Curious, he left the house and walked up to the iron gates that marked the entrance to the church. Still nothing. Experimentally, already wincing in anticipation of the pain, he placed one foot in the grounds. He almost cried out with the surprising lack of … well, anything. There was absolutely no sensation.
He took another step. Nothing. Confident that the church grounds had suddenly lost their ability to hurt him, he started walking towards the front door.
Then a smooth voice that he recognized immediately stopped him cold in his tracks.
“We meet again, Samael.”
Sitting on the roof of the church was the demon he met many months earlier — the one that he’d promised himself he would kill.
“You’re looking well,” said the demon sarcastically, his eyes running over the scorched parts of Sam’s clothing.
“You won’t be looking so well if you came down here and faced me.”
“Ooh, I’m scared,” said the demon, pretending to be fearful. “You really are quite angry, aren’t you?”
“I’ll show you just how angry I can be if you give me an opportunity.”
The demon laughed. “Yes. I like that anger. Keep hold of it; it will come in useful later on.”
“What do you want?” demanded Sam.
“Just paying a courtesy call,” said the demon, smiling. “Wanted to see how you liked what we’ve done with the place. And when I mean the place, I mean the Earth.”
Sam pinched his lips shut, refusing to be antagonized by this creature. “What have you done here?”
“You mean the church? Bit different since last time you were here, isn’t it? It’s simple, really. We’ve brought hell to Earth and as such, these grounds are no long holy. Go on. Have a look for yourself. I know you want to.”
Sam glared at him suspiciously, sensing a trick. But he did really want to go inside. The last time, in spite of the pain and suffering it had caused, had been an experience like no other. He was intensely curious.
Keeping a wary eye on the demon perched above him, he walked up the stairs. The doors, as usual, were ajar. Inside, nothing seemed to be amiss at first. He walked down the row of pews, wary and alert for the first signs of danger or something out of place.
At the foot of the altar lay the statue of Christ. Whether it had fallen during the earthquake or been smashed by inhuman hands, Sam didn’t know. The result was the same — it had been shattered into a thousand different pieces. Sam remembered how the statue had looked at him years earlier and was filled with sadness. As he got closer, he realized that there was something staining the altar. It looked like blood. He got closer; yes, it was definitely blood. He could smell the metallic tang in the air
He turned to find the demon just a handful of feet away from him, smiling. Enmity surged through him. “What have you done here?” he roared and charged at the creature.
The demon smiled and simply disappeared a fraction of a second before Sam could reach him, reappearing several more feet away.
“You would be wise to stop doing that,” said the demon as Sam charged towards him again.
This time, just before Sam could grab him, some force slammed into him, throwing him off his feet and backwards into the wall of the church. Pews exploded around him as he slammed into the ground. He lay prone on the flagstones, stunned.
Eventually, with a groan, he sat up. The demon was sitting cross-legged on one of the nearby pews. “I warned you,” he said, still smirking.
Sam glared at him and got gingerly to his feet. Nothing appeared broken although experience had taught him that his bones were unusually tough and despite his rigorous combat training, he had never once broken a bone. He looked behind him. The church wall was shattered where he had impacted with it. A human would have been crushed by such an impact.
He really couldn’t work this demon out. It was clearly a very powerful creature; probably one of the Princes of Hell. Obviously, it could kill him if it wanted. Why hadn’t it?
“Just kill me and get it over with,” he said.
The demon laughed. “Why would I want to do that? Plans are afoot. There is much you are required to do before your time is up. There are things I need you to do for me.”
“For you?” said Sam, aghast. “I’ll never do anything for you.”
“Not consciously, no,” the demon concurred. “But it’s the things you’ll do of your own free will that I’m interested in.”
Sam didn’t know what to say to that. This demon confused him, and he suspected it was deliberate. He changed the subject. “What have you done to the altar?”
For a second, the handsome features of the demon flickered, to be replaced by something so horrible that Sam’s mind refused to acknowledge it. It was so quick that Sam thought he was seeing things, as the shock of the Rapture and Tribulation took their toll on him.
The demon considered Sam for a moment without speaking, almost as if he was reassessing the teenager that stood before him. Something in his manner changed and he suddenly became less flippant, less charming.
“We’ve done here what is being done to every church in the world. We purged it, with blood as you can see. The altar and the cross were the chief symbols of the power that used to dominate here. We destroyed their ability to influence the petty humans you love so much.”
Understanding came to Sam in a sudden rush. “You sacrificed someone?” he whispered in horror.
“Don’t worry, it was no-one you knew. Well, no-one you knew very well, at least. You really should go home and rest now. There’s a few surprises in store for you. You’re going to need your strength over the next few nights.”
Sam felt a wave of dizziness wash over him and he covered his face with his hands in despair. The demons had killed someone on the altar, just to ensure that any survivors couldn’t use this place as a refuge. Fury grew within him again. Suddenly, he didn’t care what this demon could do to him, didn’t care that his powers were much greater than his. All he wanted to do was put his blades between the creature’s ribs.
He took his hands away from his face but he was too late; the demon had gone, and he was alone in the desecrated church.
Numb, he stumbled outside. The rooftop was empty. For the first time, he noticed that the cross on the church steeple had fallen down. He searched around the grounds and found the heavy iron object broken on the ground. Normally, he could feel the holiness of objects such as this one radiating their purity. Now, he just felt nothing. The broken cross was now nothing more than two pieces of metal.
Suddenly, he wanted to be gone from this place. It was no longer a beacon for good. The demons had taken that away, just like they had taken away any chance of salvation.
With one last glum look backwards, he made his way slowly out of the church yard.
He spent the rest of the night wandering the streets aimlessly, unwilling to go home to an empty house just yet. Here and there, he saw someone who had not been taken by the Rapture. They looked confused and lost and all but ignored him. He did the same, too wrapped up in his own misery to consider the needs of others.
The clouds were still rolling angrily above him, a solid unbroken mass. Ash fell relentlessly as did the occasional larger burning fragment. Dawn came and went, with not one opportunity for the sun to break through. Everything about him was grey, as if the Tribulation had sucked all colour out of the world.
He was walking along one of the streets around midday when a dishevelled woman ran towards him. She seemed oblivious to the swords that jutted from Sam’s hip and shoulder.
“Have you seen them?” she asked, her eyes wide and constantly moving.
“Seen who?” asked Sam calmly.
“My husband and my children.” She grabbed him by the arm and looked him in the eye. Something in his eyes