Between Gods and Monsters Archive Chapter #2

[Demosthenes]

Michael smothered the cigarette with the heel of his bare foot and returned to counting the coin-like pieces of flattened gum that lined the sidewalk. He looked up the the sparse crowd that surged around him, deciding to step upstream to an abandoned bus stop that one of the city's many homeless decided to make a bed. The hobo was up like shot, eyeing the angel suspiciously, he scratched at his unruly graying beard, noticing the man before him was clean-cut and farily well dressed in an open suit jacket, a clean red shirt, and a dark pair of jeans. The hobo thought he might be a model for one of those Ambercrombie and Fitch catalogues he slept on, but the prescence of a shirt and lack of visible pubic hair said otherwise. He finally spotted the tall bottle obscured in a paper bag that Michael held, and licked his lips. "Say friend, you gonna finish all that? Little early don't you think?"

It was noon

Michael took a swig of the concealed beverage and swallowed, letting it wash the taste of nicotine and tar down his throat.

"Here, knock yourself out."

The man scrambled for the bottle and took it in both hands.

"God bless you."

The angel smiled crookedly but said nothing, watching as the homeless man put the bottle to his lips and leaned back, looking confused, he lowered the bottle and swallowed the beverage.

"Wine?" He glared at the man before him with one open eye. "You some kinda faggot?"

"That's the finest mediocre bottle of red in Mickey's"

The man didn't seem impressed "Er, thanks."

"Yea." Michael waited a moment as the bum took another sip. "See ya around Carl."

Carl nodded and raised the bottle. The angel would be two blocks away before the man would realize the stranger shouldn't know his name.

The ex-Seraphim made his way back into the crowd and pulled out the tiny hunk of plastic with numbers on it that he kept in his pocket, and punched ten of them with his thumb. The tone sounded and rang a dozen times before Michael decided to silence it. He looked up the street toward the high-rise penthouses overlooking Central park. She could still be in bed, hungover or next to someone, or both. Micheal slipped the phone back in his pocket and stepped a little faster towards the park.

[Maxx]

Simon yawned and would have rolled over if he'd been capable.  He was mixed in the middle of a pile of blankets and a tangle of limbs.  His right foot was asleep and his mouth tasted like stale beer.  There was a pubic hair stuck in his teeth.  Somebody had a death grip on his erection, literally it seemed, given the temperature of the hand.  He could smell blood, urine and vomit.

He smiled. 

It had been a good night.

[365]

The sound of his Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw ringtone startled Orion, who happened to be waist deep in the cold waters of Keansburg, New Jersey, fishing off the beach that loomed adjacent to New York. He shoved his spear into the sand under the dark salty water, and pulled out his phone from his breast pocket. He noted the name on the caller id and flipped it open. He was greeted by the sound of Halo sounding about half past dead, and then she made him worry that she might be. He stashed the phone back into the pocket at the front of his denim vest and swore. He didn't have time to ride back into the city, he'd have to leave his bike in the parkinglot and hope no one spraypainted PPP on it. He closed his eyes tight and thought of the apartment building Halo lived in, when he opened them he was in the lobby of the building, tucked away in a corner and out of sight of cameras or people, so he hoped anyway. He took the stairs two at a time, disregarding the looks his appearance solicited from the people he passed, he had no time to slip into a incognito look. He didn't bother to knock on Halo's door, she could always just magic it back up onto the frame, he just barreled through it.

[Tinker]

The small body that housed more than tenfold her weight of centuries of arcane ability lay tangled in sweat drenched sheets on the cluttered floor of the penthouse apartment. The only sign that there was any life in the Young woman's form was the sighing ripples fluttering across the puddle of swamp green puke pooled around her elfin features.

The entire living space reeked of a stomach turning cocktail of vomit, stale alcohol, body odor and some odd, indecipherable stench that had a decidedly chemical tang. Her pale limbs were stretched out towards the door and her normally smooth belly was distended as if she had spent the night cramming buffet shrimp down her gullet. Unconsciousness had such a strong grip on her that the devastation of her front door did nothing to even vaguely rouse her, even when the the containment and screaming klaxon of the unseen security measures she had put into place herself, failed to stir even a raised eyelid.

[365]

"Halo!" Orion gasped as he dropped to his knees at Halo's side, picking her up out of the vomit and carefully bringing her to a couch to lay on.

Orion looked over Halo with a confused look on his face, not only was she looking like hell, but like hell stuffed full of holiday ham. The pungent odors of the apartment stung his nose, overpowering his ability to differentiate between them naturally. He went to the kitchen and got a rag, letting warm water from the faucet soak into the fabric. He laid the warm dishtowel down over her head, cleaning her face off with a paper towel he had snagged from the kitchen on the way out. He was confused to say the least, things were strange, and if a god thought things were strange, that definitely meant things were strange. He pulled off his denim vest and ran a hang through his wild brown hair, he wasn't sure what the best course of action was. He just prayed that she'd be alright.

[Tinker]

It was a combination of Orion's tender touch and the lurching roll of the contents of her belly that brought about Halo's consciousness. A weak smile infused with pain flickered on her lips as a gauzy veil of gratitude washed across her bone pale features, "O, you came. . "

Her lithe body bent double, jack knifing horizontally on the couch as a fresh flood of nausea and excruciating cramping took hold of her form. The sickness rattled through her at an alarming rate, her skin blanching to the point of almost becoming transparent, the network of veins and arteries throbbing in bruise coloured shades beneath her tissue thin skin. Her belly waxed and warped, distending before their eyes, the vague outline of a tiny foot pressing through her pale flesh, "Oh good lord, Orion,I think I'm gonna. . "

Her face turned towards the floor and a vile stream of steaming bottle green puke splattered noisily on the defiled carpet.

[Maxx]

Simon slipped out of the bed.  Sometimes the price he was willing to pay for things disturbed and frightened him, especially now that he was no longer fully tethered to the netherworld.  He had to walk a very carefully balancing act between piety and degeneracy or the enemies on either side would take notice of his swaying one way or the other and might take steps to eliminate the possibility that he might add his considerable ability to one side or the other.

He'd come to the conclusion that it wasn't actually the action that carried the majority of the weight but rather the motivation that prompted the action.  The orgy of the previous evening had been a hallmark of depravity but it had been motivated not by perversion but rather a desire to save the world.  The death had helped balance the scales but he was still tipped a significant distance in the direction of good.  It made his wings twitch.

He picked up a random cell phone and dialed Halo's number.  He didn't have any real answers but he had a starting point.

[Tinker]

The obnoxious electroclash ringtone tinily resounded from somewhere within the penthouse apartment. Halo's ice chip, cerulean eyes squinted as the noise from the electronic device was the sonic equivalent to driving slivers of bamboo under her fingernails. One small, strong hand grasped at the man mountain's knee to aid the tiny mage to a seated position. Lurchingly, she stood, her naked form now drenched in her own vomit and her belly heavily swollen to an almost full term pregnancy.

"O, make that fucking noise stop, please. . I have no idea where its coming from, but it really fucking hurts."

The song continued for a full thirty seconds as the black Madonna frantically scrabbled through the devastated apartment, shambling, grasping, searching for the source of the noise until it blessedly stopped. Halo fell to a crumpled half sit, her head hung and dark hair plastered to her head with sticky sweat. Her ragged breathing resonated throughout the living space and for the first time she gave into the fear and dread the situation had elicited from her tainted soul, "O, I think I'm in some pretty deep kaka. I think I know what my vision meant. Looks like immaculate conception was in my destiny and somehow I don't I'm gonna be able to track the bastard down for child support."

[365]

Orion wanted to rip his hair out in frustration at not being able to find the source of the noise that seemed to be pure torture on Halo's ears. He was thankful when it stopped, though a little annoyed at himself for not finding it. He did a little Mr Clean style cleaning when Halo plopped to the ground, cleaning away the vomit that coated pretty much everything in a flash of bubbles. When she dropped the news on him all he could manage to do was slump to the ground next to her.

"So then, what exactly are we going to do then?" he managed while tugging at his big brown beard, it was all he could think of to do.

[Tinker]

Halo leaned into her ages old friend, "You know, I think I might be a little too far along to consider a termination and I don't have any recollection of social services having any pamphlets detailing on what to do about getting knocked up by an unknown being with a cobra for a knob, so I'm thinking. . ."

Halo's entire body clenched as one entity in a whole body cramp, her guttural grunt punctuated the half formed sentence. Her hand snatched out to grab Orion's shoulder in a death grip, "Orion,  this is not Halo's idea of fun", he grinded her teeth as her pale eyes filled with pain and pleading,  "I think baby snake wiener wants out now. . right now!"
 

[365]

Orion smiled at Halo's colorful tirade, but said smile was soon wiped from his face when she grabbed his shoulder and elicited a noise like a wounded beast.

"I don't think this is anyone's idea of fun! Just hold on, I don't even know what I am supposed to do!" Orion said while trying to keep calm.

He reached over and with a massive hand laid Halo back onto the freshly cleaned floor that was seemingly about to be covered in far more grotesque body fluids than vomit. The big man moved down Halo's body, reaching out to allow her to crush one of his hands. Somehow Orion had managed to never deliver a evil entity baby in his entire time in existence, and he was a little perturbed that the record was about to have a black mark on it. He withdrew a razor sharp bowie knife from a strap on his leg and stared at Halo's engorged stomach. He didn't say anything as he did all that, he didn't know what to say.

[Tinker]

Halo's eyes widened to turquoise saucers, "Orion no! Dear Gods what are you thinking man, let me squeeze the little bastard out, no need for a botched home Caesarian!"

[365]

Orion chuckled darkly as he hefted the blade in his hand.

"This ain't to cut it out, it's to stab the little bastard if it comes out all serpenty and wanting to tussle!"

[Maxx]

Simon hung up.  It looked like he was going to have to play delivery boy, rather than simply messenger.  The thought annoyed him.  He dropped the cell phone and took a few moments to locate the shower.  Someone had passed out with their head in the toilet.  Simon checked their pulse before showering.  Evidently they hadn't fallen sufficiently in to drown.  He left the man there.

He took a long, leisurely shower before trying to locate his clothing.  By that point others were beginning to stir.  In the end he had to take someone else's shoes but he was able to find everything else.  He smiled at the other participants in the orgy, gave a random one a soft kiss and left. 

He'd give Halo one more call before he knocked on her door.  To do otherwise would be rude.

[Maxx]

The annoying noise started up again, once again sending spikes of agony through Halo's already overloaded senses.  Again it lasted for almost half a minute before lapsing into silence once again.  Almost on the heels of the silence came a voice from the shattered door, one that normally carried the sensation of silk and sex with it but this time carried on a vague hint of brimstone, which did nothing for Halo's stomach.

"Now I see why Orion felt it necessary to be in so much of a hurry that he couldn't even wait to open the door.  I had some news for you, Halo but it seems that you're already one step ahead of my informant."  Simon stepped out of the hallway and the door reformed in its frame behind him.  "How close are you?"

[Maxx]

"That close,"  Simon said, watching as another contraction hit Halo.  He looked at the bowie knife in Orion's hand.  "You won't need that for a while,"  he said.  "I assume you've done this before?"  He didn't wait for an answer.  Of course the hunter had delivered a baby.  He'd likely delivered dozens in his lifetime and likely a few that weren't entirely human.

The only non-human birth Simon had been involved in had been his own but he had been present at a number of births.  "I'll get some towels," he said, heading for what he hoped was a linen closest.  "Has her water broken?"

[Tinker]

**This was my baby, this very thread that seemed to run rampant for a while was my concept and boy was I ever proud. Like many of the unmoderated (and sadly some of the moderated), it lost it's head of steam and fell by the wayside. I tried to resurrect it with all the enthusiasm of a novice necromancer, unfortunately it seemed my necromancy skills were at the very same level too. Due to a handful of reasons (which I won't bore you with details of because I can be nice like that) it dwindled off yet again and I gave up on it in this format. I love my character of Halo Thompson so much that I began writing her her own vehicle in the form of a full scale, chapters and all book, then just recently, one of our more esteemed forum members PMed me asking if I would be interesting in giving the "old girl" one more go, see if I could get her corpse up and about again, since we have a bevy of fantabulous new players on the site. Being the die hard adventurer that I am, I agreed and hence this very long OOC post!!

The universe that the characters of Between Gods and Monsters reside is one where myth lives beside legend, Christian deities co-habit with Norse Gods, fairy tale figures fondle Lovecraftian Old Gods, and  dreams play with nightmares. This is the world in which our scouse friend John Constantine lives (for reference IGNORE the piece of shit Keanu Reeves vehicle and instead track down some issues of Hellblazer). If you have ANY questions PM me, I am actually quite approachable and friendly, and will get you on track, point you in the right direction and fill your daily quota for bad cliches should you need it. As usual, power-gaming is NOT appreciated, but a little more freedom is given here, due to the very nature of the game and of course of its unmoderated format. So come on in, the water is fine, just the right temperature for an apocalypse!!**

[Tinker]

The small woman that trundled along the dank sidewalk of a back street of a particularly unsavory burgh of New York, for all the world appeared to be a major felony waiting to happen. She was tiny, scraping just past five foot if she were lucky and had the sort of face that just screamed jail-bait. Her void dark hair was messily scraped up into pigtails that only seemed to give her an even more innocent allure. With eyes that were large and breathtakingly, vivid blue and the kind of figure that would have most red blooded, heterosexual men kicking their leg and baying like a cartoon wolf, it was nothing short of miraculous that she had managed to walk through this particular neighbourhood for a full three blocks without being the victim of some sort of unpleasant altercation. It could be because she was incredibly lucky. It could be because she was muttering under her breath like a freshly escaped lunatic from the local asylum...or it could be that she was Halo Thompson, probably the most powerful Mage this side of Merlin.

Halo's small hands were stuffed securely in the front pocket of her hooded sweatshirt, where they gripped her cell phone and apartment keys as if they were talismans that would ward off all evil. Her head was bowed as she concentrated on the movement of her bright red, converse clad feet as they carried her with a hurried conviction to her destination. Every person she passed seemed to recoil slightly from her, as if there was some sort of dark aura about her...or just a really bad smell. This was just fine with her and entirely intentional, tonight was not a night that she needed any extra curricular activities of having to break some jackass' arm or use old majiks to castrate a potential rapist, there was just too damned much to deal with right now...like the upcoming apocalypse for a start.

There was enough for a woman to deal with in this day and age, like how do you manage to squeeze in a quick run to the liquor store for more rum when there's a Twin Peaks marathon on, or when do you find the time to laundry when you are spending the entire week in various positions that even the karma sutra doesn't cover with a winged warrior of Heaven, or trying to keep a pair of misguided parents out of the room whilst you're trying to wrench a grade three Sumatran demon from the body of their youngest son as he howls as if you are dragging his tender ass across white, hot coals. . . without having to track down and slaughter the bringer of the end of all existence, that just so happened to crawl out of your uterus less than seventy two hours ago. It was a bad week for Halo and it was written all over her face.

The mini-mage sharply turned to her left and side stepped the arm of the cracked out prostitute that was sprawled, gurgling something about "punk ass motherfuckers" and let out a soft sigh that almost sounded like relief as her cyan gaze snatched the site of her destination. She was running late, entirely on purpose, in the hopes that everyone had amassed  before her which would mean she could just get straight down to business without having to sit around and wait for people to show up. Small talk and random chit-chat  unfortunately wasnt included in the limitless depth of her magical abilities, nor did she have any real desire to change that either. The door was only a few feet away as was a bottle of Captain Morgan's with her name on it.

"O'leary's, oh how I have missed you, your booze, your hot wings and the best goddamned demonic barman this side of purgatory."

[CrowsEye]

The average-looking man kept taking anxious glances at the door to O'Leary's, waiting impatiently for...well...someone. He wasn't entirely sure who. He ran his hands through his longish, golden blonde hair as he scanned over the text message he'd gotten from one of his contacts scattered about the city. 'Ur big break @ O'Learys,' it read. It made him giddy every time he read it. His hands flitted excitedly on top of the bar, and he kicked the front of the bar in an impatient excitement. He was broken out of this by the bartender slamming his drink down in front of him loudly. Artemis started, and looked at the demon in surprise.

"If I told ya once, I'll tell ya again. STOP KICKING THE BAR." The bartender had leaned closer to the angel, and despite Artemis' best efforts to get away the bartender had followed him. By the time the bartender had finished talking, they were practically nose to nose, and Artemis' eyes were open wide. He grinned weakly and apologized quietly. "I'm just waiting for someone, and I'm kind of excited about it, sorry." The bartender rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, you've told me that the last four times, pal. Just give it a rest, okay. That drink'll calm you down." He wrapped his ankles around one another, and took a sip from his beer, thinking about how stoked God would be if he managed to pull this one off...

If I can manage to prevent an apocalypse, and NOT the one that He'd intended, and He found out that I had something to do with it? Hooo, boy, I'll be reinstated in no time! There's no way this could even go wrong... He sighed heavily and took another sip of his beer. It's not like I could ever screw anything up that badly since that earthquake I triggered in San Francisco those years back... He began to gesticulate, despite thinking to himself. I mean, how was I supposed to know that He didn't want that to happen? I just happened to overhear Him saying how he wasn't liking where the city was going to end up in a hundred or so years...why not just get rid of it all together? I was a Prince, I could do that, not a problem...or so I thought. Then I got demoted. Artemis sighed, and thumped his head on the bar, his halo 'tink'ing off of it as well.

Remembering why he was there, however, he sat himself up, made sure his halo was on straight [not that it needed fixing, it was sort of a static thing], and looked over at the door once again, nursing his beer and continuing his vigilant watch for someone that looked like they were trying to save the world.

[Tinker]

Halo Thompson blustered past the hulking doorman, giving the man that looked as if he were carved entirely from well oiled teak a quick nod as her face still sat in an almost child-like scowl. The bouncer seemed to cringe slightly and gave her a quick and weak salute teamed with a thin smile, "Evening Hal."

She waved him off with a single small hand, the gesture both a greeting and a token of her general sour mood. Her glacial gaze scanned the bustling bar, a long and exasperated sigh stuttered from between her full lips as not a single one of the faces she was expecting to be waiting eagerly for her shone out from the relative gloom of the alehouse. She shook her head which caused her pigtails to bob playfully around her elfin features. The atmosphere of the bleakest thunderheads seemed to swirl about her small form as if she were caught in the maelstrom of a particularly cataclysmic storm, unsettling most of the patrons that were within spitting distance of her.

The mage stormed directly to the bar, hopping up on one of the tall stools, immediately the demonic bartender was before her, his sallow face pulled wide in a smile filled with ivory needles, "Well good evening sunshine!"

Halo's top lip twitched in a half snarl, "Not now, Al. Not in the mood. I need rum, wings and a complete lack of any wise ass comments."

The bartender's smile seemed to increase in size and his amber eyes sparkled with a sadistic mirth, "Bad day pookie?"

A second long and pained sigh thundered from her chest as her head dropped to rest her chin on her chest, "Al. . .just get me a fucking drink already."

Al clicked his heels together in a mock salute, "Yes mam, coming right up."

Halo rolled her eyes and rested her forehead on the surface of the scarred bar, a low groan made its muffled way from her mouth and only just out into the bar, "Why me?"

[Maxx]

He melted out of the shadows as if he were rising out of the water.  His shirt was torn and there were a number of odd holes in it.  The flesh beneath was once again flawless.  Three days previous it had looked much like his clothing.  Even for a demon, wrestling with the child of the apocalypse was difficult and Sebastian only barely held on to that title.

"Sorry," he said, stepping up to the bar beside Halo.  "Lost him again.  He's either learning fast how to stay one step ahead or he's just so utterly goddamn unpredictable that I can't figure out his pattern."  He set a camera on the counter.  "I took some shots of the scene, just in case.  Maybe you can see something I missed.  Definitely not meal time material though.  Do it either before the wings arrive or well after they've been digested."

Sebastian wasn't going to add that he'd picked up a few souls from the collateral damage.  It wasn't any of Halo's business and they'd been on the verge of death anyway.  He looked at the fidgeting angel wannabe and offered the competition his second best smile.  It's not like Angelface would recognize him.  He'd barely spent a month working for Heaven but in that time he'd expanded their knowledge of demonic tactics and goals tenfold.  They just hadn't seen the need for him to keep his fingers in some infernal pies.  'Conflict of interest' they called it.  Narrow minded ingrates. 

[Tinker]

Halo didn't move a single inch as Sebastian revealed himself and let his presence be known, instead she sat there, face down on the bar with one arm wrapped almost protectively around her head. She listened as the incubus reported on most of his activities that had occurred during his recon mission and she intermittently nodded when the turn of the tale deemed it correct. The soft thud of the camera being placed on the bar encouraged just as much movement from her but, when the ring of rum filled glass being placed in
front of her sang, she responded by reaching a hand out and curling her fingers around it.

Once Sebastian had finished his brief a series of unintelligible and muffled words emitted from Halo then her shoulders heaved in a deep sigh. Slowly, she rose and turned to look up him, her eyes unnaturally bright and vivid for the subdued light of the bar, "Sorry, I guess speaking through the bar isn't as conducive as I would like to think it would have been."

The tumbler of rum was downed in a single flick of the wrist and was slammed back down, with a finger pointing at it in expectant fashion. She eyed the camera, "So you have pictures of my bundle of joy for me then, huh?"

The piece of technology was retrieved and she begun to flick through the digital images on the small LCD screen. The expression she wore on her face was entirely unreadable and was the standard look she kept for every occasion, "My, they grow up fast don't they? I mean it seems just like last week I was writhing in agony and spewing crude oil all over my apartment as the little fucker clawed his way from my womb. . .oh wait, it was only last week."

The refilled glass was pushed back into her open hand and was drained just as quick, "Now look at him, cutting his own niche in the world, feasting on innocents and causing general mayhem and misery. I'm so proud, this truly is the beauty of motherhood in full effect. You know 'Bastian, its one thing saving the world from apocalypse after apocalypse, but being the very vessel that brings the bringer of the latest apocalypse is something a girl could only dream of, but not me. I get to live that dream."

Halo's dark brows knitted as she squinted at a particularly brutal and graphic image in digital miniature. Her deft fingers flicked the silver buttons and zoomed in closer into the visual of pure carnage. A groan of pure exasperation slipped past plump lips and she shook her head, "He's not just eating them, he fucking reconfiguring them into something else. . .he's building his fucking army."

Eyes of the clearest cyan swiveled up to the incubus, "That's just icky, seriously? I mean we could just sit back and let some other schmuck do most of the groundwork for this and just as his face is being eaten and all hope is lost, we can swoop in and avert yet an other end of days and for once be hailed as the saviors of all man kind? I mean, its not like this is a paid job."

[CrowsEye]

Having not actually taken another sip of his drink [of which he was severely glad, because he would most certainly have inhaled half of it], he instead slid down the bar to the two figures discussing some very unappealing [and dark] topics. Looking over the shoulder of the man that gave him the fake smile, he let out a quiet, "Hm, that's not what I figured apocalypse would look like." He sat down a seat away from the girl and smiled slightly and nodded. "Though it's not like you really see an apocalypse every day, what am I supposed to know what one looks like, right? I'm Artemis. I don't think I really have to tell you where I'm from or who I work for." He said the last half of that sentence with absolutely not a hint of sarcasm or being an ass; he was just making a point. "I'm here to help."

[Tinker]

Halo couldn't help it, but a smirk crawled across her face as the stranger babbled with an odd inflated sense of self. The most amusing thing about his whole introduction was that he truly believed which meant that the enjoyment of knocking him down a peg or two would be so much the sweeter. She watched him take a seat next to her, her smirk growing all the while then shifted her gaze back to Sebastian before the laughter that was desperate to escape her mouth erupted, "Ask and the Lord shall provide, looks like we've got our schmuck."

The source of unfathomable power slowly twisted on her bar stool and directed her frigid gaze to the newcomer, "This might come as both a shock and a surprise, Sunshine, but I don't have the first fucking clue who you are, who you work for or what fucking sparkly, rainbow farting unicorn you came riding into town on. This. . "

She shoved the gaudily coloured screen depicting the carnage under Artemis' nose, "Is exactly what the start of the apocalypse looks like. Pretty, ain't it. See that right there, I believe that's a human spleen and over there, well gosh darn it if that ain't a freaking lower intestine. And buddy, believe me when I tell you that I have halted more goddamned potential end of the worlds than you could shake a hooker's sex toy at. This is a fucking weekly event for me, the only thing that is different about this one is its my fault. . .kinda.  .sorta. . well, I feel moderately responsible for. So I would highly suggest one of three things, either fuck right off and go back to making merry with your right hand or you could keep up with the weirdness and I can switch the places of your genitalia and your nose for my own personal amusement or you can start spilling on who the fuck you are and how you know what the fuck is going on here."

[CrowsEye]

Artemis did nothing but shake his head. He could see how she actually might feel responsible for it when she paused before telling him it was her fault. "Look, I just told you who I am, I'm Artemis, so you DO know who I am, and I figured that having a fucking halo floating around over my head is a pretty big clue as to who I work for, all right? No need to get snippy." Imitating Halo's 'cutesy' nickname that she gave him, he continued. "And thanks for the anatomy lesson, Sweetheart, but no matter how many pictures of gore you show me, or no matter how many times you've stopped an end of the world, I know that this isn't The Big One."

He took a casual swig out of his beer like he wasn't in a hurry, then pointed his index finger at her. "I know what's going on for two reasons: one, a friend of mine who heard about the whole ruckus starting gave me the heads-up, and two, it's not like you guys were being too discreet about it. I could hear you from the end of the bar." Before taking the final drink of his beer, Artemis looked at the girl sideways and asked, "So, Satan, then...is he packin' heat?"