“You must be hungry,” said Gabriel. “I was,” replied Sam. “My appetite just disappeared.”

“We should bury the bodies,” Sam said. Gabriel shook her head. “We haven’t got time. There are two hundred and sixty seven bodies here. Do you know how long that would take?”

“Where did you learn to use a gas cooker?” Sam asked.... “And couldn’t you just, you know, use magic or something?” He wriggled his fingers dramatically. Gabriel smiled ... “I’ve been around for a long, long time. Thousands of years, in fact. Don’t you think I would’ve spent at least some of that time here on earth amongst you humans?”

“And remember your promise,” said Sam, wagging a finger at him. “Don’t follow us.” The man glared at him but kept silent....“What?” asked Sam, slightly confused by his good humour. “I can’t believe you said that.” “What?” “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry. Do you think you’re the hulk or something?” He laughed again. Sam found himself smiling although he was just telling the man the truth. He wouldn’t like him when he was angry. No-one did.”

“You really are pretty stupid sometimes, you know that? I think you must be more man than demon.” With that, she stormed off. Sam sat where he was, feeling bewildered. “Did I say something wrong?”

“As with everything she did, Aimi excelled. Academically, she was in the top one percent of students in the state and was in the track team that had just won the nationals. She said she only went in for cheerleading because she liked the physical activity. It made sense though, Sam thought. Because of her bright, cheerful attitude, she was also incredibly popular. At times Sam felt slightly jealous of her, but mostly he was just immensely proud.”

“You don’t ask for much, do you? It may look like we’ve got a whole lot of supplies here, but I’ve got five hungry boys to feed, plus I give whatever I can to Adam and the Black Ridge lot. You need to give me a real good reason, otherwise the answer is going to be no.” Sam took a deep breath. “I’m going to kill the Antichrist.” Big Tom sat completely still for a moment. Then he smiled. “Yep. That’ll do it.”