Samael smiled indulgently. “Calm yourself, little mortal. And Michael- was Joan of Arc not nineteen when she led the French Army to victory? You've chosen women before whose talents and wisdom belie their age. Give me the same freedom- I see something in this mortal. She's spunky, and that's what I like.”
“Those women were born leaders. They were fated to be great,” Michael said, eying me. “Of what use could she be to you?”
“Fated!” Samael scoffed. “There is no destiny for mortals- they choose their own fates. It's easy for us to forget that when we're immortal. And this girl, why, she comes from the great land of America.” He motioned grandly. “There are few I am willing to work with. Scanty candidates that match my style. She has the freedom to be whatever she desires.”
“If you insist, Samael,” Michae
Solomon raised his brows as I trudged into the dining room, bleary-eyed. He was scarfing down an omelet. Bits of cheese clung to his stubble.And he looked at me critically.“Well, Callie,” he snickered, “you take the 'beauty' out of beauty sleep.”“Maybe if you didn't snore like a foghorn, I'd get a bit more rest,” I retorted, wandering into the kitchen to fix myself a bowl of oatmeal. “Did dad already leave? And did he take the comics?”“Yes and yes.”“Darn it.”“And mom?”“Sleeping, obviously. She'd sleep through the Apocalypse. Wish I was an artist, then I could set my own hours...” he yawned, then gazed at me oddly. “What's that on your shoulder, eh, Callie?”Groggy, I glanced down at what I was wearing. The usual sweatpants and baggy t-shirt.
“I need a mortal assistant. The rewards for your service will be great- I can give you anything you desire. Just say the word, Callie. Promise to serve me.”The gravity of the situation hit me full on like an asteroid. I felt the blood drain from my cheeks as I stared out across the thinning countryside, giving way to suburbs. Against my will or not, I'd made a pact with the Devil-“No, I'm not. I'm much worse.”His malicious laughter rang through my head and I groaned, surrendering as reality shattered before me. Eva faded into the background as I watched a dirty milk truck barrel past. I stared grimly at the grinning cow on its side. A deli's neon lights flashed and dayworkers loitered around, hoping against hope for a day job, anything at all.“Yeah, I'm feeling a bit woozy...” I said faintly, noticing Eva's strained face.“
“What, would you like to be demoted to slave? Perhaps concubine?”“No. I want my normal life back, devoid of psychotic evil overlords, thank you very much,” I said, deflecting his hands. I stomped away. “And don't even think about following me.”“Psychotic evil overlord, eh? Hmm, I kind of like that- how about just 'Overlord'?”“Don't you have a job to do? Someone dies every second- go, Fido, fetch the bone!” I said caustically, turning the corner to see Morocco slumped over the gutter, his head skimming the bushes. “Rocco?” I cried out. “You did this to him!”“What? I just put him to sleep so he wouldn't interfere. We have important matters to attend to, you and I.”“I won't just leave him here. I'm driving back to his place And you are. Not. I
“Like your disposition,” I spat. “You already stole my frappacino, and now you're getting after me for not drinking coffee the way you like it?” I asked incredulously. “I don't want it back! Not after your clammy hands touched it.”“Clammy?” His lips curled in irritation.“Just like a corpse.”“Keep insulting me, dear maggot, and you'll be cold as a cadaver. Remember, I'm your boss.”“You coerced me into working for you.”“Quit whining,” Samael said, relaxing on the couch and making himself at home. His nostrils flared. “Holy hell, something smells rank in here. It must be adolescent male.”“Probably all the brimstone you tracked in.”“Eau de Tartarus. But in all seriousness, Callie, I have some questions to ask you. There's been some shady bu
“Fine,” I sighed heavily. “But can't you just, oh, I don't know, snap your fingers and take us somewhere?”His head shot backwards in rip-roaring laughter. “Snap my fingers? Toying with the fabric of reality is exhausting, maggot. There's only so much energy I can expend at a given time. And I prefer to keep mine reserved for less trivial matters.”“So you can't teleport?”“I can 'teleport' all I want, I'm a spiritual being. But you're trillions upon trillions of atoms large and far too heavy to be transported through reality's seams with ease. Which is why we ride.”“You're calling me fat.”“No, I'm calling you material. Now get on, lamb- here's a helmet,” he said, tossing it to me. I strapped it on, muttering darkly as I straddled the bike behind him. His outfit had mysteriously changed to faded
“Bait?” I cried out in indignation. “You're using me as bait?”Samael lazed in his armchair. He grinned lopsidedly. “Amongst other purposes, maggot. I also expect you to do laundry, cook, and make sandwiches- that was my nose, whelp!” he snapped as I hurled a glass at his face. He caught it and set it on the table. “Your treachery knows no bounds. Please learn to take jokes.”“Treachery? You want to use me as monster chow. And I would never feed you.”“But that BLT was delicious...” he said, forlorn. “Fine. I can do without domestic services. What I do need, however, is something underworlders find appetizing: namely, nubile young women-”“-Nubile? Did you really just say that?-”“-like yourself. You're young, harmless, and easily taken ad
I gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles, chest heaving. “Don't scare me like that,” I said hoarsely.“Expect the unexpected, worm. I'm always unexpected.”“Please get out of my car.”He ignored me, fishing my purse from the space between seats and rummaging through it. “Phone- no. Lip gloss- nooo. Ah, here it is,” he crooned, taking out the blue vial. “Now, little mortal, have you tried it yet?”“What? No!-”“-close your eyes,” he ordered, about to poke my eyes out. I shut them reflexively, and he dabbed the liquid onto my lids. “There,” he said, satisfied. I blinked back tears as my vision refocused. The night beyond my car burst into color, everything that had once been darkness was now muted colors, like the world seen through tinted glass. Will-'o-the-w
Something licked my face- something fluffy that purred. I looked up to find Samael offering me a fat alley cat so old, patches of fur had fallen from its skin. Its ears were torn, and its body was riddled with the scars of harsh survival. I took it, surprised, and it mewed, curling up against me.“The cat's the one that's dying?” I said, voice shaking with relief. “I thought you meant a human.”Samael looked at me like I was an idiot. “Yes, Callie, a cat. Do you think I would give you something so traumatizing? It only has a few moments left, poor thing.”I looked down at the pitiable creature, stroking its fur. “I thought you...”“Cats and dogs are never afraid of Death. They can always see it, even when I haven't come for them. That's why dogs bark at nothing and cats stare at empty spaces. No, it's the living t
I surfaced from his memories, finding his head in my lap. He clutched at my back like Jacob's wrestling angel. “You were so- so young.” I said. He hadn't been more than eighteen in his memories. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I stole you. I thought you were mine. It is how I understood things, as toy soldiers and spoils of war. It was not until I saw my brothers die for me that I realized the gravity of what I had done. I thought I was liberating us, that I would challenge our Father and demand our freedom.” “He would not let us step a foot past the Abyss, told us that it was the end. But I hungered for knowledge, and I sought more, made a pact with it. The void showed me what was Beyond, for a price. Now, in a sense, I am it. It drove me mad, or perhaps made me insane. Just like our Father was. He thought Himself the only one. He could not bear to know there were oth
I have loved you since conception, through the banks of time and across the waters of life.When I first saw you, Eve, you were golden. Father shepherded the twins proudly in to the court room, first-formed of humankind, made in the image of God. My brothers and I sang, welcoming you into the world. Adam gazed vacantly up at the Father, empty-headed and waiting to be crowned with His glorious Light. You were created to be his vessel as well, but your eyes stayed closed, refusing to open, and you drew soft, cool breaths, as if waiting for the moon to rise. It was not until I held you that you opened them. I still can not fathom that moment: their blue waters met my depths.My heart stopped, and I refused to part from you. God laughed and said I had the makings of a man in me. I did not know what I felt. I just stared into the question of your lips and waited, knowing in time, we would be.I held you at your christening and lowered y
“You look like a rabbit when you sleep. Your nostrils flare out and you sniff things. Occasionally, you squeak.” The Angel of Death sat next to me, peering at me curiously. I shook in trepidation, draped in his robe at the corner of his bed.I hadn't managed to string a word together for over an hour. He'd hand-fed me toast and counseled me through hell and high water. One moment I raged, the next I wept like a banshee. Now, I was silent, manically pulling down from the pillow case.“I watched you all night, you know. When you cried out, I sang to you, and you drifted back to sleep. What is it, to ride dreams, I wonder? Your little body, so warm. That it could contain such wonders.” He ran his fingers through my hair, braiding it meticulously. He drew a red ribbon from the air and fixed it at the end. Sam slid his arms over my shoulders, resting his h
It was then I remembered my nightmares. What drove me from my bed and sleep. I sunk into the night with him, to the depths of Samael's mind.Long ago, it happened. A reflection in the hourglass, the lip where sand siphons into the void.He gave me the heart from his breast. His ribs grew into the Tree. It throbbed in his hand like a secret. I took it, terrified.“It is yours,” he whispered. Tears softened his stony eyes. “It always has been. Take it. It will set you free.”“But I don’t want it! All I want is to be with you-”“Eve!” he cried, clasping his hands around mine. They trembled, and that scared me more than the gaping wound on his chest. He had never been afraid. “Please. If you do not, you will die.”“But this is our home-”“You do not belong here.” He p
“Different?” he asked, voice strained.I closed my eyes, running my tongue up his thumb, sucking. I nipped the top. He groaned.“Pyrrhic, you said?” I asked ruefully, dragging my lips up his index finger.“You're teasing me.”“Genius. Your turn-ons are weird.”“Damn your feminine wiles.”“You really like damning things, don't you?”He pulled me down into the snow with him, wrapping his wings around us so I might as well have been on a feather bed in a parka.Schubert's quartet peaked. He spooned me against his chest, arms wrapped round me like a mummy. Samael lay like a corpse for a moment, apparently getting in the zone. I grimaced as he stiffened. He laughed roughly at my unease.“That's just wrong,” I informed him.“Angel lust-”“Don
I crept onwards to the mansion, amazed I hadn't been caught. Then I remembered this was probably like a lobster trap. It looked like a house on the outside, but inside was a cage fitted just for me. And it wasn't like Sam- Sauron needed guards. Only Pallor would have been idiot enough to cross him, provided he was bribed by literature.Yards from the mansion, I questioned why I was here. Skeletons held a ball in the attic. The mansion's stone face was mortared with graves. I stood a yard from the entrance, an intimidating sweeping thing with a portico that bested the White House. Devils and fantastical beasts were carved into its wooden pillars. Wolves swallowed the crenelate. It was like a pipe dream from Hell.The door knocker yawned. It was a brass lion. Lionheart. Again.“Ah, a midnight snack. My master must have had surplus-”I whip
I thought I'd woke from a fever dream. I was back in my room alone, with the sun just creeping past the sill. I nearly danced out of bed, praising the morning for saving me.“What the hell kind of dream was that?” I shuddered. One in which I'd been the reincarnation of Eve, marched like a happy idiot into Hell, and, oh yeah, hooked up with the Reaper.“What the...?” A white scar shone on my breast, under the dark lace of my nightgown. I fell to my knees and gagged.“No,” I whispered. My eyes were catacombs. “No way in hell did I do that!”I frantically scanned my room. There was a rose at the head of my bed, stem charred as if it'd been roasted. It sat like a wicked promise.Revulsion seized me and I ran for the bathroom. I hurled til there was nothing but bile.I didn't leave my room for days. I slept until I c
I slept for a very long time.By the time I awoke, he was bones. They were strewn across the bed. The sunlight had eaten everything. I held his skull in my hands. It looked forlornly at me.“Samael?” I whispered.I'm here.He smiled. Just like he always had.Tears stung my eyes. I could barely form thoughts past my panic. I was angry at him. Sad. “What kind of game are you playing?”It will be alright. Just hold me.“Samael. What- What do I do?”Bring my remains to the river. Anoint me with the waters of life.I gathered his bones in the black sheets, now a shroud. I carried his remains like Ezekiel, knowing the marrow hid life. His room was vast, endless. I would call it a tower if it had any humanity in it. Instead, it was a living thing. At its cente
I witnessed his daily torture. Each morning, Samael fell. His shrieks heralded the rising sun. His plea echoed through the centuries: “Don't make me face this alone.” His beloved brother crushed him. Samael bit his heel like a beast. Michael ripped his glory from him: “Burn,” Michael cursed his twin. Stripped of his thorny crown, Samael fell to the howling sea. The blackness crushed him to it. The dark mother swallowed all, trying to erase his abortion from existence. But he held fast to his hideousness, made weapons from his pain. They sprouted from his rage, pinning the abyss to his bones. He roared “I AM.” The first claim of being. The blackness bowed before him. It recognized its master, the Lightbringer whose shadow it sprang from. He moved inside me like the Holy Ghost. “Do you remember how we fell?” Samael took Go