The sight of her seemed to bring the world to a standstill.

Samael stood frozen for a moment, his gaze drifting over the woman's frame and features, desperately taking everything he could of her in.

It was the woman from his dream, whose name he had not known.

Did he know her name now?

Chloe

A smile rose on his face before slowly falling again, because she'd made no further move towards him - she seemed stuck in place, her eyes wide, her mouth open with shock but pulling to joy.

Everything about him had slowed immeasurably.

Amenadiel.

The world snapped into crystalline focus - with a swell of rage he finally registered the three standing beyond Chloe.

"Did you follow me here to strike the final blow?" he spat at his siblings, even as his mind worked to put more fragmented pieces together - the woman, the dream of Hell, the wounds coming not from Michael but from the men behind him...

Frowning, he turned to look back at them, realizing that the sound he'd heard had been gunfire.

The men were also frozen, their faces masks of fear. Three bullets were crawling through the air towards him.

Scowling, he took a step away from their trajectory and turned back to his siblings with a growl, his eyes flaring brightly.

Pain exploded in his head as a fist impacted the side of his face like a rock. Something broke inside, and staggering back, he fell to his knees.

Words rose around him, muffled and distorted, as he stared at the ground, watching the blood from his mouth sink through the dry needles below. Evey movement of his tongue caused agony as he struggled to breathe and speak - his jaw hung oddly, broken beneath a shattered cheekbone.

"REMIEL! DO NOT!"

"You heard him, Amenadiel, he was looking for a fight."

Footsteps thundered towards him - his brother's. Beyond his lowered view the human woman's foot had almost finished with its slow descent.

He looked up at her again, longing for the view, ignoring the pulsing agony of his jaw and the squabbling of his siblings.

"He's not immortal, Remiel - you will kill him!"

Standing to his feet slowly, he shrugged off the aid of his elder brother as Amenadiel tried to support him.

"Luci, you'll be okay. We need to get you to help."

Pushing him away with a scowl, Samael stood before the woman named Chloe.

He needed her to move again, to truly be here, not frozen in time.

"...re..lee.." he mumbled through his broken mouth as he stretched out an arm to gently grasp her hand.

"You'll handle the bullets, Remy?"

"Yes."

Something in his sister's voice drew Samael's eye.

Amenadiel was focused on Chloe, drawing his wings out as if to gather her up and fly.

Azrael's gaze was dark and expectant.

And Remy's smile was sharp as she flicked the last bullet from its once benign path.

Towards him.

But she'd misjudged slightly, and Samael saw clearly where the bullet would go.

Straight through Chloe's head.

With no way to speak properly, to halt Amenadiel from relaxing his hold on time, and with a fraction of a second to move, he acted instinctively to protect the woman he loved.

He shifted to shield her, pulling Chloe's hand to draw her forward.

Time restarted.

There was a wet sound and a sharp flash of pain from his wing as he was shoved forward, clipping Chloe in the shoulder as blood misted the air between them.

They both fell to the ground as the sound of gunfire filled the air.

Chloe gave a short cry of pain, grasping her upper arm as blood pulsed around her fingers. He struggled to rise, to reach her to help, and coughed as a tremendous weight settled on his chest.

His limbs weren't moving right either. Grunting, he tried to crawl towards her instead, angry that he'd not stopped her from getting hurt.

But the pressure increased so much he couldn't breathe.

Something warm spread over his chest.

"Lucifer?"

The gunfire stopped and panicked shouts and cries followed. Samael caught a glimpse of Remiel destroying the men's weapons and throwing the two around like toys before he sagged back against the Earth.

Bright blood bubbled from his chest.

But it did not hurt.

"What... no... How did this happen?!" Chloe scrabbled to his side. "LUCIFER?!"

"REMIEL!" Amenadiel roared, lowering to him. "You said you had them all!"

Samael tried to laugh. His brother was so naive.

But he did very little at all as Chloe lifted his head onto her lap.

Another cough left him as he gave her a mangled smile. He tried hard to raise his hand to hers, pressed tight against the wound through his chest.

He wanted to hold her so badly.

But there was little left that he could do as his body grew terribly still.

The world narrowed to a small dot.

Somewhere very far away Chloe screamed.

And Azrael stepped into view.