A Prologue

"How many?" A man with blind eyes - though he could see perfectly now - stared out onto the horizon. The sun was beginning to conceal itself past the mountains in the distance.

Another one joined him. He wore a bright green shirt and had his long hair in braids down his back. "How many of?"

"How many did we kill, Tracy. I want to know how many we murdered."

Tracy gasped. "It was not murder, Greg. We have always had the intention of more peaceful measures - but they did not agree. You should know better than to sulk over a few bad things that we have done."

"Sooner or later those bad things get worse." Greg faced Tracy with a hardened look. "It went so far to corrupt thirteen of our own brethren to turn on us. The ones tasked to defend the door; the ones who willingly murdered their allies. What did it get them? Nothing. All they did was traumatize Ryan. He lived a life full of hardships greater than any of us. This pushed him over." Greg dropped his head.

"Why are you blaming yourself for someone's problem" He placed a hand on his shoulder. "We're free of the tyranny of Daniel. We lost many of our friends on both sides. We no longer have the very firstborn to lead us in the future. But we have you now, Greg," Tracy smiled. "Why do you have to beat yourself up over our past?"

Greg buried his face in his hands. "Because I know what's going to happen next. And I don't know what to do about the devastation humanity is about to experience. That is why I want to know: how many did we kill?"

Tracy paused. "Fifty-three of the Heart Angels were slain. Thirty-one Soul Angels never came back."

Greg inhaled deeply. He let out an explosive sigh. "It is worse than I imagined. Do you know what happens when a Soul Angel dies?"

"I'm afraid I don't. I'm not as old as you. I have only witnessed death at the City of Guardians. And when Peter passed."

"Ignore Peter for now. When a Soul Angel dies, they are just temporarily subdued. When this time period ends, however, life is returned to them." Tracy's eyes brightened up.

"Then why isn't Peter back here with us-"

"I said ignore Peter!" Greg shouted. "I take it you don't know what happens when a Heart Angel dies." Tracy shook his head. Greg sighed loudly. He returned his gaze to the sun as its last tendrils of light disappeared. The wind picked up around them. The friends remained silent as dusk crawled on.

---

Taylor shifted in her computer chair slightly as she pressed keys furiously on the laptop before her. She tapped her fingers on the hardwood desk as she examined the screen. "What are you looking at?" A voice whispered in her ear.

She jumped in her seat, letting out a yelp. Taylor fell sideways out of her chair, closing her eyes reflexively. She didn't hit the floor, though. Cautiously, she opened up her eyes to stare at a familiar face. She grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry," Michael said, folding his wings against his back. He helped her back into her seat. Taylor smiled wider. "Why are you so happy today? I'm usually the one grinning madly." He smiled.

"I finished the Twilight series today!" She giggled. "It's so romantic. Hehe, I'm such a girl over these things. Falling in love with that perfect boy, having a life full of adventure and excitement, then finally getting married and living happily ever after." She sighed with pleasure. "A girl can dream."

Michael laughed nervously. "Yeah, that stuff sure is... girly. So what are you looking at?" Taylor spun her chair to face the computer. Michael peered closely at the screen.

"Just looking at some Twilight quotes. I'm trying to find my favorites." She scrolled the page down, searching endlessly.

"Wait, scroll up for a second." Taylor did so. Michael stuck out a finger and pointed at a sentence. "What's the book about anyway? This seems a bit far-fetched, right?"

Taylor gasped. "You don't know what it's about!? Twilight is amazing! It has love and action and romance and vampires and everything!" She giggled again.

Michael laughed. "I thought Vampires kicked the crap out of Werewolves and drank human blood? How can there possibly be romance in such a story?" Taylor scoffed.

"Why don't you go read the book? I'm sure that you can pick it up at a store later today - oh, uhm, sorry..." She trailed off into silence, realizing her mistake.

Michael broke the silence with laughter. "It's alright. Let me try and guess your favorite quote." He stared at the computer's screen for a few seconds. He pointed at a sentence. "This one?"

Taylor read it to herself. "I totally love that one!"

"The dude's a vampire, right? I see the humor in that quote. 'You are my life now.' It's making fun of how he's dead." He laughed shortly.

"No it's not! It's totally romantic. Edward is dead and that sentence means he totally loves Bella. Like, he has no life, but now he has life cause she's there. You see?" Michael rested his chin on his hand.

"Not really. But it's kind of awkward that it relates to me." He laughed loudly. On the inside though, he ached. At least in that story the girl loves him back...

"I'll tell you about it sometime. So how was your day?" She shut her laptop off. Michael raised an eyebrow at her.

"You stopped being a fan-girl over Twilight to talk to me personally? Thanks." He smirked. "Well, I tried picking flowers for you. But then I realized that flying with flowers would freak everyone out since they could only see the flowers." Taylor giggled that same sweet laugh. Her cheeks tinted slightly to red - she blushed.

I guess this will have to do. Michael smiled.