“Bitter, bitter, this desolation of angels.”

“Was there any fate more bitter than to get what you long for most, when it's too late?”

“In moments Akiva was up in the ether, scarcely feeling the sting of ice crystals in the thin air. He let his glamour fall away, and his wings were like sheets of fire sweeping the black of the heavens. He moved at speed, onward toward another human city to find another doorway bitter with the devil's magic, and after that another, until all bore the black handprint....Once all the doors were marked, the end would begin. And it would begin with fire.”

“Once upon a time, an angel lay dying in the mist.And a devil knelt over him and smiled.”

“Once upon a time, the sky knew the weight of angel armies on the move, and the wind blew infernal with the fire of their wings.”

“Once upon a time, a little girl was raised by monsters.But angels burned the doorways to their world, and she was all alone.”

“She tried to pray, but she had only ever prayed at night, and it seemed to her that the moons made poor protectors when angels chose to hunt by day.”