Cathy McBride stood looking out from the window of her twelfth floor office down to the street below. People and cars hurried about, heading in different directions, as the business day started to come to an end for the low level workers on Wall Street.

Cathy was the founder and owner of one of the biggest investment companies in the country and for her, business was never over, as she kept late nights looking up deals and investments which could move her company higher up the rungs of Forbes list of richest companies.

At fifty two, she had never been married. A tall, rather beautiful woman even at her age, she made do with a paid companion whenever the urge for male company arose, which wasn't regular.

Her accountant, a small, dark-haired man in his late thirties, who she turned into a millionaire when she picked him out from the small town accounting firm where he would have stayed the rest of his life, sat quietly in front of the large, glass desk staring at his boss. A Dell Inspiron mini laptop lay open on his laps while his finger idly tapped one button or the other once in a while as his attention was fixed on the woman who controlled a great deal of financial and political power in the country.

They had just closed a deal with Sony Japan and, from his estimates on their side of the deal, the company was on the verge of becoming one of the ten richest companies in the world. The deal would make Sony and her company, Cornerway, one of the biggest and richest companies in the world with outlets scattered all over the globe.

Daniel Fisher was impressed. He was more than impressed. He felt like jumping to his feet and dancing around the room, sweeping his boss off her feet, and spinning her around till that hard, never smiling face cracked and laughed for joy. He had never imagined himself reaching the level he had attained in life. As a junior partner in a small, rundown accounting firm in a small town in Missouri, he had never envisaged himself becoming a force to be reckoned with in the global financial and business cycle. Fifteen years ago, he could hardly make enough to keep the shirt on his back, the main reason why his wife had left him for a used car dealer back then.

The transformation came so suddenly almost after his wife had left him. He had done some basic accounting work for Cathy McBride, who was in the little town for some business he couldn't remember, and needed an accountant to help her seal a very important deal as her own accountant had been delayed. She had taken a liking to him afterwards, bringing him to Cornerway and from there, his fortunes had changed over the years.

He couldn't help smiling as he remembered when his ex-wife had heard of his good fortunes and dumped her used car dealer husband, hoping Dan would accept her back with open arms. What a shock she got when she saw what he could afford, and the kind of women begging to get his attention. He had turned her down hard and she had crawled back to whatever rat-hole she had crawled out from, cursing her luck.

“Once we sign the deal with Microsoft,” he said with a voice laden with excitement. “There won't be any company in the world to match us.”

She simply nodded. Some things about her always bothered Dan. She never seemed to smile. Apart from her mandatory laughter and smiles during a business negotiation or television interview, he had never seen her smile or laugh, earning her the name Ice Queen among the staff of the firm who had gotten to know her, which was relatively few despite the large workforce. She wasn't used to interactions with low level staff members.

She had never taken a vacation since he started working with Cornerway. She was always in her office whenever he arrived for work, making him wonder if she slept in the office instead of in her multimillion dollar Manhattan mansion.

She had declined countless offers by him and other company executives to join them for a drink, dinner, Christmas, anything, only attending mandatory business outings and dinners. She seemed to revolve around her work and nothing more.

He knew about her gigolos who did not know the identity of the woman they were paid to satisfy sexually and didn't seem to care as, they were handsomely paid to do something they would have done free of charge. Cathy was a very attractive woman, even at her age. Dan had always fantasized asking her out on a romantic date, but he suspected thoughts like that could cost him a job that was making his dreams come true, so he checked his fantasies and made do with the high class call girls he usually patronized.

She did not seem to share the excitement of their latest accomplishment with him. She never did. It always seemed like nothing was enough. Once the deal with Microsoft was signed, Cornerway was looking at topping the Forbes list, but even that seemed not to impress her.

“Maybe we could go out and celebrate,” he suggested. “And pray for the best with the Microsoft deal. The people at Microsoft already look positive about the business plan.”

She said nothing, and he felt awkward, wishing he could take back his offer.

The room suddenly felt hot despite the air conditioning, and Dan started to sweat under his expensive English suit. He had felt like this on several occasions over the years and hadn't yet understood why it happened.

A warm breeze blew by Cathy and she turned casually, taking in the flickering dark form materializing by the wall as she turned her eyes to Dan. The accountant could not see the figure as it was invisible to his eyes.

“I'll think about your offer,” she replied in a calm voice. “Maybe we just might. I have some personal things I need to do now so if you could excuse me. I'll let you know what I've decided within the hour.”

Dan was more than happy to leave the room. She always did that whenever he was getting that feeling as if she sensed it somehow. He immediately felt cool again as he left her office, like it always happened. He had to see his physician about this issue. He wasn't comfortable anymore with the clean bill of health Doctor Neville was giving him; maybe he might even try another doctor.

He marched off towards his office at the end of the corridor from Cathy's office, acknowledging congratulations from some company executives he had to get by to get to his office.

The dark form gradually took solid shape. It was the shape of a young man with well-oiled blonde hair, dressed in a black biker jacket, and tight black jeans trousers. He wore a pair of big, black Timberland boots.

Cathy was not deceived by the physical appearance of the young man. She knew a messenger when she saw one, had learnt over the years to feel them. Messengers were demons sent by Lucifer to his faithful subjects, bringing them instructions from the King of Darkness, and to assist them if the need arose. For a physical manifestation of this nature, they usually possess any of the many willing, or unwilling, human vessels they could find, usually dead bodies.

“What brings you?” she asked blandly as she strode over to her desk and sat on her comfortable chair.

The demon smiled and walked over to stand before her. He placed a pair of gloved hands on the glass desk and stared down at her.

“The master said to warn you as he is right now sending messengers to warn all his other worshippers in all the other orders of great danger,” the demon replied without moving. “You're to be ready for whatever happens.”

“What are we to be ready for?” she asked, getting on her feet, holding the demon's gaze.

“Even the master does not know yet.”

“Has Heaven decided the time is up?”

“No,” the demon replied with a frown and broke eye contact. “The master's job is not yet over. Heaven understands that and Heaven never breaks a deal. Even Heaven doesn't know what's going wrong, though, they too have sensed it as we have.”

“What can we do then?”

“The master does not know what it is, but warns that you guard that which is in your possession, carefully,” the demon smiled a wicked smile. “You know what I mean.”

“Has...has he escaped?”

The demon laughed. “Impossible. Even he does not possess the power to escape but then, another might follow in his path. Just be careful.”

Cathy nodded slowly and sat down again. Her face, which usually lacked any form of emotion, was now portraying worry and fear. What could be happening that even Heaven has no answer to?

“I won't have minded rolling in the hay with you,” the demon strode about the office. “You're an attractive specimen, I must say. But then, won't want to break poor Daniel's heart would I? The young man can't help wondering how it would be in bed with you, not that you haven't noticed. You don't need your powers to deduce that now do you? Why don't you make his day? But first, ensure that what you have is safe.”

With that, the demon faded way into the air and the room temperature which had gone up like that of an oven, even with the powerful air conditioner, returned to normal again.

Cathy sat there motionless for some time as she contemplated what the demon had just said. She didn't dwell much on his closing remarks, though the thought also crossed her mind, but then she had more crucial matters to deal with immediately.

Cathy McBride was the leader and grand councillor of the Blood Brotherhood, a position she had earned upon the death of the former leader Karl Finch, killed sixteen years ago by the members of the brotherhood on the orders from Lucifer and Heaven for daring to threaten creation and disrupt the role of man in it.

Cathy was once a small town girl herself with no family, forced to fend for herself through any means she could, until she met Robert Devore, the founder of the Blood Brotherhood.

Devore showed her the way, lifting her from her lowly status into the world of the powerful. He introduced her to the brotherhood, where she traded her soul and gave all her allegiance to Lucifer in return for everything in life she had ever dreamed of, or feared to dream of.

She was rich beyond her wildest imaginations and had power to influence people she never believed in all her life she would meet, let alone interact with them like equals.

Then Devore disappeared without any warning, leaving no trace as to what had happened to him. Even Lucifer had not been able to provide the answer to that question, but everybody suspected that Karl Finch somehow knew what had happened to their former leader.

Karl's death had put her in charge of the affairs of the brotherhood, and she was the voice of Lucifer to the other members of the brotherhood.

Lucifer and the host of Heaven had left, in the care of the brotherhood, the four daggers borrowed from four of the seven riders of Armageddon, along with the book which, Karl claimed had the secrets of creation with which he had been planning to overthrow Heaven and Hell, and assume power over all creation. The book she kept while she left the daggers in the custody of the four brothers who had carried out the terrifying task of putting their eternal souls on the line by attacking and killing Karl Finch.

She bolted up from her chair and marched over to the large oil painting of herself she had commissioned an up-and-coming but talented artist seventeen years ago to make for her and now hung on the wall opposite her desk.

Behind that painting was a state-of-the-art, custom-built, wall safe which the manufacturers had assured her was impenetrable, an assurance she had come to believe after several attempts her competitors had made over the years to gain access to the contents of the safe had failed.

The safe security was of several rigorous steps. The painting was a part of the security which hid a titanium steel back, with a mechanism to roll it back, after some protocol had been fulfilled.

Cathy touched a precise part of the painting with her thumb and a brief green light flashed out from a tiny hole running through the thumb. Then, a section of the painting moved, revealing a touch pad and a QWERTY keyboard. Cathy pulled out a tiny key hanging on a chain around her neck and inserted it into a small hole beside the touchpad and a small humming sound started. The touchpad came to life and a recorded voice welcomed her.

Cathy placed her right hand on the touchpad and a green light ran through her hand, transforming the touchpad into an LCD screen which required a twenty letter password. She instantly typed the code into the keyboard and after another loud hum, the painting rolled back to reveal the door of the safe.

Any mistake with the first procedure would require a reset of the entire system which only Cathy had the authority to do.

There was a knob on the safe door, but getting through the knob was not an easy task for a prospective thief who by some miracle got past the painting. The knob required a series of precise turns which must be done within a particular space of time, or else the system resets. Two tries would alert the administrator, being Cathy. Getting through the knob revealed another touchpad where her handprint was checked again. The device was equipped with technology to detect whether there was life in the hand, should her hand be cut off and used to open the safe. It was also equipped with the technology to detect her stress level through her palm and determine if she was under duress. Any of both would set off an alarm and bring all the security guards and all the available officers at the nearest police precinct to her office, coupled with the sealing off of all exits from the office until help arrived.

Getting through the touchpad revealed an eye scanner and a voice scanner, both also designed to detect life and stress.

The heavy door of the safe rolled open the moment she was through with the last of the security protocols required to unlock the safe where she stored highly sensitive materials.

Inside the safe were piles of large envelopes and files containing business documents or items of personal interest, along with documents which many of her competitors would pay top dollars to lay their hands on, but her interest wasn't in any of those documents.

She pushed them aside and brought out a large leather pouch carefully bound with leather straps. She undid the straps and opened the pouch. Inside the pouch lay the book she had been entrusted with. The book she had been instructed to guard with her soul.

She fastened the straps again and put the pouch back with the other contents of the safe. She stepped back and pushed a button beside the safe and the door rolled back into place. The door with the knob swung shut with a mechanical sound and the painting rolled across the door.