Heaven Forbid: Caught

Outside of the Church the parishioners crowded against the fount of holy water. Every Sunday was the same; the people would come out into the world with renewed enthusiasm and ready to preach the gospel. That was how it was supposed to go. That was the way things were meant to be.

But things seldom seem to go as they should.

Madeleine knew this as she sifted through the hordes of people; they’re perfume perforating her nose. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to be. The situation they were in now had to be a sign something had gone wrong. Looking through the crowd ahead of her, the whole time just trying to catch a glimpse of the man she was looking for. This was the exit she’d seen him use.

The air was cold and still wet from the fog that had perforated it. Despite the sun’s best efforts it couldn’t break through the thick cloud cover that blanketed Downtown Houston. A line of cars waited at the light as Madeleine reached the edge of the curb.

Across the street she spotted the target. His body was concealed in a long black duster. His long brown hair was tucked into the back of his collar from when he’d put it on.

Madeleine held her cell phone up over her mouth clicked the two-way feature on. Her voice was almost a whisper, “He’s headed your way, Dee.”

Dee giggled manically, “Now’s my chance!”

“Must you be so slutty?” Madeleine’s accent bit off the end of her words, “Its not like you’re going to actually get anywhere with him.”

“Stop distracting me,” Dee stammered into the two-way, “Dee out.”

Across the street Madeleine could see Dee crouched behind a car and peaking around the corner. Today was one of the rare occasions that Dee didn’t go all Goth. Madeleine was proud, maybe her advice had taken root.

Dee’s legs were hardly concealed by the short gray and black plaid skirt. The transparence of the lacey black trim didn’t help matters. Her thick mess of curls were pulled up in a haphazard ponytail. She even had on a white oxford button down. White was not a color commonly seen on Dee. Madeleine was shocked that Dee even owned these clothes.

In an instant Dee bounced to her feet and sprinted up the side walk, Madeleine rushed out across the road after her. The man in the duster had distanced himself. Madeleine jumped the rise of the curb and hit the sidewalk almost bumping into a drunken bum. “Where do you think you’re goin!” the bum shouted.

Dee had stopped next to a tall chain link fence. As Madeleine reached her she threw her arms to her sides and exclaimed, “I can’t climb this shit in heels!”

With her hands on her hips Madeline huffed at her companion, “There’s no reason to go up that, we can just catch up to him,” she took off again.

“But what do we say—“ Dee paused.

Madeleine darted up the sidewalk. Admittedly she wasn’t much for running. Angels weren’t required to do it very often, especially in boots like the ones she had on. She wished she’d been the kind to dress for functionality.

The target turned the corner and Madeleine knew she had to keep him in sight. It was be to lose someone in the city. Even on a Sunday morning the streets were still crowded.

Around the corner she spotted him checking the mailbox of the townhouse. She’d had no idea they were this close to his home, although she’d been there once. She hollered as she got closer, “Father Carlson!”

He froze, his head aimed slightly down and the shadow from his fedora covering his face, “Madeleine, please don’t call me that.”

“Sorry,” she stomped to a stop next to him and let out a sigh, “It’s just that I’ve been chasing after you for a while.”

Madeleine remembered the story that the former Priest had told her about leaving the Church. He’d been a man of the cloth for some time, but not the kind you saw conducting Mass. He’d fought demons for a secret order within the Church. He’d only quit when he lost someone he loved.

Dee rounded the corner screaming as and waving her pale arms above her head, “I’m here…I’m coming!” Before she could reach them, her heel caught at hole in the side walk and she faltered. In a fury of flailing arms and cursing Dee fell face first to the pavement.

“Holy shit, Dee are you okay?” she asked.

She fought to get up, her bottom lip puffed out and her eyes averted from anyone else’s. Brandon stooped down and took her hand, “It looks like you’re cut up a little, should we get those cleaned up?”

Dee knew that she didn’t need to have her wounds taken care of. Even if she was run through with a sword she could heal herself in a matter of minutes. That was granted that she wanted to. But stopping the pain wasn’t worth losing the moment.

She threw her arms around his neck, “Thanks.” Brandon hesitated for a moment and then lifted her clean into the air. With a slight smirk she pulled herself closer to him.

Madeleine rolled her eyes, “Don’t have time for this,” she said in a sing-song voice.

Dee shot her an evil glance and then turned back to Brandon with a smile. He started up the steps with her in his arms, “Can you get the door for me Dee, its unlocked.”

She reached over and turned the knob, pushing it open. He stepped inside with Madeleine following behind him closely. The inside of the townhouse was dark. Brandon ran an inner city orphanage, or at a time he had.

“You’ll have to excuse the lackluster care in here,” Brandon started, “I had to shut the place down.”

Dee focused her violet eyes on him through the darkness, “What do you mean that you shut the place down.”

Madeleine flicked the light on, “So its just you here?”

Brandon nodded, “I was forced to close the place really, at least temporarily.”

“But why?” asked Madeleine.

“Demon attacks are getting more frequent—they’re becoming aggressive and I fear they might target me here,” he replied.

“So you did it to protect the kids,” Dee said, “You’re like the dreamiest man alive.”

He smiled down at her, “Thanks, Dee—I guess.” He moved into the next room which was large and dark with a long ‘L’ shaped couch off to one side. He placed Dee carefully down on the couch and flipped the lamp on, “Let’s get you patched up.”

She folded her arms behind her head and stared up at him, “Thanks for taking care of me,” her cheeks turned a little red. She shifted on the leather couch and there was a soft rubbing sound of her skin on the material.

Madeleine entered the room with her arms folded, when she leaned back on the wall the color brown of her dress almost matched the large wood paneling of the walls. She placed her foot back against the baseboard stabling herself. Brandon left the room to get a first aid kit.

Madeleine sighed walking towards Dee, her anger brought her accent to forefront of her voice, “Who do you think you’re fooling?”

“What are you bitching about now?” asked Dee.

Now Madeleine kept her voice low, “We both know you don’t need someone to ‘a patch you up’, you can heal yourself just fine—“

“Just leave it alone, and its your fault I fell—you ran ahead and left me all alone,” Dee said.

Brandon entered from the other room and Madeleine walked back towards the entrance, “I think I need to go to the restroom,” she left.

Brandon watched as she walked out, “Is something the matter?”

“Yeah we’re just under a lot of pressure.”

He smiled, “That’s always a problem.”

“She gets high strung when she’s worried,” Dee said.

Brandon started to push her skirt up just a little bit, “May I?”

“Yeah,” her voice was imbued with nervousness and her cheeks turned hotter red.

“It looks like you cut your knee pretty bad here,” he said. When Brandon took her leg in his hand and bent it towards him slightly he could tell that she was in ridiculously good shape. There was no fat on her leg, it was all muscle.

Dee wanted to scream out. Her heart thudded hard against her chest. She’d thought of this too often. His touch so gentle it made her shudder slightly. Her hands pressed down into her lap Dee tried to strike up some kind of conversation to take her mind off a man she found irresistible running his hands all over her leg.

“We have to make sure nothing’s broken,” Brandon said.

She spoke up, “Do you like—things—you know how you see something and umm…” her mind went totally blank.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything broken, did you hit your head hard?” he asked.

“No.”

“This is going to burn a little,” he told her as he started to apply some antiseptic to her scrapes.

She winced, “Yeah.”

He finished most of her body and as he was about to put the kit away he leaned over on the end table next to the couch. Right then he noticed that there was a scrape on the side of her face.

“I missed a spot,” he stopped to wipe it and did so very carefully.

Dee sat there looking into his eyes and she sighed, “Maybe if you gave me a little—“ she froze up.

Brandon kissed Dee on the forehead lightly, “Is that better?”

“That’s…that…” Dee’s eyes rolled back in her head and she fell back onto the brown leather couch; fainted.

“Dee, are you alright, wake up!” Brandon lifted her head some.

Madeleine rushed back into the room from somewhere else, “What did you do to her?”

“I kissed her on the forehead and she just fell out!”

“You can’t kiss her,” Madeleine said, “She’s never even been touched by a guy—let alone kissed.” Now she rushed to her friend’s side, “You’re lucky that she didn’t have a heart attack.”

Brandon moved away as Madeleine knelt next to Dee, he writhed his hands together as he paced, “I don’t get it, what’s wrong with her?”

“Haven’t you noticed,” Madeleine said, “Or are you stupid?”

“Noticed what?”

“Nevermind,” Madeleine thought of how mad Dee would be if she mentioned it, even if she thought he should have known it herself. Madeleine held her hand over Dee’s face, her finger tips began to glow brilliant white. The light reflected off the leather of the couch and the picture that hung on the wall.

Dee’s eyes shot open and she pulled herself up from the couch, “What the Hell?” her cheeks were still hot red.

Madeleine smoothed Dee’s hair back from her forehead, “You passed out, are you alright?”

Dee nodded nervously, she lifted her head slightly. The corner of her lip lifted slightly as she smelled something distinct. She sniffed the air hard.

Madeleine raised her head up. She searched the room slowly, smelling the air as she looked around. In a smooth motion she pulled her hair away from her pretty face, her green eyes half closed, “I smell it too.”

“Smell what?” Brandon asked.

“Sulfur,” Dee jumped up from the couch and held her hand out to the side calling the scythe to her side. The weapon appeared in a flash of light and she brought it up behind her back.

Digging his hand deep into his duster Brandon produced a long barreled silver gun with ornate decorations, “Another demon attack.”

Thick black oil oozed from the ceiling and dripped onto the floor right near Madeleine’s foot, “Far worse than a demon attack, this is big trouble.”

The oil bubbled onto the floor, running down the wall slowly and starting to come from all sides all of the walls. Some of the oil ran faster than the others, the wooden floors were starting to seep too. The oil crept up between the floor boards.

Dee hissed, “Fuck,” she shot her gaze to each side of the room, “This was a trap they wanted to get us in the same place.”

Madeleine, Dee, Brandon—they all knew that this wasn’t your run of the mill attack, they were being pulled in—someone had set this up. The townhouse had become a prison and they were being pulled into Hell.

While

Been a while since I did one these, since I started the story; which is getting underway nicely now. I'm do tired though. I worked late last night early this morning and I have to get up in about four and half hours and get to work. Things have been pretty rough besides work. I've had to face some of the questions about myself that I have been avoiding for a while and I am starting to wonder if I need to make some more adjustments to how I do things with myself.

My mind's been kind of on the fritz lately, plagued by things that I can't even begin to sort out now and I'm wondering if I did something--if I am doing something to make matters worse for myself. I can't just stop thinking about them, as much as people say that you can. Its not like that for me. I don't have an easily distracted mind. Most of the time my mind will do anything I need to do while thinking about what I am trying to avoid. Other times I will just be so distracted I can't get things done.

Its like most of the time I can't even talk to people anymore. I hope this passes soon.

Heaven Forbid - Chapter One: Suspension of Pride

She had only lingered for water a moment when she noticed the boy with the dusty blonde hair staring at her. His freckled face was imbued with awe as he looked up at her. Of course she knew that it wasn’t just her that he was looking at. The majority of Dee’s afternoon had consisted of leading her horse around the park. Anywhere a horse was taken in the middle of the city he attracted unnecessary attention.

She approached the boy wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand as she did. Her lips widened into a smile and she knelt down and started to rummage through her bag, “You wanna feed him?” Her slender pale arm made circles down in the satchel at her side and finally she produced a bright red apple, “He loves these.”

The little boy’s honey colored eyes were locked on her, but he said nothing. His arms hung down at his side and his face void of any expression except astonishment. So much astonishment he was unable to take the fruit.

“Go ahead, he won’t bite,” Dee smiled as she rose up from her squatting position to meet the boy face to face, “And neither do I.” She rubbed the top of his head lightly, “His name is Apples.”

Right then Dee thought of how she must have appeared to a little kid. She wasn’t exactly what one would call normal looking. The lip ring, the small jewel stud in the side of her nose and the countless crosses she wore around her neck couldn’t have been all that easy for the kid to take in. Add into the equation the loads of makeup she wore.

Madeleine waited in impatient silence behind the horse this whole time. She’d been Dee’s friend for some time. It had always been kind of apparent to her that Dee had a knack for getting horribly side tracked when there was something important to do. But she knew she couldn’t tell Dee that.

She’d tried, on more than one occasion, to advice Dee about perhaps dressing more conservatively. There wasn’t exactly a dress code for their line of work, but they were just supposed to blend in. However there wasn’t an incentive for Dee to listen.

The little boy accept the apple. He offered it up to the horse and the horse ate it carefully. The kid giggled at the horse’s mouth touching his hands. Dee shot Madeleine a quick glance to see if she was smiling about this whole ordeal. Of course she was not. As far as she was concerned Dee was wasting time.

From off across the park a woman called out, “Nick!” the boy looked up and his laughter ceased. The sound of his mother’s voice had pulled his attention away from the horse. Almost instantly he jolted across the path and over the grass off towards the hillside in the distance where she waited.

Madeleine sauntered around the horse, “Why did you bring him out?”

“He needs some exercise,” Dee rubbed the horse so vigorously her big dark mop of curls shook, “Cooped up in the Ethereal stables all day—he must get lonely.”

“I don’t think he’s allowed,” Madeleine concluded, “I don’t see many horses in the Herman Park.”

Dee ran her hand across the top of the horses head softer this time, “But he’s having a great time out here,” Dee said with an induced squeaky tone, “He’s not going to ever want to go back, isn’t that right boy?”

That baby-talk-tone that Dee took was enough to make Madeleine want to vomit; instead she just rolled her eyes. “Do you have to talk to him like that?”

“Aww you’re just jealous that he loves his momma!” Dee continued and exaggerated the voice now.

With her arms folded Madeleine sighed, “Your belittling him, he’s a grown horse!”

“You’re the one being rude,” Dee quipped, “I mean he has a name you know!”

“I’m not going to call the Pale Horse Apples!” Madeleine yelled.

“Well that’s what he likes to eat!” Dee threw her arms to her sides and stomped off from the horse, “Besides I don’t think he’s ever had a name,” she said, “Everything deserves a name.”

“You don’t see Pestilence and War running around with their horses sporting gay names…”

“War’s a tramp and Pestilence is a dick,” Dee said. “And don’t call Apples gay, slut.”

“Bitch…” Madeleine returned fire, “look we’re supposed to be doing a job.”

“Ladies, ladies, ladies; now there’s no reason for us to quarrel,” a man in a white suit made his way towards him. He was combing his hair through his long white blonde tendrils as he moved. Smoke rose off his shoulders and the top of his head yet it was so light that it was barely visible.

Apples reared up slightly and Dee touched the side of his head gently to calm him, “I thought that I smelled sulfur.”

Madeleine stepped against him holding her body close to his. The heat he gave off warmed right through her clothes, she could feel the sweat starting to form. It was akin to being near a fire. She pressed her pistol into his stomach hard.

“Can’t say I expected such a warm welcome from the likes of you,” he said. He tucked his head over her shoulder and his tongue extended out as he talked. It wasn’t a human’s tongue though. It was slimy and long with a split end; like that of a snake, “Put that away, I assure I won’t bite.”

In a flash he was gone, vanished without warning. She blinked as if she expected him to reappear. She felt something warm and wet on the back of her neck and in an instant she knew. She gasped as the wet warmth spread down the side of her neck as if it were wrapping around, “Oh God, he’s got his tongue on my neck.”

Dee stepped in behind him, brandishing her scythe now. She pulled the bladed edge in-between Madeleine and her target, “Make one more move and pop your head off like a cork.”

For an instant his steely blue eyes went wide. A smile spread across his pale lips, “It’s been a long time since I had the pleasure of meeting up with Death personified...”

“It’s been a while since there’s been one,” Madeleine stepped forward and turned to face him as she put her gun away. She checked around the park to make sure no one had noticed the trouble.

As Madeleine got out of his range he pushed Dee’s scythe up over his head, he turned and put his face close to Dee’s, “A female Death?” He smiled wryly, “Been even longer since we had one of those.” He edged around the side of her now with his arms but keeping his face as close to hers as he could. “How about a little kiss.” His forked tongue flicked out at her.

Dee pushed him back and dropped her scythe. Before the weapon could hit the ground it vanished in brilliant flash of light. “That’s a Hell of an offer,” Dee said, “But I think its better we keep this relationship strictly professional.”

Madeleine’s eyes welled up with tears, “I wish I could do that, he wrapped his tongue around my neck.” She was rubbing her hand down the side of her neck where the slimy appendage had touched.

The man in white went over to Apples rubbing him on the side of the head, the horse tensed up and backed away slowly. “You brought the Pale Horse off the Ethereal Plain?”

Dee rushed over and threw her arms around the horse, “Keep your fucking hands off him!”

“Honey,” he started, “I knew this horse back before you or this hunk of rock you call a planet were even part of His divine plan.”

Madeleine seemed to have gathered herself now, “So the rumors are true, you’re stalking the Earth these days, Lucifer?” Madeleine’s brown knee high boots crunched the grass under her feet slightly as she started to circle.

“I don’t remember ever seeing you back when I was fighting the good fight, you’re Nephilim then?” Satan asked.

Dee nodded.

“I sense an aura of intense energy around you,” Satan started. “It’s disgusting that he’d let two half-breeds have such power, the Angel of Death and an Archangel.”

“Can the commentary and tell us why you sent us that message?” Madeleine said.

Satan’s face went blank, his blue eyes now serious, “This is a warning…consider it an omen if you must—the war is coming.”

“We’ve been at war with you since—well the beginning of time,” Dee said.

“This war will make that one look like a school yard fight,” Satan said, “It’s ramifications will spill through Heaven, Earth, Purgatory and have already began in Hell.”

“There’s fighting in Hell?” Madeleine asked.

“Someone’s marched on two of the cities and taken them both, there’s demons joining their ranks by the thousands…the Lake of Fire at Gehenna is under attack as we speak,” he said.

Dee shook her head, “Any idea who’s leading this force?”

“I have one, but you’re not going to believe it.”

“Go ahead,” Madeleine said.

“The Great Old Gods…” Satan replied.

Dee and Madeleine glared at each other confused. Finally Madeleine smoothed her hands down her deep brown dress and asked, “What are these ‘Gods’?”

He sighed, “Do you two read anything in the Angelic Libraries?” there was a short pause. “They’re what predated Humans, God’s original ‘grand creation’, hidden away from the world in sacred objects…they lie dormant in both Hell and Earth.”

“How can a dormant life form lead an army?” asked Dee.

“They’re more Immortal than Human, someone has been releasing them or using their power to help build a force,” Satan concluded.

“How do you know all of this?” asked Madeleine.

“Because Michael and I led the charge to imprison them,” he started, “Most we placed carefully inside of sacred objects but one, who surrendered, we imprisoned in bone and flesh…the first Female—I think you actually know her.”

“I think we would know if we knew someone with that kind of power,” Dee said.

“She was called Lilith once, but these days she prefers the name Amandah—,” Satan paused to let them take it in.

“The Trickster?” asked Dee.

Satan nodded, “But a pendant and a glove that we trapped two of them in are missing from Hell—I’ve dispatched my Elite Guard to find the other objects.”

Dee turned to Apples, “Never a dull moment, eh Apples?”

“I’ve got to head back to my fight,” Satan said, “But I would advise you girls to talk to that Immortal, see if she knows anything.”

“Last I checked you didn’t run anything, Lucifer…” Madeleine said.

“If I, through all my pride have enlisted the help of Angels—you better believe this is something you should be worried about. If Hell falls Purgatory will easily and then Earth after that—then what, you make your stand in Heaven?”

“A drop of blood must never fall inside the Golden Gates!” Dee protested.

“Then I suggest you do as I say.”

*blank*

After losing what I thought was a friend over nothing, I'm convinced there are no descent people left in the world. Even after being friends for some years and talking pretty often; someone just dumps you off. Without a word, without any sort of a warning. Someone I had thought was a really good person, someone I thought that I could talk to and trust just up and blocks you and stops answering your calls. I don't know what to say about her, besides I wish I'd never known her. If all she was going to do was sneak out when she thought I wouldn't notice, or just walk out and not care if I noticed. What's the point? Why even be friends at all then?

I don't even want to talk about it anymore, its something that's just going to make me more angry.

Bananaphone?!?...WTF?

This song is so messed up! I mean what the Hell is it? A phone, obviously, but can you eat the damn thing? Or is it just shaped like a banana. Is it home based or mobile...and if it is mobile how much does the plan cost?

And in the song, why the fuck does he call the cat?

"No sir, the White House will not except your bananaphone call."

Save the Lies for the Liars

I'm starting to dislike pretentious people, those who think that they have to invent a new them to make themselves interesting. The same people who you see trying to hard to look intelligent. I'm getting really tired of being told how I can't be a real writer if I don't do this, or how doing this or that isn't an adult choice to make with ones hobbies or the like.

There's a guy that I work with who I spend a good deal of time around and he is one of these people. The very definition of lame. He made himself a big long list of New Years resolutions and broadcast them all over the place. Most of them were trivial shit. One of them even said that he wanted to take up smoking, who just 'takes up smoking' and choses to do so ahead of time.

He was discussing his writing with me at one point, because he writes too and it just sounded like that same old tired ass stuff you see in movies like Garden State, a depressing and emo romp through life until somehow some quirky girl comes up and without explanation for how she does it, changes things. When I told him about my writing and how I had spent all of the night before writing an action scene. He made some comment about how he used to write stuff like that, but he grew up.

He is quick to judge others on how they dress and the like, but the second someone even points ou that he is out of dress code, he flies off the handle. He is just the kind of person I thought I would be rid of when I got out of high school, but there are apparently more of them.

I Can Be So Cruel

So yeah, maybe this guy's problem isn't funny...but what I said back is...

Him: "I haven't crapped in the past 4 days, and I'm all stopped up. I'm in tremendous pain; I cant remain seated for more than 5 minutes, or else my lower area gets cramped. Throughout the day, I'll get convulsions that feel like someone punched me in the kidneys, and it hurts when I bend over. When I try to go to the bathroom, it's like my body wont let anything come out, despite my will to push through the pain. I took a laxative and it has yet to work. Any suggestions? Thanks."

Me: "There's only one option left...get in there with a butter knife and start yourself like a ketchup bottle."

I'm so cruel sometimes.

From the Heart of Utah

These are some quotes from a member known as UtahCrip on a forum I visit. They're pretty damn funny.

On Gun Control

"I feel like a real man regardless if I'm strapped. I just happen to always be strapped."

"This country was built on packing heat."

"Fuck out of here. I'll fight a dude but sometimes you just got to clap somebody."

On Relationships

"I told my moms I was going to go blow out some hoes back. All she asked was if I had some jimmy hats. I told her yeah but I hit it raw. Shit, elementary school was some good time."

"You act like it's hard to pick up 13 year old girls and fatties. If I stopped down to your level, I'd get more than 3 broads. Thankfully I like my hoes of age and looking right.

I aint down with that bullshit[monogamy]. I mean how you only going to bang one broad when they is so many good looking bitches out there. You must be crazy, cuz.

[Sexual Fantasies]"Aight peep this. So I'm chilling with the homies. Next thing this dime comes out of no where. We talking fine face, nice tigoles, and phat ass. So she pushes my homies out the way and gives me dome on the spot. Next thing a cop pulls up and get out of his ride. Before he starts hating, she pulls out my glock and shoots the pig. Then I hit it from the bacc. That's some real shit right there. For real something really romantic and shit.

On Learning

"Why aint you learn something more useful in them 10 years. The hood aint checking for sword fights. Seriously, call me the next time you get into a 3 musketeers type swordfight, cuz.

I really don't get that shit. For real people act like they are smarter with a degree. Yet when they graduate, they in debt and having troubles getting a job. Shit I barely graduated high school and I stay getting paid. The streets taught me and I aint have to take no caclulus classes. For current college students, I'm sorry but you getting pimped by education.

my response

We can't all sling roccs and gang bang, yo. Some of us have to stay on the straight and narrow, otherwise there would be massive inflation in the banging and slanging...and then there would be no money in the drug game...But going to college doesn't mean that you can't cheat the system and do gangsta shit, like stealing food from the campus cafe, or bustin' mental-caps in foo's with your knowledge.

I seriously couldn't make this shit up, I had to edit the spelling and stuff like that. But its all his words. You have no idea what kind of pure win this guy is made of.