Lillith heard a knock on her door shortly after sunset, and walked to the door knowing it was Shay and Sĕigo. She had decided to stay with them for now and see how things went. It's not like an Enchantress could get killed and if she needed to, she could just “charm” her way out of anything. Even if that creepy ass cave thing gave them an order to kill her, she was confident she could get away. She had gotten up, showered again and gotten dressed a few hours ago. The long days and nights on the road had drained her but she really required little sleep, but got cranky if she didn't get some beauty sleep. Shay and Sĕigo walked into her room and she sat down on the foot of her bed. The shirt she had gotten from Tobias's house was hanging limply in Shay's left hand. In his right hand was a gas station map of Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. He set the map down and spread it out onto the bed. “We did our own tracking spell while we had to wait for the sun to set.” Well, there it was... She was caught, the map wouldn’t show... her eyes flicked over the map and she saw a large red X in the corner of Utah by Colorado. She stood up to lean over and made a show of looking over the map before leaning against the TV stand. “Yea, he’s definitely heading after The Master, just like I told you guys.” She lied smoothly enough. She wasn't sure how they had come up with the same location because her tracking spell had been total bullshit. Perhaps it was divine intervention on the behalf of The Order? Sĕigo nodded, “We thought you had lost your way and were lying to us. This map shows you did not.” He was a man, thing, of few words but she was still relieved to hear they trusted her. “I was thinking, why don't we take a few vehicles out of here. There's a nice camper in the parking lot, you two can snag that and I can get something a bit sportier and make sure they haven't gotten there first. We could use the camper as a little home too, once you guys get there.” Shay smiled and seemed to like the idea. “Meals on wheels, Haha! I like it! We can grab a few snacks for the road before we go.” Shay laughed. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically, she just wanted to be away from them for a bit. She would rather take the RV herself so the place wouldn't reek of blood and body odor by the time it got to Utah, she could claim it as her home or whatever for the brief time she would be staying there. Unfortunately, the reality was she needed something fast because this was likely the last time she would see them. She had gotten VERY lucky with the location spell they did working out for her but it was time to leave. Hopefully Tobias wouldn't need her to stick around much longer. She would try to call and check in from the road. She hadn’t called or text him while the three of them were together, she just couldn't risk it. “I'm going out for a bit, I think I saw a small bar a few blocks from here. I'm going to snag a car from a drunk and head out. You two should wait and leave tomorrow night. That way two vehicles won't be reported stolen from the same area on the same day.” Lillith said, standing up from where she had been leaning against the TV stand opposite the bed and walking towards the door. To her relief, neither of the men tried to stop her. She was shocked they hadn’t questioned her timeline either. They had been in such a hurry to get home, but now that they were almost there, she had still managed to buy Tobias another 24 hours.
It was a wonderful morning and I was finishing off the last of the bacon and coffee from the room service breakfast we ordered when my phone buzzed. Angiola was sitting across the table from me, both of us wearing the hotel's bath robes while we ate. I guess my face gave away my surprise when Angiola raised a questioning eyebrow. “It's The Enchantress, she said she was still with the lich and the vamp until today. She said they have split up and are almost to Utah now. She wants to leave them all together but wanted to know if we needed her for anything else.” I could tell she wasn't thrilled to be working with her and I hated to bring her up again. Her face brightened before saying, “Actually, yes. We don't have an exact location. Tell her to buy a cheap burner phone at her next stop and have her call you on it. I can set up tracking on the phone's gps, she can hide it in the area and leave if she wants to. It's really odd she's wanting to help us, do you think she can be trusted?” I replied to Lillith's text message while I thought about her question. “I really don't know. It could be a trap but I don't see why she would have led them all the way back to Utah. At least if that's where they actually are. I think if she wasn't trying to help there would have been a big showdown in Lakeland, not just her knocking on my door.” Angiola smiled and stood up. She came over and sat in my lap, wrapping her arms around me. “Reginald told me what happened there by the way, all of it.” I hadn't gone into too many details. Just that she had come over and had eventually offered to help. “He said Lillith tried multiple times to get you back but you turned her down, wouldn't even let her get cleaned up after Mouse played his little prank. He said that you only have eyes for me, and that you had gained his complete respect that day.” I hadn't told Angiola the whole story, not because I wanted to hide anything from her but I felt bad about the whole Enchantress thing all together. She said she completely understood and she knew I had watched her die so it wasn't like I was out cheating on her but I still felt really guilty about it. I did what I could not to bring it up, or to talk about it more than necessary. She held me tightly and said, “She's an Enchantress, magic and lust incarnate, worshiped as goddesses. Like a Siren or a succubus but they feed off attraction, love and lust. I'm proud of you too, most men... From the records, most men wouldn't have survived, and no one has turned one away more than the first attempt at seduction. Besides, we are in this beautiful room and it's our honeymoon so let's just focus on that.”
We were going over the plans again. Blueprints for the Metropolitan museum of art were laid out on the table before us. In an hour or so we would leave and do a little walk through. If everything went well, we would start the heist later that evening. As long as things went as planned. My cell rang, it was Simon. I guess he was wanting an update on things? “Hey Simon, you two are on your honeymoon but we got an emergency call from a church, and you're the closest team. Any chance you can postpone the heist 24 hours and pick up a job. We can't get a Manus Patris team in the area for another 72 hours. That battle with The Dark Pope really hurt us...” He trailed off a bit, I knew how bad the losses of that battle was and it really wasn't something ANY of us wanted to talk about. At least I got Angiola back, I know that battle left more than a few people with lost loved ones in its wake. “Ahhh postpone the heist 24 hours?” I asked, looking at Angiola to make sure her side of the plan wouldn't be ruined in that time. She nodded exaggeratedly, giving me the go ahead. “Yea, we can make that happen, what's gone wrong in the rotten apple?”
“Remind me NOT to sidetrack next time we are in New York City.” I said to Angiola as we walked down the pathway. I truly hate the big city crazy... We were meeting with a local, Father Tumba. He ran an outreach program with the large homeless population. After several disappearances, a few concerned regulars of the outreach mentioned their worries to the Father. They weren't sure what exactly was going on but the ones who had vanished were all last seen in central park. It's sad, but knowing that the homeless are frequently targeted by all sorts of lowlifes, Father Tumba Investigated the park. What he found... was more than a bit out of sorts. Flamingos... An entire flock of somehow mutated, vampiric flamingos... Hiding in the Bronx zoo in the day and blending in with the flamingos on exhibit, because why would sunlight bother them, and then feeding in the surrounding park by night. “Are you kidding me, romantic night time stroll through the park. Just don't think about the crazy and enjoy the walk and the company.” Angiola said. She really was beautiful, all kitted out with tactical armor and a shotgun. The custom 2011 holstered at her hip accenting the purple and pink kevlar and ceramic plates. I was wearing a similar set of armor, not as festively colored, and Benelli M4 matching Angiolas, as well as my ever present custom 2011. Thankfully Father Tumba was now familiar with The Order and had a good eye for details. After the gas canister attacks in November he recognized the maps shown on the local new station as being the exact same as markings on a map he saw in his bosses office. After Father Tumba called and spoke with the police, Gaston Green was swiftly located and arrested. The church reached out to him to congratulate him, and Renaldo passed along some concerns about his job in Atlanta. The church offered him a job anywhere he liked, as well as giving him contact information for a hotline to Vatican City. He was a truly good man, and I was glad to hear he would be working with us.
“Hello Father Tumba, it is a pleasure to meet you.” I said, shaking the man's hand. He was handsome, tall and had a contagious white smile. “Thank you so much for helping bring Green to justice. We were heavily involved with that case, it was a two pronged attack and the plague caught us completely unaware.” I knew the United Nations had given him awards as well as a bounty for information leading to the arrest. Renaldo Tumba was now rather wealthy, however our reports showed that he had purchased a small home in New York, close to his new church, then put his wealth to work in the community helping as many as he could. He had also moved a young man from his youth group, with the permission from a grateful mom to New York as well. He was a troubled kid who desperately wanted to get away from the gang life he had been living. Father Tumba had begun to tutor him around the same time as the gas attacks struck. Not wanting to leave him behind, he offered to continue to help. Now a Junior in high school, with 3.2 GPA. It seemed Father Tumba had made the right choice, offering to bring him along. “It was my duty to do so, I am thankful the plague has stopped for the most part. I am just deeply sorry I did not see the evil in Gaston Green's heart. God has been so good to me and now I am here with a new church home and a new flock. Thank you both so much for coming out so quickly, I know you are here on your honeymoon. I trust you know what you are up against?” Renaldo asked, gesturing to the weapons and our outfits. I was surprised he could see them at all, but I suppose he knew he would be meeting with people dispatched to handle the situation and mentally was looking for just that. Or maybe he just had a gift for sight, it seemed like he had received many blessings so who knows. “Yes, we were told that there is a flock of Flamingos terrorizing the park and feeding on the homeless. Rather bizarre, but we deal with a lot of crazy. If the church sent us, something went WAY wrong.”
Father Tumba nodded solemnly. “It was horrible, I was here to check up on some of my flock. Some of them call this place home, and I am known to the community here. I heard an odd honking and screaming so I ran to investigate. What I saw next... Was indescribable.” He said with a slight shudder. Horrible was an understatement. We had been sent copies of the police reports. Photos showed the victim had multiple deep stab wounds to the neck, arms and legs. The victims were also almost completely drained of blood. Thankfully most larger law enforcement branches knew if something looked out of place at a crime scene, like an animal attack or a half eaten corpse or a body drained of blood, to keep things quiet and contact the church or similar freelance agencies. Renaldo led us over to the sheep meadow, where he had last seen the Flamboyance of murderous flamingos.
The Flamingos were all there, many standing around on one leg, a few were jumping and fluttering their wings in a circle. Thankfully they hadn't gotten a victim tonight. Angiola and I were in the tree line along the edges of the clearing. Father Tumba had thanked us again for coming out then left the area, having no desire at all to stick around. Not that we could blame him in the slightest. There was an ungodly honking and the Flamingos began to hop up and down flapping and jumping. We didn't want any of them to fly off and keep killing and draining the locals or tourists. We couldn't just walk out and start blasting either, there were a few dozen in the flamboyance and so we would have to immobilize them in some way first. A net cannon of some sort would be perfect for this but that wasn't something we brought. “Hey, didn't we pass a volleyball court on the walk over?” Angiola asked, reading my mind. I smiled and we snuck away from the clearing.
Her idea was perfect for what we needed, we cut down 6 volleyball nets and tied them together with lengths of paracord. We ended up with a massive net, 2 nets tall and 3 across. We attached some rocks to one end and the opposite corners, we would hold onto. Charging out of the clearing we rushed the flamboyance, everything went great and we caught the majority with no problem. Entangled and enraged flamingos honked wildly as we spun the nets, containing the hoard of vamperic birds. Unfortunately, we didn't see the half dozen or so flamingos perching in the nearby trees. One of them swooped down and promptly pecked the back of Angiola's head. That was all the warning we got before they all took flight and attacked. Next thing I know we are being bombarded by 8 lbs of feathers and fury! The beaks were incredibly sharp and I was grateful we had packed our armor. Sure we can heal but the pain is still there, the only reason Angiola wasn't wearing it last mission was she was supposed to be a half mile away from the battle and she wanted the extra mobility. I had my shotgun in my hand when the first one struck Angiola from behind. I quickly butt stroked the bird off of her and shot it as it hit the ground before I was attacked from behind. I could feel a beak digging into the back of my shoulder around the armored back plate, my right arm went numb and the M4 started sliding out of my hand. I jumped as high as I could and landed flat on my back. The flamingo exploded beneath me as feathers, guts and blood flew out around me like a massive popped zit. I tried to draw my gun but my right arm was still completely numb. I rolled over and tried to get to my feet. Angiola reached over and pulled the neck and head out of my shoulder, with the foreign body removed I was starting to heal again. “Behind you!” I yelled, grateful for the help but not wanting her to get attacked either. She swung the decapitated flamingo neck around like a battle ax and embedded the beak deeply into the swooping bird mid air. My right arm was working again so I drew my 2011 and started to pick off the attackers. As soon as Angiola was cleared she drew her pistol and joined in, we were back to back and making birds pop with each shot. Beaks, pink feathers and chunks of bird meat were absolutely everywhere. The once beautiful clearing was an absolute mess. The impromptu net now resembled a crime scene, laying there over chunks of feathers and meat. Bird bits and beaks were spread over the clearing but thank God that mess was finally over. I'm sure the honk of a flamingo will send chills down my spine for years to come. “That was freaking AWESOME!!!” Angiola said excitedly as she holstered her pistol. She ran over and leapt into my arms. Catching her and not wanting to get knocked over I spun us around to kill the momentum. When we stopped spinning, she leaned up in and kissed me passionately. “That was our first opp as husband and wife!” She was right, I don't know why I hadn't thought of it. I guess it was the first time we actually fought evil together, the last mission we were separated the entire opp. “I'm just glad we don't have to do our own cleanup any more”... I said, trailing off as I pulled a tracking puck out of my pocket and tossed it onto the bloody nets. “The cleaners are gonna be pissed about this one! Let's head back to the hotel and get cleaned up.” I said, noticing Angiola walking over and digging the head hatchet out of a dead bird. I tilted my head a bit in confusion. “Souvenir, from our honeymoon! Besides, I bet the skull will look badass!” I couldn't help but laugh, She was right. I also had a curio cabinet full of random skulls of things I had killed over the years, of course it was hidden, covered up with a large tarp in my workshop on the odd chance someone came over and saw it. I guess once we moved, we could have it in one of our offices.