It — she, Sam corrected himself for it was clearly female as the curves of her silver- clad armoured body attested — appeared as a strikingly beautiful woman. Long golden hair, somehow radiant even in the sick glow of the moon, flowed down her back. Feathery wings arched above her shoulders, their pale luminescence immune to the moon’s light. Sam was no expert in such things, but she appeared to be around his age. A long slim sword, fire licking from its blade, was clutched in one of her delicate hands.
“Hello, Samael,” she said, her voice like rustling silk. Sam was speechless. How did such a creature even know his name? He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. What to say? He had never been good at talking to girls — apart from Aimi of course — and now was no different. His tongue felt swollen. He managed to swallow and finally found his voice.
“The family …?” he said.
“Are gone,” replied the Angel, for surely that was what she was. An angel sent from heaven. “Taken by the Lemure. Even as we speak, they are being prepared for their journey to hell. You cannot help them now.”
“But surely we have to try?” he managed to croak. His heart was beginning to calm from its mad, adrenaline- filled rush, and his thoughts were clearing. “Together, the two of us could overpower the Lemure and the remaining Astaroth.”
The Angel smiled gently at him and shook her head as she sheathed the flaming sword into an ornate scabbard at her waist. “No, Samael. They are gone. In any case, they did not deserve the salvation you offered. But come, I’m here to aid you on the journey which now you must make. Follow me.”
Confident that Sam was following, she strode off towards the west and the looming Rockies. Sam remained motionless, torn between heading back towards Jacob’s Ladder and hastening after this angelic figure.
The Angel paused and looked over her shoulder, her wings folding obediently to one side so that Sam could clearly see her face. “You coming?”
With a backward glance towards his home town, Sam moved reluctantly to her side. She nodded as if expecting no less and resumed walking at a brisk pace. He noticed that she was as tall as him.
He was still not sure what to say. Conversation had never been his strong point, but he did remember his manners. “What’s your name?” he asked.
She smiled at him again. “I’ve been called by many names by many people. The name I possess now, and which I am most comfortable is probably one that is familiar to you. For the last few thousands of years, mankind has called me Gabriel.”
Gabriel. God’s messenger. One of his trusted and most powerful Angels.
Sam nodded. Nothing lately had made any sense so why should this be any different?
Sam followed Gabriel west towards the Rockies, pausing just once for one backward glance at his home town, obscured by darkness. The town that had been his whole life. The town he had never once left.
Something told him that he would never see it again.
4
9 YEARS EARLIER
“Behold, the day of the LORD comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy its sinners from it.”
It was mid winter, below freezing, the wind blowing in off the Rockies cold enough to freeze an unprotected human to death in minutes. Snow covered the red rock like a layer of frosting, providing uncertain footing for anyone foolish enough to be out in it.
Sam didn’t notice. He ran with his shirt off, heart pounding as he ate up the miles. The cold didn’t seem to affect him as it did others. He felt the chill and the icy bite of the wind but only like a human would notice a mosquito bite — slightly annoying but essentially harmless. Much like his cap. Hikari made sure he wore it. His master wasn’t stupid. He knew Sam liked to run with his sweatshirt off and so made sure the boy at least wore his cap. Sam fought a constant battle with it. Annoyingly, it wanted to fly off his head with the slightest breeze.
It got dark early in winter. He liked this time of year — he could begin his evening regime earlier and there were far less people around. The solitude appealed to him as much as the cold terrain. Hikari had only just started letting him venture further out at nights and he welcomed the new found freedom.
He ran on. Devil’s Garden was just ahead. He passed underneath Pine Tree Arch, his moon-shadow racing ahead of him and disappearing just before he entered the welcome darkness beneath it. He followed the path, his pace steady, easily avoiding any uneven patches, his
He leapt from rock to rock, his nine year old body displaying an agility and strength both surprising and unnatural in one so young. He crossed over another arch and then down into a rocky gully. This training area — one of many — was one of his favourites. He and Hikari had just finished it a few nights earlier and already, he’d used it more than any of the others. It was a simple enough affair: a series of bamboo poles buried in the ground at different levels designed to simulate a variety of attack angles. He liked it because of the privacy afforded by the gully, but also because the walls enabled him to leap off at adrenaline-pumping heights.
He was almost there when suddenly he froze. A sound. Something wasn’t right. He listened carefully, cocking an ear like a dog. Voices carried aloft on the wind. Young voices. Boys in all likelihood. He dropped into stealth mode as Hikari had taught him, inching his way along one step at a time, choosing his footing carefully and letting his weight settle before he moved again.
There was a rocky out-crop ahead of him, partially illuminated by moonlight but mostly in deep shadow. He crept towards it, silent as death. Beyond it, the voices were louder. The boys had found his training ground. He crouched in the shadow of the outcropping and listened, feeling the sweat starting to cool on his naked torso. By the sounds of them, there were three. He didn’t recognise the voices but that was hardly surprising — he had very little contact with any of the other boys in Jacob’s Ladder.
Judging from the tone of their voices, they were young. Probably his age or slightly older. He had become very adept at assessing such things. Whenever he got the chance, he watched humans, fascinated by everything about them, following their movements, listening to them. Apart from Hikari and Aimi, it was all the human interaction he normally got.
The boys were talking, moving about his training ground as they did so. He heard their sneakers crunch on the snow. It was unusual for boys this young to be out as late as this — especially in winter. The terrain around Jacob’s Ladder was unforgiving at this time of year and more so in Devil’s Garden. One slip in the snowy conditions could lead to serious injury or even death.
The cold was potentially deadly, too. The temperature was dropping rapidly. Visibility was poor, the moon a poor substitute for daylight. Conceivably, the boys could be lost. Even if they weren’t, it was still an hour’s walk back to town.
Sam considered these factors and then adjusted his cap, ready to step out and offer to guide the boys back to the path at the very least. And then he stopped. Something in the boy’s conversation had finally registered. His name.
“Who?” one of the boys was saying.
“You know, Sam — the kid that lives with Aimi and her father,” said a second voice.
“Oh, him,” said the third, snorting. “He’s a retard.”
