The Dead

Arlima stood in the rain. She liked the feel of it, soft, cool and soothing. There wasn't rain in Heaven.

"Celsabourne," she called softly.

For a few seconds there was silence, and then another soft breeze stirred in the alley.

"What took you so long?" Arlima said, turning around.

Celsabourne put his hands in his trench coat and looked at the ground, "I was in Ireland. I tried to negotiate a deal with Death to extend the life of a young girl but he wouldn't have it."

Arlima sighed, "We can't extend the life of those when their destined time has come; you know that."

Celsabourne ran his hand through his tangled mess of black hair, "I understand."

"Then why do you persist in trying?"

"I don't know." Celsabourne looked up at Arlima who was scrutinizing him.

"You would have made an excellent human, Celsabourne." She said.

Celsabourne looked down again, "I take that as a complement."

Arlima smiled, "It was given as one." She pointed to the girl in the alley, "I need you to take her home."

Celsabourne walked over to the girl, "She was supposed to die. That man was going to accidentally shot … but you saved her."

"Orders from above,” Arlima reached into her pocket and pulled out a pocket watch,  “she is to save many in her later years."

Celsabourne looked around, "Where is her Guardian? He should have saved her."

Arlima opened the watch and checked the time, "She doesn't have one. But after this night she'll believe and be granted one. You'd better go, in ten minutes her father will find that she is missing."

Celsabourne hoisted the girl to her feet and put her arm around his shoulder, "Where does she live?"

"Two counties over, 6519 Lakerwatch Drive."

The wind stirred and he was gone.

The rain finally stopped as Arlima exited the alley. When the noise of the bar met her ears she turned the opposite way and walked down dark, wet street. Arlima had walked past many people. She'd seen people who were lost, people whose life was just beginning and people whose life was about to end. Those were the worst. She could look at someone and see that their destined time was near; she knew how they would die and worse, where they would go.

Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced her temple, her ears rang and her heart sped up five paces. She put her hands to her head and fell to her knees and made herself invisible to the humans around her. She knew what was going on and it scared her; if angels slept, this noise would be her worst nightmare. It was the cry of angels, at least twenty of them. She didn't know where they were but it didn't matter, she could hear them. Suddenly, Celsabourne was in front of her, he grabbed her by the arm and the scene in front of them changed.

It was raining again, harsh rain, bright cracks of lightning lit up the sky and thunder rumbled ominously in the darkness. The ringing was gone and so was her headache. Celsabourne helped her to her feet; he had blood running from his ears, which meant he was closer to what ever was making the angels scream.

"How close were you?" Arlima yelled over the pounding rain.

Celsabourne turned to his right, "I got here two minutes before it ended."

Arlima turned to face the same way as Celsabourne; there was a small two-story house next to a dense woodland area. The nearest house was two acres away.

There were twenty angels dead in the front lawn.

Arlima prayed for it to be a trick of the darkness but she knew the truth. Something worse than knowing when a human was going to die was seeing an angel dead. But even worse than that, Arlima knew that angels could only be killed by other angels and only with a special kind of weapon forged from Celestial gold. Which meant an angel had turned and they had uncovered an impossible metal that could only be found somewhere in Heaven.

"Why did this happen?" Arlima managed, "What did you see?"

Celsabourne shook his head solemnly against the rain, "I only saw the end. Two figures striking down the last angel and then disappearing . . . I don’t know their motives."

Arlima walked a few steps closer to the scene, "Who could have done this? No angel would dare--"

"Perhaps it wasn't an angel," Celsabourne cut in.

Arlima turned around, "What are you suggesting?"

Celsabourne walked up next to Arlima, "We don't have to assume it was angels … there are other creatures."

There was silence between them; a lightning bolt lit up the dark sky.

"Demons are trapped in Hell, Celsabourne," Arlima turned back towards the house, "they can't get out."

Celsabourne shrugged, "It's better than the alternative. I don't want it to be angels."

"Neither do I." Arlima walked towards the bodies.

As the lightning lit up the sky she could see that the grass on the ground was pushed down and around each angel the grass was sticking up in the shape of his or her wings. It was a beautiful, tragic, sight.

The ringing in her ears had faded away but she could still remember the feeling. She knew every angel lying on the ground, they were her brothers and sisters, and they’d lived together for centuries. Now they were dead.

A thought struck her. She knew all of these angels, yes, but she'd never fought with them. These were Guardian Angels.

"Celsabourne, whose house is this?"

"A farmers, I believe." Celsabourne said, "But there is more than one human in that house, it's some sort of family reunion."

Arlima turned, "How do you know that?"

Celsabourne pointed to a paper sign stapled onto the side of the house, the black ink was smeared by the rain, but the words: Reigngold Family Reunion 2012, were vaguely visible.

Arlima walked towards the house, "These are Guardian Angels, twenty of them and if they're dead then … "

Arlima's walk turned into a run, then she concentrated on the other side of the door and suddenly she was in the house. Celsabourne appeared beside her in an instant, his usually short bronze dagger had grown into a full sized slick sword.

"Please don't let them be dead, Father." Celsabourne prayed.

But Arlima knew better. If a human's Guardian Angel was dead, then they had failed to protect their human … so the human was dead also.