I sat at a small dinner and let the cool ice cream sundae work its magic. I was troubled and it showed. August days were almost over and the fall would soon set in.

"Would you like something else dear?" I looked up at a middle aged woman with bright curly red hair.

"No thank you, I was just leaving. Hey do you know what day it is?" she smiled and chuckled a little to herself.

"Its Tuesday the 26, are you feelin' ok?"

"Fine." I left a four dollar tip and headed outside to my car. I pulled out my cell phone and leaned ageist the car to call someone I hadn't spoken to in a long time. It rung twice before the familiar voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey Tony, its Vanessa."

"Haven't heard from you in a long time; what's going on?"

"I'm in town; figured I'd stop by, if that's ok?"

"You know your welcome here." I smiled at his generosity after all the things I had done to him and yet he was still there for me. He was the closest thing I had to family.

"Thanks" I paused for a little too long.

"Is there something else?" he caught the pause.

"I can't talk about it over the phone, I'll tell you when I get there, ok?"

"I hope it's not too late by then." I laughed and pulled open the door to the car.

"It won't be." I closed the phone and started the car; driving the last few miles to Tony's house.

I stood on the front porch and waited for the door to open. When it did I wasn't expecting to see the man on the other side, but it wasn't the Tony I remembered.

"Tony, what happened?" he looked worse then any drunk I had ever seen. He was unkempt and his clothes were a mess. His usually clean cut face now had a beard of a rugged mountain man.

"It's been a hard week." He looked over at the bottles on the table and on the floor. He opened the door and stepped to the side to let me in.

"Who died Tony?" I laughed until I saw the look on his face and then I knew it wasn't a joke. "Oh God, I-If I'd known, I wouldn't have said that." He just walked past me and sat on a nearby chair, he looked like he was going to fall apart.

"Its ok, it was; just, resent." He scratched his scalp. I stared at him for a minute before I realized that my problem didn't seem so urgent.

"I'm so sorry Tony. Is there anything I can do?" I saw a small smile appear on his face.

"You could cook me a decent meal." I laughed and picked up one of the bottles closest to me.

"As long as I get to clean up some of the booze around here." He just nodded and got up from the chair. "You look like you could use a few days of rest." I smiled and looked at the mess around the desk.

"Yeah, I could, but didn't you have something you wanted to say." I waved it off.

"Nah, nothing as big as this." I walked with him to the stairs and waited for the door to close in the upstairs bedroom to leave. I started a sweep of the kitchen taking each bottle from the counter and placing it in a bag to throw away, I put in some chicken to bake, and put some corn that was microwaveable as a meal to satisfy. I dumped the bottles outside in the trashcan, and headed back inside to do some research.

I was only two steps from the stairs when I heard a small high pitched noise, it got louder and louder until it was full blown whistle. I covered my ears and knelt into the grass. The sound seemed to get louder and the ground started to shake. I screamed in pain but the whistle just covered it up. We need to talk. It was a crystal clear voice, pure, beautiful. Finally the pitch stopped and things went back to what they were before and it was quite again. I shook on the ground for a minute until I realized that I had just gone through a seizure. I lifted my head off the ground and ran for the door sliding back into the kitchen and locking the door behind me.

I looked through books and books of angels telling me nothing I didn't already know. I got an idea to look it up on the web. Names, Descriptions, meanings, everything you could think of about an angel. There was a few sites on the angelic, merciful angel that people liked to call there guardian angel. Other sites were based on the biblical angel of vengeance; where they were considered not the messengers from God, but the warriors of God.

I sat for about ten minutes before dinner was ready and I called Tony down for supper. He ate vigorously and had seconds before he ascended the stairs again for real sleep. I snuck back to the computer and kept reading up on the angels, name by name I looked down the list. I read one by one.

Amitiel-Angel of Romantic Love

Anahita-Angel of Fertility

Anauel-Angel of Prosperity

Ananchel-Angel of Grace…I felt a rush of wind when I read the name in my head out loud. It was so strong that it knocked papers to the ground in a flutter around me. I felt a shiver and clicked on the name for more information.

Ananchel means "grace of God", and she is here to offer us the experience of an open heart allowing the love of God to pour in. She awaits to bathe us in a state of ecstasy, when every cell in our body sings praises to God and every thought is turned Homeward in thanksgiving. Ananchel provides the state of grace which allows the angels to fill us with love, inspiration, wisdom and rapture. Ananchel assisted the Archangel Gabriel when Mary was visited and provided with the remembrance of her mission by surrounding Mary with a state of grace.

The description made me laugh, the angel of love, wisdom, and rapture. I sat back in the chair and closed my eyes for a minute. I was interrupted by the same high pitch noise from before only it wasn't as loud as last time. The name is mine.

I jumped out of the chair knocking down the stacks of books next to it. I pulled the gun from the holster and tried to find the source of the voice. Do not fear; I am in here.

I looked around but didn't find anything. I am in here. It repeated, that's when I noticed where it was coming from, it was inside my head.

"Who are you?" I was talking out loud and the voice stayed in my head. I am Ananchel, an angel of the lord. The voice spoke with a slight ascent and seemed snippy.

"Why are you after me?" again the voice spoke inside my head. I'm here to protect you and your friends. A mental image popped into my head of Tony sleeping and someone was standing over him. The minute it disappeared and I could see again I raced upstairs and burst through the door, Tony didn't even flinch but no one was there. I could help you protect the ones you love, the ones you could save.

Save from what? I didn't want to wake Tony even though he slept through the door busting down. I spoke in my head, and kept a close watch on him.

The coming apocalypse. The word apocalypse made me confused.

What apocalypse? There's no such thing, right? For some reason I could only think about hell on Earth, and then what Bobby told me about the gates of hell being broken open. What if this was no joke and the apocalypse could happen, then what?

You didn't believe in me, but you're talking to me through a mental connection. Angel's do exist; and one is giving you a chance to take a gift.

What's that? The voice was silent for a minute.

To serve God. I need you to swear that you will trust me and you will do everything I say, or your loved ones will suffer without you to protect them. I was quite for a while, I wasn't sure if I could trust the angels but I wanted to keep Tony safe, and all the other hunters safe. Fine, I swear. What do I need to do?