Watch

Bearing Witness

They landed in one of those tiny nations that fell somewhere between the so-called first world and emerging world. It wasn't unusual, in such a place, to see armed military at the airport. Insecure leaders always felt the need to make a fuss by displaying their power and might.

Given that, the first sign of trouble Daniel noticed was the utter lack of security. A single customs agent waved them through after a cursory glance in their carry on bags. No soldiers guarded the gates. No police officers watched over the crowd. Only a few frazzled airline employees seemed to be standing in the gap between order and chaos.

The princess took her bag from the conveyor belt and smiled at him over her shoulder. "Don't cause too much mischief out there, now," she said.

He grinned. "Me? Nah. Wouldn't dream of it." His eyes stayed on the curve of her backside until she was out of sight. He turned to see the old man with the passport stamp staring after her, too. He sighed, thwapped the stamp against the counter where he thought he saw Daniel's passport and waved him through without a word.

The second sign of trouble was in the taxi line. Twelve rusty black and yellow cabs were lined up at the curb. From behind the windows, twelve pairs of glowing yellow eyes glared at him.

"Bloody Earth," he mumbled under his breath. Demons. They always congregated where they smelled impending disaster, pain and suffering a favorite delicacy among their kind.

The driver's door of the third taxi opened and a man stepped out. He stood taller than Daniel and broader at the shoulder, as was common among the men of this part of the world. He walked too fast to pass for human, if anyone cared to pay attention to such things. Of course, no one did.

When he'd come close enough that Daniel could smell the stink of sulfur clinging to him he spoke, a dozen voices in the discordant melody of Hell. "Why are you here, angel?"

Daniel slipped his hands into his pockets. "I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup and honk up a better question than that."

The demons pulled the taxi driver's brows down into a frown of confusion. "What?"

The angel chortled. "Don't worry about it, mates. I'm just a Watcher, here to Watch, not interfere. Besides, there's no way I'm the only angel this side of the Danube."

"You're the only one who showed up here, at this hour."

Bollocks. Something was about to happen at the airport. He shrugged, taking a casual glance around himself. Three reapers on motorcycles pulled up to the curb behind the taxi stand. "This is where and when the plane landed," he told the demons.

They cocked the driver's head to one side. "Why'd you take a plane anyway?"

Daniel winked. "Girls, mate."

The demons blinked with the man's eyes, trying to make sense of that answer.

The princess stepped out of the airport, a pretty pink daisy in a field of boring black and grey. A woman in a black Burka walked a few paces behind her. Only her quick brown eyes showed through a slit in her veil.

Daniel made a point of not paying attention to them. "Well, mates. It's been perfectly awful seeing you, and I hope the rest of your day will be just as pleasant as you are." He turned to walk away.

Four more Reapers stepped off the Hilton shuttle bus.

The angel lacked a literal heart, but if he'd had one, it would have been pounding. A single Reaper could transition half a dozen dead. If seven were here...

A long black car pulled to the curb and two more emerged.

Moving as one, the demons in the taxi line opened their doors and exited the vehicles. Those inside the man before Daniel hissed in garish excitement. "Time to eat," they said joining their fellows in moving toward the airport.