Death Angel (Death Angel Series Book 1) (3 page)

“No ma’am,” Joken said with a small amused smile. “In fact, if you follow this hallway in that direction,” he pointed down the opposite end of the hall, “you will come to the offices of the Dark Generals rather shortly. Mr. Black’s office is the first one in the block.”

He didn’t give her any further explanation before he turned abruptly on his heels and left her standing outside her doorway. She was rather surprised to find that the door was unlocked. In fact, there wasn’t a lock on the door. The inside was nice, with several rooms all furnished comfortably. One bedroom, a room that appeared to be a study, a living room with comfortable looking couches and a kitchen that was small but still spacious and clean. The pantry was well stocked and the kitchen had all the pots, pans, and dishes she would need. She found her way into the bathroom, which was as well appointed as the rest of the place. After washing up, she plopped down into her new bed. Her eyes slid shut and she sank deep into the fluffy soft pillow top mattress. She wanted so badly to let sleep take her away, to let her wake up to find this was all some bizarre dream. But too many questions rolled around in her head. Was this really the afterlife? Why had she been brought here and why was she suddenly so important that she would get all this for apparently no reason? What exactly was her new job? What if she couldn’t do what was expected of her?

It was all just too much for her to think about right now. Just adjusting to the mere fact that she was dead was difficult enough. Now she had to worry about a job with a boss that everyone seemed terrified of. She didn’t even know if she had ever had a job. Just as she was able to push aside all her worries and questions, just as she got into a spot that she didn’t want to move from, she heard a voice that snapped her back to reality.

“Hello? Gabrielle?” she heard a woman’s voice calling her. She wanted to hide under the covers and never come out. What could they possibly want with her now? She heard the bedroom door open and she opened her eyes to find a young looking brown haired girl looking back at her with a soft smile. She had striking gray eyes that were too familiar to her.

“Hi, I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said, taking a step into the room. Gabrielle shook her head and sat up on the bed, waiting for the girl to explain what she was doing here.

“Do I…do I need to be somewhere right now? Did I do something wrong?” she asked, when the woman didn’t say anything else.

“No, no,” she said, shaking her head. “Sorry, I’m Aracella Black. My brother asked me to come and help you.”

“Brother?” Gabrielle asked, already guessing who he was before she had even answered.

“Sebastian Black,” Aracella said his name with an odd reverence. “I’m actually a bit surprised. He’s never hired anyone with so….”

Her words trailed off and Gabrielle could see was struggling to find her words, as if she didn’t want to offend her.

“So, what?” Gabrielle asked. “It’s ok, you can tell me.”

“Well, so…inexperienced,” she said. She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, studying her face intently as if she would be able to read her history in it. “Did you really just get here today?”

“Yeah,” Gabrielle said, rubbing uncomfortably at the back of her hand. “It’s all a bit overwhelming, maybe you can help answer some of the questions I have?”

“Yeah, well…I can try,” Aracella said. “I’m not a crossover, I’m a natural, so there’s that…but I can maybe give you some understanding.”

“A crossover? Natural?” Gabrielle said, shaking her head. “You’ve already lost me.”

“Right,” Aracella said with a little smile as she began to explain. “A natural is someone who is born into the Death Angel Society. Their parents are either naturals, or crossovers. My brother is the head of our family. We have been naturals for as far back as our written history goes. Crossovers are people who were once beings in the world of the living, such as you. The bulk of the people here are crossovers. It becomes harder and harder for naturals to reproduce, the further along the line you go. It’s somewhat of a miracle that our parents had two children.”

“What exactly is it that we do here?” Gabrielle asked. Things weren’t any clearer and Aracella’s explanation had only brought more questions. “I mean, why are we here at all? Is this heaven or hell—“

Aracella’s short burst of laughter cut her words off.

“The short answer is neither,” Aracella said. “We are more of the…behind the scenes…of the afterlife. We escort souls to the places they belong, or we guide them into new lives, depending on the individual’s circumstances. That kind of work takes a lot of people to make happen. That’s basically what most people here do. But we, you, me and everyone else under the command of the Generals, fight and control the Darklings.”

Gabrielle thought about the explanation for a moment. It certainly brought some things more into focus. It sounded like some interesting rewarding work. But there were still some questions rolling in her mind.

“Why me? Why did I get sent here,” Gabrielle asked.

“Unfortunately, that’s something that none of us know,” Aracella said, shrugging her shoulders. “They just appear here. We do an assessment and almost always find a place for them.”

“Almost?” Gabrielle asked. The word sounded a bit too foreboding for her to let go without questioning.

“Unfortunately, not everyone can find a place to work here,” she said, her eyes turning a bit sympathetic as she explained. “Those that can’t are sent to the lower sector and have to basically fend for themselves.”

“That sounds horrible,” Gabrielle said, understanding now the looks that she had gotten when they passed through that sector on the way to her quarters.

“It’s really not as bad as it seems,” she said, “Some people suffer, sure. But most of them find a comfortable enough existence. Sometimes, we have openings that they can move up into. Not often though.”

The casualty with which she talked about those that seemed so much less fortunate than herself made her a little uncomfortable. She supposed that with time, she too would become used to the facts of this place.

“Are we…immortal now?” Gabrielle asked, the question suddenly popping into her head and taking precedence before the other questions she had.

“Not exactly,” Aracella said. “It is possible to live for quite a long time, though not everyone does. Some die of the Sickness, but most die in battle.”

“Battle?” Gabrielle asked, her eyebrows raised in surprised. “There are battles?”

“I heard you encountered a Darkling earlier,” Aracella said. “Those are the creatures we fight. Well, the Dark Generals and their subordinates fight. The Light Generals are more of the…research and development divisions.”

“My head is spinning,” Gabrielle said, shaking off the amount of information she was being bombarded with.

“I know,” Aracella said reaching over and patting her on the hand, “it’s kinda a lot to take in. Usually, you’d have a few years of adjustment with people that are feeling the same things you are while you’re assessed. But, I guess you’re lucky in a way. Serving directly under my brother is a very high position. I’ve never seen him do such a thing before.”

Gabrielle was about to ask another question, but a rapid beeping sound caught both of their attention. Aracella took out a small electronic device that resembled a phone from the pocket of her black suit pants and looked at it.

“I better go,” she said, a frown coming over her face. She glanced back up at Gabrielle. “But I’ll be back. Just try to get some rest and I’ll be back later to check on you.”

###

“Care to explain yourself?” the Head General asked, his bushy white brows raised as he looked from the paper in his hand to Sebastian Black who sat on the other side of his desk.

“Not particularly,” Sebastian said, ignoring the glare of his boss, the one person in the Central Bureau that had the power to punish him.

“This isn’t like you, Sebastian,” the Head General said, his milky eyes staring at him with heavy disapproval. Sebastian knew it wasn’t like him, and he knew that people would question him when he did it, but he didn’t care. He had his reasons.

“Are you saying that you are overruling my decision?” Sebastian asked, still not willing to explain himself. The Head General narrowed his eyes at him.

“No,” he said after a short pause. “I only want an explanation.”

“I have none to give,” Sebastian said, holding his ground even when the Head General clearly displayed his displeasure. His boss leaned back against his chair with his arms still resting on the desk.

“It isn’t like you to want someone so inexperienced,” the Head General said, still prying for information and understanding.

“I believe her inexperience could be useful to me,” Sebastian said. He had made the excuse up even as he was speaking it, but he was rather pleased with himself. Maybe he could spin it well enough for the Head General to even halfway believe him.

“Useful inexperience?” the Head General said, his narrowed eyes telling Sebastian that he wasn’t buying it for a moment.

“The situation which I voiced concern for earlier,” Sebastian said, continuing his recently made up explanation. “Perhaps a fresh, unbiased, pair of eyes can shed some light on the subject.”

“Even if I were to believe that explanation,” the Head General said, cocking his head to the side, “why would a Dark General care to do such a thing. That is more in the realm of a Light General’s job description.”

“While the Light Generals are busy reading and carrying out experiments, safe in their office block, my men are dying in record numbers,” Sebastian said. The calmness in his voice belied the weight that statement held. “And that is not due to inability. It is my responsibility to ensure they are protected, whatever that may entail.”

“Do you take me for a fool, Sebastian?” the Head General asked as he leaned further back in his chair, crossing his fingers together over his stomach as he considered him.

“Is that a serious question, sir?” Sebastian asked, knowing full well that it wasn’t the kind of response the Head General was looking for. For any other General, his current behavior would be seen as direct disobedience and call for punishment, possibly in the form of the Eternal Death. But Sebastian wasn’t just any General and everyone knew that. Though he had never broken the rules before, or even walked the line like he was now, he knew that he could get away with it. If only for the fact that his family’s status was so prominent in the organization. His father was the previous Head General and his mother had been a member of the Central Bureaucracy. His pedigree was beyond reproach and everyone knew he was being groomed for the future position of Head General.

“Do you expect me to believe that ridiculous explanation?” the Head General asked, rephrasing his question.

“I do,” Sebastian replied coolly, knowing that it was still not the response the old man was wanting. He didn’t care. Finding out the truth was too important to him and he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to that girl until he did. If she went to the assessment with the other new arrivals, he may never find her again. She could end up with the Sickness, or lost to some other menial job around here. He simply wouldn’t risk such a thing happening.

“Very well,” the Head General said, “I can’t say that I like it, and I hope you know what you’re
doing. I won't push you further to reveal your true reason for this peculiar decision. But if this causes any problems, it will be on your head. And if one of the other Generals asks for an assessment…”

The Head General let his words trail off, but he raised his brows at Sebastian, expecting him to understand. He did. All souls that passed into this place were given an assessment. The worst thing of all this was that Sebastian had surpassed that system. It wouldn’t matter so much if none of the other Generals found out and insisted on one, not that there was any reason for any of them to do such a thing.

“I understand,” Sebastian said. He stood from his seat, buttoned his black blazer and left the Head General’s office. He had a lot of work to get done, and he had a special request that he needed to see to. It would take him calling in all the favors he had gained over his many years as a Dark General, but if the results were as he expected, it would be well worth it. Until that time, he would simply stick by his story that his decision was purely work related.

Chapter Five

Gabrielle woke to a bell ringing, the sound of it coming from everywhere around her. Her initial reaction was to try and hit the snooze button, but she quickly realized that it wasn’t her alarm going off. Then she realized that she was supposed to be at her new job before that bell went off.

She flew out of the bed, her heart pounding as her mind began to race. She rushed around her new home, trying to get dressed as fast as she could. As she pulled open the closet door, a wardrobe full of black greeted her. She wasn’t surprised, but she couldn’t say she was terribly happy about it either. There were no memories from her life before, but she knew what her favorite colors were and black certainly wasn’t one of them. She sighed. There wasn’t any time to do anything about it now. She pulled down a top and a pair of suit pants and was dressed, heading out the door a few short moments later. She finger combed her hair as she rushed down the hallway towards what she hoped was the right direction. There were no people around, which only made her more anxious. She would feel better if she could ask someone if she was going the right way. She assumed she could trust the directions from her guide the day before. There wasn’t exactly anywhere else she could go in this place. It seemed to be nothing but straight hallways with doors leading off them. She hadn’t come across a door that wasn’t numbered and she assumed that meant there was a person living behind each one. This place was beyond strange to her, but the strangest thing by far, the hardest thing she was finding was the fact that she couldn’t remember anything past the day before. What made it so much stranger was the way she still knew things about herself. She knew that she could type, and very well. She knew that she had never had a drink of alcohol. She had never been on a date, and she had never kissed a boy. She couldn’t remember her age, though when she looked in the mirror, she knew she had to be young. She looked young. She wondered what could have happened to her in her life that she died at the age she looked to be. She had to know what had happened to her.

The night was hard for her to get through. She had tossed and turned in her bed, trying to force her mind to adjust to the facts at hand. She had already made her mind up that she was going to petition the Central Bureau for information about her previous life. She didn’t even know what that really meant, or what it entailed. But she remembered that Ms. Blankenship had briefly mentioned it. It didn’t matter to her that she also said they never approved those requests. She would still make the petition. She had to. She reckoned that if they allowed petitions to be made, then there was someway, somehow that information could be found out. Someone, somewhere in this organization knew about her life. They knew who she was, they knew how she died, and they knew why. It might seem like a small issue to some, and apparently people in this organization didn’t care much, but to her it was a big deal. It was a very big deal. It wasn’t until she promised herself that she would find out about her life that she was finally able to fall asleep. Maybe she was just exhausted from the night of mental tossing and turning, or maybe the thought that she might find some answers to the questions that burned in her mind. Whatever the reason, she was finally able to calm her mind and fall into sleep. The thought that she might need an alarm to get to work on time hadn’t even occurred to her. There wasn’t even an alarm in her new home as far as she knew. Even if there were, she wouldn’t have known what time to set it for. She didn’t even know if time was the same here as it was during her life. She reasoned that it had to be seeing as that was one of the things she could remember.

As she made her way down the hallway, taking a turn in what appeared to be the right direction, since one way had black plaques on the doors and the other had white, her mind began to think about her new boss. She didn’t know anything about him, really, but she was reasonably certain that he wouldn’t be happy about her being late. She wasn’t going to try and use the excuse that she was simply a day old in this place. Though she reckoned that that had to be a damn good excuse. No, she wouldn’t make a single excuse. She somehow knew that he wasn’t the type that would appreciate excuses. His eyes had stuck in her mind and the coldness in them replayed every time she had thought about him, which was a lot. There was something that shone behind them when he looked at her, something she just couldn’t figure out but she couldn’t forget either. She couldn’t forget him. He made her nervous, and scared, and oddly comfortable all at the same time. She wanted to stare at him the two times that she had come into contact with him, but at the same time, he intimidated her too much for her to carry through with her desire to study his features. He was intense, but she found the thought of seeing him again, getting to work close to him all day, unbelievably exciting, even though she had no idea what she would be doing. The calmness that he exuded when he had killed that Darkling, like he had done it every day of his life intrigued her.

She rounded a final corner in the hallway and she recognized where she was. She saw the door to his office, the door to her new job. His name was emblazoned on the glass, General Sebastian Black. Her nerves tickled down the back of her neck and up her arms. She licked her lips and prepared herself to see the man that had filled her thoughts the night before.

She opened the door of the office, somehow expecting him to be standing there when she did. When he wasn’t there she felt a mild jolt of disappointment. Instead of his chiseled face, with intense gray eyes staring at her with disapproval for her tardiness, she saw harsh black ones, set into a pretty face framed by short black hair.

“You’re late,” Kaia said, her eyes narrowed coldly at her. Her lips were pulled tight and Gabrielle could feel the hate radiating off of her. All her previous resolve to not make an excuse went out the window and she licked at her lips, preparing to defend herself against this woman and her irrational anger towards her.

“And you look like you just rolled out of bed,” Kaia continued, not allowing Gabrielle the chance to voice her excuses. “Mr. Black doesn’t appreciate those who can’t properly care for themselves.”

She was still glaring at her and Gabrielle knew there was nothing she could say that would please her, nothing would satiate her unfounded hatred towards her. She didn’t know what it was she could have possibly done to this woman in the one day that she had been here, but she had somehow made an enemy of her.

“Where is my desk?” Gabrielle said lifting her chin and deciding to just ignore the issue of her tardiness and appearance altogether. She didn’t know why this woman hated her so much but she wasn’t going to let her get to her.

“Desk?” Kaia said, cocking an eyebrow. “You don’t get a desk. You won’t be here long enough to need one.”

The callous glare Kaia gave her before turning away made Gabrielle want to cower in the corner. Gabrielle finally noticed that the office was a bit chaotic, with the Ms. Blankenship and the other two girls rushing about. She wanted to ask what was going on, but she didn’t dare. She didn’t want to get another tongue-lashing. So instead she just stood there, barely able to keep her mouth closed and her breathing steady. She didn’t know where to direct her eyes. A million thoughts went through her mind that she could say, but she didn’t have the nerve to say a single one of them. Every few seconds, one of the three women that occupied the office would cast a look in her direction, and then they would quickly turn back to whatever it was they were busy with.

“For goodness sake girl,” Ms. Blankenship finally puffed out, “Put yourself to use.”

“I…I don’t know what…” Gabrielle didn’t even know what to say. She felt so useless. Worse than useless, she felt like she was just in the way. Ms. Blankenship sighed heavily and shook her head.

“This is what he wanted,” Ms. Blankenship said, throwing her hands in the air as she stepped towards Gabrielle. “Mr. Black hired her, against my better suggestions, and this is the result.”

She tossed her armful of papers down on a desk and moved back in front of the computer screen that Kaia and Nettie were crowding around.

“Have you gotten a lock on his location?” she asked, looking intently at the screen.

“Almost, Ma’am,” Kaia said, her fingers furiously working on the keyboard.

“Hurry, there isn’t much time left. If we don’t get him now, he’ll be lost in the Between,” Mrs. Blankenship said. Gabrielle could see the worry crossing her brows.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Kaia said, her fingers working even faster. Ms. Blankenship looked up from the screen and directly at Gabrielle for just a moment.

“Get on the Bureau line and wait for my signal,” she said, not caring to explain further as her gaze focused back on the computer screen. For a moment, Gabrielle questioned whether she had been talking to her or not, but none of the other women made a move to do what she said. Gabrielle looked around, not having the faintest idea what she was talking about.

“Over there,” Nettie said, pointing a finger at a red phone that hung on the wall before returning to her own activities behind the computer. It gave her a little bit of direction, but she still didn’t know what she was doing as she picked up the headset of the phone and held it to her ear. She didn’t know what she was expecting, maybe a dial tone, but the voice immediately on the other end of the phone caught her off guard.

“What is your commanding officer’s position?” a stern male voice asked. Gabrielle didn’t know what to say. She stuttered and stumbled over her words as she tried to tell the man that she didn’t know.

“General Sebastian Black, standby,” Ms. Blankenship said, looking at Gabrielle for just a moment. “There,” she said, her voice rising as she pointed to the screen.

“Got him,” Kaia said, as her fingers continued to run across the keyboard. “I’ll have the coordinates in just a moment.”

Gabrielle was still at a loss as the male voice on the other side of the phone began to scream at her. She looked to the other women for help, for further guidance. Ms. Blankenship looked back up at her sternly.

“Tell him,” she said sharply, pointing to the phone. “General Sebastian Black, standby.”

Gabrielle quickly repeated the words into the phone, her voice near trembling as she did. The male voice on the other end calmed instantly.

“Standing by for coordinates,” he said, and then fell silent as he waited for coordinates, to what Gabrielle had no idea.

“I’ve got his coordinates,” Kaia said, a look of relief washing over her, “transferring them to the main office now.”

“I’ve already got the reinforcements notified,” Nettie said, chiming in as her fingers continued to type. Ms. Blankenship straightened and looked at Gabrielle once again. The immediacy was gone from her face, replaced with heavy disapproval.

“You can hang up the phone now,” she said. She looked back at the computer and the other women in the office, placing a hand on her hip. “Now we just have to wait.”

The two women immediately stopped typing. The room seemed to freeze, the chaos suddenly dissipating.

“Do you think he’ll make it back?” Kaia asked as she looked up at Ms. Blankenship. Gabrielle could hear the fright, concern, and uncertainty in her voice.

“He always has,” Ms. Blankenship said, trying to calm the nerves of the other women, but her own voice carried some uncertainty. “I’m afraid his sister may already be too far gone.”