Chapter 1 - Where the Willows Never Weep

Gabriel walked through the doorway of the cafe and into another world. A world separate from the rain outside, the violence of the streets, the despair of the world. In the cafe polished wood gleamed in the soft glow of hundreds of candles, creating pools of light spilling over animated faces. Faces discussing everything from the latest news to ancient philosophers to Renaissance painters. At many tables delicate hands were wrapped lovingly around warm mugs, nursing their cups as if the ceramic contained their lifeblood.

A wrought iron candelabra cast a circle of illumination across a raised dias, drawing Gabriel's attention to the woman standing there. She was small, only slightly over five feet tall and very slim. Bright blonde hair spilled from underneath a dark hooded Victorian cloak that drooped over her eyes, revealing only part of an angelic face with delicate features and an aquiline nose. Her voice rose and fell to the sound of a wood flute, filling the air with their melody, both musical, both beautiful.

As the woman's voice quieted Gabriel shook his head as if from a trance and walked to his normal table near the dais. As he came near he snapped his fingers and the taper in the middle of the table sprang into life, bringing a sad smile to his face. Pulling out a chair he sat down just as a waiter came over to take his order. Ten minutes and one cup of chocolate coffee later the woman stepped back onto the dais. Gabriel's attention was immediately drawn from inner contemplation to the woman as her voice rose to be heard in the cafe. "I would like to read one of my poems now. It's entitled _Firelight Shadows_," she said. Before she could begin the sound of feet running down the stairs at the back of the cafe drew everyone's attention. Eve appeared at the bottom of the stairs and glanced around the room hurriedly, searching for that familiar face. The woman on the dais began her recitation as the audience's attention became focused on her once again.

"Rain crashes down over my face
As I walk the lives of those who have
Come before me
And those who will come after.

Their lives brighten as candles
And fade as the moon above all of
Our heads
As time marches on.

Eons pass and the darkness returns
The darkness threatens to
Engulf me
Before I am to be saved.

Those who come shall be too late
They journey to the city of burning shadows
To secure our futures in the place
Where the willows never weep."

Everyone in the cafe heard a loud gasp from the stairs and turned to see Eve's face go white. Gabriel saw her knees begin to buckle, as she started to collapse an invisible hand caught her. He ran to her side and helping her to a chair, yelled, "Get me some water!" As she sat down he kneeled next to her worriedly, "Jesus, are you okay, Eve?"

Eve looked up at Gabriel and he was shocked. Her face was pale and it looked as if she hadn't slept in days. "Did you hear what that woman said?" she asked, worriedly glancing at the poet who was standing behind Gabriel, her white features even paler.

"What, her poem?" Gabriel asked as a waitress appeared at his elbow bearing a glass. Gabriel snatched the glass from her, saying, "Here, drink this."

"The city of burning shadows! I've been telling you about my dreams! How the hell did she know about them?"

Realization dawned on Gabriel as the import of Eve's words struck him. The dreams she had been having, the visions. Visions of a dead world, visions shared with a select few. And now an unknown poet reciting prophecies of doom related to her dreams. "Why don't we get you upstairs and then we can figure out what's going on."

Eve's color had returned as she sipped her drink and set it down on the table carefully. "I'm feeling better, I can make it myself. I... I've gotta think about this for a little bit. Why don't you see if you can bring her up in about fifteen minutes, ok?"

"Sure, Eve, if you think that you're going to be okay..."

"Look, I'll be fine, alright?" Eve replied angrily, her eyes flashing. Gabriel's face looked as if he had been struck and Eve realized what she had just said. "I'm sorry Gabe, I've been on edge lately with all of the things that are going on," she said with a weary expression on her face. She turned and headed back up the stairs, and then called back tiredly over her shoulder, "Fifteen minutes."

The hallway was dark, a corridor of polished walnut reflecting darkly in the light of widely spaced candles. A window at the end of the corridor spilled moonlight across the burnished pine floor that Gabriel walked down, stopping before an elabortately carved oaken door. Carved in the wood at about head level was a helix surrounded by roses whose thorn-laced stems curled about the symbol, forming a circle.

Gabriel glanced behind him, as if to make sure that the strange poet was still following. She appeared to be looking back from underneath her hood, although Gabriel couldn't be sure.

Gabriel's gaze returned to the door as he raised his hand to knock on the polished wood. As his hand fell the door opened revealing Eve standing there with a slightly wry twist to her mouth and a mischevious glint in her eyes. Her hair was wet and tussled, and she looked much better than earlier. As Eve looked beyond Gabriel and saw the poet her hands went to her black silk robe, nervously brushing it as if wiping away invisible motes of dirt. She stepped to one side and swept her arm out to the side in a grandiose gesture. "Please come in, I would like to talk to you both," she said, never taking her eyes off of the unknown poet.

Gabriel stepped into the room and was amazed as always by the transformation Eve had wrought on the loft in only a few short months. Gone were the bare floorboards and rotting wallpaper, gone was the stained ceiling and the trash littering the floor. Instead the walls were polished wood hung with paintings and posters, the ceiling a map of the constellations and the floor covered with oriental rugs. Tapers were scattered around the room lending a soft glow to the wood and making the constellations glitter on the ceiling. And books, books were everywhere. From Lovecraft to Heinlein to Swift to Thoreau, it was there.

As Gabriel stood admiring the decor, Eve stepped past them and sat on a cushion on the floor in the center of the room. She motioned for them to sit on two other cushions placed facing hers. Gabriel sat down somewhat awkwardly due to the fact that he still wasn't used to sitting on the floor. Beside him the poet sank down gracefully onto her cushion, her head bowed as always.

Eve's face betrayed an inner struggle as she tried to decide where to begin. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, so many questions left unanswered in her own dreams.

"Who are you?" Eve finally asked the poet bluntly, having decided to begin at the beginning.

"My name is Sylvia Manthos, and as you can tell I'm an... artist. I write poetry, paint, you know. I take it from your reaction downstairs that something in my poem... upset you."

"Damn right, how the hell did you know about my dreams?" Eve asked angrily. However under her anger Gabriel could detect a hint of uneasiness in her voice.

"Your dreams? I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about your dreams..." Sylvia appeared to be quite concerned as she twisted a corner of her cloak between her fingers. "I can't say anything about your dreams, but I do sense that your being is, well, troubled."

"You bet I'm troubled! I've been dreaming of a dead world for the past few weeks and the dream always ends up in a city of shadows burning to the ground. Now you show up and start reciting a poem that mirrors my nightmares. I think that I have a goddamn right to be troubled!" Eve said angrily, her eyes flashing as she spoke.

"Eve, please, calm yourself. Sylvia doesn't mean any harm, she's only trying to help you... us. If she can shed any light on these dreams we may be able to figure out what they mean," Gabriel soothed her, glancing worriedly at Sylvia.

"You're right, Gabriel. It's just that with these nightmares I've been having a rough time lately. I'm sorry about that, Sylvia." Eve reached out and picked up a ceramic mug containing an off-color water that gave off a slightly pungeant smell. She wrapped her hands around the mug and sipped the tea, her eyes closing as she felt the warth cascade down her throat. After a moment her eyes opened and she resumed her story in a calmer manner.

"A few weeks ago I began to have dreams, dreams of a dying world, more often a dead world, hanging in emptiness. Everything was dead, from the redwoods to the insects below our feet." As Eve spoke, her gaze became unfocused as she recited her terrible dreams. "The whole world was burned, burnt as if it had fallen into the sun. Other times I would see the world dying, trees consumed by flames, babies dying as they are born, whole cities deserted and lifeless. On other nights I might see nothing more than the Earth tinged an ungodly red but in the background would be mocking laughter, never stopping, swelling and falling.

"Even when I'm awake I'm on edge, I feel a sense of, of 'wrongness' around me. I can't describe it any other way. It's sort of an impending doom kind of thing, you know?" Eve shook her head slightly and her eyes focused again as she looked upon the pair facing her, studying their faces as if to memorize every detail. Gabriel looked slightly shocked, afterall, he hadn't been told this much before. Sylvia, on the other hand, looked like she understood. The feeling that Eve had gotten from Sylvia all night intensified. A feeling of... of what? How could she describe it? Union? No, that wasn't right... Sisterhood...? Eve wasn't sure, the feeling was... odd.

Sylvia's thoughts had become increasingly troubled as she heard Eve's story unfold. She felt a tension growing in her chest as her panic grew. Thoughts raced through her head as the implications of Eve's dreams assaulted her mind. <No, not again,> she silent prayed. <I thought he was gone, I thought I had gotten rid of him forever! No, it's not fair, it's not fair damnit!> On the outside however she appeared as calm as always, not betraying for a moment her inner turmoil. After a few minutes of contemplation she had reached a decision.

"Eve, your dreams appear to be, as your aquaintance-"

Eve interrupted quickly, "He's my brother actually."

"Your brother then. Your dreams appear to be true prophecy. Do you know what this signals? Do you have any idea what your dreams mean?" Sylvia's voice grew in volume, her voice angry yet at the same time time slightly scared, "It means that the monster that did this to me is about to return!" With a sudden movement Sylvia pulled back her hood, revealing to Eve and Gabriel's horrified gaze a beautiful face, a face of purity. Staring out from this face were two empty sockets. The scarred remains seemed to burn with a baleful red fire as they fixed their empty gaze on Eve. "If he returns, THIS is what we have to look forward to," she said with anger. "This is what he'll do to us, torture us for his pleasure. This is what he'll do to our friends... to our children."