Phantom Pain (trilogy)

Game Plan

Chapter 8: Game Plan

The first thing I saw, in the very back corner of the restaurant, blocked by a corner from the window, was two figures. One of them was Joel.

The second thing I saw, across from him, was a dark skinned woman. She looked very small, wearing a sweater much too large for her. Her hands cupped a cup of steaming coffee, and her posture did not suggest confidence. Looking at her hair, I wondered at the last time she'd had the opportunity to shower.

“Hey!” Joel waved us over. He was one of the two friends who had arrived late the first day.

The woman turned to look at us, and I sensed tentative curiosity.

“These are Dez and Ramie,” said Fara. “They're specialists as well, the same thing we are, demon hunters.”

The woman nodded as if she knew exactly what Fara was talking about.

“She knows what specialists are,” Joel mouthed.

Dez and I exchange another surprised look. The woman stood up to meet us.

“What's your name?” Dez prompted.

“Kera.” The woman smiled.

The floor beneath my feet pitched, sickeningly, like the deck of a ship. I had told her the story, but it took my reaction for Dez to put the pieces together, then she was staring as well. Did this woman—standing here in all of her human meekness—understand the damage she'd caused? She had been the very first piece, after all.

Raphael's screaming face appeared in my minds eye, just as it did every night. I now had a face to put on the shadowy silhouette, because although it was a common enough name, I was one hundred percent sure. I could sense it now, a residual trace of power only lengthened exposure to an archangel would have caused.

“Nice to meet you, Kera.” Dez recovered quicker than I.

Anger burned in my veins. All Lucifer had needed was an inside man. She had been the answer to the question: why now? She was nothing! Insignificant! Why? My hands shook a little at my sides.

“I heard you helped these three out of a pretty tight corner,” Dez continued.

Kera nodded.

“This is just a guess,” said Dez. “But you look like the kind of person who's gotten the short end of the stick lately, am I right? Got yourself caught up in this fucking world full of angels and demons?”

A little smile was beginning to pull up the corners of the mouth of the woman, who seemed to be only a little older than Dez.

Looking at everyone but me, she continued. “She fights demons, she's one of us. Let's bring her back to the bar.”