"25.000 English SDH" "I remember the first war, the way the sky burned." "The faces of angels destroyed." "I saw a third of Heaven's Legion banished and the creation of Hell." "I stood with my brothers and watched Lucifer fall." "But now my brothers are not brothers." "And we have come here, where we are mortal, to steal a dark soul not yet Lucifer's to serve our cause." "I have always obeyed." "But I never thought the war would happen again." "Come to our help, Lord, Holy Father, almighty and eternal God." "You are the source of every honour and dignity, of all progress and stability." "You watch over the growing family of man by Your gift of wisdom and Your pattern of order." "When You had appointed high priests to rule Your people," "You chose other men next to them in rank and dignity to be with them and to help them in their task." "And so there grew up the ranks of priests... and the offices of Levites established by sacred rites." "In the desert You extended the spirit of Moses to 70 wise men who helped him to rule the great company of his people." "He shared among the sons of Aaron the fullness of their father's power, to provide worthy priests in sufficient number for the increasing rites of sacrifice and worship." "With the same loving care You gave companions to Your Son's apostles to help in teaching the faith." "They preached the Gospel to the whole world." "Let Joseph, who is to be ordained priest, come forward." "Lord, I am not worthy to receive You, but say the word and I shall be healed." "Almighty Father, grant to this servant of Yours the dignity of the priesthood." "Renew within him the spirit of holiness as a co-worker with the Order of Bishops." "We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ." "One God, forever and ever." "Amen." "Let Thomas, who is to be ordained priest, come forward." "Some people lose their faith because Heaven shows them too little." "But how many lose their faith because Heaven shows them too much?" "Years later, of all the gospels I learned in seminary school, a verse from St. Paul stays with me." "It is perhaps the strangest passage in the Bible, in which he writes:" ""Even now in Heaven there were angels carrying savage weapons."" "Hey, you're not supposed to be up here." "Sorry." "Don't fuckin' move." "You don't need a gun, Thomas." "Who are you?" "Everything used to be much simpler, didn't it?" "Get down, slow." "Everyone thinks they know what Heaven is like." "Turn around!" " Heaven isn't Heaven any more." " Now, take it easy." " Thomas..." "Thomas!" " Calm down." "Take it easy." "Will you listen?" "I was in the church that day." "I know what you saw." "I know why you left your faith on that floor." "What do you want?" "You have no idea what this is like for me." ""A Thesis on Angels in Religious Scripture." ""by Thomas Dagget."" "Do you still believe... any of it?" " You're asking me as a cop?" " As a priest." "But I'm not a priest." "St. Christopher." ""Go your way in safety."" "Do you believe that you're part of God's plan, Thomas?" "That's a complicated question." "No, it isn't." "You've found it, haven't you?" "You can't keep it from us, Simon!" "That's it." "Go ahead." "All right." "Why don't you call it in?" "Well, look at this." "Tommy Dagget actually lit by the light of morning." "What am I doin' here, Burrows?" "I work nights." "It's not even my division." "Well, we'll get to that." "Our friend here did a half-gainer from the fourth floor." "Jumper?" "Not unless he decided not to bother opening the window first." "81, clear." "Unit 14, clear." "Was he fucked up or what?" "Well, he wasn't exactly in condition to walk a chalk line when we got here." "You're welcome to smell his breath, if you like." "He is missing one or two things, though." " What's that?" " His eyes." "Maybe they're stuck in the radiator grill." "Who's the room registered under?" " John Smith." " Anything interesting inside?" "Well, there are what an experienced detective like yourself could possibly construe as signs of a struggle." "Of course, nobody saw or heard anything." " Place been dusted?" " Yeah." "Nothing." "Kinda weird, huh, somebody carrying that around?" "That's why Lieutenant Deason had me call you down on this." "Any ideas what it's doin' here?" "No." ""For it was there at Nicene that the world's fourth-century bishops..." ""declared that with the sacrifice of God's son man became one with God," ""for the first time lifted above all other creations" ""to stand at His side in Heaven."" "You been holdin' out on me." "I never knew you could read and write." "That measures eight feet." "Where's Chimney Rock?" "Arizona." "It's where I'll be in two years and three months." "You gonna give all this up?" "You're breakin' my heart." "Don't forget to tip the maid." "Hey, what's the big idea of sitting out here all alone?" "Someone's here." "Where?" "Pig out on all the cake?" "No." "But there might be one teeny, tiny little piece left." "But you'll have to race me for it." " What's that?" " Where?" "Oh, you sneak!" "Tommy." "A little early for you, isn't it?" "Joseph." " They got you workin' days?" " Yeah." "Huh." "Tyson, slow down." " Everybody's dead." " Do you got any more of this?" "No." "All right, where do you wanna start?" "Well, I think we could skip the cause of death." "Why don't we begin with his eyes?" " Your man has none." " What, they weren't in the radiator grill?" "No, I mean, he never had any." "No optical fibres, no muscle pores, zip." "We did a toxicology on his blood, you know, coke, booze, sugar." "What'd you come up with?" "High sodium, elevated erythrocytes, no floating cholesterol platelets, trace ammonia." " What's so unusual about that?" " Oh, nothing." "Nothing." "Actually, it's pretty common..." "for an aborted foetus." " Foetus?" " We also did a bone section." "It wasn't much trouble; most of them were sticking out of his chest anyway." "OK." "And?" "When a baby grows, their bones get larger by having calcium layers form over the interior haversian canals." " Are you with me?" " I'm with you." "This leaves growth rings; everybody's got 'em." "Except our pal here." "Oh." "And this is for you." "He's also a hermaphrodite." "Ohh!" "He's got both male and female sex organs." " Think of the possibilities." " Yeah." "He could be impotent and frigid at the same time." "They don't normally work." "We found this in the lining of his coat." " It's an old Bible." " Yeah." "Handwritten." "Beautiful, really." "See this symbol?" "Matches a scar on his neck." "Exactly the same." "That's attractive, huh?" " Anything else?" " There's a velvet book marker." " Cute." " What is it?" "Twenty-third chapter of St. John's Revelations." "And?" "There is no 23rd chapter." "Well, maybe this is the teacher's edition." " Can I keep this?" " Sign for it." "What are we gonna do here, Tommy?" "Do me a favour, just sit on it for a couple of days, give me a head start... before the wolves start circling, OK?" "Take your time." ""And there were angels who could not accept" ""the lifting of man above them," ""and, like Lucifer, rebelled against the armies of the loyal archangel Michael." ""And there rose a second war in Heaven."" ""Lieutenant to the seraph or archangel Gabriel."" "Gabriel." "Simon." "Over here!" "Mamacita." "Hey, cutie!" "Hey, don't let the door hit you!" "One-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand, four-one thousand, five-one thousand, six-one thousand, seven-one thousand, eight-one thousand, nine-one thousand, ten-one thousand." "You guys, I know you're here." "You guys." "I know you're in here." "Hello there, young lady." " Hi." " I'm Simon." "What's your name?" " Mary." " Mary!" "Mary." "That's a pretty name." " Does Miss Henley know you're here?" " No, she doesn't." "No one does." "And I would like to keep it like that, if we can." "Do you think that you could not tell anyone that I'm here, just for a little while?" "OK." "Mary!" " Come on!" " Come on!" "Come on!" " I have to go." " Let's go!" "Do you have to?" "Are you hungry?" "I could bring something." "That would be very nice, Mary." "OK." "Bye." "Gee, Jerry, you look like shit." " Leave me alone, Gabriel." " Soon, pal, soon." "Come here." " Go away." " Come here." "You still got a spark of life left in you." " Fuck you." " Hmm." "I want you to do something for me." " Why don't you just let me die?" " Soon." "Honest." "Don't start." "You know how I hate that." "I'm so tired." "I'm so goddamn tired." "Watch the profanity." "One more favour." " What?" " I want you to get something for me." "Some personal effects the cops took from the Gable Apartments... on Seventh Street." "It'll be sitting in a property room on San Julian." "And you just want me to waltz right in there like this, right?" "Go in during a shift change." " You got a name the stuff is under?" " John Doe." " Oh." "Why doesn't that surprise me?" " Number 12." "Bus fare." "7-8-25, code six." "105 North Vann, route 52." " Hey." " Hey." "Final spectrometry came back on that fancy Bible of yours." "If that new chapter's a forgery, it's an old one." "Carbon dating checks out second century." "That would make this Bible the oldest in existence then." "So don't lose it." "How's the translation going?" "Well, from what I can make out so far, this thing seems to be mostly about angels and the second war in Heaven." "Second angel war?" "Over what?" "Us." "Humans." "It says when God gave us a soul some angels became jealous and they started this war." "Really?" "You translated all of that?" "Well, when did it end?" "It doesn't say it did." "It does prophesise a little, though." "Come on." "Let me show you something." "It's been a while here, so bear with me." ""And there shall be a dark soul," ""and this soul will eat other dark souls and so become their inheritor." ""This soul will not rest in an angel but a man, and he shall be a warrior."" "Nice." "Very nice." "Let me ask you something." "Why wouldn't God just get rid of the bad angels?" "I don't know." "I don't know." "Maybe He can't." "Maybe He won't." "Come on." "Don't be so serious." "It's not like all this is real." "Well, what's in the basement is real." "And according to this, it's got a name." "Remember that symbol on his neck?" "According to some ancient Hebrew cabalists, that's angelic script for an angel named Uziel." "Are you saying we have a dead angel on ice?" "Ball three." " I'm gonna need to see a pass." " Shh." " Yeah." " Stop it." "Dork!" "It's over." "Back to the real world of learning." "Wait up." "Brian, have you seen Mary?" " l think she's out back." " Allison?" "We haven't seen her since lunch." "Were you upstairs?" "Mm-hmm." "All right." "Until I get back I want everyone reading and being quiet." "Mary?" "Mary?" " Mary, come here." " But Simon and I were..." "Now." "Ohh." "I'm not mad at you." "I just want you to go back to class." "OK?" " Bye." " Bye." "This is school property." "You can't sleep here." "It wasn't part of the plan." " Are you all right?" " Not really." "I'll have to call the police." "I wish you wouldn't do that." "They can help you." "No." "Not me." "Please leave, Katherine." "Hi." "Well, now." "I thought you left." "I hid." "I'm very clever." "Oh, yes, you are." "Very clever." "Mary..." "I have very little time left." "And since you have been so nice to me, there's something that I would very much like to give to you." "What?" "Something very special." "Can you keep a secret?" "The biggest secret ever?" "What is it?" "Come here." "Come here." "It's OK." "Come here." "You're a very clever girl." "Close your eyes." "Mary?" "Oh, honey." " Are you OK?" " I don't feel good." "Did you..." "Did you eat something?" "Can I go home now?" "Come on." "It's OK." "Emma?" "Mary got really sick in school and I thought she should come home." "I don't feel very good, Grandma." "Come on, sweetie." "It's all right." "I'll have the school send for a doctor." "He was just lying up there." "Most of my deputies are at a tanker spill and they may be a while." "These people are rarely any problem." "I'll have one of the boys come down by tonight or tomorrow and chew him out for ya." "All right." "I mean, as soon as you can." "He was kind of strange." "All right, thanks." "Looks like one of those snow angels we used to make as kids." "Lay down on a clean snow bank, swing your arms up and down." "You know what this means, don't you?" "Our friend's cleaned out all our evidence on Mr Doe here, everything." " Guard get a good look at who nailed him?" "Yeah." "TaII." "smiled a Iot." "I think I have to go." " Where?" " Chimney Rock." "Go." "Figure this out." "Then call, tell me I'm not crazy." "You like the desert, Jerry?" "You promised." "Soon!" "Don't be a pest about it." "Never trust a fucking angel." "I can't see, you know." "Hey, look, man, what the hell do you need me for, huh?" "It's a big universe, Jerry." "Some things in it are talking monkey work." "Monkeys." "Like you." "Oh." "well, that's great, Gabe." "Stop!" "Stop the car!" "Ahh." "I can always smell a graveyard." "You enjoying' yourself up there?" " I always enjoy watching you work." " How'd I ever get you in my life?" "Stop." "You didn't really want to kill yourself." "Oh, no, I did, actually." "I did kill myself, right?" "I mean, I did do it." "Ahh, technically." " So you're just keeping me alive." " Letting you die slower." "Oh, yeah." "Thanks, man." "I'm so in your debt." "Thank you, Jerry." "I'm touched." "Ohh!" "Fuck." " Ah." " Oh, fuck." "Don't hurt it." "Ah." "There you go." "That's it." "Brush off." "That's it." "Be very careful." "Open it up." "Whoa." "Ah, there it is." "Not much to look at." "It's not what's on the outside that matters." "It's what's on the inside." "Oooh!" "You are looking at the cleverest, meanest, sickest talking monkey." "I love him." "Time to go." "Gimme a kiss." "It's not here." " More bad news for the war effort?" " Shut up!" "Jerry, come here." "If you were a soul... where would you hide?" "The hell away from you." " Hi, Simon." " Hi, Gabriel." "Long time." " You know why I'm here." " Oh, yes." " Don't have it on you, by chance?" " No." "No." "That'd be too easy." "Sorry, man." "You know." "Simon." "Get serious." "So, where's the soul?" "You know, bigger than a bread box;" "used to occupy the recently dead Colonel Hawthorne." "You can't keep it from me, Simon." "The stalemate is over." "Why are you doing this, Gabriel?" "I want what's mine." " I bow to no human in Heaven." " But the Word..." "No one hears the Word any more." "No one!" " Without the Word..." " There's only the argument." "I'll not step aside." "I will not allow any talking monkey to take my place." "I'll burn down Heaven to stop it." "I'm so tired of this war." "Reject the lie, Simon." "Join us." "Help us make it like it was before the monkeys." "You remember." "We cast out Lucifer's army." "You and I." "We threw their rebel thrones from the wall." " They wanted to be gods." " I don't want to be a god, Simon." "I just want to make it like it was before the lie, when He loved us best." "Oh, Gabriel." "When was it that you lost your grace?" "I'd like to help you, old friend, but I can't." "I'm not sure who's right, who's wrong, but it doesn't matter." "Sometimes you just have to do what you're told." "That's who we are." "You know, the great thing about a conversation like this?" "You never have to have it again." " You know the routine." " Yes." "Not yet!" "Simon." "I can make this last forever." " This is getting boring, Simon." " Hey, man..." "Where is it?" "Where did you put it?" "Give it to me!" "You're an abomination, Gabriel." "You'll never get that soul." "You're a tough one, friend." "Old school." "What's going on, John?" "You may want to skip this one, Katherine." "Were any of your, uh, students up here?" "Mary." " How is she?" " Same." "Has she seen the doctor yet?" "He found nothing." "But something is in her." "So we have called the hand trembler to find if she must have a sing." ""And there shall be a dark soul," ""and this soul will eat other dark souls and so become their inheritor." ""This soul will not rest in an angel, but a man, and he shall be a warrior."" "How long ago was he buried?" " Which time?" " "Which time"?" "What do you mean?" "Somebody dug him up last night." "Local hoods, probably." "I just finished putting' him back." " Did you call the sheriff?" " Sure." "They were busy up at the school this morning." "Some wino burned himself up." "Expectin' I'll be burying' him too." "Don't run, don't run." "Don't run!" "Don't run." "Can I help you with something?" "Yes, I'm Thomas Dagget with the police." "Katherine Henley." "I'd like to ask you a few questions, if I may." " It's about that guy upstairs?" " That's right." "Well, sorry, but I kinda got my hands full right now." "Do you mind if I tag along?" "Let me help you with that." "Make yourself useful." "Hey, you forgot something!" "Thanks." " What grade is this?" " Oh, it's all of them." "The town doesn't seem that small." "Well, after the copper mine closed, it sort of took most of the town with it." "Jade, you hurry back!" "So we just teach out of this one corner now." "The rest of the school has been abandoned for years." "Hey!" "Get him, Danny!" "It's happened before, you know." "Homeless people just looking for a place to sleep." "Of course, no one's ever burned themselves up before." "Did you talk to him?" "Yeah." "I wanted to know what he was doing there." " Did he say?" " No, he didn't say." "I mean, he looked like he was hurt, bloody, like somebody had cut him." "Is there something going on I should know about?" "Did any of the children come in contact with him, talk to him in any way?" " Yes." " Which one?" "Well, she's home sick today." "I'd like to speak with her parents, if that's possible." "Well, her parents are dead." "She lives with her grandmother." "I'd have to ask her." "Did you know an Arnold Hawthorne?" " The colonel." " Did you go to his funeral?" " Everybody did." "He lived here." " Any dark secrets?" "There are no secrets in a small town, Mr Dagget, dark or otherwise." "OK." "Thank you." "Sure." "No, not really." "I mean, he lived here, but nobody ever really talked to him much." " Have any family?" " Nah, not Hawthorne." "Town'll probably just auction this place." " Yeah." " Well, lock up when you're done." " OK, thanks." " Sure." "It's unusual to see someone your age in a church on a week night." "Don't get me wrong." "I think it's a sign of excellent character." " You're not from here." " What are you doin'?" "Looking for something." " Did you find it?" " I will." "Found what you're looking for..." "Thomas?" "Excuse me?" "Do I know you?" "How do you know my name?" " Ah, you look like a Thomas." " Hey." "Look at me." "You want me to look at you?" "Huh?" "You know how you got that dent in your top lip?" "Way back, before you were born, I told you a secret, then I put my finger there... and I said, "Shh."" "OK?" "There and there." "Put your lips there." "Pucker your lips and blow." "Just a little bit." "This trumpet's special." "Very good." "Kevin." "Have a mint." "On me." "Huh?" "Oooh-ohhh." "What?" "What, you want an autograph?" "Come on, get out of here." "Next." " Sandra." " How'd you know my name?" "Well, you look like a Sandra." "You have very pretty teeth, Sandra." " Thank you." " Let's check 'em." "Hmm?" "Ahh." " Did you see the man upstairs, Sandra?" " A little." " Did you talk to him?" " No." "Well, who did, Sandra?" "Who talked to the man?" "Mary." "Where is Mary, Sandra?" "What the hell do you think you're doing?" " I'm talkin' to the kids, ma'am." " Sandra, come here." "Come here, honey." "The rest of you inside." "Now." "Go on." " Bye, Gabriel." " See you, kids." "Study your math." "Key to the universe." "Bye, Gabriel." " Who are you?" " That's a long story." " Ignore him." " Yeah, everybody else does." "Look, I don't know what's going on here, but I think you both should leave." "You're right." "You have no idea what's going on." "So you saw Simon." "What did he say to you?" "You weren't supposed to be here." " Why?" "Is something wrong?" " Emma." "It's OK, Mary." "You don't have to talk to him." "You don't have to talk to any of them." "He was just asking me about Simon." "Simon?" " What did he say to you, Mary?" " He asked if I could keep a secret." " What was that?" " Something he gave me." " What did he give you?" " Then it wouldn't be a secret." "You're a good friend not to tell, Mary." "But I'm a good friend of Simon's too." "So if you want to go ahead and say what it was, you can to me, OK?" "It's a secret." "But sometimes it hurts." "Ever cut off a Chinaman's head?" "They don't bleed." "Not like we do." "Or maybe it was just the cold." "You could always tell when they were coming." "Those songs." "They'd charge through the snow." "Their guns froze." "And that was OK because we were better." "Colder." "At Chosin, we were colder than anyone." "Make it stop, Miss Henley!" "Make it stop!" " It's OK." "It's OK." " Make it stop!" "Make it stop!" "Shh." "What are we gonna do?" "She's going to have the enemy ghost way." "We leave this afternoon." " Wh..." "Where's the ceremony?" " It's at her clan's village." " Old Woman Butte." " You're gonna take her away?" " This girl needs a doctor." " She's already seen a doctor." "Chinamen's heads?" "Chosin?" "I've never heard her talk that way before." "Is someone teaching that to your kids in class?" "Yeah, sure." "Right next to Jack and Jill." "Colonel Hawthorne was at Chosin." "Did she talk to him?" "She had no contact with him." "He hated children." "This isn't just about some drunk who burned himself up at the school, is it?" "Can you tell me the truth, Thomas?" "Did you ever read the Bible, Katherine?" "Long time ago." "Ever notice how in the Bible, whenever God needed to punish someone or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, He sent an angel?" "Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like?" "A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood." "Would you ever really want to see an angel?" " Why are you asking me this?" " They want Colonel Hawthorne." "They want a dead, forgotten, psychotic colonel." "They?" "There was a man at my school this morning." "The children were calling him Gabriel." "He had Sandra on his lap." "What does he want with my kids?" "I don't know, Katherine." "But I gotta find him." "I know where you can find him." "He was parked right here." "It's cold." "What's that?" "I don't know." "It's angelic script." "Thomas?" "No!" "Saint John was right." "There's a war in Heaven." "Is Gabriel an angel?" "He wants something." "Something that's here." "He wants Mary." "Thomas, he wants Mary." "Mary?" "His car." " Get away from her." " Son of a gun." "Priest." "Wannabe." "Figured it out." " Mary?" " Shh." "She won't feel anything, honest." "I have to rip her apart, of course." "It's just the way it goes." "See, Simon hid Hawthorne's soul inside her." "I need it." "Nice Catholic boy like you, Mr Dagget, should be on my side." "Goddamn it!" "You're gonna have to watch it with that profanity." "Mary." "Look into my eyes." "Come on, motherfucker!" "Come on, fuck!" "Thanks, man." "You're a sport." "Pest!" "You have any idea how hard it is to get one of those?" "Why?" "I'm an angel." "I kill firstborns while their mamas watch." "I turn cities into salt." "I even, when I feel like it, rip the souls from little girls." "And from now till kingdom come, the only thing you can count on, in your existence, is never understanding why." "You, give me a kiss." " Mary!" " Go!" "Go!" "You... can't... have her!" "Thomas!" "Get that one and a half inches over to the other side." "We need more!" "You don't understand." "You gotta cuff him." " He's dead." " He's not dead." " Cuff him, do you hear me?" " Bob, just do it." "Do it!" "All right, Jack." "Cuff him." "Put him in my car." " All right." " They got him." "They got him." " Wh..." "Where's Mary?" " She's here." "She's here." "Hey." "On Earth, they're not immortal." "They're not like you and me." "You've got to cut their hearts out." "Come on." "We gotta go." "Let's go." "Let's go." "This is a good place." "Separate water source." "Stocked grain." "Only one possible approach." "A man could, with the proper defences, hold off an entire battalion." " Hi." " Can I help you?" "Yeah, someone's gonna die." "Soon." "Here." "I'll just be a minute." "Uh, there's no visitors allowed in I.C.U." "Timing is so important." "I smell these things." "Shh." "So." ""Nancy." Recovering?" "Hmm." "Recovering?" "Huh." "Stable?" "Get out of here." "Deteriorating." "Critical." "My favourite." "Rachael." "Not yet." "Come back." "Come on, back it up." "That's it." "Come on back." "Ooh." "Ahh." " Hi!" " No, no, no, no, no." "Shh." "Don't start." "I hate that." "Come on, don't start." "It's only for a short time." "Promise." "Hello, Katherine." "We must talk." " Oh, my God." " God?" "God is love." "I don't love you." "I..." "I can't." "I can't do this." "I can lay you out and fill your mouth with your mother's faeces." "Or we can talk." " Are you one of them?" " Them?" "Are you an angel?" "I am the first angel, loved once above all others." "A perfect love." "Ahh, the winged party boy is about." "Come to feed on the guts of your little Mary." " Are you a part of it?" " No, Katherine." "Other angels have made this war because they hate you." "You and all humans." "God has put you in His grace and pushed them aside." "They're desperate." "They've never been able to conquer the other loyal angels." "And so this war has remained in stalemate for thousands of years." "And while this state of affairs endures, no soul can meet its God." "Your parents and their parents and so on, from the beginning, lie still in wormy earth." "Of course, some of them do come to me eventually." "For while Heaven may be closed, I am always open, even on Christmas." "Gabriel has a plan." "Humans... and how I love you talking monkeys for this... know more about war and treachery of the spirit than any angel." "Gabriel is well aware of this and has found a way to steal the blackest soul on Earth to fight for him." "If he wins, Heaven opens." "I know that this new Heaven will just be another Hell." "You see, I'm not here to help you and the little bitch because I love you or because I care for you, but because two Hells is one Hell too many and I can't have that." "What I'm offering you is a chance not only to save Mary, but to finally open Heaven to your kind." "What do you say?" "I saw the devil tonight." "If you have something to say... why can't you say it to me?" "Thomas." "I had a voice once, Katherine." "For as long as I could remember," "I had a voice that called me to my God, that called me to church." "And on the day that I needed that voice the most, it left me." "It's better never having known that voice." "All I know is that I'm not going to let anything happen to Mary." "All right?" "Say, ma'am, any idea where I can find Old Woman Butte?" "Yeah, it's on the reservation." "Don't suppose you could be just a tad more specific," "Madge?" "The light." "It was so... br... bright." " Isn't your friend hungry?" " What?" "Not for a while, I'm afraid." "Funniest thing." "Don't do that." "Take the 522 to the Sonsela Wash cutoff." " Right." " First dirt road, go left 20, 25 miles." " You'll see it." " Much obliged." " Let's get crackin', Rachael." " No!" "Eternity here." "In that sagging skin suit." "Or one more day with me." " Why?" " Can't drive." "But I can wait." "Until the stars burn out, if you don't make up your mind." " I doubt we'll meet again." " Suits me." "Thank Heaven." "Little Tommy Dagget." "How I loved listening to your sweet prayers every night." "And then you'd jump in your bed, so afraid I was under there." "And I was." "Do you know what Hell really is, Thomas?" "It's not lakes of burning oil or chains of ice." "It's being removed from God's sight, having His Word taken from you." "It's hard to believe." "So hard." "I know that better than anyone." "And there's your weapon." "Think, Thomas, think." "What is the one thing essential to an angel, the thing that holds his entire being together?" "Faith." "Faith, faith." "And what would happen if that faith was tested, and an angel, just like you, didn't understand?" "Use that." "Use it!" "He's coming." "Go inside, lock the door." "There's one shot." "OK?" "It'll be OK." "You're gonna love it, Rachael." "It'll be our night to howl." "Nice move." "Beautifully done." "Tommy, you've got to come work for me." "Upstairs." "I..." "I could get you in now." "You'll love it." "Nobody tells you when to go to bed." "You eat all the ice cream you want." "You get to kill all day, all night, just like an angel!" "Save yourself, friend!" "Why go to the wall for that bitch and her rug rat?" "It all turns out the same anyway." "Now, later." "I'm gonna rip that kid apart." "I'm not an angel!" "I'm just a man." "Which means I got something you don't." "It's a soul." "This is gonna really hurt." "Your war..." " Make it good." " Your war is a lie!" " Right." " It's not about humans." "It's about God." "What do you know about that, you monkey?" "I don't have to, Gabriel." "I know you." "I know what it's like to be ignored, pushed aside." "I know your anger, Gabriel." "I know what it's like to lose your faith in the Word." "I know." "'Cause you hate Him." "You hate Him just a little bit." "'Cause you're jealous." "That's what this war's about..." "jealousy." "Jealousy that He could love something more than you." "Something with a soul." "Well." "If you wanted to prove your side was right, Gabriel, so badly, why didn't you just ask Him?" "Why didn't you just ask God?" "Because..." "He doesn't talk to me any more." "Gabriel!" " I'm getting so fed up with you." " Go to hell." "Heaven, darling, Heaven." "At least get the zip code right." " It's all the same to you, isn't it?" " No." "In Heaven, we believe in love." " What do you love, Gabriel?" " Cracking your skull." "Kill me!" "Oh, God!" "Mary!" "Go home." "Go home!" "Finish it." "Long time." "This war is mine." "Your war is arrogance." "That makes it evil." "That's mine." "Lucifer, sitting in your basement, sulking over your breakup with the boss." "You're nothing." "Time to come home, Gabriel." "The enemy ghost is gone." "The war's over." "It's done." "No." "I want you both to come home with me." "Never." ""I love you." "I love you more than Jesus."" "You owe me one." "You're gonna ask me to take you home." " No." " You will." "Because anything else will be worse than you could ever imagine." "Katherine." "I have my soul." "And I have my faith." "What do you have... angel?" "Leave the light on, Thomas." "Is he coming back?" "I don't think so." "And in the end I think it must be about faith." "And if faith is a choice, then it can be lost... for a man, an angel or the devil himself." "And if faith means never completely understanding God's plan, then maybe understanding just a part of it, our part, is what it is to have a soul." "And maybe, in the end, that's what being human is after all."