Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

time to see Sam throw the man against the side of the building, behind the air conditioning unit that hid them from their hips down. Samael had wedged his forearm up against the man's neck and had the gold dagger up to the stranger's jugular.
    "What are you doing here, Levi?" Sam growled at the man. Brandon slowed his pace and walked closer, enthralled at the situation. It was like a car accident. He had to watch, couldn't look away.
    The stranger had long, greasy brown hair, and was lanky. He was small compared to Sammy, and his eyes looked… dead.
    "Ah, Sam old friend. How's it hangin'?" Instead of looking scared, the man just grinned.
    Samael lifted his arm away from the neck it had been attached to, and used his whole body to thrust it back again, making the man choke. "Answer me! What are you doing here, Levi? Who sent you?"
    "Ah, ah, ah." He practically sang through the rasp in his voice caused by the pressure on his larynx. "You know I can't tell you that. You're not involved anymore, on either side. Too bad. We could have used you, if you hadn't been so damn stubborn." The dude was still smirking, an evil impersonation of a smile, even though his voice sounded… well, strangled.
    "You're following me. In my book, that makes it my business. This is the second time today that I've seen you. The first time I blew off as happenstance. It is not going to happen again!" Samael was pissed. Bran could practically see the smoke coming out of his ears. He pushed the knife more firmly against the man's neck, drawing a little blood. "We are going to have a serious situation here, if you don't start talking."
    The stranger let out a little breathy laugh, but started looking more wary. "You can't kill me, Sam. You know you can't."
    Now Samael grinned. "Really? Take a look at the dagger in my hand, and then say that again."
    The man did as he was told, and his eyes practically popped out of his head. Hands up in the air in a pacifying gesture, he tried once more. "Come on man. You know the rules. You know I'm not supposed to say anything to you anymore."
    When Sam just pushed on the man harder, he closed his eyes and seemed to surrender. "Gadreel." He said in a choked whisper. "Gadreel sent me to watch you. Before you ask, I don't know why. He didn't tell me shit, probably in case something like this happened." He coughed before looking back up at his captor, this time pleading. "I'm just supposed to watch and report back, that's all. I swear, man. I swear."
    The stranger's eyes flicked to Brandon and his face followed, that evil sneer back in place. "You!" He let out a rough, nasty laugh. "Oh, this is rich. Just rich."
    Samael glanced at Bran too, and in that split second of lost concentration, Sam wound up sprawled on the pavement. The movement was too fast to see. When Bran focused back on the stranger, he looked different. He was bigger. Much bigger. His shirt was gone, his body and facial features slightly changed… oh, yeah, and he had wings. Great big, black-as-midnight wings that stretched out, fanning the air and giving the man lift. When he was a few feet off the ground, he grinned at Bran and said, "Your father is coming to get you." Then he was gone.
    Everything started to fade a little; clouds and floaters disrupted his vision, getting whiter and whiter and whiter, until Bran had to sit down. He could hear someone talking to him from very far away, and then nothing.
    CHAPTER 5
    Samael had known that he wouldn't be able to hold Levi once he'd broken his restraint. Given time to change back into demon form, there was nothing to be done. The only reason he was able to trap him in the first place was because he was bigger and stronger in human form, and there had been too many people around for Levi to shift out in the open. Once he'd freed himself, he'd changed and Sam didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of stopping him.
    That he had a Demon Dagger had given him some assistance in the matter. They were deadly to human and demon alike. Blessed by God Himself, the nifty little things worked better than holy water on a vampire. If Sam's grip would have slipped just a bit, gone just a little deeper, the demon would've been no more. However, he hadn't intended to kill… yet. He just wanted to know what was going on. Why was Gadreel having him followed? What the hell had that scum meant by Brandon's father?
    Speaking of the little imp, he was out for the count, head resting on Sam's lap. He'd seen Bran plop down