Chapter 4

I bruised both shins and one foot before finding the door. The one time in the last hundred years I needed an 'EXIT' sign and there were none to be found.

"Alice!" We were out in the hallway now, the light back to normal. I could see her, crying silently. "What's wrong, what is it?"

"He's dead... no, he's gone."

I rolled my eyes. "Yep. You tell me you're how old and you've never seen someone die?"

She looked up at me now, expression suddenly hard.

"Maybe I've forgotten all the times. Maybe I want to keep it that way. How can you be so callous about someone you've known for centuries?"

Her tone was accusing, but her voice held a tremor of fear.

Frankly, I was scared out of my wits too.

Everything I'd ever been told promised me I'd live forever, to the end of the universe and beyond. Sure gods had been disappearing, but there could have been a thousand other reasons...

To see one, someone I knew, just flash out of existence like that chilled me to the bone.

"It won't do us any good to get frightened about this." It took everything I had to keep my voice steady, "You heard him, he was ready to go, could you say that for the mortals you've known? He was ready and willing, death was what he wanted and it found him."

Glancing up and down the hallway, I decided to start walking before anyone saw us in front of the now empty apartment.

Ophois was leaning against Alice as I hurried her along. One of the girl's hands dangled down to sink into his plush pelt.

There was a set of payphones in the main lobby, for those residents who were too poor to even own their own. Like many gods. They were just what I needed.

I found Alice a seat on a nearby bench and left her there as I searched through my pockets for change.

It was an ungodly hour of the night, but I was hoping that a particular cop was still on duty, and more than that, at the station house.

I paged through the phone book until I found the most likely station.

The front desk picked up in a single ring.

"East Harlem police station. How may I direct your call? If this is an emergency please hang up and dial nine-one-one."

"Uh," I had to fight down the lump that formed in my throat, "Is officer Murry available?"

"Please be specific. We have multiple officers with the last name of Murry." The police woman on the other end was professional and brisk, her voice alone trying to hurry me along so she could get to the next call.

"He's an older man, a beat cop. Walks the poorer area."

Without pause she said, "That would be officer John Murry. He is off duty now and will return in the morning. Is this an emergency?"

"No, no." I almost physically backed away from the phone. "Can I leave a message?"

"Certainly." I could hear the relief in her voice when she discovered what would get rid of me. "What is your message?"

"Just tell him that I'm giving him some information on his current case. He should check out apartment two-eighty-one in the projects on East one-thirty-seventh."

"Who is this? If this is pertaining to criminal activity I can transfer you to an available officer..." Her voice had perked up now that I offered the possibility of something to lighten up the night shift.

I hung up on her.

"What the hell are you doing, Robert?" Alice was at my shoulder now. Rather conveniently, she'd regained her poise. "They'll be all over the apartment once they realize he's dropped off the face of the planet. They'll think we're the cause of it! They'll find our prints!" Her voice had risen until I had to shew her back and make her sit down again.

"Don't worry." I grinned. "Despite what the movies may tell you, it's just short of impossible for someone to lift prints off a door handle. So many people touch them that any prints are obscured and rubbed together, and I doubt either of us touched anything much else in there." I lifted the sleeve of my jacket up. "And even if they trace the call..."

"But why?"

I shrugged. "That guy seemed genuinely concerned for all the gods that had gone missing on the street. He'll never put all the pieces together, but it can't hurt to at least tell him who to cross off on the not-dead-yet list. Anyway," I guided her gently towards the door, "We've got places to be."

"Where?"

"Uptown." We were on the sidewalk now. The last of the evening light had slipped away, leaving us with nothing but the artificial glow of the streetlights and passing cars. "This is way beyond anything I can handle. We need to pull out the big guns."

"What?" She gave me a funny look, "You're going to pull in the military, the government?" She went pale, "Don't tell me you guys are the Illuminati!"

I snorted. "Please. Mortals, and gods for that matter, are too incompetent and short sighted to even run a single country most of the time. Take it from someone who knows, there is no grand conspiracy. People might wish and believe it so, but there's nothing out there but us. And, sister, that's scarier than anything some half-crazed conspiracy nut could ever come up with."

We caught the number six subway south, down into the heart of Manhattan.

I was jumping at every shadow and scuffle, Alice little better. Ophois was still with us. I had no idea how he managed to walk brazen as day among the crowds down here without being seen. He seemed to slip between the people like he was made of canine shaped smoke.

The train wasn't busy this time of night. It was just us, a couple of teenagers, and an old woman who I swear looked like she'd just gotten off the boat from Russia.

The three of us, Alice, Ophois, and I, were tucked into the front of the train, the kids and the granny in back.

I didn't even pay them any attention until I heard a wet thunk. Turning around, I could see the kids, they'd moved. The two of them were huddled around the old woman. She was spread out on the floor. A puddle of red spread out next to her head like an off-colour halo.

Alice gasped from beside me.

They didn't even seem to notice us as they set to work, running through her pockets and turning her purse upside down, dumping out its contents across the floor.

Alice was nearly on her feet before I managed to grab her by the arm, pull her back into her seat. I didn't even notice the spark this time.

"Don't." My voice was below a whisper.

The woman lay face down on the floor, unmoving while the kids finished finding anything they could of value and hopped off at the next stop. It was only then that I hit the 'Emergency' button.

We followed the kids off, this was our stop anyway. I stood in the shadows, Alice and Ophois at my side as the conductor walked down the platform to see what the problem was. He took one look at the lady before running back to his car and calling the cops.

The boys in blue arrived soon after. I will hand it to them, they did seem to be doing their job these days. A decade ago and it would have taken them a couple of hours to get here. We sat and watched as they entered the car, paramedics following them soon after. The lady was taken away on a stretcher. I couldn't tell if her chest was moving but I knew she was still alive.

"Why didn't you do something!" Alice only held herself in check just long enough for the cops to clear out and the train to move on. "You're a god! Why didn't you save her?"

I didn't bother to raise to the bait. This was something I'd settled on long ago.

"Yes, I'm a god. So what? You want me to swoop into action with a cape and mask or something? Get real. My powers are limited. I can hardly do anything more than you can. Go give a donation to your local police force if you want heroes. I've seen more mortals fill that role than I've ever seen gods."

"But you..." Her face was red as she gasped for words.

"She wasn't drowning, so it's out of my league. Stop trying to make me into something I'm not." I had to fight to keep the scowl off my face.

I led her away, Ophois at our heels. At least that was one person who understood me. He didn't look up at me as if I'd just betrayed the woman by not jumping up like Superman.

We'd gotten off at the sixty-eighth street station. It was only a few blocks walk from here to East sixty-fifth.

James had a sweet apartment just off Central Park, right next to a Jewish Temple.

You wouldn't think twice about it to walk past. There was absolutely nothing to suggest who lived here. It was a narrow, unadorned brick building. It wasn't until we opened the front door to the street that I felt the eyes upon me.

The door wasn't even locked. They didn't have any reason to. People walked past this building like it wasn't even here.

Those who knew we were here knew who I was, they likely even knew Ophois too. I wasn't exactly Jame's best friend, but I'd dropped by enough times in the last few decades not to raise much more than an eyebrow.

James tended to keep his own hours, so showing up at eleven at night wasn't notable.

The inside hall of the apartment building was clean whitewashed drywall. It was nice enough, but only just enough to not look trashy.

"Alice," I left her in the small mudroom, "You and Ophois had better wait here. I just need to make sure everyone's happy before I bring you up."

"Wait, who?" She didn't even get the chance to ask before I was gone. No matter how she, or even Ophois, tried they'd never be able to follow me. The defences on this home were far to strong for anyone to ever enter unless they had been given a previous invitation.

The way that I had been first invited here was a story in and of itself, but that was for another time. Right now I was more concerned with making sure I wasn't about to get tossed out on my ear.

"Good evening, Mr. O'Toole. It's been a long time."

"Hi, Raph."

I got a huff out of him. He'd taken the last name of 'Red' long before I'd ever been made and tended to get annoyed whenever anyone referred to him by anything other than 'Mr. Red'.

I, of course, had never once called him that.

"It's been a long time since you've last come by." In any human his tone would be condescending, but that just wasn't possible in an angel of his rank. Oh no, such petty things were far, far below him. I knew that. Of course

I gritted my teeth.

"Yeah, it's been a long time, Raph." I didn't bother trying to meet his eyes. "Has anyone else come by recently? Anyone of my level?"

I made a point of not mentioning why I was here. The longer he thought this was just a social call the better. The archangels were Jame's elite, his personal guard. If there was even the slightest hint that something could be a threat I'd never see a single hair on his beard before they spirited him off to some fortress of solitude until the crisis was over.

Yeah, I wasn't saying much to Raph.

But he was standing in the middle of the hallway, blocking my way.

"You want to move?" I was trying to edge around him without looking like I was edging around him. It was out of the question to just shove my way in. The man before me might look like he just walked out of a western, with a pair of faded jeans, cowboy boots and a button up shirt -the only thing he was missing was a wide-brim hat - but he could snap me in two without even trying.

For every believer I had he likely had millions, if not more.

The catholic religion, for all it's monotheism, sure did like to worship its angels and saints. He packed enough power that I could almost hear it crackle in the quiet hallway.

"You know the drill, O'Toole. No one gets in without talking to us first."

I tried to look innocent. "Hey, James was happy enough to see me for a distraction last time."

A frown pulled at his face. "No." His word was unequivocal. "We do not play games with his safety. He may trust you, but he trusts everyone. Why are you here?"

I put up my innocent face, "Just dropping by for a chat, that's all."

I swear that I could hear him growling like a dog.

"Don't lie to me, O'Toole."

Now I gathered myself together for what little menace I had. "I may not be as high and mighty as you are, Raphael, but I am a god. You are but an angel. Let me through."

Any other place and that would have gotten me flattened, but fighting was strictly forbidden in Jame's home.

Yeah, I was going to regret that next time I saw him on the street. Big time.

"You have a mortal and a mutt waiting for you in the lobby. Who are they?"

"The dog belongs to Wepawet, and the girl is of no consequence. She's just that, a mortal. She's travelling with me for the moment. Somehow she's learned about the gods."

He's brow pulled down. "Robert, we do not announce ourselves to outsiders. To do such has never proven wise."

I did my best to stand up to him, but it felt like I was trying to hold back a hurricane with my bare hands.

"I didn't do anything. She already knew about the gods when I found her. I'm just preventing her from spreading the news."

"They're not getting in. James may, for reasons known only to his holiness, enjoy your company, but his grace does not extend to whoever you may scrape off the street."

Alright, that's it.

Cupping my hands around my mouth, I took a deep breath... only to get Raph's arm tightened around my neck like a noose, cutting off any hope I may have had to yell.

"Fine!" He whispered, voice hissing as he held his lips an inch from my ear. "You win, O'Toole. But we'll be watching you."

From anyone else the line would have been melodramatic enough to make me snicker, but I'd seen Raph with his standard issue flaming sword.

I wasn't about to start laughing.

Popping back out to the lobby, I beckoned for Alice and Ophois to follow. They did without a word.

We passed Raph, this time, without a single twitch, and continued up.

It was two flights of stairs to Jame's flat. I hadn't the slightest what else was in the building, I'd never been anywhere but his place.

The door to his apartment was unmarked. I noticed two more archangels, one at either end of the hall, as I stepped up.

There was so much magic and... flat out power in this place that it made my skin crawl. James seemed to like having me around, but I hated coming here. It was like I had bugs running up and down my arms the entire time I was in the building.

There had been a repulsion when I'd been near Marty, a feeling of being pressed back. One got that with James too, but stronger, far, far stronger.

I rapped on the door and heard a grunt from within a moment later. It was no surprise he was here, I'd never once seen James leave the apartment since coming to New York.

I leaned up against the wall and got ready to wait. James wasn't exactly the fastest person I'd ever met.

Alice came to lean on the wall next to me and even Ophois had decided to lay down before I heard the click of the handle turning.

He threw the door open without even the effort of a pretence.

"Robbie!" James stood before us in his unkempt glory. Long brown hair ran down past his shoulders, framing his eternally tanned face and blue eyes.

He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that likely hadn't been changed in a week.

"Dude," He ushered us in with the sweep of his hand, "Come in, come in. It's so rare I get visitors these days." He smiled, "It's always good to see you, Robbie, it's good to see anyone." His eyes fell on Alice, "And my dear girl," He bowed low to take her hand, but I pressed myself between them. He continued on as if that was normal, "I don't believe we've met."

"James, meet Alice." I nodded to her, "Alice, this is James, otherwise known as Jesus."

She, understandably, went pale.

It wasn't everyday you got to meet the saviour of one of the biggest religions in the world.

The apartment was more than a step better than James' own appearance. The angels couldn't do much for him, but they made sure to keep his surroundings a little closer to what one might expect for someone of his stature.

While thankfully not dripping in gold and jewels, it was clean, modern, and well looked after. Wood floors, whitewashed walls, and a conspicuous absence of anything religious. I'd asked him about that once. He'd told me in no mean words - it was one of the few ways I'd ever found to make him mad - that he'd had quite enough with everyone trying to push and pry religion into his personal life. He may be their saviour, but he still needed his personal space.

"Can I get you something, Robbie, Alice? I was about to send one of the guys out for pizza, it's no problem."

"Thanks, we're good, James." The man's generosity quite literally knew no bounds. He'd give you the shirt off his back without you even having to ask. It was the angels that kept themselves in constant attendance who prevented him from giving it all away in a heart beat.

This was one of the reasons I was happy I wasn't a god of his calibre. Having that many people praying to you, being pulled in that many directions, it wasn't good for a human mind.

"Yeah..." He was talking to himself now. A snap of his fingers and one of the lesser angels was at his side. A couple of mumbled words and he was off again. "Half a dozen pizzas. That should be about right." He grinned, the expression was almost sad on him, but it still seemed somehow uplifting. "So, Robbie, you never come here without a purpose. What can I do for you today?"

He flopped back onto a pristine white couch and scooted around until he could see his big screen TV. The remote was in his hand, but he held off until I spoke.

"James," I took my normal seat beside him, "How many of us have come by recently? You know, the lesser gods?"

He shruched up his face for a moment, thinking. "None. You know that all those busybodies downstairs like to keep away everyone worth talking to." He waved his hand to Alice, gesturing her to find a seat, she did so with more than a little hesitation. I noticed she chose a chair on the far side of the room.

"Why? Something up?" The temptation finally got to him now, he flicked on the TV but was kind enough to set it to mute.

James, the great saviour to millions. He had survived thousands of years, resisted temptation a million times, but just couldn't say no to cable TV.

Well, at least he wasn't like some of the gods I'd met. TV addiction was one of the more mundane things I've seen from people born that long ago.

"I can't find them, James," I continued, "They're gone. All of them."

He shot me a lethargic glance, "Have you tried the lost and found? I'm sure they're fine. We're always fine."

"No, James," I tried to get his attention back, "They disappearing, really. Right in front of my eyes. I saw Marty just evaporate, give up, become nothing."

He fought to keep his eyes on me, but the television kept drawing them away.

"I've never heard of that, Robbie. Are you sure your eyes aren't just deceiving you?" He yawned, sounding like he was ready to fall asleep right there. "Come on, my friend, that's the way it's been since time immortal. You can't just tell me things have up and changed just now."

"Will you at least get your folks to look into it? Come on, James. When have I ever steered you wrong?"

A lazy smile worked its way to his lips, exposing perfect white teeth, "Well, there was that one time in Barcelona when you..."

I waved my hands franticly in front of him, still careful never to make contact, "Exnay, Exnay," I glanced back to Alice.

He grinned again, wider now. It was one of the first real emotions I'd seen on his in a long time.

"I'll do it." He waved a hand in my general direction. What true emotion I'd been able to stir in him was gone as quickly as it had come. "But until then," He glanced over to the door an instant before the knock came. I didn't bother to wonder how he'd known, "There's pizza."

The angel was back, loaded down with box atop box. He still managed to be light on his feet, as was expected for his kind, but it was hard to look elegant while toting around almost a half-dozen deep dishes.

James tucked in like there was no tomorrow, and I took a piece to be polite. I had to shove a slice in Alice's hands and force her limp fingers around it.

Okay, it wasn't exactly 'breaking bread' with Jesus as one might expect. But then again, I'd never known James to stand on formality.

He wandered off into talking about the present day, and his most common topic, sports.

I never was able to understand quite why, but he'd picked up one hell of an interest in sports of every type. I always figured it was as a result of so many people praying to him of trivial things like basketball matches, but he seemed to know everything about every game.

And the one trait he'd picked up in the last little while was an obsession with NASCAR.

Save me. Someone please save me.

Try as I might I couldn't seem to force him back to the topic at hand. He'd talk about everything else but wouldn't spare a thought for the true problem that faced us.

"But you're Jesus." Alice's voice was little above a whisper, "You can do anything."

"Anything?" He grinned a soft, tight lipped smile at her.

I noticed that Alice was still holding her cold slice of pizza, untouched.

"Anything is a big word, Miss," he continued, "You don't know what 'anything' is until you've tried to do it." His smile turned sad. "Could I save a man? Yes. Can I save all the deserving men who have ever lived? We'll see. Can I stop time and end all suffering? Sorry, no. I've tried, I really have. God knows how I've tried." He paused for a moment as the expression slipped through. "It doesn't matter I'm the son of God, I still have limits," He winked at me, "More than you might think. I can only do what people expect of me, what people want." For just the briefest moment an expression of anger crossed his face before he forced it back down, "And I'm not ashamed to say that the modern belief that I condone violence does not please me. Some days it feels that those who worship to my name haven't the slightest clue who I really am. Is it too much to ask that they read my writing, discover my history, before they fall to their knees and ask miracles of me? Everyone wants to remake me in their own image, so many want of me without being willing to give anything in return." He wiggled his fingers, I could feel power crackling in the room. "I wonder if Budda has these problems? He was just a philosopher, not a messiah. Maybe that's what I should have been. Then people might have at least learned some of my beliefs. Better than them just blindly following whatever the--"

"Yeah, thanks, James." It wasn't often that I cut him off like that, but there were some rants that I really didn't need to hear again. The fact that a god could continue on for days without food, water, sleep, or even pause for breath only just made it worse.

"Could you at least call some of your equals? See if they've noticed anything?" I pleaded. There was a good number of powerful gods - God among them - and James was the only one I had access to. Trying to get close to one of the Shinto gods would likely end up with me being physically thrown from the building.

"Sure, Robbie. Anything for you." He smiled. At least I'd managed to get his attention from the TV for a while.

There weren't a lot of major gods, certainly not as compared to us minor small-fry, and Jame's phone book of equals was only a couple pages long.

It didn't take long for him to work his way down the page. From what I knew he talked to them every so often, but you never saw two major gods of different religions in the same room.

Ever seen a nuclear detonation? Yeah, it's nothing like that.

James was kind enough to do it on speaker phone. The voices on the other end were normal enough, and neither Alice nor I were stupid enough to say a word, but it was frightening to think that this was as close as I'd ever come to the top of the top of the supernatural set.

No one seemed to have noticed a thing. They weren't all confined to their apartments like James was, but then again they didn't tend to socialize much with us lower sets. I was only lucky enough to have gotten to know James through sheer chance.

"Well, there you have it, Robbie." He punched the hang up button one more time, "I've got nothing. Just wait for a while, I'm sure one of my buddies will find something for you." He grinned, "I've already got my angels on the street. Everything will turn out okay, it always does." He scowled for a moment, "Well, except for that whole murder and having my corpse hanging on display thing. That wasn't so much fun."

"Yeah..." I replied. James had a sore spot about that. Not that I blamed him.

He flicked off the mute on his TV and turned to watch it. "Come on, Robbie, Alice. The night is still young and there's so much to do."

And 'do', in Jame's opinion, was laying in front of the TV and vegging to NASCAR.

It took everything I had to get Alice to speak up. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights every time he glanced at her. I will say it is a little intimidating. I only lucked out in not knowing who James was the first time we'd met, otherwise I'd likely have been tongue tied too.

"Jesus... James?" Her voice was slow and pensive as she spoke, like she was calling to a bird, "Are you really him?"

He didn't bother responding until the commercial break. Leaning back, he cracked his spine, slowly, one vertebrae at a time.

"Yep." His voice came out as a monotone. I knew for a fact he'd had this conversation a thousand times before, perhaps even a million. "Born in Bethlehem, did the things they said in the book - well, most of them anyway, some are more allegorical - then got killed off for my trouble. That's what you get for spreading a message of peace and tolerance." He snorted. "And the less said about my belief of keeping one's religion private the better."

k I rolled my eyes. "We've gone over this before. You were alive for what, forty years tops? The church as been around for two-thousand. They get more say in this than you do. Get over it. I don't get to control what my believers do, neither do you. We're the gods here, we're the ones who get shaped by them, not the other way around." I let a smile creep to my lips, "Unless that is you want to start using some of that power you've been pumped up with."

He sunk back into the sofa cushions. "No. That's not what's expected of me. I'll just sit here calmly until Judgement Day, listening to the whisper of a million prayers in my head, not doing a single damn thing. It's all I've been doing for two thousand years. Some days I just wish Father would get around to it and end the world. That would put an end to the insentient whispering!" He pulled back as soon as the words left his mouth, as if the action alone had burnt his tongue. "Sorry." He cast his eyes upwards for a moment, almost as if expecting God himself to appear.

I knew better. The two of them didn't exactly get along all that well. From what I'd heard, the last time they'd been in the same room together was shortly after James had first been made.

"Anyway," He forced himself back to the present, "I'm him, in the flesh." He pounded his gut that had just the slightest bulge to it. "Any questions?"

For a moment I thought he'd broken Alice. She sat silently, staring at him.

"No." Her single word was clear.

"Cool." He looked honestly relieved. "You're the first person in longer than I can remember who hasn't taken hours of my time with inane questions."

He turned back to the TV.

We didn't get another word in as he cranked the volume. The sound of the cars racing by on screen was enough to drown out anything.

By the time the next commercial break came James was asleep. His head was back on a pillow and his lips twitched as he tried to swat away yet another prayer that wormed its way into his mind.

"Let's get out of here, Alice." I took her limp hand and pulled her towards the door. "We've got James looking into this. It's all we can do." It wasn't until we were out in the hallway that I noticed that a particular furry white butt was missing from our party.

"Ophois!" I stuck my head back through the door. The dog was sitting in front of James, for the love of all things holy I would have sworn the two of them were talking. James was still asleep, but Ophois had his lips right up against his ear.

"Now, mutt!" I would have grabbed him by the collar if he had one.

He gave me a sour look, but followed me out of the apartment without comment.

I hustled the two of them down the hallway as quick as they would move. We almost made it too. Down both sets of stairs, we were in sight of the front door when a shadow fell across our path. I didn't even bother to try and ignore it.

"Hi Raph." I sighed and slowed to a stop, Alice and Ophois carefully tucked behind me.

"You didn't think you'd be leaving so soon after what you said to James?" The voice came from behind me. Bugger.

It was Mike.

Raph was a little bit unpredictable, but Mike was downright cold. Mike was the so called head of James' men. He was always perfectly calm, even while leading his men into battle, even when slicing the heads off of his enemies.

I really didn't want to be his enemy. They didn't tend to stick around for long.

One thing the two of them had in common, other than way more power than me, was that they were both slavishly devoted to James' protection.

These were no mere bodyguards, they owed everything to James. Their power, even their existence flowed from the other man. They would do anything to keep him safe. Even working against their master's wishes when they thought it was best.

They were the reason that James never left his apartment. The god didn't have a choice.

It was Mike who spoke, but I couldn't turn, couldn't take my eyes from Raph who stood not a stride before me, glowing.

"There's a rogue element in the city, and you take it to James?" The archangel's voice was just short of disbelieving. "How stupid do you have to be, Robert, to come straight to the most important god in the city when you're being followed by a threat."

"Okay, two things," I fought to keep my temper under control, "One, he's not the most important god. I don't want to get in that argument again. Two, he's perfectly safe. The only gods in danger are the lesser ones like me. There's no indication at all that the more powerful gods have anything to fear. You know better than I that a pixy couldn't make it into this place without permission. Even if James was under threat he'd still be perfectly safe with you people." I tried to sugarcoat my words as I forced my temper back. I wanted to be able to walk out of this place without a beating.

"You're coming with us, Robert. You're going to tell us everything you know about this new threat." As always, Mike's voice came out like smooth, clear water.

Okay, this wasn't good.

"Let the girl and the mutt go. They don't know anything. I'll tell you everything I know, just let them go. They're not even gods. They don't know anything."

Raph took one look at them before snorting and pointing his thumb towards the door. "Get out of here."

I had to push Alice forward to make her move. I doubted she understood what was going on, but even she could feel the power here.

Ophois, surprisingly, followed right along beside her like a faithful guardian. He cast a glance back at me as if to ask, 'Are you crazy?'

Yeah, perhaps I was.

I'd only once before had to endure the tender meat-hooks of these men, shortly after I'd first met James. They had tried to discourage me from forming a friendship with the god.

As far as I was concerned they were just something I had to deal with to know him. Heh. No one ever said the knowing Jesus was easy.

The front door closed behind Alice and Ophois with a click. It sounded a little too final for my tastes.

I was unceremoniously marched down the hallway to a set of basement stairs. Yeah. James' apartment was on the top floor and they were marching me as far away from him as possible.

James, I could just about guaranty, knew nothing of this. He was a good man, believed the best in everybody and always saw the light. His bodyguards had been forced to grow the opposite direction to try and protect him.

I never did much understand why he even had guards. Up until today there had never been a single threat to any of the gods. Having guards had always seemed like overkill to me. Oh well, it wasn't like I was paying their wages.

Down in the basement, then the sub-basement, we descended until there was nothing but bare concrete walls around us. Through a heavy steel door we entered a small room with nothing but a single wooden chair sitting in the centre.

I didn't exactly have the best sense of smell, but even I could pick up a lingering hint of iron in the air. That wasn't a good sign.

"Take a seat, Robert." Mike's voice came from behind me.

I did as asked and looked towards him. He was dressed in a pair of fresh bluejeans and a bright orange short sleeved shirt. I noticed that nothing he wore was expensive, nothing he couldn't throw out if it became stained and sticky. "We're going to start from the top. Tell us everything you know."

I shrugged and cleared my throat. It wasn't like I had that much to hide.

Well, except for Alice. I made sure to gloss over her... unique characteristics. It wasn't that I particularity liked her, but I knew for a fact that she wouldn't be long for this world if Mike knew she was anything other than normal.

Mike wasn't the kind of person to take chances.

"Fine." Raph narrowed his eyes as I finished the story. He was leaning against the door now. "And what aren't you telling us?"

"Nothing." I raised my hands slowly in front of me. "I swear, guys. It's everything I know."

"I don't believe you." Mike's voice never changed.

Yeah, I was a lousy liar.

Raph cracked the door open and reached out into the hallway. His hand came back holding a run of the mill paring knife. It was like anything you could find in kitchens the country over. I didn't like the way it glinted in the light of the single unshaded bulb the hung suspended above us.

"Robert," Raph took a step towards me as he spoke, "James likes you. We don't enjoy hurting his friends. You tell us everything you know and we won't have to do this."

I sat back and closed my eyes. "I don't have anything more to say."

I didn't bother fighting as they stripped off my shirt and jacket. They were old pros at this. They knew I'd have to be able to walk out of here. None of the damage they'd do would be visible.

Somebody going for theatrics might have played with the knife first, made some threats. Not them. They'd been doing things like this long before I'd ever been made.

Somehow, deep down, I really did believe them when they said they didn't want to do this.

Well, it didn't help the pain as he sliced me open. He didn't approach it hesitantly, nor did he stab me like a serial-killer. He just cut into my gut like I was a side of beef.

"Will you tell us what we need to know?" Mike's voice never changed.

I was a god, I couldn't die, so they didn't need to worry about hitting any vital organs. But I still felt pain just like when I'd been alive. The only difference was that couldn't die from it.

A cut here and a slice there, they'd long ago discovered more than any mere mortals about where to cut to cause agony to blossom up like flowers in the spring. A single nip from that blade and my entire body lit up like a firecracker going off.

"Go. To. Hell." It took everything I had to grit out the words as the breath was driven from my lungs. At some point they'd slipped a square of leather into my mouth to bite down on. It might sound like nothing, but I was grateful for even the small concession.

I didn't bother yelling. It wasn't that there was any chance James could ever hear me, but that wouldn't stop Raph and Mike from binding my mouth if I tried to call. They couldn't take any chances that he would ever know of this.

There was no clock in the room, but I did notice the two archangels checking their watches every now and again.

I will say I was proud of myself for not passing out. Frankly I might have preferred it, but then they just would have waited for me to wake up again before continuing on.

There was no real sign before Raph simply threw his knife to the floor.

"I'm good. You?" He turned to Mike.

The other angel nodded. "Get him cleaned up and out of here." He turned and was gone a few moments later.

Raph disappeared as well, but returned with a roll of cotton gauze and a jar of paste that smelt faintly of nutmeg.

"Sorry about all that, Robert, but we have to be sure. You understand." He spoke roboticly, like he'd said the words a thousand time. Somehow I doubted he truly expected me to understand.

"Uh..." I fought to catch my breath as my wounds dripped onto the unfinished concrete floor. "Yeah, sure. Got to protect the queen bee and all that."

He gave me a queer look.

"What did you say?"

I blinked. "Huh, what? You've got to protect the top dog, that's all. You guys wouldn't be much without your messiah would you?"

He grunted. "Right. Yeah." A moment later he'd wiped away the blood and covering my wounds with that concoction of his. I doubted it did anything to help the cuts heal, but it seemed to seal away the bleeding and let me walk out on the street again. That was all that mattered.

"Robert," He didn't look up at me as he spoke, "Don't come back."

I shook my head to clear the sticky cobwebs of pain. "What?" It was hard to focus on his voice, the pain of my wounds still pulled at me.

"Don't come back to see James, Robert. I won't let you in." He took a deep breath. "You may be his friend, but his safety is more important than his wishes. He's the saviour of mankind. He must be protected at all costs. If there's a danger following you I won't let you in."

I slumped back against the chair.

"Yeah, thanks for the warning, Raphael." I closed my eyes for a moment, watching the carnivorous shadows that seemed to swirl behind them. "I'll remember that." I laughed. "Jesus and the angels of light can't help me banish a simple shadow. Somehow I suppose it's fitting."

"Don't judge us, Robert." His voice was slow and tired. "We all have to do what we've been brought back to do. James has his place in the world and Mike, Gabe, and I have ours."

"Not judging you, my friend." I struggled to my feet, trying not to flex my chest in the process. It still hurt every time I moved. "We're all just playing our roles."

Nobody barred my way as I slowly trudged up the stairs. I knew I was being watched, but there was no one in sight.

Out the front door, Alice and Ophois were waiting on the steps, ignored by the world streaming past them.

Ophois knew I was there from the moment the door creaked open, but Alice jumped when I sat down stiffly beside her.

"Robert!" For a moment I thought she was going to throw her arms around me.

I just smiled. "You were smart, waiting for me."

She grimaced. "It's not like I had much choice, your mutt sat himself down right here and wouldn't move. And it's not like I have anywhere else to go."