ANGELS AT WAR

CRICKET KARR AND THE ROCK STAR

CHAPTER 4

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

RECKLESS WORDS PIERCE LIKE A SWORD, BUT THE TONGUE OF THE WISE BRINGS HEALING (Proverbs 12:18)

            “Tricky triangles sure are helpful,” Vermillion told me with glee as he and I, along with Cricket and Violetta, watched Sully Sage exit a Lear jet. With his Prada Cashmere polo shirt and Brunello Cucinelli shoes, he could have passed for a successful businessman.

            But with his shaggy dark hair, faded ripped jeans, along with tattoos and sunglasses, not to mention a half smoked cancer stick hanging from his lips, he looked like the vain rock star that he tended to be.

            “They can be,” I replied and my former friend’s mirth diminished a little bit.

            “You know as well as I do that the odds are on my team’s side,” Vermillion added.

            I tried to have as little dialogue with my opponents as possible. Yet sometimes it was helpful to find out what they were thinking. Just as with fallen humanity, the tempters of souls, AKA demons, had the same self-centered tendencies. like being unable to withhold anger and vengeance, as well as bragging and gloating.

            “Percentages have been on your side,” I admitted. “But typically your tricky triangles, as you called them, don’t have somebody like Cricket as one of the three.”

            “Have you considered my servant, Job?” Vermillion mocked, quoting part of Job 1:8. Then he chuckled maliciously. “She doesn’t have to actively participate to cause ole Sully to be torn between the two sisters.”

            “Judging by Violetta’s facial expression, getting her to be drawn to Sully will be a tall order.”

            Vermillion laughed diabolically. “And you know as well as I do the contradictions within human nature. The very guys Violetta despises, she finds physically desirable. Sex is such a powerful, powerful weapon for my team!”

            “You are aware she’s never given in to those desires.”

            “Yet, my former friend,” Vermillion said and laughed sadistically. “Violetta has never been more enthralled with a guy than she is with Sully, yet they have never actually met. But she has become addicted to looking at the countless things about him on YouTube. Like many addicts, she hates herself for it. So I’m really, really anxious to see how she reacts meeting him in person. Will she be enthralled and unable to hide her adoration? Or will she be hostile toward  a guy she has never met stirring her emotions so intensely?”

            My adversary declared this just seconds before they did meet. Sully took a last drag on his cigarette and flicked it away. He hooked his Louis Vuitton sunglasses in the V of his polo shirt. As he strode toward his two hosts, he gave them both a quick study.

            One looked like she stepped out of an Amish country store in her long denim skirt and light brown hair in a bun. All that was missing was a bonnet. The other looked like a cowgirl. She was exquisitely beautiful, even in the plain attire of a baseball hat with a strawberry blonde ponytail threaded through the back. She wore a flannel shirt and jeans tucked into cowboy boots.

            He noticed a resemblance in the sisters, despite one being prettier than the other. He had seen thousands and thousands, maybe even a million pretty females, but there was something extra special about Violetta. Maybe it was the way she looked at him with contempt rather than adoration. That rarely happened. Yet he could tell his presence also unsettled her for some reason.

            He had noticed the cowgirl get out of the driver’s side of a huge pickup truck.  As he approached the duo he asked, “Is this your truck?”

            “No, I stole it,” Violetta replied.

            Sully eyed her calmly, but was a little taken aback by the snide comment. Violetta cooly held his gaze. Cricket quickly alleviated the tension. “I told you she was a pistol.”

            Sully looked at Cricket and a corner of his mouth curled into a grin. “You must be the sling shot.”

            “I suppose I am,” she replied as she extended a hand in greeting.

            Sully was pretty good at reading people. He marveled at what he detected was an extreme contradiction with Cricket. She seemed gentle but strong, meek yet confident. Even her handshake was firm, but not overbearing. Her hand itself was dainty, yet mildly calloused from labor. “I’m Sully Sage.”

            “Cricket Karr.”

            “That’s right,” he said and put his hands on his hips. “Please tell me how you got named after an insect.”

            “My legal name is Jimena, and…”

            “I get it,” he interrupted with delight. “Jimena Cricket, like the cartoon Jiminy Cricket.”

            “Very perceptive. My grandmother started calling me Cricket before I can even remember. I have frequently forgotten my real name myself.”

            “Interesting,” Sully responded, continuing to stare into Cricket’s eyes.

            His gaze began to make Cricket feel uncomfortable, so she turned his attention to the woman he seemed to be ignoring after her snotty comment. “As you’ve probably guessed, this is my sister, Violleta.”

            Sully offered his hand, and due to her western attire, he spoke like an old TV cowboy. “How do, Ma’am?”

            Sully was surprised at the limp handshake of this fiery woman, especially compared to her meek, not quite as pretty sister. “Very well.”

            “I bet you do.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” Violetta said testily as she jerked her hand out of Sully’s gentle grip.

            Sully’s brow furrowed and he showed her an open palm. “Nothing, I’m reaffirming what you said. You know, agreeing with you.”

            “Sounded to me like you were getting fresh,” Violetta said.

            “My, aren’t we full of ourselves?”

            “You ought to know full of yourself. Come strutting off a private jet like a…”

            “People, people,” Cricket interrupted, attempting to diffuse a possibly hostile situation. “Why are we making a simple task complicated? Violetta, I have to admit, you’re being rude. What did you want Mr. Sage to do, crawl off the airplane?”

            “Was I strutting?” Sully asked Cricket with a frown.

            “A little bit,” Cricket winced as she pinched her thumb and index finger together indicating a small amount. “But let’s not make too much of it. I would venture to guess the vast majority of people with the means to fly on a private jet tend to swagger or feel proud.”

            “So I was swaggering with pride?” Sully asked.

            “Ya think,” Violetta piped.

            “Hold it,” Cricket demanded, putting a hand up like a traffic cop. “Now we just got off on the wrong foot. I want you two to shake hands again.”

            “Gimme a break,” Violetta said and sighed.

            “Violetta, play nice,” Cricket scolded, then attempted a little humor to create a little levity. “Or I’ll tell Mom.”

            Violetta snorted. “What, are we ten?”

            Cricket aimed a sweet smile at her sister. “Well, the behavior is seeming to fit. Why are you acting so immature?”

            “I do apologize if I’ve somehow offended you,” Sully told Violetta with surprising meekness as he offered his hand again. “Sincerely.”

            “I’m the one who should apologize,” Violetta admitted as she took his hand, shook it quicky and pulled hers away. “Cricket is right, I was being rude.”

            “There, don’t we all feel better,” Cricket said happily. “Now let’s get our human cargo delivered.”

            “Human cargo?” Sully smirked with an arched eyebrow.

            “No offense,” Cricket said sweetly.

            “None taken,” Sully chuckled. “I suppose that’s just what I am.”

            One of the personnel from the airplane brought a couple suitcases. Violetta directed him to put them in the bed of her pickup. As they began the twenty minute drive to Jeremey’s place, Sully asked, “I’m starved; I haven’t eaten today. Can I buy you two ladies dinner?”

            “Smells like you’ve had plenty to drink though,” Violetta said.

            Cricket’s toes curled. She thought she had smelled alcohol, but had been around people drinking adult beverages so infrequently she wasn’t sure. Violetta’s comment confirmed her suspicion. She wasn’t sure how to diffuse her sister’s snide comment this time, especially since he offered a kindness by inviting them to dine. So she merely accepted. “I’m kind of hungry. How about it, Vi?”

            “No thanks,” she replied cooly. “I’ve got things to do.”

            “That’s fine,” Sully said. “I’ll wait and have dinner with my cousin.”

            “But you said you were starved,” Cricket commented with concern.

            “No problem, I have something to help tide me over,” he declared and a tiny bottle of whiskey manifested in his hand. He screwed off the top and downed the brown liquid.

            “How dare you open a container of booze in my vehicle,” Violetta barked. “That’s illegal!”

            “No worries, ma’am, it’s empty.”

            Cricket’s toes uncurled and curled again. They rode in awkward silence all the way to Sully’s cousin’s home. When they arrived, Sully thanked the ladies. Cricket said, “You’re welcome.” But Violetta just snorted.

            Sully flashed three crisp one hundred dollar bills in front of Violetta. “For your trouble, ma’am.”

            “You know what? Since you opened booze in my truck without even asking, I’m gonna take them,” she told him and then snatched them out of his fingers.

            Sully chuckled. “You are a pistol.”

            “And you’re arrogant,” Violetta barked.

            Sully shrugged and Cricket noticed how sad and lonely his eyes looked, despite his bravado. She said, “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Sage.”

            “Please, call me Sully. It was nice to meet you too, Cricket,” he replied, then addressed Violetta. “Thanks for the lift, Miss Karr.”

            She didn’t reply. After he retrieved his luggage from the back, Violetta drove off. Despite her stern expression, and knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel so tight, Cricket couldn’t help scolding. “Violetta, you were very rude to Sully right from the start. And for no good reason.”

            “Oh, I had good reason,” she said with surprising meekness, especially given her angry expression.

            “Would you care to enlighten me?”

            “No.”

            “Pretty please, little sister,” Cricket said with a sing song voice. “I sure would like to know why you put me in such an awkward position.”

            Violetta glanced at her with an exasperated expression. Then she looked at the road and chewed her lower lip for a couple seconds. “I’ve never been so drawn to a man in my life.”

            Cricket looked at her siter like she had two heads, maybe three. “You could have fooled me by your behavior toward him. He seems the epitome of the type of guy you don’t like.”

            “I know… And that scares me.”