locating and capturing angels. Acting on gut feeling alone, Bruno had plucked Verlaine out of his
ordinary life as an academic in New York, brought him to Paris, and trained him with a rigor he
saved for only the strongest and brightest recruits. He’d seen something unique in him, a rare balance
of intelligence and intuition. And, sure enough, once he had entered training, Verlaine exemplified all
the elements of an angel hunter—a sixth sense for the creatures mixed with the physical stamina to
capture them. And, on top of everything, Verlaine had the remarkable ability to see the angels plainly,
without assistance.
Within the various departments of the society, angel hunters were the most covert, well funded, and
selective. As director of their Paris bureau, Bruno handpicked his team, training each member
personally. It was a painstaking process, as delicate and refined as the education of a samurai
warrior. Verlaine had bypassed the academic track—a difficult and lengthy course of study rooted in
the traditional practices of textual and archival study—and began his apprenticeship as a hunter
straightaway.
Now he was one of Bruno’s best. The young American scholar who’d once been in limbo about his
future could now decipher the presence of angels with extraordinary precision. He understood the
physiology of the Nephilim and demonstrated a clear ability to differentiate between human and
angelic anatomy. He could detect the small distinguishing physical markings of the Nephilim—the
sharp, opalescent fingernails, the wide forehead, the slightly irregular skeletal structure, the large
eyes. He understood that the Nephil body was designed for flight, with thin, hollow bones that
rendered their skeletons as light and agile as birds’. He noticed the scintillating quality of the skin, the
way it shimmered as if dusted with tiny crystals. The structure of the wings themselves—the efficient
retraction, the airy composition of the feathers, the struts and trusses that fortified the muscles—had
fascinated Verlaine from the start. He had mastered every method of identifying angels, capturing
them, binding them, and interrogating them, skills known by only the elite of the society. Bruno
believed Verlaine could already be considered a great hunter, but he suspected that his protégé could
become more: a mythic angel hunter, the kind of hunter to emerge once in a generation.
And still there was something holding Verlaine back, a weakness that Bruno could feel lingering
below the surface but could not readily identify. He’d made it his personal responsibility to help
Verlaine overcome this Achilles’ heel and succeed.
Something in the distance caught his eye. It seemed to him that there was a commotion at the far end
of the street. Bruno pulled over, cut the engine, and got out of the car, trying to see more clearly.
There was an Emim angel, its black wings stretched, the light of the moon casting a gray brilliance
over the feathers, giving them a smoky fluidity. Although Bruno couldn’t see beyond the creature, he
was sure—from the belligerent stance and the extended wings—that it was preparing to attack. He
was certain that an Emim attack had just occurred at the Eiffel Tower. Given the proximity of the
passage, there was a good chance that he’d found the killer.
He pulled out his smartphone, snapped a series of photographs of the angel, and, after logging onto
the society’s encrypted network, sent the images for identification. A series of Emim profiles popped
onto the screen, but there was only one that interested him.
Name: Eno
Species: Emim
Height: 200 cm
Hair color: Black
Eye color: Black
Domain: Unknown. Three unconfirmed sightings in St. Petersburg, Russia (see call reports).
Distinguishing features: Classic Emim angel features; black wings measuring twelve feet wide
by four feet high; normally works exclusively with members of Nephilim species.
Surveillance history: First documented angelological encounter occurred in 1889, during the
Paris World’s Fair, and resulted in the death of an agent. Subsequent encounters have included
extended surveillance during the Second World War (see agent notes in dossier), DNA sample
retrieved from strands of hair, and a series of photographs taken by agents at various Paris
locations (see photographs below). Eno is characterized by outbursts of extreme violence,
especially sexual violence enacted upon human males she has seduced (see autopsy reports).
Although the surveillance report on Eno suggested she was in St. Petersburg, Bruno was certain
that she was the angel at the end of the street, and that she was responsible for the murder at the Eiffel
Tower. Bruno recognized Eno’s signature in the brutality of the slaughter, the great skill and strength