Owen was only nine years old when he got sick. It had all happened quickly. Within a year, he was diagnosed, and he passed away. The cancer that consumed him hadn't slowed no matter what the doctors tried. During that time Gabriel spent every waking moment praying for a cure that never came. He had even resorted to seeking aid from the various shamans, witches, wizards, and whatever other mystically inclined individuals he had encountered over his career, yet none could help. And still he prayed, and still Owen died.
It was at that moment that Gabriel knew his faith was gone. It's not that he no longer believed in God. Hell, he worked for Him, but he knew that he wanted nothing to do with Him from that day forth. With his son gone, and his faith gone as well, the world which he had protected for so long, became a cold, hostile, and lonely place.
From there he spiraled. He walked away from the Knights and withdrew from the world as a whole. His wife, Lauren, whom he neglected, and coping with her own grief, left him soon after. For the first time in his life, he felt truly alone, and all he had was a newfound taste for Jack Daniels.
With all of those memories coming to the surface, Gabriel rolled onto his side, took a swig from the bottle of whiskey on the nightstand, and let himself drift into dreamless and shallow sleep.
He woke to a knock at his door. Gabriel squinted as sunlight beamed through the tattered blinds on his windows. He stumbled out of bed, slipped an old pair of pajama pants on, and went to see who could possibly be at his door. He hardly ever got visitors.
He whipped the door open, agitated, to see a young girl standing there. She looked up at him with big blue eyes that Gabriel could see fear and a deep sadness in. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope.
"My mom said to give this to you," she said.
Without saying a word, he took the envelope from her little hand. He noticed his name written on it and immediately recognized the handwriting. He ripped it open and read:
Gabriel,
I know it's been a long time, and I'm sorry to do this, but this is your daughter, Cassie. She's in danger. Please protect her.
- Lauren
"Shit," Gabriel muttered to himself. He looked up from the note and to the girl. She stood there quietly with her head down, looking at her feet, and clutching the straps of the backpack she wore. "Cassie?"
She looked up. Gabriel couldn't help but notice how tired she looked. There had clearly been tears in her eyes earlier, but the girl's face looked worn, yet stoic. For a child who couldn't have been more than ten, it was clear to Gabriel that she had seen more than anyone her age should have to. "You're Cassie, right?" He asked. She gave a slight nod. "Okay. Okay, um, come inside." As he let her in he stuck his head out and looked up and down the hallway to see if anyone was there. There was no one.
He guided her to the living room of his small apartment and sat her down on the worn down couch. Gabriel then grabbed his phone off the kitchen counter and called the most recent number he had for Lauren. It immediately went to voicemail. His heart began to race as a feeling of dread sunk its claws into him. He looked up from his phone to the little girl sitting on the couch, playing with the zipper on her jacket. She looked so small and innocent, and it broke Gabriel's heart. There was no doubt in his mind that she was in fact, his. Just as he knew about the demon the night before, he knew this.
He went up to her and sat cross-legged on the floor so that he was slightly looking up at her when he spoke. "Where is your mom?"
"I don't know. I was getting ready for school and someone knocked on our door. Greg answered. He's my mom's boyfriend and stays over a lot. I couldn't hear what they were saying but Greg sounded mad. Mom, came into my room, put your address into the GPS on my phone, handed me that envelope to give to you, and told me to run here without stopping. She made me go out the fire escape."
Gabriel listened intently. His head was pounding and his mind racing with all of the information this little girl was giving him. His little girl. That was important to remember. What the hell could they have gotten into? What would they want with Cassie? Is Lauren dead? The last question, Gabriel thought ruefully, was obvious. Lauren didn't live far. Only a couple miles, but in Boston, those aren't the easiest two miles to cover on foot, especially for a kid. If Lauren sent Cassie there alone, there was a reason.
Lauren was tough and resilient, and having been married to Gabriel as long as she had been, he made sure that she could protect herself should there be any spillover from his work. Maybe she thought she could get the jump on whoever was behind this crap. Gabriel figured that if she was okay though, and she knew this was where Cassie was going, that she would've made it there too, or at least called. Gabriel had a second to realize that he'd never wanted a drink more, when Cassie broke the silence.
"Do you think my mom is okay?"
Gabriel didn't know how to answer. He just looked at her, trying to find the words.
"I've never seen her look so scared," Cassie continued. She looked away from Gabriel and seemed to shrink into herself.
Gabriel reached out and put his hand on the girl's shoulder. "I'm going to do everything I can to get to the bottom of all this, and I swear to you, I will protect you." The words seemed to come out automatically, as if they were someone else's. They were true though. He knew it in his soul. "Okay, kid, I need you to sit tight while I get dressed."
Cassie nodded in understanding but said nothing.
Gabriel went to his bedroom and opened his closet. Buried underneath a heap of fallen clothes and other useless junk was a chest that he hadn't ever planned on opening again. He threw on some clothes, and pulled the chest out.
Stored in that chest were various supplies that he used regularly when he was a Knight. He unloaded most of it into a duffel bag, but one object, he slipped into his jacket pocket. It was an old leather hilt. It appeared to be entirely unremarkable, but Gabriel wanted it on him.
He went over to his nightstand, took a swig out of the bottle there for his headache, and then slung the duffel bag over his shoulder. He put his hand in his jacket pocket and grabbed the hilt. Gabriel couldn't remember the last time he had been as stressed as he was then, but feeling the leather in his hands helped calm him. He knew he had to keep it together for the girl.
"Are we going to go see my mom?" Cassie asked when he stepped back I to the living room with his duffel bag.
"I'm going to go to her once I get you someplace safe," Gabriel said, looking for his keys.
"No! I want to go with you to help her."
"Kid—Cassie, I'm sorry but that's just not in the cards right now." Gabriel didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. Not at that moment. Maybe not ever. Her mom, his former wife, whom he had not one, but now two children with, was dead. He figured, hearing the girl's story that that may be the case, but he also knew.
Though they hadn't been married for years, Gabriel always had a connection to Lauren. Maybe the rites he went through to become a Knight of Dawn, which enhanced so much of his being, made it stronger. He didn't know, but it was there. Even though he had pushed her away long ago, that connection was still there. Hell, he couldn't help but notice that no matter what, without any deliberate action, they had always seemed to live within a couple miles of each other. Always in each other's periphery. His love for her never went away. He just thought she deserved better than a drunk asshole chasing ghosts.
Gabriel had the epiphany long ago that love was the closest to divinity that people could experience in their lives. During happier points in his life, he figured it was the only thing that truly made life worth living. A shining light in an otherwise dark and lonely world. Yet every light casts a shadow. When the realization that Lauren was dead hit him, the greatest pain he had felt since the loss of his son came with it. He refused to let himself fall apart though. That could come later, but in that moment, he had to make sure the little girl who showed up on his doorstep was going to make it out in one piece.
Cassie was staring at him as he stood there, playing with his keys, trying to muster up the courage for what would come next.