Samael spent the next hour stalking the perimeter, weaving black spells. He examined the corpse, murmuring darkly to himself while Puck took notes. Strange symbols had been written in nephelim blood on the tree.
“I tracked him far as the West Wind. There was nary a trace of the creepsing angel, Thane of Flies,” the satyr growled, driving his hoof into the ground. He scribbled notes on the page. “Bloody rotten bats! A pox upon the mongrels!”
They plotted the fallen angel's demise while I sipped my tea. My watch read nine P.M.. Samael had assured me my family would take no notice of my disappearance, thanks to his “mind-editing” capabilities. I hoped I didn't return to a house filled with human goo.
Samael approached, smiling crookedly. “How would you like to deliver the death blow, maggot?”
I cocked my brow. “What? You want me to
Rotting organs spewed across the altar as Jakkon roared. He speared his claws into Samael's forearm. He wrenched his head free from Samael's grip, rolling forwards and driving his feet straight into Samael's jaw. Samael cursed. He grabbed Jakkon's wings and snapped them. It was almost ritualistic as they dealt each blow. Trading kicks that would knock a whale dead. Exchanging a slicing punch for a stranglehold that left brains drooling from the nostril.Jakkon tore Samael's guts from his chest. They fell in a pile to the ground and writhed like snakes, then launched themselves at the Watcher. Intestines bound his limbs. Samael bent Jakkon like a toothpick, snapping him in two. But that was not his end. I watched in horror as his flesh rebinded itself, indestructible. Their roars made it clear that, though immortal, they were friends with pain just the same.“Samael,” Jakko
“You're as brutal as him. You dismembered him!” I shuddered. Samael's lip curled at my reaction. “He was an angel, Samael. How far away are you from becoming like Jakkon?”Samael laughed softly. “I don't look in mirrors, mortal.” He reached into his robe, withdrawing the glowing soul. He clutched it between us. “This is what I work for. It is who I am.” He held it close to my ear.Hearing a faint heartbeat, I gasped.“My work is harsh. But it is beautiful.”“She's alive?” I asked. “But how?”“Noor is an archangel's daughter. Immortals, even half-breeds, are incredibly hard to kill. She could be of great use to us.” He knelt beside Noor, then gingerly lifted her head. He propped her body up on the altar, studying the wounds t
Frighteningly enough, Damien's was becoming a second home for me.“The regular?” Signor da Silva asked, winking. He poured me a foaming mug of root beer.“Thanks,” I said, trying to pay him. For the umpteenth time, he refused, smiling indulgently.“Now now, it's costing enough to be in Samael's company. Best keep what change you have.”“Shannon is an expensive girl,” Samael noted, ducking behind the bar. He grabbed the vodka off the shelf and downed it in one gulp.“How is the Reaper holding up?” Damien asked, ignoring the liquor theft.Samael groaned, slumped into a worn chair. “Not rosy. Metatron's on my ass to do tax returns on lost souls. There's a cholera outbreak, again. And, according to my schedule,” he muttered, whipping out a worn agenda, “some idiot is going to set off a bomb at a Ru
She sunk. “Rote reconnaissance. I was patrolling the edge of Dudael, just a routine check. I wasn't to stray beyond the border.” She shivered. Damien draped a woolen blanket around her. She pulled it close, face long. “But I heard a- a rip: like a tear in the Border. As if someone had crossed. Impossible, I thought- I was the only one that far in, past the gates. Even Uriel rarely visits that path. I was on the edge of the root network of spells that binds the lesser watchers. The enchantments there grow thick as trees, so dark they block all light. I was alone.”“And you pursued it?”Her head hung low. “Yes,” she whispered. “I disobeyed Zadkiel's orders. I thought it was just a fluctuation. The network is so weak, and my father is constantly developing repairs. I'd learned his craft, and I thought, w
Some say life is a dance. I've always seen it as one. Figures twirling round each other- electrons around atoms, boys around girls. When I was young, I would twirl endlessly in my swing, until I was drunk off the sensation. Then I'd stumble off my feet and collapse on the ground. Watching as the world spun around me.But I'd never seen the orchestra hidden in the pit. The music we ignored, that lets life go on as it must. I didn't know how painstaking each tune was, touched by a thousand hands. Damien's closed down, open only for business after volunteers returned from graveyard shifts. I could only tell who was inhuman by the bruises under their eyes. It was comforting to know we were so watched over- I'd never imagined before, thinking the world a mostly unfeeling place. We were born into it, and did with it what we could. I never thought there were safety nets woven in, of individuals willing to lay th
“You don't give me much of a choice.” I crossed my arms, cheeks flaring at his attitude. “You invite me to stay, then criticize me for bothering you?”“I did no such thing. I'm merely pointing out your fallacy.” He near-shoved me onto the couch. “Do you think you're safe here, maggot? Do you think life is a petting zoo in which you can frolic at no expense?”“Well, yeah.”“Then I've failed you, worm.” He leaned into me, bent leg driven between my knees. “At no point did I say I am safe.”“Most things aren't: even chocolate. It can give you hypertension-”“Food! All you drone on about is food. Is that all life is to you? Pleasure? But at what cost, Shannon?” he asked, voice wild.“Stop! Whatever you're doing, I hate it!”“Y
Why isn't it called V? Or E?-” He groaned. “I'm never giving you wine again.” I glowered. “You're so mean to me.” “You're irritating.” I sulked in my chair, words slurring: “You're horrible, rude, and a pig. You steal my frappacinos and sandwiches, you ruined my dating life. I wish you went poof,” I threatened. “Poof. And then disappeared.” “No you don't,” he said quietly. “Yes I do.” I sloshed my wine in his direction. “You just can't handle the truth. You hide behind snark and your scythe.” “I do not.” It seemed imperative he agreed with me. “Yes you do! Yes you do yes you do yes you do-” He pressed his palm over my mouth, then snatched my wine glass away. “You've had too much excitement for one night.” I yawned, voice muffled by his hand. “Where's the crab dip...?” My eyelids fluttered. I snuggled
“I mean, you have to wear something under those godawful musty robes...”“Bloomers?” Puck chimed in. Samael somehow half-Nelsoned us both, ignoring my human fragility. He stuffed the bra in Puck's face.“Another word, goat, and it's off with your rump,” Samael said through gritted teeth.“But I come bearing loathsome news!” the muffled satyr lowed.Samael sighed heavily. “Spit it out.”Puck did. “Fie. May carbuncles bloom on your bum!” He wriggled free of Samael's grip. “The Prince holds court in the tavern. Nary a sight's spared the gaze of thy twin.”Samael froze, grip digging in to me. “What?” he growled. “Michael is at Damien's?”“Rosy, Pox-Lord.”“Necrosis and gout,” Samael cursed. Smoke steamed from his ears. Squ