Another Touch of Death

Or

The End of the World According to Gabriel

"Then I heard a man's voice from over by the Ulai Canal calling out, 'Gabriel, tell this man what is going on. Explain the vision to him.' He came up to me, but when he got close I became terrified and fell facedown on the ground.

"He said, 'Understand that this vision has to do with the time of the end.' -Daniel 8: 16-17

Prologue

The end of the world began on a summer’s night.

Of course, it was a British summer’s night so naturally it was raining. It didn’t bother Selena though, as she ran through the dark London streets. She had much more pressing matters on her hands. She only wished the men chasing her would leave her as quickly as the fleeting raindrops that slipped off her jacket. She had her scythe in her left hand but it was more of a dead weight than a tool right now. She turned into one of the numerous alleys in the city.

Out of the light of the lampposts and partially shielded from the rain, Selena paused to look back. The men, dressed in nondescript black suits, slowed to a halt at the opening of the alley. Selena pressed herself against the slimy brick wall of the lane and prayed that her weapon of death wouldn’t catch the light. The two men looked around with hunting eyes. Like their clothes, they were fairly forgettable. Selena hoped that she would live long enough to do that. One the men murmured something into his lapel. For a moment, nothing happened. The two men and, against herself, Selena waited.

Then, almost silent in the drumming of the rain, a modern silver car pulled up to where the two men were standing. There was no other traffic on the street. One man opened the back seat door of the car while the other opened an umbrella from his jacket. A third man stepped out of the car into the shelter of the umbrella. He was only a little shorter than the first two men but they made him seem a lot slimmer. Whereas their faces were expressionless, he bore a pleasant youthful smile.

Selena watched curiously. If they had an umbrella why would they chase her halfway across the city without it only to open it for someone else? Obviously, the third man held some sway with them. But who was he? She kept watching as the third man rummaged through his person for something much like a school kid who knew they had the homework but not where they had it. He sighed satisfactorily as he found what he was looking for in his inner chest pocket of his considerably more expensive suit. Selena squinted; it looked like a small pebble to her.

The third man gazed at the pebble fondly and brought it to his face and whispered to it. After a short pause, the stone began to glow, an eerie preternatural blue. The third man nodded, his smile broadening. He pocketed the stone and looked to his two…minions?

“I’ve consulted the stone. She’s in the alley,” the third man explained in an almost patronising way. The first two men exchanged looks and glanced down the alley. Selena had a feeling that she had seen enough, and another feeling that she should start running again. “Don’t tell me you didn’t check there before you called me? Never mind, just go after her now before she gets away.”

The first two men nodded and started into the alley. Selena bit her lip and dashed off again. She hadn’t stopped to ask them why they were chasing her but that wasn’t the priority at the moment. The third man motioned to the driver of the car and stepped casually into the alley as the car pulled away.

Selena burst out of the lane and into the streets. The rain was falling harder now, forming rivers in the gutters. She dashed across the street, not even bothering to check for traffic. Not that it mattered; all the streets were empty, unusual at any time in London. There was only the rain. Wiping the rain from her chestnut brow, she ducked inside another alley on the opposite side of the road. As well as there being no cars on the streets, there were no people on the pavement…except the three men pursuing her.

The first two men waited for their master in the middle of the road, one man watching the first alley and the other watching the one Selena had just ran down. The third man emerged, whistling to himself under the umbrella. They looked at him silently, almost like puppy-dogs. The third man rolled his eyes.

“Fine! Go ahead. Kill her.” the third man sighed dejectedly. He would have preferred to catch the Death of London alive but if freedom really meant that much to her…well, it was her own fault, not his. “I suppose there will be others,”

The first two men smiled and withdrew sleek black handguns from their sleek black suits. They weren’t into little children’s games. This is what they were used to. The third man sat down on the kerb, ignoring the growing damp on his seat as he watched his men cross the road. They stopped at the start of the lane. They levelled their weapons into the darkness and both fired. Slowly now, they entered the dank alley. The third man smiled and stood up and followed after the other two.

What a brilliant way to end the day.

---

Selena ran across the road and into the alley on the other side. The scythe, which had decided on its own accord to appear as one, was weighing her down terribly. Glancing back, only momentarily, to adjust her weapon and check her pursuers, Selena ran straight into a chain link fence, stretching across the alley, almost invisible in the rain.

“What? What’s this?” she exclaimed anxiously, pounding her hands on the fence. It stretched upwards over her head but she was quite sure she could scale it. She scanned around quickly for a starting point. Before she could find one, she heard the ominous sound of footsteps in the rain. She turned; the two men were there, waiting for her. For a moment, there was only silence, accentuated by the constant rain. Selena’s hair and clothes were soaked through but her expression was grim. The two men mirrored her sentiment. Yes, being a Death was considerable work and was far from easy but she had never been placed in mortal danger because of it. Except for that time two years ago. “What do you want from me?”

In answer, the two men raised their guns, previously hidden in their soaked sleeves. Selena looked at them. The distance between her and the men was insignificant. They were too professional to be using the firearms for just persuasion. She couldn’t dodge bullets, of that she was sure. They all pointed to one conclusion. She was going to die in the next few seconds.

She was right.

They fired, and didn’t miss.

Selena took the bullets to her chest. She cringed but didn’t cry out. No, there was nobody that could come to her aid. Biting back against the pain, she dropped her scythe and shirked off her jacket. The bullets had torn through her jacket and her shirt and deep, fresh blood, her blood, was welling up in the wounds. That was a punctured lung and a hole in the heart- at least. The blood kept pouring out, gushing over her fingers endlessly.

The men watched her with a cold interest. Usually shock had overridden their systems by now and they would just write and spasm uncontrollably until they finally gave up. Not this one; they could see why their boss had taken a special interest in her. Struggling to maintain a steady grasp on her breathing, Selena lowered herself to the floor, gripping the chain link fence behind her. She only had scant seconds left. She wheezed dryly, coughing whatever blood hadn’t escaped from her chest yet. She relaxed against the fence and let her limp hand drop onto her scythe. The two men stepped into the alley, replacing their weapons. It was hardly likely that the woman was faking it but, being professionals, they were meticulous.

“Well done, men. Quick and to the point.” the third man critiqued from behind them. Physical violence really wasn’t his area but with his money, it didn’t matter. He peered past them. The Death was lying in a small pool of blood. Excellent. “I like my murders to be like my business deals. Speaking of which, with the late Miss Selena here out of the picture, I believe I can now put my plan into action.”

The third man was cut short in his jubilations by a blue light next to them. As one, all three men looked down at the fresh corpse. Its chest was glowing in a strange blue light. The third man stepped forward curiously. It was the same light that the stone possessed. Yes, Deaths were supposed to have certain powers and he eagerly awaited seeing each new one.

To start with, there was only the glow but as time passed, it grew. The light spread outwards from the two gunshot wounds. The third man watched as the colour returned to her features and as the wounds stitched themselves back together. At first, he dismissed it as his eyes playing tricks on him but it was no illusion. Her fingers, her eyelids, they were twitching. Hah, the Death was coming to life before his very eyes. What talent! Wonderful!

However, he wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Selena’s twitching fingers suddenly gripped her scythe and she quickly swung her weapon around over her body. The third man retreated swiftly to avoid being cut in two. The blade also went through the chain link fence, like tissue paper. At the end of the arc, Selena brought the butt of her scythe down onto the ground to push herself to her feet.

Holding herself up tall, Selena regarded the three men who had chased and cornered her. They weren’t running in fear for their lives at the sight of a dead person standing in front of them but neither were they continuing their attack on her. That meant she still had time to get away and she would use every second of it.

Without sparing a glance back, Selena dove through the gap she had made in the fence and rolled forward. She scrambled to her feet and ran on into the next street. Why did this have to happen to her? Why not Charon, or Malachi? They could handle something like this? Malachi would even welcome it. But why her?

She glanced back. The first two men were struggling to get through the fence. There was no sign of the third man. Good, the luck was finally on her side. If she could make it to the next alleyway, into the safety of its shadow, she might be able to lose them. The rain kept pelting down on her, washing the blood from her clothes. The lane was getting closer and closer. She was going to make it!

“Stop!” the third man shouted, emerging from the alley. It wasn’t a plea but an authoritative imperative. Suddenly, against herself, Selena stopped. She couldn’t explain it. All her instincts told her to run but her body wouldn’t obey her mind. Frozen in her place, she watched the third man curiously. He was holding the stone from earlier out in front of him; it still held a faint glow. Visibly pleased, the third man relaxed and smiled. “There,”

“Who are you?” Selena asked. This man’s powers were too great for him to just be another Death. Not even Virgil could match this man. It had to be related to that small pebble he held. But how could something so small hold so much power?

“My name, Selena, Death of London, is important but it wouldn’t matter to you.” the man chuckled, still holding the stone in his outstretched arm. “You might as well just call me Master. If my plan goes accordingly, and I have high hopes that it will, soon everyone will be calling me that. Ah, it’s about time you two arrived.”

The other men reappeared at a respectable distance behind Selena. People coming back from the dead wasn’t so weird; perhaps some others had done it before; but seeing someone completely surrounded by an otherworldly aura was enough to disturb even them. The third man ignored them and began inspecting Selena, pacing around her.

“Yes, I’m quite glad you didn’t die back there. It doesn’t really matter but this will definitely help the research.” Selena felt slightly sickened by this nameless man. Was she a person or a slab of meat? With this man, she could easily be both. “It certainly is a novelty to capture a Death. I had to kill the others but you, Selena, hmm. Yes, you’re a very fine specimen. In fact, you look too good, beautiful even, to be Death. I have a much better idea.” He looked past Selena to his two subordinates. “When we return to Cambridge, tell my doctors to implement the First Initiative.”

“The First Initiative?” Selena echoed blankly. Everything that was spoken was just going over her head. She needed a base to start her knowledge from. A name would have been preferable but maybe she could learn more about this initiative.

“Yes, you’ll learn enough about it later but don’t worry for now,” the third man explained cheerily. What with his sandy blond hair and blue eyes, he seemed almost friendly, innocent even. “Though you might want to get some rest first. Sleep.” He stepped forward and touched the glowing pebble to Selena’s forehead. At once, her eyelids felt heavy and she drifted into a quiet slumber. The third man smiled; what a marvellous stone.

“I believe our business here is finished.” the third man concluded, pocketing the mysterious pebble in his jacket. “Let’s return to Cambridge. After all, there are services to administer, products to release and elections to run in. Now with the last of the Deaths taken care of, no one can stop me from achieving my aims. Life, for me, is such a wonderful little game.”

The end of the world had begun.

---

Of course, something as important as the end of the world was bound to be noticed by the higher-ups. In fact, it was noticed by the highest-up, the divine clerk and Heaven’s messenger boy, Gabriel. However, he wasn’t first to notice.

The first person to notice was surrounded by several mannequins with crudely drawn devil faces on them. His hair, which he was keeping out of his eyes with a decorative bandage around his forehead, was black and longer than it should be. His eyes were closed and he was taking deep, even breaths; the ashen wings on his back rising and falling with each breath. He was only wearing a white vest and an old pair of trousers. After all, he didn’t want to ruin his “Sunday Best” in a little sparring.

Suddenly, his dark eyes opened and he unleashed his fury upon the wooden puppets. To an uneducated observer, it would have seemed impossible that he was attacking without any sort of weapon. The angel threw out a wide variety of kicks, strikes, jabs and punches, sparing nothing from the poor dummies.

With a cry of passion, the angel turned to attack the next model, already swinging his fist, when he froze where he stood. There was nothing to strike. Even though he had only been fighting for a few minutes, he had reduced the mannequins to nothing more than sawdust and splinters on the floor.

“Over already?” he asked to no one in particular. He picked up his towel from the chair. Not his chair, of course. It was a strange place to work out, in the second most important office in the cosmos but seeing as the occupier didn’t like leaving the place empty, what with the important papers stored therein, he had obliged to wait in. Of course, whatever he did in the office was up to him. After wiping the excess sweat from his brow, the angel clicked his fingers over the remnants of the models and they promptly sank away through the floor. “Oh well.”

Just as the angel considered creating more dummies to spar with, something in the room began beeping alarmingly. It was accompanied by an irritating stinging sensation at the back of his head. The only way to cure the feeling was to find the source of the sound.

Now Heaven, being without sin, should be a clean place and, generally, it is. However, the office was the one place in this sacred realm that wasn’t. Frankly, it made pigs look neat. For the task of organising, detailing, cataloguing, and generally taking care of Heaven’s business, they couldn’t have picked a worse angel for the job. Gabriel.

The room itself was beautifully decorated with a red carpet, detailed wood cabinets, an efficient desk and even a view of the Garden of Eden from the window. But it was hard to make any of these out from behind or beneath the mountains of paperwork that had been put off for tomorrow, the day that is always coming but never comes. Technically, Gabriel had an eternity to take care of his paperwork but that still meant it had to be done at some point. That time hadn’t come yet.

The angel slung the towel over his shoulder and started looking. In all honesty, he was scared to move some of the stacks of files in case they came down on him. But when needs must. The pain at the back of his head was getting worse; he must be close. After sweeping a mound of files concerning the dark ages away, the angel found what he looking for. It was a watch glass.

As soon as the angel found the object, the ringing stopped both aloud and in his head. He held the watch glass between his thumb and middle finger carefully. At the moment, it was opaque; it looked like there was a small cloud swirling in the shallow dish. Cautiously, the angel shook it once or twice. Soon, the cloud cleared to reveal a scene on earth below. The angel stared at it blankly for a few seconds. All it showed him was an empty street in London. Wait…

The angel turned back to the papers he had found the watch glass wrapped in. It was very old paper, a battered shade of yellowy brown. Gabriel had made several half-finished notes in the corners but most of the pages were blank. The watch glass was what he used to keep an eye on the grim reapers around the world. If that was the case, and what he saw was true…

Screw it. He had to tell Gabriel now.

The angel stormed out of the office, knocking over papers that had been stored on the other side of the doors. The weather was beautiful up here, like it always was. There was a slight breeze in the air; the wind of change. The angel tried to ignore the uneasiness prickling at the back of his neck and concentrated on finding Gabriel. Taking care of the Deaths wasn’t his duty and even he knew what the watch glass was telling him.

The angel stopped near the Garden of Eden, Heaven’s park and recreation grounds. There was an…unusual noise coming from nearby. Following his ears, the angel traced the sound to just inside the park. To the music, if it could be called that, that was coming from a nearby radio, an angel was trying to…well, dance was the closest word for it…on the point of a rather large pin. Most of the angels in the immediate were giving him a very wide berth and the rest were simply watching, with some amusement.

The first angel walked past the noticeable crowd that had gathered; he was too well-respected to have to resort to pushing; towards the dancing spectacle. The angel on the pin was about the same height as him but much, much skinnier. They were wearing a formal shirt and tie, drastically offset by their blond ponytail swinging out behind them as they danced. Strangely, there was a pencil tucked behind one ear.

“Gabriel!” the angel called out to the one on the pin. They stopped dancing and looked down at the person below them. After a moment’s thought, they clicked their fingers and the radio fell silent. Seeing that their fun was over, the crowd began to disperse. The dancing angel hovered down lightly with their platinum blond wings, setting down next to their radio. They leaned down and picked up their wireless, as well as their thermos, which they promptly set about opening.

“What’s up, Mick?” Gabriel asked, surprised to see his friend and colleague. He removed the top of the thermos and poured a steaming cup of coffee for himself. He drank deeply and let his eyelids flutter. Ah, heavenly! “How’s my office?”

“It’s Michael, Gay,” Michael pointed out, with a sly smirk. Between these two archangels lay the longest running rivalry in history- five millennia to date. Michael was still sore about the nativity but it wasn’t exactly a bed of roses for Gabriel either; they had declared it a draw. “We have a problem. One of your Deaths is missing.”

“What do you mean, missing?” Gabriel asked, looking up from his coffee. Yes, there might have been angels who might have been doing their work at the moment but they weren’t any fun. He really didn’t want to be like of them. “The glass automatically tracks all the Deaths I’ve employed; it can’t lose a Death.”

“The watch glass can’t find them.” Michael explained, handing Gabriel the watch glass. They’re the London one I think,”

“Selena? I didn’t take her off duty.” Gabriel murmured curiously, clutching his thermos under one arm to shake the watch glass. It was unusual to get bad reception. That said, there was an awful amount of rain in the glass. “You don’t think she died, do you?”

“If she did, she’d be here already,” Michael countered. This sort of thing was a rare occurrence but when they did happen, they were serious. The last time the watch glass had acted up was two years ago, further north, in Cambridge.

“I hate to say this but you’re right.” Gabriel frowned. He adjusted the knot on his tie and sent his radio and thermos back to his office. This may actually require him to do some work. He shook the watch glass to clear it before pocketing it. “I’ll get right on it.”