Chapter 17 For the Angel of Death Spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face Of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers Waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, And for ever grew still! . Lord Byron . Earth - AD June 1996 Kizlyar, Republic of Dagestan, Russia . The crumbling hospital was typical of ex-Soviet architecture, fashioned of dun-brick, but reinforced with enough concrete that it created the perfect bunker. Azrael moved invisibly through the periphery until he found a stern-looking man who wore the long coat, tall fur hat and knee-height boots of a Dagestani Cossack. He materialized in front of Mansur Al-Hallaj, ostensibly Lucifer's ally, although Al-Hallaj's people had long ago 'gone native' to intermarry with local women.