Faith's Fire.



They are in a dimly lit room, there are candles everywhere, her young eyes closed tightly against the dim light as if trying to desperately lock out a bad dream. There is a stern female voice that seems to surround her, it pulls her young mind in every direction, taunting her.
“It is not a question of your faith Samantha, it is about those that will challenge it, young men will come into your life, they will promise utopia, they will test you.. Test everything that you believe in, the devil himself will come to you in many forms.. To test you Samantha… to test your faith.”
The voice turns into a male voice, and when she opens her eyes the room seems bigger.. Brighter..
“ So here you are Samantha Bliss… What do you believe in now?”
She closes her eyes again to ponder the answers.. Answers that perplex a young twelve year old mind. The answers do not come until she once again opens her eyes.. Now she is a woman.. Now she is in the back of a Threshold transport , on her way to a place in the high Desert called “Oxenburgh” She can still hear faint echoes of Father Muldowney’s question, as it reverberates through her conscious mind.
“What do you believe in now Samantha?”
She stares out into the pouring rain at the darkness of Oxenburgh, as the landing craft makes its final approach..
“Humanity.”

Rise.



Although the rain is still softly beating down across the red desert where Oxenburgh lies, the sun is still on the rise, and as it slowly spreads it light across the land, it give the whole desert an eerie red glow, at which the whole team marvels at in childlike wonder. They are jus three miles from the deserted ghost town that was once a mining settlement called Oxenburgh, they will proceed to the Rose hotel once inside the town limits, it is where they were hoping to lure the rebel demon known as Forge into capture, that was before Morganna.. Before they received a seriously frantic distress message from field agent Hanratty, something or someone had been chasing him through the desert and was moments from catching up with him when the call was received at Threshold HQ. they will land approximately thirty yards from where his last given transmission was sent and search for him before entering Oxenburgh itself.
They deploy from the transport with Samantha leading the point, Klinger is off to her left with Milo Tripper on her right, but it is Priss and Roxx that refuse to let Samantha out of their sight, they walk behind her with Sil, Ajax, J’Mac and Church holding up the rear. The members of team Alpha begin their sweep of the desert to search for Charles Hanratty.
“Lifeguard tells me that Hanratty’s signal dropped off about ten yards from our current position, keep your eyes open, he could be anywhere around here.”
She barely gets the words from her mouth when Ajax yells to the team.
“Agent Bliss!! We have a body over here!!”
The team move up behind Ajax and Samantha Bliss kneels down the examine the body, it is indeed according to his threshold Identification, Charles Hanratty. His body is cold and stiff, but rigor has not yet begun to set in. he doesn’t have a mark on him but when she turns his head to examine the face she sees the black eyes staring up at her, she yells back to Priss.
“Priss.. Come here a second, I need you to look at something for me.”
Priss appears over her shoulder and leans down to examine the eyes. She gives Samantha Bliss a confused look.
“What do you think?.. Is this the work of an Angel?”
She shakes her head at the notion.
“Not like any Angel that I’ve seen, Of course I am no expert witness to such things Samantha.”
“It feels like Morganna though, doesn’t it.”
Priss nods.
“Lets move the team into Oxenburgh.. We need to make some sense of this mess.”

Hanging From a Thread.



Before they even make into the town square where the deserted Rose hotel lies, the entire team recognizes the familiar stench of dead wrath’s. and when they step up onto the old wooden side walks that lined old Oxenburgh’s abandoned streets they see the first of many bodies. She studies the entrance to the Rose Hotel.
“Lifeguard?.. Are you picking up any signatures?”
There is a slight hesitation.
“Nothing Human.. Nothing Red.. Everything is dead.”
She motions for the team to spread out along the sides of the building.
“Klinger, you Milo and Church cover the back.. Ajax?”
“Yes ma’am?”
“ You take the left side , J’Mac.. You take the right. Sil I need you to watch the front door when Priss, Roxx and I go inside, can you do that for me?”
Sil is grinning from ear to ear.
“Yes Samantha.”
The three of them cautiously enter through the front door with weapons drawn, there are four dead red soldiers lying on the floor just to the right of them in front of the front desk of the Rose hotel. They do not see any sign of Forge.. Not at first. Six more steps in Samantha Bliss looks up, and to the very rear of the large lobby she can make the form of a male body hanging from the banister of the landing on the second floor just to the left of the top of the first staircase.. As she walks beneath it she sees that it has been wrapped up in barbed wire and then hung with it, the body is covered with lacerations and is dripping blood into a large pool on the floor beneath it.. Samantha Bliss knows that this is the body of Forge, Team Alpha is too late. Priss slowly approaches her and surrenders an envelope that her and Roxx found on the counter of the front desk.
“Why is this relevant Priss?”
“Because Samantha… the envelope is addressed to you.”
She opens it.. Already knowing who it is from.
“ I suppose that there is a little devil in all of us.. However, there are times in our lives, when we must all rise above even the noblest of our intentions to do what is necessary. If we hold ourselves accountable for our actions, but do not raise our fists in our own defense, we lose. If we all abide by conscience, and do nothing while evil thrives in the absence of it. We will all lose. This isn’t a war Samantha… it is a Reckoning.”

With all my love and respect..

Morganna.

Scratch.. ABT Copyright© 2007.