It knew that he would be calling upon it again. And the angel beckoned to it, calling the force of Heaven to his side.

The power of God's will surged through him like lightning. Remy's body trembled with the ferocity of his disappointment and hate, while tears of happiness streamed down his face.

For once again — even for the briefest of moments — he was complete.

There was a searing flash of brilliance, and the stinking aroma of cooked fur and flesh filled the air, along with screams of animals in pain.

The fire alarms sounded as an artificial rain was released to douse the source of the intense heat, turning to steam as it touched his body.

Remy knelt upon the floor, rocking with the pulse of the power that coursed freely through him. The animals had withdrawn, forming a cautious circle around his glowing form.

Despite the water from above, it felt as if he were on fire and his delicate human shell was wracked with pain. He could feel blisters forming, the fluids of his fragile body brought to boil from the intensity of the power that wanted so much to be released.

But to do that would be to give it all away, everything that he'd worked so hard to build.

And he did not want that.

Remy yanked back upon the psychic reins, restraining the primal powers of creation bestowed upon him by God, attempting once again to place it under his control.

The power fought him, the intensity of the light radiating from his body growing. He could smell his own flesh burning now and felt himself grow nauseous from the stench of his fragility, but he did not allow it to deter him. He continued to fight the wild, angelic nature, and finally his perseverance was rewarded, as the brilliance thrown from his body began to subside, and he managed to place his Heavenly aspect beneath his control.

He pitched forward, the cool touch of the water-covered floor feeling good against his scorched skin.

Slowly he lifted his head, seeing that the animals, despite their injuries, were still waiting.

Waiting for the opportunity to pick up where they'd left off.

Remy struggled to focus through blurry eyes as the animals — their coats singed and blackened — silently started toward their prey. He wondered if they could overtake him if he made a run for the door. It was worth a chance, and he tensed his legs in preparation to spring, when the laboratory door flew open, smashing off the wall with such force that it cracked the glass window and dug an angry gouge in the plaster wall behind it.

Francis.

The animals bellowed; their cries unified into one all-encompassing shriek of fury as they started to move forward.

"You might want to move your ass," the former Guardian angel said over the constant ringing of the fire alarm. He pulled a gun from a holster beneath his arm and started to fire at the advancing animals, as he reached out and yanked Remy up from the floor.

"Not that I don't appreciate the save, but what are you doing here?"

He didn't answer right away, continuing to fire at the wave of animal life that kept swarming over the motionless, but not lifeless, bodies of their fallen comrades.

"What the fuck's gotten into them?" he asked as they backed toward the door. "It's saccharin, isn't it," he said, aiming his weapon and firing again. "I knew it. It doesn't give you cancer — it makes you fucking nuts."

They reached the door. Remy grabbed the knob and pulled it closed behind them, shutting in the swarm of living things that surged across the flooded linoleum floor.

"We might want to think about getting out of here before the fire department and the police show up," Francis said, putting the gun back into the shoulder holster beneath his arm.

Remy agreed with a nod, and lurched toward the doorway that would take them into the tunnels. He felt stronger already as he led the way past walls lined with student lockers painted a fluorescent yellow.

"Is that a sunburn?" Francis asked.

Remy glared.

"You let it out…" his friend suddenly said. "Let's not talk about that now. Where's Casey?" he asked.

They had reached a set of stairs that led up from the tunnels and into a back garden section of the college property. They took the stairs two at a time, coming out into the early morning.

No surprise, it was still raining.

"We've got a problem," Francis suddenly said, and Remy stopped. In the distance they could hear the wail of sirens.

"What kind of problem?"

"I brought the girl to the safe house like you asked, and then Lazarus showed up."

Remy nodded. "Yeah, I asked him to. For backup."

Francis brought his long-fingered hand up to his face, stroking his chin. Remy noticed a line of dark bruising along his friend's jaw.

"He wasn't alone," the fallen angel explained. "He brought some Seraphim, and after they kicked the crap out of me — I'm fine by the way — they took the girl and left."

Remy clenched his fists, feeling his anger surge and his concern for the sake of the world begin to intensify. "Son of a bitch, he's part of this. Lazarus is part of this."

"Looks to be," Francis said softly, unhappy that one they had trusted in the past had turned against them.

"It explains how they knew where to find us — the Black Choir in Southie, me here." Remy stopped talking as something slowly rose to the surface of his thoughts. The look on his face must have been something awful.

"What's up?" Francis asked cautiously.

"I think I figured out where Israfil is, and I bet they have too," Remy said.

"So, what, the Seraphim are behind all this?" Francis asked, his face screwed up with confusion. "Why the fuck would they want to start the Apocalypse?"

Remy shrugged, shaking his head. "I found the scrolls in Jon's office, but it was a Seraphim who caused my little predicament back in the lab, after he relieved me of the scrolls."

"So you had the scrolls, but you lost them?"

"Yeah, mostly."

"Mostly?" Francis asked.

Remy reached inside his coat pocket. "Hope it wasn't too damaged by my momentary physical change," he said, pulling the rolled piece of parchment from the inside pocket of his coat.

The scroll appeared a bit singed, but the seal remained intact.

"I hid one, just in case."

"Sneaky for an angel," Francis said, a sly smile creeping across his features. "Are you sure you never fell?"

Remy placed the scroll back inside his coat to protect it from the rain.

"So what do you do now?" Francis asked.

They headed across the garden in the direction of Remy's car.

"I don't really have many choices," he said. "I either try to stop them or I don't. I think you know which one I'm going to pick."

"Need any help?" Francis asked.

Remy turned his head to look at him. "Yeah, that would be greatly appreciated."

"De nada," Francis said. "So where to, then?"

"We've bought ourselves some time with the scroll," Remy said, patting his coat, as they came up to his car. "There are few things I have to do first, but then we're heading for the Cape."

"Excellent," Francis replied, pulling his own keys from the pocket of his dress pants and turning in the direction of his own car. "Been meaning to get there all season."