"Be still," a booming voice said.
The light around him was blinding.
"You have a debt to pay," another voice said.
"You have purpose, as you are," a third voice said.
Carlos shielded his eyes with one hand, but still could not break free of the force to stand.
"You are the only one who can enter the darkness to retrieve the book."
"What book!" Carlos shouted, not ready to give up any information while unsure of who or what he was dealing with.
"The Light seeks the unholy Book of the Damned" a thunderous voice replied.
"Your destiny is incomplete," another said, and then the globe retreated from Carlos.
He was on his feet in an instant. The blood hunger had abated, and he glanced around, terrified and confused.
"One-half of your pairing is to protect the innocent," a voice said.
Carlos spun around, unable to get a bead on the direction the voice was coming from.
"She guards the living," two more voices murmured in unison.
"You guard the dead, and are to deliver us the lost - those who were stolen."
"I don't understand," Carlos whispered, his voice catching in his throat.
"All seats at the table are vacant. The Chairman has fled his lair. We shall find him. But only one from his line can retrieve The Book of the Damned."
"The Chairman's book?" Carlos said slowly, and remained very, very still. He knew the objective, but that the Light was commissioning him to go after it down there was unfathomable. Maybe they thought it was topside. He posed the critical question to them to be sure he was clear. "The one he keeps stashed in his Council Chambers... under the crest at the blood table?"
"Yes," three voices said flatly.
Carlos watched a blue light appear in the distance and then become three entities. The light that emanated from them was so bright that he couldn't make out their faces or what they wore; they just seemed like three talking spheres of light. The moment the moonlight glinted off their shields he knew what they were; warrior angels, ring six - and they'd come out at night?
"There's only one way to get that," Carlos said, his voice shaky as he replayed their request in his mind. "If it's not topside, somebody would have to go down to Hell, get into Chambers, and go to the table..."
"Precisely," they said as one.
"But, I'm not a... I can't just... I'm - "
"We cannot tread past the borders of Purgatory without setting off the alarms of the Legions," the entity with the strongest voice said. "It is not an option or a request. The time is now. This is a command from On High. They have gone too far. They have our Covenant cleric in their book of treachery with your name beside it as the one who felled him. We cannot allow them to have both a member of the Covenant and our male Neteru within that book. That sacrilege is too great. The cleric is the one also from your vampire line, a defect that gave him the weakness to succumb to your lure. Though he, like you, had chosen a different path - the Light - your irresponsible use of power sent him into the darkness and tethered you to him as a consequence."
"Lopez?" Carlos whispered, already knowing the answer, and now knowing why the guilt had lacerated his soul so much. Were it not for him, Lopez might have been able to withstand his attraction to the one thing that would make him shed his clerical collar. Carlos hung his head. The debt was definitely heavy. Yeah. The angels had a right to make him go back down into the pit to go get the soul he'd compromised so that universal order would be maintained. He sighed. It was back to the Old Testament, an eye for an eye...
"He retrieved your ashes," the lead voice thundered. "Return the favor for your brother without question, and also redeem yourself."
"But you all allowed me to relapse?" Carlos was incredulous. This wasn't the side of a cliff to find a lair; this was a trip down to Hell. "You tested me with a deer! I know I owe him my life. I want this team healed, too, and will go. But if you wanted to send me on a mission like that, then send me strong, not weak. Why would you - "
"Was the man you sent to his demise stronger than you are now when you attacked him with a demonic lure?"
Their voices created an angry cacophony of rapid questions and demanding statements that split the night air and kicked up the winds.
"Was he more than you are now when he risked life and limb to perilously, fearlessly retrieve your ashes?"
"Dig deep into your conscience and answer with truth!"