Angelopolis(11)

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