The Azrael: The Reckoning by Jesse Gagnon Read Free Book Online Page B

wanted Jane Barnett’s phone number. 
    Jane had her first boyfriend at eleven and remembered kissing him in a church like this one in a confession booth not really like this one.  She remembered the other booth seemed larger, but she was eleven at the time.  She smiled and remembered who it was.  Ah, Brad.  It was Brad.  He grew up to be quite the stud in high school.  She recalled some party when she was seventeen and when Brad showed up with his new girlfriend.  She couldn’t remember the skank’s name but she remembered that she had a resting bitch face.  She also remembered that she slept with half the football team before the school year was over.  But before her visit to Trampville she dated Brad.  Jane recalled dumping him because of something stupid.  They were off and on since they were eleven and it was always her doing the dumping.  Brad didn’t play football.  He was a baseball jock.  She remembered his tight uniform pants and how nice his butt looked.  She thought of how focused he was when he pitched and how easy she could distract him while he played. 
    “I think he hit a guy with his pitch after I flashed my tits at him.”  Jane admitted out loud in thought as if she was confessing to a higher authority on the other side. She still had her bra on, but her cleavage alone incited a brawl that included both teams.  She glanced down at her boobs and pushed them together.
    “Yup, still got it.”  She assured teasing an invisible man on the other side with her amazing gifts.  Then she remembered the car accident, the one that killed Brad. 
    “I picked up the pieces that whore left behind when she left him for Chase and the rest of the football team.  After graduation, Brad was hanging out with his buddies Carl and James.  We talked earlier that night about getting back together but his original plan for the night was drinking at James’ place.  They drank too much.  Carl was given a new truck that week as a graduation gift.  Carl would have just slept at James’ place but knew that Brad wanted to see me and he wanted to show off his new toy.  Brad knew that they all had too much to drink and tried to call me to see if I could pick him up.  I, I forgot to take my phone off of vibrate from the graduation… so I didn’t hear it ring.  For some reason he still got in the truck with Carl.  Dumbass didn’t even put on his seatbelt.  About a mile from my house Carl swerved off the road and flipped the truck.  Pieces of Brad were spread across one hundred feet of pavement and grass.  His body was unrecognizable.  I guess in the end I was only left with pieces.”  Jane dropped her head and wept.  It was the first time she talked about it.  However, no one was there to actually hear her story. 
    Sounds of explosions outside jarred Jane from her moment of weakness.  A faint laugh along with a barely audible “Not today” Indicated that it was Giselle still workin’ those Azrael. 
    Jane glanced at her feet.  The polish on her toes was rubbing off and the bottoms of her feet were filthy.  She had a scratch on her leg that she didn’t know existed along with a bruise on her left shin.  “I don’t want to die looking like this.”  She protested out loud to herself.
    Sounds of several feet entered the church and slowly intensified as they neared Jane.  She held her breath and forced herself to breathe shallow.  Her eyes grew and she listened closely to every detail beyond the curtain that separated her from the occupants of the church on the other side.  The aroma of Azrael hit her nostrils and she felt like a cornered mouse.  She had nothing to defend herself with.  She had a small can of pepper spray on her keychain but what could that really do?
    The footsteps were inches from the curtain and she could hear sniffing and breathing.  She could see bare feet under the curtain.  They were pale and dirty.  The scent of Azrael was overwhelming but she remained