The secretary glanced at me. Well, secretary is not exactly accurate. The grey suited man at the desk reminded me more of a bouncer than any sort of white collar office worker. He was easily 6 feet tall, a lumbering bear towering over the 5’6 19 year old gopher that was me. I could see a tattoo peeking over his collar and around the side of his neck; by the looks of it, it stretched all the way down his back. The man glanced at me. I quickly looked away.
I started examining the room I was in, partially out of boredom but mainly to avoid eye contact with the man. The room reminded me of a hospital waiting room. Despite the comfortable chairs and soft bluish lighting, I felt uncomfortable. It all felt so sharp and vivid but at the same time hazy like a dream. I glanced down at my phone. It was 3:05. Trinity said that the person I was supposed to meet was punctual, but 20 minutes had already passed and I was starting to get nervous.
The phone on the secretary’s desk rang. He picked it up and after a few seconds he hung up and looked at me.
“The boss will see you now,” he said. I gulped. This is for the kids, I reminded myself. I slowly walked to the door behind the secretary.
“You probably want to take these,” the secretary smirked as I got to the door. He handed me a pair of goggles.
“Um, thanks. Why do I need these?” I questioned, examining the goggles.
“With the boss, you can never be too careful,” he said grinning. I looked next to the door frame. A sign was posted there, with the hand written message “T.B. ALWAYS BE PREPARED.”
“That’s ominous,” I mumbled. I took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped into the room…
…and I was immediately pelted with a barrage of paintballs. I screamed like a dinosaur and tripped over a chair. Behind me I could hear the secretary pounding the desk laughing.
“Gets me every fucking time!” He wheezed, trying to speak through his laughter. I heard a similar sound coming from the desk in front of me. I slowly got up. In front of me was a teenage boy. On his desk was the strange contraption that was responsible for the rain of paint that had just hit me. The boy slowly calmed his laughter and grinned.
“Sorry about that,” he said still laughing a little. “Well, I’m sorry if you got hurt, but I am not sorry about shooting you. Your reaction was just fucking priceless.” I looked at him in total disbelief. This was the boss? Why would Trinity want me to meet with a kid?
“I’m assuming you’re the guy that Trin told me about,” the boy said. “Cantor, right?” I nodded.
“Well, you’re certainly not what I expected. But hey, expect the unexpected, right?” He looked up thoughtfully.
“Did Trinity tell you why I am here?” I asked. The boy ignored my question and instead walked to the nearby bookshelf. He traced the spine of what look a box set of disks.
“Hmm, why do I even have this? My computer doesn’t even read DVDs,” he said. I stared at him. He couldn’t have been older than 16, with darker slightly blemished skin and messy black hair.
“Hmm, ‘Law and Order’. God how I hate that show,” he said. “Probably was a gift.” He turned and saw my confused look. “Symbolism, duh,” he said.
“Um, should we talk about…” I started.
“Would it be weird for me to have like a mini fridge in here?” He interrupted. “Like is that too casual?” I was starting to get irritated. This kid was just ignoring me.
“Excuse me, are you going to talk to me? Or are you just gonna pace around?” I asked. He slowly turned to look at me and I had to turn away. Turns out eye contact is really scary. His whole body language shifted; the almost jovial nature of his movement turned predatory.
After a moment, he continued his stroll around the room. Around me. Circling like a tiger in wait, eyeing his prey. Finally, he stopped back at his desk. He looked me up and down, his gaze ripping out all of memories, all of my scars and all of my stories. I know it sounds dramatic and cliche, but it felt like he was looking into my soul. After a couple seconds, he seemed satisfied.
“You do understand what you’re doing by coming to me, right?” he asked. “Many people see what you ask for as a great sin. I couldn’t care less but you might want to think this over before you do something you regret.” I shook my head.
“I know what I’m doing, and I understand the risks and the consequences, but those things took people I loved and cared for. I need retribution,” I responded, a slight rise in my voice. The boy chuckled a little.
“So many people like you,” he said, a slight smile on his face. “Well, it’s good for business. And it’s so much fun to kill angels.”
“Hey Blaise,” Mick said. I kept reading my textbook.
“Hey, Blaise, hey Blaise,” she repeated, poking me. I brushed her off.
“Not now Mick, I have to study,” I responded. Mick pouted a little but I ignored her.
“but BLAAAAAAAISE!” she cried, throwing herself over my book, “I’m bored.”
I sighed and rolled her away.
“I have to do well on this exam Mick. It’s in a couple hours and it’s the one that determines our station and position and I’m surprised you’re not studying either,” I said.
“C’mon Blaise can we at least get something to eat from the mess hall? I’m starving,” Mick whined. Well, I could use some food. And I had absorbed as much as I could from the dry textbook.
“Okay, but not too long okay?” I said. Before I could say any more, Mick grabbed my arm and off we went to the mess hall.
Mick and I, along with thousands of others, were students at Wefrens Academy, the training center for Aegis. In simplest terms, Aegis was a covert defense agency for the entire planet from major threats to humanity. Specifically, supernatural threats. And since the majority of the population is unaware of such threats Aegis, along with many other groups, have kept the existence of extraterrestrial species hidden from the public to avoid panic and outside influence on Earth’s development. It is the general consensus among most of the supernaturally aware community that the general public is not yet ready for the truth, and so most are sworn to secrecy.
Now back to Wefrens Academy. Think of it like any other “special” school that you would encounter in pop-culture, except it’s not very whimsical. Here we’re trained in combat, espionage, and, perhaps most importantly, knowledge about the strange creatures in or world and how to deal with them. Some students, like myself, are known as Lifers: we were “born” at Wefrens and have spent our whole lives here. “Born” is in quotes because we were genetically engineered and grown out of test tubes to be better equipped for our duties.
“Hey Blaise,” Mick said, her mouth full chicken nuggets. “You gonna eat those?”
“Hands off my nuggets,” I said. “Nobody touches my nuggets.” Mick laughed a little through her nugget mouth.
“Hey, did you here about the rumors?” Mick asked. “There’s been a bunch of demon attacks.”
“I don’t pay attention to rumors, Mick,” I responded.
Demons. When I said extraterrestrial you probably thought flying saucers and the likes, right? Well, along with the multitude of other life containing planets, we have discovered that the universe is like an onion; it has layers. Alternate planes of existence. The near infinite expanse of space and stars and life that humans and other species inhabit is labeled as T6, though more commonly referred to as “the mortal plane”. Angels and Demons inhabit T3 and T4, Heaven and Hell respectively. For the most part they do not interact with the mortal plane but occasionally individuals cross the boundary between layers for some reason or another.
“Ugh, you’re no fun to talk to when you’re studying. Always thinking about stuff. Never enjoying things,” Mick said.
“I’m sorry I don’t like to talk about gruesome possibly demon related murders while I’m eating Mick,” I responded.
“You’re so sassy sometimes, Blaise,” a voice said.
“Hey Jack,” Mick said. The blonde haired boy sat down next his, a big dopey smile on his face.
“How was the exam?” I asked. “Was it hard? Was it multiple choice? Is it important for me to know the ionization temperature of hydrogen?”
“Nope!” Jack exclaimed. “There was no test! Instead we get are first assignments. It’s gonna be so cool to finally work out in the field!” What? It seems I had done all that studying for nothing then. But an actual assignment…
“Sounds kinda dangerous,” I responded. “Did you hear that Rachel Meyers and Chris Progdan went missing on an assignment last week? Apparently they were checking in some minor out of state visitors and they just disappeared before they could report back.”
“Probably just were making out on a train and missed their stop,” Mick snorted. “Everyone knows that those two were into each other. Right Blaise?”
“Why you asking me?” I questioned.
“Blaise, you know everything that goes on at Wefrens. If Timmy Warthrob didn’t brush his teeth you would know,” Mick replied with a grin.
“He didn’t floss but he did brush,” I mumbled. Jack stared at me.
“It terrifies me that you know that. You haven’t even talked to him today!” Jack exclaimed.
“Don’t question her methods, Jack. Just enjoy the results,” Mick said, her face again entrenched in her food. I smiled a little, wondering what our assignments could be.