Chapter 5: “The Mission”
The woman moved her hips from side to side on her way to the kitchen and Jason cleared his throat, watching as her booty swayed underneath the red silk skirt. There was something about dark skin against red. Baby girl was all body. He shook his head, trying to focus as the sweat began to trickle down the side of his face. He loosened the collar on his shirt. Damn it’s hot in here.
“Ey mama you got something cold to drink in here? It’s hot ass hell.”
Jason wiped his brow and dried his sweaty hands off on his Post Office jeans. Something told him not to be greedy and try to do one more block but when he saw those beautiful blue eyes, he couldn’t resist. The woman returned with a large glass pitcher of tea and a glass. Jason wondered how she could hold both with one hand.
Damn she strong.
The woman smiled, handing him the glass and holding the pitcher with both hands as she poured the sweet liquid. Her breasts dangled in front of her guest.
“I’m so sorry. It’s been quite warm lately,” she said licking her lips and smiling.
Jason watched the show. He wasn’t much of a breast man. They weren’t as much fun as booty and thighs. “Tittes are for babies,” he told his friends. But he damn sure wasn’t complaining. He watched them jiggle when she sat down and gulped his drink.
“So, tell me a little about yourself? How long you been in this house? I don’t remember seeing you around here and I been working this route for a minute,” Jason emptied his glass. It really must have been hot because he only drank like that when he was thirsty.
“Oh, I’m new here.”
The blue-eyed woman moved closer, staring into his eyes. Her hips practically touching his. She watched the red spots on the internal screen of her eyes as Jason’s temperature rose. He loosened his collar again and cleared his throat, then leaned in closer to the woman, his lips so close to hers he could feel her cool breath on his face.
The woman smiled and continued to stare.
“Stop.”
Startled, the woman turned in the direction of the voice and back to Jason, whose mouth hung open, his body stiff. She turned back to the man who spoke, her eyes flames of fire, her teeth gritted.
“You froze him?”
“He’ll snap out of it in a second. Won’t remember a thing. I need to talk to you,” said the being.
The woman sighed. She hated when they froze time. She folded her arms.
“What are you doing here? This isn’t exactly your jurisdiction.”
“Pas, you don’t need to do this. Let him go. He’s a good man. Haven’t you had enough already?”
Pas stood and walked toward the tall, blue-eyed man, stopping in front of him.
“Good and man is an oxymoron. I know how badly you want to be one of them. Are you a good man Azbuga?”
“Stop playing games. I have orders from the master. You can’t touch him.”
Pas circled the archangel.
“See Az, that’s the difference between you and me. You are a sheep, blindly following your master.” She laughed, walking back to the sofa and waved her hand in the face of the stiff Jason before her.
“I mean, they are so weak. I tell you what. You can have him if I can have her.”
“That’s not how this works. You know that.”
“Oh.” Pas bit her lip in a fake pout, “that sucks.”
“I’m not playing games with you Paschar. Stop digging or I disintegrate you.”
“Ouch. Pulling out the big guns huh? I can do stuff too you know.”
“This isn’t a competition. There are people’s lives at stake here.”
“Exactly. People. Ungrateful, weak-minded human beings who care about nothing but themselves, their fancy cars and worthless money. They can’t even breathe on their own let alone “control their own destiny.” Bunch of weak-minded fools are what they are.” Paschar folded her arms across her chest. It pissed her off that despite being more powerful than humans her legion still didn’t have a chance at redemption.
“You stop digging or I turn you in and you know what that means.”
“I don’t have to listen to you.”
“There’s a bottomless pit with your name on it. Try me.”
Pas rolled her eyes and bit her lip, Az vanished.
Jason snapped out of his trance and shook his head. The woman was standing. Was it over already? I know I ain’t that desperate I can’t remember hitting it, he thought.
The woman walked over to the door and opened it.
“You can leave now.”
“What? Yo ma I thought…”
“Get your ass up. Get out before I call the cops,” said Pas. She had to muffle laughter on that one. Cops. What a joke.
***
Tina tightened the silk night cap on her head and sighed. It had been a long day at the office trying to solve the Byron case and she still didn’t know how to reveal to Freddy that she knew the guy. I’m just so caught up in this foolishness, she thought. The children were with her mother for the weekend and Janiyah was at a friend’s house. She was thankful for that at least. She needed the break. Tina turned over on her side and pulled the tiny chain on the lamp that would turn off the light, but it wouldn’t turn off. She pulled again. Still, nothing.
“Come on now,” she said removing the covers and standing. Pulling again, the light wouldn’t turn off.
“Gotta be these cheap ass bulbs. Told mama not to get this brand.”
“It’s me. Look, we need to talk.”
Tina jumped, holding her hand to her chest, breathing heavy.
“Don’t do that!”
The man held up a hand.
“Sorry.”
Tina first started seeing Az when Ronnie died, before Freddy recommended, she see Erica. It had happened right there at the office. She was snitched on by Amy, her rival.
“Are you all blue?” Tina looked him up and down. His full name was Azbuga and he was a Watcher Archangel sent to help her.
The angel frowned, “what?”
“Is your whole-body blue or is it just your eyes?”
“Just my eyes. I don’t really look like a human. This is the image I show you so you’re not…afraid. Listen, I didn’t come here to talk about me. It’s gonna happen again.” Az handed Tina a folder. She took it and opened it.
“Her name’s Paschar, angel of vision. She’s a nasty entity who sucks the souls of men right out of them using nothing but her eyes.”
Tina stared back at the photo and paperwork.
“She’s beautiful.”
“Exactly the problem. She kills more men than anyone of her kind. There’s a legion of them. She’s high up there.”
Tina looked over the paperwork, stopping at a photo of a well-dressed African American man with light skin, freckles, and an Afro. He was handsome and Tina caught herself staring.
“His name is Jason. I stopped her before she did anything but Paschar can’t be trusted. She’s gonna cross me and…”
He nodded toward the photo in Tina’s hands.
“Kill him.”
“Why?”
Tina stared at Az, no longer frightened by his appearance. He was taller than a normal man but could shorten his height around people like he did that night at the club. He was at least 9ft and Tina found herself looking up to talk to him. He’s been coming around since Ronnie’s death. Only now was he communicating with her and showing his real height. She wanted to know why.
“Why me, why black men, why now?”
“Energy.”
Tina rolled her eyes, “cut the crap Az. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I told you. Energy. Paschar and her crew are fallen angels, no longer connected with the master…”
“God? When you say Master, you mean God?” asked Tina sarcastically.
“Listen, they need the energy and worship from humans to live. There’s a connection to you because Ronnie’s involvement with one of their kind…”
Tina shivered. Big Sam.
“…opened a door,” continued Az. “The more men Paschar and her girls take out, the longer they live. Sexual energy is one of the most powerful forms of energy there is. Your sexual energy is a creative, life-force energy. Through it, you give birth to new life and angels have always been jealous of that.”
“Angels jealous of humans? Get outta here,” waved Tina.
“Ever since Mount Herman.” Az paused reflectively. “Anyway, Pas and her crew craves the sexual energy of black men, a strong force that gives them longevity. Men are weakened by the sight of them, especially Pas, and their weakness is a doorway she can use to suck the energy from their eyes.”
“Okay, but why black men? All of her victims so far have been black. Is it because she’s black?”
“Paschar is not African American. She appears that way same as I appear to you a Hispanic man. I know your father was Hispanic so you wouldn’t fear me in this form. We angels have no race, no color, no human form. We are energy.”
“Why black men though?” Tina asked again, annoyed that he had not answered her question.
“Black men have one of the most powerful energy forces there is. Black women follow them. Listen, if Pas visits a man herself, he must be very special. She saves the best for her. Jason is visiting his daughter at precisely two o’clock tomorrow. Afterward, he will stop at a friend’s house for a short while before heading home. At this friend’s house he will meet a woman. A beautiful woman. You and your people, get to him before she does.”
Az vanished.
“Wait!”
Tina punched the bed, then buried her face in the pillow, her head pounding like crazy. She wanted to scream. Why was this happening to her? Why had Ronnie’s death invited angels and demons into her life? She sat up, head still pounding. Her eyes looked ahead to the bathroom. Only now did she realized Az large figure had blocked it completely from view. Erica’s pills were calling out to her and so was the aspirin. She wouldn’t be able to see Az if she took the pills and wouldn’t know what to do next. She did need those aspirins though. Tina sighed.
“Choices, choices.”
She looked down on the bed at the envelope Az gave her with Jason’s information in it. He was so beautiful, but she couldn’t involve herself in this. She decided to take Erica’s prescription over the aspirin. This was all too much.
She touched Jason’s picture, caressed his face, and sighed.
“Sorry baby. But I’m not your savior.”
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