In 1992 war ravaged the Bosnian countryside, leaving thousands of dead, and millions without homes as they picked up the pieces following the Dayton Agreement signed in 1995. In order to help move things towards a peaceful rebuilding of the war-torn nation the United Nations sent in an international force to establish martial law and bring aid to the millions of displaced citizens. Technicians, engineers, workers and doctors from nations all over the world responded to the humanitarian crisis, making a part of the world where it would become easy to blend in.


    It was this very fact that two beings were counting on as they searched the recently destroyed forest near Sarajevo. The two figures walk through the ruins of what had once been a beautiful countryside until a recent explosion leveled the area. To the average observer these would probably appear to be two aid workers looking for survivors perhaps, but that was farthest from the truth. The brother and sister who searched through the fallen trees were far more than aid workers, they were angels.


    The smaller of the two was Lucifer, the first angel created, and viewed by many to be a traitor to her creator. This could not be further from the truth as she was ever diligent in the task, she had been given of maintaining the barrier between Heaven Earth and Hell. Her pair skin contrasted with the long black hair she had pulled into a high ponytail, to keep it from getting in the way as she searched.


    “Are you sure it''s this way?”, the second angel asked his older sister as they searched.


    He was Gabriel the third born of the heavenly host. His skin was dark, and his hair hung from his head in dreadlocks. To look at him you would never know he was the brother of the petite pale skinned female beside him.


    “Yes, I’m positive little brother, they have to be here.” Lucifer replied slightly annoyed at the repeated questioning from her younger sibling.


    Gabriel continued searching the area, “Well I’m not seeing anything here.” he said as he lifted a large tree trunk like it was a paperweight.


    Lucifer froze in place, her eyes fixed on what lay before her amongst the ruined forest.


    “Why’d you stop?” Gabriel asked.


    Lucifer paused for a moment and drew in a deep breath, “We’re too late, they’re already dead.”


    Sadness weighed her words as she looked down at the bodies of Ivan and Lilian Valmont. The two young Americans lay, hands still clenched together, shot to death amidst the rubble. Their bodies were at the center of the destruction, almost as if they had been ground zero for the explosion that had leveled this forest.


    Gabriel ran to where she stood and looked on in amazement. He expected many things in his search for these two, but to find them dead was beyond his comprehension.


    “How is this possible?” he asked, confused by what he saw. “The power they had to use to steal their lives like that, they couldn’t have been killed by just anybody.”


    Lucifer surveyed the area around them, the sheer destruction, the silence that filled it. If it weren’t for distant gunfire echoing from the city, there would be no noise, no sound, no life here in this forest. She looked back at the two bodies, almost pristine by comparison. A realization came to her.


    “They could,” she began, “if they had decided to live as true mortals, shed their divine power and just be human.”


    Gabriel looked at her in utter confusion, “Who in our world would want that, let alone two of them and why now, in this time?”


    Lucifer knelt down next to the body of Ivan, a familiar feeling she wasn’t quite sure what it was crept through her. She stroked her fingers gently across the face of the murdered mortal. Was she jealous, she wasn’t sure, but she thought she understood something her brother did not.


    “Mortal life is different, time is precious, and every experience is more valuable because of the limitations. I’ve considered trying it over the years, I guess these two went for it.”


    Gabriel shook his head, “I love mortals as much as the next guy, but you really would live like one, ditch the wings and everything Luce?”


    Lucifer looked at her brother and smiled, “There are values that mortality has we only dream of Gabe. These two were married, they had a child, traveled in this mortal world together and they experienced love in a way we cannot understand. I envy them for that, but no, giving up the wings and everything is where I draw the line.”


    Gabriel looked from his sister to the bodies, “I guess that’s where we differ, I don’t envy anything, I recognize and appreciate the beauty though.”


    He brushed off his knees and slowly stood looking around, “So we don’t know who they were, or who killed them, or why, so what do we do now? Watch the kid?”


    Lucifer nodded, “Yes brother, we will watch over their child, see just what he becomes.”


    ***


    The city of Black Raven sat on the South Carolina Coast nestled between the Black and Raven Rivers. For more than three hundred years it had served as a major port for both South Carolina and America. It was a place rooted in history with ties to piracy, the slave trade, the revolution, the confederacy and the civil rights movement. While much of the city looked different in 2024 the historic district had stayed relatively the same, with antebellum era southern homes still standing along the waterfront. Most served as tourism hubs, or bed and breakfasts for the financially capable visitor. There were a few however that was held as long term rentals home for the elite and extremely wealthy.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    One such home sat on Cornwallis Street, merely a few hundred yards from Black Raven Harbour. The home, built in the 1760s, was a three-story plantation style house painted what the southerners called Haint Blue. The grounds surrounding the home were set within a six-foot-tall stone fence with wrought iron gates. This home was currently occupied by Countess Delores Delousicroix.


    The countess regularly made trips to the city by the sea, she was fond of the place which had been in her family since the revolution when it was seized from British Loyalists and given to her great great grandfather for his service during the revolution.


    The countess was up in years now, though she rarely told anyone her age, it had begun to show. She knew soon this house would pass from her to her sons, whom she did not believe would respect it as much as she did. Perhaps that is why her only companion was her dog Princess, an ironically named male fluffy Nordic spitz she took in years ago. It was Princess who she often spent most of her time with and were it up to her Princess would receive the lump sum of her wealth as he never forgot to call or was never too busy to spend time with her.


    Princess was the reason she had called the giant of a man now squatting over a grate in her yard. The dog has seen some ghastly rat-like thing and given chase to protect her, but in his chase, he had slipped into the grate and been lost.


    The man in black was Afraig Valmont, a former marine turned investigator and gun for hire. He crouched examining the ancient iron structure for a few moments before standing. He towered over the countess, nearly seven feet tall, from his head his long brown hair flowed in the breeze coming off the harbor. He pulled his long coat straight and nodded his head.


    “So, Countess, you''re saying your dog went down this grate right here?” he asked the older woman who stood beside him.


    The countess nodded, “Oh my yes, he was chasing some dastardly creature and ran into the sewer, can you find him in there?”


    Afraig shook his head, “Well I’m not gonna find him in the sewer, no one could.”


    The countess gasped, “You mean my poor Princess is lost for good?”


    Afraig chuckled, “No, ma’am, I mean that’s not the sewer down there. A grate like that accesses the old city’s tunnel system, tunnels that are like a hundred and fifty, maybe two hundred years old.”


    “Oh my! How will I ever find my poor Princess?”, she said, worried about overtaking her.


    Afraig gently clasped her hands, “Countess, I happen to know a guy, give me a day or two and I will return your lost dog to you”


    “Oh, that is wonderful news, return my Princess to me young man, I promise to reward you handsomely.”


    Afraing nodded and smiled as he walked out of her yard through the wrought iron gate and out to the street. He eyed his truck, a 1989 Chevy Cheyenne Silverado 4x4 fully restored, and decided it would be less of a hassle to walk instead of trying to find a decent parking space further into the district. It only took a few minutes to cover the five blocks between the Countess’s home and Afraig’s destination.


    As he approached the Old Market and Dungeon he paused, noticing the sign out front reading “Closed”. Generally, he would have left, but the quickest way to get where he needed was here, so Afraig went in. On a normal day the gift shop here would be full of guests and tourists, today however it was empty except for the owner Jerry’s son Bill, a pimple-faced sixteen-year-old who looked like he spent way more time playing Fortnite then he did outside.


    “Hey Mr. Valmont, are you looking for my dad?” Bill said as he noticed Afraig.


    Bill was a good kid in Afraig’s book, and he was always polite. That was the main reason Afraig didn’t charge to scare off the young men who used to bully him on his walk home from school. It turned out before that Bill had been the victim of their harassment quite often. All it took was one meeting from the former marine and possibly a few right hooks and they decided that whenever they saw Bill they would cross the street. Since that day Bill and Jerry had been some of the best advertisers for Afraig’s unique services, he could owe over half of his clients to Jerry sending them his way.


    “Yeah,” he replied looking around the gift shop, “You guys closed for a private function today or something?”


    Bill shook his head, “No sir, there are some inspectors here today, my dad’s downstairs with them, I’m sure you can go find him down there.”


    Afraig gave the boy a slight wave, “Thanks kid.” before proceeding to the back behind the counter and down the stairs to the dungeon.


    The old dungeon was a famous tourism spot in Black Raven and dated back to before the revolutionary war. The dungeons were the only publicly accessible part of the old tunnel system that once ran underneath Black Raven allowing for everything from contraband to freed slaves to move in and out of the city in the past.


    As Afraig stepped off the stairs and into the hall leading to the main area for the tour, he looked around to make sure he was alone. Once he knew the coast was clear he made his way over to an old steel door that was barred and said no admittance. He quickly lifted the bar, jimmied the lock and slipped through the door. He found himself in the abandoned tunnels, his senses were immediately assaulted by the smell of over a hundred years of abandonment. The main reason the tunnels were off limits was because they were unkept and crumbling in many areas under the weight of new infrastructure built over them.


    The last time these tunnels were widely used was in the days of prohibition, when moonshiners would use them to get alcohol to the thirsty patrons of speakeasies hidden throughout the city. Afterwards access to the tunnels was closed off even to private homes. Tunnels were rumored to be filled in with concrete in many places, many the already labyrinth like system practically impossible to navigate. It had fascinated Afraig when he first moved here. Something like this didn’t exist on the west coast were towns like the one he grew up in weren’t even thought of until after Black Raven had survived its third major war.


    His fascination had led him to meeting with people like Jerry, Bill’s father, who were experts in the tunnels and what spurs still connected to where. It was this knowledge Afraig was relying on to help him navigate back towards the house where the Countess last saw her poor Princess.


    Afraig had traveled roughly a hundred yards when a noise behind him caught his attention. He spun on his heels expecting perhaps another person or even the missing dog. As soon as his back was turned, he was struck, a jolt of electricity ran through his body causing it to seize up and suddenly the entire world went dark.