“Should we leave the two of you alone?” Billboard guy said with a teasing look.
Rolling his eyes, Luc decided it was time to introduce Katia to the crew. “Katia, I’d like to introduce you to some of my friends. They’re going to try to help us figure out what’s going on with you and where to go from here.” Katia nodded, unsure of what else to do. She felt like she’d just been dropped down the rabbit hole.
Luc squeezed her hand. “You remember Amir?” he asked, pointing toward the yellow-eyed man. “He’s a species of demon called a Jinn. No need to be afraid of him because he’s a demon. He’s not evil; he just has some special abilities.”
Amir stepped forward in the lineup and extended his hand toward Katia and smiled. “Hey! Nice to meet you. Sorry for the surprise entrance. Luc asked me to come over and give him a hand, but I didn’t realize he had company.”
Hesitantly, Katia extended her hand and shook Amir’s. “You’re a demon? You look so normal. Well, apart from your eyes. Oh shit! That’s so rude. I’m sorry.” Katia looked up at him with a horrified expression full of embarrassment. Laughing, Amir’s smile grew even wider. “There’s a lot you’ll need to learn about the supernatural world, but demons aren’t all scaly with horns and cloven hoofs. Stick close to Luc — he’ll be able to guide you on who to trust and who to avoid.”
“I hope so...this is all a lot to take in.” Katia smiled up at him. Returning her attention to Luc, she decided to plow forward. The quicker they got through the ‘who’s,’ the quicker they could get to the ‘what’s.’ So it was in her best interest to rip off the bandage. “So, who else do we have here? I must be something special if you all wanted to come and take a look. I’m starting to feel like a zoo animal.”
Luc began to motion toward each of remaining men one by one. “This is Baal, otherwise known as B. Beside him we have Samael; you can call him Sam. The guy standing over by the mirror is Gadreel. And then we have Azazel, Belial, and Asmodeus, or just Al, Bill and Mo.”
As a unit, the six men nodded at her. Katia ran them through her mind a few times to put names to faces. Halfway through her mental chanting, she froze. “Wait a minute. I recognize those names — you’re all named after angels! That’s so cool.” Katia turned to look at Luc. “My parents loved researching different mythologies, they told me stories when I was little. Too bad your name is Luc and not Michael or Zachariel or something, then you could all have been angels. Well, except for Amir, of course.” She said smiling.
Suddenly, Luc was looking everywhere except Katia’s face. After a moment of intense discomfort in the room, Luc barked out a short brittle laugh and returned his gaze to her. “Yeah, that would’ve been perfect, but I’m just plain old Luc.”
Katia studied Luc’s face for a moment, trying to figure out who he really was in this strange new reality – not a kidnapper anymore, but someone she would have to rely on while she was through this bizarre looking glass.
When Katia had first woken Luc had seemed almost accusatory in his manner of speaking to her, dismissive, uncaring and short-tempered. This time she had woken un-cuffed. He had taken care of her wounded wrist, given her blankets and an extra pillow. Whatever had changed, he clearly had no desire to hurt her and had taken measures to ensure her comfort. At the very least, Luc had to be a halfway decent man.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“For what?”
“For putting me back to sleep when I was freaking out, for taking care of me.”
Luc swallowed hard and looked down at the bedspread with a small nod.
“Speaking of taking care of me, what did you do to make my wrist heal so quickly? That’s amazing. Is it some kind of special demon thing?”
The the men exchanged worried looks. Gadreel, who had finally peeled his eyes off the mirror, made a motion toward the door. “Guys, I think we’re clear to head out for now to take care of that little side project Luc gave us.” Looking back at Luc and Katia, he continued. “We’ll leave you two alone so he can get you up to speed.” With that, they filed out the door one-by-one, leaving only Amir behind.
“Listen, Luc, I’m going to head home for a bit. If you need me later just hit me up on my cell and I’ll be here. The guys said they’d let both of us know once they’ve got the information you wanted.”
Luc nodded to Amir as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him with a soft click. Turning back to Katia, Luc cleared his throat. “I should probably give you the rundown on what you need to know.”
Taking a deep, shaky breath, Katia nodded. “Go ahead. Give me the goods.”
“So, as you know, Amir is a demon, a Jinn. Most demons are like him — they look human, but have some special abilities.” Clearing his throat, Luc continued. “Demons are kinda like humans. For the most part, they’re not evil. There are some demons that are bound to Satan – they’re basically bottled evil. Then there are my kind…the fallen.”
“Fallen?” Confusion was written across Katia’s face.
“Me and the other six guys you just met…we’re fallen angels.”
Silence greeted that little nugget of information. Luc looked up from the floor into Katia’s face, her eyes had grown wide. “Fallen angels,” she said breathlessly. “So all of those names, they’re the actual angels from the stories I was read?”
“Yes, they are.”
“But…that would make you all thousands of years old…that’s…”
“Impossible?” Luc replied wryly, raising his eyebrow.
Shaking her head and laughing, Katia nodded incredulously. “Yeah, impossible. Just like a dude materializing out of
