May 1995
A beautiful young woman dropped lifeless to the floor, her brunette hair falling across her terrified face, as a masked intruder lowered his silenced gun and dashed through the open patio doors of the master bedroom to a car hidden in a nearby alley.
The Archangel Michael, leader of the angelic band of Heaven, stood watch, as did three of his fellow angels, Joshua, Jonah and Raphael.
In the compassion borne of angels, Raphael escorted the woman’s rising soul upward and out of sight into a bright white light from which emanated a heavenly chorus of song. The faces of the three angels radiated their rapt devotion.
Satan cowered in a corner of the room, hiding his face in guilt and shame as he remembered his defiance of God eons ago and the subsequent hopelessness and rage that put him on an eternal quest to unearth fellow sufferers.
After a moment, the light and chorus faded from view and Satan regained his gleeful gaze and villainous composure. He spun around and viewed his former friend, now eternal adversary, with disdain.
“Enjoy your little victory, Michael!” Satan aimed his fiery spear at the woman’s bloody corpse. “I will own her husband’s soul and he is a prize much more fitting for me.” The demon grinned with anticipation.
“You are boasting of things that you cannot have unless they are freely given to you, Satan.” Michael’s eyes flashed their disgust. “But then, that has ever been your way!”
“Humans delight in revenge. They hold it tight! I rarely have to do anything to encourage it.” Satan sniffed contemptuously at the corpse. “Men’s souls jump willingly into hell over such insignificant creatures as this Robin Emillani.”
“You are wrong, as usual, and I will prove it!” Michael thrust a sinewy arm toward the demon and gestured emphatically. “Robin Emillani loved God with her whole heart and soul. She married a man like herself in that regard. I have watched the two of them since they were children. I will wager you that he will choose Heaven at the appointed hour in spite of this day’s horrific events.” A confident smiled curled Michael’s lips. “If he does not, you may claim his soul.”
“Ah, but I, too, have been watching this house for a long time, Michael. I detect fertile ground for Hell here, and I will win his soul before ten years are up!”
Satan’s words had barely died away when a tall, angular man burst into the house. “Robin, I’m home! Where are you, sweetie?”
Michael and the angels shook their heads with sorrow.
The voice drew closer to the bedroom. “I stopped by…” It broke off as his gaze met the gruesome sight. In a haze of disbelief and shock, his arms dropped a massive bouquet of crimson roses that tumbled like giant, bloody teardrops to the floor. The man rushed to the side of his motionless wife. Falling to his knees, he gathered her into his arms and rocked her violently back and forth in a frenzy of grief and pain that caused the angels to weep in sympathy.
“Robin! Nooo!”
Satan’s laughter and taunt echoed across space and time: “Mine, all mine.”
