Page 4 of Ramiel

“What do we need to do, Father?”another person asked.“Those thugs took two women the last time they raided us in the middle of the night.Are we going to just keep turning the other cheek?”Her voice broke and another female comforted her as she sobbed.

“Justice will come to all those who perform dark deeds, child,” Father Ingles said with a smile that looked as fake as the dentures that Ramiel had found in his temporary base.

Ramiel didn’t like the look of the preacher.He sent his senses towards the mob, amazed at how much stronger he was this time.Most of the people had gray souls, with a few black ones scattered here and there.Just as he’d expected, Father Ingle’s soul was black.

“These humans have no idea the male they’re relying on to guide them is evil to his core,” Ramiel murmured.Clearly, Father Ingle was up to no good.The knight knew it was his duty to assist humans in need.None of them had white souls, but he couldn’t just walk away.He needed to get to the bottom of the priest’s plans.Besides, the preacher was roughly Ramiel’s size.He would spy on the human and follow him home so he could raid his closet.It would be his payment for aiding the folks who appeared to be struggling just to survive in the aftermath of whatever the Rapture was.

Chapter Three

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CATERINA SPRINTED ASfast as she could to escape from the dark deed she’d performed.Blinded by her tears, she came to a stop a couple of hours later.What would her great-grandmother think of her now that she’d murdered one of her own people?“I’m as evil as the creature who made me,” Caterina sobbed.

They’d all heard the Mad Prophet talking on the ham radio Granny Blaze owned.He’d spoken about the red-eyed devils taking over Manhattan.Governor Giamano was their puppet and they were gathering an army of militants.Their own oracle hadn’t verified to their clan that he was telling the truth.She’d only just come clean about it with Caterina.

“I’ll never be welcome in our clan again,” she said, wracked with sorrow.An owl flew past, hooting at her and scaring her into snapping out of her self-pity.Luca had been harassing her to sleep with him ever since she’d turned fourteen.Nine years of his overbearing attempts to force her to comply had built up her resentment.Raising his fist against her had been the last straw.She knew he’d worked his way through all of the single females in their clan who weren’t closely related to him.Caterina had been the only one who’d refused his advances.

“They’ll know I killed him by now,” she said as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve and stumbled back into motion.“His body wasn’t very far from our campsite.Granny Blaze will know I’m responsible when they don’t find any marks on him.”Only an autopsy would reveal that she’d turned his heart into a charred lump inside his chest.

She lifted one hand and her power welled up.Flames burst to life, coating her hand without burning her flesh.She closed her fist and the flames winked out.Caterina had used her pyrokinetic power to cook animals from the inside out countless times.Her talents had come in handy ever since they’d manifested when she’d been twelve years old.

“Now I’ll be seen as a monster,” she said, almost tripping over a fallen branch when she wiped her eyes again.Her tears were showing no signs of stopping yet.

Her soul didn’t feel darker, yet she felt as if she was stained now.Her shoulders slumped beneath an invisible weight as the cambion walked until dawn.Too tired to continue on, she blearily looked around, utterly lost by now.She’d instinctively avoided towns as she’d headed northward towards where the comet had fallen.Houses were few and far between in this rural area.Caterina was on a narrow dirt road and she could see the roof of a house above a rise just ahead.

She took off towards the house, moving so fast she would just be a blur to ordinary people.Coming to a stop behind the barn, she quested towards the house with her senses.“It’s empty,” she said in relief.Rounding the barn, she glanced inside to see the remains of long-dead animals.Plague had killed them along with the blight that had destroyed the crops.

Both the front and back doors were locked, so Caterina rammed her shoulder into the back door.The lock was flimsy and she stumbled a couple of steps when it burst open.Closing the door, she engaged the safety chain.The air was musty and dust motes danced around her as she crossed through the kitchen and entered the hallway.Too dispirited to be hungry, she headed to the living room at the end of the hall.She flipped the dusty couch cushions over and crashed for a few hours.

Caterina woke up at midday with her stomach growling in protest.“How can I possibly feel hungry after what I did to Luca?”she muttered.Murdering someone should have changed her on a fundamental level, but it was obvious her life would go on as it always had.

She ate some crackers and washed them down with water, then used the facilities.Taking her curly hair down, she brushed it, then redid her ponytail.Dark circles ringed her eyes and she couldn’t meet her own stare.The cambion searched the pantry for provisions, filling her backpack up.She couldn’t go back to her family now.They would surely treat her like a pariah.That meant she would have to provide for herself from now on.

Nightmares had plagued Caterina while she’d slept.Her slumber had been restless, yet she didn’t feel as exhausted as she should have.If anything, she felt stronger than she’d ever been before.She’d cooked Luca’s heart inside his chest in the blink of an eye.It usually took her a few seconds to perform magic like that.

“What’s happening to me?”she asked in despair as she left the house.The strange sensation that something had changed still hadn’t left her.Something was tugging her northward in the direction where the comet had landed.Had Granny Blaze seen all this?Was that why she hadn’t answered Caterina when she’d asked how long she would be gone?