"Forgive me father, for I have sinned."
Father John Cunningham sat back in his chair and looked at the black grid that hid the features of the man behind it. "How long has it been since your last confession, my child?"
"It's been…a while."
"I see." The priest remarked while typing on a laptop computer. "And what are the sins you have committed?"
"I have taken life."
Cunningham stopped typing and raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? That is a most serious sin. Who are these lives that you have ended?"
"The lives of the Angels Harmony, Atlantis, Vengeance and Babel."
Cunningham's eyes widened. He shot to his feet, and his body began to change. The cloth on his back began to ripple, but his transformation was stopped by three silenced bullets slamming through the grid and into his body. A fist smashed through the wall and grabbed him by the neck.
"I thank you for greeting me as a mortal, Muse." The man said. "It's so much easier than fighting you in Angelic form." With that, he plunged a hand into the false priest's chest, closing his fingers around a part of the body no doctor dreamed existed. Muse gasped and went limp. The man pulled back one of Muse's eyelids and nodded as he saw the human eye fade to gold, then to black.
"And that makes four." Said Daniel Guard.


Daniel forced a totally casual look as he left the church. He'd stayed behind for a few minutes after the kill to remove the evidence of his bullets and attack through the wall of the confessional box. Normally he didn't bother with such details, but Muse hadn't merely taken on mortal form – he had killed and replaced the real John Cunningham to wait out whatever scheme he was involved with. Daniel had created the illusion of a simple heart attack within the priest's body. Father Cunningham had been an exemplary member of the local society, and Daniel felt it was the least he could do to dispel any stigma a Mafia-style murder would have on the man's memory.
Daniel stopped by the side of the road, and moments later a motorbike pulled up beside him. The biker took her helmet off, revealing the cheerful girl underneath.
"What's up, kiddo?" she grinned. This was a joke – she knew just how much older Daniel was than her, but still insisted on calling him 'kid', which had once confused him a fair bit.
"Good to see you, Sarah."
"You get what you wanted?"
"Yes. One more renegade who'll not be harming this world again."
Sarah put her helmet back on and handed him another. "Want to get something to eat?"
"You know I don't need to eat."
"I don't need to go out every few nights and get drunk off my ass, but I still do."
Daniel chuckled. "Well, when you put it that way…" He put on his helmet and climbed onto Sarah's bike. "Lead the way!"


"Muse, eh?" Sarah said as she ate her burger. "Demon or Angel?"
"They're all Angels. But from your point of view, still an Angel. He was an Angel from Heaven."
"Mmm-hmmm. Makes four now, doesn't it?"
"Yes."
"Maybe another few hundred years you'll be done, eh?"
Daniel smiled. "Hopefully not that long now. They're starting to find each other. That's dangerous, but it also makes it easier for me to find them also."
Sarah swallowed the last bite of her meal and smirked. "The wonders of technology, eh? Bringing the world together...and ending it." She laughed.
"A shame, but that's the way it goes for you." Daniel flexed one arm. "Isn't it time we went to meet the others, Sarah?"
"Man, I never met a guy so obsessed with being on time as you, kid." Sarah scooped up the packaging that had contained her meal and threw it in a nearby bin, before following Daniel out of the cafe.


Back at the church, Officer Paul Twice of the NYPD waited impatiently by his car. He really hoped that these people weren't wasting his time. It was bad enough having to deal with that fanatic from the Vatican, without having to meet two officers from New Orleans wanting to talk to him about Angels.
Moments before he decided to pack it in for the day, a sleek black car pulled up by him, and a man and a woman got out. The woman flashed a New Orleans police badge at him.
"Officer Twice?" she asked.
"Let me guess." Twice said flatly. "White and Greyson, right?"
The woman nodded. "That's right. Janine White and Richard Greyson of..."
"I know." Twice interrupted. "The not-so-famous New Orleans Angel hunters."
"Look, Mr Twice, I know that this seems crazy, and it doesn't seem any less insane to us," remarked White. "But if you'd been there when we confronted this guy 'Daniel', you'd probably take this a hell of a lot more seriously."
"Yeah, I've read the record." Twice said in a bored voice. "You shot at a guy leaving the murder scene and he didn't drop dead. It's called 'missing'. Happens to the best of us."
Greyson shook his head. "Not quite right. We shot him at near point blank range over five times. Checked his pulse, breathing, everything. The guy was dead. Less than two minutes later, he was back on his feet arguing with us, after throwing our guns about half a block away."
"And then he made his escape by punching through a wall. A two-foot thick concrete wall." White added.
"Right. Of course." Twice sighed. "Look, I don't know what sort of crazy antics you guys in New Orleans think you see, but this here is New York, and...aw no, not him!"
A man was running up to the police officers, dressed in a black suit and wearing a distinctive collar.
"Paul!" He shouted. "I came as soon as I heard!"
Twice groaned. "Well, here's a guy you should get on with just famously. Lawrence Fade, special detective on call the man upstairs. Fade," He turned to the newcomer. "These are Janine White and Richard Greyson of New Orleans. Fellow Angel hunters."
Fade shook them eagerly by the hand. "I've heard of you. I gather you've encountered the one known as 'Daniel of Jericho'?"
White gave Fade a surprised look. "If you mean the guy who got up after several fatal bullet wounds, then yes. We thought we'd found the guy's name to be Daniel Guard."
Fade shrugged. "Doubtless the same person. Else why would you be here?"
"We got a report that people matching his description and some known companions of his were in the area." Greyson said. "Right after we got here, this guy apparently walked into a church, stayed for all of five minutes and walked out again. Soon after, the priest in the church at the time was found dead, apparently of natural causes. We were told to meet your friend here at the scene." Greyson leaned towards Fade. "Tell me, what do you know of this guy?"
"Daniel of Jericho?" Fade asked. "That's a story that goes back, right back to biblical times..."
"Oh brother." Twice sighed. "Look, if you're going to listen to this, I'm going to get a bite to eat. I'll be back in a minute."
Ignoring Twice's interruption, Fade continued. "I assume you know the story of the fall of the city of Jericho? Well, there is a legend that there was a survivor, a small child named Daniel. To cut a long story short..." he smirked at Twice, who was already returning with his snack. "...the legend says that Daniel was taken by God himself to Heaven, and raised as an Angel. Daniel is supposed to have been sent on a mission by God to eliminate a group of demons who plotted to storm the gates of Heaven and dethrone the Lord."
"Some story." White said quietly. "So, we're dealing with a guy who can virtually shrug off a couple of gunshots, and who believes he's an Angel sent by God to kill people? Swell. So why'd he off a priest?"
Fade shook his head. "That's interesting. These last few months, the good Father Cunningham was reported to have been acting very unusually. There was evidence that he was getting involved with drug related activities, weapon smuggling, and other nasty things. Strange, considering that half a year ago, he had no known links in any of those areas, and was regarded as a pillar of the community. And then he dies right after a visit from our friend Daniel. Makes you think, doesn't it?"
Greyson raised an eyebrow at Fade's comments. "You're remarkably well informed."
Fade smiled. "I answer to the Vatican, my friend. You could say that my source is the Lord himself."