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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
- 3
- 4
- 5
“Birds
of Pray”

Chapter 4

“Simon
Says: Part II”

On
Monday, Katherine saw her third grade class safely onto their busses
and then went back into the empty school.

She
wasn’t surprised when she entered her classroom and found Simon
perched on the back of her chair, just as he’d been on Friday
afternoon. He was even reading the same book.

“Anything
interesting in there?” she asked.

“A
lot of the stuff in this book is just plain wrong,” he replied
without looking up.

“Oh
really?” she asked, amused.

“Yes.”
He shut the book and tossed it on the desk. “Especially
the history.”

“I’ll
keep that in mind,” she assured him as he jumped down from his
perch. “So, what’s up?”

“I
see your attitude has changed a bit since our last conversation,”
he observed mildly. “So, did you have a nice weekend?”

She
gave him a look. “You know very well what my weekend was
like, don’t you?”

He
couldn’t resist smiling. “I did try to warn
you,” he reminded her a bit smugly.

She
sighed. “Yeah, I know. And I should’ve
listened. Satisfied?”

“I
will be if you listen to me now.”

“Of
course,” she said, sitting down at her desk. “Have
a seat.”

Instead
of trying to squeeze himself into one of the third grader-sized
desks, Simon hopped up and perched on the edge. In seeming
defiance of gravity, the little desk didn’t tip over under his
weight.

“There
are some things you should know,” he began. He steepled
his fingers and sat silently in thought for a moment. At last,
he spoke. “Gabriel is a very damaged individual.”

She
snorted. “I could have guessed that on my own!”

“I’m
sure you could have, but I’m not sure that you grasp the
implications. Think, Katherine. Think what would happen
if the Angel of Death were to have the equivalent of a nervous
breakdown.”

The
color drained from her face, and she covered her mouth with one
hand. “Dear God…” she whispered, her eyes
huge. “You’re not saying – “

“Gabriel
has done many terrible things… I’m sure I don’t
have to tell you that.” She shook her head, and he
continued. “But he’s repented and been forgiven.
The problem is, he can’t forgive himself.”

“Guilt,”
she said, understanding. “I know it can eat humans alive,
but angels…?”

Simon
gave her a gentle smile. “We’re not all that
different, you know… humans and angels. We both have
free will, and the ability to commit acts of great kindness…
or of unspeakable horror.”

“Yeah,
I guess you’re right.” She looked up at him.
“So, what do you want me to do? Find a qualified shrink
for Gabriel?”

He
laughed. “I doubt one exists!”

She
thought about it and laughed too. “Yeah, you’re
probably right. Seriously, though… what do you expect me
to do with this information, Simon? Besides scaring the hell
out of me, is there a reason for telling me that the Angel of Death
is this close – “ She held up her thumb and forefinger.
“ – to losing his marbles?”

“We’re
hoping that you can help him hold it together,” he told her.

“Me?”
she asked, incredulous. “Are you sure that Gabriel
is the one who’s losing his marbles here?”

“Katherine,
you are one of the people he hurt. He needs your forgiveness.”

“What
about all the other people he hurt?” she asked bitterly.

“They’re
all dead,” Simon said frankly. “Dead or insane.”

She
exhaled explosively and ran a hand through her hair. “And
I’m supposed to deal with all this how, exactly?”

“Thomas
Daggett believes in you,” he told her. “He thinks
you’re the one for the job… for ‘talking Gabriel
down from the ledge,’ as he put it.”

“Thomas?
But I thought he’s – “

“Dead.
Yes, he is.” He waited a moment for his words to sink in.

“So…
he’s up there in Heaven… with you… and you talk
to him…”

“Exactly.”

She
shook her head. “I really have to start going to church
again.” She thought for a minute. “Has he
talked to Gabriel?”

”Gabriel
won’t talk to him… I think it’s the guilt.
He killed Thomas, you know.”

Katherine’s
eyes widened. “No… he didn’t tell me that.
You know, Simon… I don’t know if I can deal with all of
this.”

“But
you must,” he told her. “For whatever reason,
Gabriel finds solace in your company.”

“Why
do you say that?"

”Because
when he returns from being with you, he’s in a much better way…
even happy, almost.”

“Wait
a minute…” A new, horrifying thought suddenly occurred
to her. “Are you trying to tell me that Gabriel’s
in love with me?”

Simon
laughed. “No, Katherine – nothing like that.”

“Oh,
thank you God!” she exclaimed with feeling. “I
really, really could not deal with that!”

“He
doesn’t know it, but he needs for you to be his friend, to help
him pull himself together.” Simon met her eye. “Can
you do that, Katherine? Because if you can’t…”
He didn’t need to complete the thought; she knew what the
stakes were, and an insane Angel of Death didn’t even bear
thinking about.

She
swallowed hard. “I’ll do my best,” she
promised.

He
smiled. “That’s all we can ask of you… or of
anyone.” He jumped down from the desk. “Thank
you, Katherine. I knew you wouldn’t let us down.”

He
touched two fingers to his lips and blew her a kiss in blessing
before walking out the door.

Katherine
put her head down on her folded arms. “Why me?” she
groaned. “Out of all the people in the Universe, why
me?”

*****

When
Katherine got home, she put away the two boxes of Benadryl she had
purchased on her way home. Then she went upstairs to look at
her guest bedroom.

No
one had ever actually slept in that room – she mostly used it
for storage – and so she spent several hours getting it ready
to be occupied. Once she had found alternate storage for the
things she’d stowed in there, she stripped the bed and put on
fresh sheets and a clean comforter.

She
had just finished all of these tasks and sat down at her computer to
check her e-mail when the phone rang. With a sigh, she rose to
answer it.

“Hi,
Katie-Kate,” Greg said. “How was your day?”

“Greg…
you really don’t want to know!”

“What
happened?” he asked, a frown of concern in his voice.

“Simon
happened,” she said wearily. “And I’m really
stressed out.”

“I
can tell. Who’s Simon?”

“It’s
a long story… a really long story.”

“All
right, you can tell me later.”

Even
though he couldn’t see her, she smiled. “Thanks.
Listen, Gabriel might be around a lot… is that OK?”

”What
do you mean?”

”Well…
he’s going through a bad time right now, and Simon said –
“

“So
this Simon’s a mutual friend?”

“Actually,
he’s… um… he’s Gabriel’s brother. “

“Gabriel
has a brother? Is he a weirdo too?”

“Yeah,
they’re all weirdoes. Now listen. He told me
that Gabriel is – “

“Oh
hey,” he interrupted. “I have to go. I have a call
on the other line I have to take.”

She
blinked. “Oh. All right.”

“It’s
about the Altman case,” he apologized.

”That’s
fine,” she said. “I’m really too tired to
talk right now anyway.”

“I’ll
call you tomorrow,” he promised. “Love you.

”Me
too,” she replied, but he had already hung up. She went
back to the sofa and sat down with her computer. She went to
Amazon.com and looked up books about coping with guilt, found two
that looked promising, and placed an order.

A
minute later, the doorbell rang. Now who could that be?
She wondered. Could Gabriel have finally figured out what
doorbells are for?

When
she opened the door she saw that it was an angel, but it certainly
wasn’t the one she expected… nor was it one she had ever
wanted to see again.

It
was Lucifer, with his dark goatee and his slicked back dark blond
hair and long flowing black coat.

There
was a time when she would have been terrified to open her door and
find him standing there on her porch. That time had long since
passed, and she was slightly surprised to find that she was becoming
inured to angels showing up in her life uninvited, even the Prince of
Darkness himself.

“Oh
for Heaven’s sake, what do you want?” she asked,
brushing her hair out of her face and glaring at him in a very
unwelcoming way.

Lucifer’s
piercing blue eyes widened slightly in surprise, but he managed to
recover himself.

“Katherine,”
he said in that sweetly sinister voice of his. He steepled his
fingers in front of him. “It’s so good to see you
again!” She made a noncommittal sound. “May I
come in?”

Wordlessly,
she stood aside for him to enter.

“Thank
you,” he said as he passed her. “I couldn’t
have entered if you hadn’t invited me.”

“Great,”
she said sarcastically. “Thanks for telling me.”
She slammed the front door. “What do you want?” she
repeated.

“Not
much for small talk, are you?” He asked in that familiar
mocking singsong. He followed her into the living room and
sprawled down on the sofa. “Nice place,” he
observed, glancing around. “Cozy.”

She
stood over him, her arms folded across her chest. “Thanks,”
she gritted out. “Is there a reason you’re here?”

“I
was just in the neighborhood…” She gave him an
exasperated look, and he laughed. “They’re just
using you, you know.”

“Who?”

“Simon…
God… all of them,” he said, waving an arm expansively.
“They didn’t show up when you needed them back in Chimney
Rock… no, it was me who hauled your bacon out of the
fire that time, wasn’t it?”

She
glared at him, but didn’t comment.

“They
didn’t care about you or your precious little Mary… but
now that they need you, they expect you to rearrange
your entire life for one psychotic archangel.”

“Simon
didn’t say anything about you,” she said before
she could stop herself.

To
her surprise, he smiled. “I’m not psychotic, my
dear. I’m perfectly sane.” His smile
widened. “Terrifying, isn’t it?”

“You’ve
got me there,” she agreed.

“Sit
down, Katherine,” he said in a gentle voice. “I’m
not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

“I
don’t trust you,” she said, still standing. “Prince
of Lies.”

“My
reputation precedes me,” he said with a sigh, sounding pained.

She
shrugged. “That’s the problem with lying all the
time. When you finally want to tell the truth, no one will
believe you.”

“Point.”
He leaned forward on the sofa, his elbows on his knees, chin in his
hands. “You owe me one, Katherine,” he said,
watching her carefully. “You owe me for saving Mary’s
life.”

“I
don’t owe you one damn thing,” she spat. “You
didn’t help us because you cared about us or about Mary…
you did it for your own selfish reasons. There was nothing at
all altruistic about it!”

“Doesn’t
matter. The ends justify the means,” he pointed out.

“Fine,”
she agreed, nodding once, sharply. “I owe you one.”

He
smiled happily. “I knew you’d see it my way,
Katherine,”

“I’ll
make you a cup of coffee, and then we’re even,” she said,
and walked out of the room.

Lucifer
sat there for a moment, astounded. Finally, he stood.
“Well… it’s not quite what I had in mind, but it’s
a start,” he murmured to himself, and followed her into the
kitchen.

*****

Lucifer
sat at the table, adding sugar to his coffee. Katherine leaned
against the kitchen counter, watching him warily.

“Why
are you letting Simon and his God use you like this?” he
asked.

Katherine
folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. “Why
shouldn’t I help Gabriel?”

“Because
he’s not your problem, Katherine,” the fallen
angel pointed out reasonably. “And what kind of God would
ask you to play nursemaid to someone who brought you nothing but pain
and terror?” He leaned forward in his seat. “Think,
Katherine!”

“If
God has forgiven Gabriel, then that’s good enough for me,”
she told him.

Lucifer
frowned. “What kind of God – “ he began.

“If
God can forgive Gabriel for all of the terrible things he did, then
He can certainly forgive my mundane little sins! And
that gives me great comfort, believe me!”

Lucifer
sighed. This obviously wasn’t going to be easy.
“Katherine – “ His voice broke off, and he glanced
around, sniffing the air.

There
was a flash of blinding white light and a deafening noise like an
eagle’s cry. Katherine caught the briefest glimpse of
enormous white wings, and then Gabriel was there, plummeting down
from the ceiling, slamming into Lucifer and knocking him out of his
seat and onto the floor.

The
two archangels rolled around and around on the floor, and Katherine
heard noises like bird cries and the low growl of a lion.

“Stop
it!” she screamed.

They
ignored her.

They
rolled around on her kitchen floor, knocking over the chairs and the
trash can. A kicking foot connected with the baker’s rack
in the corner, bringing the whole thing crashing down in a pile of
pots and pans and various knickknacks. She suddenly saw
the flash of a knife, but she couldn’t see whose hand held it.
Now she was worried; someone could really get hurt.

“Stop
it!” she screamed again, to no avail.

She
turned on the water in the sink, grabbed the sprayer, and pointed it
at the battling archangels. “Stop it stop it stop it
stop it!” she shrieked hysterically, pressing the trigger
on the sprayer and discharging a spray of icy cold water that quickly
drenched the two combatants.

The
fight stopped; both angels lay on their backs, panting, staring up at
her in disbelief. When she was certain that hostilities weren’t
going to resume, she returned the sprayer to the sink and turned off
the water.

“I’ll
take that,” Katherine said coldly, bending down to slide the
knife with its long curvy blade out of Lucifer’s unresisting
grasp. “And that,” she added, divesting
Gabriel of a wicked-looking little dagger. “Now get up,”
she continued, placing the weapons on the counter. “And
let me look at you.”

*****

Katherine’s
kitchen absolutely reeked of wet bird.

The
two dripping archangels sat glaring at each other across the kitchen
table; Lucifer held an ice pack against the side of his head, while
Gabriel had one pressed against his right eye.

“What
in the world am I going to do with you two?” Katherine asked
rhetorically, shaking her head. She sighed. “Where’s
Simon when I need him?”

“Right
here,” a new voice said, and she turned to see Simon perched on
the counter, right next to where she stood. Normally, this
would have unnerved her, but under the circumstances –

“Look
what they did to my kitchen, Simon,” she said in a
conversational tone. “Totally wrecked it.”

“Imagine
what they did to Upstairs,” Simon said, matching her light,
casual tone.

“I
don’t even want to think about it,” she replied.
She picked up Lucifer’s knife and studied it as she spoke.
“And these little toys of theirs…” She picked up
Gabriel’s dagger in her other hand. “Very
dangerous. I’ll be keeping them, of course," she
continued, tucking them both in the belt on her jeans.

“Spoken
like a third grade teacher,” Simon observed mildly.

She
grinned at him. “When I take things away from my kids at
school, I tell them that they can have their stuff back if their
parents come get it.”

“That’s
a good policy,” Simon said.

“I
think so. And I don’t see any reason to change that
policy for a couple of seraphs who act like children.”

Simon
nodded. “Neither do I.”

“Seraphim,”
Gabriel corrected. “The plural of ‘seraph’ is
‘seraphim’… Teach.”

“Why
thank you, Gabriel,” she said, beaming brightly at him.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” She turned back to
Simon. “Another thing… I think those two should
clean up my kitchen. Look at the mess they made!”

“That
sounds reasonable to me,” Simon agreed, steepling his fingers
in front of his lips as he spoke. “I’ll see to it.”

“I
think I have a concussion!” Lucifer protested.

Katherine
shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll get over it,”
she told him without sympathy. She smiled sweetly at the two
dripping archangels. “I’m going to bed. When
I get up tomorrow morning, this kitchen had better be exactly
the way it was before, and you – “ she pointed at Lucifer
“ – had better be gone. And you –“ she
pointed at Gabriel “had better be either gone or in my spare
room, not making one sound, because I won’t be in the mood to
deal with you just yet.”

They
both opened their mouths to protest.

“I’m
an asset to Heaven,” she told them. “Simon pointed
that out to me earlier today. So I get to say how things
get done around here. Understand?”

They
stared at her, astounded.

“Good
night, Gentlemen,” she said, and walked out.

Gabriel
and Lucifer began to speak simultaneously.

“Uh
uh,” the red-haired angel said, shaking a finger at them,
silencing their protests. “You’re going to clean
this up.” He grinned at them. “Simon says.”
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