Chapter Eighteen
Midnight Meeting
The following evening, just before eleven forty-five, Angela snuck out of her parents' house and went to meet Solomon.
After calling him, she had asked him to meet her by the library near the baseball field where it was well lit.
She felt bad sneaking out as she had never done this before, not even to sneak out to parties during her high school years.
To be honest, ever since Nigel died, she had had no interest in parties or socialising as she felt too depressed and preferred to spend time at home reading and watching tv.
She had almost missed her senior prom and had to be encouraged by her parents to go saying she would regret it otherwise.
Angela did give in, and she did go to the prom, but she had spent a lot of it just standing in the corner bouncing to the music and drinking punch, hardly even joining in with her classmates.
After five minutes she saw Solomon standing outside the library wearing a grey coat and his kippah.
"Solomon!" Angela called over.
The young man looked over and saw Angela.
"Angie!" he cried "I wondered when you were coming!"
"Sorry." Angela replied, "I had to be extra careful getting out of the house, the floorboards can be creaky!"
"Ditto!" Solomon said as he looked around "I can't believe I agreed to do this!"
"I'm sorry." Angela replied, "But I needed someone with me for this!"
"Well, you told me this was important, and you felt you could trust no-one to do this except me." Solomon said, "You're not up to any trouble, are you?"
"NO!" Angela replied quickly "It's like I said in my call to you, I'm not doing anything illegal, but I've met someone, and they say they can help me, but I needed you with me in case it got difficult."
"Meeting someone at midnight is weird enough!" Solomon replied, "Not to mention suspicious!"
Angela scoffed and walked towards the baseball field.
"Angie!" Solomon demanded "Can you please tell me what's going on?"
Meanwhile, Diablo waited at the baseball field, he was sitting on the highest part of the spectator bleachers and looking down on the well-lit field.
After waking as the night fell, he and his Disciples had agreed that they would lay low for a bit after their last attack, but he, Diablo would go scouting.
The Raven was pleased that his Disciples still didn't suspect anything about his meeting with Angela, and he hoped that he and her could get friendly.
He didn't have to wait long until he saw Angela arrive, but he frowned as he saw the male human with her.
"So, she brought company?" he thought raising an eyebrow "This is unexpected."
He opened his wings and took off into the air.
"Who is this person you're meeting Angela?" Solomon demanded, getting rather agitated "This is scaring me you know!"
"I'm sorry." Angela replied, "I know this is weird, but he did say he could help me!"
"Like how?" Solomon asked, "How can he help you?"
Angela didn't reply but looked around the field then at her phone which said midnight on the spot.
"Where is he?" she asked nervously "Where is he? He said he'd be here!"
"Who?" Solomon asked, "Who for the love of David tell me!"
"Looking for me?"
Angela and Solomon almost jumped out of their skins, and they looked up to see Diablo hovering above them.
"Holy Moses!" Solomon cried and he stepped back before falling backwards.
Angela also gasped and stepped back.
Diablo lowered himself to the ground, dust from the field flying up from the gusts of wind caused by his wings.
Angela blinked, her fearful feelings returning as she saw Diablo, in a way as he was flying above her, he seemed more imitating than when she met him at the Falls.
"Good evening, Angela." Diablo said, "I see you brought company?" he glanced at Solomon who was laying on his back propped up on his elbows staring at Diablo.
"No way…" the young Jewish man was stuttering "You're that Raven they speak about in the news!"
"Bingo!" the raven smirked then looked at Angela and Solomon looked at Angela blinking.
"Oh no way!" he cried "This is the guy you arranged to meet? The Raven!?"
Angela bit her lip.
"Yeah." She spoke in an awkward tone.
"WHAT!?" Solomon shouted, "How long have you known?"
Angela walked over to Solomon and knelt beside him.
"I met him by chance yesterday!" she blurted out "Just as you sent me the video of what happened on the news!"
She then went on to explain about how she had met Diablo in one of the caves at the Falls where she and Nigel used to hang out and how Diablo had been hiding in there and had overheard her speaking about her life and how she felt lost without her brother.
Solomon was silent for a long time as he listened, and he looked at Diablo who nodded in agreement.
"It is true that you hear." He said, "We met by chance, and we do have a lot in common."
Solomon stared at Diablo and pinched the back of his hand a few times as if trying to wake himself up from a dream.
"No way…" he murmured "No way."
"Yes way." Diablo said, "I am who you saw on the news, the very one who punished those evil people."
Solomon stared at the Raven and opened his mouth before closing it again.
"Who…how…what are you?" he asked.
Angela looked between Solomon and Diablo, and she held out her hand to Solomon.
"Maybe we should sit down and talk together?" she suggested.
"A very good suggestion." Diablo agreed "Please, both of you, sit." He gestured to the bleachers and Angela helped a shaky Solomon to his feet and they walked over to the bleachers and sat down.
As he sat down, Solomon began to murmur in Hebrew as he kept his eyes on Diablo.
After Angela and Solomon sat down, Diablo stood before them.
"If you're sitting comfortably, we can get to know each other a little more?"
Angela nodded as she clasped Solomon's hand and in turn, he held onto hers tightly.
"Care to tell me who your friend is Angie?" Diablo asked as he eyed Solomon.
"I shall, once you tell him your story." Angela replied.
Diablo folded his arms and cocked his head on one side.
"So, I should be first to reveal who I am? Well, wish granted." He looked at Solomon, "I'm sure you're curious to know what I am before you know who I am?"
Solomon was still silent in awe and fear, but he nodded.
"Very well then." The Raven said, "I am a Raven, and not a human in costume."
Solomon blinked.
"Yes mate, I am no human, and I am no wild animal, but I am a mutant or rather an andromorphic bird, a raven, not a crow, nor rook, but a raven, like the one Edgar Allen Poe speaks of in his famous Poem…."
"Quoth the Raven…." Solomon spoke almost automatically.
"Nevermore!" Diablo smirked.
"Stop it!" Angela snapped "Look, just get to the point Diablo, I agreed to meet you here to learn more about you, as well as tell you about my life alright?"
Diablo snorted as he looked at Angela.
"Very well, no need to get snappy!" he growled.
He looked back at Solomon.
"Anyway, I am a mutant Raven, but I used to be human, over a year ago, due to such tragic circumstances."
'Like how?" Solomon asked.
"It's a long story." Diablo replied, "A story I have told my Disciples as well as Angela here."
Solomon's eyes widened yet he kept quiet as he listened to Diablo speak of his past, and of Monalisa, her disappearance, finding her again in New York, then his near death against the Shredder in New York then his mutation in Mutopia and how he had decided to leave instead of following their rules.
"…. I felt I had a better purpose in life, I found my calling after I had punished the Hate Preacher of the Straight Truths Church, and I will do the same to any hate cult I come across!" Diablo ended "And not just cults! But any sinners of the worst kind! Neo Nazi's! The Klu Klux Clan! Anyone like them! All who deserve to be punished!"
The Raven cackled and smirked and Solomon stared at him.
"Oh my…oh Moses…" he breathed "I just….no way!"
Angela said nothing but squeezed Solomon's hand more.
"It's true." She murmured.
"You are him!" Solomon gasped.
Diablo nodded.
"Yes, I am the one you saw in those videos, and I was the one who punished the wicked and marked them for hell!"
He opened his wings and held up his talons.
"Those who have done wrong against the innocent, and those them deem unworthy and sinful, they are the sinners, they are evil incarnate, and I will punish them all the way!" he smirked "I am what these people need to rid the world of injustice and hate, I will do the United States of America right, and then after that, the world."
So it appeared that Angela asked Solomon to join her in meeting Diablo, and now the Raven has two humans in his company.
What will go on from here, especially now Solomon has now learnt of Diablo's existance?
Well, tune in to find out!