Reapers by Kim Richardson Page B

milky-white skin and gray eyes, flicked
a lighter to his cigar. Metatron puffed on his cigar until it was
lit and then kept walking.
    Kara did not like the way he ordered
the angels around, or the way he looked at her. Something in his
gaze made her shiver. He was very different from the other
archangels. He didn’t belong with them.
    As they walked, Kara leaned over and
whispered to David. “Who is this guy? Do you know anything about
him?”
    “ He’s the
n ew legion commander,” he whispered
back.
    Kara eyed the bald spot on
the top of Metatron’s head. She watched him as he wrapped his right
arm around a beautiful East Indian woman and pulled her close,
whispering in her ear, just a little too close, and just a little
too long.
    He threw back his head and
laughed. Then he reached out with his left arm and wrapped it
around a slim brunette with legs that would put any model to
shame.
    He was a spectacle to
watch, there was no denying it, and Kara wanted to puke.
    “ Can’t
be,” she whispered, shaking her head. She wondered why these women,
these angel women, would let such a repulsive creature get so close to
them.
    “ This has to be a mistake.
He’s so repulsive. He’s arrogant, and there’s something very oily
about him, too. How can he be an archangel? And how come I’ve never
heard of him?”
    “ All I know is that he was sort of cast aside for a while, and
now he’s back.”
    “ Why?”
    “ His methods were
unsound,” said David. “He didn’t do things by the book. He had his
own set of rules, and he did whatever he wanted, no matter the
consequences and no matter who got hurt. He was a real
menace.”
    Kara felt like saying that they didn’t
listen to all the rules either, and that they were both a menace to
the legion, but she remained quiet.
    “ Too bad he wants to kill
us. I could have learned a lot from him, you know,” said
David.
    Kara could see a look of admiration on
his face, as though he thought Metatron was cool in some sick
way.
    “ You could?”
    David measured Metatron.
    “ Well, he got things done,
maybe a bit too violently, but in the end it worked. I think every
legion or squad needs someone like him. A guy who puts himself
forward and does things others wouldn’t dare, who pushes the
envelope. Yeah, maybe his methods were a little unorthodox, but
they worked, and he got things done.”
    Kara scowled as Metatron added a
sudden hop to his step like he was about to break out into a
dance.
    “ Like what? What did he
do?”
    “ I know he likes to blow
things up.”
    “ You mean, like,
bombs?”
    David nodded his head. “Yeah,
apparently it’s his specialty. I know he invented something like an
atom bomb for demons. But I don’t think that’s why he was demoted.
I think it’s because of the torturing.”
    “ The
torturing?”
    “ I’ve heard that he’s
tortured other angels to get information. I’m not sure what he did
exactly, but whatever it was, it was enough to strip him of his
duties as an archangel.”
    “ So he’s a hustler? An
archangel hustler?” Kara couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but
just one look at Metatron confirmed that every word David had said
was true.
    “ I never thought
archangels could be gangsters—”
    “ Shh! Stop talking.” One
of the women shoved Kara.
    Kara turned and gave her
an angry look. When she turned back around she saw the little smile
on David’s face. At least he was enjoying himself. Kara scowled at
him too.
    Finally, they arrived at a
pair of large double doors. Kara could hear muffled voices from
behind the doors, as though hundreds of people were waiting on the
inside. Metatron let go of his female escorts and pushed the doors
open.
    Kara and David followed him
in.
    Gray marble polished
floors gleamed in this large long room. Kara moved cautiously, half
expecting to see contraptions of torture and explosives, but she
was surprised at how empty the room was. The walls were white, and
strangely enough there