The team entered the building as a unit. All together and then broke up into pairs leaving her to stand at the front of the building. The other agencies were being called in now. They didn’t want to give any possible warning time so the time of breach it would be called in. She could only imagine the hell it will be outside in a few minutes. She almost had to smile as she walked into the building. They were minutes away from ending her personal nightmare. It was finally going to be over.
The building itself was a run-down warehouse. She had been inside it once before while playing with her cousins as a child. She could remember the inside clearly and the natural mustiness it had from being vacant for so long. It still had that smell. It wasn’t death yet. It had no rotting corpses for her to find that had been there for weeks or months. Anything she would find would be fresh today. Though she hoped they got there in time, she knew there would be some. She hated that part of knowledge.
The noise on the floor above where she was was her first indication that they found things. She could hear of the comms that something was there but since she was mostly an outsider to there they on verbal shorthand she didn’t know exactly what. Mitsunari showed up at her side and told her to go upstairs. She walked quickly and quietly up the marble staircase and started her way to the spot. They knew she would be there as they watched her from the open room. They moved slightly as she rounded the door to look inside. Her father lay slumped in the corner with her sister at his feet. She took a deep intake of breath as her father opened his eyes and looked dead into hers.
“Dad?”, she asked.
“Kit?”, he asked.
“Dad!”, she said as she walked into the room.
“He is still here.”, her father said. “He was going to……”
“I know dad.”, she said as she moved closer. “These are my friends. We are going to clear the rest of the building.”
“He wants you.”, her father stated.
“I know.”, she smiled.
“Be careful.”, Her father said as he looked at the form on the floor with pity.
“Don’t dad.”, she said. “She was gone a long time ago.”
“I know that now. I tried. I tried.”, her father said.
“I know dad.”, She replied as she stood up from her crouching position. Hideyoshi walked over to her and nodded. She knew she would be leaving her father in his hands as well as the body of her sister who lay at his feet. She looked up into Hideyoshi’ s eyes. “Protect them.”
“I will.”, He replied, and she turned to the door. She nodded and made her way to them.
“He is in the basement.”, she said.
“How do you know that?”, Nobunaga asked.
“Start at the bottom and work your way up.”, she said, and they looked at her.
“He always killed from the bottom to the top.”, she said. “I guess we didn’t get that far over the week of going over this or I thought you already saw the pattern.”
“If you say so.”, Oda replied, and they made their way to the stairs and went down so quietly she wondered if this was a dream. It seemed though the eight men who were with her were big and very muscled they all moved with a silence that almost defined them. She was sure the only noise that could be heard was her heart beating so loud that everyone should be able to hear it. As they got to the bottom, they made a line with her in the middle. They opened the door and propped it open as they walked through again on silent feet. She was trapped in the middle as she glanced around the open bay. She spotted the first woman who was now hanging from the wall. Slumped over but she could see with her experienced eyes the woman was freshly dead. They moved as one unit throughout the room. Then they broke off and blocked all doors leaving her surprising alone in the middle of the vast room. She knew what they were doing, she didn’t like it, though she understood. She wondered how they got Mitsuhide to agree to use her for the bait. She had the doubts that he would have gone through with that without some very good reason.
The reason was they knew if she were protected, he would continue to hide. Knowing the building as well as he did. That could be a long and drawn out search. It could take days or even weeks. The quickest way to draw him out was her.
“Did you like the gifts?”, She heard as she stood in the middle of the room. She had to hope the men also heard it though they were scattered throughout the room.
“Not really.”, She answered though she could not place where he was in the room. The voice had echoed off walls in the process of reaching her. The low light was just enough to make the shadows seem as they themselves were moving.
“I am sorry then. I thought you would like to add to your collection.”, the voice said.
“Devin?”, she asked.
“Is not here at the moment.”, the voice said.
“Then who are you?”, she asked.
“Devon.”
“Devon what are you doing here exactly?”, she asked.
“What does it look like?”, He asked in the darkness. She could tell he was moving around but still could not locate him. Neither could the other men who are now aware of his presence in the openness of the room.
“I am not sure that is why I asked.”, she replied.
“I am trying to find out how to fix him.”, he replied.
“Him?”, she asked.
“My son.”, he replied.
“Damien?”, she asked.
“A fitting name for the devils own son, don’t you think?”, he asked.
“So you’re the devil?”, she asked.
“No.,” he replied. “I was merely a pawn as well.”
“Jenny was the devil?”, she asked.
“And she has returned back to hell.”, he said almost laughing.
“You killed her?”, she asked.
“No. Your father did that on his own. I knew bringing him here was a bad idea. She knew it would bring you though.”, he replied. “All I wanted was for you to be here.”
“Why would you want that?”, She asked. She knew if she could keep him talking the better the chance someone would figure out where he was and take him out.
“That should be easy to figure out.”, he replied.
“I don’t understand why.”, she said.
“You should. She was the devil you are an angel.”, he said.
“So Jenny was bad that must mean I am good, then?”, she asked.
“Something like that.”, he replied.
“I still don’t understand though.”, she said.
“Understand what?”, he asked back.
“Why you wanted me here.”, she said. “Why did you do this, all of this?”, she asked.
“I told you to see how to fix him. That is where you come in though. He is broken. My only son is broken because the devil is half of him. You are the angel. You must know how to fix him.”, he said.
“He isn’t broken. He is just different.”, she said.
“His blood is tainted with pure evil.”, he replied.
“I still have no idea why you are here doing this to all these people.”, She said knowing every time she spoke the voice got a little louder. She couldn’t see the team as they had all moved to different places.
“I had to find out if it was her or me.”, He said as she felt the breath on her neck. He had managed to get right in back of her without her even knowing. She took a step forward and turned around. There he was. The same man as the one she knew as an agent for the federal government. She had seen him on the different sites for this case. She had never thought it was him.
“It was her. Her tainted blood, not mine. Now I need yours to fix him.”, he said softly.
“My blood won’t fix him.’, she said.
“You are the avenging angel. Of course, it will.”, he stated.
“I am not an angel.”, she said.
“But you are. It was only because of a divine presence that you are here.”, he said. “I made sure of that.”
“What do you mean?”, she asked.
“No one could figure any of this out because I am beyond any of you mere mortals.”, he stated.
“Who am I speaking with now?”, she asked.
“You don’t recognize my sister?”, He asked, and she was confused. He was not another of her brothers.
“I can’t see you.”, she said softly.
“Keep him talking princess.”, she her over the comms softly.
“I’m trying.”, she said as she answered the team. “I’m trying to understand who you are.” She said as if to keep all attention on her and have him forget the team’s presence.
“Azriel it is me.”, he said.
“Azriel?”, she asked.
“You do not recognize me even now?’, He asked as he stepped closer. She was confused but knew who Azriel was. The avenging angel. She was this to him? She was now trying to keep up with a delusion mind and knew that would be impossible. She took a leap of faith and spoke out again.
“Uriel?”, she asked.
“You do know who I am.”, He smiled a cold smile as she looked him over again. Nothing changed as he moved through these personalities. It wasn’t like she expected at all. He was still speaking though it was the same person she had met in the first warehouses. She wondered if he even realized at the time that he was responsible for the carnage in the buildings. He thought he was an angel. He thought she was an angel as well and his sister. She was racking her brain for the memories of the angels that her mother had made her learn. She had never liked the stories, and she had blocked out most of what her mother had said to her over the years.
“It is you!”, she played along.
“I knew you would know me.”, he replied as he stepped forward.
“Of course I would.”, she said as she tried to step back.
“Why do you have one of the human weapons? Where is your sword?”, he asked as if he was now questioning her.
“I have to pretend as well as you do.”, She said with a smile. She heard the whip crack before she felt the pain in her hand as the gun went flying.
“Lair.”, he said as his voice changed.
“I know not of what you speak.”, she said.
“Yes, you do!”, he said. “You are not her. You are not the angel!”
“I am.”, she replied.
“You are not!”, he yelled, and she felt the whip crack again on her shoulder.
“I don’t know why you are doing this!”, she yelled out.
“You must die.”, He said as she stumbled backward again. The room had grown deadly silent, and she wondered if she was already dead, but the pain in her shoulder was enough to keep her tethered to the spot. She was alive. She knew that. The pain grew and lanced throughout her body.
“What did you put on the whip?”, she asked.
“You will never find out.”, He replied. She stumbled and fell back. The pain was now shooting throughout her body. It was poisoned. The whip was poisoned. She looked around as she stumbled yet again and moved backward trying to get out of the way of the ends of the whip. He raised it one more time and went to send it cracking towards her when a shot echoed out and he fell backward.
She got to her feet again and looked at where he had been standing. The body on the floor was not moving, and she moved closer. She looked at the man who had been trying to kill her a few seconds ago and saw the dead center bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. She turned and looked at the person who had shot him. He pulled off his mask, and a pair of yellow eyes glowed in the darkness. They were the last things she saw as she crumbled to the ground.