The lunch time rush is long past and the mall's food court has fallen into one of those quiet, sleepy, afternoon lulls. Alfie's shift at the Wiener Hut will be over in about half an hour, but the minutes feel viscous and slow and his eyelids get heavier with every passing second. Normally at a time like this he'd distract himself from his lethargy by watching the display TV sitting in the window of the electronics store across the way, but right now all it's showing is static. His eyes wind up glued to the screen anyway, mesmerized by the dancing light.
The screen flickers and for a second instead of static snow he sees blazing fire, and then a massive deluge wiping out some foreign landscape, and then just for a heartbeat there's a glimpse of a face, an impossibly beautiful faceā¦
He blinks and the static returns.
For a moment he's confused. Then he hears the voice of an angel inside his head. The angel's name is Samandriel, and he needs his help.
Alfie doesn't suspect for a second something might be wrong with his brain or Samandriel could be anything but what he says he is. Alfie says the Lord's Prayer every night before he goes to bed, and, even though he's never expected God to start talking back, he's not about to spend his first talk with an angel arguing with him.
Samandriel explains as quickly as he can what vessels are and why he needs one. It is imperative he take on a vessel immediately in order to attend the auction held by Plutus, to bid on and retrieve the Demon Tablet, the Word of God.
He knows Crowley will be there, but he doesn't expect trouble from him, nor does he intend to engage him. Crowley was a crossroads demon before he took the throne. That means it's in his nature to respect contracts, laws, and the laws of this gathering explicitly forbid them both from fighting the ongoing war between Heaven and Hell for the duration of the auction. Samandriel has no intention of lingering once the auction is over. He honestly means it when he tells Alfie he will be in no danger.
Alfie wants to say yes immediately, but he hesitates, thinking on his single dad and two little sisters. It'd be that little bit much harder for them to get along without his Wiener Hut paycheck. He also thinks on how his girlfriend's supposed to come over tonight to watch that new Green Arrow show on TV with him. During the commercial breaks they're gonna start working through that pile of scholarship applications together. He's got things and people he can't leave behind, even for an angel, so much as he wants to answer Heaven's call, he can't say yes if this'll take any longer than a day or two.
Samandriel foresees no need to remain in his vessel once the auction ends, and surely it will take but a matter of hours. He promises Alfie he'll be home in time to watch Arrow.
Samandriel has said a lot of things since then. He's screamed for his brothers and sisters to come rescue him, but Crowley must have warded this place too well for his cries to be heard, because none came. He's given up the name of every prophet of this generation. He's begged the King of Hell for mercy, knowing full well mercy would mean never going home again, never being anywhere again at all. But even with all of these things haunting him, that thing about Arrow is the one he regrets most.
