Gabriel stood still with his head hung low, his shoulders where shaking, and his fists were clenched. "Gabe." Rachel says and she moved towards him.
"Don't." Gabriel says through gritted teeth, as he spun on his heels and stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut.
She moved towards the direction of the door. "Wait."
"Let him." Jake caught Rachel's arm. "I don't know if you noticed, but that's all he ever does." He gripped it hard, and he felt her muscles tense under his grip. "There are times when men need to be alone to blow up some steam. And he just apparently, does more often."
Rachel shook him off, and stood still. "Maybe you're right."
--
Jake followed Rachel as she showed him the other wing, where there were various rooms for different purposes. It wasn't until they walked past what she called the prayer room when Jake decided to break the ice. "If Gabriel was a messenger, and Michael is a warrior. What were you an angel of?"
Rachel suddenly stopped walking, turned towards him and held her gaze. "Oh, I'm nothing special, just a minor one." She says as she continued walking down the hall. "But if you must, I was an angel of death." She said this as if she didn't care if he believed her or not.
"Wait, what?" Jake almost looked choked, and stopped.
"Death." Rachel confirmed. "Not all angels, are what you imagine, or what your scriptures tell you. There are of course, angels of life, recovery, miracles, guidance, that sort. And there are those like us or what we used to be, that dealt with other sort of things. Angels of destruction, and those of death and renewal."
She said as matter-of-fact.
Who knew death and destruction could be beautiful. He thought to himself as he stared at her. A beautiful disaster.
He must have been looking at her with his mouth wide open, based on her reaction, that he quickly blurted out anything that came to mind, "I figured, you must've been sitting on your throne made with the bones of your enemies, being an angel of death and all." Jake says instead.
"Throne?" Rachel chuckled, seemingly amused. "If you mean a seat of power, I don't have one. I'm not that special you know." She winked. "And stop drooling."
"Wait. How?"
"Not everyone does. There are only seven seats, each for the seven archangels."
"Do you think I have one?"
"Nah, I don't think so, considering there are only five archangels left, and six seats."
"Oh, depend on it. I must have been an angel of swooning, who occupied a rather fashionable love seat.
"There's no such things as an angel of swooning."
"Wait. There isn't? There are cupids. You have got to be kidding me."
"Oh shut it. You don't look good in diapers, besides you really do need to pack up."
Jake raised a brow. "You've got to give me credit. I was told that I was rather enchanting in a diaper, I should send you some pictures some time." He winked at her.
Rachel looked horrified for a moment, and started to laugh. Probably imagining what a chubby miniature Jake in a diaper, looked like.
She stopped laughing, and just smiled at him, composing herself before she spoke.
"What for? Based on the guy's reaction, I thought the trip was cancelled."
"You let me handle that."
"How far do you think are we going anyway?"
"Oh. Didn't I tell you? Were going to Egypt."
--
So. You haven't been returning my calls nor replying to any of my texts." Anna complained.
"Jesus, since when did you and Stella switched places?" Jake says, as he took a sip of the coffee.
"And, like I told you earlier when you showed up.. my phone was dead." He raised up his phone at her.
It was around past three in the morning when he got home. Rachel insisted that he go because she's got things to attend to, and had already fetched a cab when they got out of the forest. Courtesy of Uber. He snuck inside the house, and went to his bedroom and slept. By the time he woke up, Anna was seated beside him on his bed watching Netflix, munching on a clubhouse sandwich. Of course, he just woke up and boys sleep in their boxers, not to mention the morning surprise, which Anna wasn't seemed to have been aware of, when he jumped out of the bed and faced her. The sight seemed too much for her, that it had sent her running out of the room, blushing furiously in the process. Stella was nowhere to be found, and must've attended some errands, when he had gone down. He found Anna seated on the couch, glaring at him furiously. Though, he wasn't surprised that Anna wasn't aware of those kind of thing.
She's an intelligent person, and a very, very good girl after all. What did you expect? And after all the drama, they decided to eat breakfast at the nearest Café.
"Stella mentioned you snuck out on her. Where'd you go?" She says, playing with the eggs on her plate with a fork. Her red hair was tied in a bun, with strands escaping out of it.
"As if I don't sneak out all the time." Jake muttered.
Anna pretended like she didn't her what he'd just said. Or maybe she didn't really. And continued picking on her toasts generously. "You seemed to be hiding something from me." Is all that she just said, she said this with a little too low a volume. But he knew that it was what she said.
What if? What if I tell her. He thought, but Rachel words echoed through his head. You should never tell anyone about this, as to not put them in the way of danger. Jake bit his lip.
There must be some way I can tell her, without her knowing it. Might as well try. He says, as he was about to ask with a determined intake of breath. His mouth parted, which- made him choke on his coffee when he saw Rachel sat upon his motorcycle, parked just outside the premises that sent him into a series of coughs.
"What made you think so?" Jake asked in between coughs, his eyes began to water. What is she doing here? He thought, as she nodded towards the direction of the back exit and jumped down from the harley.
"Hey, take it easy." Anna blurted out. "I mean, who chokes on coffee?" She stiffled a laugh.
"Ha-ha." Jake says, as he wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. Anna seemed to have caught up to this and followed the trail of his eyes, and her lips thinned into a single line. "You know that girl?" She asked.
"Be right back. Try the moist cake, I heard it tastes angelic." He says to Anna, as he stood, patted her on the shoulder and quickly walked towards the back exit.
"I thought, I told you to pack?" Rachel says. She was leaning at wall, opposite side of the door when Jake got out. "Not go, on a date."
"Date? Anna?" Jake chuckled, as he approached her and leaned forward towards her, his palm rested on the bricked wall, just beside her head as support. "Don't be jealous, darling. I've only got eyes for you."
Rachel narrowed his eyes at him, and backed into the wall, looking cornered. She seemed to have noticed this, with a sharp intake of breath and swallowed hard, as he leaned closer. He noticed that she smelled like apples, with traces of honey.
Rachel raised a brow at him, and the tip of her red lips curled into a smile. Jake's eye widened in surprise for a moment, as Rachel leaned forward, shortening the distance between their faces. And that's when he felt something slam in his gut.
He backed away with a grunt, shaking his head and chuckled in the process. "That's one hell of a blow, lady." He winced, when he noticed Rachel's clenched fist, and a satisfied smirk on her face.
"Any well placed blow, can pack a hell of a punch." She beamed proudly.
Jesus. That punch was way than packed. He felt like he'd just received a blow from a boxer, and a professional one at that. He almost felt like throwing up, not that he would admit that in front of a girl.
"Smooth, Morrigan." He heard someone say. That voice belonging to Anna as she jumped down the steps of the back door.
"I thought, I told you to wait." Jake says, and exhaled a sigh. He should've known that Anna would follow. She always does.
"Since when did I ever?" Anna rolled her eyes at him, then set her sights on Rachel." So, whose the chick?" She asked, her hands tucked inside the pockets of her pink patrick star jacket.
Rachel took a long look at the other girl. Her features went from a mild surprise, to a hint of curiousity. "Interesting." She muttered in a playful tone, as her eyes shone bright with amusement.
"Excuse me?" Anna started. Jake quickly moved at the space between them to diffuse whatever it was that would have exploded. An explosion of too much female hormones that is. Jake knew that Anna had a temper, more so if she felt insulted. But it wouldn't be a good idea for her to pick a pillow-fight, with a fallen, demon-slaying angel of a woman at that.
"Rachel, this Anna Greyburn" Jake introduced, "Anna, this is Rachel-" he paused and raised a brow at Rachel who just shrugged at him. Of course, he didn't even bothered to ask her what her last name was.
Rachel raised a brow at Jake, and bit her lip in a smile. "Collins." She says, as she offered her hand to Anna which she shook in acknowledgement, "And maybe next time," Anna says, "you ask someone their full name, so we can avoid such uncomfortable situations." And she nodded to Rachel in a silent apology. "Not to mention, someone as pretty as her."
Rachel seemed to have seen through her facade. But she just smiled, and humbly nodded. Seriously, how can she read people that easily, when I'm supposed to be the one reading minds here. Ugh. At least, one of them had the sense to be civil. Jake thought.
"So," Anna started, "care to explain what's happening in here?" She asked. Jake didn't know who the question was directed to. Right out of the bat, and into the frying pan. He thought.
"So whose mister hot guy over there?" Anna says.
"What guy?" Jake blurted out, and he shot Rachel a look that said 'You didn't tell me Gabriel was with you.' and by her reaction, she seemed to have understood. "He wasn't. Well- when I got here, that is." Rachel mind-speaked to him.
"There." Anna pointed, at the end of the street. "He was standing in there for about some time now. "And as if on cue, Gabriel turned and walked in their direction, sighing impatiently.
Gabriel's eyes gleamed dangerously, as he approached them. "What's taking so long? He says as he glanced at the three of them, before dragging Rachel into a corner, where they started to discuss. If by discuss, you mean harsh whispers and murmurs to each other, followed by a torrent of swearing and a lot of pacing back and forth. They seemed to have confused disscusion with verbal fighting.
"Where'd you meet these guys anyway?" Anna asked.
"Well, you'll just have to trust me." Jake ensured to her, and held both of her hands tight when she felt reluctant. "Want to go on a break?" He asked her. Of course she'll say no. Her grandma wouldn't have allowed it. Not to mention, all those trainings for her to take over the family business.
She might have questions considering he might be gone for quite some time. But the journey could be dangerous. At least here she'll be safe. He thought.
"In the middle of summer?" Anna raised a brow, at him. "Who says no to that?" She says to Jake's dismay, as Gabriel and Rachel approached both of them, saying something that Gabriel knew a place where they could hop unto to sail. when Anna smirked, and raised a hand to shut them both.
"B-b but." Jake managed. Oh shit. You have got to be. He cursed inwardly.
"That won't be neccessary." Anna went on, "Just let me make a call, I can arrange a private-" "Wait. You have a jet?" Rachel blurted out, cutting her words off, and Jake's attempt to stop Anna's ridiculous idea. "Who are you again?" Gabriel added in and snapped, clearly he doesn't look very happy about it.
I guess, it was true that there were no airplanes in heaven after all. Jake thought as rolled his eyes, and spoke. "She was about to say plane, but they do have jets." It seemed like he had forgotten to mention to them that Anna's family, the Greyburns owns one of the most largest real estates in the country, as well as the largest airline in the city.
And he seemed to have forgotten that Anna is really, really way too stubborn. God this wasn't supposed to happen. He thought.
"Seriously." Chimed in Rachel. This is turning into a circus trip. Jake sighed internally.
"Of course, who do you think you guys are talkin to?" Anna says, as she unearthed her phone from her pocket, and began to dial. She paused for a bit glancing at the three of them.
"So, where to?" She asked.