Dave vs The Devil (Original) - [Urban Fantasy/Comedy]

The next couple days passed rather inconsequentially for Eli. He learned information at a rapid pace, he made friends and got kissed by Suzy repeatedly until the teachers separated them. He was living life.

It was unfortunate that I knew it wouldn't last. This was probably the happiest he would be in his childhood. The first grade, his first friends, his first crush, and his first award.

Next week he would take a test and be placed in the next grade or he wouldn't. Either way, he would physically look one year older than his friends. And since he was absorbing information so quickly, he probably would pass the test and be sent to the next grade.

Then he would have to make new friends or be isolated. His old friends wouldn't understand and his old crush wouldn't either. People would explain it to them, but they would still treat him the same until he was towering over them in a matter of weeks.

And then he would leave for middle school and likely never see any of those friends or crushes again. He could try to keep in touch, but how do you keep in touch with elementary school students when you're about to enter college. It wouldn't just be awkward. It would seem incredibly creepy to anyone who didn't know his peculiar situation.

So socially, he would be forced to move on. I'm sure he would get over it, but it wasn't something I wanted anyone to go through, especially not someone as wholesome and pure as him.

I would hate to see him get cynical and jaded. It just wouldn't feel like him. It would feel like me, and I had enough of me around the house. I wasn't so narcissistic as to think having two of me would be a good thing.

Especially not for Margaret's sake. She loved him more than life itself. He was her joy. Her light. Watching the excitement and wonder drain from his eyes would kill her.

She liked it and tolerated it from me, but not from her child. No one wants to watch the world beat down their kids, even people who have been beaten down by the world themselves. Maybe especially not those people.

I dropped Eli off at school first, but this time, we flew. I wanted some father son bonding time, just me and him.

Fortunately, the reality show crew didn't have a camera person with wings. Otherwise, that effort would've been wasted and even more awkward than the car ride.

Most of the crew were gorelings with a few fiends and imps, but they were administrative assistants and runners, not technical crew members.

I took Eli through a few flying maneuvers before touching down at his school. His friends from yesterday clambered around him. I spotted Suzy. She was the one who wouldn't stop planting kisses on his face.

For a brief moment, I wondered if his incubus powers were kicking in, but none of the other kids were displaying the interest and affection she was.

And those powers weren't supposed to bloom until he was eighteen, or at least the equivalent of eighteen in physical and mental development.

I wanted to talk to Suzy to have her leave him alone or at least just hit the brakes a little, but I also didn't want to terrify her, so I just let her continue until the teacher broke it up.

"Bye Daddy! I love you!" Eli said, waving from the middle of the crowd of children.

"I love you too," I said. "Have a good day!"

I jumped into the air a took off.

I spent the first half of the second day of Eli's school going over the 300-page document Drew had sent me.

It detailed movements, potential plans, and targets of the remaining fallen angels in the US.

None of them seemed to have the shape shifting abilities of Samael, but we couldn't be sure. It was possible the shape shifters were just hiding in plain sight.

After reviewing a good third of the material, I was mentally drained and stuck reading the same paragraph over and over.

There was still time before we or I had to pick Eli up from school, so I decided to take a break and see how Margaret was doing.

As I was walking around the house, I heard Margaret washing dishes. We hadn't used any dishes for breakfast this morning. Was she washing clean dishes?

I rounded the corner and saw that Margaret had the cabinet where the dishes were open and had clearly taken clean dishes out of it and was rewashing them.

I walked up behind her and put my arms around her waist. I smelled her hair. Cinnamon and fire lilies, as always. I kissed the back of her neck and just held her close. She shivered.

"Yes, honey?" she asked. "Do you need something?"

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"I need you," I said.

"Again?" she said. "I'm not saying no, but pace yourself."

"Not that," I said. "I need you to relax. What can I do for you so you don't clean our already clean house so many times that it erodes?"

"Well, if it erodes, you can just fix it," she said.

"That's not the point," I said. "The point is, I don't want to see you erode."

"I'll be fine, dear," she said.

She went back to washing the clean dishes.

"Honey, you're washing clean dishes," I said. "You're not fine. You know what? We should go out."

"And do what?" she said.

"Ok, if going out won't help you feel better, what would?" I asked.

"I just want to know that Eli is ok," she said.

"Oh, is that all?" I asked. "I can do that."

"How?" she asked.

"Come with me and I'll show you," I said.

I twirled her around and let go. I put my hand out, making it her choice to come with me or not. She grabbed my hand, and we teleported to the control room.

Nimby was standing on the elevated section of the floor, looking out over the Steves as they worked.

"Faster! Faster, Steves!" Nimby said.

"Do what faster?" the Steves asked in unison.

"Uh, it! Whatever it is!" Nimby said.

I tapped her on the shoulder, and she practically jumped out of her skin. Since she was a Hellspawn, she probably could do that with her morphing powers, although I'd rather not see that ever.

"Dave!? Margaret? What are you doing here? Aren't you on leave?" she said.

"I need to use the facilities," I said.

She gave me a look. "Don't you have a bathroom at home?"

"That's not what I mean," I said.

I wiped my face with my hand.

"I need to use the computers and I need my Steves' help," I said. "So if you're done unnecessarily ordering them around, I would very much like to take over."

"Yes, sir," Nimby said. She bowed and started to walk away.

"Hey, why are you here?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "I work here."

"Couldn't you have ditched to hang out with your boyfriend, though? It's not like I've been here in several days," I said.

"I don't want to get caught slacking on my duties, and someone has to feed the Steves," she said.

"I guess that's a fair point," I said. "Well, carry on."

"Maybe, I will," she said. She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Ok. I'm gonna ignore that," I said. I turned to the Steves. "Is the new satellite imaging system working?"

"Yes, sir," Steve 1 said. "Fully calibrated and ready to go."

"Excellent," I said. I rubbed my hands together.

"What are you talking about?" Margaret said. "I thought we only had thermal imaging."

"We did," I said, nodding. "I had new capabilities launched and installed in our satellites after last year's fiasco. I figured actual photographic imaging would help solve our problem. I also had them install a night vision system and a soul signature system. My guy Valdrum designed the launch and implemented the installation process using space robots."

"That's a lot of information to download into my brain at once," she said.

"Sorry. I just get a little excited over new toys," I said.

"Understood, honey," she said. "I'll make sure to get you new toys on a regular basis."

She winked at me.

"I wouldn't say no," I said. "Ok, pull up Red Valley Elementary School on satellite imaging. Layer photographic with soul signature to locate Eli."

"On it," Steve 4 said.

He typed on the console and poked the screen a few times, pulling up a bird's-eye view image of the school on a massive screen against the wall. There were glowing red demon shaped lights on the screen. Those were demon souls.

"Locate Eli," I said.

More typing and Eli's full name popped up on the screen inside the school. An arrow pointed to a pink soul signature. There were two red souls nearby. They appeared to be in a struggle.

"Can you clean that up or get closer? I want to see whatever is going on there. Identify the souls as well."

Names popped up over those souls as well. Suzy Wrathmoore and Harriet Bombswell. Then I realized what I was seeing. Harriet was trying to drag Suzy away from Eli. Harriet Bombswell was the name of one of the teachers.

While I was watching this, a weird blue blip showed up near the three of them and then disappeared. I waited a few seconds and it showed up again, and then it disappeared just as quickly.

"What is that?"

"I don't know," Steve 3 said.

It kept happening until Steve paused the video to bring it to a single image state. It was a humanoid blue soul. I didn't know what blue was supposed to mean.

"Why is it blue?" I asked.

"It means it's celestial," Steve 2 said.

"Do fallen angels still register as celestial?" I asked.

"Yes. While they are technically banished from the celestial realm, they are still made of God's Grace and therefore register as celestial," Steve 1 said.

"Oh crap," I said. "A fallen angel is stalking my son. Why?"

"Beats me," Steve 4 said.

The other three glared at him.

"It's fine," I said. "He's right. We don't know."

"Can you stop it?" Margaret asked.

"Yes," I said. "But it may cause a scene at the school."

"Just do it," Margaret said. "Keep our son safe."

"Yes, ma'am," I said. "You heard her, Steves. Open the trap. Close it as soon as I'm inside."

"As soon as you're inside?" Margaret said. She put her hand over her mouth. "You're going to trap yourself with it?"

"How am I going to interrogate or kill it if I don't?" I asked.

"Ok, but be careful," she said.

"Always, except when I'm not," I said.

This was going to be tight, and it was going to be dangerous. I had no idea how strong this angel was. Samael had been a lot for me by himself and I had no idea how he measured up to other angels.

With his shapeshifting ability, I assumed Samael was weak compared to the others because he could hide. This would test that theory. I hoped for the best, but prepared for the worst.

Taking one last look at the image on the screen, I teleported to the location, but behind a wall so I could watch for the fallen angel without being seen.

The angel appeared again, looking away from me. Strangely, he wasn't looking at Eli. He was just looking around wildly, like he expected to see something that wasn't there. He had a familiar posture, but he was facing away from me, so I couldn't tell if I'd seen him before. His body was flickering, like he wasn't fully there.

"Dave," a voice said.

It sounded warped and muffled, like someone talking through a screen or a wall. Why would it be calling me? I didn't have time to figure that out right now. I'd figure it out after I'd trapped it.

I ran up to the figure, grabbed him from behind, and teleported to the white room. I felt my teleportation ability cut off as soon as we were inside. Something weird happened to the angel, though.

"Aaaahhh!!!" he yelled.

He slowly stopped flickering and became solid. He curled into a ball on the floor and started sucking his thumb. Wait, no. He was biting it and drawing blood. He must have been in pain. He had a hood drawn over his head, hiding most of his features. I pulled the hood back and gasped.

"Raphael?" I asked.