2

" 6

"Where are we going?" The angel asked.

"To the Rotten Cherry Bar, I think that place will suit you."

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not going there for myself, I have a job to do."

"Yes, yes. You better check if you have the money for that job," the man in the black flannel shirt said ironically.

"I don't have... I don't use money," the angel replied with seriousness in his voice.

"You're a bit strange, you know... What's your name... I'm Tom McGuier. " "

Nice to meet you, Haziel.

" "Yes, and the name's not normal either

." "Why? It means God's mercy," the young angel wondered

. They were driving through a crowded city during a blizzard and a rather powerful storm. The windshield wipers were on full blast, revealing to Tom a wide street dotted with colorful cars. Traffic jams at this hour were common in Victoria, but this one was really bad. It was probably caused by an accident on the road about six blocks away. When the red Ford hit a gas truck, the driver

said irritably. "Well, we'll wait a while," Tom said irritably . "

Isn't there a detour?"

"No, Cherry's in a dead end... you know, maybe I'm not interested, but why are you going there? It's a criminal hotbed and you seem like a decent person? "

"I already told you, I'm not going there for myself, I'm chasing someone.

" "The police?" "Oh, gosh, I didn't know... I'm sorry I asked, but... but..." "

Relax, I'm not with the police... maybe I'm more of a detective." Haziel said, admiring the same skyscraper for a few minutes.

"Yes... so everything's clear

now," Tom said in a confused voice. "No, not everything... I know something's bothering you, something bad, I suspected from the very beginning, but now it's certain.

" "Well, you're a detective, why shouldn't I tell you, maybe you can help me... Because, you see, I'm a doctor at Holy Trinity Hospital. I came home two days ago as usual." He paused... and bitter tears welled up in his blue eyes. He wiped them with his shirtsleeve, then continued… "I arrived home tired after a long day and found my wife and daughter dead at the dining room table… Massive doses of poison were detected in the food… and… and the police suspect suicide, but I don't believe it… not Lucy."

"So there, by the lake…"

"Yes… luckily I got scared and started screaming… after… will you help me?"

"My stay here is a bit complicated, but…" A moment of hesitation visible in the angel's eyes turned them more yellow. "I truly sympathize with you and… as soon as my strength allows, I will gladly help you," the angel exclaimed, almost surprised. He knew he shouldn't trivialize the mission, but no one would know about one small matter.

"

What do you think of all this, Cassiel?" Anael asked.

They were in the Throne Room located at the foot of the Moon Plaza. A shaft of pure white light streamed into the massive, dark Chamber through an ornate, towering portal in the main wall. They stood in its glow, precisely in the center of a rather wide, luminous circle. The rest of the chamber was filled with impenetrable darkness and the coldness of the black walls. "

They say that when the Demon Woman crawls out of a hole full of serpentine children, she will be ready to open the gates of darkness."

"NAAMAH… is she really that powerful? How are we to fight?

" "And can Satan's mistress be weak? A hellish beast, you must be careful of her."

"And Lucifer… why doesn't he open the black gate?

" "But he is also necessary," Cassiel marveled at his lack of knowledge. "… but you see, there are certain beings in the abyss who specialize in resurrecting evil… and most likely the Prince of Darkness sent them to find the place of NAAMAH's rebirth." Once the demon is awakened, the combined power of him and her will open the Black Gate, behind which the demons of hell are imprisoned.

"It's quite an apocalyptic vision," Anael noted.

"Yes… we have to be ready… I just hope Ariel chose the right scout?" Cassiel asked, then spread his golden, transparent wings and vanished in the heavenly light.

"Well

, we're finally here," Tom said, as a dirty, neglected, two-story building came into view. The number of cracks in the pole spoke either of the house's considerable history or of the owners' remarkable lack of interest in its appearance. They exited the greenish Opel and headed for the Cherry.

Night was falling, so the place was dimly lit; the customers never wanted full illumination. Red tables with blue tables filled most of the room. On the west wall stood a small, rickety stage, from which a long metal pipe protruded. On the opposite side, in more bright light, stood a bar, and behind it, massive cabinets filled with alcohol. The evening promised to be good. More and more people were arriving, and no one paid any attention to two people who seemed particularly out of place. Haziel and Tom stood out from the crowd like two enormous stars on a dark, cloudless night.

"It's rather strange here," the angel said, brushing away the thick, smoky air.

"Yes—you have your own den of evil.

" The angel pondered… he felt a powerful force… "yes, they were definitely here. But who… who possesses such immense strength…" he headed up the stairs. He followed some magnetic impulse, some intuition, some angelic sense. Tom followed him, looking around the dingy, rotten walls of the Cherry. Haziel stopped before the door and opened it. The interior was stuffy. Small drops on the dirty, closed windows glowed in the reflected moonlight. Small spiderwebs hung in the corners of the room, where small predators sat, lurking.

On the bed against the wall, a small handful of ash could be seen. There was also some dust on the floor beside the bed. The room looked as if it had not been used for centuries. But the angel knew that a terrible crime had been committed here, and he felt fear seeping into the very marrow of the dirty boards.

"What happened here?" Tom asked.

"It looks like spontaneous combustion to me...

" "What? Maybe someone tipped the urn out... or I don't know what..."

"Possible," Haziel said without much conviction. He walked over to the bed, touched the ashes, and images began to roll through his mind like a carousel. Tears welled up in his blue, almost transparent eyes.

"Did something happen?

" "Nothing... Tom." Then he added as quietly as he could. "She was so young..."

The voice appeared as unexpectedly as pouring rain. "What? You want to steal, you want girls, you want to give money, or... wait, where's Lili..."

"Nobody was here," Tom explained. "We're really here because..."

"Because that probably doesn't interest you, and that's why we'll slowly leave this place, right?" the slightly disoriented angel finished

. "Wait," the bearded old man shouted. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me where Lili is." Then he stuck his head out the door and shouted, "Hey guys, we have thieves."

In an instant, five men burst into the room, so large and powerfully built that they barely fit on one wall. They blocked Tom and Angel's path. Their attire and menacing expressions indicated they were experienced in this type of situation.

"Get them," boomed the old, dry voice of the bar owner.

The five thugs charged into battle. When one of them drew a knife, Angel extended his hand toward them. Suddenly, the attackers were so overcome with sleep that they couldn't take a single step. The boss and five bodyguards fell like stones thrown into the depths of a cold ocean.

"Okay, let's go," Haziel said to Tom.

"What? What did you do? What did you do to them…?"

"Easy… it's just a little trick," he tried to explain, and after a moment added, "Let's go, I feel them… they're close…"

9

A wave of darkness enveloped the sleepy city. In its powerful and inexorable force, it moved along the mysterious corners of the empty streets. The soft sounds of cars irritated the delicate veil of nothingness of this place. A spherical moon rolled in from above the peaks of the great mountains surrounding Victoria and sat on a starry, dark throne. Its reign was announced by the fluttering wings of night birds searching for food in the dark mountain forests. The hot, humid air sent pleasant shivers through the body. Despite the darkness, some of the larger districts didn't cease to live; on the contrary, the moment the luminous moon rose into the sky, the streets came alive. Kusuari and Anastasia were returning from the cinema on one such route. They met in Chinatown, where Kusu, as the girl liked to call him, worked. Walking down the crowded street, they looked around for a taxi. The brightly lit streets and loud conversations of passersby contrasted with the quiet, cool sky.

"Hey, taxi!" Anastazja shouted at a passing car.

The car screeched to a halt, and the smiling face of the bearded driver peered out the window.

"Good evening... please get in," he said, gesturing toward the couple. Kusuari and Anastazja hurriedly climbed into the yellow car, which, if Kusu was right, was some old and slightly modified Ford.

"Where are we going?" the cheerful driver asked.

"Green hills," Kusu replied, then put his arm around the girl.

"It's alright, boss," the bearded man joked.

The yellow Ford screeched into life and, like a hungry lion, raced toward the scent of its prey. They drove in the glare of headlights and streetlamps. The bearded man was already telling another story of his grandfather. About how, once upon a time, on a hunt…

"What's that?" the taxi driver asked, surprised. A massive traffic jam had formed on the street. "I can't even see where it started. I wonder what happened there," he said, then looked at the passengers in the back. "But don't worry, I know a great detour to the green hills; you'll be there in half an hour.

" "Great, thank you," Anastasia said.

A little over a kilometer away, at an intersection, police were identifying the bodies of car accident victims and determining the immediate cause of the accident.

The taxi turned onto a relatively wide, but darker side street. The sidewalks were small, and the road was cobblestone and very bumpy. The car wasn't performing at its peak, merely crawling along the still-warm dirt road. The street was dominated by massive old tenement buildings that were soon scheduled for demolition.

Suddenly, the car stalled. Like a toy with dead batteries.

"What the hell?" the bearded man said nervously. "I hope you're not in a hurry. I'll pop out for a moment and check on the little one." He said this instinctively, patting the steering wheel. "It'll take a moment."

He got out of the car, closing the door behind him. He walked to the front hatch and opened it. A wave of darkness enveloped the interior. Anastazja and Kusuara's slightly nervous faces stared at the dark void outside the windows. Strange, mixed emotions coursed across their skin. The enveloping, oppressive weight of the lonely tenement buildings was becoming unbearable. The heightened sense of claustrophobia that pervaded such streets took on monstrous proportions.

"Kusu, what's he doing there so long? Call him, through that hood, you can't even see what he's doing.

The boy rolled down the window and shouted,

"Is everything okay with the car?"

The silence… so lonely and limitless, sending a stab of pain through his ears.

"Are you there?" he called again.

"Go and see," the girl urged him.

Kusuara opened the rather massive door of the old Ford and stepped out. Now, face to face with the night, he felt very weak. All his long-forgotten fears tried to find a loophole in his subconscious and fly into the sky like black crows.

His footsteps echoed in the thick of the night.

"Mr. Driver," he said, stepping out to the front of the car, "Mr. Driver..." The sensation he experienced was unlike anything he had ever experienced. He took a step back, and the only sound he managed to utter through his constricted vocal cords was a soft, broken squeal. The driver's body lay on top of the yellow Ford's now-cooled engine. His arms were bent in a strange, unnatural position. An axe protruded from his back; delicate streams of blood made their way across his greenish jacket, following it to fall a moment later onto the dirty body of the car and the cobblestone street.

"What happened there?" the girl screamed, flustered.

Kusuara ran to the door, opened it, and shouted a little louder than he had intended:

"We have to escape, the driver's dead, someone must be trying to kill us...

" "What? What are you talking about...

" "Get out... quickly..."

He barely managed to say it when a monstrous force ripped him from the door and threw him against the wall of a dark building. The crack of a broken arm was all too clear. The girl screamed; she couldn't see her attacker, yet something had thrown Kusuara against the wall like a rag doll.

In the moonlight, the road transformed into a beautiful silver carpet. On which death walks. Lost stars circled somewhere above the city, gently winking at Mother Earth.

"Run!" the boy shouted, rising from the ground. His arm dangled limply as if it weren't his, but a cheaply glued-on toy.

The girl tried to open the door, but all the locks were locked. She was trapped. Kusuara ran to the car and immediately heard laughter. A hellish chuckle echoed from every dark corner of the neglected street.

"Step aside," he told the girl, then grabbed a long, sturdy pipe lying against one of the walls. He looked around for the bandits. Nothing, nothing again. How do they do it, he thought. Fear took on the dimensions of exploding stars. He swung his arm and shattered the car's rear window.

"Come out… quickly." Looking around, he belayed Anastasia's exit.

When the girl landed on the ground and the attackers were gone, he shouted,

"Feet…"

And at that moment, once again, this time a much greater force pushed him against the wall. Events unfolded at a dizzying pace. The boy was about three meters above the silver corridor. He barely realized his body was hanging limply in the air when he felt a piercing stab in his stomach. The pain was so intense that tears streamed down his sweaty, fear-filled face. He tilted his head down and saw a metal pipe embedded beneath the bridge. It pierced the body completely and lodged itself in a crack in the tenement wall. Death appeared quickly, marching down its corridor marked by the luminous messenger of the stars. The girl's scream startled the crows sitting nearby, which took flight with a flutter.

"Hello, beautiful one," she heard behind her, a strange and beautiful voice. For a moment, she forgot about the gruesome events. Listening intently to the vibrations and beauty of the man's voice, she ignored the sound of massive drops of blood falling dismally from the boy's body. But realization came as quickly as it had disappeared, and fear once again pierced Anastasia's face.

"Who are you?" "Please don't hurt me." "

I'm Selin," said a voice from one side.

"And I'm Baalam," added a voice from the other, "and we don't intend to hurt you."

"Yes, Selin agreed, we'll just kill you." The monster's laughter echoed into the distance, spreading sadness and desperation to the creatures who heard it.

Surrounded and terrified beyond belief, the girl got into the taxi, hoping to start the car. Luckily, the keys were in the ignition. She turned… nothing… again. Suddenly, a hand closed the hood.

"Maybe this will be more comfortable for you, Miss Anderson."

Another scream and another failed attempt to start the car. He didn't think twice about how she'd gotten into the car she'd previously been unable to get out of. After a moment, she realized the car's walls were getting wet. She touched a strange liquid that had appeared out of nowhere and… screamed,

"It's blood… help."

The car was filling with blood from the inside. The front and side windows were bulletproof, as was the glass separating the passenger from the driver. Anastasia knew she wouldn't be able to break any of them. Blood was already covering the girl's calves. The goo, disgusting to the touch, sent shivers down her spine. The moon, seen through the blood-filled window, turned crimson and shifted slightly in the sky. A dozen or so minutes later, the red liquid seeped into the girl's mouth. By evening, there was no trace of blood in the car, but the trophies of the torturers remained to terrify the finder with their macabre appearance.

Do you have any news, Gabriel?" Has Haziel contacted you yet? "

I've already told you. Your mission will be to defend heaven, not intervene in Earth's affairs."

"But..."

"Listen, Mumaiah, being an angel of glory means nothing; it has no significance on Earth. It's about survival and the destruction of evil, not power at all costs, so I'm warning you. Prepare to defend the heavenly gates, only as a last resort. I know you're strong, but you were chosen for something else, and for now, you must obey the orders of your superiors.

" "Yes... As you command... After all, I don't count."

They found themselves in a vast garden. Rows of colorful flowers and bushy monuments surrounded them. Behind them grew mighty trees, their crowns almost out of sight. Water splashed all around, spewing from enormous, sparkling fountains. The sun settled into the garden, shimmering between the mighty trunks. Before them stood seven white towers, from whose summits came the sound of angelic choirs and golden trumpets. Each tower was 70 meters high and adorned with numerous bas-reliefs. Seven silver stars circled above their peaks. Each tower was entered through seven black doors, the centers of which were decorated with a puzzle of colored crystals. The towers were hollow inside, making them resonators of sorts. At the base of each structure stood seven golden candlesticks and vessels of colored water. In the center of the hall was a space for a vast, majestic choir. The voice rose high into the air, brushing the smooth walls, causing them to shimmer with beautiful colors. As it emerged through the top opening, the sound was already amplified enough to create an explosion of rainbow colors upon contact with the heavenly air. The sight was so beautiful that it rendered any unprepared being speechless and unable to move. "

You count here." After a moment, Gabriel wanted to continue the conversation. "

Of course," the angel nodded, then, completely ignoring the interlocutor, he headed down the stone steps to the blue stream. Gabriel watched him as he descended the steep, smoothly carved stones. He saw Mumaiach surveying the blue-red meadows, skipping across the white pebbles of the clear stream. After a moment

, he lost sight of him, so he decided to visit the heart of the angelic metropolis...

The next day brought nothing good for the police officers. More reports of unexplained accidents, the causes of which were difficult to connect. The main police station was located in the city center, near the water park. It was a two-story building with relatively well-maintained walls. Small windows were covered with massive grates. The gloom of the building evoked medieval times, when gloomy dungeons and mysterious vaults were commonplace. The station's heyday stretched back 20 years, when the newly elected commissioner decided to treat this dilapidated establishment as his own. The young, ambitious "seasoned veteran," as his colleagues liked to call him, introduced some rigorous changes, which ultimately paid off. Despite his harshness and unpredictability, Commissioner William Pain quickly found support from higher authorities and comfortably settled into his position as chief. His professional success, however, took its toll on his family. A divorce, then another failed relationship, and a lack of contact with his daughter, now a grown woman. The stress of his job, of course, led to a deterioration of his mental health. His already innate explosiveness was now slowly transforming into a kind of manic hysteria that even its possessor was unaware of.

"What the hell is going on with this city? Perhaps you could explain it to me, Michael? Maybe I'm just not up to date?"

"No, Commissioner. People are going crazy these days because of... I don't know, maybe it's the stress of them starting to live too fast and somewhere along the way they lose themselves.

" "You put it so beautifully, for a moment I even forgot I was surrounded by idiots... Okay, never mind, remind me again what we have... just one thing at a time.

" "Yes, sir..."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"What an idiot is bothering us," William sighed quietly, then added, "He climbed in."

A young secretary appeared in the dirty wooden door .

"Excuse me, sir, but some woman wants...

" "Have you completely lost your mind!" the commissioner shouted. "Do you think you've won a monopoly on disturbing me at work... get out, or you'll start cleaning the street tomorrow

." "...But he says it's important

." "Nothing's important enough, idiot! Get out!" The door closed on the other side, and Willy crossed his legs with a smile.

"So where did we end up, Michael?"

"It all started three days ago. A murder was reported to us, but it turned out to be a suicide. Lucy McGuier and her daughter. The husband wasn't home.

" "Who is the husband?" " He's

a doctor at Trinity Hospital, he also has a private office on Kamienna

Street." "Okay, continue."

"Tom McGuier insists on the murder. By a strange coincidence, he ends up at the Cherry Blossom, where a prostitute was killed." The victim, we don't know how, was thoroughly… burned. There was someone else with this guy, a young man in a red shirt.

What do we know about him?

"It's nothing, the guy didn't leave any prints in the club.

" "What?

" "Exactly... the owner says he didn't see anything, they were wearing gloves."

"Maybe Tom hired the guy to get rid of his family and wanted to blame someone else." "

Actually, Commissioner, we're trying to establish some connection between these victims," ​​he swallowed, then added, "That's not all... two accidents occurred yesterday afternoon and evening...

" "What do we care, is there any connection..."

"Exactly, Mr. Pain... the drivers undoubtedly spontaneously combusted moments before the accident...

" Silence... the irregular shapes of the puzzle of this tangled story were taking shape in the Commissioner's mind. How could so many people have succumbed to this... spontaneous combustion at once?

" "Go on..." the Commissioner said impatiently, deep down, knowing that this would be his biggest case. The desire to retire with a bang and in the glare of the lights sent gleeful twinges down the Commissioner's spine.

"Last night, three people were brutally murdered on a deserted street.

A taxi driver named Ted Tomphson was found with an axe in his back, lying next to his car. The second victim, Kusuara Isoto, was found 3 meters above the ground, impaled by a metal pipe into a tenement building... and finally, the third victim, Anastazja Anderson, officially died of fright... although the autopsy showed enormous amounts of blood in her lungs... as if she had drowned in it... the entire car was clean, except for the broken rear window."

"What car is it?" "

A yellow Ford. Commissioner. No traces of blood, no fingerprints... nothing."

"And yet you connect these murders with the previous ones... why?"

"It's probably a hunch... Mr. Pain," Michael said, and immediately regretted those words bitterly.

"Don't give me that intuition crap," the commissioner roared. "We all know you don't have a brain, you don't have a gut feeling, you know.

" That's what the 26-year-old officer said. His coal-black hair was already matted with sweat. Bright green eyes nervously glanced around the room.

12

While the yellow Ford was stuck in the evening traffic jam, Haziel and Tom were a few miles away in Tom's private apartment, which also served as his doctor's office.

"Thanks for letting me stay here... I didn't realize how important money was until they kicked me out of the hotel today."

"No problem," Tom said. "You help me, I help you. Besides, we probably already have the cops on our backs.

" "Don't forget, I'm a detective; we can handle them."

"A detective?" He laughed. Tom went to the bar and poured himself a whiskey. "Man, you're as good a liar as I am a pilot." I knew right away that something was wrong

. "What?" the angel asked in surprise.

"First of all, you're too young, secondly, you don't act like a detective, thirdly, you don't use money, and most importantly, you're not registered anywhere. You don't have any ID, no ID... need I mention anything else?

" "Okay, you have me... But if you knew, why did you travel with me and chase those guys?"

"I don't know, I think I trust you. I have a feeling you're honest and will help me catch the murderers of my family...

" "Of course," the angel said, confused

. "Who are you? Actually... maybe it's a stupid thing to say, but I have a feeling you're not an ordinary person

." This question surprised Haziel. Secrecy is a very important thing, but he felt guilty for wanting to deceive Tom. He couldn't stay silent; he felt very bad about it. "

I'll tell you, but you have to keep it to yourself. If anyone finds out, I'll be lost."

The moon slowly surrendered its throne to the sun. The first bright rays of light gently touched the cold earth. Life was slowly waking up. While the miracle of a new day was unfolding, Haziel told a very brief version of who he was and who he was looking for.

It took Tom half the next day to recover, unable to believe he was sitting across from an angel. But he couldn't deny it; Haziel had proven beyond a shadow of a doubt who he was. The conversation lasted almost all night and well into the morning, interrupted only by Tom's loud cries. Even though he was a doctor, he accepted the angel's story with remarkable ease. Perhaps because the angel backed it up with elements of his own supernatural power.

"What are you going to do now?" Tom asked. "

We'll wait until nightfall and then we'll act. I don't think we'll find them tonight. After last night's feasts, they'll probably be resting until evening.

" "Yes... possible. Listen, I have to go to work and I've been gone for so long, and I'll have to explain myself harshly."

"You had your reasons..."

"Yes, but no one knows about them. You can stay here, I'll be back by 7:00.

" "Okay... and if there's any trouble, shout," Haziel said, his blue eyes smiling at the golden sun.

The day passed very quickly, as if the hole in the hourglass of time had been enlarged to monstrous proportions. In the afternoon, dark clouds swept into the sky. With them, darkness and sadness descended upon the heart of the city. Something would happen that night, and only the evil lurking in the black, slowly floating monsters knew its secret.