Angels and Rain

His heart rate calmed down to almost ordinarily and his breathing seemed to become more regular when I took his hand. According to Phoenix this was the calmest he’d ever been, but I hardly heard him. As soon as I stepped into that curtained cubicle, everything else melted away. As soon as I realised who was lying in that bed, nothing else mattered. He was alive?

“He knows you’re here”

I stayed silent, wanting so much to stroke his long chocolate brown hair fanned out behind him, but not daring. Knowing me I’d disconnect something important like the heart monitor and accidently kill
the poor thing.

“How long’s he been here?” I asked, my voice choked with tears.

“Long enough. They found him lying in the gutter outside his house.”

My head shot up.

“Surrounded by broken glass, but with no broken window?”

Phoenix looked at me quizzically. “Yes. How do you know that?”

I looked back at Feadie.

“Layna, do you know something?” He asked me cautiously. “Because if you do...”

“Phoenix, I don’t, alright? I walked past his house the other day, that’s all.”

“Oh.”

We stayed for a few minutes longer, me teasing out strands of dark brown hair and winding them
round my finger like I used to. It was odd, I’d been dying to see him for so long, but now I was here I
couldn’t wait to leave. I guess I felt uncomfortable around the Nearly Dead being that had once been
my best friend, like he would soon become the Full-Dead due to me accidently pulling out his IV drip.
Or maybe it was that I felt I was interfering with him, that Phoenix just wanted to be alone with his little
brother.

I’d only just got used to the fact that he'd died. I’d accepted it. Why did he have to be alive now? When
Phoenix tapped me on the shoulder and told me we had to leave, I didn’t put up a fight like I thought I
would. I just let him lead me away perfectly calmly, still in a daze at seeing Feadie lying there. Feadie.
Actual, honest-to-God Feadie. What if everyone else, Kata, Aciay, were here too? This was a hospital,
for God’s sake, most people ended up here at some point in their lives. I thought back to the corridors
we’d come through to get here. It was more than likely, but didn’t hospitals tell people, their relatives at
least, when someone was in?

“Come with me, Layna.” Phoenix broke my train of thought by taking hold of my unbanadged hand and
leading me lightly to back where we’d started. “There are a few people you need to meet.”

Oh God, what now?

“Who?” I asked him.

“Do you have a job, Layna?” He asked, taking me by surprise.

“Erm, no. Not now, anyway.”

He nodded. “Good.”

“Good!” I squeaked, stopping dead and nearly getting my arm pulled off. “Good! Phoenix, I have no
qualifications, no decent exam results and nowhere that will take me in! Even a Asda doesn’t want
me! What am I going to do? Beg on street corners?”

He smiled. “Not quite what I meant by good, Helaynia. Come on.”

“Phoenix, I’m not a dog.”

“Fine, stay there.” He walked off, not even turning back. Something had definitely happened to that kid
since I’d seen him last. Although if he buggered off now, I’d never find my way out of here without
asking any of the Headhunters they’d for some reason employed as nurses. I kinda had to follow him.

“You met the others last night. If all goes well, you’ll be working with them.” He said, knowing I was
there without turning round.

“If what goes well?”

He laughed to himself. “Your job interview.”

I stopped dead.

“You are bloody joking.”

He shook his head.

My eyes widened so much they nearly fell out. “What do you mean by job interview?”

“It’s an interview you go to so your future employer can decide...”

“Hells teeth, Phoenix, I know what a job interview is. What I meant was, for what? I haven’t trained as a
nurse at all, I’m crap at Chemistry and Biology and Nurseology, or whatever it is you have to have as a
degree in. And I’m not cleaning toilets so don’t even ask.”

He laughed again. I wish he’d take me seriously.

“I’m not asking you to be a nurse, Helaynia. This isn’t even a hospital.”

“What?”

“It’s like a mini private hospital to be honest. With the kind of injuries we get here, there’s no way we
can afford to hand them over to the NHS.”

“Injuries?”

“You know, werewolf and vampire bites, angel abductions, very occasionally we get dragon attacks,
but only if someone’s gone abroad, we don’t have any dragons in Britain anymore...”

“Dragons?”

“Yes, they were all...”

“I’m not interested in the damn dragons! Why can’t we go to the NHS? Surely they aren’t that crap?”

“You’ll understand soon enough.”

“What do you do? Phoenix, what is this place? I can’t agree to work here unless I know what I’m letting
myself in for.”

He smiled. What about me was so funny?

“What? Why are you smiling at me? I’m serious, you know.”

“Hel, you’re so calm! If I were to tell anyone else that people were getting attacked by angels that have
been kicked out of Heaven and the Undead, they’d either think I was mad or they were out of their
heads on acid, not ask politely what the hell was going on.”

I shrugged. “I know vampires exist.”

“And the others?”

“Why not? If vampires are real, why can’t the others be?”

He turned round, taking me by surprise, and took hold of my shoulder. “That’s why we need you.
People like you who believe in these kinds of things.”

“But for what, Phoenix?” My voice was gradually getting higher and higher. “I can’t do this, this
whatever you want me to do. Please, just let me go.”

He turned to me. “Fine. Go. Go back home and gloat over the fact that your unemployed at nineteen.
Although, if you leave now, you won’t be able to visit Feadie.”

“What?” I growled. “Phoenix, you can’t use my friend as a weapon against me! It’s wrong! Just
because I won’t do something for you you’re banning me from seeing someone I’ve only just found
out is still alive and... why are you still walking? You can’t just bugger off, come back here!”

“Hel, do you want to do this or not?”

“Do what, Phoenix, what. That’s all I want to know.”

“Laurence will explain.”

“Who or what is Lawrence?”

“Laurence is in charge here. The chairman if you like.”

“But where is here?”

“The Convent.”

If I wasn’t so confused I would have noticed he’d just answered the question I’d been asking since we
left Feadie. All I could think was “The Whatty?”

“The Convent.”

“What’s the Convent? I thought a Convent was where nuns hung out and did nunny stuff.”

“It is.”

“Then where are they?”

“Who?”

“The nuns.”

“There aren’t any.”

I put my hands to my temples. “Phoenix, wait you’re confusing me...”

“We can’t wait. Laurence will explain everything. All I want to know is, do you want a job here?”

“Becoming a nun?”

“Helaynia, leave the nuns alone.”

“Doing what then? I didn’t think there was much more to do in a Convent. Oh my God, where are we?”
In the heat of my argument with Phoenix, I’d completely failed to notice that we’d left the hospital
building behind. We were now walking down a damp stone corridor, the only light coming from a few
naked lightbulbs dotted along the ceiling. It reminded me of the cellar of a church.

“About ten feet below street level.”

“Since when?”

“About two minutes ago. You were too busy telling me off to notice.”

“But why? What’s wrong with street level?”

“Believe me, it’s quicker this way.”

I thought of the weight of the building on top of me, pressing down more and more, waiting to fall and
encase us both in a dark, damp tomb and began to feel sick.

“So do you want to go for this interview?” He asked me again as we finally reached the end of that
wretched tunnel and started climbing a flight of stairs.

“For a job at the...”

“Convent.”

“Convent. Doing what exactly?”

“Doing what I do.”

“Which is..?”

“Laurence will explain.”

“Well, why can’t you? Phoenix, I’m sick of this. Just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll decide for
myself, thank you.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

“What? Why?”

“Company procedure. Sorry. It annoyed me too.”

Annoyed? By now I was almost homicidal. “And let me guess; only the mysterious Laurence can
explain?”

“You’re getting the hang of this.”

“I don’t want the hang of this, I want to know what’s going on!” I screeched, causing a few stares from
curious people passing us in a gallery that wouldn’t look out of place in Buckingham Palace.
Someone nodded sympathetically at Phoenix and someone else said “’Nother one, Dylanger? Good
luck.”

Good luck? For him? Remind me, who had just been kidnapped?

He stopped outside a large oak door with a solid bronze plaque shining in the lamplight. I couldn’t
make out what it said on it. “Look, Layna, we’re nearly there.” He told me, turning on his heel to face
me. “Yes or no?”

“What? Yes or no for a career?”

“Do you want a job?”

“Yes, but...”

“Okay then!” He knocked on a door and practically threw me in head first. I landed with a muffled
thump, whacking my head against something solid. I groaned out loud and picked myself up, rubbing
my head where I’d just struck the desk.

“Helaynia Ryves?”

I lifted my head. A bespectacled, friendly-looking man that could have been someone’s grandfather
was sitting behind the large oak table that I’d collided with moments beforehand. I got to my feet
unsteadily and looked behind me to see Phoenix legging it back the way we came. The cheeky little
bugger! Surely that’s abuse.

“Helaynia Ryves?” The granddad man asked. I nodded.

“Have a seat, dear. I’m Dr Laurence Jacobs.”

At last!

I looked at the crimson winged armchair warily.

“It’s okay; I’ve trained it not to bite.” He smiled at me. I blinked at him.

“Please sit down. Phoenix tells me that you’re interested in working here?”

“I need a job, if that’s what you mean.”

“Yes.”

“Then yes, I am, but he didn’t tell me what it involved at all.”

“Good kid. Right, so what do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

“Fair enough. But first, do you believe in Fairies?”

“Fairies?” I knitted both my eyebrows together (Not literally, otherwise I’d have a monobrow and that
wouldn’t be attractive.) It seemed a very odd question to ask.

“Anything unnatural. Fairies, Werewolves, Vampires...”

“I don’t believe in them, I know they exist. All apart from Fairies actually.”

“Am I allowed to ask you why?” He smiled.

“I think they’re a bit...” I waved my hand around to show ‘crap.’

“But you ‘believe’ in Vampires and Angels?”

“Yes.”

“Good. You’ve heard of the Holy Order, I take it.”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Soldiers that gave their lives to protect England from ‘creatures of the darkness’. Am I right?”

“As far as I know.”

“Well, now we know that these things aren’t all bad. Fallen Angels for example. How many people see
them? They’re harmless.”

“From what I understand.”

“We keep the balance. The Convent was born from the Holy Order. The Convent are the Holy Order.
Just in modern day.”

“So you’re all God’s soldiers?”

He sighed. “In a way. Vampires, for example. They only take what they need. They’re clever creatures,
and difficult to kill. Then there are millions of different types and kinds around the world. Therefore, we
hunt like they do. Only take who we need to take.”

“The psychotic ones.”

“Right. Werewolves, on the other hand, can’t be allowed to live. Not in this day and age, not in this
England.”

“Silver bullets?”

He smiled. “To the brain or heart.”

“And a stake for the vampires.”

“Mistletoe. It has to be mistletoe.”

I looked at him quizzically.

“No one’s quite sure why. They don’t like it much. That’s why every house in England over two
centuries old have doors and windows inlaid with mistletoe.”

“I never knew that.”

A tired smile flitted across his face. “You have a lot to learn. Can you fire a gun?”

“Well, oddly I’ve never actually tried.”

“Use a stake?”

“Probably.”

“Have you tried?”

“No.”

“We need to get you doing some work in that then. Are you clear in what’s happening?”

“What will I be doing?”

“You’re in as a replacement for someone who’s just left us. I’m afraid you’re a standard, or ‘Novus’ the
moment. All Novuses are under thirty, you are nineteen, are you not?”

I nodded.

“Phoenix informed me correctly. Promotions in the area you excel at aren’t uncommon, for example,
someone who’s a talented slayer could be promoted as an advanced slayer, but they wouldn’t be able
to be sent out on anything that isn’t vampire related. Do you get me?”

“I think so... what do these novices...”

“Novus.”

“Novus, do exactly?”

“Basically everything. Novus get to go out a lot more. You’re young and indestructible. The BAA
couldn’t exist without you lot.” His upper lip curled gently. “Much more use then my old bones.”

“The BAA? I thought you said it was called the Convent.”

“The Black Arts Association, Convent, Black Convent, it’s all the same. Our official name is the Black
Arts Association, or the BAA. We call it the Convent to the Nescius. But call it what you will. Most people
prefer the Convent.”

“And what’s a Nescius exactly? Another one of your weird and wonderful creatures?”

“A Nescius is a non.

“Anon?”

“No, a non. Nescius meaning ‘unaware'. Someone who doesn’t work for us, is ignorant to anything
supernatural. Sceptical. A human. Anyway, as I was saying, you need basic slaying skills.”

“For what?”

“We mostly have rouges, but occasional murders.” He said, not answering my question.

“Murders?”

“Necromancy, ceremonial killings. It’ not just animals we specialise in, it’s any of the Black Arts.
Hence the name. Have you heard about the disappearances?”

I rolled my eyes. “Who hasn’t?”

“Exactly. We’re currently trying to locate a corpse. You’d be surprised at how much you can learn about
what killed them.”

“What do you think it is yet?”

“We don’t know.” He put both his hands palm down on the table. “It could be nothing to do with us at
all, but with Phoenix’s brother... That has to be related.”

Feadie. Oh God, Feadie.

“How?”

“He was found surrounded by broken crystal, not glass, but nothing broken around him, or in his
house. Does that strike you as normal?”

“No...”

“Exactly.”

“So you don’t think it’s an ordinary murder because of the crystal?”

“Yes.”

“But how can you tell.”

“As I said, you’ll pick things up. You’re very lucky, you’ll be with Phoenix. You know him, don’t you?”

“Yes. But vaguely, I mean, he was my friend’s brother...”

“But you trust him?”

“I suppose so...”

“Good. He’s a good guy. Very logical.”

“So you want me to go and kill a few bad guys and do a bit of detective work?”

“In a nutshell. Although I don’t like the term ‘Bad Guys’. It makes us sound like a tacky children’s
comic book.”

“And the hospital?”

He placed his hands face down on the table. “I was wondering how long it was before you asked
about that. It’s dangerous work, most injuries we get are very out of the ordinary. Normal hospitals
wouldn’t be able to cope.”

“So why the hell was I in there?”

“You can get in if you know and trust someone who works here. Hence why Feadie’s in here at the
moment. By strict rules, no one should have any more than one ‘visitor’ as we call them at a time,
although Phoenix did insist. He practically threw a tantrum come to think of it.”

I imagined Phoenix having a strop and smiled.

“That makes sense.”

“Good. So what do you say?”

“Hmm? To what?”

“Do you want the job?”

“What? Just like that? It’s very quick, isn’t it?”

“Helaynia, You’re a dying breed here. I’m sorry to say this, but we’re pretty desperate. Most people find
the process a bit rushed as well. People nowadays are so sceptical. We think we know everything.
And besides, from what I’ve heard from Phoenix you’re a very reliable person.”

“I’ve just been sacked.”

“Ah, well,” he waved a dismissive hand.

“So I’m not very reliable. Doesn’t that concern you?”

“Not really.”

I put my elbow on the table separating the both of us. “If you let me go now, I could tell the world about
you. Blow you apart.”

He smiled. “And what would you say?”

“Erm...” He had me stumped. “There’s a place in Monroeville that stops evil stuff?”

“And where is it?”

“Monroeville.”

“Where abouts?”

“I... don’t know.” I admitted shyly.

“And will they believe you?”

“Oh God.” I put my head in my hands. “You’re clever.”

He laughed. “So what do you think?”

“Well I guess I don’t have a choice.”

“What?” He looked puzzled. “Helaynia, what have I just said? If you want to decline then you’re very
welcome to. Is anyone forcing you?”

“No.”

“Yes they are.”

I looked up at him.

“I can always tell with these kind of things. Whose saying you need to?”

I looked down again. It would be so easy just to say ‘somebody’, or to not do anything at all. He
couldn’t force the truth out of me.

“Phoenix said that if I didn’t take the post here then I wouldn’t be allowed to see Feadie.” I blurted out.

He forced the truth out of me!

Laurence looked across at me with yellow eyes. “I’m sorry Helaynia, but if you do decline the you will
no longer be allowed to set foot in the building.”

“So...”

“You won’t be able to see your friend, I’m afraid.”

I sighed and sat back on my chair. No Feadie. How could I refuse now? No Feadie. The prospect was
too horrible to imagine. I had to have my Feadie back. I loved him.

“What’s the pay?” I asked.

“It’s a fifty five thousand pounds a year flat rate. Bonuses are added on top of that.”

“Fifty thousand?”

“Fifty five thousand. Annually, may I add.”

“Bloody hell! That’s a fortune!”

“I like to think that we’re important.” He said with a smile.

“Holy shit... And I get to see Feadie?”

Laurence nodded. “But you have to understand, Miss Ryves, it involves more than that. You’ll have to
face some pretty grisly killings.”

“I can manage.”

“And the vampires? They’re most common round here.”

“Yep.”

“Are you sure?” He eyed me suspiciously.

“Of course!”

“Any questions beforehand?”

“No.”

“No?”

“Well,” I broke off, wondering silently whether or not I should go on. “Why Convent? Why not Church or
Congregation?”

He laughed. “I thought that, at least was obvious!”

I put on my best ‘No it wasn’t’ face.

“Okay, okay. This building, Helaynia, is a twelfth century convent. When we were founded, we took this
building over, restored it. We couldn’t think of what else to call it, and convent was pretty obvious. We
were the Black Art Convent at first, but it made us all sound like a bunch of witches so it got shortened
just to Convent. That’s what it’s known as casually.”

“And are you just a one off, or are their more of you?”

“Blimey, You’re inquisitive! Yes, there are other ‘branches’ if you like. The ones in Germany, Canada,
Australia, the USA and, of course, here are the biggest and most well known.”

“So there are more?”

“Naturally.”

“And why couldn’t I be told any of this before I got here? Why didn’t Phoenix tell me about everything?”

“It’s an old rule. Back when we first came around...”

“Which was?” I asked. He didn’t seem to notice.

“...proper safety measures weren’t in place. You had to be careful about what you mentioned. Of
course, nowadays it’s a different story, but you know what they say. Old habits die hard!”

I looked at him.

“So, are you sure you want to join?”

“Sorry, but you spend half this meeting asking me if I want to join your Convent...”

“Association, Helaynia. Do I look like a nun?”

“No. And when I say yes, you try and change my mind about it!”

“Okay, yes, yes I sense your frustration. Okay, so, who will you be with...” He ambled over to a filing
cabinet in the corner, opened a drawer in the middle and started leafing through it.

“Right, you have Phoenix Dylanger, you know him, Rowan Akter, you’ll like him, Valentiene Kinshaldy,
her too, Pandorra le Bonn and... Ohh! Nykolai Weatherby, he’s a lovely kid. Comes across as a bit
crude, but he was a heart of gold really. Now, Miss Ryves, may I ask you who your next of kin is?”

“Who?”

“Brother or sister?”

“No.”

“Children?”

“What business is it of yours?” I snapped. “I’m sorry. No, no I haven’t.”

“No, I’m sorry Helaynia. I shouldn’t be asking you these things. I understand if you don’t want to
proceed any further?”

“No, you’re just doing a job.” I admitted grudgingly. “My mother’s still alive. Irenae.”

He wrote down her name. Irenae Ryves, not mum. Never mum.

“Right, you’ll need one of these... Oh damn, where is it...” he opened a drawer in his desk and started
rooting round inside it. I took this time to look around his office. There were shelves to the ceiling on
the two longer walls, stuffed full of jars filled with various organs and bodyparts, some of which looked
like they were swimming about. I felt vaguely nauseous. The shorter wall behind his desk had one or
two pictures, all black and white, hanging up on it.

“Ah. Here they are! Take your pick!” He held a battered looking box filled with a few beautiful Gothic
crosses. Black stones were sunk into the four points of it, and a fine black ribbon threaded through a
loop in the top. Ornate. Perfect.

“They’re gorgeous!” I exclaimed, almost breathless for some reason.

“They’re important. Take one.”

I pondered for a moment, then picked out a particularly pretty one lying closest to me.

“Good. Now give me your arm.”

“My arm?”

He reached across the table and took hold of my wrist. “This is going to hurt,” he warned me, taking a
small knife from the same drawer as the crosses.

“What?” I said, panicked. I tried to pull my arm away, but he sunk the knife in before I could get loose of his vice like grip.

I screamed as he pulled it from near my elbow to the top of the palm of my hand. Scarlet blood pooled up and fell in rivulets onto his desk, staining the papers and green leather crimson.

“What are you doing?” I managed to ask, in between gasps of pain. “Are you sure this is entirely
necessary?”

“Oh yes,” he answered, tilting my arm so that the blood ran into an enamel dish. “Quite.”

I bit my lip to stop myself screaming aloud and screwed up my eyes, willing the pain to stop.

‘Stop, pain’ I willed.

“Okay, that should be enough.” A towel or blanket of some sort was thrown over my arm. I opened my
eyes gradually to see Laurence with a pipette measuring some of my blood into the crucifix. On closer
inspection, the middle stone could swing out, revealing a hollow compartment beneath. He splashed
in a drop of my blood in and closed it up again, muttering in Latin as he did so.

“You’re to wear this at all times. Under no circumstances do you take it off, do you hear me?”

I nodded.

“Good. Wait there, you need a biscuit.”

I need a biscuit?

I sat against the chair and shut my eyes, beginning to feel slightly faint.

“Helaynia?” Laurence’s voice asked, sounding as if he was talking from a long distance. “Have you
fainted?”

“No.” I answered.

“Good. Eat this,” he pressed a digestive biscuit into my hand, “and put pressure on that arm. I’m sorry
I had to do that, but nothing offers you greater protection than your own blood.”

I looked blankly up at him.

“You’ll need these.” He handed me a pair of contact lenses. I looked at him in an out-of-focus way.

“Ever wondered why everyone has amber eyes?”