Saint And Sinners (102 page)

“No one else step on or inside of the pentagram!” Ataru screamed. “Someone’s been
here, helping him!”

“Let’s just shoot his ass in the head then, since we can’t get to his neck!” another
yelled.

“We can’t. Cruz has to be handled with special care, in a meticulous way. We have
to do the opposite with him as we’d do with the others due to his genetic disposition.”

“But you said we should to do him the same that was done to Zoo!” one of them protested,
showing his thirst to see Cruz suffer, to shed his blood for hours on end.

“Yes, we have to slice his neck, and if we kill him
any
other way, he’ll gain his soul and have everlasting life… What a mockery that would
be for Zoo’s memory! After all that man has done for us!” Ataru said, looking over
his shoulder at the men. “However, someone has made it impossible for us to cross
over the pentagram by providing a multi-tier Angel Child sacrifice. Who has been here?!”
Ataru demanded from Cruz, pointing his finger down at the ground. “This is a very
important night for my brother, for our people. This is your last opportunity to spare
your own life!”

Cruz stared back at him, remaining quiet and motionless.

“Eventually, you will have to leave this circle, Cruz.” Ataru sneered. “…And then,
we will get you.” Ataru began to move around the place, careful to stay away from
the pentagram. “Now, I will spare your life if you tell me who did this and what he
is up to! Say his name, damn it! We know who is responsible and I want you to confess
it!”

“Saint!” Cruz laughed loudly. “You
know
his name, Ataru! And even if I knew what he was doing right at this moment, I would
rather you tear me from limb to limb then disclose
anything
to you. And do you know what I like best about this? You know that I’m telling you
the truth.” Cruz reveled in the moment. He felt powerful like he’d never before been.

“How about I do you one better?” Ataru grinned, then snapped his fingers, pointing
to the basement steps, commanding everyone to retreat. “How about we just let nature
take its course, huh? If you die, you die, but we didn’t set
you
deliberately on fire…just the house. Now make your move.”

Ataru smirked as he followed behind the men, leaving Cruz with a burning lump of fear
caught in his throat. The bastard had thought fast on his feet, found a way around
the situation.

The man was right. To burn his house down would be their one way around the laws—a
cheap, easy way to ensure they drove him out of the circle into their murderous arms.
Ataru also knew Cruz was afraid of very little, but this surely caused him anxiety
that crawled within him like a spider egg bubbling to hatch.

Cruz deliberated on getting the hell out of there, removing himself from the damn
pentagram just as they wished, and trying to make a run for it. But if they got a
hold of him, he’d be tortured for hours, perhaps days, on end. There was
nowhere
to go. He was a wanted man. If he made it up the steps and out the door, he’d be
running through thigh high flames, and if that didn’t end his life, the smoke inhalation
surely would. So he faced his fear when he saw gleaming orange and red light rising
around the perimeter of the house in the night, sparking like firewood embers. Through
his psychic vision, he could see what the fiends were doing. The men worked fast,
doing their dirty work, pouring gasoline all around. The flames danced and grinned,
as if delighted to engulf him whole. And then, as if they’d never been on the property,
the demons were gone.

For an instant, he thought he’d be able to keep his soul
and
his life, too. For a moment, he realized Saint had shed blood for him, not only to
give a bit of himself so he could help him find his soul, but because he knew the
bastards would be coming for him, sooner rather than later. Saint didn’t give a damn
about that pentagram…that was simply an excuse to lure him down into the basement
where he believed he’d be kept safe. But now it all seemed in vain.

Smoke filled the small house quickly and windows burst and shattered, as if Molotov
cocktails had been thrown in to exasperate the already hopeless situation. He began
to hear crinkling noises, of hot flames cooking the damn linoleum kitchen floor crisp
like bacon right above his head.

He drowned in the realization that this was truly the end, but he smiled nevertheless,
in full acceptance of his fate. Sitting Indian style, legs crossed, he embraced his
soul as surely as though he’d caught it in the palms of his hands. Upon beholding
it, he fell deeper in love with himself. For the first time since the day he’d been
born into the miserable world, he
finally
felt alive…

*

Saint, Lawrence and
Jagger sat in his massive living room. The curtains blew to and fro, but there was
no air source minus the green smoke that churned and choked on its own body as it
escaped the side of his crooked grin. The rain continued to pour down as if the sky
opened up and cried its fucking heart out. The deluge was violent, with sharpened
swords and serrated knives, as if it, too, was
in
on the action. It beat against the windows like a drum and danced to an occasional
lightning strike here and there that lit up the dark quarters a time or two with mystic
wonder.

“Are you
sure
you don’t want us to come?” Jagger asked as he checked his guns, ensuring all three
were fully loaded…and this was just the portion of his arsenal in view.

“I’m certain. You’ll have your hands full with the others anyway. Oh, Jagger, before
you leave, I want you to take care of a quick errand for me. I’ll discuss it with
you in a sec.”

“Of course…”

“Anyway, as soon as they know Koki and I are together, they will begin to attack the
other Angel Children in the city. It is how it goes.”

Lawrence nodded in agreement.

“Now, Armondo and his guys can fight, but they are incapable of doing this strategically
without your assistance. They’re unorganized, but with you two in charge, it should
go much smoother.”

In response, Lawrence pulled out a hand-drawn map from his tan, lightweight inner
jacket pocket. He unscrolled it, and motioned Jagger and Saint to take a glance. Even
though he’d penned it himself, it looked damn near professional. He pointed to various
boroughs around the city, explaining his ideas and plans. “I’m on it, Saint. I’ve
already contacted everyone. They know what is going and they are heading their posts.”

“Good, thank you, Lawrence.” Saint sighed and leaned back. He’d been listening to
the news. The weather in New York had made national news. The airlines dropping off
in J.F.K. and LaGuardia were closed down and out of commission for an indefinite time.
Golf ball sized hail had also been spotted. Traffic became a bigger fucking mess and
the city was revolting against being shut off and isolated like bolt-locked shutters
keeping intruders from a house.

He grabbed his cell phone off the coffee table in front of him and propped his feet
up. He let it ring a few times before he responded. Finally, an all-too-familiar deep
voice echoed on the other end.

“I thought you’d forgotten about me, man!” Officer Roman Elysio laughed. Bits of static
made him at times hard to hear.

“No, not at all.”

“I moved here, you called me to make sure the family and I were settled in, and that
was it. Saint, your follow-up procedure sucks,” the cop teased.

“I knew you were doing well.” Saint grinned as he rumpled his jeans in a nervous maneuver.
“Word got back to me that you are already up for promotion. I knew you’d fit in well,
Roman.”

“Well, thank you. I must say I do feel more appreciated here.”

“Good. Now, I need a favor…”

The man went quiet for a moment. “Sure, what is it?”

“I need you to block off the Brooklyn Bridge from all incoming traffic as of the next
fifteen minutes for the remainder of the evening.”

“What?! What is this all about? You know what? It doesn’t even matter. Saint, that
is
impossible
! That’s not even my jurisdiction!”

“Look, Roman.” Saint closed his eyes wearily and ran his fingers across the lids.
He felt his lashes, feathery and light, when his fingertips brushed against them.
“You better figure some shit out, okay? If you
don’t
, there will be innocent lives lost! People will be popping off that damn thing like
ping pong balls into the East River! Is that what you want?”

“Oh my God… How tha fuck… Goddamn it!” the man cursed. “Okay, okay…let me think, try
to figure something out…”

“And after you get it blocked, make sure no one, and I mean
no
one, enters!”

“Except me, and on second thought, I
do
want to know what the hell is going on. Something told me not to meet you at that
bar! I knew I was going to get roped in some bullshit!” the man joked, causing Saint
to offer a half-smile. “I’m lyin’. I was excited as hell.”

Saint even had to laugh a bit at that, too.

“Well, it’s best I not tell you and no, not even
you
. It’s too dangerous. I don’t want anyone else involved in this. Once you close it,
it’s closed… No way back in, no way back out. Send me a text when it’s done.”

“Will do.”

Saint disconnected the call and slid the phone back on the table. Silence reigned
for a long while.

“I can feel her…” he murmured, rubbing his eyes with closed fists. “My woman is in
our bedroom right this second, with our children sleeping all around her.” He pointed
up at the staircase, without looking. “They are half of each of us, an extension of
our beings, a receipt, if you will, of our love for one another. My son,” he said
over a huge lump in his throat, his voice shaking as the magnitude of the situation
began to settle in his soul. “My eldest boy said to me, ‘Daddy, something bad is going
to happen tonight, ain’t it?’” Saint burst out laughing, a cheerless sound, as the
insanity mixed in with his sorrow. “I hadn’t told my son
any
of this, none of it…but he knows, damn it! He knows. He stood there cryin’. Hassani
is not a crier, but since we’ve moved here, it seems that is all he does… He breaks
my fuckin’ heart.” Saint swiped his own tears away.

“Then, Dakarai just stared at me with those big, light brown eyes. He didn’t even
try to read me. He just turned away, hiding himself, afraid…scared. Isis is getting
wise, too. She is feeling everyone’s emotions around her. She’s struggling and taking
it all in. That’s what empaths do…that’s my baby girl, my little fortune teller.”
He sniffed. “Pretty little girl, vibrant, kind…lovely. And…Xenia.” Saint gasped, already
mourning his wife, his life…for he may never lay eyes on his bride again.

Jagger sat at his side and patted his back.

“She is being strong, holding her tears, but her damn heart… Xenia’s heart is beating
so fast right now. She thinks I’m going to die tonight.” He wiped more tears from
his eyes. “And you know what’s so horrible? She might be right. All I know is that
Koki is going to do what he is programmed to do and he won’t let much stand in his
way. I know he will destroy New York, including himself and his little family if I
don’t intervene, and it won’t just stay contained here, either. It will spread like
a damn virus. If he can take me out, he gets
everything
! He has a lot riding on this.

“He gets to feast off people’s drug additions! He gets to relish in illegal prostitution.
He gets to lie back and watch murders, rapes and assaults on women, children and the
innocent! He gets to applaud people dying all around him, for no reason other than
he needs the pain of others in order to feel halfway normal. The soulless don’t give
a fuck, Jagger!” He stared at the man beside him, feeling his eyes bloodshot from
lack of sleep and fresh tears. “He has
nothing
to lose by going through with this!”

“Everyone has something to lose, Saint. If he didn’t he wouldn’t be fighting you.”
Lawrence stated. “He’d just step aside, and let you have what is rightfully yours.”

“Nah.” Saint shook his head and placed his hand on Lawrence’s shoulder. “He ain’t
got nothin’ to lose, Lawrence, because when that man dies, no one will miss him. His
followers will only be sad that he is gone, because of how he could make them feel,
the power he possessed and the sordid, wicked things he could do. But no one, not
one…damn…person, will shed a tear for that man because they never actually
valued
him, and he knows it! What an existence! Could you imagine? The loveless and unloved
of this world have absolutely
nothing
to lose and that makes Koki the
most
dangerous of all…”

*