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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
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“Birds
of Pray”

Chapter
6

“She
Talks To Angels”

Katherine
was sitting on a park bench with another woman. As they talked,
their children played in the sandbox under their watchful eyes.

“Phil’s
just never home anymore,” Katherine’s companion said with
a sigh. “OK, I knew what I was getting into when I
married a doctor, but still…”

“It’s
the same with her father,” Katherine said, gesturing at
the sandbox. “I never know when he’s going to show
up for supper… or even if he’s going to show up
for supper!”

The
other woman laughed. “I hear you!”

A
little blonde girl came over and tugged on Katherine’s sleeve.
“What is it, honey?” she asked the child.

“She’s
telling scary stories again! Make her stop!”

“Who
is, sweetie?” Katherine asked, frowning. She glanced over
at the sandbox and realized that none of the little blonde girls in
pastel dresses playing there were hers. Where’s my
daughter? she wondered.

The
blonde child was still tugging on her sleeve. “Make her
stop, Miss Henley!”

Numbly,
Katherine got up and allowed the child to lead her away.

There
was a flock of perfect little blonde girls in pastel dresses sitting
on the patch of grass in front of the wooden balance beam. They
stared up in rapt, horrified attention at the little girl who was
perched there, perched like a bird.

This
porcelain-skinned child in the long black dress wasn’t blonde
like the rest; her softly curling hair was as black as a raven’s
wing.

“And
then,” she was saying, leaning forward and lowering her voice,
“he opens your mouth and – “

“What
are you doing?” Katherine demanded.

The
child stared back at her with light blue eyes that were fringed with
long black lashes. She had a lovely heart-shaped face and a
little pink bow-shaped mouth. The entire effect should have
been quite charming, but Katherine found that she wasn’t a bit
charmed.

That’s
not Greg’s daughter! her mind screamed, but she forced
herself to remain calm. Whoever her father was, this odd little
girl was still her child.

“They
wanted to know what Daddy does,” the raven-haired girl
explained with a shrug. “So I’m telling them.”

“All
right… I think that’s enough. Come on, we’re
going home.”

The
little girl stood and jumped down from her perch. As she took
Katherine’s hand, she turned back to the flock of perfect
little blonde girls in their pastel dresses. “Next time,”
she said quietly, “I’ll tell you about what we did on
Take Your Daughter To Work Day.”

“No
you won’t!” Katherine gritted out through clenched
teeth, dragging the child along.

The
little girl looked up at her, frowning. “Mommy, are you
mad at me?”

“Of
course not,” Katherine said with a laugh that sounded forced
even to her own ears.

“Do
you love me?” When Katherine didn’t reply, the
little girl’s frown deepened. “Do you?” she
demanded.

Katherine
woke to sunlight streaming in through the bedroom window. She
looked at the clock on the nightstand and her eyes widened. She
was usually an early riser… how could she have slept until
eleven?

“And
what the hell kind of dream was that?” she muttered,
getting out of bed trudging into the bathroom.

She
flipped on the light, looked in the mirror, and made a face at what
she saw. She reached into the shower and got the water running,
and then turned on the radio that sat on the back of the toilet.

“Says
she talks to angels,” Chris Robinson wailed. “Says
they all know her name.”

She
stared blearily at the radio.

“Oh
yeah, she talks to angels, says they call her out by her name –
“

“Gahhh,”
Katherine said and switched the radio off, silencing The Black
Crowes.

If
only she could silence the snarky voice in her head as easily.
Interesting dream, wasn’t it? it asked.

“Not
particularly,” she said out loud.

Some
people say that dreams are all about our most secret desires, the
ones we can’t share with anyone – not even ourselves.

She
didn’t even want to consider that.

“It
was just a weird dream, that’s all,” she told herself.
“And the only thing it means is that I shouldn’t
eat cold spaghetti right before going to bed!”

*****

When
she reached the steps and smelled coffee, she realized that Gabriel
must be in the kitchen.

“I
hope he didn’t try to make eggs again,” she muttered.

She
found him sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee and reading
a rather damp copy of the New York Post.

“Good
morning, Katherine,” he said, looking up from his paper.
“Did you sleep well?”

“Um…”
Does he know about that dream I had? she wondered.
Possibly. Heck, he could have put the stupid thing in her brain
in the first place; she wouldn’t put it past him. She
decided it was best to avoid the question entirely. “You
look like you got wet,” she observed, changing the subject.

“Yeah,
a little.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I
got caught in the rain.”

”It’s
not raining out,” she said, gesturing at the bright sunlight
coming in through the window.

“It
is in New York.”

She
blinked. “Oh.”

”Where
did you think I got the paper?”

“You
know, Gabriel… I hadn’t really thought about it.”

He
reached into his long black coat and withdrew another newspaper from
an inside pocket, this one folded. “Got the Times
too,” he said, putting it on the table.

“The
New York Times?”

“No…
London. And it was raining there, too.”

She
smiled. “Wow…you have very eclectic
tastes!” She went to the stove and picked up the
saucepan. She found the tea strainer he’d left in the
sink, placed it over a mug and poured the coffee through it. “I
see your eye is all better,” she observed, sitting down.

“Yeah,”
he said, reaching up to touch it absently as he read. “We
heal fast.”

The
long white feather was still on the table where she’d left it.
“Is that yours?” she asked, gesturing at the feather.
“I found it on the floor yesterday.”

“Yeah,
it’s mine.” He shrugged apologetically. “I’m
molting.”

She
nodded; by this point, nothing fazed her. “Good thing I ordered
that HEPA filter… and by the way, some guys from Sears are
coming to install it today. Don’t give them a hard time,
OK?”

“Who,
me?” he asked innocently, and she gave him a look.

“Hey,
that reminds me… I suppose you know I had lunch with Lucifer
yesterday.”

His
head jerked up. “Whaaaat?”

He
didn’t know! Katherine realized.
Interesting…

“I
ran into him at the mall when I went to Sears,” she continued,
and was struck by how mundane it all sounded. “He likes
meatball subs with lots of sauce. And,” she continued,
watching him carefully for a reaction, “he told me all about
you.”

“Huh,”
Gabriel said, and went back to his paper. “Don’t
believe anything he says.”

“Oh,
I don’t,” she agreed.

“He
lies like you breathe,” he continued, and then was
silent for a moment. “So what did he say about me?”

“He
said you’re a nut,” she told him bluntly. “And
that you’ve always been a nut.”

“Aaaah,
who cares what he says?”

“Gabriel,
if you didn’t care, why did you ask?”

“Curiosity.”

Katherine
sipped her coffee and made a face. “You know what?
Maybe I should teach you how to use the coffee maker. What do
you think?”

He
shrugged. “If you don’t think I’ll burn down
the house with it.”

“It’s
possible,” she allowed. “But unlikely.” She
stood, went to the sink and dumped the rest of her coffee down the
drain. “And even if you do, it beats drinking more of
this,” she joked, and was rewarded with a smile.

When
she sat down again she saw that he had abandoned the tabloid and was
holding the feather by its quill, studying it intently.

“Why
did Lucifer tell me you’re a nut?” she asked.

He
shrugged. “Who knows? Trying to turn you against
me, maybe?”

“Maybe,”
she agreed.

“That
would be just like him, you know.” He preened the feather
absently as he spoke, smoothing its barbs down so that the long white
flight feather gradually became sleek and smooth again under his
practiced touch. “He likes to make trouble… you
might say it’s his raison d’etrê.”

“It’s
really interesting that you put it that way, considering some of the
stuff he said to me yesterday.”

“What
do you mean?” he asked, his attention still focused on grooming
the feather.

“He
insinuated that he was created just so he could Fall.”
Her eyebrows went up meaningfully as she continued. “And
you just said that making trouble is his reason for being,
which kind of goes along with what he – “

“Aaah,
he’ll say anything,” Gabriel told her
dismissively. “You know that. Don’t let him
suck you in.”

“All
right,” she agreed, filing this new information away for
further thought later. Somehow she couldn’t convince
herself that he’d chosen that particular phrase by chance.
Do angels make Freudian slips? she wondered.

“So
tell me something,” she said, leaning forward in her seat.
“Why did you lick me yesterday morning?”

“Well…
you know…” He seemed embarrassed for some reason.

“No,
I don’t know. Tell me!”

“I…
uh… I thought you’d like that better than… than…
“ His gaze was riveted to the feather in his hands. “Um…
you know.”

Yes,
he was definitely embarrassed, and Katherine was quite amused…
not to mention extremely curious. “Gabriel, I have no
idea what you’re trying to say. Just tell me.”

“Look,
I thought you’d like that better than having sex with me,”
he blurted out, and she nearly fell out of her chair.

“What?”

“Well,
it’s… we’re not supposed to, you know, be with…
ah… with women. I told you about nephilim… it’s
not a good mix, your kind and mine. But some of us break the
rules every now and then… I don’t know, maybe with an
especially pretty girl. They can’t help themselves, I
guess.”

“And?”

He
shrugged. “Once a woman is marked that way, no other
angel can touch her.”

“But
wait a minute… you told me about that boy’s mother...
you almost killed that poor woman!” Katherine reminded
him. “Didn’t you?”

“That
didn’t really work out the way I planned,” he reminded
her dryly. “Turns out that The Boss was watching after
all.”

“So,
when you licked me – “

“It
gave you the same protection. Yeah. You know, I actually
wasn’t sure it was going to work.”

Her
mouth fell open. “You’re joking! You mean you
sent me out there with protection that you weren’t sure would
actually work?”

“I
figured if I suggested that we have sex you’d shoot me again!”

“I
wouldn’t have done that…” Her voice took on
a humorous tone. “Because I don’t own a gun.”

“See?
I knew you wouldn’t have reacted real well to that.”

“Probably
not.” She thought for a minute. “So Lucifer
thinks we’re having an affair… or at least that we’ve
slept together.”

He
looked surprised, as though he hadn’t considered this.
“Yeah, I guess he probably does. I didn’t think
that far ahead.”

To
his surprise, she grinned. “That’ll really
mess with his head – way to go, Gabriel!”

“Sometimes
I get things right,” he said smugly. He inspected the
feather carefully, licked a finger and smoothed a stray piece of down
back into place. “He knows – or he thinks he
knows – that I don’t mess with mortal women… and
that you wouldn’t have me on a bet. So he’ll
probably be sitting down there in his basement scratching his head
over this for the next century or two.”

“Maybe
he thinks that you just did it to protect me… and that I
did it because I’m afraid of him,” she suggested.

“Ahhhh,
it’s pointless to guess what he thinks because we’ll be
wrong every time. I’ve never been able to figure
out how his mind works!”

She
leaned back in her chair, thinking. “I bet he told me
you’re a nut because he figured I wouldn’t be thrilled
about sleeping with a crazyman.”

“Could
be. So tell me something, Katherine… if you’d
thought it was the only way to be safe from him… would you
have done it?”

She
blinked. “I don’t… um… you know, I
really don’t know. I’d have to think about it.”

“Yeah…
I guess you would,” he agreed.

“So
how about you?” she asked. “Would you have
done it? To protect me?”

He
lowered his eyes, staring at the feather. “I never
touched mortal women because I didn’t want to father nephilim.
When I became human…” he shrugged. “I didn’t
have to worry about that. But now I do – again.”

“I’m
on the pill,” she told him. “So – would
you have done it?”

He
looked amused. “You just don’t give up, do you?”

“No.
Do you?”

“You
know the answer to that.”

“Better
than most,” she agreed. “Now answer my question.”

“Well,
Katherine… I really don’t know. I’d have to
think about it.”

It
took her a moment to realize that he’d just parroted her reply
to his original question.

“Oooo!
You are the most exasperating person I’ve ever met!”

“I
try,” he said, standing and moving close to her chair. He
smiled down at her and slipped the long white feather behind her
right ear, quill first. “Silly little monkey,” he
said, tapping her lightly on the nose with one finger. Both his
tone and the gesture were affectionate, and she smiled.

“Birdbrain,”
she replied, but there was no malice behind the insult.

“So,
you wanna show me how the coffee maker works?”

*****

AUTHOR’S
NOTE: I got some of my info about feathers and preening from The
Feathers Site: Everything About Feathers at
http://www.geocities.com/felicitax/Birds.htm
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Birds of Pray