AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dread settled in my stomach as a horrible truth flickered through my mind. It was already too late for me.
I was damned.
Alaska, Christmas Eve, 1997
I trudged through the snow,numb to everything except for the bitterness and barely suppressed hunger that were ever-present. My life was a mockery of what it was supposed to be—a man of God now enslaved to a hellish creature. Murdering and perverting the masses at her command.
I had more blood on my hands than I could ever wipe clean. But where was I to go? She’d taught me nothing but how to kill, not how to survive this... existence. And every time I’d tried to run, she’d found me and tied the metaphorical noose around my neck even tighter. Seventy-five years seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, and I lost more of myself, sinking even deeper into the hellscape she’d damned me to.
Tonight, on what was once one of the holiest days I observed in my human life, I feared I’d lose hold of the last shred of decency I had left. I stared at the church on the snow-covered hill. This was a favorite game of hers, robbing people of faith of their belief. Watching the hope snuff out when they realized their savior wouldn’t be coming for them. She told me once of the twisted pleasure she received as their pitiful cries for their God to save them stopped and the truth finally registered. They were as damned as us.
Nothing I’d believed was real. I’d dedicated myself to lies and stories. Because if God loved me, surely he wouldn’t want me to suffer so. Or at the very least, would take offense at one of his servants tormenting so many innocents. What kind of God could allow evil such as this, such as me, to exist?
The organ began to play from inside the church, candles illuminating within as the parishioners settled in for their midnight mass, welcoming their savior. And I would be out here, lying in wait to send them to him... or rather, show them the truth.
Alaska was a perfect place for us during the winter. Dark, cold, filled with shadows and places to hide as we hunted.
Tonight was especially beautiful, an idyllic tableau—the snow falling in the dim light of a moon covered by clouds, hymns filling the air, prey lined up and ready for us to feast. If only those inside knew that the peaceful landscape they loved would serve as their slaughterhouse.
Pulling the heavy chain and padlock from the bag I’d brought, I readied myself to lock the door and ensure the churchgoers had only one way out of their prison. Through me.
The air around me rippled, and my senses went on high alert. Before I could finish scanning the horizon, light flared to life behind me, throwing my shadow onto the suddenly blinding snow.
“What a disappointment you’ve turned out to be, Father Gallagher.” A smooth, slightly annoyed British voice filled the surroundings, sending my blood curdling.
I turned, one arm raised against the painful glow coming from the... fecking angel?
My mind struggled to make sense of the visage before me. It was like staring straight into the sun. He was every masterpiece ever painted come to life. Long flowing golden hair, eyes that blazed with holy righteousness, pure white robe, feathered wings of white and silver. I didn’t know where to look.
And then he drew his sword, lit with gold flames. His eyes shone with the power to smite me where I stood. Thank God.
It wasn’t all a lie. My faith hadn’t been for nothing. God was real, and His messenger stood before me, ready to serve His great purpose.
“Who are you?” I whispered, falling to my knees. “The Angel of Death come to punish me? Go on, then. Smite me. End this torture. Do what I never had the strength to do.”
His head tilted as if my words surprised him, and he studied me for a second before releasing a heavy breath. Lowering the sword, he planted the tip in the snow, banking the flames as he leaned on the pommel. His brow furrowed. “Well, that was easier than I expected.”
I blinked. “Pardon?”
The light swelled to blinding intensity, forcing me to close my eyes. When it faded enough for me to reopen them, the angel was gone, replaced by the same man now dressed in black motorcycle leathers. I frowned.
“Is this some kind of trickery? Are you playing with my mind?”
“Basically, yes. But not in the way you mean. I thought I had to make a splash to get you to pay attention. Everyone is so caught up in angels and their robes and wings. We haven’t dressed like that for close to a millennium. Well, except for a few holdouts, but we don’t talk about them.”
“Are you really an angel?”
He scoffed. “Did you not see with your own eyes? The wings? The flaming sword? The heavenlyglow?”
“What is your name?”
Shoulders straight, chest puffed out, he took on a haughty air. “I am Gabriel, archangel, Messenger of God. And I am here to deliver unto you a... message.” He frowned and muttered to himself, “Twice in one sentence? Have you learned nothing from all the books you’ve read?”
“Excuse me?”
He waved a hand. “Like I said, I have a message for you. A proposition of sorts.”
“A proposition?” I felt like a fecking fool trying to follow the conversation. I was still caught up on the part where I was speaking to a bloody angel after spending the last seven decades certain my entire belief system had been a sham. If I had a heart, I’m pretty sure it would have stopped beating. As it was, I wasn’t entirely sure I hadn’t already passed out and this was some sort of hallucination.
