chemical!” she screamed just as Ezra lifted the gun up and started to
pull the trigger.
Ezra halted his action and let his arm
with the weapon drop. “You do, do
you. And what would that chemical be,
Miss Diaz?”
Nadia knew if she gave the man the
information he sort, then she would lose her control over Chris. But if she did not, she might lose her life
instead. She had realized two clicks
ago that the man was deadly serious about his task.
“It’s…It’s…”
Ezra lifted the gun swiftly and pulled
the trigger again, catching Nadia off guard.
The chair jumped back at the sound of the hammer hitting once again and
her heart started its erratic beating in her chest. Nadia knew when she could
not win. She was told that she had a
deep sense of self-preservation. She
knew when to cut her loses.
“Thank you, Miss Diaz,” said Ezra placing the gun
back into his pants. “You have been so
very helpful.” He turned to leave.
“Wait!” said Nadia.
“Yes, Miss Diaz?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes?”
“Would you have done it?”
Ezra knew Nadia was speaking of. “Well, let’s say that I abhor gambling and
as such leave nothing to chance,” he replied smiling. He then lifted his hand in the air and one by one dropped six
bullets into his hands.
Nadia stared at him, her mouth wide opened in
shock. He had all six bullets in his
hand. There was none in the gun.
“Slight of hand, that I exceptionally excel
at.” Ezra then walked out of the door
to the basement, hearing curses screamed that would even turn Chris Larabee’s
ears red.
***************************************************************************************************************************
Chapter: 50 of ?
The Angel of
Lightening
Barakiel has dominion over 80
legions. The Almadel of Solomon portrays Barakiel as one of the chief angels of
the altitudes with dominion over lightning. Barakiel is one of the mightiest
God's reapers who hunt evil and protect innocents.
One of the 7 archangels, one of the 4 ruling seraphim, angel of
the month of February, and prince of the 2nd Heaven as well as of the order of
confessors.
Ezra had given the information he got from Nadia to Nathan and
was now sitting watch over his friend, Chris Larabee. A smile drifted across Ezra’s face as the word came into his
mind. He could not believe that he now associated the word friend with the
blond that was currently asleep on the bed.
He remembered when he had
first met Chris. They were both on opposite sides of a territory disagreement
in Vegas. Chris was acting as mediator
for one of the fractions. Ezra was
acting as a lieutenant for the other side.
He and Chris had not hit it
off at first. But after their first
fight, he had come to realize in certain ways they were alike. Chris, like him could see the percentages
and risks very clearly of any issue and he knew that the current disagreement
between the two fractions were not likely to be solved overnight.
Ezra, because of his
well-known skills of deductions and communications was chosen to represent his
fraction. He and Chris had spent
several days and nights working together to resolve the problems so that it
would be more profitable for both sides.
In the end, it was solved and
Chris had made an offer for Ezra to join his team. Ezra realizing it would be less risk and less harmful, joined
Chris and the other five men of the Celestial organization.
Over the time of their
partnership, Ezra had taught Chris a few things about the skills of his trade
and Chris had taught Ezra about leadership, friendship and loyalty, which for
Ezra at first was hard to comprehend, but one day it finally sank in and Ezra
realized there was more than riches and fame.
Oh, my God. His mother was right. He was turning into a
good Samaritan, a pillar of the community. No, he would or could not believe
it.
But then when he looked on his
friend, lying in the bed across from him, the man who had saved him more than
once, he realized that it was not such a bad thing after all. But of course, he would never tell mother.
A groan from the bed awoke him
from his reverie. It seemed that Chris was waking up. It was about time. They
had all been very afraid that he might not awake considering the
circumstances.
Chris gradually became aware
that he was hurting and it seems it was mostly coming from his head and
stomach. He could not remember what had happened earlier. His mind was dragged down by fog and
confusion.
He remembered talking briefly
with Vin and was sorry for the way he had addressed him. He knew Vin was only trying to help
him. He then remembered leaving what he
considered his prison room and going into another room, a room that was to
reveal one Nadia Diaz was held.
At this memory, Chris jumped
up from the bed, startling Ezra to come to his feet. “Chris? What’s wrong?”
Chris searched the room. Nadia. Where was she? He remembered talking to her, anger coating the
conversation. He wanted her and now. He
wanted to rip her head off from her body with his bare hands. She had lied to
him. She had tricked him. It was unforgivable and he would seek
revenge.
When his eyes finally focused,
he found himself staring into worried green eyes.
“Ezra? What are you doing here?” asked Chris,
sitting up and rubbing his eyes hard.
“Waiting for you to awake, Mr.
Larabee. The others and myself were
concerned as to when that might be,” said Ezra handing him a glass of water.
Chris took the glass with
shaky hands and drink greedily from it.
He did not know why he was so thirsty.
As he handed the glass back to
Ezra so that he could place it back on the nightstand near the bed, a thought
came to Chris’ mind, one that had plagued him since waking.
“Nadia. Where is she, Ezra?”
“She is no longer a concern of
yours, Mr. Larabee. Let’s just say that
she is indisposed at the moment.”
“I want to see her, Ezra,”
growled out Chris, his green eyes glaring at a mirror of his own.
“I think that would not be in
your best interest, Mr. Larabee. If you
remember what happened last time you encounter the lady…”
“Ezra, I don’t care! I want her now!” screamed Chris, getting up
from the bed.
Ezra grabbed the man by the
shoulders, trying to prevent him from getting out of the bed, but Chris just
pushed him aside. But Ezra was still
standing in front of him, determined not to let the ill man out of the room.
“Ezra, move out of the way,”
said Chris threateningly.
Ezra eyebrows rose in
surprise, but his green eyes showed there was no moving him. He was responsible for Chris at this moment
and took that responsibility seriously.
“Ezra, please,” pleaded Chris,
which shocked Ezra. He had never heard
Chris Larabee plea for anything in his life, no matter what was at stake. He knew this was serious and thought that
maybe he should call for the others.
“Chris,” started Ezra, his
voice softening at the plight he felt his leader was suffering. “You are not thinking clearly, sir. I think
you need to lay back down and we should discuss this like gentlemen.”
Chris eyed Ezra askance, not
wanting to give in to the man’s suggestion.
All he wanted was Nadia and once he took her out of the picture, he knew
things would be better.
Ezra watched as Chris stood in
front of him contemplating his suggestion.
He just hoped that he would act upon it. Ezra started explaining the reasons why he should listen and of
what he found out from Nadia that he hoped the man would take as good news.
But Chris was not
listening. His head was tilted on the
side like he was, but it was not Ezra he was listening to. It was another voice that had slowly invaded
his consciousness.
“Chris,”
came the soft call. “Chris.”
Chris tried to hear what the
voice was saying. He believed Ezra’s
droning was interfering, so he raised his hand to stop Ezra from speaking
further.
Ezra stopped, puzzled by
Chris’ action and asked, “Chris? Is
something wrong?”
Chris ignored the question and
tried concentrating on the words the voice was saying. It seemed to becoming clearer and Chris
closed his eyes as if it would help to clear up the static behind it.
Ezra scrutinized Chris with
apprehension. Something was going on
with the blond and Ezra was afraid that it was not something he would be able
to handle alone.
“Ah, Chris, why don’t you lie
back down while I get you something to eat,” lied Ezra.
Chris did not answer, but he
did sit back down upon the bed.
Ezra turned one last look at
the seemingly catatonic man and walked quickly from the room to find the others
to help.
Chris did not hear Ezra leave
the room. He was too busy listening to
the voice that was getting louder and getting more of his attention.
“Who are you?” asked Chris,
unsure of what was happening.
“Ya know who I am,
Chris.”
“No,” cried Chris
silently. “You’re gone. You left.”
“I told ya. Ya can’t get rid of me, Chris. We are both sides of the same coin.”
“No. I won’t let you, Mickey!”
“Ya don’t have a
choice, Chris. I am stronger. It’s my turn. Admit it Chris. Only I
can deal with Nadia and our revenge can be so sweet,”
said the voice of Mickey tantalizingly.
“But you hurt my friends,
Mickey. I can’t let you do that again,”
said Chris angrily.
“I know, Chris. But ya have to see that they just got in the
way of things. If Lucien hadn’t jumped
in the way, all I would have done was wing Buck, but he just had to interfere. And Vin, I didn’t want to hurt Vin. I would never hurt Vin, but we had to get
away, don’t ya see,” reasoned Mickey in his mind.
Chris thought about what
Mickey said. It was true that Lucien
did get in the way and that he never did want to hurt Vin. Chris sighed thinking that maybe Mickey was
right. He would like to exact his
revenge on Nadia and he knew the others would not be amicable to what his plan
was.
He could feel Mickey’s
intangible smile and knew what he was thinking. Mickey thought he had got the
upper hand and that Chris would let him take over. Not hardly.
“We…I will have my revenge,
Mickey, but we’ll do it together,” said Chris.
He could feel Mickey’s smile fading.
“Alright, Chris. No problem.
Whatever you say,” replied Mickey.
Chris stood up and went over
to his closet. He pushed aside the
clothes on the rack and there was a button on the wall.
Chris pushed the button and a
piece of the wall slide back to reveal a wall safe with an electronic code
pad. He punched in several numbers and
the safe door unlocked.
He pulled it open and inside
was a gun, his gun, Blue Lightening, a glock.
He also took out a bottle of pills, painkillers and opened the bottle to
pop two pills in his mouth, swallowing them without water.
He then closed up the safe and
the door and pushed the clothes on the rack back into place to hide the area.
He then noticed that he had no
socks or shoes on, so he grabbed them and dressed quickly. He then grabbed his duster and hat from the
closet and closed the closet door.
“So what now, smart
guy?” asked Mickey sarcastically within his mind.
“Now we find the disk and
Nadia,” said Chris walking towards the door.
He peeked out into the corridor and seen it was clear. He then slowly and methodically walked
towards where he thought was where he would find the information of the disk
and Nadia’s whereabouts.
TBC.
Fallen Home Page Chapter 1 - 8 Chapter 9 - 14 Chapter 15 - 21 Chapter 22 - 26 Chapter 27 - 32
Chapter 33 - 36 Chapter 37 - 41 Chapter 42 - 48