verdict.
“Then I think we’re done here,” he said.
“We’re done?” Melissa repeated. “That’s it?”
Aaron nodded. “Go give Kraus and Cameron a hand back to the infirmary.”
Melissa started to leave, then stopped. “I really am sorry,” she said quickly to Aaron and Vilma, then turned and ran to catch up with the others.
Vilma watched her go. “She seems so much like a kid,” she said to Aaron.
“Kid?” Aaron repeated, then laughed. “You probably only have a year or two on her.”
“It feels like a long time since we were kids, doesn’t it?” she asked. She moved to stand very close to Aaron. “I almost can’t remember,” she said quietly, and leaned her head upon his shoulder.
Aaron put his arm around her and squeezed her closer. “Do you think I’m crazy?” he asked.
“Generally?”
He squeezed her tighter, just to hear her laugh.
“Seriously, do you think this idea I’m pitching is the right one, about being proactive?”
“It’s risky, I’ll give you that, but at this stage what choice do we have?”
“I know,” Aaron said. “The world doesn’t seem to be getting any better, and unless we can step up our game, it never will. And even if we are proactive…”
“Now, don’t you start sounding like Verchiel,” she warned, hugging him tightly.
“He’s not totally wrong,” Aaron admitted.
“Oh, c’mon,” Vilma said, giving him a shove. “If we followed his lead, we would just lie down and die now, and save ourselves the hassle. I don’t buy it.”
“But there are only so many of us, and way more evil creatures.”
“Then we’ll just have to work all the harder,” Vilma declared.
“Yeah, but I’m starting to wonder…” Aaron gazed off in the direction that Kraus had taken their injured guest.
“Share,” she ordered, looking up at him and thumping his chest with her hand.
“Our mysterious stranger. How many more of them are out there in the world? How many fallen angels weren’t forgiven and never returned to Heaven? How many of them are there—and would they be willing to help us?”
Vilma looked toward the infirmary.
“Huh,” she said, finally understanding his point. “Then I guess we’d better hope he doesn’t die.”
“Or that Verchiel doesn’t kill him,” Aaron added.
* * *
Bending the shadows to his will, Satan left his dwelling beneath the cold of the earth to pay a visit to his allies in his quest to order the world.
The Sisters did not seem at all surprised to see him.
“Hark, is that the king of all that flies, slithers, bounds, and crawls?” asked the first of the hunched, hooded figures.
“But why would one such as he visit three lowly ones like us?” asked the second.
“Perhaps he is eager to know of our progress?” suggested the third.
The three robed shapes huddled around an enormous stone cauldron, wafting clouds of foul-smelling smoke obscuring what bubbled within.
The Three Sisters of Umbra reached within the pot, their long-fingered hands adorned with razor-sharp claws that wove the thick, billowing smoke into shapes representative of the world of man.
A world that Satan hoped to subjugate soon.
“The darkness comes all the faster, limiting the time of light, but it is still not constant,” he said.
One of the three turned her hooded gaze to him, only two burning pinpricks of light visible within the darkness of the cowl. “A tremendous responsibility to bestow upon such lowly ones as us,” she said.
“But a task we assault with much vigor,” said another, waving her hands through the exhaust roiling from the seething pot.
Though they were content to wear the guise of lowly subjects, Satan knew them to be far more than that. He had heard rumors that they were some of the first beings upon God’s world, always lurking somewhere in the shadows, always eager to corrupt and bring about the downfall of man.
Satan wondered if they too had been wronged by the Almighty, when He’d
“Then I think we’re done here,” he said.
“We’re done?” Melissa repeated. “That’s it?”
Aaron nodded. “Go give Kraus and Cameron a hand back to the infirmary.”
Melissa started to leave, then stopped. “I really am sorry,” she said quickly to Aaron and Vilma, then turned and ran to catch up with the others.
Vilma watched her go. “She seems so much like a kid,” she said to Aaron.
“Kid?” Aaron repeated, then laughed. “You probably only have a year or two on her.”
“It feels like a long time since we were kids, doesn’t it?” she asked. She moved to stand very close to Aaron. “I almost can’t remember,” she said quietly, and leaned her head upon his shoulder.
Aaron put his arm around her and squeezed her closer. “Do you think I’m crazy?” he asked.
“Generally?”
He squeezed her tighter, just to hear her laugh.
“Seriously, do you think this idea I’m pitching is the right one, about being proactive?”
“It’s risky, I’ll give you that, but at this stage what choice do we have?”
“I know,” Aaron said. “The world doesn’t seem to be getting any better, and unless we can step up our game, it never will. And even if we are proactive…”
“Now, don’t you start sounding like Verchiel,” she warned, hugging him tightly.
“He’s not totally wrong,” Aaron admitted.
“Oh, c’mon,” Vilma said, giving him a shove. “If we followed his lead, we would just lie down and die now, and save ourselves the hassle. I don’t buy it.”
“But there are only so many of us, and way more evil creatures.”
“Then we’ll just have to work all the harder,” Vilma declared.
“Yeah, but I’m starting to wonder…” Aaron gazed off in the direction that Kraus had taken their injured guest.
“Share,” she ordered, looking up at him and thumping his chest with her hand.
“Our mysterious stranger. How many more of them are out there in the world? How many fallen angels weren’t forgiven and never returned to Heaven? How many of them are there—and would they be willing to help us?”
Vilma looked toward the infirmary.
“Huh,” she said, finally understanding his point. “Then I guess we’d better hope he doesn’t die.”
“Or that Verchiel doesn’t kill him,” Aaron added.
* * *
Bending the shadows to his will, Satan left his dwelling beneath the cold of the earth to pay a visit to his allies in his quest to order the world.
The Sisters did not seem at all surprised to see him.
“Hark, is that the king of all that flies, slithers, bounds, and crawls?” asked the first of the hunched, hooded figures.
“But why would one such as he visit three lowly ones like us?” asked the second.
“Perhaps he is eager to know of our progress?” suggested the third.
The three robed shapes huddled around an enormous stone cauldron, wafting clouds of foul-smelling smoke obscuring what bubbled within.
The Three Sisters of Umbra reached within the pot, their long-fingered hands adorned with razor-sharp claws that wove the thick, billowing smoke into shapes representative of the world of man.
A world that Satan hoped to subjugate soon.
“The darkness comes all the faster, limiting the time of light, but it is still not constant,” he said.
One of the three turned her hooded gaze to him, only two burning pinpricks of light visible within the darkness of the cowl. “A tremendous responsibility to bestow upon such lowly ones as us,” she said.
“But a task we assault with much vigor,” said another, waving her hands through the exhaust roiling from the seething pot.
Though they were content to wear the guise of lowly subjects, Satan knew them to be far more than that. He had heard rumors that they were some of the first beings upon God’s world, always lurking somewhere in the shadows, always eager to corrupt and bring about the downfall of man.
Satan wondered if they too had been wronged by the Almighty, when He’d
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