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Birds of Pray	By : Kittenmommy Category: M through R > Prophecy, The Views: 2168 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Prophecy movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
“Birds
of Pray”

Chapter
11

“Pizza
and Beer”

*****

Gabriel
sat at the counter, sipping his coffee.

He
had been sent to this place with a mission that he had no idea how to
complete; for once in his life, he was totally at a loss.

“You’re
becoming a regular around here,” the waitress observed, coming
over with her coffee pot to offer him a refill. She didn’t
sound particularly pleased about it.

Perhaps
this human would know what to do. Gabriel put his elbows on the
counter and steepled his fingers in front of his face. “Maybe
you could help me out with something… Madge. See, I had
a fight with my buddy the other day.” He gave a
self-deprecating little smile. “We were fighting over a
woman… you know how it is.”

“Can’t
say I do,” she told him in an unfriendly voice.

“But
she’s dead now… the woman,” Gabriel continued,
picking up his coffee cup and taking a sip. “And I don’t
know how to make things right with my buddy.”

The
waitress frowned, shrugged. “Just go apologize.”

“But
he started it!” Gabriel said hotly, realizing even as he
spoke how childish it sounded.

The
waitress shrugged again. “So wait until he finds you
and apologizes.”

“Aaaah,
he’ll never be able to find me,” Gabriel said, shaking
his head. “So that’s no good. And the thing
is… the woman won’t talk to me until I make up with my
buddy.”

The
waitress frowned. “I thought you said she’s dead.”

“Uh…
yeah,” Gabriel said, mentally kicking himself. “Yeah
I did – gosh, you caught me!” He gave a nervous
little laugh.

A
new voice piped up from the end of the counter. “Take a
pizza and some beer over to his place and tell him that good pals
like you two have to stick together – especially after what
happened to the girl,” an old trucker advised.

“Pizza,”
Gabriel repeated, nodding. “And beer. Got it.”

“Sounds
like a plan,” the waitress agreed, her whole attitude managing
to convey the idea that she was in favor of anything that got him out
of her diner more quickly.

“And
where can I get pizza and beer around these parts, Madge?”
Gabriel asked.

“Pizza
place closed two months ago,” she informed him.

“There’s
a Pizza Hut next town over,” the man at the end of the counter
offered.

“North
of here,” the waitress added.

Gabriel
leaned forward on his stool. “Don’t suppose you
could be a tad more specific?”

Grudgingly,
she gave him directions.

“Much
obliged,” he said, rising and tossing a five dollar bill on the
counter. “Keep the change.”

*****

When
Greg finally hung up the cell phone, two hours had passed and he we
weary and overwhelmed.

Even
though everything made sense now, he still wasn’t sure what
he believed. If Joseph was right, everything Greg had believed
for so long was patently untrue; God did indeed exist, the Bible was
all true, and angels and demons haunted this world when they weren’t
fighting unimaginable Wars over philosophical differences.

He
drank down the rest of his second Pepsi and headed into the bathroom
– all of that soda was finally catching up with him.

When
he came back out, someone was knocking on the door.

“Who
is it?” he asked, peering through the peephole. He
couldn’t see anything outside – the peephole appeared to
be blocked by something – so he opened the door.

He
smelled pizza… and he sneezed.

“Hi!”
Gabriel said brightly, holding up a box from Pizza Hut. “I
brought pizza.”

Greg’s
heart climbed somewhere up into his throat. If the things
Joseph had told him were true, this weird person wasn’t even a
person, really. He was some other creature entirely, a
member of a species that was very, very dangerous.

And
he in particular was especially dangerous.

“Uh…”
Greg said, backing into the motel room. “That’s…
uh… that’s great, I guess.”

“Don’t
bother to thank me,” Gabriel said offhandedly, coming inside
and putting the pizza down on a little table. He closed the
door behind him and held up a brown paper sack. “I got
beer too.”

“Yeah,
terrific,” Greg said, still backing away. “Great.”

Gabriel
frowned, cocking his head at Greg. “Are you all right,
Gregory?”

“Sure,
yeah, never been better!” Greg sneezed several times.
He grabbed at a box of Kleenex on the nightstand, snagged a handful,
and wiped his dripping nose.

“You’re
acting very strange,” Gabriel continued, his frown
deepening.

Greg
held up both hands as though to fend the other man off, still backing
away. “Hey, take it easy there, Gabe… Gabriel.”
The back of his legs collided with the edge of the bed, and he sat
down hard. Then he sneezed.

“Yeah,
OK, Gregory,” Gabriel agreed, his tone suggesting that he was
pretty sure that Greg had lost his marbles. “I’ll
take it easy.”

“Yeah,
don’t get all upset or anything,” Greg said, oblivious to
the fact that Gabriel was obviously doubting his sanity.

The
angel sat down in one of the two chairs near the table. “I’ll
try to stay calm,” he agreed with a completely straight face.
He reached over and produced a bottle from the brown paper sack.
“Want a beer?”

It
didn’t seem prudent to refuse, Greg decided. “Uh,
yeah. Sure. That’s great.”

Gabriel
slowly leaned forward in his seat and extended the beer in Greg’s
direction, being careful not to make any sudden moves.

Greg
swallowed hard and leaned forward just as slowly, reaching out
cautiously with one hand. When he felt his fingers close around
the cool smooth glass, he snatched the bottle away as quickly as he
could.

“Are
you having some kind of breakdown, Gregory?” Gabriel asked,
concerned.

“Uh…
no… I don’t think so,” Greg said, twisting the top
off the beer bottle and drinking deeply.

Gabriel
put his elbows on the arms of the chair and folded his hands,
steepling his fingers in front of his mouth. He sat quietly,
tapping his lower lip thoughtfully as he watched Greg.

This
silent scrutiny finally became too much for the human. “You
have the same DNA as those feathers I found in Katie’s spare
room,” Greg blurted out, unnerved. “How can that
be?”

“How
do you think that could be, Gregory?” Gabriel asked tranquilly.

“I
don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ve been
hearing a lot of crazy things today… there’s a couple of
MEs who’re saying… well, a lot of bizarre stuff.”

“What’s
that?” Gabriel asked curiously.

“What’s
what?” Greg asked, still watching the angel warily.

“An
ME?”

“Medical
Examiner.” Gabriel still looked puzzled, and so Greg
elaborated. “A doctor who does autopsies… you
know, to figure out how someone died.”

“Oh,
yeah,” Gabriel said, nodding. “I’ve heard of
those.”

“One
of them said you have DNA like nothing else on Earth. Another
one told me about his friend the detective – poor guy spent his
last days locked up in a monastery, raving about… about…”

“About
what?”

Greg
looked down at the beer bottle in his hand. “About the
Archangel Gabriel.”

“Thomas
Daggett,” Gabriel said quietly, and Greg’s head jerked
up. “Yeah… those were pretty bad times for
everyone involved.” He reached into the brown paper bag
and got himself a beer. “You want some pizza?” he
asked as he pulled at the bottle cap, frowning.

Greg
sneezed several times and wiped his nose. “I dunno…”

Gabriel
gave him an exasperated look. “If I were going to hurt
you, Gregory, I would have done it in that parking lot the other
day. Remember?”

“Yeah,
I remember,” Greg said, his cheeks flaming at the memory.
“Listen, I’m sorry about that.”

“Aaaah,
don’t worry about it – it’s history, right?”

“Yeah,
but I clocked you really good,” Greg said miserably, suddenly
wondering if he’d earned himself a one-way ticket straight to
Hell for that little stunt. He had never dreamed that he’d
be worried about something like that, but then again he’d never
dreamed he’d end up socking God’s Messenger in the jaw,
either. “Sorry.”

“No
big deal,” Gabriel said, waving a hand dismissively.

“That
was a pretty stupid thing to do. From what I’ve been
hearing, you could’ve wiped the floor with me!”

“Yeah,”
Gabriel agreed. “But I knew you weren’t thinking
straight.”

“You’re
right, I wasn’t… and I’m still not. This has
been a really bad week for me, you know?”

“Sure,”
Gabriel agreed absently, still struggling with his bottle cap.

Greg
gathered his courage. “Here,” he said, leaning
forward. “Let me see.” He took the beer
bottle from Gabriel and easily twisted the top off. “There
you go,” he said, handing it back. The angel peered at
it, frowning. “The cap twists off,” Greg
explained, making a twisting motion. “You know.”

“Thank
you, Gregory.”

“No
biggie.”

Gabriel
opened the pizza box and helped himself to a slice. “It
smells really good, doesn’t it? Are you sure you don’t
want some?”

Greg
hadn’t eaten all day, and his stomach was growling painfully at
the tantalizing pizza aroma.

“Sure,”
he agreed, hunger winning out over terror. He moved to sit in
the chair across from Gabriel, reached for a slice of his own, and
sneezed explosively. He only just managed to avert his head so
that he didn’t sneeze all over the pizza.

“Oh,
stop that,” Gabriel said impatiently, and waved a hand in front
of Greg’s face. Immediately, Greg felt his sinuses
clear. His nose stopped streaming and his itchy eyes stopped
watering.

He
brought a hand to his face. “You… just…”

“Cured
your bird allergy, yeah,” Gabriel agreed with a shrug.
“No big deal.”

“It
is to me! Why didn’t you do that a long time ago?”

“Ahhhh…
you know,” Gabriel said with a vague gesture. He seemed
embarrassed, and suddenly Greg understood.

“Yeah,
I think I get it,” he agreed with a rueful smile. “You
liked watching me suffer… I bet you thought it was funny!”

The
angel shrugged again. “A little,” he admitted.
Greg gave him a look. “Yeah, all right – a lot.”

Greg
shook his head. “Just when I thought I’ve seen it
all…” He sighed. “Listen, Gabe…
Gabriel – and should I call you Gabriel, or is there some kind
of title I’m supposed to use… ‘Your Angelness’
or something like that?” Gabriel gave a little laugh at
this suggestion as Greg continued thoughtfully. “But I
guess I’ve been calling you all kinds of stuff since I met you,
and you haven’t smited me for it yet.”

“Smote,”
Gabriel corrected. “Not ‘smited’.”

“Oh
– right. My bad.” He suddenly realized that
he had completely lost his train of thought, and he took a bite of
pizza. “This is really good,” he said, chewing.
“Thanks for bringing it, Sport.”

The
nickname had fallen out of Greg's mouth before he could stop himself,
but either Gabriel hadn’t heard it or he didn’t care.
“Yeah, I had to go over to some little town about fifty miles
north of here to get it.”

“You
drove?” Greg asked through a mouthful of pizza; he was
surprised it was still hot after such a long trip.

“Nahhh…
I flew.”

Greg
choked.

“You
OK?” Gabriel asked as Greg coughed and sputtered. “You’re
not supposed to die choking on pizza.”

“Good
to know,” Greg gasped, taking a drink of beer to wash down the
rest of the pizza. He was quiet for a moment. “I
really miss Katie, you know?” he said suddenly. “I
feel like it’s my fault. If I hadn’t broken her
heart like that… I mean, who has a stroke when they’re
42 years old?”

“It
wasn’t your fault… Katherine didn’t suffer, and
she’s in a better place now… in Heaven.”

Greg
sighed. “I’m not sure I believe in that stuff,
Gabe.”

The
angel shrugged. “Doesn’t matter if you believe or
not, Gregory. It’s still real.”

He
was silent for a moment. “So, Katie went to Heaven –
” he began.

“I
took her there,” Gabriel corrected. “I’m the
Angel of Death… that’s what I do.”

Greg
only nodded at this. At this point, he was beyond being stunned
by any pronouncement the angel might make. “OK, so you
took Katie to Heaven, and she’s up there right now.”

“Yeah.”

“And
pretty soon you’re going to leave here and go up there and be
with her?”

The
angel nodded briefly. “I’ll see her, yeah.”

Greg
sighed. “It’s kind of ironic, you know?” He
looked at the floor, struggling to keep his voice from breaking.
“See, I always thought you might take her away from me.
But I never guessed it would be like this.”

Gabriel
took a breath, hesitated. “Listen, Gregory… Katherine
was born with this… this thing. You know.
In her brain,” he said, tapping the side of his own head.
“A weak blood vessel. It was gonna pop eventually, no
matter what… and when it did, it would have left her – ”

“A
vegetable,” Greg finished.

“No,”
Gabriel said, shaking his head. “Worse. Aware…
but… trapped. Trapped inside a useless skinsuit.
Is that what you would have wanted for Katherine, Gregory… for
the rest of her life?”

Greg
was horrified. “Of course not!”

“Would
that have been better than Paradise?”

“No!”

“Well…
there you go,” Gabriel said with a shrug. He leaned back
in his seat and took a sip of beer. “That’s what
was supposed to happen… but I asked The Boss to let me
bring her home instead. She asked me once to promise I wouldn’t
let her suffer. And I knew what her future was supposed to be…
and… I couldn’t
make that promise.” He frowned and put a hand to his
chest. “It hurt… here. You know?”
He looked puzzled, as though this wasn’t something he had ever
experienced before.

“Yeah,
Gabe – I know.” He smiled. “It’s
part of being human.”

“Huh.”

Greg
leaned forward in his seat. “Listen… what would
you have done if… He… if The Boss had said no?”

Gabriel
was quiet for a moment, thinking. “I don’t know,”
he finally admitted. “I’ve never disobeyed a direct
order. But Katherine – ”

Greg
sipped his beer and gave Gabriel a knowing look. “You’re
in love with her, aren’t you?”

“She’s
very important to me,” Gabriel said slowly. “But
no, Gregory. I’m not in love with her.” He
took a sip of beer. “You know… now I understand
why so many of my kind have become fascinated with your women…
even when it led to their own destruction.”

“Yeah,
they’re pretty damn fascinating,” Greg agreed, finishing
his beer and reaching for another slice of pizza. “So
what about… uh… your people. Don’t you have
your own women to lead you down the path of self-destruction?”

“No.”

“Really?”
Greg was surprised. “So where do baby angels come from?”
he asked, reaching for another beer.

Gabriel
looked amused. “There’s no such thing. If
more angels are needed, The Boss creates them.”

Greg
blinked. “Oh.”

They
sat in silence for a while.

“Listen…
this is a lot for me to deal with, you know?” Greg finally
said, shaking his head. “This morning, I didn’t
even believe you existed!”

Gabriel
frowned. “But you saw me almost every day for a week!”

“That’s
not what I meant, Sport. I didn’t believe that angels
existed.” He took a bite of pizza. “Nothing
personal – you know.”

“Right,”
Gabriel agreed.

“So
you came here to tell me all this stuff, right?” Greg asked,
sipping his beer. “About Katherine being in Heaven, and
the thing in her brain.”

“Yeah…
kind of.” Gabriel finished his beer and got another one
out of the bag.

“You
want me to – ” Greg began, gesturing at the bottle in
Gabriel’s hand.

“Aaaah,
let me try,” the angel said, and twisted the cap off with a
little grunt.

“Good
for you, Gabe!” Greg cheered, clinking his beer bottle against
Gabriel’s.

“I
came here because Katherine asked me to,” the angel
continued, taking a sip of beer. “She’s worried
about you, Gregory.”

Greg
frowned. “Why?” Even as he asked, he realized
how absurd it sounded, his poor dead girlfriend worrying about him.

“Because
she knows you don’t believe… and she thinks you may be
doing unethical things. You defended a child rapist and
murderer.”

Greg
felt the blood drain from his face. “Altman… he
really was guilty, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah.
You kept asking me how I knew… well,” he shrugged.
“Now you know.”

“Now
I know,” Greg agreed miserably.

“Katherine
doesn’t want to see you go to Hell,” Gabriel continued
softly. “She’s in Paradise. You wanna come too?
You better start playing your cards right.”

“She
hates me,” Greg reminded Gabriel. “Why would she
care if I go to Hell?”

“Yeah,
she was devastated… but she never stopped loving you,”
Gabriel said frankly. “And she’s angry at you, but
eternal damnation isn’t something she’d wish on anyone.”

Greg
gave a short laugh. “And why would you care if I
go to Hell, Gabe? I don’t think you’re exactly my
Number One Fan!”

“I’m
not,” he agreed with that same frankness. “But
Katherine said she wouldn’t talk to me anymore… not
unless I came down here and tried to get you to turn your life around
before it’s too late.”

“She
really said that?” Greg asked, astonished.

“Yeah,
she did.” Gabriel finished off his beer and stood.
“So consider this your wake-up call!”

Greg
rose and followed him to the door. “I will… I
really I have a lot of thinking to do tonight!”

The
angel gave a slight smile, his hand on the doorknob. “I
bet.”

“So
I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You
will?” Gabriel frowned.

“At
Katie’s funeral.”

“Why
would I go to her funeral, Gregory?” Gabriel asked, obviously
puzzled. “I see her all the time.”

Greg
thought about it. “Yeah, I guess I see your point.”

“I’m
gonna take off now,” Gabriel said, opening the door. “You
gonna be OK?”

“Sure,
Gabe. I’ll be fine.”

“OK…
I guess I’ll see you around.”

“You
know…” Greg hesitated, groped for the words.
“Detroit’s gonna get shellacked by the Cardinals
week after next.”

Gabriel
frowned. “Never happen,” he disagreed immediately.

“Oh,
they’re gonna get pounded, Gabe! You wait!”

“Aaaah,
the Cardinals stink!” he said with a dismissive wave of
his hand.

“Yeah?
Well, a bunch of us hang out at Pete’s Tavern whenever there’s
a game… not that I’d expect to see you there.
You might get all embarrassed when the Cardinals blow Detroit off the
field!”

Gabriel’s
eyes narrowed. “What time?”

Greg
shrugged. “Kickoff’s at one, Sport. The
festivities usually start before that, though.”

Gabriel
nodded. “Right.”

He
stepped outside, kissed a finger and waved it at Greg in blessing.
A white glow surrounded the angel, becoming blinding, and he exploded
into a flock of iridescent white doves flying upwards toward Heaven.

“Wow,”
Greg murmured. He went back inside, shut the door, and –
for the first time in almost thirty years – he knelt down to
pray.

*****
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Birds of Pray