Chapter 5

I burned the seal of Enoch on my ribs as soon as the knowledge of it appeared in my dumbwaiter, it has no effect on me, but the angels won't find it. I'm not afraid of them, of course, but I want to live in peace for a little while. It's time to go on the wild ride. Vegas, wait for me! Or don't wait, I don't care.

It was a long three and a half months of vacation. A lot happened during that happy period of my life. I won a fortune at roulette and dice, telekinesis rules. I didn't need the money that much, but I couldn't deny myself the pleasure of swindling the casino. Of course they couldn't prove anything, but they stopped letting me in, the bastards.

I met a witch, who plays poker for life. Acquaintance was not only interesting but also useful.

I as a creature not aging years of youth to no avail.

He did not immediately realize that I was not an ordinary man, but he wanted to play with me anyway. Self-confidence and gambling are not good for me, which means that it is better for me.

The wager was the years of my body.

That's where my clairvoyance came in handy, making me two thousand years richer.

He sold me everything he had, and since I didn't want to spend it on this body, I bought back a spell from him in a hundred years, which would allow me to use it whenever I wanted and on whomever I wanted, which was very convenient.

- It was the best game I've ever played in my long life. - He told me then. - I haven't walked the line in a long time. How'd you do it? I didn't feel the magic.

- I had a weak gift for clairvoyance. - I decided not to lie. He's a normal guy, people come to his table of their own free will, and sometimes he gives old people a couple of years if they have important things to finish.

A lot can be learned during a game, with seemingly ordinary conversation about nothing. Subtle psychology. He asked me what I was, too. Like all seen, this is not. On what I was sent in a gentle form, he only smiled understandingly.

- Exactly! - The witch doctor exclaimed. - Obviously.

- No complaints? - I asked, not that I wanted a strong witch as an enemy.

- Huh? No, of course not. - My question distracted him from his troubled thoughts- And I'm even grateful to you, for the new experience, I will not allow myself to be cheated this way again. - He clarified.

And so we parted. He ran off to restore his stock on various losers. And it was time for me to finish my vacation.

Next thing I knew, I was looking for a teacher. There's one thing I want to learn. And that is to do cool illusions like the magician Loki, or rather the archangel Gabriel. He's the one I've been tracking down. Easier said than done, the bastard knew how to hide. Odin, the main god of the Scandinavian pantheon, told me how to find him.

He was easy to find, the dude wasn't even hiding, he was drinking in a bar in Norway, telling tall tales. He did not like Loki, to put it mildly, so he turned him in right away.

That's how I ended up in Brazil at some festival. After a little bit of looking around I had to admit that Gabriel has taste. Half-naked latin girls, twisting their asses here and there, definitely delighted my eyes.

A moment of movement and I entered the most famous strip bar in town. Although the place was crowded, but it was easy to find a short man, surrounded by naked girls, shouting lewd jokes. I did not approach, why would I spoil the party for the "man"? I took a simple napkin and wrote a short message in Enochian, saying, "I know who you really are. Come this way and that way. If you don't, I'll tell everybody. Called the waitress, asked her to give me a message, slipped a hundred bucks in her bra, slapped her on the ass, and took off for good measure.

Let's see if it doesn't kill her.

He didn't. And that's only because I didn't want to. Here's what happened.

So I'm sitting there, waiting for Gabriel at the rendezvous point. An ordinary pizzeria, like hundreds of pizzerias, surrounded by people, all quiet. This is so he would not think that I had prepared a trap or some other trick. The bell on the door rings, and he walks in. Hmm, or not him, there's something wrong with me. I don't sense grace in him.

I see, he sent his illusion, but where is he?

- Hello, did you ask me out? - He asked me lightheartedly. - So I'm for the girls, sorry. - Showed me a sad face. Talent.

- That was a joke. - I snorted. - Hello Gavriel, I have a business proposition for you...

- Not interested. - He interrupted me.

- It's good for both of us. - I went on talking without paying any attention to what he said. - Just hear me out...

- I have a counterproposal. - He didn't let me finish again, which is a little annoying. -You're going to tell me now - who are you? How do you know about me? And maybe I won't hurt you. - Oh, here come the threats.

- Are you strong enough? - I smiled at him, of course I'm provoking him, but what can I do if he doesn't want to talk normally. Now we're going to beat the shit out of each other and become friends.

Yes - yes, I'm a complete debi... optimist.

- You've clearly shown that you know who you're dealing with, and we Archangels aren't weak guys. - There was a look of surprise on his face, yes, it's not often that such monsters are challenged. - I'll rip you into atoms and scatter them all over creation.

- Try me. - I looked him in the eye, showing him my essence. - Not here, let's go outside, there's no place like the desert.

A slight averting of my eyes at all the visitors, and I'll be on my way.

I didn't have to wait long, Gabriel showed up almost immediately after me, or rather a copy of him again.

What a cocky asshole, he didn't take me seriously. Now I'll show him how much roofing felt costs in Odessa.

My belligerent thoughts were interrupted in the most brazen way. While I was waiting for his clone to act, the real one stabbed me from behind.

- You said you were into girls, but you snuck up behind me and stabbed me in the most shameless way with your... weapon. - I mockingly muttered while he stammered and tried to figure out why I was still alive. - Dirty liar! - And be sure to point the finger accusingly in his direction.

- You're interesting. - He laughed. - It's a shame to kill you.

He mumbled something to himself, and then he spread his arms wide, and a wave of power went out from him, and the world changed around us. And I raised an eyebrow questioningly. What could I do? I'm not familiar with that kind of magic.

- My relatives are too clingy to understand the word no. - He pacified my curiosity. - Now they won't.

It took me a second to figure out exactly what they wouldn't.

Gabriel turned off his disguise. His silhouette shone with an intolerable white light, a halo appeared above his head, wings behind his back.

The space around him trembled; he had ten times the strength I did. If we don't split up, we're in trouble.

- Pompous asshole. - I muttered in half a voice and followed suit.

My eyes changed color and the iris glowed, and a darkness thickened around my body as if it were a fog spreading from me to the ground. Sparks of scarlet flame appeared and disappeared across my body.

Huh, I'm a fan of showing off, too.

Waves of power emanated from us, Gabriel's spell trembling with tension. A little more pressure, and the whole host of angels would come pouring in.

The situation had heated up to the limit. He began to prepare his attack, what else could the incomprehensible ball of light in his hand be. And I just pulled out my gun. An ordinary Colt 1911, black and engraved, also ordinary.

No chiseled runes, pentagrams, or enchantments. Gabriel even stopped pumping energy into his orb in surprise. Yeah, what a normal human weapon could do to him.

- Surprised, you win. - With a smile I said and shot him in the knee. He didn't see fit to defend himself, his pride must have been Arkhangelsk. I paid the price for that. I couldn't really wound him seriously, but I gave him a scratch.

The dazed look on the asshole's face was the best thing that calmed me down while I drew a long line in the sand with my face. He didn't make a weak blow with his balloon.

Crowley's idea, which he hadn't given birth to yet, had come in handy. Melting an angel blade into bullets was so obvious, you'd never know. But I went ahead and hardened them in holy fire and left them in Leviathan blood for a week. Now I have fifty of them, forty-nine to be exact.

You can't kill an Archangel with this, as Gabriel proved, but you can scratch him, which I have already proved.

- Now we can talk. - I sat down not far from him, restoring my face rubbed off on the sand. - Maybe you'll listen to me now, at least?

- Well, let me listen to it, you interest me. - He got up, grunting like an old grandfather.

It must be painful, I had a snide thought that I should not spread my cockerel wings at the great me.

The fact that he changed his mind and I miraculously survived will not be taken into account.

- Just tell me what kind of creature you are first.

- All right. - It all started twenty years ago, I was six months old.