The Disgraced Angel Book Two: The Dark Guardian

Chapter 4

Angela was beginning to feel the same way she had when they were hunting the archangels. Restless and impatient as they waited for a sign of some kind, or a message. There had to be something. Someone willing to help them. She sat and tried to think of all the names of places in the country that sounded even remotely like somewhere that might lead them to either Heaven or Hell. Earlier that morning they had had a long discussion about where to try reaching first. In the end, they agreed that they would reach for the place that seemed to make itself apparent to them. At this point, up or down; it wouldn't matter. While thinking of all the places they could look into, Angela's mind constantly drew a blank. Surely there had to be somewhere they could look.

"I don't think the answers are going to come to us just because we want them." Damon reminded her.

"Doesn't mean they aren't there." she said, thinking of some of the most ironic places there were in the country. Now that she'd gotten a better idea of what God was really like, she started to think of what He might consider funny. For once, it was true when people said that God had a sense of humor. Angela and her father knew that for a fact. How were Angela and her mother so stubborn?

"Do you really think He'd make the answers so obvious?"

"No, but there's at least one that has to keep up with his sense of humor." Damon couldn't fight with that answer.

"Graceland." It was a dumb thought, but it was really the only one that stuck in her head. This made Damon laugh.

"Graceland? You think we'll find a clue in a mansion in Memphis, Tennessee?" he asked. He sincerely doubted that.

"I don't know. Just a thought. Maybe He likes Elvis or something, thought it would be funny."

"I'm surprised you even know who Elvis Presley is."

"Dad, if someone doesn't know who Elvis is, they have no culture."

"Do you really want to go to Memphis, Tennessee?"

Angela blinked with surprise. "Tornadoes and constantly dry weather? No, thank you! But it's better than no idea at all. Besides, I don't suppose you have any ideas as to how to get to Hell, would you?"

Damon thought about it for a few moments. He had been to plenty of places that he considered were hell, but he never expected that there was truly a Hell somewhere out in the world. None of the places he thought of now seemed to stick out to him as a place that would lead straight to hell itself.

"No." Damon answered flatly.

"Then this is the most we have to go with right now. If we have to go, we can just think of it as another road trip." Angela answered with a small grin.

Angela hoped against hope that they wouldn't have to go all the way to Tennessee for anything. Going across the country for your mother's wedding was one thing. Going to Tennessee just to know whether or not they could reach Heaven or Hell from some mansion was another. If anyone else had heard this, they would think Angela and Damon were crazy. Shit, just the thought that this was possible was a serious stretch. If nothing else came along, it was very possible that they would wind up going to Graceland for no real reason whatsoever. Surely, there had to be another clue that they were heading in the right direction. It was obvious that they weren't going to pack up and leave tonight or in the next few days. The thought of another long stint on the road was not appealing to her right now, however.

After a few minutes of silence, it occurred to Damon that as well as he knew her now, he didn't really have an idea of what she had enjoyed when she was younger. He used to secretly watch her from a distance when she was young, and then there came the time when they could meet at the park during her childhood. But those visits were always short, when Angela was usually at her most agitated or upset. In all that time, he'd never really had a chance to know many of the things she did and did not like. He figured now was as good a time as any.

"If we had to go to Tennessee, would you be excited to go and see Graceland?" he asked.

Angela blinked in surprise again. "I don't know. Never was much of an Elvis Presley fan. If this mansion turned museum was his house it would be pretty cool though." She mused.

"Sometimes people just aren't prepared for what happens when you become famous. It either brings out the best or the worst in people. Usually the worst."

"Don't tell me you had something to do with Elvis getting famous."

"He found me, what can I say?"

"Next, you'll be saying you helped out The Beatles." Angela said, moving into the living room.

"Truthfully, that was all them. I had absolutely nothing to do with it. Not everything or everyone needs my influence." He pointed out. He smiled. At least he knew Angela preferred The Beatles to Elvis. He had no issue with country music himself. Country music was okay if you liked songs that seemed to stick to lyrics seemingly focused on getting drunk with your partner, trucks or doing prison time for one reason or another. He had to admit that there were a few good country songs; he just preferred not to listen to it as a whole. Neither of them had to go to work until the next day, so they sat in front of the television for a few hours before Angela went to bed.

"Were you trying to get to know me or something awhile back, Dad?" Angela asked with a smile.

"Was it that obvious?"

"No. But if you want to know something, just ask. Not like you don't know all of the most important things, anyway."

"Angela, I may be the devil, but I am also your father. It isn't right that I don't know as much about you as I should." He pointed out.

"Fine. Pick me up after work tomorrow, and we can go to lunch somewhere. I'll tell you anything you want to know." She told him.

"You know I don't finish at the garage until five."

"Dinner, then. I'll pick you up."

"You're insistent."

"Wonder where I got that from."

Damon smiled as the bedroom door closed softly behind him. Just like Angela, he had no real wish to visit Tennessee, either. He supposed it was better than Texas or Kansas. He had no problems with the people or even the heat. Heat and chill had never really bothered him. One of the other perks of not truly being of this world, he supposed. No, what bothered him were the empty deserts. Empty deserts and flat grounds with nothing to see but vast nothingness. He wondered why He thought it was important to make lands like that. There was so much space to create something in places like those, yet they were left empty. So many people died in places like those, Damon wondered if He did that as a private joke, as well.

Damon could tell that heat and cold affected Angela as it would any other human. He didn't exactly what to see his daughter die from heat exhaustion or freezing to death, either. Shit, if he had the power, Damon knew he would do something with deserts. Needless deaths and emptiness was such a waste of this world, he often thought. So no, he had no real desire to go to Tennessee or out in the middle of the country where some states were dry and mostly empty.