Gabriel wiped the body, then took a second towel and rubbed the hair. Having put on undies, bra, and skirt, she set about drying hair and applying makeup. A blouse, earrings, and perfume finished the ensemble. Fifteen minutes later, she was completely ready.
“Let’s go,” she summed up, having rested her right hand on her waist.
The office’s interior hasn’t left even a trace of her “thoughts,” perhaps, except for a few chips on the wall. At this time, Kaya accompanied Constantine to the reception.
“Are you sure?” She asked John.
“More than ever. We good. Unleash the storm,” he made a decisive step forward.
She opened the door in front of him. Their looks met. There was a sizzling one full of hatred and an indifferent one with a touch of arrogance. John began taking step by step towards her. They were given to him more and more difficult as if she hadn’t lost her abilities, and it was just a game. But no, it all came from him. It was an impaired feeling of baseless guilt. When five steps were left between them, Gabriel cut the distance in no time.
“Scum!”
Two sonorous slaps in the face followed.
“Fuck! How dare you come?” Slaps followed one by one. “Asshole,” she controlled herself less and less.
John noticed out of the corner of his eye cracks in the wall. “Alright. I have to wait it out.”
Her calm gradually grew into hysteria. The forces to slap him began ending, so she clenched fists and began beating his chest.
“Yeah. You’re totally right. I’ve shown weakness because of my kindness. It was necessary to kill you, anyway, I’ll go to Hell.”
She turned sharply, sat down in the armchair, and pointed at the door.
“Go the fuck away!”
“I’m glad to see you too,” he ran a hand over his cheeks and chin: they were glowing. “I don’t feel any pleasure speaking with you, but I cannot continue ignoring what’s happening.”
“Fuck off!” She turned away in the chair and stared at the wall, still pointing John to the door.
He took out Balthazar’s card.
“You’ve made yourself a bunker without half-breeds. He came yesterday. There’s been an event today that turned my world upside down. I do need information!”
“You need help, but there’s no it.”
“Gabriel!” He called her; she didn’t move. “Gabriel, I understand. You’re offended.”
“Bitch!” she hissed in response.
“Gabriel, come to me.”
Silence set. No one wanted to give in.
“I really have nothing to lose. Come to me.”
“He’s persistent as fuck. He won’t leave, but I don’t wanna obey his will! I’m Gabriel, and he’s just an ordinary mortal,” she thought.
“I’m waiting,” John insisted. “We both know that I won’t leave until I get what I want. If you really wanna refuse – there’d be no appointment.”
“I just wanted to …” she softened her tone a little.
“It doesn’t matter what you wanted! I’m waiting. Just come to me.”
“You fuck!”
“What’s the boor! Even in this situation, he dares to interrupt me!” having thought this, she got up. Her face changed from a “hate” mask to an “annoyance and giving a favor” one. A few steps, and she caught up with the table. It has been as hard for her as the last meters for a sprinter.
“Do you feel how great your pride is?”
“Shut up!”
“And nevertheless, I’ll continue,” John summed up. “Come to me.”
“It’s enough.”
“Even closer,” in addition to his demand, he took half a step to her.
Just a few feet were between them. Her discontent gave way to curiosity. “He’s not a fool. One false move and he’ll fly out of here like a bullet,” then she told herself reassuringly, “He does only what I allow him to do.”
“Come to me. I want to tell you something.”
She came even closer. John could easily discern the color of her eyes. If he was sure before that they had a rifle-green color, now it became clear that they are a gray tint. If she wanted to, she would easily be able to straighten his tie.
“… even closer.”
She seized the initiative and came right up against him.
“Sooooo, what’s the heck?”
She saw every piece of his bristles. He smelled of citrus extracts and the aroma of eau de cologne that complemented the bouquet.
“Good perfume, well-cut hair, stylish earrings,” John noticed.
He made the final move. Now they easily heard each other’s breaths.
“What did you want to tell me?”
Without taking his gaze, he leaned toward her, having breathed in her odor. The proximity of the bodies instinctively told her what to do next. “It certainly won’t get any worse,” after which she threw her hand on his shoulder. John laid his right hand on her waist.
“We should not do this, John.”
She caught herself thinking that he wasn’t trying to pull her towards himself.
“What beautiful eyes you have. There has never been time to enjoy them.”
Their bodies began breathing in unison, and their thoughts got confused. It seemed that the clothes began constraining her. A few minutes ago, she didn’t allow rudeness even in expressions regarding herself, but now she was ready for the physical one. John ran the hand through her hair and clenched it into a fist, having pulled it slightly toward himself and to the side.
“Hmmm… John, not now. What did you want to say?..”
“Gabriel. If you help me, I’ll give you what you want more than anything.”
The point-like use of force, perseverance, and the smell of his body drove her crazy.
“Do you know I want the most, John?..”
He pressed his nose to her neck and, with a breath, ran the tip over it. Her body responded with a mild cramp.
“Yes. Exactly! I’ll return to you what’s desired by you more than anything else: power in the Order of Light.”
“Ha-ha-ha, Jooooooohn Constantine. You know that’s impossible, and HE will NOT obey you.”
“I can convince HIM.”
He opened the hand with her hair and lowered it to the waist. Gabriel put the palms on his chest and pulled back a little, having forced him to pull her toward himself.
“I’m impressed by your perseverance. I’ll help you, John Constantine. You have nothing to do with it. I’ve got my own reasons for doing this. As you can see, I didn’t change the cathedral voluntarily to … to …”
“The bunker?”
“Yes, John.”
She stroked his cheek with her hand and moved her lips to his ear, but instead of saying something, she bit him so hard that blood flowed. John pulled her waist harder.
“Bitch!” He said, stretching the vowel.
“Jerk! Be patient! You deserve it,” having changed the tone to business, she continued. “Let’s go up. “I hope,” she said with pressure. “You’ll stay for dinner.”
“A change of scenery won’t hurt.”
“What kind of intel and help is needed from me?” Having seized a proximity card with keys, she invited him to the exit.
“Different ones.”
They proceeded along the corridor, got into the elevator, and headed to the administrative tower’s top floors.
“Here we are.”
“I see no difference,” John examined the hall.
“There are windows! Real daylight. Sometimes I miss it.”
Indeed, instead of a wall, a part of the oval hall was glazed. Most likely, the windows were armored, providing the necessary level of protection.
“What stops you from working here?”
Unlike the hall on the lower floor, one of the doors led directly to her office. Having approached it, she ran a card on a card reader and then provided a digital code. The finale of this was the retina reading. Having done the necessary manipulations, she affably opened the door in front of John. Having entered inside, he looked around. The office turned out to be quite spacious and looked more like a luxury apartment. Without a doubt, a panoramic view of Los Angeles added allure to it. There was everything that was necessary both for life and work: chill out and eating areas, a mini-cinema, as well as everything needed for doing business. There are doors on each side to the next rooms. Haven’t seen the hangers for his cloak, John began taking it off, about to throw it anywhere. This was immediately noted by her.
“Give it to me. I’ll hang.”
“It’s probably not necessary. I’m not here for long.”
“Come on,” she winked at him. “We can handle it quickly,” she answered confidently with an undisguised smile.
Having overpowered distrust, he gave it away. Gracefully, having skirted chairs and other interior items, she hid in the adjacent room. “Apparently, I’m stuck here for a long time.” With a gesture of her hand, he was invited to the “working” zone.
“Who starts?” She opened a small locker and took out a bottle of strong liquor. Without having asked John whether he wanted to drink or not and how much, she poured him a drink.
“I try to give up and live a long and happy life.”
“Not this time,” she handed him the glass so that he could hold his gaze on her legs.
“Hm, you start.”
Gabriel sat in a chair, comfortably positioning herself a little higher than John, and began.
“They wanna kill me.”
“Me too. It’s not news.”
“Don’t you really understand anything?” she laughed playfully. “John, you’re the only one who doesn’t let the forces of Light and Darkness clash right now.”
“Didn’t note.”
“Everyone knows it’s not difficult to kill you. This is not an issue at all. No one knows what will happen next, nor even the way this all will happen. After our … incident. You, actually, without realizing it, acted as a judge for them, to whom the participants appeal.”
“I’ve caught myself thinking about this when I’d seen Balthazar in my doorway. How about you?”
“I got here. It worked fine until a certain point.”
John took a huge sip.
“So what?”
“The sneaky Balthazar found an artifact …”
“Something significant?”
“Yeah, for sure. They have been parts of the Grail from the Temple Mount, which was found in Ethiopia.”
“Very interesting. He didn’t sit idly by, did he?”
“He’s a dodger. He was in need of a medium. He’s shown the price, and we’ve haggled for a long time to get a deal. Balthazar stubbornly didn’t want to say what kind of artifact it was. He’s brought all the necessary parts for assembling to the Nevada test site.”
“Lemme guess. Something went wrong?”
“As usual … During activation, the unexpected has happened. The Grail has begun replacing my consciousness. For it, I’ve become just a shell, a carrier. Having been a half-breed or half-angel, this wouldn’t have happened, but I was a human … Balthazar couldn’t keep the operation in secret, and there was a leak. At the most decisive moment, cops and SWAT, mostly Angel half-breeds, have come from nearby cities and provoked a skirmish.”
“Pour me another one.”
“Make yourself at home.”
“What’s then?”
“The Lord generally decided that the time of the Grail has not come…”
“.. so He burned all those present by the Divine Intervention?”
“That’s exactly what he did. The Demons and their half-breeds want me ASAP in Hell. Angels and their half-breeds want to get rid of me, having realized that I have not left the game.”
“Why didn’t you try to live like an average woman, well … like a human? You’ll see, everything will change for the better.”
She grimaced at the thought.
“C’mon … A loner and unsociable teaches me how to live my life.”
“Anyway…”
“After these two events in Light and Darkness forces, many leaders of the second plan have decided to compete for power. A large number of applicants led to a split and further fragmentation. The general principles that united the factions have been critically reviewed.”
“What’s up with Suicide Channel? Do you think he just wants to withdraw competitors by my hands? Balthazar thinks they’re involved in the killing of Frank Mackler. He advocated for …”
“…for conciliation.”
“I’d like to say “yes,” but I don’t know. Right before his death, he’s helped me with one thing, but I’ve received all the intel from his assistants already after his death. After he was off business, the company also ceased to exist. As for Balthazar, you’re not a figure of the scale to expose you as a scarecrow. When you were in business, it kept everyone in good shape.”
“He also said that they’d entered in his field of influence.”
“Yes, there’s something about it. He tightly sits in broadcasting, press, and in the military, so the impregnability of these guys is akin to smack him upside the head.”
“I’m sure I wanna stop them.”
“The top of the company: CEO and its founders are mostly people with a small number of Angel half-breeds who have left me. Who runs everything’s not clear yet.”
“We need to pay a visit to them to check their reaction.”
“You need a team!”
He poured himself another one.
“Do you offer your help?”
“I can only help you with intel and coordination, but a partner and holy father, you have to find by yourself.”
So, why has Gabriel decided to help John? What moved her to this strange act, after all that has been between them. There were several reasons, and not one of them was key. The action of Balthazar was said that he knew something about Suicide Channel, but couldn’t tell John … or suspected, having sent him to see everything with his own eyes. If he decided to invest in John, and she stays away from possibly big events would only mean that she lost her grip and couldn’t tell which way the wind’s blowing. John’s visit to her, she was sure, didn’t go unnoticed by Balthazar and his inner circle. The third reason was jealousy. If John was right and Angel was trying to crawl to Earth, it meant that she was no longer considered There; though she stumbled much, still be a leader that has an influence on the half-breeds in Order. Thus, the question of the return of His grace and her status among Archangels could be put an end to. Of course, the last reason was because of John’s personality traits and his vision of the human world. He was strange in every sense. For hundreds of years, exorcists were only performers and didn’t even try starting their own game. With the advent of John, everything changed dramatically.
During the conversation, time flew by. Gabriel changed the position in the chair and pressed the selector button:
“Cook dinner for Mr. Constantine and me. Thanks.”
“I’ve expelled an angel-like creature from the body of a girl today.”
“Are you sure about this?” She asked without hiding her doubts. “Angels aren’t inclined to make contact with people for no good reason, much less to come into our world.”
“But … there were some precedents …”
“I understand what occasion you’re talking about. About Anhil, right? It’s been a mistake in transferring protocols. With the assistance of other Archangels, I was able to resolve this incident.”
“As a result, it’s happened three times in the last hundred years. This is not happenstance, Gab. Lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice.”
“I believe that there’s no reason for concern,” she had a sip of the tonic and stared at him. “I’ll find out soon. If something went wrong …”
“Already gone wrong,” John said. “The fact that Angel tried to crawl through is half of the trouble. This girl is a medium. According to her, she didn’t remember where she was in the last two days. It’s been as if she was immersed in the necessary state to compensate for the lack of skills, to establish a contact. When I’ve seen her, she’s shone like a Christmas tree, and this, as you know, is already…”
“… the state before the transition.”
“The next morning, I’m going to pay a visit to Angela to find out what she said to her. Two mediums will always understand each other.”
“Keep me up to date,” she said, having shown with all her appearance that she wasn’t indifferent to this issue.
“So… okay… if there’s nothing more about Frank Muckler and Suicide Channel, then I have to go.”
“Where? Where John? Three, two, one! You never knew how to lie; especially, dinner is being cooked for you.”
John didn’t find an objection.
“After all, you’ll visit Angela tomorrow morning. I won’t hold you back. Since you’ve shown up and I’ve promised to help. I’ll gather everything you need to communicate with the half-breeds.”
The sun began leaning towards the horizon, having formed a beautiful sunset. John got out of a bothering armchair and walked to the window with the glass. Gabriel followed him, standing on the left side, having thrown the right hand on his shoulder. Having hung on to it, she asked.
“Why are you so clinging to this world?”
Alcohol had a relaxing effect on everyone. The left hand hung idle and so asked for her waist. Having put it down, he answered:
“You know, people deserve more than being pawns in your game.”
“I’m also a human, you know, that means you fight for me too.” She took his hand, slipped under it so that it was on her booty, having forced him to squeeze it. “Hmmmm… You know… I’m sensitive as any woman, John.”
The assistant, like a bee, imperceptibly brought a meal in, having placed it on the table at the entrance, so as not to attract attention.
“Is it dinner with overlooking the sunset?” He clarified.
“Yes, it is. I want a little romance.”
“If they track us?”
“If? Hah. We’ll shuffle them all the cards! Come in. Sit down. I’ll set the table. Table or bar chairs?”
“Bar ones.”
John set them up. Gabriel put candles, having given him the opportunity to light them up. Gabriel was putting a meal on plates while he pulled out a lighter.
“Oh, no! You can do it without it, right?”
“How do you know for sure?”
“There are rumors, you know.”
Silently he began casting a spell, after which the candles were lit.
“Wow! Are you, John, not afraid that this knowledge will swallow you?”
Gabriel, having made an effort, began cutting the steak. She held a piece to her lips, having raised an eyebrow. After playing with it, she began chewing.
“This knowledge has been with me for a long time. I knew that I could, after my first visit to Hell. Didn’t you think that I received not only virtue abilities, did you?” The next couple of slices, smearing with salsa, went into the mouth. “Don’t worry, I’m an exorcist, and I manage to control myself.”
“Eat, John, eat. The meat cools and the side dish too.”
“It’s your turn to say something while I’m eating.”
“Your friends are in Heaven. By the way, they’re well-settled.”
“I miss them. Didn’t you think of raising a family?”
Having flashed with rays, the sun hid behind the horizon.
“I cannot stop. Having had such power, I’ve lost everything. No way! I have to get everything back! But how? I don’t know …”
“You still have access to Heaven?”
Gabriel nearly choked on wine.
“It’s a strange question… I can communicate with some.”
“Nah! I’m talking about whether you can enter it like a soul.”
“John Constantine!”
“Answer!”
“Well, you know …”
“Honestly!”
“They’ll annul it if I allow this to happen.”
“I need it.”
“Any chances. No way!”
“I use it only as a last resort.”
“Little knows I’ve managed to keep it.”
“So, shortly saying, you don’t trust me. You said that you pursued your goals, but I have to put my life on the line.”
“Hmmm,” she breathed deeply. “John, do you want to deprive me of the only opportunity to touch what I can never achieve?”
Her face darkened.
“Each of us must invest in protecting this fragile world. Make your bet.”
By the time the conversation ended, the plates have been empty. She motioned her hand to invite him to the sofa.
“What’s the problem with taking my side? You did this to the Son of Lucifer and twice to Balthazar.”
“The Legions behind them. It’s real power!”
“Humanity is by my side! The existence of all of them is meaningless without people.”
She sat next to him, Having dived under the arm and crossing legs.
“John,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he answered just as quietly.
“If we die, will we both go to Hell?”
“Without a doubt.”
“A good company will gather.”
“Let them not delude themselves.”
Gabriel looked at him questioningly. Having moved the glass from one hand to the other, she put the hand on his leg. She imperceptibly bit her lower lip and continued to move.
“Gab, our abilities won’t go anywhere. An exorcist who’s running through Hell will be a nightmare for Demons, banishing them with unbearable pain from one side of Hell to the other. They dunno even imagine what awaits them. I know all of them to see it like I’m the judge who was sent to jail and that as soon as I get Hell, everything will change, and it’ll be their turn to hurt me.”
His calm and confidence, implicated in arrogance and perseverance, always found echoes in her heart. She liked to surround herself with confident and reliable men, but John … John was different. He knew how to ignore her, having pissed out and ground her gears. The effect of alcohol made itself felt. She wanted him to be around. She’d like to belong to John, at least for the night. The idea of having sex with him was becoming more and more obsessive.
Waves of rolling excitement prevented them from thinking and speaking.
“How interesting…”
“We shouldn’t do that, Gab.”
“We have to…” she sat on top of him and began moving hips up and down. “We must trust each other, John Constantine. Admit to yourself,” having breathed heavily, she clung to his ear. “How many times have you wanted to punish me? Come on, John, the time has come. Punish the bad girl, don’t hold back. Make me walk hard by the morning!”
She looked him in the eye. The sound of a slap on the face rang out in the room.
“Look how naughty I am.”
“It’s not the word!” John answered with a grin.
The second was not long in coming.
“Come on! Show who’s in charge.”
He ran the hand through her hair.
“Yeah,” Gabriel cried out approvingly, having continued moves.
“There’s no choice left. I need her help, and her body is so amazing. It’s really hard to resist,” John thought.
The smell of excited bodies drove them crazy. John opened the hand with her hair, and their eyes crossed again.
“Yeah,” a choked moan of her was heard.
Having taken the edges of the blouse with both hands, he jerked it apart. A few buttons rolled across the floor, but nobody cared. With the speed of lightning, she’s undone the bra. Then Gabriel folded hands in front so that her boobs seemed even larger. John grabbed them and dug in the right one. She howled with pleasure, clutching hands in his hair, having made it clear that this was what she needed. He brought them together, having played with nipples, licking and biting them. Unable to stand it, she pulled his head toward her to thank him with a long French kiss. Having stepped back, John said:
“Get on your knees!”
No need to repeat twice. Gabriel took the asked position, having sat on bent legs, arched the back as much as possible, and put hands on knees. Having stood in front of her, John unfastened his belt.
Chapter 4. Where’s Gabriel? Daily Life In BWC Pharm Chapter 6. Unavoidable Meeting With The Abbot