Thunder rumbled again, and the rain continued to fall. One by one, the Horsemen guided their mounts from the platform, down onto the desert floor. They rode side

by side, a relaxed gait soon turning into a gallop, as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse headed across the desert.

The end of the world was their purpose.

The rattle of the ancient furnace kicking over woke Remy with a start, hands clawing on to the armrests of the leather recliner in a death grip.

"Oh, shit," he said, gulping air as the final vision of the Horsemen riding away across the desert slowly left his thoughts, like the last scene in a movie as it came to a close.

"Anyone ever tell you how cute you look when you're sleeping?" Francis asked, standing before him with two steaming mugs of coffee.

"How long was I out?" Remy asked, reaching for the offered cup.

"Not long," Francis stated, taking a sip from his drink. "Couple'a minutes, more or less."

"Where's Casey?" the angel asked, looking around.

"Over there in the beanbag chair," the man in the terry cloth robe said, hooking his thumb toward the corner of the room. Remy moved to the edge of his seat to look. The young woman seemed tiny, curled up in the center of the large, fluorescent green beanbag.

"She all right?" he asked, bringing the cup to his mouth, first inhaling the invigorating fumes and then taking an eager sip of the hot liquid. It had been too long since his last cup, and he felt as though he might be going through withdrawal.

The coffee was strong, some of the strongest in existence. But what would you expect from beans nurtured in the surprisingly fertile soils of Hell's southern re- gions. And Francis was always sure to brew a pot when Remy came around.

Francis wasn't at all what he appeared to be, a theme that had become pretty popular of late. At one time he had been one of the most honored angels in the Choir Virtues — a Guardian angel of the highest order — but he had been one of the many seduced by the words of Lucifer, joining the side of the Morningstar during the war in Heaven. Finally seeing the error of his misguided allegiance, the Guardian angel threw himself before the Almighty, demanding the harshest punishment for his sins.

Francis — then called Fraciel — expected death, but received much worse.

Taking advantage of the warrior's skills as Guardian, the Almighty assigned him the duty of watching over those angels banished to Hell after the war. It was his job to make certain that they stayed exactly where they had been sent. Occasionally a fallen angel — now a demon after its time in the infernal depths — would escape to earth. It was up to Francis to send them back.

The apartment building that he lived in and managed was built at a nexus where the barriers between the earthly planes and Hell were very thin. Those who lived in the apartments above were all former sinners, who, after countless millennia, had earned a chance to leave the infernal realm on a kind of parole, required to do a certain amount of good before being allowed to pass on to the next plane.

"She seems fine," Francis answered. He grabbed a wooden chair from beneath a tiny kitchen set and dragged it into the room, sitting down in front of Remy. "Now, would you mind telling me how the fuck you got involved with the Black Choir?"

Remy looked at him, perplexed. "Who?"

"The Black Choir… the Shunned. Angels denied a place in both Heaven and Hell for trying to play both sides during the Great War."

"The Black Choir," Remy said, a chill of unease racing up his spine as he recalled the sight of the former angels, twisted by their damnation. "Is that what they're calling themselves these days?"

"Yep," Francis said with a nod. "The Almighty didn't want them and neither did Lucifer. They're stuck in the middle, belonging to no one and perpetually pissed. I'm surprised you still look as good as you do."

Remy held out his injured hand, examining the blistered flesh. Despite the extent of the injury, he had already started to heal. "Would you believe I came up against them twice today?"

"Yeah, and I went to seven o'clock Mass this morning," Francis said, making a disbelieving face as he had another swig of coffee.

"How was the homily?" the angel asked.

"It was good, all about big fucking liars."

"I'm not lying."

"So tell me, then," Francis said. "How did you manage to piss off the Black Choir?"

Remy had some more coffee, the Hell-grown brew coursing through his veins, making his heart race like he'd just run the Boston Marathon. "Good coffee," he said, placing the nearly empty mug down on the floor beside the recliner.

Francis held out his mug, toasting him. "Got the beans fresh my last trip to Hell. Think it might be a little stronger than usual."

Remy glanced at Casey, then back to his friend. "Is-rafil is missing," he stated flatly.

"Missing?" Francis asked. "What, exactly, do you mean by missing?"

"You haven't felt it?" Remy asked. "That hint in the air that things aren't quite the way they're supposed to be?"

Francis thought a moment. "Didn't realize it was anything like this." He adjusted his black-rimmed glasses. "And you're looking for him?"

Remy nodded. "Hired by Nathanuel. He came to my office and everything."

"No shit," Francis said with wonder.

He continued to nod. "Started poking around a bit, getting wheels in motion, when the Black Choir shows up for the first time today — well, yesterday now, I guess — and tries to discourage me from continuing with the case."

Francis leaned back in the wooden chair, crossing his legs, letting one of his corduroy slippers dangle from his foot. "So what, you're guessing that somebody doesn't want Israfil to be found?"

"Right. Somebody wants to bring about the Apocalypse."

Francis whistled through his teeth, bringing his coffee cup up toward his mouth. "Man, you sure get involved in some interesting shit."

"Don't I, though?" Remy agreed.

"So where does Sleeping Beauty come into the picture?" Francis asked, motioning with his bald head to the corner of the room where Casey slept.

"It appears that Israfil became fascinated with the human species, wanted to experience it for himself, and melded with a guy who was dying of a brain tumor."

"You're kiddin'," Francis said, his voice a shocked whisper.

"Nope. He even went out and got himself a girlfriend." Remy looked over to the dozing Casey.

"Now I've heard friggin' everything. That's fucking nuts."

Remy went on. "But it didn't take long before there was trouble in paradise. Looks as though the two natures didn't mix so well — caused a little bit of a problem for our friend the Angel of Death when it came time to do his work."

Francis was quiet, soaking it all in as he gazed off into space.

"You've gotta find him," he finally said, focusing on his friend.

"No kidding," Remy said. "That's what I've been trying to do in between fallen-angel attacks."

Remy stood, his entire body thrumming. Francis' brew had certainly done the trick, giving him much more than a second wind. Even his hand was feeling better.

"What can I do?" Francis asked, standing as well.

"I'm going to need you to watch her," he said, both of them looking at Casey. "Somehow they found out her connection to Israfil. The Black Choir didn't know that I would be at her place. They came looking for the scrolls."

Remy approached the woman, who had started to stir. She came awake suddenly, eyes wide with fear as the memories of what she'd just gone through flooded her thoughts.

"Oh, my God," she said, eyes darting around the boiler room space.

"Shhhh, it's all right." Remy reached out, running his hand along her arm. "We're with a friend now." He moved so she could see Francis standing there. The man gave her a salute.