The Prowler’s arrived back at the Archangel’s office and explained everything. The young assassin gave the amulet to her father as evidence. After thirty minutes of telling what happened and Kate turning on the news for more proof, Michael told the girls he was so proud of them for saving the people and dealing with the situation.

Sara could see worry flicker behind his golden eyes, and she hoped this unexpected mission wouldn’t have a harder strain than her father letting her out.

“I’ve talked to Lucifer, and I think, Kate, you need to come because you have seen this Gala.” Michael gazed at his daughter, “You will come too.”

“Aw, why?” queried Sara, crossing her arms across her chest with her uncontrollably cute pout.

Michael raised his eyebrow and asked, “Do I need a reason?” Once he didn’t get a quick response, he finished, “Be ready in no more than fifteen minutes. Casual is fine, but wear something respectful.”

Sara whined at the fact this would be the second clothing she had to change for today and had been extra vigilant not to get blood on her clothing during the fight. “Oh man, I have to change my clothing again!”

The Archangel chuckled as the girls chattered about their spontaneous mission of getting some supplies at a store. He studied the amulet his daughter gave him, its gem shining a reddish glow from the hellfire.

Once the girls left, he strode out of his office. Michael held the chain of the necklace because the gem would scorch to the touch. He passed by Harmonies, nodding to him in respect, and stepped into the elevator. He rode down it for five minutes, his mind churning at Kate and Sara defeating the Demonic Bats.

Michael emerged into a basement, the most secure and protective room in the Celestial Realm. A Choir working at a desk motoring the cameras didn’t even look up at him. He came to a vault with a finger-touch screen. He typed in a password.

A device scanned his whole body, and a green light beeped on the screen. The complex lock on the vault door turned clockwise as it was unlocked. The door swung open, and Michael walked in. Glass cases lined the square room with valuable magical items.

He put the amulet with hellfire into a glass box, locking it with a set of keys he carried in his lapel pocket. Michael wandered around the room, checking to make sure none of the magical items were missing, and each glass case was tightly sealed.

The glass boxes had things such as a love potion that were extremely hard to make and illegal to sell. There were dangerous spell books and cursed items locked up. Two alicorns from unicorns rested on stands, and there was a flute that could control sirens.

There was a huge painting of the Holy War on a wall. Michael observed him and his brother clashing swords in the clouds of the portrait art. The five-hundred-year-old carved wood frame had wings on top of it.

Michael grabbed the frame’s edge and pulled, the large painting cracking open. He slipped through it and closed the secret door. Darkness surrounded the room for the barest second, and light flashed on, but there were no downlights or scones.

In the middle of the secret compartment, a heavenly glow circled a hovering sword. The Archangel stared at the weapon for minutes. Michael made the shining barrier around the sword to prevent anyone else from taking it beside him.

His powers lingered around the blade, so if anyone tampered with it, he would know immediately.

Inhaling and glad to see the weapon in place, Michael turned on his heels. Out of everything inside the vault, the secret chamber had the most protection for the sword.

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The sword is one of the most dangerous things that can put an end to humanity.

***

Tessa had a busy morning getting her kids to school and running late for her job at Savesmart. She barely had time to make herself a big cup of coffee at work before heading to where she was stationed.

The forty-year-old woman, who looked quite young for her age, was packing items into boxes with a smile on her face. Tessa had bags under her eyes while helping her oldest kid with his college applications late last night.

The day was humdrum, and she was going to work late tonight because her husband was picking up the kids from school. She tapped on the large orange cart, thinking of a fast food place where she should get a quick dinner before heading home. Tessa could use her rewards card at the food court in Savemart, but she liked to save her points in case of a real emergency.

Tessa caught two girls ambling; the one who had eyes that looked so black stared around in awe. She seemed to have children look around the big store in fascination, but this girl seemed a bit too grown up to act childish.

The other girl, she guessed, was her friend, who followed the girl around without care. She had soon forgotten about them until they came to her checkout, but strangely, the black-eyed girl flickered around like something unusual caught her attention. She snatched back her credit card, whispering something secretive to her friend, and she wondered what was wrong.

But before Tessa decided to mind her business, a deluge of bats flew inside. They had horrible shrieking noises that echoed in the huge store.

However, not only were bats swarming in and attacking people left to right, Tessa gawked at the girls looking at the entrance. She followed their gaze, spotting a humongous bat that had glowing red eyes and spikes crawling along its body.

Tessa screamed unbelieving her eyesight. The creature looked like it came from out of Hell itself. She stumbled back from terror and alarm. People were running towards the other emergency, but her feet couldn’t move. Then the girl with black eyes took out a strange metal shape, and she clicked on something—a blade jetting out from its holder. The teenager clenched it as she talked to her friend quickly.

In complete disbelief, Tessa was paralyzed by what she saw. Not only was there a supernatural demonic creature destroying the building, but the other girl was throwing fireballs out of her hands toward these monsters!

The worker watched the flamethrower girl start directing people out of the doors. Tessa snapped back at the shorter girl, cutting at the gigantic bat. A lump formed in the beast’s throat.

Tessa had a sunken feeling this wasn’t good, and the girl ran to her, demanding she get out. The teenager gave her a sword, and the weapon looked sharp but light. However, when Tessa grabbed it, the sword weighed much more than she expected, and she dropped it.

Staring up at the girl with apologetic eyes, she saw muscular arms and realized how young this girl looked. She saw the warrior-looking teenager frown at her for dropping the weapon and grow impatient with her. Tessa’s feet finally obeyed her brain, and she dashed towards the doors.

She ran with her heart pounding madly and her mind screaming at how her eyes must be tricking her. The monster looked too unnatural, and she was frantically telling herself the supernatural wasn’t real. Tessa glanced back one more time, seeing the girl toss an extension cord over the creature’s neck. She pushed open the doors and was at the back of the store.

People shook their shoes and watched the adolescent with cinnamon-brown hair, telling everyone to relax and take deep breaths. The girl looked down at her watch, catching backward to five.

About to ask what the hell was going on, Tessa blinked, and she felt her mind get an overcoming headache that vanished the next instant. She forgot what she was going to ask. Tessa gazed around, mystified, puzzled as to why she was outside of Savemart. She couldn’t fathom why her heart was beating hard in her chest.

A girl confirmed, “There has, um, been a shooting. I have called nine-one-one, but please stay out here!”

Tessa itched her head, not recalling a shooting moments ago, but she had heard the brain would sometimes block something traumatic right away. She scanned at Savemart, unable to accept that a shooting had occurred. There were no sounds of gunshots, but the walls were thick and concrete.

The worker noticed several people wounded, with scratches on their faces and arms. She wondered how on earth they got them but concluded that the people were running for their lives and tramped on each other.

Panic rose in Tessa’s throat; she gasped softly as she heard the blare of sirens in the distance. There were no scratches on her, and thankfully, no one was severely injured. Her mind tried to wrap around for a few minutes before she came out here, but her brain gave her a blank answer.

Tessa looked around to thank the girl, who seemed to be in charge, but she was nowhere in sight.