Having grabbed his housecoat, Bill gestured for his night guests to move to the sitting room. Jamie was not badly hurt; he had a mere graze on his brow which, in Bill's mind, suggested a collision with the kerb was not what happened at all. He could not accuse the young lad of lying, though, at least not until he heard his story.

The thunder and lightning continued as the rain battered the house, and power had not yet resumed. Once all three were downstairs, Bill found and lit some candles before sitting in his favourite armchair. He gestured the sofa for Jamie and Lisa to sit and asked them to explain what was happening. 

In the space of half an hour, Father Hendrie's whole world was reeling. Everything Jamie and Lisa said seemed exaggerated, let alone impossible, yet... Bill listened intently, biting his tongue to stop bursting forth with some inappropriate harangue. One moment he was angry, infuriated to be taken for a fool; the next, he questioned the 'truth' as he'd known it his entire life.

"I didn't mean to frighten you, Father," Jamie's voice penetrated the serendipitous fog swirling in the priest's head.

Bill gradually focused on the young gardener, pulling his housecoat tightly around himself as if for protection. "Well, you did, Jamie - or whoever you are." The priest retreated into his thoughts again, shaking his head, a look of disquietude rippling across his face.

Jamie shrugged and turned to Lisa. "Whatever!" he huffed. "I told you he wouldn't believe us." 

Lisa was equally upset by the entire incident; this was not how she'd expected they would divulge their plight. Finding words to ease the moment was difficult, but she had to try. "Bill, I know this seems fantastic, impossible even, to a god-fearing man like yourself..."

"God-fearing?" Bill scoffed, his eyes, hollow, as he fixed her with a haunted look. 

Jamie and Lisa glanced at each other, confused by the icy mockery in the priest's tone.

Bill felt compelled to lay bare his soul for some strange reason, even though it was only to his gardener and the pretty neighbour. "I've battled with my faith for the best part of twenty years; that's almost all the time I've served God." He paused, taking a deep breath. "For months now, I've been plagued by nightmares. In these dreams, I see demons and creatures that look almost angelic, yet they are not. And in my wakened state, people I know - have known for years - suddenly appear deformed, hideous, demonic..."

"Well, I can understand if you see Janet that way," Lisa quipped, unable to shirk her dislike of the woman. Jamie grinned.

Oblivious to Lisa's comment, Bill continued. "I thought I was losing my mind. Part of me feared it was real, while another part considered it was a punishment for my past, a penance of sorts. I was not a good man before I took the cloth."

Jamie rolled his eyes and shook his head, disinterested. Lisa glared at him, annoyed by his flippant attitude. 

"We don't have the time nor the inclination for a confession," he whispered to her.

"And then there is the mirror..." Bill said unexpectedly.

Instantly, both visitors snapped round. "What about it?" Jamie asked, urgent.

Bill blinked, surprised. "You know about the mirror?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Did you put it there?"

Jamie shook his head. "No."

Bill heaved a sigh, letting his breath deplete slowly. 

"But I use it," Jamie continued.

A silent exclamation wafted from Bill's lips, his confusion now tenfold.

Turning to Lisa, the gardener took a deep breath. "It's now or never."

Lisa started to protest, but Jamie silenced her with a look before she uttered a word. Quietened, the widow turned concerned eyes to Father Hendrie.

"When I fell through your door, what did you see, initially?" Jamie asked Bill.

The priest looked up, startled. "I - I, uh..." Silence stretched in the room. His two guests were waiting for his answer. "I don't know! I can't explain it," he offered. 

"This?" Jamie's form shimmered and distorted. 

Bill watched in horror as the usually mild-mannered gardener started to fill out, grow taller and develop an entirely new mien. The priest, mortified, pushed himself up out of the armchair. His feet slid on the wooden floor, causing him to stumble backwards. He landed with an unceremonious thud on his backside, his hands desperately seeking something to grab hold of for stability.

Standing before him was a creature, humanoid but equally preternatural. What once was a lean young man in his twenties now stood a giant with muscles in places Bill didn't think was possible. He wore esoteric armour, familiar in its general styling, but the plating was unlike anything Bill had seen before. The light seemed to mould in and around it, changing as its wearer moved; 'chameleon-like' came to mind as Bill's brain tried to absorb all the details of the towering hulk standing a few feet away. And the wings - massive, an unconventional blend of feather and hide.

"I am Marduk," the giant said. "Warrior, once serving King Anu as General of the Nibiruan armies, and a champion of the Annunaki. My domain is now Mars, but I stand before you as a defender of Earth and its people."

Lisa stepped around Marduk, moving to Bill's aid. The priest skittered backwards, like a startled crab, until his back hit the display cabinet, preventing escape. He dragged his eyes from the warrior and looked, stunned, at his pretty neighbour. "And - and you?" he stammered. "What are you?"

With a defeated sigh, Lisa stood straight. Her form flickered, eventually becoming tangible again as her body grew taller. Her skin darkened to a shade of deep mocha, with strange iridescent symbols playing across her arms and around her collarbone. Eyes bore no whites; they were obsidian, just like her counterpart's, Marduk. Also, like her companion, she had wings folded neatly behind her extraordinarily tall frame.

When she spoke, even her voice was different - as if two people were talking in unison, each a different timbre. "I am Inanna, Goddess of the Beasts, of love, sex and war."

At first, all that fell from Father Hendrie's mouth was an unidentifiable and pitiful sound. He stared at the two enormous individuals before him, his heart pounding and body trembling. Swallowing audibly, he then found his voice. "So...you are trying to tell me that you - " he pointed to the former Jamie, "are an alien warrior. And you..." he turned a shaky finger to the one-time Lisa, "are a - Goddess?"

Marduk nodded. "Got it in one, Father. Although humans perhaps know us better as The Fallen."

Bill was shaking his head, completely in denial. "No! That is not possible!" he protested, trying to lever his way up the cabinet's sturdy wooden frontage. "You cannot be real."

"Then what do you think we are?" Marduk challenged. "Actors? Illusionists? A figment of your imagination?" He strode over to Bill, purposeful. Grabbing the front of the priest's housecoat, he lifted him high, leaving his feet dangling in mid-air. "Can your imagination do this?"

"Marduk!" Inanna scolded in her two-tone voice. "Put him down!"

The warrior scoffed, but he lowered Father Hendrie to the floor after a few moments. 

Bill's legs were shaky and he steadied himself against the cabinet, his fingers digging into the intricate carvings set around its edge. Once his breathing relaxed, he managed to stand unaided. The absurdity of his situation suddenly befell him. He was six foot two, and his head barely reached his former gardener's belly.

"Forgive my brashness, Father," Marduk said gently, his voice a bizarre contradiction to his appearance. 

Bill turned his attention to the decanter on the cabinet, its golden contents sorely tempting. Before he knew it, he was unplugging the whisky and pouring himself a generous measure. He took a long draught, then topped up his glass before returning to his armchair.  

The two giants remained standing, their heads only inches from the ceiling. As their host took another swig of whisky, his demeanour began to relax. 

Bill looked at his guests, still a little perturbed by the whole incident. "So...this mirror. What do you mean you use it?"

Some silent communication must have passed between the two creatures as they simultaneously morphed back into their human counterparts. They resumed their seats on the sofa.

Inanna answered Bill's question. "It is a portal; a means for us to travel."

"So you've been popping in and out the house the whole time it was here?" The guests nodded. "And travelling to where?"

"Sometimes to our home planet, but also others as the need arises."

Suddenly, a million questions fired through Bill's brain. How many Fallen were there? Where were they? How long had they been on Earth? What planets did they visit? Were they habitable? Did shapeshifting hurt? Was he truly losing his goddamn fucking mind? 

"We have been preparing for this eventuality for a very long time," Marduk injected. "And now, it seems we are on the cusp of war, yet again."

"War? What war?" Bill's hand trembled, the whisky starting to slosh up the sides of his glass.

"You Holy Men would consider it the battle between Heaven and Hell, between God and the Devil, Angels and Demons. Well, you'd be half right. Only, I think your interpretation about who is righteous is gravely mistaken."

Word Count:- 1,536