“First there is nightmare. Then come the memories. Now she must hunt'.”

“I am the Messenger, Gabriel, she who is set over all the powers," I called out. "I evoke thee, Sammael, the Lord of Souls and Fallen angels of death. I am the Will of God and you shall come forth, incubus, the serpent with the lion's face, the Venom of God-""That is enough name calling... I heard you the first time.”

“Mom turned but did a double take. "Where did you get that necklace from?"I touched the pendant. "A friend.""A boy?"Yikes. "He's a friend who's a boy."Her mouth twitched in amusement and her gaze left the necklace. "First roses, and now a necklace? Are you sure Landon isn't you boyfriend?""This wasn't from him, Mom.""So you have two boyfriends?""No, Mom!" I almost shouted. "Neither of them is my boyfriend. Trust me. They're just boys who are friends. No connecting of words going on... or connecting of anything else, for that matter."She stared at me. "Hmm." Then she left my room. She was so weird sometimes.”

“All the beasts of Hell knew they couldn't stop me. I was the archangel Gabriel, the Preliator, and they knew that no matter how many times they killed, I always came back to kill them. No matter how much they frightened me, I remembered what Cadan had told me about the stories of me he had grown up hearing. Even demons feared something. The demonic reapers had nightmares of their own, stories they told one another to terrify, a legend that haunted them in their sleep. That was me. I was Hell's nightmare.”

“As much as I hungered to learn more about my past, I was afraid of learning other things too--mostly about death and despair, and dark corners of the globe. I prayed that those memories wouldn't come back to me, because I felt in my bones that some things were too frightening to remember.”

“I know you don't have access to that memory yet, but I don't think it's something I can just tell you. It means too much to me, I guess.”

“I am Ragnuk, and I am going to eat you now.”