- Flashback to the banks of the Loire River in France, 1565.
- Chauncey is out by the river with a farmer's daughter when a storm rolls in, romance-novel-style.
- Chauncey heads home out of the rain, but he is stopped by a dark, mysterious, half-naked stranger.
- The stranger drops a bombshell: Chauncey's father wasn't really the Duc de Langeais, so Chauncey isn't really a descendant of noble blood. What's more, the stranger forces Chauncey to swear his loyalty to him and promise to be at his service for two weeks during the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. The stranger doesn't say what the service is.
- The stranger reveals that Chauncey is a Nephil, which means he's half mortal and half fallen angel.
- As the stranger walks away, Chauncey notices two thick scars on the stranger's back in the shape of an upside-down V, leading Chauncey to think that the stranger is a fallen angel.