“Why were the other angels attacking you?""It's impolite to ask the victim of violence what they did to be attacked.”

“Because there’s no reason to think Paige had to eat anything. Paige is not a low demon. She’s a little girl. A vegetarian. A born humanitarian. A budding Dalai Lama, for chrissake. She only attacked the angel to defend me. That’s all.Besides, she didn’t eat him, she just… gnawed on him a little.”

“They're not ‘fellas.’  They’re not anywhere near human. They’re nothing but leaking sacks of mutated maggots, just like you.” Lookswise, he and the other angels I’d seen were closer to living Adonises, complete with god-like faces and presence. But inside, they were maggots for sure.”

“How long did you resist?” asks Uriel. “Did you push her away? Did you tell her she meant no more to you than any other animal? Oh, Raffe, did she die thinking you didn't care about her? How tragic. That must just tear you to pieces.” Raffe looks up with murder in his eyes. “Don't. Talk. About. Her.”

“Angels are violent creatures.” “So I noticed. I used to think they were all sweet and kind.” “Why would you think that? Even in your Bible, we’re harbingers of doom, willing and able to destroy entire cities. Just because we sometimes warned one or two of you beforehand doesn’t make us altruistic.”

“Don’t you want it?” I ask.“That depends on why you’re giving it tome.”I shrug. “Sometimes, as we’re stumblingalong in the dark, we hit something good.”

“What I would do with angel intel, I don’t know. But it can’t hurt to gain a little knowledge.Tell that to Adam and Eve.”