COOKIES AND MONSTERS

Baby Amir happily chewed on an angel-shaped rattle in his playpen while the five adults sat in the living room to talk.

Westhoff began: "Here's what we know. A little over a year and a half ago, supernatural ripples began to spread out, affecting people all across the world. Psychic attacks, geothermic phenomena, so-called 'demonic possessions,' unexplained outbreaks of new diseases. At first, it was all thought to be secondary to purely natural occurring events or illnesses. Nothing seemed to overlap. It was all things that happen every day in our world without any supernatural causes. Increased numbers of people diagnosed with mental illness, especially schizophrenia. Previously undiscovered cracks and vents opening in the Earth's crust. Epilepsy. Destruction of the rainforests causing animals infected with new diseases to relocate to more densely-populated human areas. None of it appeared to be connected in the slightest, or paranormal.

"On the surface, it seemed completely reasonable to believe that what was happening was well within the realm of the natural. Even the supernatural events which occurred weren't largely out of the ordinary. For example, Shawn's encounter with the Shayateen had been prophesied – expected – so despite the Jinn who cursed his bloodline transcending the barrier between the physical and spiritual, it was not considered by those of us charged with protecting humanity as anything 'unusual.'"

Laurel raised both a finger and an eyebrow, yet somehow managed to will herself to remain silent.

The priest cleared his throat and continued. "Somebody began to notice patterns starting to emerge which couldn't be explained away solely by natural means."

Shawn cocked his head to the side. "Somebody as in …?"

Westhoff looked uncomfortable. "Let's just say the individual in question happens to be far above my pay scale. Which is why he ordered 200 new priests and nuns to be commissioned to study the threat and to destroy it if need be."

Jasmine's eyes got as wide as dinner plates. "You mean, that exorcist class they talked about in the news? They're really –"

"Newly trained warriors, commissioned to fight Shayateen," Gabriel finished.

"Way to go, Frankie!" Laurel said, grinning and giving a thumbs-up sign.

Shawn, on the other hand, didn't grin. "Are you telling me that it's going to take at least 200 people to fight this thing?" He shook his head, leaned back in the couch and raked his fingers through his hair. "Jeez ... it's never gonna end." He closed his eyes tightly like he was fighting a headache. Jasmine noticed he was starting to get dark circles under them. She put her arm around Shawn's shoulders and said, "So now what do we do?"

"First, we'll need to determine the threat to Amir," Gabriel answered. "He's the Guardian spoken about in the Jinn Scrolls. But of course, he's still an infant, and while he has definitely shown his powers, he can't possibly know how to defend himself. If anything happens to him, all of humanity will be in jeopardy. The incident with the Shayateen who came after Shawn was just them 'putting their toe in the water,' so to speak. The fact that they've been gathering together is highly troubling, since it shows that they know it will take a concentrated effort to thwart God's plan to protect mankind." He looked at Shawn. "Have there been any disturbances? Have you seen or heard anything?"

Shawn shook his head. "No. Nothing."

Laurel glared at Shawn. "Liar. There was one here tonight."

"No, there wasn't. That was just a dream."

Jasmine looked horrified. "Shawn! What is she talking about?"

Shawn took her hand in his. "There wasn't anything here. She's wrong. It was just a bad dream. The same one I've had for a long time." He paused, as if remembering. "No, wait ... it was different this time. It was more than just the Shayateen showing up and saying what he said to me in the woods. It came into my room, and it ... it took Amir."

Jasmine got up, walked to the playpen and picked up the baby. She held him tightly to her chest. "Oh my god, Shawn ... why didn't you say anything?"

He put his face in his hands, clearly exhausted. "I thought ... I don't know what I thought. I mean, the nightmares have been coming more regularly. I figured it was just my mind wanting to end this thing." He looked up at Jasmine. The circles under his eyes looked even darker. "I haven't been taking those pills the doctor gave me, either. They make me feel even more worn out than the nightmares."

Just as Jasmine was about to interject, Laurel jumped in. "Say, it sure is getting a wee bit too dramatic for me in here. What say we take a look around and see if we can figure out if this was just a taunt by a rogue Shayateen, or something slightly meatier, huh?" She walked to Shawn's bedroom door, but before she even touched the doorknob, she gagged. "Gaah, that's rancid! It smells like rotten eggs and charcoal!"

Jasmine walked to stand beside her. "I don't smell anything."

"Me neither," said Shawn. Westhoff shook his head.

Gabriel got up and stood beside Laurel. He breathed in, but then shook his head as well. "You say you smell rotten eggs? Sulfur, and brimstone?"

"Yeah, I do. Seriously, you don't smell that? It's disgusting, like egg salad that went bad. And then like someone lit a barbecue." She leaned in and sniffed Gabriel's lapel. "You, on the other hand, smell a little like ... cookies."

Gabriel looked at Laurel like she was crazy. "Cookies?!"

Laurel struggled to describe what she was smelling. "Yeah ... I mean, no ... I mean ... you've got this, uhm, aroma swirling around you that smells like someone's baking cookies. It's sweet, and warm, and ... maybe a little bit like hot maple syrup. But it's not maple syrup." She threw up her hands in frustration. "Ugh! I can't describe what it's like, because it's not like anything that can be described. But I can tell right away that it's a good thing."

Westhoff put up his hand. "I think I know what she's talking about. She's basically sensing a kind of aura, only instead of creating a visual signature for her mind to comprehend, it's creating an olfactory one."

Laurel rolled her eyes. "Fantastic. Now I can change my name to Lassie." She turned to Gabriel and said, "Wait ... this doesn't make any sense. I have ESP. That's all. I can read people's thoughts, and occasionally I can know things without any human input. I can't read people's auras. In fact, I've spent a lot of my life convinced the damned things don't even exist. So what the hell is going on?"

Gabriel looked perplexed. "I don't know. But it will be interesting to see if you develop any more abilities in the coming days."

She looked questioningly at the angel. "Uhm, Gabe ... I don't know if you recall, but abilities don't just show up overnight. You're either born with them, or they hit you at adolescence. And even then, it's usually a very slow progression. I find it highly unlikely that I could go forty plus years and not notice ever having a second gift."

He smiled and said softly, "How long has it been since you were out of that apartment? Around other people, or around spirit beings?"

Laurel winced. "A while."

Gabriel reached out and touched Laurel's face, gently stroking her cheek. "And what did your children 'smell' like when they were born? The moment that you first held them in your arms, and heard their little voices crying for you?"

Her eyes began to fill with tears, and her voice quavered. "Like ... like cookies."

Gabriel smiled at Laurel. She smiled back at him and wiped away a stray tear that had run down her cheek. She turned her head and noticed that Father Westhoff had joined them in the hallway. Shawn, however, had stayed on the couch.

"Open the door, Laurel," Westhoff said. She reached out and turned the handle.

The room was almost pitch black, even though it was only 5:30 in the afternoon. Shawn had drawn the blinds so he could sleep, and the light-blocking curtains were definitely doing their job. Laurel pointed to the nightstand where Shawn's knife was hidden.

"Over there," she said. "I can feel something."

Gabriel hit the light switch, and they walked into the room. Laurel opened the nightstand's drawer and took out the knife.

"That's the one Father Westhoff gave us, the night this all started," Jasmine said.

Laurel studied the knife as she held it. It was beautiful. The knife had a highly polished steel blade with curved cross-guards, dark brown leather wrapped around the hilt. A black cabochon containing a symbol had been set into it. The symbol was comprised of a Magen David, a cross, and a crescent and star ... the symbols which stood for the three Abrahamic faiths.

"There's something on it."

Jasmine looked. "I don't see anything."

Laurel touched the knife blade, being careful not to cut herself on its sharp edges. "It's not something you can see, but believe me ... it's there."

"Shawn used it against the Shayateen who cursed his family," Gabriel said.

"So it's got Shayateen blood on it?" Laurel asked.

Jasmine looked bewildered. "I didn't think the Jinn could bleed. I mean, they're made of fire, not blood. Right, Gabriel?"

Gabriel's face became serious, his jaw hardening. "They bleed, only humans usually can't see it. It's so hot that it seems to evaporate and disappear before their eyes. But it's still there."

"And where there's blood, there's a way of supernaturally tracking someone ... or something," Laurel finished. She sighed. "Well now I guess I know why I'm here, then."

Gabriel looked at Laurel and said, "I have a funny feeling that by the time this is over, we'll discover that's not the only reason you're here."