Enid frowned at her mortality. She thought she had control of her changes by this point. She rolled to her other side still unable to sleep. Not having access to even her vampiric self, hampered her ability to track down these demons. She groaned realizing this was the side with the bruised ribs and rolled to her other side again. Officially this military camp was UN peacekeeping force. Unofficially it was being used by western powers to keep a lid on new terrorist’s groups forming in parts of Syria that were still lawless. Russia had been staunch Syrian allies but with their war in Ukraine dragging on for a year longer than it should have and still dragging on Russian support had dwindled with their military resources and Syria had lost vast swaths of land to rebels who were not friendly with the west. It was ugly and she knew it would get uglier before it got better. Just the kind of place a demon would love to settle in.

After a shower and breakfast Enid sat down and started plying her old trade. Her millennia of hunting wayward vampires who had broken the covenants had come in handy as an intelligence analyst. The main difference now was with 29th century computer technology she could process years of analysis in hours. She sipped her coffee as she watched her holo-phone tear through every bit of data NATO had on Syria and the current situation. She built a query to search for demonic activity, not that the modern humans would call it that. Her recent acceptance of her true nature had given her far more insight into her prey, so long as she didn’t try to look directly at the vastness of Seraph’s intellect and memories and just pull-out tiny pieces, she needed she could avoid being completely consumed. The data was starting to converge. Points of interest, lines were starting to intersect. Another hour of processing and her holo-phone would give her the location of her target. The fact it took her so long to figure out this was the best way just went to prove how much she had been leaning on her angelic powers instead of using her brain.

Enid felt a tap on the shoulder she glanced up. It was Giovanni, Tony’s son. She pulled her blue tooth ear pods out. He smiled at her. She did an internal grimace. The curse of her Sarah face was men loved hitting on her. Tony’s son doing it made her feel like she was doing something illegal. To his credit Giovanni kept his hormones in check.

“Good afternoon, Commander.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

Enid motioned to the chair beside her. Giovanni sat down in it and glanced at Enid’s screen.

“I thought you were an operator and not an analyst.”

Enid smirked.

“I am both. Though the computer does most of the work for the latter, I just tell it what to do.”

“Any luck?”

“I’ll have my target’s location within the hour. Then I’ll have to prep for a HALO jump into enemy territory. Fun, fun.”

“You’re going alone?”

Enid nodded.

“You must have some pull.”

“They know I work better alone.”

“Still, no back up? Sounds like a suicide mission.”

Enid chuckled.

“So was going into those caves solo after those hostiles to save your team’s collective asses.”

“I’m confused how you even knew about us; We didn’t receive any responses from our requests for assistance.”

“I was nearby, didn’t want to break radio silence.”

“I couldn’t name a single member of the teams that could get past thirty hostiles guarding a narrow cave passage, without being seen.”

“I didn’t it. There was a crevice I could slide down. If I were any bigger wouldn’t have worked. I came from on top. Surprised one of the groups that had you flanked, killed three before they knew I was there.”

“I can’t believe they didn’t recruit you for the teams.”

“Didn’t give them a chance, Joint chiefs of staff asked me what I wanted to do, anything in the Navy, I said Intelligence and here I am.”

“Did you really land a plane on the carrier that had an airframe that was broken in half?”

Enid nodded.

“I heard you took enough G’s to kill a person four times over.”

“That’s what they say, obviously the data was wrong. Took enough G’s I can’t fly fighters in combat situations anymore though.”

“That’s terrible.”

Enid shrugged.

“I broke flight regs. They exist for a reason. I’d do it again.”

Giovanni nodded in response then his brow furrowed.

“If you can’t fly planes, why not fly drones?”

Enid smirked.

“Who says I don’t?”

A thought occurred to her. If she could identify her target she could use a drone with blessed ordinance and not even have to enter Syria proper. Giovanni lowed her up and down.

“You just though of something didn’t you?”

“Just thinking I could use a drone to do the dirty work instead…”

“I heard drones aren’t authorized in Syria.”

“They’ll authorize this. Trust me.”

“Does everyone in the military owe you a favor?”

“No, but the right people do. Besides if they say no, I’ll do it anyway and ask for forgiveness later.”

Giovanni blinked at Enid.

“Is that what you were doing when you came and saved our asses?”

Enid gave a small half smile and shrugged.

“A little of column A, a lot of column B. You being you should be used to that from your family hmm?”

His face darkened slightly. Enid realized it might be a sore spot seeing as his family was big time mafia in the twentieth century.

“What do you know about that?”

“Nothing. Ignore me.”

“No, did you pull my file?”

“No, we just met before. That’s all. My mother knew your father. Worked for your family off and on.”

Giovanni’s face softened once again, and he pulled a chair up.

“Who was your mother?”

“Short, red hair? Green eyes. Scary.”

Giovanni’s eyes widened.

“Red?”

Enid nodded.

“She…I heard she was his best cleaner.”

Enid nodded again.

“She taught me everything I know. Without her you’d be dead right now.”

Giovanni shook his head.

“I would have never guessed it.”

A group of analysts walked into the room and Giovanni stood up.

“Commander.”

Enid nodded and put her ear pods back in.

*****

Enid felt her wrist vibrate and she looked up at the HUD provided by her contacts. She promptly logged out of the computer she was on and stepped outside. She returned to her room and started tapping around on the virtual display. An outside observer would think she was slightly nuts. But in the context of her display she was using the advanced quantum computer and ICE breakers to slice her way through a Russian satellites security like it was butter and re-task it. It was just the one closest to the location she needed intel on. Her younger self who was alive in this era would have drooled over the tech she was using.

She frowned when she saw the target area. It was densely populated with civilians. Any drone strike would risk a lot of innocent lives. After shaking her head a few times she broke into the US system and pushed orders to the CO of the peacekeeping base that he was to use any means at his disposal to relieve a high value target in the area of their life with a minimum of civilian casualties. Suggested assets included Sarah O’Connor who was intimately familiar with the area and target. Enid then went to the mess and sat down to eat lunch. She predicted she would have enough time if she ate quickly. She had been right. She was finishing her last bite when she saw a member of the British military appear in front of her. She glanced up. He was a Major.

“Ma’am. Colonel Burton would like to see you immediately.”

Enid glanced down at her empty plate, glanced up at the Major.

“Of course.”

Enid lifted her tray up and put it on the side of the room with the rest of used dishes. The Major motioned towards the exit of the mess. Enid walked beside the Major who kept glancing down at her.

“CO was surprised to see your name come up. We were not aware you were on base.”

Enid adjusted her desert camo hat.

“I came in with a SEAL team that ran into an ambush. Was keeping a low profile because I have to head back on mission.”

The Major nodded. The pair walked in silence and when the reached the CO’s office the Major opened the door for her. Enid saluted Colonel Burton.

“Sir.”

“At ease Commander. Have a seat.”

Enid relaxed and sat down after pulling her cap off. Colonel Burton was a relic of a bygone era. A year from retirement. His hair was salt and pepper. Enid was familiar with him only in so far as she’d have to requisition things from the base in her days as an operative for the US military. Burton was British, they had command of this UN base. And the US were cooperating fully with them under NATO and UN rules.

“I was surprised to see your name come up on an OP.”

“Yes, the Major was just saying that.”

“I had the understanding you would be out of contact for another 87 days.”

Enid gave a small shrug.

“Heard a mayday. I helped. Got a ride back to resupply. Was heading back out tomorrow after I gathered updated intel, sir.”

“There’s been a request from the CIA and US military. High value target. High civilian population in the area. Your name came up as their top choice.”

Enid faked a frown.

“Sir what about my other mission?”

“You are to hit the target and return to previous mission using supplies on hand. This needs to done yesterday, while intel is fresh.”

He handed Enid a folder marked top secret. Enid opened it and glanced through. Not that she needed to, she’d prepped the intel briefing that morning. She glanced up at the colonel.

“What do you need?”

“C-17. Three crew. I’ll HALO in from 45000 feet. Will glide in forty miles.”

“Sounds like suicide to Commander.”

“Not if its only me. Best case scenario I snipe him. Worst case they capture me, and I improvise. If this needs to be done fast, I can prep and leave in an hour. I’d say let’s use a drone but too many civvies. Getting through two hundred miles of Rebel lines seems like it would be slow going. Especially with the roads mined with IEDs. A HALO jump is the only way. The only surface to air they have are stingers and at that altitude no way they can hit the plane. It’s what makes sense.”

“I am hesitant to sign off on this. I can have a team of Special Forces ready in a few hours.”

Enid shook her head.

“Then you have to worry about getting them out of enemy territory.”

“But if you are unable to complete your mission we’ll miss our opportunity.”

“If I do not confirm a kill by midnight call in a precision munitions air strike.”

He frowned.

“You’re that confident in your abilities?”

“I used to be a fighter pilot, of course I am.”

He chuckled.

“I’ll have a plane on the runway in one hour. See to it you advise of a confirmed kill by midnight would you please Commander.”

Enid stood up, put her hat on and saluted.

“Of course, sir.”

“Dismissed, and good luck.”

Enid turned and left the office.

*****

About an hour and a half later Enid was sitting on in the cargo area of a C-17 wearing her Atlantean armor. Holding her helmet. She was also covered in weaponry of various types. The cargo officer approached her and spoke through the comm headset. These planes were anything but quiet.

“We’re approaching the drop zone Commander.”

Enid nodded and stood up. She pulled her comm headset and pulled on her helmet. It sealed and she knew she was breathing the processed air it provided. She tapped her holo-phone and patched the plane’s internal comms into her helmet. She made a show of checking over her parachute. Not that she planned on using one. She was going to use the wings of her armor to glide in and slow her descent. She would be less of a target. She would open the parachute and let it fall on its own from high up in hopes it would direct enemy troops to it instead of her actual landing zone. The cargo officer checked it and her the straps when she pulled on. He motioned to the cargo door and lowered. Enid clipped on and made her way to the edge. She watched the cargo officer countdown with his fingers from five and on zero she lept off the plane.

She’d never fallen this far before. The air rushed around her. She unclipped her chute and pulled the cord. Then angled herself away from it and extended the turquoise energy wings of her armor and glided towards her target which was helpfully displayed on her contact’s HUD. It made it easy to navigate towards it. She swept her wings back and her airspeed increased again reaching terminal velocity. At the last moment she extended the wings and glided to a roof top. Her experience flying as Seraph made it feel far more natural this time. She let the helmet sink back into the armor and knelt down. She’d managed to land a block from her target.

She zoomed into the building she was aiming for with the contacts optics. She flipped into thermal imaging and identified several targets inside. There were a lot of armed hostiles and also civilians. She realized the easiest way to do this would be to just get captured. She’d need a distraction so she could take out the demon, or demons. She pulled out Semtex and a detonator from her bag and wired in a 29th century detonator. There were several pickup trucks with guns mounted on them. Blowing one of those up would be loud enough it would distract any guards.

Enid slipped down the stairs of the building and crept between buildings avoiding patrols with ease. It helped she could see them in her HUD. Truthfully some could have just been armed civilians but instinct told her that if someone was armed they were hostile. Killing any of them could raise the alarm. She paused behind a cube van waiting for a patrol to leave the area. She dashed across the open road and slid under one of the trucks and placed the explosive. It was small enough collateral damage would be low. She started putting her weaponry in her pack. Leaving herself only a combat knife and a pistol. Neither of which she would miss. She waited until she saw another patrol passing beside the truck and grabbed one of their legs and dragged them under stabbing them in the throat. His comrades started shooting under the truck but Enid had already rolled out and lept into the bed. She had timed the attack so she would be stuck between two patrols within seconds. She shot a couple more of the men and dove for cover behind the armored side panel of the truck. Bullets pelted it. As she predicted bullets started hitting the other side of the truck. She could hear someone shouting to stop shooting. In response Enid through her gun and knife over the edge of the truck and held her hands up. The pulled her out of the truck and punched her face a couple of times. She had killed several of them.

Eventually she was pulled inside their main headquarters which is where the demon had been lairing itself. She was led at gunpoint hands behind her head. They had already searched her pack and found it empty. So, they didn’t even bother pulling it over her shoulder. If the knew what she really had in there no way she’d been allowed to keep it. They were yelling at her in Arabic. Some of the comments intoned she was going to suffer greatly for their enjoyment. Enid had the urge to kill them all right there, but she kept her temper in check. Too many civilians would die. They seemed to be leading her to a cell so she spoke up finally after having been silent the whole time.

“Zyed will want to see me right away.”

There were a few laughs around her and she was shoved forward towards the cell.

“Tell him that you caught Enid Aurelius.”

There were a few more laughs and she was shoved inside the cell. Enid sat on the dirty floor and leaned against the stone wall. It didn’t take long for a group of men to come and open the door. She didn’t resist them when they grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the cell and towards another room. She could feel it now the twisting pain in her abdomen. Zyed was definitely the demon she was looking for. He was one of the demons that could pass for human, but she knew he was there in the flesh so to speak, rather then possessing a body. There tended to be interference in the case of a possession, but this was a clear signal to her sixth sense. This was a demon. The demon who looked like a fairly non-descript man of middle-eastern descent yelled at his men.

“I told you to bring me Enid Aurelius! Who is this?”

Enid’s eyes flicked to the detonate button on her HUD she stared at it for several seconds and the building shook. The men in her immediate presence and the demon all looked towards the source. It was all the distraction she needed. Before they knew what hit them four men lay dead and she had a gleaming sword formed from the Staff of the Universe pointing at Zyed’s throat as he quivered on the ground.

“Impossible!”

“Idiot.”

Enid lopped off his head as he died she felt the power of Seraph flow into her once again. She picked up an AK-47 and leaned against the wall by the door and opened a satellite uplink to local command.

“This is Princess. Tango down.”

She uploaded an image of the room with the five dead men. She wasted no time shifted to her Seraph form once she received confirmation. She closed her eyes and opened them and was once again standing in front of Tony. He crossed himself when he saw her angelic form before him. She closed her eyes and quirked her head to the side and shifted down into her mortal form.

“Did you save him Red?”

Enid nodded and sat down.

“Of course, Tony, wouldn’t be back if I hadn’t, dealt with the demon too. Now pay up.”

Tony nodded.

“You know I make good on my debts.”

“So, spill it, I have more demons to hunt.”

Tony poured out two glasses of red wine, he picked his up and took a sip.

“You are afraid of the truth.”

Enid blinked she was fairly sure she could obliterate souls with her staff and she had the sudden urge to do so to Tony.

“No shit Tony.”

“You asked your father to hide something from you when you were a kid. You told me that when we used to work together. That is what you need to get back.”

“How do I do that?”

Tony shrugged.

“Beats me.”

Enid rolled her eyes. It was the truth but she still felt cheated.

“Wow Tony, I feel like I got conned here.”

Tony shrugged.

“I answered your question Red. What more can I do?”

“Give me a good answer.”

“Look Red, you’re the angel here, how am I supposed to know more then you?”

Enid chugged her wine and stood up and wagged her finger at Tony. Then she sighed.

“See you around Tony.”

“Sure thing Red.”

Enid frowned and walked out of the restaurant and found herself standing on a vast white area. Here she was in her true form which would be unintelligible to a mortal being. If the other angels were fourth dimensional beings, she was a fifth dimensional being more on par with God then her fellows. Her mortal mind was having trouble processing what she was experiencing. Then everything flickered and she in a throne room surrounded by more conventional looking angels. Her form was that of Seraph. On the throne sat a shimmering human like light.

“Father?”

She was overcome with a sense of peace as his voice seemed to encompass her entire being.

“Yes, it is good to have you here, daughter.”

“Too bad it was a wasted trip.”

“You seek answers to questions only you can answer.”

“Pointless drivel. You want me to save creation, just fix me!”

She could see the rest of the angelic host that was present shift uncomfortably at her words and attitude. A wave of peace flowed over the room and the angels seemed to calm down.

“Only you can fix what you have broken.”

Enid really wanted to scream at God but truly she wasn’t angry with him, it was herself she was frustrated by.

“Well, I need to go. I sense another attack.”

“Go with my love.”

Enid waved her hand dismissively. She shifted herself to the next hotspot pulling Helen and Hazel with her.