Int. Gabriel's House (Evening) October 29, 2025, 7:30 P.M.
Gabriel's face had sweat dripping down, his eyebrows were scrunched up, his eyes closed as he focused on holding himself up in the air. Nadia has been having Gabriel train with making different constructs with his mind. Like right now, he has been sitting cross-legged in the air with a small platform. For only two days of having powers, Gabriel feels like he has been having a better time of controlling them. The saddest thing he learned about his abilities is that you need a high imagination to be able to use them, an area that he himself is sadly lacking in. He'd probably have to watch some cartoons or read some comic books to probably come up with new ideas to use his abilities. Sigh, that's one of the downsides of his powers, another is that they work better if he is calm.
So far, he has only tested the blue color, which is him being sad or depressed. Ironically, it gives him an ability similar to flames; it also laces his constructs with flames, which is how he was able to burn the woman vampire to death. The darker the color blue, the stronger the flames are and will be. The only other color he has unlocked at the moment was red, which is based on how angry or embarrassed he will be. It boosts all physical attributes and makes him stronger with a small aura-like shield surrounding his body. The downside is making it harder for him to make constructs, still possible, but harder. All those constructs tend to be more violent in nature, but that's a whole different thing for Gabriel to think about.
Gabriel opened his eyes and decided to dismiss the platform he was sitting on. Landing softly on his feet, Gabriel walked towards the patio, stepping up the small step, he walked towards the table and used the towel to wipe the sweat off of his brow. Despite him wearing a sleeveless shirt, and the weather being around forty degrees with no sun in the sky, he felt very warm, as if it was a normal sunny day. Opening up the back sliding door, he made his way into his house, making sure to shut the door behind himself. At the kitchen table was Nadia, typing away on her Macbook. Paperwork surrounded her, making the table very messy. "Ugh, I've been digging around all the records surrounding the warehouse, and so far the only thing I found was the name Corson."
Gabriel grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator, walking around the table, taking a seat across from Nadia. "Thomas, huh? Did you find out what year the deed was signed over?"
Nadia ruffled through the multiple papers on the table, her lips turned downwards. "Ugh, it was some old guy back in the 1920s who bought it," she answered, finally finding a document and handing it to Gabriel.
Gabriel took the document from her hand, realizing it was a deed, with writing barely legible. "Welp, does this Thomas have any living family members?"
Nadia grabbed her hair in annoyance, pulling at the strands as she stared at the ceiling. "That's the major issue. Apparently, his son had two daughters, one named Chloe, and another Ava. Chloe died back in 2002 at the age of twenty-six." She explained. Nadia lowered her head to stare at the laptop screen. "I've been digging through the internet searching for Ava Thomas, but no one with that name in the city has popped. There are others around the US with that name, but they're either too young or too old to be the one we are looking for."
Nadia turned the laptop around, allowing Gabriel to see a death certificate for one Chloe Thomas. Reading on, he found that she was mauled to death by an animal in the city, or at least that was what is listed. "How much would you want to bet that she was killed by some demon or something?" he contemplated.
"That's a fool's bet, after what the Captain told us about how they do their best to cover up demonic issues that happen," Nadia argued.
Gabriel nodded his head in agreement, not having a reply since she was correct. When going back to the police station after the events on Monday, the Captain had him meet in his car (which was strange), but he informed Gabriel of a lot of things Blake didn't inform him of, such as how the average person can't see demons or monsters. Instead, it'll be more like a ghost, or for some people, they'll believe it's a trick of the mind. It's all part of the pact signed by some King and Lucifer back two thousand or so years ago, which explains why folklore or myths can be so detailed since at one point they all existed amongst humans. "Have you checked on Blake yet?" Gabriel asked, wanting to change the topic.
Nadia looked up from the laptop. "Yeah, his fever died down, and the worst of his wounds have closed. At this point, we are just waiting for him to wake up on his own."
Gabriel just let out a sigh, standing up from the table and walking into the living room. With only two bedrooms usable, one of which is occupied by Blake, he has been allowing Nadia to use his bedroom (even though she could usually just go home), since she has been crashing with him as well. Not that it's a problem, he has a nice pull-out couch. The third bedroom was an office/junk room that pretty much had his childhood in it. Sitting down on the couch, he held the business card that held Alucard's name on it.
Int. Gabriel's House (Morning) October 30, 2025, 7:30 A.M.
Gabriel opened up to the familiar ceiling of his front room, looking at the fan above his head. He laid there for a moment, thinking over the whole case so far. From his old notes that were taken, he was still confused on the dates. It doesn't make sense why this group would kidnap people and hold them for so long. Though it'll make sense if he was using it for some ritual or something, being demons. Gabriel let out a huge sigh; it feels like his entire life has been flipped upside down. Between discovering he has powers, and learning to control them, then finding out creatures of myths do exist, it's just a lot for him. Gabriel sat up from the couch and was startled to find Blake was just sitting there, drinking coffee out of a mug, looking back at him.
Blake raised the mug as a way of greeting. "Good morning, sunshine. It took you a while to wake up."
Gabriel's mouth opened, then closed, resembling a fish trying to grab food. "How long have you been sitting here?" he asked. He turned his head to the right to look at the time before looking back at Blake. "It's freaking seven in the morning, were you just sitting there waiting for me to wake up?"
"I woke up at five, and colored me surprised that it wasn't in a hospital bed but in a strange house I've never seen before," Blake commented, taking a sip from his coffee.
Gabriel let out a deep sigh, his entire body sagging from exhaustion. He held out his hand and made a white dagger appear in his hand. Blake just raised an eyebrow as he studied the light construct. "When fighting the vampires, like a lock or something clicked, then I found myself able to control light particles," He explained, turning the dagger into a ball, tossing it up in the air before letting it dissolve.
Gabriel felt Blake's lack of reaction mildly concerning, granted it would make sense if Blake has been around dealing with similar stuff. "I never expected for you to gain abilities, or something like that. I guess, I thought one of the holy relics would come to you."
"Holy relics?" Gabriel questioned, swinging his legs off the couch, placing them on the floor.
Blake took a quick sip out of his coffee mug. "There are five holy relics that can only be used by humans, and were made to fight against demons. Well, not just demons, but the creatures of the underworld in general."
Gabriel took a moment to comprehend the information. Eventually, he's going to have to take down notes because this is a lot of information for him to keep up with and remember. "Holy relics were made by the church? Also, how are they passed down?"
"I don't have the answers to that. I'd like to believe they were a gift from God to help save people, but that's something to ask the higher-ups. Out of the five, two have been destroyed, with one lost in history. The only one accounted for is mine. The objects have some semblance of sentience, leaving people they find unworthy or have died in battle," Blake answered, setting the mug down on the coffee table. He showed the watch to Gabriel, allowing the natural sunlight to shine off of it. "This may look normal, albeit a fancy wristwatch, but it can become a shield that emits holy light. Dangerous toward creatures I mentioned before."
Gabriel looked at the shield, and felt a sense of familiarity with it, and even when Blake switched it back to a watch. Like a memory fighting to resurface, but all Gabriel felt was a headache as he tried to understand where he had seen that watch before. "I think we need to separate for the day. I assume we don't have to go into the office. So I got a lead to follow up that gives more information on what's going on."
Gabriel was shaken from his thoughts at Blake's words. "Wait, before we make plans to do anything, I need to know why you did it? Why did you take bribes from those victims, or should I say criminals?"
Blake's body visibly deflated. He reached and grabbed the mug on the table, taking a sip from it. "My daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia. With hospital bills piling up, I didn't want to ask anyone for help. I just wanted to give my baby girl the best treatment I could afford. When those men offered to hide some things, I did. I also made sure they weren't doing anything else. So like with Mark, I had meetings with them weekly to make sure they weren't and haven't broken the lie. Besides Mark, the others reformed, working hard," He explained, his Boston accent slipping out once again as his tone turned melancholy.
Gabriel just nodded his head in understanding. "Next time, ask me for help. I would've, even if we had a falling out over how you handle cases. Letting criminals go on the off chance they may do better isn't up to us to decide."
Blake just shook his head wistfully. "One of these days, you'll understand not everything can be done by the book. The world isn't a black and white thing, Rook."
"Without laws and regulations, society will descend into chaos," Gabriel argued.
Blake raised his eyebrow, his lips forming a cocky grin. "You literally went to a vampire-owned club, and probably fought the leader of them, Alucard. Do you honestly think the world itself isn't already full of chaos, Rook?" he refuted.
Gabriel's shoulders slumped in acknowledgement. "You're right for once," he mumbled loud enough for Blake to hear.
Blake just leaned back, finishing up the last of the coffee in the mug. "Cheer up, Rook. On the bright side, you're not part of a secret world that most people have no privy to."
"Lucky me," Gabriel mocked, his face still bunched up in a look of defeat. "By the way, want to tell me why the captain was yelling at us on Monday?"
Blake leaned to set the empty mug on the coffee table. "His office was bugged. I can assume you had a meeting and you asked you to meet in another place," he guessed, leaning back in the chair once again. "His office has been bugged for years. We just pretend to do work there at this point."
"That makes sense, I suppose," Gabriel drawled, his mind going towards wondering about anything else he has missed.
Blake stood up from the chair, stretching for a little bit. "By the way, my car is in the shop so I'm taking yours for the day if that's okay." Gabriel didn't reply, just pointing to where the key bowl was by the front door. Blake walked past Gabriel and patted him on the shoulder before leaving. "Hey, by the way, why wasn't I in the hospital?" Blake inquired, turning back from the front door.
"Oh, that's simple, I learned how to heal people," deadpanned Gabriel as he looked at Blake, his voice monotone.
Blake nodded before looking at Gabriel in shock. "Wait what?"