Stuck With You

Part 4

Chapter 4

Celeste shook her head at the two. Fred would swing his tail toward Aidirian, being careful not to touch him. As soon as the genie turned towards the sandwalker, it would flick its tail in the other direction as if it weren't taunting him.

"Make it stop," he grumbled.

"Really?" she mumbled. "Can you not act like an adult? How old are you anyway?"

"How old are you?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Touché, my newfound friend, touché."

He sent her a brilliant smile that soon disappeared as Fred's tail slid across his shoulder blades. "Make it stop before I take his stinger and crush it with his own pincher."

Fred squawked a disbelieving sound, causing Celeste to look over at it. "Do not complain. The two of you are acting like children. Aidirian will not cause you harm, but you need to stop taunting him."

It's feathers ruffled, and it turned its head away from them. A loud sigh escaped her lips. What was she to do with the two of them if they could not even take time to get along with one another? One thing that she should be thankful of is the fact that this little sandwalker would be on its own way soon enough. She could not deal with an entire trip of the two playing, 'I'm not touching you.'

"How far-" Aidirian stopped talking. His movements halted completely, and Celeste followed his lead. If he was experiencing something, she did not know about, she did not want to distract him with her presence. "There is someone coming," he mumbled.

"Who?"

"How in the hell should I know?"

"Describe it."

He shot her a glare. "All I know is that it can fly."

"It can fly. Great, it can fly. Fred, hide."

As soon as the words left her lips, the creature began burrowing into the ground. Soon, there was nothing that marked where Fred had been, good. Now, all they had to do was see which angel it was who decided to visit. If it were one of the few who opposed of her mission, there would be blood on the sand. If it were the ones for it, she would thank them for seeing her, and then quickly tell them to leave. She could not get the angel's help in her mission.

Large wings were the first thing she saw as the angel came swooping down on them. It was a good thing she recognized those wings. If not, there may have been a very large hole in them. The angel landed, and Celeste let a smile cross her face. "What brings such a mighty angel here?"

Gabriel flipped her long black hair over her shoulder and studied me with her brown eyes. "I am only a messenger, as you know, little sister."

Celeste shrugged, used to being reminded that she was the younger one. Her older sister had an unnatural protective streak, and Celeste had a feeling that Gabriel was doing everything in her power to keep herself from defying orders and maiming the genie standing a few feet away.

"What does He have to tell me?"

Gabriel's eyes slid towards Aidirian. "Can I speak freely?"

"Sure, he won't tell anyone."

"Are you sure?" she asked while narrowing her eyes at the man.

Celeste jumped forward, attempting to bring attention to herself. If there were one angel in all the lands that could convince Him to let her kill something, it would be Gabriel. "I'm his master."

As soon as the words left her lips, she knew it had been a mistake. "You took his bottle?" Gabriel whispered while Celeste nodded. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Tell me your message and be on your way," she supplied. She loved her sister dearly, but Gabriel needed to remember that she could not have aid.

Gabriel nodded. "Munkir and Nakir are getting more work than usual. You need to resolve the issue quickly before it becomes unstoppable."

With those words, her sister took off into the air. Celeste just rolled her eyes; her sister was always one who left with a flare. "Fred, you can come out!"

"Who are Munkir and Nakir?"

She turned towards Aidirian, who had a curious expression on his face. "They are the ones who decide where ones spirit goes."

"They are getting more work than usual?"

"Yes," Celeste mumbled, wondering how far into detail she should go.

He nodded his head. "Which means your mission has something to do with the fact that people are dying? Where are they dying? And is it under any certain circumstance? Of course it is," he whispered. "A fallen angel is killing humans?"

She shook her head. "No. Even fallen angels live by certain rules. They may kill, but not innocent humans."

"Fallen angels with morals," he chuckled. "Never thought that would happen."

"They have always been like that," she said with her chin tilted up in a stubborn manner. Nothing he did could convince her that her kind were not good on the inside. They may have fallen for certain reasons, but they were still angels deep down.

"Love," he said with a smirk, "I will have to take you somewhere and show you what your fallen are truly like."

Her eyes looked away from him. She did not want to see the truth in them. If she were honest with herself, she did not want this mission. The only reason why she had taken it was that she owed a favor to a very important person, a person who had dirty laundry that needed to be taken out.

"Will you tell me what kind of creature you are after? It would benefit in our search if we both knew what we were looking for."

The ground began to rumble, signaling the arrival of their friend. She still did not look in his direction, but answered the question. "Nephilim."

"Damn," he whispered, "I should have run while I still could. They are dangerous."

"Do you think I don't know that?" she asked in a harsh voice. "It is my mission to stop them from wreaking havoc, and that is what I will do."

"They will destroy you. Who sent you on this suicide mission with no one to help you? Who was stupid enough to do that?"

Thunder rolled above, and lightening struck nearby. Celeste knew that if she looked, there would be glass where the lightening had struck the sand. She did not look though. She kept her attention on the sand that was rolling, the sand that Fred was emerging from.

"I do have help," she reminded him, "you."

He let out a sigh. "God help us both then, because were not fit for this."