Sofiel: Partitions 2/2

They finished up, the sun was completely set by the time they got back to the car and by the time they were on the freeway most of the traffic had cleared away. Madeleine almost dozed off in the car and by the time that they dropped her back off at her car and she drove home she was ready to fall asleep on the road.

She had to wonder, was she getting weaker?

Did something happen to her.

Brian followed her back to the hotel and walked her to her room, which was only on the floor right below his. She lingered in the door way of the room as Brian stood holding her around the waist, “I guess that I'll see you in the morning,” he said as he leaned in.

She pressed up onto her toes and they're lips met, but soon he was holding her on the side of the neck. She fought to open her door, but couldn't get the key in right and didn't care. Her hands went up under his chin and her back flattened against the dull monotone door. Something she'd been holding back all day erupted in a torrent.

One of his hands found the back of her thigh and she made a sound that was somewhere between a groan and a moan. Behind her the door shuttered loudly as her head came back into it. She giggled lightly, “Sorry....” she muttered.

Brian began kissing her down the side of the neck and she tilted her head up while trying to find the key again and get the door open. Suddenly there was a sound the elevator arriving and the doors sliding open. In an instant Brian was off her but it was too late.

“What's going on up here?” asked a woman coming off the elevator. Her tone sounded as if she knew exactly what was going on and was offended.

Madeleine spun, rubbing her hair down in her face to try and hide the redness, “Um, so yeah see you in the morning,” she worked the key into the door quickly and then opened it.

Brian gave her a hardy good night and let her door shut as he walked off. The room was dark and she fought to find the light on the wall with only the illumination from the window coming in. Off by the side of the king sized bed she spotted the tall free standing lamp and made her way to it.

The lamp flicked to life with a click and no sooner than she did that, she was pounded in the face. She stumbled backwards in shock. Her footing was a little lost and she caught herself on the bed. Even then she managed to fall to one knee on the green padded hotel carpet.

When she finally looked up her assailant stood over her, the only thing was the girl who had done this looked almost exactly identical to her. Her hair was straight, combed down and jet black. Her lips were a vast contrast from her face, drenched in red lipstick.

“Who the Hell are you?” asked Madeleine getting back to her feet.

“Ugh,” said the woman, “When they told me I had a doppleganger here, I didn't think she would look this...prudish.”

“Doppleganger?” Madeleine was holding her nose, “Who are you?”

“Can't you tell bitch? I'm you,” she said walking down the side of the bed. “Well more or less, I'm like the improved version of you—had it been me outside that door, I'd have fucked that man's brains out...”

Madeleine strafed around to the side, “Wait...like one of those alternate dimension things...”

She shrugged, “Whatever,” she said, “when it comes to being here, I'm more like you're shadow.”

In comparison to Madeleine she was dressed in complete contrast, a tight tank top and a skirt that stopped well above her knees.

“So you stole in here to give me that bunt to the face?” Madeleine asked.

The Shadow shook her head, “Of course not,” she advanced quickly and kicked Madeleine in the stomaching knocking her back, “I came to see how rough the other me likes it...” she flung two knives down but Madeleine dodged getting to her feet.

This time when the Shadow stepped in to kick, Madeleine caught her by the leg and drug her to the ground, “Bitch.”

The clone thought to catch Madeleine off guard with a second kick, but she in the face with the face. Forced to let go, she dropped back and almost slammed into the side of the bed. Her Doppleganger got to her feet before Madeleine could, “Its not like in the movies, is it?”

Madeleine was holding her forehead as she rose, “What?”

“The gallant heroine and the copy duke it out, only to find they match each other move for move...” she said.

“You're insane,” Madeleine responded.

She produced a blade from the side of her skirt, “Maybe so,” she started, “But it appears I might be stuck here—and I'd like to know I'm more than your copy...” the two of them rushed together, Madeleine kicked the knife from her hand up into the air and spun to continue with a more forceful second kick. The copy was caught off balance but still managed to grab Madeleine by the shirt and pull her closer.

It all happened in a flash, the shadow grappled at her neck and turned her around. With a fleeting motion the clone caught the knife from the air. Madeleine was pulled down to the floor, with the clone behind her holding her around the neck with the knife poised.

“If you erase the original does the copy by default because the original?” asked the clone.

Madeleine vanished in a blinding flash of white and feathers; there was a pop sound and then she reappeared on the other side of the room near her suitcase and dug her hand down into the tightly packed clothes. The copy sprung back to her feet, and Madeleine whipped her pistol up and fired.

The sound was muffled by the silencer, the bullet tore through the air narrowly missing the target's neck. It sunk into the base of the wall just underneath of the air conditioner unit. As the copy moved to the side she flung a knife at the gun, knocking it off balance.

In those few seconds of lost concentration the Doppleganger rushed in for the attack. She forced the gun off to the side, “I see you won't go down with out something of a fight.”

Madeleine was an even match for the mysterious copy, her own strength seem equal and not over come. She struggled to hold back thoughts of what was going on until later. In another flash Madeleine moved up behind the clone now, teleporting instantly.

She went to strike out and before she could the clone teleported too. Instinct kicked in and Madeleine ducked down narrowly being missed by the forceful blow from the copy. And before the leg could be recovered, Madeleine, with herself just in range, swept the clone's leg out from under her. The assailant came tumbling to the ground and Madeleine pounced up to pin her.

With the copy plastered to the ground and her weight on her Madeleine drew her arms back, the rock like armor that she could call fourth in an instant encased her arms and she brought her arm down to pound her enemy into the carpet.

As her hit connected she was met with the resistance of the same rock armor covering the clone's face. Madeleine gasped and before she could take any other measure the clone was gone, teleporting out from under her. With a kick to the back of the head Madeleine careened off the dresser and into the wall.

She set up holding her head and quickly got to her feet, “Impossible...you've got the same powers...”

“Exact copy,” the leather clad woman strutted towards her, “we're going to have access to the same exact amount of power...”

“No one is an exact copy—none of this makes sense,” Madeleine searched the room for something, anything she could use.

“Love, we are No One's,” she spoke with her arms folded over her chest, “We're not people like your new boy toy, or even your mother...we're just forms—examples of perfection, not like the distorted trash that's Humanity...” she had stopped just feet away from Madeleine.

“I was right,” Madeleine started, “You might look like me and have my moves—but its clear you're nothing like me.”

“You're right,” said the clone, “I drink, I smoke, I fuck, I couldn't give a rat's ass about 'the human condition' and after I'm done with you I'm not going to squander my time away on this miserable existence you call a life...” the clone darted for her.

Madeleine straightened her hand out behind her like like a blade and encased it in hardened carbon, diamond. Just as the clone reached her she jabbed her diamond arm right through the heart. The sound of bone and flesh being torn into, sliced perfectly by the precious stone was the last sound for several moments.

“How did you...” the Doppleganger rasped. Her fingers grasped Madeleine's arm where it plunged into her chest, “...how did you do that?”

“Because only I know what I can do,” Madeleine said with her arm still jutting out the back of her clone's body. It was obvious she'd hit the fatal mark. She was kneeling with her arm struck out and up, the clone leaning down into the wound with its blood leaking down Madeleine's arm.

Madeleine transported herself and the clone out of the building. When she reappeared she stood at the edge of a murky river with the clone's body out over the edge of the water. The liquid was dark and still below. For hiding this body, something told her the River Walk would suffice.

“Things would have been different...” she gasped, “...in my dimension.” the clone expired as the last words left her lips.

Madeleine knelt on the side of the water and lowered the body down into the water and pushed the body off into the dark muck, “As if...” she rinsed as much of the blood as she could off in the water. She hated to even get the blood on herself at all. But this was business—this was her life.

After she warped herself back to the hotel room, she rushed around and picked up anything that didn't belong. Dropping to a squat and collecting up weapons, the shell casing from the gun and anything else she couldn't let be seen.

These things she deposited in the side pouch of her suitcase where no one would usually care to look. She took the time to wash up, her arm was a mess and she would have to scrub real had to get the blood completely cleaned. She came back out and dried off and then she was on the room phone, “This is Madeleine in number seven forty-five,” she sighed, “I'm going to need you to bring up a bottle of wine.”

The voice on the other end was male, very polite and all around well mannered, “Yes, ma'am, do you have any preference?”

Madeleine thought for a second, “Wait scratch that,” she paused, “bring me up a bottle of Patron Green Label and two small glasses.”

“Yes ma'am, right away.”

The moment she hung up the phone she was on the cell calling Dee, the phone only rang once and Dee answered. Cutting off anything Dee might say, Madeleine spoke, “Someone just came after me.”

“Jeeze Maddie,” Dee said, “I could have had male company over.”

“I'm serious, some kind of clone just attacked me,” Madeleine said.

“Clone of you?” asked Dee.

With a sigh Madeleine said, “Yes, try to keep up.”

“What did she say?”

“She said a bunch of shit about erasing me and then something about another dimension...” Madeleine said.

“War told me once that there were other dimensions to help keep this one in balance—you didn't kill her did you?” asked Dee.

“Yeah, I just dumped the body,” Madeleine said.

“Dammit Madeleine!”

Madeleine took a seat on the corner of the bed, “What is it?”

“If you killed her it might have broken that balance some...it could make you and any other Madeleine in other dimensions just a little bit more ...” Dee was cut off by Madeleine.

“...bad?”

Dee sighed, “If that's what she was, look you need to promise me something.”

“What's that?”

“Just make sure that there were no adverse effects,” Dee said.

“I assure you I'm you're same chipper little Madeleine!” she said.

Dee scoffed, “You saying that kind of shit already worries me.”

“Good by Dee,” she said.

“Bye.”

When the phone was hung up Madeleine decided to cut the television on and try to calm her nerves, it was only about five minutes before there was a knock at the door. Madeleine walked over to the door and opened it to find the waiter standing with a small round tray, the bottle of Patron encased in ice and two glasses upside down on the side of the tray.

She took the tray with a smile, “Thank you so much,” she started, “Sorry for calling so late.”

“It's not a problem ma'am,” he said as he nodded at her and turned away.

Madeleine shut the door behind herself with her foot and placed the tray on the corner of the bed. She decided to change clothes before doing anything more, there was this little night gown she had that she loved to wear, a light brown silk thing that she slept in most of the time. It wasn't something she would have been used to a guy seeing her in though.

A thought crossed her mind that she normally would have dismissed, but something made her stop on it and entertain it. Entertaining turned into thinking and thinking soon turned into action. She moved back to the closet and dug out a pair of little shorts and a t-shirt that she'd packed mainly to wear under other clothes.

She changed in a hurry, brushing her hair and teeth too. She headed out of the room with the tray of Patron in hand and boarded the lift bound for the floor just below hers. The wait going down seemed like it lasted forever. From there it was just one hall over to get to Brian's room. She reached his door and gave a little light rap.

There was no answer at first.

She knocked again “It's me.”

The door opened to a room lit by the cool glow of the television and nothing else. Brian peered out through the crack, “Is everything alright?”

“I couldn't sleep,” Madeleine said as she held the tray in the door, “Wondering if you needed some company.”

Brian's eyes widened as a jolt of realization rippled through his body. Madeleine's shirt not quite reaching the top of her shorts, the way she half leaned in the door. He'd always seen her as beautiful, gorgeous, even unassumingly sexy. But something was different there now. Her little half cocked smile postured beneath her button nose. He'd not seen her like this before, “Are things okay?” he asked, “You seem like somethings up?” he let her into the room.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” the glasses clinked together on the tray as it was placed on his dresser. As he turned to head to the bed, she grasped his collar and guided him back towards her, “Now come here for a second...”

Now she backed into the dresser, her hand out behind her in a clumsy effort to direct the tray away. She slid her butt halfway up onto the wooden surface. The slippers slid from her feet as she let her feet hang just barely scrapping the ground.

She was holding him under the chin as he stepped in closer until he was standing between her legs. He grasped her hands in his, massaging them with his thumbs before forcing them down to her sides. His mouth covered hers hungrily, “Madeleine, I hope you didn't come down here to do anything you're going to regret because you think it'll make me happy.”

Madeleine had to wonder if Dee was right, if maybe the double had some adverse effect on her.

“Who said anything about doing something I'll regret,” her legs tightened and tensed around his body some. “I'm doing exactly what I want to,” her lips were drawn to his in a series of short shivery kisses, “You're not getting any further than...what's it called...second base,” with her body still connected to his, she turned back to open the bottle.

His breath flattened again her the curve of her shoulder as he spoke between each kiss that brought him closer and closer to the nape of her neck, “That's fine...by me...a guy could...get used to...this.”

Just as his lips brushed the curve of her neck, she tilted her head away and reached up caressing the side of her neck. Exploratory fingers etched lines down the small of her back. She remembered just then that something was concealed just below her waist line.

Her hand found its way to where she'd hidden a short flat throwing knife, tucked in the elastic waistband and before his hands could move too far down, she plucked it out and dropped down behind the dresser. Back there it was safe, no one would find it until it didn't matter.

The way her lips parted in an uncontrollable exhale brought her attentions back to him. Finally she could enjoy this, all the while knowing she'd have to hide portions of herself away. This was going to be part of her secret life, the part of her partitioned away from him. Brian didn't need to worry himself with matters of doubles, dopplegangers and Angels.

Sofiel: Partitions 1/2

December never stayed this warm where she came from but it wasn't worth complaining. Despite the change in climate, the overcast drizzly day reminded her too much of her home. The gray sky over the San Antonio Medical Center clashed and contrasted with the intense green of the swaying trees. It reminded her too much of Britain. She lifted her cup from the table and took a sip.

Madeleine pressed back against the mesh backing of the chair. Her chestnut hair was half-heartedly styled in a wind-whipped ponytail with a group of tendrils hanging in her face. She swept it back, only for the wind to blow it back in the way.

Madeleine spent very little time out of town apart from when she was working. Lounging at Starbucks, like this, was a rare commodity. Things had gained new complexity recently. The world seemed torn asunder, the center couldn't hold.

Horns from cars honked down in the street in front of the hospital, all in rows like shiny metal crops. With her eyes half closed she blew out pushing the hair back out of her face. The engine sounds, the aroma of steamed rain spewed up into the air, Madeleine wasn't much of a city girl, but it all fed into this soothing urban rhythm.

Her cellphone broke the cadence, she rolled her eyes and then plucked the phone from her purse and dropped it face up on the table. From the small square outside screen she could tell the call was coming from her apartment phone, obviously it was her roommate, Dee.

She slipped the blue-tooth device over her ear and then answered the phone, “Is everything okay?”

Dee was still recovering from being badly injured only a week and a half ago.

“Yeah,” came the high pitched voice on the other side of the phone. There was the sound of someone exhaling a long breath, as if they were smoking, “I was just calling to see where you were?”

“Over here in...” she looked down at the newly placed key chain ring, “...the Alamo City—that's what this little fucking key thing says.”

Dee snickered, “San Antonio, nice—well if you get the chance run downtown to Sam's Burger Joint and bring me one back.”

“We'll see.”

“Sofiel,” Dee spoke slowly.

There was a moment of silence, Madeleine's lips parted slowly as she searched for the words,“Let's forget you called me that, Azrael,” Madeleine's words dripped with sarcasm.

“I needed to get your attention to tell you something important,” Dee said, her voice slightly garbled over the static of the phone.

“What?”

“What would you think if I stopped...” Dee said.

There was a short burst of confused laughter, “Stopped? Stopped what, what do you mean?”

For a moment Dee was silent on the other end, “I want to stop being the Angel of Death?”

Madeleine's eyes darted around as she searched for an answer in anxiety, “I didn't know you could just stop being the Angel of Death,” her accent was especially apparent now.

“You can stop being anything,” Dee said.

“Stopping is easy, but it'll never get you anywhere, don't you want to learn from your mistakes and try to come back stronger?” Madeleine asked.

With a sigh Dee said, “I'm going to have to let you go, Maddie.”

“Just think about what I said.”

“I'll talk to you later,” that was when Dee hung the phone up. She was notorious for hanging up before the other person could respond, it was just what she did.

Madeleine glared down at her called ended screen, “Bye, Dee.”

She closed her phone and place it back on the table before taking another sip of the coffee. The sound of an approaching ambulance drowned out most of the other traffic and noises in the area. She clasped her hands over the table and waited for her mind to sink back into solace.

Before she could take her mind of anything, the phone rang again, she hissed under her breath, “Damn her, she's just too bored for her own good...keeps bloody calling me.” This time when she looked at the screen on the phone the call wasn't from Dee, it was from Brian. She answered it in a hurry, “Hello.”

“Hey, are you busy right now?” Brian's voice sent a little wave of excitement into her.

“Not really, just over here at a Starbucks in the Medical Center,” Madeleine calmed herself some, “Did your lecture let out early?”

“Yeah,” he responded, “Do you want to meet up somewhere and get some food?”

Madeleine stood up from the table gathering her stuff and glancing around the parking lot, “Um yeah, sure.”

“Alright, where should we go?” he asked.

“I saw some place off to the side of the freeway over near the hotel, I think it was called Olive Patch or something...” Madeleine said.

Brian chuckled, “You mean Olive Garden?” he paused to laugh again, “You've never been?”

“That was it?” she started as she reached the car and opened the door, “is it some kind of popular place?”

“Yeah its very popular and pretty good, you want to try it?” he asked.

“Sure.”

“We'll meet there,” he said, “Oh and I just wanted to thank you for coming along on this trip, I know its kind of quick for this sort of thing.”

“It's not a big deal really...” Madeleine answered, “But um thanks for honoring my request, I know it might have sounded a little strange and whatnot.”

“The separate rooms thing?” Brian said, “You already said this, and I told you it doesn't bother me...it would have just been a lot cheaper the other way...” he added in a joking manner.

She giggled lightly, “Sorry about that.”

“So where exactly was this Olive Garden?” he asked.

“1604 West just before the Mall,” Madeleine said, “I can't believe I remembered that.”

“I know, when we first hung out you couldn't even remember how to get home from where we were,” he quipped.

That's because I can pretty much teleport anywhere I need to go, Madeleine thought to herself. Being an Angel did afford her some advantages in travel as well as in other areas. She couldn't teleport now, she was in the middle of the city. Too many people and too much risk of being found out, plus there was the rental car to worry about.

Madeleine hunched down inside of the open door of the car with her arms stretched out over the top of the car and door. A small tap alerted her to something, she glanced up to see a small dome of water atop the maroon car.

With an upward burst of air from her lips she removed a tendril of hair from in front of her face, “Just like home.”

As she stepped into the car and sat down the rain came down harder. The pitter-patter of rain drops against the metal was something that she found somewhat soothing. The door to the car was closed and only the sound of rain was clear.

Madeleine glanced up to meet her own eyes in the review mirror. A coy smile plastered on her face, for some reason her own glance made her turn red. Suddenly she was nervous at the thought of seeing Brian. Which didn't even make sense, she'd been there with him for more than a day now.

She pulled the car out of the space to thoughts of his broad tan arms wrapped snug around her body, his lips moving down the side of her neck. The dull sound of a car horn cut through her daydream. Behind her a sedan was blocked from moving any further into the lot. With a sigh she pulled back into the space to let the person pass. As she pulled out int the street the deluge increased around her. Water splashed under her car and she turned and drove off down the road.

This was the afternoon's twilight time, there wouldn't be other drivers on the road in high numbers and she would have a pretty much clear shot back down Wurzbach and out to Interstate Ten, from there it was just a matter of miles to her destination.

Most of the drive there it was like the conscious part of her mind operated on auto-pilot. She drove without the radio, but that doesn't mean it was silent. On her mind's stage the events between herself and Brian were acted out in perfect clarity. Something about him puzzled her, he was able to get so close to her so fast. It was as if her defenses just wanted to let him in.

She parked the car around to the back of the restaurant and got out in a hurry, worried that he would already be waiting for her, possibly mad. Deep down she knew that he wouldn't be mad—she always thought that someone was going to react more violently than they ever did. It never failed to be anything but a vast exaggeration.

Her trot through the parking lot turned out to be a wet one, the rain hadn't completely abated. Yet it was just a cold mist falling from the sky and sometimes moving up and whipping with the wind. The drops hit her in the face, even on the eyes but were too small to bother her. She rounded the corner turning her attention to finding him now.

Madeleine spotted Brian standing off to the side of the front door of the restaurant. His tan muscular figure stood out against the lush foliage that decorated the exterior of the eatery. He stood taller than her, but not by much. His body was naturally toned, not like those waxy body builders.

Even then Madeleine had never envisioned herself with this kind of man. He was overtly charming and charismatic, but still well read and intelligent. It might have been a little biased of her, but she still hardly believed that a guy like this wanted to be a Marine Biologist.

He was well dressed, which he always seemed to be. He wore a maroon polo shirt that fit him slightly loosely and it was tucked into his black slacks. At least she wasn't under dressed, she let her hair down in the car and and was wearing her light suede jacket that only reached to about her waist. Below that she wore a white button up with a black vest over it and a velvety black skirt that reached to about her knees.

As she approached him through the misting rain a Cheshire smile spread across his face, “Maddie, Honey, I didn't expect you to be here so fast,” his stout arm was tucked behind his back.

She pointed, “What have you got behind your back there?”

His smile turned into a sheepish grin, “Looks like you caught me,” he produced a cornucopia of assorted flowers.

Her eyes grew wide and she ran up to meet him. Just when she stepped within arms reach he pulled her in closer, the small droplets of rain hung in her hair and made it twinkle slightly. The smile on her face grew as the shock subsided, “You got me flowers!” she tilted her head to one side as he embraced her, “Aww bless.”

With her face in his hands he kissed her, “I love when you say that,” his voice was low and smooth.

Her face warmed with embarrassment, “I...I know it...”

“And you still get so nervous when I kiss you,” Brian said, “its kind of, sexy,” he brushed her hair back.

She stifled a giggle as she pulled off to the side, still situated within his arms, “You Americans are weird.”

They're embrace continued as they moved through the door, “Yeah we might be,” he paused, “But admit that its part of the attraction.”

Madeleine rolled her eyes, “Mm, perhaps.”

Inside of the restaurant they were seated promptly, the gentle sounds Italian music playing soft in the background. The place was empty mostly, down in that crater-like-lull between lunch and dinner. The whole place was styled like a small farm house, with bundles of grapes and other fruits sitting in shutter covered windows and farmhouse pictures hung all around.

Madeleine was actually kind of impressed, she was expecting something far more gaudy. But even having been to small villages in Tuscany, she could see that this place was pretty authentic. The meal progressed without out incident, since they were the only ones there.

The food was actually much to Madeleine's liking, as she enjoyed anything Italian. But more than anything the salad struck her as being especially delicious. With the food was done and the check paid they stayed behind conversing even until some of the dinner crowd started to leak in. Madeleine kept pulling her slender fingers through her bistre locks.

Brian's eyes never wavered from hers. All of the things that passed by them, all of the other women, all of the sounds that filled the place couldn't pull him away from those emerald colored orbs. He reached out grasping her around the pale wrist gently, “You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

“What if I am?” she said shyly.

He chuckled, “You've got this sarcastic self defense mechanism...”

“Mmm, is that what that is?” She was doing it again.

“How do you think you got it?” he asked.

“It might just be something cultural,” she said through a yawn.

Brian started to gather up his things off the table, “Hey you want to get out of here.”

“Um sure, anything else I absolutely have to try?” Madeleine asked.

“Have you ever heard of the River Walk?”

Before it seemed that she had even asked what the River Walk was, they were already there. They'd taken his car and from where they were it just a matter of getting down town to Saint Mary's Street. The up close parking was expensive, but he opted to take it instead of making her walk all the way down there.

They circled back around under the freeway so that they could park the car in the shadow of the convention center. The River Walk was actually sunken down below the city streets in a cement canyon of sorts. The original river that it was built around had been walled off at either end and corralled to fit the city's needs.

On one end the river was peaceful, with wide sidewalks on either side and a bridge ever so often marking where a street ran above. At the other end the end there were businesses everywhere, some of the finest restaurants and tourist attractions in the city. At the river's end was a boisterous mall with all of the normal shops and things found in a mall.

They started near the end where the restaurants had just began and walked along the side of the murky waters, Madeleine on the inside and Brian against the water's edge with his arm thrown around her waist. People swarmed past them and Madeleine had to admit that it was a little more crowded than she would have liked.

Still she turned to him and smiled upwards, “It's so beautiful.”

He kissed her forehead, “I'm glad you like it.”

Her face warmed as her cheeks reddened again, “Indeed,” she quipped. This was becoming a constant symptom of being around him. They moved past the multitude of businesses and different types of shops.

Brian pointed with his free hand over to an ice cream shop wedged between two other eating places, its large sign hung part way out over the water, 'Cold Stone' it read. “Have you ever been there?” he asked.

Madeleine shook her head, “An ice cream parlor?”

With a sly smirk he glanced down at her pale face, “You people have so many ways of expressing things...”

“Oh what did I say now?” she asked.

He chuckled as he led her off towards a small bridge that transversed the river, “It was nothing Mads,” he reassured her.

It must have been too cold for most people to even entertain the idea of getting ice cream because there was no one else inside of the place except for them. They took their time eating and there was far less conversation at this junction. Madeleine hadn't yet admitted to herself that she was beginning to get tired. She hadn't used her powers today so she really couldn't tell why.

But Brian must have noticed her eyelids sinking, “You getting tired?” he asked reaching out to touch the side of her face as she took a spoon full of ice cream into her mouth. She nodded slightly, “Well we can finish up here and head back, we've got three more days here—there's no need to rush and do things.”

Madeleine nodded in agreement, “I've been seeing adverts for this theme park on the television, Fest of Texas I think its called?

“Feista Texas?” Brian asked.

“Whatever, I'm not reading the screen—but I want to try that out tomorrow if we have time,” she said.

Brian nodded, “Then that's just what we'll have to do.”

Juliana Ashley

My character Juliana Ashley as drawn by Akiko!

Angel Augustine Saint John

A Comission of Angel Augustine Saint John drawn by Akiko.

A Book By Its Cover

A mock up book cover I made for my story Heaven Forbid!

To the Heart of the Elitist

I got this off the forum site that I frequent and I have read over it and I think this guy hit the nail right on the head with this statement. It might be about movies but it applied to everything from a media standpoint, movies, music, art, all of it!

"The only way to snipe at things that are critically hailed and publicly adored are to call them "overrated," since such a claim is impossible to refute empirically. Should anyone disagree, one can simply label their tastes inferior and/or uninformed and call it a day. Those who do not enjoy a particular work of pop media often feel compelled to rationalize their dislike. They generally do this by adopting an elitist mentality wherein they consider the populace to be drawn to a certain work for shallow or unjustified reasons, thus not only legitimizing their own opinion but elevating it above the majority in such a way that it cannot be easily refuted. While a person confident in the justification of their opinion would simply say, "I don't enjoy this, but I can understand why others would," or something to that effect, the insecure elitist would say, "people enjoy this because they don't know any better".

Katana VS Gun

I had this argument with another writer back when I was showing him my story and he kept suggesting that I make a character that used a katana and was a skilled swordsman but a Human.

I basically told him that it wouldn't work in the universe I had created because the enemies were demons and too strong for someone to take on with their hands. Even with a weapon, they'd get murdered.

Then today someone on Deviant Art posted a list of quotes they pulled out of a conversation about swords versus guns. The comments are really badly put together and most of them are people proclaiming how easily a modern soldier would be killed by a sword and one person even went on to say how a ninja could take down a tank...

There was even this comment that a katana could cut through seven fifty caliber rounds! Fifty caliber rounds will go through an engine. Not sure if anyone here has seen one, but a fifty caliber round is serious business.

This is yet another example of the over romanticization of swords and katanas, along with rampant fanboy/girlism. Its sad that people think this kind of logic applies in the real world. So what a katana can cut seven bullets in half? Even from a small arm such as a Beretta, you can empty a whole clip in seconds before the sword wielder can get to you.

There is a wide belief that sword beats gun.

Carlin Dead

To tell the truth I never found him funny or respected his opinions on religion or a lot of things...I hadn't even thought about the guy in years.

Ah well here comes the hero worship? I know he's dead and all but I wonder if sometimes we deify the dead too often when they really didn't deserve it. I mean I don't think Carlin's material has been funny for quite sometime and most of the time when it was it was few and far between.

Its one thing to say someone lived too short a life, but when someone older dies who was famous and all, I wonder why everyone thinks they have to be made into this figure of worship for a short amount of time?

It seems very...wrong to me for some reason.

One thing I have to say is that for all his denouncement of God and making fun of religion...only he knows the answer for sure now.

A Tornado...right.

Watching PJ play Sim City...and someone tell me how a Tornado starts a fire in a PILE OF BRUSH.

The Writer

When I was at work one day I mentioned I liked to write and this other guy was talking to me about it. Basically the way that things went we were talking about writing and the like, he kept telling me about the "Great American Novel". How he wanted to write a coming of age story, and something about the "human condition" he went on to be more ambiguous than that. I realized that we couldn't talk about writing right then because he was more or less trying to show off.

Plenty of people who are artists have probably experienced this...you meet someone and you try to talk to them about art or your craft and you realize that they're just fighting to impress you. There is a difference between someone who is really good sharing their achievements and someone who is just trying to show off. He was the latter. He would write at work, urge everyone to read it. I never actually did at first.

One day one of the girls at the desk behind me asked me what I had done the night before. I told her I had been writing and what I had been working on. I went on to say I had finished up this car chase scene I was particularly proud of. Of course he had some comment to make on this, "I used to write stuff like that..." he paused here I am sure for dramatic effect, "...but then I grew up."

He was completely serious, there was no joke there and I had to ask him how that mentality made any kind of sense. I don't know why I entertained the idea of talking about it with him. This guy had shown himself to be pretty ignorant already. Actually he'd shown himself to be pretty immature in his writing too. When I finally read the story I was shocked to see that there was no description, no anything, the grammar was horrid. And more than anything the story was little more than sex talk and ambiguous conversation about people's emotions.

More notable than anything was when he asked me to read this page or so where this hobo told his main character how he makes money by sleeping with rich women. The hobo went on to say that the rich women were "dirty" and liked to say things like "spank me you dirty bum." I don't think I have to tell you that I almost had laugh in his face. It was hard not to. Someone who writes something that ridiculously shitty should castrate them self just out of fear that they could have a kid who might inherit their horrible skill.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?

Sorry about the title, I couldn't resist. But in all truth the FDA has gone too far! I love tomatoes and am willing to take the risk but all of the fast food places around here blacklisted them! This is so unfair! For those of you that don't know, I really love tomatoes and they're one of the things I just have to have on a hamburger when I get one. So it should come as no surprise this upsets me.

A Horrible Human Being

I was going post something silly about movies. But I caught wind of this story and I have to say that its the most heinous thing that I've heard in a while. Its a long read and a horrifying ordeal that this woman went through and not really a read for the squeamish.

The time crept by so slowly and painfully that the 23-year-old Columbia University journalism student had decided it was time to end her life.

Over many torturous hours, she had been repeatedly raped, sodomized and forced to perform oral sex, a prosecutor told a jury on Thursday. The accused, Robert A. Williams, 31, had doused the woman’s face and body with boiling water and bleach, forced her to swallow handfuls of pills and to chase them with beer, sealed her mouth with glue, and bound her wrists and legs with shoelaces, cords and duct tape, said the prosecutor, Ann P. Prunty. And now, Ms. Prunty said, he was asking the woman to gouge out her own eyes with a pair of scissors.

And so the woman, sitting on the floor of her studio apartment in Hamilton Heights and holding a pair of scissors between her knees — the blade pointing toward her face — tried to stop the suffering. She lowered her face to the blade, but turned her head at the last moment, trying to stab herself in the neck instead of her eyes.

The scissors slipped from her grasp, the suicide attempt failed, and the woman suffered several more hours of torture, Ms. Prunty said.

The woman survived the nearly 19-hour ordeal, which ended, Ms. Prunty said, when she used a fire started by Mr. Williams to burn the cords that secured her wrists to a futon.

Mr. Williams went on trial Thursday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, where he faces 71 criminal counts, including attempted murder, rape, arson and assault. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Mr. Williams, who was homeless at the time of his arrest about a week later at the scene of a burglary in Queens, has a lengthy police record dating to his childhood, the authorities have said.

He was charged in a murder as a juvenile, though the outcome of that case is sealed, a law enforcement official said, and he spent eight years in prison for an attempted-murder conviction in 1996.

The prosecution began presenting its case with Ms. Prunty’s vivid, step-by-step account of the attack, which she said began about 10 p.m. on April 13, 2007, and lasted until 4 p.m. the following afternoon. Mr. Williams’s lawyer, Arnold J. Levine, did not make an opening statement. Outside the courtroom, Mr. Levine declined to talk about his strategy. In hearings before the trial, he seemed to indicate that he would challenge witnesses’ identification of his client.

The victim and several witnesses in the six-story apartment building where the woman lived picked out Mr. Williams from lineups, Ms. Prunty said. She said that DNA evidence also linked him to the crime.

Justice Carol Berkman, who is presiding over the trial, found in October that Mr. Williams was mentally fit for trial. After that decision, Mr. Levine said he was considering a mental illness defense.

As Ms. Prunty delivered her opening statement, Mr. Williams sat slouched in his chair, with his head tilted downward.

On the night of the attack, the victim, a month from graduating with a master’s degree, was at Columbia, putting the final touches on her résumé for a job fair the next day, Ms. Prunty said. When she arrived at her apartment building, she got on the elevator and found Mr. Williams inside, Ms. Prunty said. She rode with him to her floor, and could hear him follow her as she navigated the long L-shaped hallway to her apartment.

As the woman entered her apartment, Ms. Prunty said, Mr. Williams asked her if she knew where a Mrs. Evans lived. The woman stopped to answer.

“Her kind moment of hesitation would cost her,” Ms. Prunty said.

Mr. Williams forced his way into the apartment, Ms. Prunty said, put the woman in a chokehold, and slapped her cellphone from her hand. Mr. Williams slammed the door behind him, and “her Friday the 13th nightmare began,” Ms. Prunty said.

Mr. Williams turned a clock by the woman’s bed to the wall and made her take off her watch so she would not know what time it was, Ms. Prunty said. He raped her repeatedly and cut her hair because “he wanted to see her face, her fear and humiliation.”

He made her sit in her bathtub, and that was the first time he told her to gouge her eyes, Ms. Prunty said. He punished her for refusing by boiling water in a kettle and throwing it on her, the prosecutor said. The water jolted her so much that she broke through the bonds on her wrist, Ms. Prunty said, as the skin on her chest, torso and thighs blistered. (On hearing this detail, one of the jurors shook his head and covered his mouth.)

“Just kill me! Just kill me!” the woman pleaded, Ms. Prunty said.

Later, after her failed attempt to kill herself with the scissors, Mr. Williams threw a heavy object at the back of her head, cracking her skull, Ms. Prunty said.

Mr. Williams was intent on damaging her vision because, Ms. Prunty said, “a blind witness could never identify her attacker.”

Mr. Williams eventually slit the woman’s eyelids and face with a butcher knife, Ms. Prunty said, but she did not lose her vision. He fastened her legs and arms to a futon, and she lost consciousness.

When she awoke, she again pleaded for him to kill her, but heard no response. He was gone.

Mr. Williams “only stopped when he could no longer feel the scourge of control over another human being,” Ms. Prunty said.

The woman smelled smoke, Ms. Prunty said, so she wriggled her legs free and pulled the futon away from the wall. She used the fire to free her arms, Ms. Prunty said, and then ran through the smoke to her door. It took her several attempts to open it because her hands were limp and numb, Ms. Prunty said.

The woman ran through her hallway seeking help, Ms. Prunty said, “an image of the walking, living dead.”

This is precisely why I believe so strongly in the Death Penalty...

Strip Clubs

I don't get the appeal behind strip clubs, especially to men who have wives and girlfriends (mostly because its just a good way to get yourself in trouble). Now I've never been to one and don't plan to go really. But its all they talk about at work some of the time. They talk about going to the strip club and eating for lunch and once or twice tried to talk me into going. I told them my basic stance on the whole thing, considering that I hardly drink and I don't want to look at strange women dance around nude; I doubt its the place for me.

I guess I can't knock something that I don't exactly know about. Even though I don't believe in trying everything. I do know, that by law you can't touch the women. If you can't touch them you're buying gas, paying a cover and watching nude women when you could do it from home on the computer of free. You can hardly click a link on the web without having nude women vaulted at you online.

Personally, I don't like the idea of watching strippers in any way shape, or fashion. Even if its a Bachelor party, if it were someone else's I'm not going to attend and if it were my own and someone called a dancer, I'd walk out. I don't have a problem with fun, but its just not fun to me (especially if I'm the one getting married soon after, its just wrong). If other people like that and have fun like that, its all fine and good. But they need to understand its not for everyone and some people have their own reasons for that.

When the conversation first came up at work the whole thing was about how everyone should see a naked woman in person, there is one guy at work who actually hasn't and they pick on him the most. He's kind of socially shy and he's not very experienced with people let alone women. When they asked me about it, I gave no details, told them I had seen girls before and promptly shot down going to the strip club. I told them I don't want to see any girl naked that I'm not in love with, only insert a harsh tone of voice and a couple of choice words. Because of my brash nature and overall demeanor they pretty much left the issue alone with me. But when it comes to the other guy they bother him all the time about it. He has enough trouble talking to the girl across the desk form us and she's fully clothed.

I've always kind of wandered how normal women feel about men they know going to these sorts of things? The girls at work all seem to be sort of weird and all so I don't trust their opinions on much. I mean in my little area of the store alone we have a former nun and a girl who's admitting to paying for sex...so I'm more interested in a normal female perspective. What do you think when your guys to these places?

Mistake

Should I feel inclined to help you when you run head first into you're next set of mistakes. You willfully ignore every warning sign as you dash towards that next great thing. And before long you're crying and asking me how this could happen. You're telling me you don't know how guys use you so much. Maybe you wonder why you have low self esteem.

But I think I know why, its because you let yourself be had so easily in the same manner every time. Its a maneuver off the first page of the player handbook. You ride into his waiting arms afloat upon hollow words only to feel empty yourself and gain nothing besides the whispers behind your back and more tears when its all over. What's more is I'm supposed to listen to this same tale over and over.

"He seemed so trusting," you'll say.

I'll give you a comforting glance and pat you on the back, "There, there."

But that's the problem, I'm expected to sit idly by and pick up the same pieces from the same problem all the while everything I want or like is ignored. So this is it, my last hand in my little game. I'll deal myself out.

The UK Bans Child Porn

Now this is not what it may sound like. Child pornography has been banned for a while in the UK, but only the kind featuring actual children. The United Kingdom has decided that they want to pass a law to ban animated pornography depicting children. What I mean by this is porn of a hand or computer produced nature that features children would be banned and punishable by up to a three year sentence if you are found to have it.

For those who don't know, there is a large group of people on the net who use this kind of porn, either because they just like it or because they know sleeping with real children is not allowed. When the porn is "anime themed" it takes on the name lolicon which I have written about here before.

Now, the question I have here is, was this a good move? Is lolicon and other types of child porn like it being banned a good move? Or do you think since it doesn't actually harm people that its okay that this kind of thing exists?

Not Caring

So I've decided to start carrying a whip...

I went and saw Indiana Jones today and man is it just further proof how much people demonize a movie based on an old thing. The complaints I had about this movie were so few and far between and in the ultimate idea of how I liked the movie, they never really mattered.

But I didn't write this to talk about movies the whole time, not this time anyway. Tonight I was supposed to go out and hang out with this girl, of course she never called and probably won't bother to. I'm getting used to that but honestly I don't know what else to expect.

I can do anything I want and regardless the girl still reacts the same way, they still react by not calling and just flat out ignoring the plans we made. I'm not sure I care anymore.

Potential

"You have so much potential, we all know you could do so much more with your life."

"Yeah I know, but you've got to admire my restraint."

Broken Eggs?

If you were one of the few people who had been viewing these entries from my little old myspace you're not going to anymore. Since adding loads of people from work and other places I have decided to forget putting these there for a while. If they care enough to know my inner thoughts they can come here and find out, right?

Today I was thinking back on the things that I thought were absolute truth a few years ago. I was thinking about the people that I was so sure I would be friends with forever and the bonds I formed over the past few years. I can be quoted earlier on this blog as saying that things move so fast in college. The flow of time isn't the one we saw out in the real world. The world there isn't the real world. Everyone there is going to graduate with honors, marry the perfect person and live happily ever after, right.

Flash forward to having a big helping of life hit you. I look back and I realize all the chances to be happier that I passed up because of others. All of the time I wasted chasing the wrong thing. It seems I need to work on what I want, what I am looking for and this time around take chances and risks to get it. It's true I worry less about those people who don't care about me. I've stopped trying to impress people who could care less about what I am doing and maybe thats just the first step.

I can't settle for things, I can't settle for being an okay writer, or for dating a girl who's good enough, or for not getting the things in life that I need and even a few of the things I want. I'm not saying that you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet, but I am saying that you can't always be the egg getting dumped into the pan.

Don't Call It A Comeback

Well I have been away a while and suffice to say that a lot has happened recently and I can't even go over it all in one post. There was a little bit of time where I pretty much just posted my story in this thing and that's because it was what was going on with me right then. But now I actually have other stuff to say, other things to talk about.

For one if you can't tell, which you can't because to the rest of the world things look the same, my old computer finally died. It had been around since probably 2002 in some form or fashion and it died about a week ago as I was putting the finishing touches on my story. In its wake it left my files pretty much in tact for me to move to this new machine, a sleek and beautiful HP, the first pre-built desktop I have ever owned.

But this change is not without setbacks, I lost many of my favorites, some smaller files and the like to a harddrvie failure so I can not stress this enough when I say you have to back things up. It's just that important.

Alright now, there isn't much else to say about some things. Still having bad luck with dating, and recently the problem has been I get ignored after one date. Not sure what I did to get that, but I have to say once again, because it seems all too common with the girls I deal with, being a coward never looked good on anyone. If you don't want to see a guy again just tell them. Don't wuss out and take the simple way. Being non confrontational isn't what you're doing, you're just wasting the time of that guy. It'd be different if you acted like you hadn't had fun on the date, but in my experience they do.

Other things, I have become some what of a movie pack rat, in the last few weeks I have bought far too many movies and television shows on DVD. Among them Supernatural Season Two, Indiana Jones Trilogy box set, and some old cartoons even. I don't have much time to watch the shows I want so I figure I will just watch some movies and DVDs while I am not doing much.

Well all I have to say is, its good to be back and its good to be able to finally type this up. I didn't HTML kit until today and that's what I put all my entries in. I missed doing this though.

Heaven Forbid: Epilogue

“In this weather and considering how dark it is, it’s a wonder no one hit her,” the tall dark skinned man spoke over the cigarette in his mouth. His lips parted slightly and he exhaled a thin cloud of smoke. He flicked the cigarette off to the side and gathered Madeleine up in his arms. She shuddered as he lifted her.

Her lips parted, pale and bloody now, “Dee…” she said in a barely audible tone.

The rain water ran off his face and dripped onto her as he gazed down and smoothed her dark brown hair away from her face. Her skin was pale white, sticky and sickly. Now he placed the back of his hand against her cheek.

He glanced up from the street, “She’s cold!”

Atop the crushed car only a dozen yards away, Brandon knelt bundling the coat around Dee’s battered body carefully. He could not even bare to look at her in the condition this condition. Blood had run from the corners of her mouth, around her eyes and out of her nose.

He kissed her forehead, “What happened to you?” he asked quietly. She stirred slightly, moaning and letting her head fall off to the side, “Justin,” he called down to the street, “I’m going to need your help to lift her.”

Justin hefted Madeleine towards the black Impala moving through the headlights of the car. He propped her up against the back driver’s side door of the car and covered her with a sheet that had been over the seat, “I’m coming,” he replied as he ran to help.

The two of them lifted her from the compacted top of the car they carefully moved Dee down and into the back of the car. They had to keep her wrapped tight and when they reached the car, they just laid her down with her head across Madeleine’s lap.

Madeleine’s eyes opened but were faint, “Dee…is she…?”

“She’s going to be okay,” Justin said, “You need to rest now.”

She closed her eyes and smoothed back Dee’s hair softly, her movements were broken and slow and finally she stopped moving at all.

The street was a mess outside and it was their luck no one had come out to see the destruction. Hairline cracks veined out through the street with crushed and crumbled rubble here and there where the street had crumpled up.

Off in the distance one of fire hydrants had been demolished some force and it sprayed out into the street. All around, plastered to the ground and to where Dee had been white feathers were stuck. Clinging wet to the surface where they lay.

Brandon glared out down the street, “What happened here?”

“If they survive they’ll be able to tell us,” Justin replied.

Brandon sighed, “They have to survive…”

“I wouldn’t worry about them surviving,” there was a new voice proceeded by a light chuckle. Both Brandon and Justin gazed up to see a blonde man in white suit standing atop Brandon’s old Impala with a cane pressed down into the roof of the car. His fingers were adorned with rings and he smiled sickly smile with his teeth plastered with sulfur and oil. “He missed the vital spots.”

“Lucifer,” Justin backed away from the car going for his gun.

“Don’t bother, my terms here aren’t hostile in the least,” Lucifer said.

“And we should trust you because?” Brandon asked.

“Because you no longer wear that white collar piece around your neck—I think that says enough about the changes you’ve made,” Lucifer said.

Justin’s though process led him to one place, “Did you do this to them,” he brandished his gun.

The light rain water sizzled and steamed as it hit Lucifer’s back, his forked tongue flicked out in a flash, “Why would I do that?” he started, “They were doing me such a great service.”

“What?” asked Brandon.

“Stopping Charon from raising that dreadful beast…” Lucifer walked down the back of the car and off the trunk.

“So this was done by…” Justin waited for him to answer.

“Charon,” Lucifer said, “He even managed to rip out Death’s wings—no doubt she’ll be devastated when she comes to.”

Brandon slammed into him and flinging him back into the car. He grabbed him by the suit, it was so hot that it stung at Brandon’s hands and he could hear his own skin sizzling slightly, “What the fuck did you let him do to her?” Brandon pressed him back, “I should kill you right here.”

“Even if you could, you’d only be helping the enemy—our mutual enemy,” Lucifer smiled, “For once I’m not number one on God’s Most Wanted list,” his blonde hair stuck down to the trunk of the car.

Justin pushed Brandon back, “Lay off a bit, remember he’s powerful.”

As Brandon stepped back Lucifer straightened his suit out, “Thank you, Agent Caynon—I’m shocked to see you so far from the hospital.”

“Brandon called me when he found them like this,” he replied.

“Well don’t worry for them, once the energy from his sword fades they’ll heal in a weeks time, but you’re wife is on her deathbed—or that’s the word in the pit,” Lucifer said.

“Leave her out of this,” Justin said.

“I’m just speculating on which way she’ll go when she kicks the bucket,” Lucifer walked back into the middle of the street his sinister eyes smiling as he talked.

“Don’t listen to him,” Brandon said, “She’s a good person, there’s no doubt where she’s headed.”

Lucifer shrugged, “I can’t say, I’m not God—but it’s a moot point, because if Charon is allowed to get his way in a short time none of us will be left.”

“I think you’re the one in immediate danger, though,” said Justin.

“Hm, I might be, but this war will spill out into your world and it will be the worst destruction you’ve ever witnessed. We’re talking a billion or more killed in less than a day…” Lucifer said.

“So what do you propose we do?” Brandon asked.

“Now you’re listening,” Lucifer said, “I need you to locate someone for me—her name is Annel.”

“How do we find her?” asked Justin.

“Simply put, I don’t have the tools to pull it off,” Lucifer paced around them, “But the Vatican has something in their possession that might be able to.”

“We just go there and borrow that and we’re on our way,” said Justin.

Lucifer nodded, “Exactly, but before I can tell you anything else I need more time…and for you to make this pact with me.”

“A deal with the Devil?” asked Brandon.

“Not really a deal,” Lucifer said, “More like an alliance, its mutually beneficial if Hell doesn’t fall into Charon’s hands.”

“So what does this pact mean?” asked Justin.

“You don’t attack my demons and I stay away from you and yours until this is done,” Lucifer said.

Brandon folded his arms, “Wait a minute,” he started, “We’re not agreeing to anything like that—it would mean we couldn’t protect other people if your demons attacked.”

Lucifer sighed, “Can’t pull one over on you, can I Agent?”

“You sure tried to,” Justin said.

“Alright, then, have it your way,” Lucifer said. “I don’t harm any Humans and neither do my demons…until this whole thing is over.” There was a short silence, “There’s not contracts to sign in blood or anything, there’s just this—a loose alliance to see the downfall of Charon.”

Brandon sighed, “As much as I’d hate to admit it, I’m going to have to go in on this one.”

Justin holstered his gun, “Sad to say it, but this might be the only way for right now.”

None of them could see the future. But each of them knew that deep down inside this war was just beginning for them.

Author's Note: Well its been a good run people and this is the end of the story. I hope every enjoyed it and I might be inclined to post future stories here since I have a lot of work ahead of me. For those who don't know, this story is number four in the series, so there's events that occur in three stories. Again thanks for reading!

Heaven Forbid: Falling Down

Late autumn cold fronts tore through the city of Houston at an alarming speed. The deluge seemed to come down in buckets. The empty midnight streets were reflective wet and aglow with the street lights and traffic signals.

Madeleine padded up and down the street, pacing and soaked to the point her clothes adhered to her skin. The chestnut colored tendrils of her hair clung to the side of her pale cheeks. Her lips void of color from the cold now.

Reclining back on the wall nearby, Dee held a droopy rain soaked cigarette in her mouth. Her hair had curled from the moisture. The maroon dress clung to her pale skin and was slightly illuminated by the lights.

For all that had happened in the past day the duo was finally back in their hometown. Only a few blocks from where they stood was the loft that they called home and all of the places that they loved to eat, the places where they shopped were right around here.

Upon getting back into the city they’d told Brandon to meet up with them—they’d needed to tell him some of the things they’d come across. They more than anything wanted him to know what they faced.

Dee spoke as Madeleine passed close to her, “Time like this Mom always told me to pray—God hears all prayers…”

“Do you think that’s any less true when we can just talk to him face to face?” Madeleine said.

“I never doubt that he loves us,” Dee started, “But he’ll only give us the strength to float on through this, and I don’t know if any amount of strength can prepare us for—everything.”

Madeleine folded her arms across her chest, trying to fight back some of the rain, “It feels like the weight of the world is on our backs and we’re on the eve of something too big for us.”

“I don’t think I ever told you,” Dee started, “When I was in North Carolina a while back I saw the Child.”

“What?” Madeleine froze in her tracks, “Why didn’t you say.”

“I kind of wrote it off as me hallucinating,” Dee paused now, “But if she’s really involved in this—we’re in trouble.”

Madeleine rolled her eyes, “Yeah—trouble with a capital P,” she paused, “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the prophecies.”

“I’d rather forget them,” Dee said. “But one thing is for sure, we need to find this Charon bastard and off him before he gets any more power.”

“It’s going to be best if we just sneak up and do it assassination style,” Madeleine said.

Dee just stared at her, “Sounds a little bit gritty for your tastes…”

Madeleine sighed, “The times dictate such action.”

Down the street there was a slight splash and Dee looked up. Over the sounds of the pouring rain and the running water down the gutter this small sound stood out. Dee stepped off from the wall and glared down the empty road, “Brandon?”

From what she could see there was nothing of interest down the road. The water poured down into the street from off of the curb and there was splashing all around. Naturally she wrote off what she heard as some of that.

Madeleine looked back, “Something the matter?”

Something skirted across the water, just in the corner of Dee’s eye. She whipped her head around to see it and felt someone grab her by the shoulder and shove her back sharply. Dee’s glance shot up and she spotted Madeleine shoving her back as a long metallic flash cut between them.

When finally she stumbled back Dee stared at Madeleine. Only a few feet back with the rain water pouring over her body, dragging the blood out of the shoulder wound she’d received, Madeleine stood clutching her arm.

In between them a sword had been dug into the pavement, rain coursing down its shimmering blade. Gripped tightly around the hilt of the blade was a muscular hand with an arm to match. A man with a long brimmed hat held the sword there, his white blonde hair drenched and hanging around his face.

A devilish smirk spread across the mysterious man’s pale lips. A lightening flicker caught his pale blue eyes as he began to speak, “At last…we meet face to face.”

Madeleine winced, “Why are you doing this?”

“I think you both know,” his voice was soft, almost none threatening, “Dee, we’ve even met before—although you might have been unconscious.”

Dee stepped back a little, “How do you know my name?”

“You really don’t remember,” his tone was nonchalant as ripped his sword from the concrete, “North Carolina—the dragon, any of it?”

Dee’s eyes went wide with shock, “You’re…”

“Charon—but you two have been doing your research on me, haven’t you?”

Madeleine let her shoulder go and checked the wound, the blood still poured down her arm, “You—bastard.”

“Do you think me cruel?” Charon said as he slung the sword back over his shoulder. The shadows seemed to follow him, his face was almost always darkened out. “This isn’t me in cruelness—no—this is me indifferent. Indifferent to those who are below a rising god such as myself.”

In a sudden surge of energy Madeleine rushed, “Even a god can be killed on this plain—as someone once proved!” She twirled a knife out into her hand and came in for the attack.

Before she could even reach him he retaliated with two small throwing knives flung at her, the one nearest her chest was deflected off by the quick moving wall of rock that she summoned up, but the one near her neck was just fast enough to jab into her.

When Madeleine reached him she grabbed him by the neck and kicked her feet up into his chest flipping off him and trying to force him back. Without missing a step Charon kicked Madeleine in the center of her back sending her careening over the ground and rolling into a puddle.

Dee darted in behind throwing a hard punch only to have a it dodged. Charon spun to face her and when she punched again he caught her arm and dragged her in, jabbing out at her with a knife. In a fleeting moment Dee kicked off the wall and broke his grasp only to roll out into the street, her hair matted down with water and trash.

Her purple eyes flashed with fright as he dove for her, sword in hand. She pounced up into the air bringing her wings out to take flight. It was pretty taboo to reveal one’s wings at ground level but she had no choice.

Madeleine was up again slinging the knife from her upper chest and dashing at Charon to catch him off guard. She slammed into him full force tumbling over the flooded streets like a rock over a ponds surface. His hat slide across the water and he and Madeleine grappled and rolled trying to gain control or do anything to get a leg up on the other.

Charon negotiated himself so that she was on her back, underneath him and he stabbed through himself pinning her behind him, “You can’t keep this up, dear Madeleine, you’re already tired.”

She cried out as he twisted the sword, it seared inside of her body cavity and she prayed and begged for it to end. He granted her wish as he yanked the sword free and got to his feet leaving her lying on the ground.

Dee called to her friend, “Hang on!” and sailed downwards with her wings out to rescue Madeleine.

Almost instantly Charon grabbed Madeleine by the end of her hair and swung her up into orbit around his body and then released her directly in trajectory with Dee. Madeleine screamed in horrid pain before he let go and when she smashed into her partner it knocked Madeleine nearly unconscious and sent Dee rocketing back as she fought to steady herself.

Like lightening Charon was upon her back, forcing her down through the rain as she struggled to fly. He knelt into her back, just above her butt with the base of her wings in hand.

“Get off, asshole!” she hollered.

He ignored her cries and tightened his grip around her wing’s base and began to pull. She flailed her arms over her back to no avail as her feathers began to fall away and be beaten down by the rain. She was nearing the level of the building tops, Madeleine lay below in the streets writhing and trying just to move.

Blood poured fresh and warm onto her back, sticky despite the rain. Her voice reverberated like thunder from the buildings as she let out a shrill cry. Charon ripped her wings from her body and drove her down into the street with his weight on her back. The impact demolished a car and smashed her down through the roof of the car. The vehicles alarm sounded as Charon stepped off of her back and strolled around the rubble of the crushed car.

His hair seemed whiter than it did blonde now as it glinted off the street lights. He drew his blade and in a clean motion slide the sword down through Dee’s chest and into the car itself. She rasped and gurgled in pain now. Her face was scarred and marked with blood, bruised from the impact. Charon brought his face down on the side of her head and spoke over the alarm, “This isn’t mercy—I could end you right here, but I find you too amusing.”

Madeleine rasped out, “Get away from her!” she was pressed to the ground with her hands poised below her like she was doing a push-up. “I’ll level this whole city if I have to!”

The ground began to shake violently, cracks started to form in the street, alarms went off and street lights flickered. Charon placed his sword away and stepped down off of the car retrieving his hat despite the quake.

He walked right up on Madeleine and stopped down as he placed his hat back on. Still from this angle she could see his face so well, his wild blue eyes, pasty skin and evil smirk.

With a touch more gentle than she would have thought he could manage, Charon lifted her chin from the ground in his palm, “Until we meet again, sweet Madeleine.” He let her head fall back into the puddle and the quake ceased.

There were no more words to speak to them where they lay bleeding profusely and worked over. He moved off down the street into the hellish deluge, never glancing back, never showing remorse.

Heaven Forbid: The Great Old Ones

To Amandah they’d given a small, yet lavish meeting room from which she was to conduct her talk with Madeleine and Dee. Fitting with the general neo-gothic feel of the house the room was ornately ordained with beautiful etched cement walls. Each section of wall was enclosed with a large arch.

The windows in the room were small and bullet shaped with metal patterns cut through them.

As far as the functional part of the room was concerned there was just an elliptical table made of sturdy oak and polished to a gleaming finish. Seven large, plush leather chairs stood around the table. At the head of the table, sat Amandah with her hands outstretched over the wood.

On the one side of the table Madeleine and Dee sat next to each other, leaning down on their arms. Madeleine riffled through her hair slowly as Amandah began to talk, “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard mention of the Great Old Ones,” there was a look on her face as if she were recalling something long forgotten. Her light blue eyes went up and to the side and she started to speak again, “I would be lying if I told you I remembered it all like it was yesterday.”

“It’s been over two thousand years…” Dee said.

Amandah gave a short forced chuckle, “Damn are you stupid—its been over four billion years.”

“That seems a little impossible,” Madeleine said, “For the first several years this planet was a molten ball of rock and junk.”

With a shake of the head Amandah sighed, “Do you think I always looked like this?”

“Until less than a day ago we had no idea what you even were!” said Dee.

“I’ll give you that one,” Amandah said, “But we Old Ones were immense creatures, we weren’t even created for planetary life. God meant for us to swim through the stars with the cosmos at our backs.”

Madeleine folded her arms, her green eyes staring hard into Amandah’s, “So what happened?”

“Same old story, we believed ourselves to be greater than God and with the great deal of power he’d given us, we resisted Lucifer and Michael’s attempt to warn us,” she paused, “They went on the warpath—I was spared because I hadn’t fought.”

“And that’s it, that’s how it went down?” asked Dee.

“More or less, but the thing is, they were banished here to sleep within the Earth—that mess about sacred objects is the cover story to keep people from searching for the real Old Ones,” said Amandah, “They’re just concealed in different spots around the Earth.”

Madeleine leaned down on the table, “So skip to the part where you tell us about the priest.”

Amandah ruffled her hands through her bistre hair and leaned down over the table some, “Do you think you could give me one of your cigarettes, Dee?”

In a smooth motion Dee plucked the pack from between her breasts and flung it down the table to Amandah. In turn Amandah slapped her hand down on top of the pack, “Don’t take more than one,” Dee’s tone was stern.

Amandah slipped a single cigarette out of the box and then placed it between her lips, “Will you do the honors?” she asked.

With a snap of her fingers Dee had lit the tip of the cigarette and Amandah slid the pack of Lucky Strikes back over to Dee’s waiting hand. “Alright now, are you going to talk.”

Now the cigarette rested between her fingers, Amandah sighed “I’m getting there—but you might want to know what I did for the few billion years I was here alone.”

“Got really bored?” Dee said, “I could really care less.”

A light hearted smirk appeared on Amandah’s face, “Well look who picked up their skirt and found a pair.” There was a short pause, “You could be nicer, I’m not even supposed to be telling you all of this.”

“So I’m guessing that you’re only doing it because you’ve got a bone to pick with God?” asked Madeleine.

“Heh, you think you’ve got me figured out?” asked Amandah, “I don’t have anything against God, he spared me the fate of having to take the long dirt nap and even gave me some pretty important tasks over the years—but I don’t want to get wiped from existence which is what will happen if the other Old Ones come back.”

“I could imagine that they’d be mad to see you walking around free,” said Dee.

“And I want to prolong that is much as possible,” said Amandah as she exhaled her smoke, “The priest was one of the worst of them.”

Madeleine slapped her hand down on the table, “Could you at least give us a name or something to go on?”

“It’s a name you might have heard before,” Amandah said finally.

“We’re going to need some way of doing research on this entity,” Dee said.

Amandah took another puff, “They call him Cthulhu and he was made to sleep in the deepest depths of the Mariana Trench.”

Madeleine froze, “The Cthulhu?” her eyes went wide.

Amandah nodded, “The very same.”

Dee stood up from her chair, “Looks like we need to go down the library and read a shitload of Lovecraft books.”

“Even if they were correct,” said Amandah, “It wouldn’t help you.”

“Is he that powerful?” asked Madeleine.

“No, more than likely the person trying to free him would draw in his power,” Amandah said, “If he can.”

Dee shook her head, “Things get far too complicated.”

“And all we seem is to get left in the dark,” said Madeleine.

Amandah folded her arms, “Well here’s a suggestion, find the person who trying to draw him out of the Earth and stop them.”

After a pause Dee spoke, “We kind of have an idea who it is,” she started, “Someone named Charon.”

The dead pan look on Amandah’s face was proof enough that she’d heard the name, “Oh that’s great,” she started, “Now we’re thoroughly fucked.”

“Reason?” Madeleine’s phone rang out from inside of her pocket, she dipped her hand down and plucked it out.

Amandah pulled her fingers down a tendril of hair, “Let’s just leave it at him being bad news.”

Now Madeleine held her phone open staring down at the screen, “It’s text from Brian.” The phone clicked as she pressed the button to scroll down, “He’s saying that he misses me.”

“You two are really something,” Amandah said.

Dee came close to talking right over her, “Text him back and tell him something.”

Madeleine closed the lid on her phone, turned it to the side and slid the top open to reveal a full keyboard. Without a word she wrapped away at the keys.

Amandah snickered, “You two don’t seem to know what’s coming.”

“What do you mean?” asked Dee.

“There is a huge storm on the horizon and you two are just oblivious,” Amandah shook her head in disbelief.

Madeleine headed for the door, “It doesn’t matter—this is a storm we’ll weather.”

Dee followed her to the door, “Thanks for the information.”

“Where are you going?” Amandah asked.

“Back to Houston,” Dee said.

“Well when this fight gets worse,” said Amandah, “We’re bound to be involved more often.”

Dee and Madeleine stood at the door gazing back inwards, “We’re going to try to finish this fight off as soon as we can,” Madeleine said.

“We might be able to end this war before it gets out of hand,” said Dee.

Amandah stepped down the side of the table with her arms crossed, “Darling…this is already out of hand.”

Heaven Forbid: Alexander

The basement control room of the Council house buzzed with activity as Dee entered with Madeleine following close behind. The room was filled with long white desks lined from end to end with computers. In the very center of the room there was a raised console with a computer atop it.

Almost every one of the work stations had a Vampire at it, working and typing trying to stave off the problem. At the bottom of the narrow staircase a woman in a black turtle neck sweater and jeans stood. Her rich mahogany skin was flawless, without blemish or scar or anything else.

She glared up at them with her dark brown eyes, her full lips flatten in expression before she spoke, “I had heard you were here,” she spoke. Her hair was dark like oil and when she began to movie it swished perfectly back into place after each step.

“Gwen,” Dee smiled, “It’s nice to see you again.”

“We met once before, briefly at that,” she started, “Now Daunte tells me you mentioned me—I don’t like having my name tossed about.” Gwen’s voice had no accent, there were no distinguishing fluctuations in her voice.

“We came to ask for the assistance of someone you have in your service,” Madeleine said, “Please excuse our rudeness.”

Gwen walked closer to them, her hands down at her sides, “The Russian Council house is crippled and you come to ask for our help?”

“We don’t need anyone—except Amandah,” Dee said.

“That’s not going to happen,” Gwen said, “Amandah is one of the best programmers we know—she’s the only thing keeping this virus at bay.”

Dee shook her head, “It’s not a virus,” she started, “It’s a demon.”

Gwen folded her arms, “It does bare a striking resemblance to that, but in all my years I wouldn’t know how one would go about exorcising a mechanical demon.”

All her years, Gwen was by any means old. She was older than just old, she was ancient. She weighed in now at over a thousand years old. She’d been born in a Native American Village and had actually lived to see the birth and growth of America.

Madeleine sighed, “He’s not mechanical, he has form, he can just jump inside of computers and machines.”

The Vampires worked at their computers shouting things over one another, from the sounds of the comments none of them had made any headway with the problem. There was an aura of panic filling the room.

Madeleine looked to Gwen, “Have you ever heard of Alexander?”

“There are lots of Alexanders,” she said.

“Alexander is the name of the super computer in Heaven,” Dee piped up now, “Its actually a computer with a soul—made to hold records more than anything.”

“How does that help us right now?” asked Gwen. Madeleine could tell by the tone used that Gwen had become angry.

“The latest attack that was mounted on Heaven was by something similar to what we have here,” Dee said.

Gwen stood overlooking the room full of Vampires, “How can you be so sure we’re dealing with that same entity?”

Madeleine nodded, “Allow me,” she pulled out a small bottle with a corked top and walked down to one of the computer consoles. She dumped the liquid onto the console and immediately it began to sizzle and pop. Madeleine turned back, “Holy water, I’ve never seen a reaction quite like this.”

Now Gwen’s face reddened, her eyes were wide with anger.

Dee muttered to her, “Um, Madeleine—any kind of water is going to spark like that when you pour it into a computer.”

In a flurry of speed Madeleine rushed back to the computer, flailing her arms in a frantic jazz-hands motion, “Shit,” she hissed, “I’m so sorry.”

Gwen barred her teeth, her fangs were fully visible now, “What is it that the two of you need?”

“Amandah has information that we need and to get her we’re willing to help you with your plight,” Dee said.

“How do you plan to do that?” asked Gwen.

“We need to find a way to apply the normal rules of an exorcism to a computer and forcibly insert them computer,” Dee said.

Madeleine suddenly cut in, “We could have Amandah write a script, something simple that would in effect digitize the rite of exorcism!”

Dee shook her head, “Wouldn’t work,” she paused, “There needs to be more than just words for it to work—there has to be belief.”

“What if we recited part of the ritual ourselves while finding something else we can use that would represent parts of the rite?” Madeleine said.

Gwen thought for a moment, “You said holy water already—well the system is liquid cooled.”

“We could bless the cooling liquid and then press a cross against the some part of the computer while reading the rite,” said Dee.

Madeleine glanced around, “Where is Amandah?”

Gwen jogged a little ways across the floor to where there was a large wall panel pulled off, it had been hard to see from where they entered but the opening was almost covered by lengths of fiber optics and cables. The space was dimly lit.

“The cooling system and the server trays are back there,” Gwen said. Dee started to crawl down into the panel. Gwen grabbed Dee by the shoulder quickly, “Be careful in there, we’ve got petabyte of date stored on those things.”

“When have we ever not been careful?” Dee asked.

“Your idiot friend just poured holy water into one of my computers…” Gwen said.

“Good point,” Dee said, “We’ll be careful this time.”

Dee crawled off into the wall and then Madeleine started behind her pausing to speak again, “I’m sorry again, about the computer.” She paused for an awkward amount of time, “I can pay for it if…”

“Go,” Gwen said.

“I think I will.”

They fought through a virtual wall of wires to get inside. There was only just enough room for them to stand and the ceiling was lightly touching the top of Madeleine’s head when they did that. All around the room’s perimeter wires hung from the walls.

At the end of the room a girl with dark hair laid on her back underneath a control panel with a flashlight in her mouth and digging back into the folds of some wires to get to something. Her face was only visible in her flashlights glow as it bounced off the panel and back into her face. Dee moved forward carefully as to not catch on anything or snag any wires. She stopped a few feet back from the woman, “Amandah,” she spoke softly.

“Can’t you see I’m busy, idiot!” came the muffled reply.

“Looks like you’re making a futile effort there,” said Madeleine.

“No doubt you know what’s going on,” Amandah said, “Well I’m going to attempt to at least save these uncorrupted server trays by pulling them out, my firewall is keeping the thing from getting this far.”

Dee shook her head, “Your firewall is going to fail.”

“Inevitably,” Amandah said, “But it will help me preserve these mounds of data here and have a point from which to work on flushing that thing out of the system.”

“You keep calling it a ‘thing’,” Madeleine said, “What do you think it is?”

“It’s not behaving like a virus—if I had to give it a name I would give it a name I would say its more akin to cancer,” Amandah explained. “It wasn’t introduced from outside of the system—a chunk of the Operating System just mutated and began to corrupt other things.”

“That’s our boy,” Madeleine said.

“But we heard that the source was demonic in origin,” Dee said.

“That was speculation on my part—its not every day that when the system is taken over you get shots people covered in black oil burning in a lake of fire…” Amandah said.

Madeleine folded her arms, “Well it looks like you might be in luck.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Amandah.

“Because we know nothing about computers, but we’ve vanquished a few demons in our day,” Dee said.

Amandah drug herself out from under the panel, “Got a plan?”

“Show me to the cooling tanks,” Madeleine asked.

Amandah jumped to her feet and moved to a small black cylinder again the wall, “This is it, do you need it opened?”

“Yes, please,” Madeleine said.

She pulled hard to turn the valve on the front of the tank, “You can close the system off from the tank here to open it, but it can’t run long with out being circulated or it will overheat.” With the container cut off they lifted the locks around the lid and consequently were able to lift the lid out.

With a small plastic rosary in hand Madeleine crossed herself. Carefully she dipped the rosary down into the coolant “Bless this…coolant stuff, in Jesus name we pray, in nomeni Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, Amen.”

The coolant began to bubble, “Seal it up, Maddie!” Dee shouted.

Amandah and Madeleine fought to get the lid down and locked. The second the last seal was in place Madeleine started to turn the valve back the way it had been. As the coolant flooded back into the system there was a loud rumble followed by sparks from the various control panels and other parts of the computers.

“What the Hell is happening?” asked Amandah.

“Its reacting violently, the way a subject of exorcism does when the demon is extracted,” Dee yelled over the screeching whirl of something in one of the panels. “Say the lines Maddie!”

“I forgot them!” Madeleine screamed back.

Dee shook her head, “Son of a bitch—“ she moved to the center of the room and slipped her jacket off and exposing her bare back and wing tattoo on with small writing below it done neatly, “It’s right here!”

Madeleine ran over scanning the text, “Depart, then, transgressor. Depart, seducer, full of lies and cunning, foe of virtue, persecutor of the innocent. I cast you forth into the outer darkness, where everlasting ruin awaits you and your abettors…” the entire work station ground to a halt the lights were shut off and in a blink everything seemed to kick back on.

“Looks like it worked,” Amandah said.

“How can you tell?” asked Dee.

“We couldn’t get it to shut down before, or even control anything with it,” she explained.

“But this isn’t the whole rite,” Madeleine said, “Why did it work?”

“I paraphrased it,” Dee smiled back at her as she pulled her coat back up, “We’re Angels, we don’t need all of the clutter like Humans.”

Amanda exhaled loudly and dropped her head back as she leaned against the wall, “Well Lucy and Ethel, looks like you two pulled this one out of your ass to save the day…” Outside in the control room people clapping could be heard.

Madeleine nodded, “Maybe for this part, but we’re going to need to ask you about something that happened a long time ago.”

Amandah smiled, “I’m in trouble?”

Dee folded her arms, “Not in the least—we’ve just got questions only you seem to know the answers to.”