Cathedral. Rubble littered the floor. Most of the great ceiling had fallen down, crushing the pews. Shell impacts had left gaping holes in the walls. Small fires burnt here and there but the battle, it seemed, had gone Gabriel’s way. Between the brigade of angels and Colonel Sumner’s men, the horde of demons and other followers of the Antichrist were routed. Even as he watched, demons were disappearing through their gateways in disarray. Small, isolated battles were still being fought but the demonic army had been defeated. For now.
Then the magnitude of what had happened hit him. The full realisation of who he held in his arms finally dawned on him. Aimi. His love. He turned towards her, basking in the adoration he saw in her face.
Aimi stroked his cheek the way she had many times in the past and he would have wept if he could. She brought his face down to hers and they kissed. Time seemed to stop as he lost himself in her embrace. His arms tightened around her. He’d thought she was lost to him forever and now that he had her back, he would never let her go again.
“Samael,”said a gentle voice nearby. Gabriel. “Samael, you have to release her.”
He wrenched his face away from Aimi’s with an effort and looked up at Gabriel who was now standing at his side.
“What?” he said, confused.
“She doesn’t belong here. She has to come with me.”
He looked at her with disbelief. “What do you mean?”
“She was meant to have been taken in the Rapture. She belongs in Heaven.”
“No,” he cried. “You can’t have her.”
He felt Aimi’s hand caress his cheek again. “Sam? Sam, look at me.” He did and he could see tears welling up in her eyes. “It’s Ok,” she said. “Gabriel’s right. I have to go with her.”
“No,” he cried again, sudden wrath threatening to overtake him. “It’s not fair!”
“I know,” said Aimi sadly, tears streaming down her cheeks. “But I have to.”
Sam hung his head. He knew that what Gabriel and Aimi were telling him was the truth. He was being selfish again. Who was he to deny Aimi the right to ascend to Heaven? Would he really condemn her to a further seven years of Hell on earth? He wanted to, despite this, but in his heart, he knew it was the wrong thing to do.
He felt Aimi’s tiny hand in his. She placed something in his hand.
“We will be together one day,” she said, smiling at him. “I know we will. Stay strong and remember me. I will love you forever.”
Gabriel gently removed Aimi from his grasp. The Archangel gathered Aimi into her arms and together, they took flight. He watched them soar up into the nave and through the gaping hole in the ceiling. Suddenly, they were gone.
He sank down onto his knees in an abyss of misery so deep that a cry of pain slipped through his lips. His heart felt like it was breaking. Just when he had her back, she was taken from him again.
He looked down at his closed fist. Slowly, he opened it. The cross and chain that had once belonged to his mother and that he had given Aimi many years earlier, lay cold against his palm. A small part of his mind registered that it did not burn him as it once did.
“I love you, too,” he told the empty air.
EPILOGUE
3 MONTHS SINCE THE RAPTURE
“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”
The figure trudged along the road, sending tiny drifts of ash fluttering in his wake. He was dressed in jeans and sturdy hiking boots. The hood of his sweatshirt was pulled up, obscuring his features from the early morning light. He wore a backpack with a long sword strapped to it. Another sword was tucked into the belt at his waist.
The road seemed to stretch on for ever, angling towards the east. The figure looked neither to the left or the right as he marched on under the grey sky, his pace unwavering. Time passed. He came to a crossroads. On a large flat rock under a sign post sat a winged female.
“Hello, Gabriel,” said Sam. “Long time no see.”
Gabriel smiled and stood. “Good to see you too, Samael. How are you?”
Sam shrugged. “As well as can be expected,” he sighed.
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. Where the road takes me, I expect.”
“You know this isn’t over, don’t you?”
“Of course,” he replied, nodding his head.
“Satan has sustained a slight set-back, that’s all. The Antichrist will return, and I suspect that when he does, things will get much, much worse.”
Sam expected nothing else. There was still well over six years left before the Tribulation ended. The defeat of the Antichrist had done little to diminish the number of demons who appeared at night. Even L.A, where the demonic forces had suffered their greatest defeat, was still plagued by them.
“I know,” said Sam.
Gabriel tilted her head and looked at him sideways. “Why didn’t you stay?”
“You mean with Colonel Sumner?”he asked. “Because he didn’t need me. Looked like he had things well under control. Besides, I like to work alone.”
It was true; he did like to work alone. More importantly, despite his actions during the battle against the Antichrist, he had done little to allay the fears of the soldiers. They still regarded him with suspicion and he knew that he would never be completely trusted. He stayed only long enough to ensure that his wounds had healed. The other cuts inflicted by his brother’s hell-wrought blade were unusually slow to mend.
“And what about Grace?”
Sam winced with guilt at the memory. After Gabriel had taken Aimi, Sam had finally taken note of what was happening around him. Gabriel had done an excellent job holding off the horde of demons that had appeared within the nave of the Cathedral. Colonel Sumner’s troops had simply finished them off. The victory hadn’t come without cost though. Many of his soldiers had been injured or killed during the attack. Some had just disappeared. Grace was one of them. Sam had searched for hours but it was no use — Grace had gone.
He tried to tell himself that maybe she had become lost or disorientated but he knew that he was just deceiving himself. There was no trace of her back at the cash and carry either. There was only one possible solution. Grace had been taken to Hell. She had been taken to Hell because he had left her behind. He had left her. It was his fault.
“I don’t know,” he confessed. “She must be in Hell but how am I supposed to find her? There are countless millions of souls down there. I thought about just going there, but what then?”
“There might just be a way, you know,” said Gabriel, a tiny smile hovering on her lips.
“How?” demanded Sam. “Tell me. You must tell me.”
“Sorry,”she said, genuinely sounding like she was, “but I can’t. The rules again. You’ll figure it out eventually.”
He put his head down, rubbing his face wearily with one hand. It was never easy. Nothing was ever easy. He felt one of Gabriel’s hands on his shoulder.
“I’m confident you will find a way. Never give up hope, Samael.”
