St. Roses, New York City, 14 February 1992 AD.

Valentine's Day. The small Catholic church in the Village was musty, snow and ice falling from damp wool, and candles burning. Louis stood before the altar rail smiling to himself, he thought it hilarious two vampires were marrying in a church, what a mock to the sacrament.

In a small room at the back of the church, full of dusty books, Blade stood before a mirror. Her mother was outside the door, asking to come in. Blade was wearing white, and crying, Niki stood before her, feeling kind toward her brother's bride and catching up the blood-tears on a bright red handkerchief. "OK, Mom, OK, I'm almost ready," Blade said.

From the shadows at the back of the church the groom and best man emerged. "I don't look normal enough do I?" Robert asked. The hair was wild as usual, his jacket was black velvet, and the white shirt underneath had ruffles on both collar and sleeves, he wore a tie of black satin in a neat bow, his ears and fingers were covered in gold jewelry, he had a white rose pinned to one satin lapel, the pants were tuxedo pants, but he wore Doc Martin's under them.

"You look like a rock star," Steven smiled, looking very normal in a conservative black tuxedo. "No one really expects you to look normal. Do any famous models ever marry guys who look normal? No, they all look like rock stars and dress like princes."

Robert smiled at Steven as they went down the side aisle to the front of the church. It was Blade's mother who had used guilt to force her daughter into getting married here. Blade had refused to make it a mass. Her father was insulted, the tall blond sitting very still in the left front pew. He was reading a missal.

At the back of the church a slight woman with short blonde curls held a hand to her brow as a 21 year old boy in stark immaculate black wool opened the bottle of Tylenol for her. "Here, Mom," he said and offered two pills in his hand.

"I'm OK, go sit with your father," but she snatched the bottle from his other hand.

"Can't I just wait here a while?"

She gave him a mother's look and the boy walked down the aisle, looking from side to side slowly as he did. All his assorted relatives were on the left. He waved to his cousin Randy and passed a pew full of very old women as they hissed secrets about him to each other.

Robert joined Louis before the rail. His son, the boy in ruffles and tails, posing now officially as his brother whispered to him. "That's him?" He asked.

Robert looked up the aisle, a tall figure in neat black suit and wrinkleless white shirt moved down the aisle. "Julien? Has to be."

"Looks like he should be the model," Louis said.

Robert shrugged. He walked away to see how Min was doing. She was feeling weak and sick, and all the Humans were convinced this was the ordinary happy cry of all wedding guests.

But Louis stayed and watched the young man who walked down the aisle, his shoes were black patent leather, and as he walked closer it was obvious the laces were of ribbon. There was a small gold cross hanging from a slender chain, but no tie. His eyes moved over Louis' figure for an instant but then he looked down and bent to sit in the front pew.

This father and son looked awkward together, both handsome figures, but it was obvious they didn't love each other. "Did you have to wear that suit?" The father asked quietly.

"Yes."

"You look like you're dressed for a funeral."

"Being lain out in a coffin sounds nice about now," said his son. "I wish I hadn't quit smoking."

Father and son both knew neither would risk making a scene here in the church; it was why they chosen that time to insult each other. "We're in church," he whispered.

"Think now that she's getting married, and Mom made us all come here, I could visit her sometime?"

"Not when you're living at my house."

"Oh Kay."

Mandy entered the church with John on his arm. The thin woman looked up just as they passed her. John halted. "Madison," he said.

She looked at him, trying to remember the face.

"This is Blade's mother," John said. "You remember me? John? Blade's not going to be living with me anymore?"

"Oh, hello, John, it's...nice to see you again."

"This is my friend Armand," John said.

Mandy coughed.

"Sorry, I should have said Mandy. He likes to be called Mandy."

Mandy extended a hand to Madison, "Ever so nice to meet you, Madison."

And Madison shook Mandy's hand.

He took out a card and put it in Madison's hand. "You really should come by the gallery some time," he said.

A small import car pulled up in front of the church and a brunette in a royal blue taffeta dress leapt from the car and bounded up the steps on matched three-inch heels. She stood patting her hair at the door of the church as a man ran up the steps behind her. "Keri," your corsage," he panted.

She smiled sweetly, for just a split second, then snatched up the small corsage of roses and stomped into the church. "Where is she?" She asked. A door opened to her right and the bride stepped out, rather immaculate looking in the tight fitted strapless white lace dress.

"Here," Blade said.

Keri sniffled. "You're really wearing white, Sweetie?"

Blade rolled back her shoulders. "'Bout time you got here, Keri, I don't suppose you've met my mother?"

Madison looked about to collapse.

"Dave, take this woman to her seat," Keri said.

An altar boy with a cross dangling from his ear tugged at Blade's wrist. "Are you ready?"

Blade looked up and saw her father glaring at her. "Sure, Dear, ready as I'll ever be."

Everyone in their places, the music started, Keri preceded Blade walking down the aisle. Heads turned over their shoulders. Mandy and John didn't look backward, they were looking at Julien, Mandy was whispering in John's ear.

"Looks just like her, huh?" John murmured.

"Her beauty pales next to his...ah, really, so what if his eyes aren't violet, he's a beautiful boy."

John sighed, familiar with Mandy's particular delusions. "He's got a girlfriend, I gather," he said.

A woman hissed in front of them. And in the pew just behind someone chanted softly: "Two, four, six, eight, how do you know your kids are straight?"

John turned around then and saw Dave sitting behind in a department store suit of something gray matched with a pink shirt and rose tie.

"I want you back," Dave whispered.

"Get on your knees and say it," John laughed. He looked at his audience: Mandy. Mandy was smiling.

Dave bent forward to the kneeler. "I want you back."

"You just want to move into Blade's old room."

A woman in the pew in front of John turned and said, "Be quiet, I can't hear what they're saying."

John looked up to the front of the church. Robert and Blade were standing before the priest, Keri, Steven and several altar boys. He glanced, half over his shoulder, at Dave who still knelt behind him. "We'll talk, later."

Several people came into the pew whispering apologies. It was Valentine who sat down next to Mandy. "How late are we?" He asked.

"Who cares," Mandy said. But then he leaned forward and spoke to the man beside Valentine with the buzzed brown hair, and goatee, "Caesar, c'mere, look at the blond in the front row."

Caesar climbed over Valentine and sat at Mandy's side, "Which one?"

"Which one strikes you?"

"The boy in black? Hmmn, he'd look good in a painting, an Apollo maybe?"

"An Angel, definitely Archangel material."

"No, no, an odalisque!"

John slapped Mandy in the stomach with the back of his hand, "Shut up!"

The woman in front of them shifted in her seat.

John hid his face against Mandy's shoulder.

Blade shifted her weight from foot to foot every minute. She couldn't concentrate on anything that was said to her, found it hard to repeat the words the priest was saying. She looked at Robert. He looked so calm. It was probably easy for him, he'd never been Catholic. Blade was nervous standing just before the altar. And the crucifix wasn't one of those one's you saw in school auditoriums that was either small or showed a resurrected Christ walking right off the cross, it was rather gruesome, made of some material that had been painted so that the sweat and blood was plainly visible, the nearly androgynous body sexed only by the beard. It made her fidgety.

Robert wished she would just calm down. He wondered why Blade had even bothered with the church wedding. He kept hearing bursts of hissing or laughter from the place they sat. Keri looked like she was coming into a low, and Blade's father looked about to explode. He kept staring over at Robert with looks of disgust, thinking of all the stuff he'd read in the tabloids about this man and his daughter, not to mention what he'd read about this man and Steven Jewel: the best man!

Blade's mother was weeping, and her son put an arm around her, at once compassionate and utterly disgusted. He looked sublimely bored.

Finally the rings were exchanged, the last vows taken. And no one had stood to object the wedding. (Robert had half-expected Angels to appear and point fingers at them.) Blade and Robert kissed. He could feel her trembling.

Organ music picked up. They hurried up the aisle hand in hand, forcing themselves to smile as photos were snapped. They stepped out into the gray glare of noon in winter. A silver limo was parked just in front, drab looking in the uneasy sunlight. Photographers trapped them, birdseed showered over them. Louis slipped sunglasses into each their hands and they put them on. Robert saw him move down the steps, holding Troy by the short harness handle as if this were a seeing-eye dog.

"You haven't thrown the bouquet!" Keri screamed.

Without fanfare Blade turned and very lazily lobbed the bouquet of flowers over her head. The roses sailed through the air and they would have hit her brother in the head if he had not turned and neatly snatched them. Only after the fact did he realize what he'd caught. His mother fainted on the spot. Several relations moved to lift her up. Blade's father stared up the steps at her. Blade smiled weakly.

Robert thought he could hear Mandy singing something to himself somewhere behind, or Dave, they had the same register to their voices. Faye passed by and gave Robert a kiss on one cheek. She led Min down the steps.

"Get me out of here!" Blade said.

"No reception," Robert said, "they're all going to want to talk to you."

Blade put on a Barbie Doll smile and walked down the steps. Her brother kissed her aside the mouth, just waved and smiled at her new husband. Several other relatives congratulated her, and several people neither knew congratulated them. "No," said Blade, "we're just going back to my house and packing for our trip."

Blade's mother had been revived and came after her, crying, "Baby, Baby, Oh, I'm happy for you, Dear."

Blade kissed her mother on the brow. "Goodbye, Mother," she said.

They got into the Iimo.

And they didn't notice anything was wrong until he driver turned around and Robert saw the violet eyes.

b b b

Louis sensed that something was wrong. He ran back to the steps and grabbed Steven's arm. Steven shied from his touch, but Robert wasn't there to guard him, and Louis was too strong to fight. Psyche had been at the wedding and was standing nearby. Louis only had to snap and she disappeared, knowing what he wanted of her. Julien had watched as she disappeared, but when he saw it, he told himself it hadn't happened. Louis noticed this. Oh, he'll be easy to trick, he thought.

"You're hurting me," Steven hissed as Louis dragged him across the street. Troy was at Steven's heel and when Steven said this he snapped at Louis.

"I'm not going to hurt him," Louis told the wolf. He aimed the key chain at Faye's Porsche and it chirped at him. "Get in," he said and then hopped over the door into the driver's seat.

Steven ran around and opened the other door. Troy climbed into the back and Steven sat in the seat next to Louis. The car was already moving away from the curb.

"Look, Steven," Louis said, "I know what you said to him-that being afraid of me stuff-and I wouldn't care either way, only something's wrong and I may need you. You and John are the only ones who know about us."

"What are you talking about?" Steven asked. The black convertible was weaving through city traffic.

"We have to find the damn limo, fast!"

b b b

Inside the limo time seemed to slow. Blade struggled to free her legs from the restricting dress as Robert was crouched upon the back seat beating at the rear window. Both were afraid, though Blade wasn't sure why, she had never laid eyes on Lucifer before.

He was dressed like a limo driver only the otherwise traditional suit was red. The Movie of Your Life: the Big Car Chase, tires squeal around corners as another camera tracks your every move in ultra slow motion.

They didn't really think inside the limo, they just felt that they had to get out. Robert managed to break the rear window, though he'd crushed his right hand in the process. But it seemed pointless then: the car moved much too fast for anyone to be able to just jump from it, not without smashing their bones on the pavement, and even as Vampyres that would slow any escape. But then Blade saw the Porsche. She crawled out the broken window.

b b b

Louis had managed to find the limo. He tailed it, hoping there was a way to get Robert and Blade out of it. It was only just occurring to him that Lucifer had threatened this long ago, that he really should have considered this possible outcome. But he'd been too blinded by jealousy to see his father could really love Blade.

"Glove compartment!" He barked at Steven. He saw Steven open it and reach inside, then stare down at the gun in his hands. "Know how to use it?" Louis asked.

Steven shook his head, "Never touch the things."

Louis grabbed the gun, cocked it as he drove. "There," he said, "see that? Now you figure out how to use it, cause I know you don't drive."

"What do I do?"

"Shoot out the fucking tires, Steven!"

Steven stood up and braced himself against the windscreen. He didn't want to hit Blade. He aimed low and fired, a bullet ricocheted off the street and hit the front of the Porsche as it sped forward. "Fuck," said Steven.

Louis laughed.

Blade shouted at them, "Aim higher!"

Steven squinted, held the gun steady in both hands and pulled the trigger again. The right tire popped and the limo swerved suddenly. Robert was halfway out the back window and Blade was caught, unable to move as Lucifer had her leg in hand. She screamed.

Psyche was suddenly in the back of the car. "Absidus went for help," she said.

"Wanna drive, Sweetie?" Louis asked.

"A car?" Psyche asked.

Troy whined.

"My feeling's exactly, Troy," Steven called. He aimed but hit only the limo's bumper. "How many bullets?" His voice grew shrill as he saw Louis abandon the wheel and climb onto the hood.

"Five more, unless Faye has been using it," Louis said. Psyche took the wheel.

Just then the sun shone through the clouds. "Whose side is he on anyway?" Psyche asked.

Steven looked up curiously. "Was the wind that blew the clouds away," he said.

"I never liked Zephyr," Psyche said.

Robert jumped to the hood of the Porsche and then climbed inside. He collapsed, holding his hand just as Louis was flying forward toward the Limo. Robert could neither drive nor shoot with his hand busted and so he remained where he was.

Steven shot out the left rear tire just as Blade was pulled back into the Limo.

Inside the limo Louis struggled with Lucifer, throwing up every shield he had that would keep the Satan from burning him as he attempted to give Blade a chance to break free. Together they sent Lucifer's head into the windshield. It didn't really hurt him, but it broke the front window and distracted Lucifer so that his power over the car was broken.

Blade climbed out onto the hood, and then up onto the roof. But the sun weakened her. The car swerved again beneath her as Louis fought to control the car. Lucifer pushed Louis into the back seat and reached then out the broken front window and grabbed Blade. Louis climbed out the back, and it seemed for an instant he'd be able to free Blade and jump back to his own car with her, but the limo hit a pothole and unanchored Louis fell from the back of the car.

Carried by its momentum the Porsche was unstoppable, hit Louis then drove right over him. Robert groaned as it did. Psyche left the wheel without a word and waded into the back seat looking for Louis like a fisherman groping for fish in a river. Steven dropped the gun and grabbed the wheel. He stepped hard on one pedal then the other searching for the brake.

"He's not behind us!" Screamed Psyche.

"No, he's under the car," Robert moaned.

And then something like claws scraped against the back of the car looking for a hold. Psyche pulled Louis up into the car, broken and torn Louis sank down into the back seat. "We'll never make it, follow them," he said, the voice raw and ugly.

"No, I can't leave you."

"Go! You're the only one of us who can follow them on your own."

Troy leapt from the rear of the car and stood astride the two front seats. He pulled at Steven's right sleeve. "Turn right," Robert translated.

"I can't drive!"

"Figure it out..." groaned Louis.

Robert turned toward the back. "Lou?"

"I feel like shit!" Louis said weakly.

Troy was barking.

Robert turned back to Steven then, put his left hand on the stick. "Clutch," he said.

Steven found it on the second try.

"You're hopeless," Robert said.

Troy's eyes watched the road for them. He made a bark then pushed at Steven's right arm.

"What, the next left?" Steven asked.

b b b

Steven managed to get them to the house they owned above the Necropolis. He pulled the car into the narrow drive, into the garage behind the house and next to Louis' jade green Miata without scratching it. In the dark garage Louis rose. From his pocket he pulled a black scarf. "C'mere, Steven," he said.

Steven did not want to go, but he did. Louis tied the scarf about his eyes as a blindfold. "Can't let you see where we live now can we? I'd have to kill you otherwise."

"This means you won't?"

Louis laughed. The most superficial wounds had already healing, the face was whole. But his arms and legs showed some abrasions, and his outfit was in tatters. He winced every so often as he moved. "That's it, I'm not vulnerable at all right now, Steven."

Robert picked up Louis in his arms and carried him out into the drive. Troy pressed against Steven's leg until Steven took the harness. Robert kicked up the grate on the ground with a boot and dropped down. Troy led Steven forward and stopped before the open passage. "There's an opening down here, feel your way to the ladder," Robert called up.

Troy led Steven through the tunnels, walking along after Robert.

They didn't get halfway there before Faye was in the tunnel. "Louis, are you going to be all right?"

"Maybe. Everything's been looking blurry...and my fingers...Oh, fuck my hands!"

"They'll heal," Robert said but when he looked at Louis' fingers they seem claw-like, scraped of their flesh. It didn't seem just then he'd be able to hold a paintbrush.

Robert put Louis down in his bed. Min brought bottled blood, which Louis drank immediately. Robert lay down on the sofa then.

"You can take off the blindfold," he told Steven.

Steven lifted the scarf to his brow and looked around. "This is an old Subway station," he said.

"Yeah," said Robert. Min came and sat down at his side then. She bit open her wrist and offered it to Robert.

Steven averted his eyes from this. Instead he looked down at the wolf. He helped Troy out of the harness and followed the wolf to the kitchen. There was an innocent looking dog bowl there with Destroyer written on it. Troy was sniffing at the bowl.

There was a refrigerator there so Steven opened it. He took a step back when he did, there was food in there, but there were also containers of blood and other substances he could not identify as food or otherwise. He emptied one of these bottles into Troy's dish and watched him lap up the blood.

"Steven!" Robert called suddenly.

"What?"

"You didn't get any blood on you?" Robert was frantic.

"What's wrong?"

"You're Human, Steven. Do you know what could be in that blood?"

"Nice to know you care," Steven said quietly.

Min had crawled into bed with Faye and Louis then, Louis' bed seemed to be in a room with no walls, if this was to be a separate room, and anyone in the kitchen could see his bed clearly, though it was hidden from the living room.

Steven went the living room. Robert was no longer there. He followed the bright light into the next room, which he guessed was Robert's, on one wall close to the living room was a door, restroom, it was marked and the door was propped open by a small stopper at one corner. It was all tile within, just like any old public bathroom, only immaculately clean and this had an added glass-doored shower stall. Robert was wrapping his hand in gauze.

"I'm stranded at your house?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, you gotta sleep over, what a shame," Robert said quietly. He looked like he wanted to laugh.

"It's daylight," Steven said.

"Oh, yeah, well, there's some food maybe, and the bathroom here, we get all the cable channels...I can't stay up though, I need to sleep."

Steven just nodded. "I'm sure there will be a way to get her back."

"I hope so," Robert said.

b b b

Robert woke to the sound of his name being called. (Now how many times has this happened?) He opened his eyes and looked up at the blonde girl in the red sweater. He knew this was Gabriel when he saw her. The last time he had actually seen her was on the children's crusade, and he had insulted her.

She smiled now, looking bright even through the mortal skin. She held a small flask between them. "Here, drink it," she said.

Robert noticed the figure behind her, obviously Raziel, though it had been a very long time since Robert had seen this Angel as he looked when wearing flesh. His hair was that odd yellow shade, the eyes very bright and colored pale greenish-blue. He wore baggy pants of this same peacock shade, and a shirt of the same texture with a fabric patterned with very realistic looking eyes on a greenish background. He was wearing plain white Nike hi-tops and silver rimmed glasses.

Robert took a drink from the flask, held it away from his mouth and gasped. "What is that? Angel's blood?"

"My twin's, she meant for you to have it. She wanted to be here..."

"I told her to stay away from me," Robert said.

"Oh, I know that, but she was going to come along anyway. We still may see her."

Robert emptied the flask quickly.

"How's your hand?" Gabriel asked.

Robert looked at his hand on the flask. "Feels fine," he said. And he looked up at Raziel. "There's a Human here."

"We know," Raziel said.

"Get yourself dressed, Shade," Gabriel said to him, they still called him by this name. Gabriel looked downward then, anticipating a bad reaction to her next statement. "Lucifer's in Alexandria, and I'm afraid Psyche got too close and one of the fallen captured her. Besides we've had some trouble getting our plane here-it's not one of the Ophanim craft, just a regular plane-but it's borrowed, shall we say, and they can track us. So they have to keep flying around avoiding American planes till we can get a cloaking device...in any case, Shade, it's going to be quite an adventure out there tonight."

Robert laughed soundlessly. Cloaking device?

Louis looked completely healed of his injuries when Robert found him in the living room. Steven was sitting on the sofa watching Gabriel cautiously. Robert wondered if being Human Steven sensed that this was an Angel in blue jeans and red sweater. Louis and Faye stood beside each other, as was often the case, Faye always the one to make a point of it. Min and Troy were in the kitchen, Min staring at Raziel.

"How many of us will you be taking?" Robert asked Raziel.

Raziel didn't answer but looked to Gabriel. As she spoke Raziel slipped his arms about her waist and touched his brow to the nape of her neck. "You and...Louis, and if they wish Absidus and Splendor."

"Louis?" Robert asked. He glared at his son.

Louis shook his head. "I have as much reason to go as you do."

"Are you strong enough?"

"I'll be fine," he said.

"Where is Dee?" Robert asked.

"They'll be around in a second," Louis said. He went into his bedroom then.

"Troy wants to go," Min said, "I could go to look after him."

"You want to go," Raziel said looking up but still holding onto Gabriel.

Min was silent.

Louis came from his room with his crossbow. "Min can come," he said casually.

The Angels and Steven seemed to question with their gazes, assuming Min to be rather weak and timid.

"The sun bothers her, but Min's quite strong otherwise, especially considering her being fourth generation," Louis explained.

Niki showed with Splendor, both looking androgynous and mischievous. Splendor presented Louis with two arrows. "The red one is-" it said.

And Louis finished, "And the white the antidote."

"Eros knows nothing about it."

"He knows nothing about much at all," Louis said. He asked them both if they would come along. Niki immediately said no, but Splendor's small pinkish wings unfurled themselves and it said that it would go and help its mother.

"Psyche's child?" Steven asked.

Splendor moved away from the Human. But Louis said that Splendor was indeed Psyche's child but not truly a full Angel as Psyche had been mortal when Splendor was born. Splendor was a Halfangel, this was rather like being a Faerie, Louis said.

Niki moved into the living room only long enough to tell Raziel she liked his outfit, then she wandered down into the lower rooms.

"Are you really real?" Steven asked Gabriel, "I mean from the stories?"

"Yes," she said, "we're quite real."

Raziel moved away from the other Angel and produced a small device from a pocket. "They've got the cloak, but won't be able to land at any airport, we'll have to meet them."

Gabriel groaned, her eyes dimming slightly. "Well, if we must..." she said.

They left on foot, all following Raziel. He referred to the device often and changed direction after looking at it. Finally they were told they must get to the top of a building. Of course this building was both locked tight and made of glass, or at least it had many windows. Robert lifted Troy onto his shoulders and rose to the top of the building. Gabriel and Splendor did as well. Raziel carried Min. Louis made the top in two leaps. "How tall does a building have to be before it takes Superman two bounds?" He asked and held his ribs with one hand.

Louis wasn't quite as healed as he wanted the others to think.

Raziel looked about to answer Louis' question, but his device beeped. "Heads up," he said.

Robert shifted Troy to his chest and held the wolf to his body with one arm. When the ladder came he almost missed it. Raziel had taken Min up the ladder and into the plane and Splendor had just willed itself there. Louis and Gabriel both reached down and helped Robert up. Gabriel let Robert pass so that she was the last inside. She sat on the floor then and smiled, "And your kind thought the tower of Babel would reach the sky," she said.

"The silo," Raziel corrected her.

"It never worked," Gabriel said defensively.

b b b

Robert had fallen asleep on the plain, as he slept he saw Blade, actually he saw as if he were Blade. She was locked inside a coffin, starving. He woke suddenly. Gabriel was smiling slightly, for long ago she had been Dream, and she knew what it was to wake suddenly. It was painful. And then Robert saw Louis over him, realized that he had grabbed Louis by the shirt in his sleep.

"He's starving her," Robert said.

Louis placed his hands over Robert's and pushed them down. He stood straight then. He nodded.

The pilot, who looked a darker haired Gabriel and who dressed in the same red color, meaning she had to be one of the Cherubim, stepped back into the cabin from the cockpit. "The readings have become uncertain," she said.

Gabriel went to the Cabin door, the plane jolted as she did. Raziel caught Gabriel as she fell backward and Louis was thrown into Splendor's arms. Splendor rather suddenly looked to be a girl. "I'm so glad you're here, don't let me die," Louis whispered to her.

Raziel looked out the window.

"Daejinnim?" Gabriel asked.

Raziel shook his head, "Worse, Malakim. Arsier and Merim."

"Satans?" asked their pilot.

"Raz, you're more than a match for them," Gabriel said.

Raziel nodded but didn't move from the window. He was obviously not much of a confrontationalist.

The pilot darted back into the cockpit. The plane was shaken again. "Laila!" Gabriel cried.

"We're loosing altitude," said Laila, the other of the Cherubim.

"Oh, Raz!" Gabriel said, "I've got to get them out of here."

Raziel moved this time. He disappeared from the plane, reappearing on the wing; Robert saw the flesh melted from him. He shot white fire at the two lesser Angels just looking at them. One of them seemed to create a pocket of darkness that moved toward Raziel.

Gabriel opened the door then and braced herself at the opening until the pressure equalized. "We've all got to jump," she said. She looked quite serious. "Tell me: which of the lines of Nephillim is it that dislikes crossing water."

"The ocean?" Louis asked, shouting over the wind. "If any of the three of us gets separated and lost we'd be trapped out there, we'd just float forever..."

"I'm sure the Grays would help you...look it's only the Mediterranean," Gabriel said.

Splendor disappeared.

"Who are the Grays?" Robert asked.

"Cetaceans," Gabriel said, and then she jumped.

"Dolphins," said Louis. "Better give Troy to me, I'm a better swimmer than you are, I grew up swimming in this sea."

Robert just nodded. He lifted Troy into Louis' arms.

Louis ran to the door and jumped.

Robert looked back at Min. "We're going down, we have to jump, or we'll really be trapped."

She reached out a hand and ran with Robert to the door.

They got separated when they hit the water. Robert felt himself sink and kicked his way up to the surface. Raziel was there, standing above the waves and pulling Min up from the sea. Gabriel walked over a wave to join them. She laughed when she saw Louis, Troy and Robert swimming about. "Don't you know how to walk on water?" She asked.

"Some of us didn't grow up on Venus," Louis said.

"I'm sure she asked Nicolas the same thing..." Robert said quietly, "I'm sure it's easy when you feet never touch the ground."

Robert willed himself upward, stopped when the denser water was just below his feet. He saw Louis do the same. He looked at Gabriel then. Robert had never let himself know that she had grown up on Venus, but he supposed this was true, she had only split from Zerachiel after their mother was already on Venus, and she had been the one to engineer Eros' birth.

Of course that had been very long ago, before the sun and Venus' clouds had begun their chain reaction that turned the planet into the hot, red-skied, stormy, sulfur smelling place that was truly Lucifer's domain. He wondered if it could be true that Humans had known so long ago what it was like on Venus when they told their stories of Hell.

"Ever been to the floating city?" Robert asked Gabriel curiously.

"Mu?" She asked, "I was Arch Cherubim by then. But I've lived in cities just like it."

Louis stood holding Troy. He was looking at the horizon just as Robert was. "To bad it's not the reed sea, we could wait till the wind changes and just walk across dry land, eh, Gabri?"

"I wasn't very involved in that whole thing," Gabriel said.

Raziel began walking away, Min in one hand and his mysterious device in the other. Gabriel followed then Louis and Robert trailed behind. A few minutes later Splendor and Laila appeared overhead, hovering a greater distance above the water, both on wings. Laila's were bright red. Robert looked at Gabriel and realized he had never actually noticed her make wings.

Laila said they'd be running right into others shortly and hinted that Splendor had managed just then to get Gabriel's fellow Children of Night on their side.

"Not a righteous operation?" Louis asked.

Gabriel turned to look Louis in the eyes. "Getting one of the Spawn from Lucifer and giving her back to her maker is definitely meddling in the internal affairs of Hell. If I'm not careful I'll have both sides wanting to punish me."

"Hydrofoil," said Raziel.

Robert couldn't see anything in the direction they were headed but Gabriel obviously had better vision. "Michael!" She said.

In minutes they were standing on the choppy water aside a large hydrofoil looking up at an Angelic man wearing a white uniform that seems by it's cut and the many buckles and zippers to be more something Michael Jackson or Edward Scissorhands might wear.

"Oh, I'm I happy to see you," Gabriel said rather dreamily.

Michael just nodded and reached a hand toward them.

Once on the boat he explained that things had gotten quite out of control and that even despite Laila's call for help they would have come: they were charged to keep the loose Satans from interfering with the Human lives in Alexandria by taking them from Earth. He said they'd have to see Uriel if they wanted more information, this was his mission.

Uriel, dressed not in a uniform like Michael's but in a violet robe, stood at the wheel piloting the ship. He seemed concerned that Alexandria was a locale symbolic to Robert, and also that it was through the Night Regions which the Satans had made their way to Earth, and that creating the Night Regions was not only Raziel's plan entirely, but it was under government of Night's Children of which Gabriel was one.

"But we're not grounded?" Gabriel asked.

"No," said Uriel plainly.

Raziel asked how many of them there were and Uriel indicated that with the two of them now there were six of the nine Arch Elohim on the ship.

Robert walked toward the rear of he ship on his own. One of the Angels was sitting in a chair, fishing, his lines cast off the back of the boat. He turned to glance at Robert, tan skin and sun gold hair. He stood immediately, the shirt loose and the white pants reaching only to the calves, and introduced himself. "Hello, Shade, I'm Raphael," he said. Robert felt warm when they touched. He felt slightly uncomfortable.

"My Beautiful One," and of course Robert knew who this was. She walked up to his side, wearing flesh and looking like quite a young woman, though the limbs were still almost frighteningly thin. She kissed his face, her lips felt cool.

"This is your beautiful one?" Raphael asked. "I see he makes you happy. I'm happy for you."

"Thank you for your sympathy," Zerachiel said. She took Robert's hand and led him away from the other Angel. "I'm one of the Angel's of vengeance," she said, "I know that I'm the one's who will punish Lucifer. If he fails to take his vengeance against you, if Blade were returned to you: this would punish him quite efficiently. I will make sure you get her back."

"Thank you."

She smiled, lips black and glossy. "I look appropriate."

"Yes."

She kissed him then, Robert felt the warmth drawn out of his body, as if a slender arm forced itself down his throat and withdrew with a hold on his soul, but she breathed back into his mouth and the feeling was gone. Robert felt a little sorry, he thought he had liked dying.

They landed in Alexandria still under the cover of Night. Gabriel hinted that the darkness gave the fallen no advantage, especially since Leliel was on their side. Robert was standing with Louis at his side and Min and Troy close behind. All the Angels were in their various uniforms, gearing up as it were.

And one should understand that when a Satan drives through Manhattan like a bat out of Hell or a squad of Archangels descend on Alexandria by night, Human lives are not effected, they simply do not see what is going on, because most Humans are blind. And because they have this certain arrogance and think they know what is, they will not even see the famous man shooting at the car the devil drives. They will not see six Archangels standing at the port apparently dressed in bondage fashion.

Louis said that Death seemed very creepy to him, and didn't Robert see that she was skin and bone thin....

She was looking just slightly masculine, still showing a hint of breasts under the fitted silver uniform. She was pulling on the last of a pair of tight silver gloves after buckling a short sword at her left hip. Gabriel looked completely feminine in her red suit. The others also wore suits of different color for each of their orders, Raphael gold, Raziel peacock, and Uriel violet. Michael had already been dressed and now stood watching the roads coming from the city.

Gabriel and Zerachiel then put Nightcloaks over their uniforms, Raphael put on a pair of shades, Uriel, a sort of weapon on his wrist.

"Gabriel and Raziel will stay with the Nephillim. Michael, Raphael, you will cover each other, approaching from the east. Zerachiel and I will come from the West."

"I know where they are," Raziel offered holding up his toy.

"I'm sure that your invention works perfectly, however we will know where to find them," Uriel said.

"Yes, but if we didn't know, we could find them with this..." Raziel said.

They moved into the city then. Raziel led the way, referring to the device rather than anything else. It didn't seem to bother Gabriel. Splendor arrived dressed in black, pink wings fluttering behind. It asked Gabriel for permission to go along and Gabriel nodded quickly. "Gabri and Raz are always quite nice to Halfangels," it said to Louis.

All knew this was to mean the true Angels did not often worry or think much about the many Halfangels that still lived on Earth among the Humans. Some did not even bother to look after their own half-mortal descendants.

"Daejinnim at this entrance," Raziel said.

Robert looked up to the large house. It was not any house he had ever been to, but it was like houses he had lived in, tall and plaster walled. Troy began growling. There were two large dog-like creatures pacing in front of the door.

Gabriel walked up quite close to them, pulling her hood over her hair as she went. They didn't seem to sense that she was there, she blended in with the night so well even though the blackness was rather bright they lost sight of her. Robert could not even sense her presence.

Splendor seemed to smile, thinking the same thing Robert was. "Dee," he said, "Absidus, my sister, come to me," he said softly.

Raziel turned to watch him. Robert closed his eyes and imagined his sister's face.

"She's coming," Splendor said.

There were three of them who appeared, Dee, her brother Somniel immediately recognizable by the midnight blue hair and pale long-lashed eyes, and the third Robert knew had to be one of the Arch Elohim from the blue uniform he wore. This Angel looked very boyish, the way Zerachiel, in flesh, sometimes appeared to be a girl rather than a woman, and his skin and hair were both pale, almost as if bleached, his eyes large and orangey-brown, feverish.

Somniel passed Nightcloaks out to those who didn't have them. He rolled his shoulders back suddenly in a shiver, as if shaking himself from slumber.

"Weren't you grounded recently, Remi?" Raziel asked the Angel in blue.

"Yes. It's all right for me to be here now." A large pair of pale saffron wings uncurled from his back, wingtips stretching out and then the whole fluttering flame-like mass lowered as he shifted his weight back onto one leg. The orangey wings stood out brightly in the dark, especially against his blue uniform. "That thing know where Raphael is?"

"He's just entered the house from the East with Michael," Raziel said.

"You're a genius, Raz," Remiel said and immediately danced off to find Raphael.

"He's one of the youngest of us," Raziel explained, "but I expect he'll always be impatient and excitable. Though to his credit, he's quite devoted, forgetful, but determined."

No one said anything.

Somniel shivered again. He disappeared in a hurry. Dee nodded to the others before following her brother.

Troy destroyed one of the Daejinnim while the others walked past. The house was dark inside, and seemed a maze of doors and halls. "Can you find Blade or Psyche?" Gabriel asked Raziel

"Easily done," he said. "Psyche's quite close to us, the third right."

Louis moved quickly down the hall, Robert close behind. They heard Min call Troy to her. Louis looked down the hall; there was a door there. He ran to it even more quickly. "No!" They heard Gabriel say but they were already being dragged into the room.

Robert was knocked to the ground before he really saw what was going on. The door had been closed; he could hear Gabriel outside it, and then a cry of pain. They were not alone out there either. Inside the room Robert and Louis were surrounded by naked women, all having bird-like eyes and sharp talons on their heels.

"Lilim!" Louis cried. He was throwing them off of himself. Robert felt a talon tear the inside of his thigh and struggled to get up.

"Anteros!" Psyche was screaming.

Through a tangle of angry limbs Louis saw her, lying chained to a bed of nails. "Psyche," he called.

"I think maybe I don't like being chained up all the time!" Psyche said.

Robert elbowed one of the Lilim in her face. They just wouldn't let up, the room was full of them, and they had the strength to tear Robert and Louis both limb from limb. He shoved another against the wall, threw his body into a group of them and watched them hit the next and the next. And then the wave of motion bounced off the wall and back toward Robert, bodies slammed into him, he felt his ankle hit, hoped the talon hadn't ruined another pair of boots. Louis stood back in the room, eyes seeming to grow brighter and Robert thought he might just have been drinking Angel's blood long enough to gain some of their power. A rush of air hit the Lilim as they came at him.

One of the Lilim had a hold on Robert's hair. He squinted at her, raised a hand to her burgundy hair and tore at the scalp with his nails. She screamed as a clump of hair and skin came off into Robert's hand. She was a strong one though; she held her wound with one hand as the other tore the cloak from him. "Cooper," she yelled and in an instant a dark shape fell from the ceiling and clawed at Robert's eyes.

"Burn them!" Louis called.

Robert threw the thing from his face and saw the burgundy-haired Lilim catch its body in her arm. It was an owl. She had a trained owl named Cooper. Robert laughed as he looked at her. Her sisters suddenly felt flames burning them. But the one with the owl had pulled the cloak around herself and was moving down to the floor.

Robert saw the flames and the bed, the close walls, he panicked. This was how Ariella had died. "Athené!" He screamed.

"I'm OK, get the door open!"

Robert went to the door and threw his body against it as Louis unlocked Psyche from bed and chains. Robert saw as he glanced over his shoulder that Psyche had regained her strength as soon as the chains were undone. The Lilim appeared all dazed, staring at the butterflies that filled the room.

Robert held his shoulder as he staggered from the room. He halted. Gabriel was leaning back against one wall, beads of real sweat on her face and both hands clutching at her stomach, blood seeping through the fingers. She had wings! Sapphire black, with ribbon-like secondary tendrils poised over her head, like scorpion tails poised to attack. "Lilith wounded me," she said.

Something was moving in the hall.

The mass was made of separate shapes, Robert saw, small and hunched, painfully thin it seemed. He saw them carrying Troy.

"Raziel!" Robert called.

They heard Min scream.

It was the trio of Archangels that entered the hallway. Michael was holding off the small creatures with a sword, looking down the hall to Raziel it seemed.

"Michael, help me, they got Miranda," Raziel called.

Raphael stepped close to Gabriel and pulled her hands from her belly. Her uniform was cut and her pale belly had a long red wound across it. Raphael turned back to Remiel quickly, "you're a guardian, guard us, Gabri's wounded."

"I am," Remiel said, he was staring at Raphael's face.

Raphael unzipped a pocket on his leg and took out a small packet. He spoke to Remiel as he tore it open. "Turn your back to me, Remi, if the Naphaim come at you from behind I'll have to rescue you."

Remiel went to the end of the hall and watched.

"It hurts," Gabriel said as Raphael touched a salve to the wound. It seemed to be closing up.

"You can't stay in this flesh much longer. You should have generated newness it."

"I didn't want to do it here."

"They're coming back," Remiel called, "the wolf and the Nephillim Spawn are with them."

When they stepped into the hall Robert saw that Splendor was with them and that Min and Troy were not conscious. "The Naphaim drained them," Raziel said quickly.

Psyche and Splendor each carried one of the unconscious bodies. Michael took up the lead, Raziel just behind, gazing at the device in one hand while he kept Gabriel under his other arm. Their wings twined together behind them, blue-black and cyan tipped with white. At the rear Raphael and Remiel walked sideways. Psyche was carrying Troy and kept looking back at them.

Remiel wiped sweat from his brow, "I never cool down enough to wear flesh very long," he said quietly.

"Maybe if you didn't move about so fast all the time, Hermes."

"Why does she call me that? Psyche, don't call me that."

"Did I ever tell you the story about Akhenaten making his visitors stand out in the sun?" Raphael asked.

"No," Remiel admitted.

"He had them stand bare-headed in the sun while waiting to enter his court, they got sun stroke and entered his court fevered, complaining. He was insulted that they did not worship the sun as he did."

"The sun, that's all I used to see, unless I went to the dark side, but I feel so lonely there."

Raphael was smiling.

They came across more of the Naphaim in the hall. Robert decided they looked cat-like. Michael and his sword were enough to drive them away. But then as they moved on many Daejinnim and Malakim showed themselves. Raphael moved forward suddenly and Remiel shot along the wall so that he came to the front of the group just before Raphael in time to shield Raphael with a wing from a pocket of blackness. Then taking this momentary advantage Raphael drew a sword and sliced through several Malakim, causing them to fall to the ground injured or just disappear. A couple got through just as far as Gabriel, one froze and arched its body as she looked at it, disappeared in a burst of red fire. The other she kissed and it fell to the floor and curled into a ball.

"More Malakim ahead," Raziel said. Just as he spoke Uriel and Zerachiel came from the rear. Uriel had rather elaborate almost feathery wings of chartreuse, while Zerachiel's were white as usual. She flashed a smile.

Robert looked toward the front. There was an important looking door, and in front of it a raven and a jester of sorts, and a more important looking Angel dressed in an immaculate red suit, standing quite calmly before them, hair blond, wings a dull slate blue like his eyes. "Welcome," he said.

"I want no welcomes from you, Beryth," Gabriel shouted. The animosity was understood, Beryth had once been her prince and now ranked as the Satan Cherubim.

Beryth made a small nod, smiled sharply. And then he snapped the fingers of his left hand. "Prince Raym, Mulla Nasrudin, take care of them."

"Oh," gasped Psyche, "I think maybe someone told me that the raven was not a very good omen."

"Yes, whole cities have been destroyed by the legions of Prince Raym," Splendor said.

"Sha, right!" Louis said and shot the raven through its breast with a white-tipped arrow.

The raven-shaped prince fell to the floor. "Lord Lucifer." He squawked, "Lord, I have been pierced."

"Go to Hell, you worthless chicken," Nasrudin laughed. He looked forward and made a bow. "Come in, everybody come in, the ceremony's about to begin."

Nasrudin backed through the door. The Archangels looked at each other, then Uriel.

"Lucifer and Beryth are still left to deal with," Uriel said.

"We must take the spawn from Lucifer," Zerachiel said.

"Mother, oh, Mother," said Splendor, "I do not think we should go in there."

b b b

Lucifer stood amid borrowed luxuries clothed in red as he so often and irreverently was. Blade was curled close to him, under his arm, the wedding dress covered in sepia bloodstains. Beryth stood murmuring over a book before them. He glanced gleefully at Gabriel for just an instant. Lucifer flashed a smile.

"What's one more wife when you've got four?" He asked.

Blade pressed closer to his side. "Shade," she said, "this evil stuff is all part of the plan, so you see it's good to rebel."

"He doesn't believe that!" Robert shouted.

"Ah, it hurts having the thing you love choose the thing you most dislike over yourself. What are all these shiny happy people doing here? Ah, hello, Remi, Raph make sure you got taken back? I'm sure he would have been despondent without you, maybe not, lets ask Zerach: Did it hurt when Duma fell and they told you you'd never be in close proximity to him again unless it was to exact the One's vengeance on him? Or maybe you didn't even want to be in close proximity to him after what he did to you?"

Zerachiel's tendrils were writhing behind her. "It hurt a lot. You know it did."

Raphael's wings sprouted from his back suddenly, gold. Remiel did an odd thing; he tore his eyes from Raphael's face and walked behind him, circling slowly. Gabriel broke contact with Raziel and rushed to her twin.

"These little Principalities fall so easily, don't they, Death?"

Her eyes glinted.

Psyche lay Troy on the floor and threw herself before Zerachiel, stared into her eyes. "He doesn't know how things really are!" And then she spun around and stood up to Lucifer. "You did not do this yourself, oh, Lord of Lightning, I know Eros' work. I knew it when I saw it working in you, and now you are desperate enough to put yourself in debt to him." She looked to a nearby screen. "Come out, Eros, show yourself once-husband."

He did step from behind the screen. He laughed. "All legitimate, you can't undo my work. Blade needs someone like Lucifer, and they are married now...it's too bad your Anteros already used the antidote on Raym...the stolen arrow."

Louis took his crossbow from his back. He showed Eros the other arrow set in the bow, and then he pulled a black scarf from his pocket. He covered his eyes with this. "Match this stunt," he said.

Eros started to speak. No one heard as a searing gold light filled the room. It sounded like Lucifer was cursing. A distinctive giggle came from Remiel. An arrow zinged through the air and Blade yelped.

When the light and after images faded Robert saw Louis still blindfolded and holding a body wrapped in a Nightcloak. Louis tore off the blind fold and started running. "Splendor," he called. Splendor followed with Min, and Robert snatched up Troy and ran after them.

Let the Angels settle their differences with each other.

They nearly collapsed as they hit the street; the sun had just risen.

b b b

Zerachiel was at the port waiting. Blade was screaming by then and Louis kept trying to explain she'd been infected by a love potion. He looked utterly shocked when he saw Zerachiel standing near the hydrofoil still dressed in silver, with Nightcloak thrown carelessly over her left shoulder. The wings fluttered only slightly.

"It was clever," she said. "Thank you."

Louis seemed to truly fear her.

"I want to see her," Blade sighed.

"You will," Zerachiel said. She almost laughed. "I can take you home."

b b b

Necropolis living room, with an old green velour sofa and various sundry pieces of audio and video equipment that fell off trucks. Steven sat on the couch eating Chinese from a take-out carton. Louis sat quite close to him. "You ever been to China?" he asked

In the kitchen Faye and Min sat playing Gin for buttons. Troy was under the table.

Psyche stood with the refrigerator door open. "Little chocolate Hades!" She said.

Louis groaned from the sofa, "They're Santas, Psyche, Santas, simple girl."

Robert and Blade had been in his bedroom, where she had woken and opened eyes on him, and were now just coming into the room to join the others.

Then the Angels came. Gabriel and Raziel looked nearly Human; Zerachiel hovered behind them, fleshless but not too maddening to behold.

Death turned to gaze at Blade. She was standing just inside the living room then, dressed in some of Robert's black clothes. Blade squinted. Zerachiel looked contented.

Steven looked up, dropped the carton as he saw Death. He shook.

Louis leaned close to the Human, stared into the corner of Steven's eyes as he questioned, "What do you see?"

Zerachiel walked across air and smiled down at Steven, to Robert it seemed she was a girl, even younger than usual. "Hello, Steven Jewel."

Steven pressed against Louis. Louis kissed his cheek and Steven darted away from both, sank into the sofa.

"Don't be afraid," Death said, "no one here wishes you to die, Steven Jewel." Gabriel moved forward silently and questioned her twin with a gaze. Zerachiel's eyes flickered. "I don't think you will have to die unless you want to."

Gabriel frowned slightly.

Steven looked pale.

"I think we should go. We only came here to say our proper goodbye," Gabriel said. "Goodbye."

"Little Wizard," Raziel said to Louis, "don't let the world catch up to you." He looked then toward the kitchen. "Glad to see you well, Miranda."

"Gin!" She shouted, "Gin."

Robert came from the shadows to the middle of the room. The Angels smiled.

"Psyche," called Death and the false-goddess looked up. "You could come visit me sometime, you know."

"Have you ever tasted a pomegranate seed?" Psyche asked strangely.

"Tasted? Yes, I think I did one day...we had better go."

Robert saw Gabriel join hands with Zerachiel as they disappeared. Raziel was still there and he approached Robert. "She is married to Lucifer, technically," he whispered. And then the rest came silently, he may take advantage of the fact one day, or she. And then he too was gone.

Louis laughed and invited Blade to sit with him.

They teased each other. Louis, Blade in his lap, was trying to think of interesting ways one could disguise blood...lob off someone's hand, put it in the juicer. Psyche said that they could buy juicers from people on TV. And then she babbled about Cyclonic cooking, clothes steamers, carwax, and other interesting things.

Steven, finally shaking himself of his fear said, "I spoke to John."

Blade looked at him immediately; it seemed she had forgotten completely about the world, the last day had proved to her that the world was stranger than fathers told their daughters. She did not suffer anymore just trying to deal with the truth; the unreal had become very real to her. But Steven shocked her. He was bringing up her old life. And she thought then that she must go back to that life: for Julien. She must go live that life.

"He said your family came to your old apartment to see if you were packing as you said."

"I'll have to go see him," Blade said. She looked at Louis; she was sitting with his arms about her waist. "You still have to help me," she said.

True. Absolutely true.