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Seven
The huge, intricate golden gates next to Roberta’s desk burst open with such force, Bunny ducked for cover. Two massive creatures glided through the air with loud whooshing sounds, carried by luminescent wings covered in pearly feathers. They landed next to Roberta's desk, and immediately stood with their hands on their hips like they were ready for more action.
One of them she knew. Michael—as in Michael the Archangel—was a Beefcake Supreme. His long golden hair and blue eyes gave the impression he was a total sweetheart, while his biceps said he would be able to crush anyone who opposed him. The other guy was a total stranger. He was pretty much Michael’s opposite in terms of stature. Thin and tall, he had long dark hair that tumbled down the middle of his back in a long braid that was quite feminine. He wore plated armor. And whereas Michael seemed happy in a joyous way, the other man’s eyes were all kinds of intense and moody.
“What are they?” Death asked, gaping at the angels with awe.
The skinny angel raised a brow in disdain, glanced at Death and then at Bunny, and then looked at Roberta. “Is this some kind of sick prank?”
“Put a cork in it, Raph,” Michael chided him, nodding in Bunny’s direction. “Hey guys. How’s it hangin’?”
She was glad he seemed to remember her. “Uh,” she faltered, not quite knowing what to say. “Been better, to be honest.”
“Raphael, Bunny and Death. Death and Bunny, this is Archangel Raphael.” Without waiting for anyone to exchange pleasantries, Roberta drew another breath and moved on. “Death can’t remember who he is, he lost his pass, and also demons seem to be festering inside dying souls and then infecting the living,” Roberta blurted.
“What?” Raph asked, shocked.
“What?” Roberta repeated, pretending to be shocked too.
Michael ignored the battle of snark and pinned Bunny with a look of horror. “Seriously?”
She nodded.
Raph snorted. “Should have guessed.”
Bunny blinked, swiveling in his direction. She was already over having to deal with this issue on her own and she didn’t need some attitude-heavy seraphim or whatever giving her lip about it as well.
“To be fair, if you could have guessed all that would happen, I’d be interested in knowing next week’s lottery numbers,” she told him, forcing her tone into the realms of sickly sweet.
Michael allowed himself a chuckle, leaning in to murmur to Raph under his breath. “Burn.”
“Can you help us fix him?” Bunny asked, looking between the two angels.
“We can’t,” Raph replied. He was less than friendly, but it seemed as though calling him out on his bullshit had earned her a few respect points. “But we can investigate this demon claim and let you know what we find out.”
“And we can send any demons we do find topside straight back to Hell where they belong,” Michael added, pounding a fist into the palm of his other hand menacingly.
“Well, that’s comforting,” Roberta added, “but how do we fix Death?” She glanced at Bunny. “Did anything else happen, other than him losing his pendant? To be honest, that should just keep him from being able to access the Lobby and prevent him from collecting souls. It shouldn’t impact his memory at all.”
“Nothing else happened,” Bunny said quickly, her guilt gnawing at her conscience. She was too embarrassed to tell Roberta she thought kissing Death had somehow had a crazy effect on his memory, but what if it helped the receptionist fix him? She couldn’t tell Roberta in front of Death himself and two archangels.
Roberta watched Bunny carefully for a moment, one of her perfectly manicured brows shifting upwards slightly. If she knew or suspected something, the receptionist didn’t give anything away.
“You guys head on up to the human realm and see what you can find out about this demon issue,” she said, folding her arms in front of her chest. “There’s going to be a lot of expired souls up there trapped in their vessels.”
“Well, that’s just perfect,” Raph sighed, frustrated. “It’ll practically be a breeding ground.”
“What do you mean?” Bunny asked, with a feeling she wasn’t going to like the answer.
“When a soul expires, it’s supposed to come here,” Raph explained, his lips downturned with disgust. “If it doesn’t come here, and it’s not extracted, it rots inside of its vessel. That leaves it open to demon infestation.”
"So, you're telling me that my patients are possessed by fucking demons?!" Bunny asked, eyes widening in horror.
Michael nodded tersely. “The only way we’re going to be able to work out what’s going on is by checking it out ourselves.”
Roberta cleared her throat. “Death,” she said, ignoring the surprised look on his face at being spoken to directly. “Why don’t you take the boys up and show them the scene. They can leave from there to continue their investigation."
“You can see me?” he asked, perplexed.
