“Those expensive sports cars fall apart when they get hit,” his mother continued. “If Abel wasn’t a mal’akh, I’d make him get rid of that car of his. The one on TV is just like his and look at it now, you can’t even tell it used to be car. I can’t believe a police office was responsible for such a horrible accident
Alec opened one eye and glanced at the TV. The reporter stood on the corner, pointing at the vehicle splattered like a bug against the grill of an eighteen- wheeler truck.
“. . there are said to have been several repair requests on file for the police cruiser—a Ford Crown Victoria—involved in this accident. It is not yet known whether the patrol car malfunctioned or if driver error played a part in this tragedy. The name of the officer involved and the identities of the occupants of the Lamborghini convertible have not yet been released.”
Alec froze, realizing that the twisted and charred metal on the screen was silver not due to chipped paint, but because silver had been the color of the car.
He bolted upright. Abel!
What? his brother snapped in reply.
Leaping out of the recliner, Alec startled his mother into a screech, which in turn caused his dad to roll off the sofa.
Where is your car? he asked carefully.
In the driveway of the tower
His eyes squeezed shut, along with his throat. Where is Eve?
She’s at—
The sudden silence was ominous. Broken by a sudden banging on his front door.
“Cain”
Recognizing Ishamel’s voice, Alec shifted out to the hallway, pushing the mal’akh aside to look left and right. When he didn’t see Eve, he set off toward her condo. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know”
Alec spun about. “Say that again.”
“I had her wrist in my hand before I shifted out of the car.” Isharnel’s voice had a slight, uncustomary rasp. “But when I reached the tower, she wasn’t with me.”
***
Beyond closing his eyes, Raguel hadn’t moved since a pair of Infernals had taken the priest out of their cell. He barely had the energy to reopen them when Riesgo was returned. Maintaining the guise of a mortal was draining. Unfortunately, he didn’t need his eyesight to see that the priest was badly shaken.
Still, he watched Riesgo retreat to a corner and sit. The priest’s arms wrapped around his knees and he curled into a ball. It was alarming to sense such vulnerability in so proud and strong a man. Sammael intended to break them both, and this was a way to accomplish that task with one blow. Raguel was deeply affected by Riesgo’s tangible shock and desolation.
“Are you hurt, Padre?” Raguel asked gently, pushing up from his prone position.
There was a drawn-out silence, then, “No.”
“You were not gone long.”
“Really? It seemed like forever.” Riesgo sighed heavily. “I thank God something called him away. I’m not sure I could have borne a moment longer in that place.”
“Want to talk about what happened?”
Riesgo set his cheek on his knee. “I’m not sure I know.”
Leaning back against the stone wall, Raguel waited patiently. The deeper the silence, the stronger the urge to fill it.
“He wasn’t what I expected,” the priest said finally. “Satan, I mean.”
“He is always what you need him to be. That is his gift.”
“He was. . . paternal”
“Because you seek God in this Hell, he tries to fill that role for you. Did he meet with you alone?”
Riesgo stared at him almost blankly. “No. There was some sort of celebration. An orgy. Sex, dancing and.. . other acts that don’t bear repeating. There was blood. . . so much…”
“He plays the role of an anchor in the storm. A stalwart presence in a world gone mad.”
“Like God in the world above, offering peace amid the chaos.”
Raguel was impressed by the priest’s perceptiveness. “Did that disturb you, Padre? Did it shake your faith as he intended it to?”
“I-I don’t know.” Riesgo shrugged lamely. “He was reasoned. Quiet. His confidence frightened me more than anything.”
“You imagined him to be volatile.”
“Yes. Wild and out of control. Someone with a hair- trigger temper. Someone I could see arguing with God enough to get kicked out of Heaven.”
“Instead, you found someone cool and calculating. Sammael does not get angry. He gets even.”
Riesgo’s fingers dug restlessly into his knees. “He had me sit with him on a pallet in the middle of the room. He offered me something to eat and drink. I was so thirsty, but I didn’t take anything from him.”
“It would not have harmed you if you had,” Raguel said, knowing the mortal wouldn’t survive long without sustenance. The priest wasn’t the only fragile one. After weeks in solitary, Raguel wasn’t certain he’d survive the loss of his only companion.”
If they could somehow manage to get beyond the void they hovered in, Raguel thought he might be able to get them out. They were in the second level of Hell. He might be able to break into the first, despite his growing weakness, then bargain their way out from that point.
“He had a woman there,” Riesgo continued in a whisper. “He told her to m-massage my shoulders.”
“A lure, enhanced by powers you cannot expect to resist.”
Riesgo stiffened and spoke tightly, “God expects me to resist.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“You don’t know that!” The priest leaped to his feet. “She changed, while she was touching me. Her appearance. . . morphed.”
“Did she show you her true face? The rot beneath the glamour?”
“I wish she had.” Riesgo ran both hands through his hair and groaned.
The priest’s restlessness was so pronounced it penetrated Raguel’s weariness and arrested his attention.
“She became Eve,” Riesgo bit out. “Evangeline.”
Raguel frowned. Then his brows rose as understanding dawned. “It was a cruel trick,” he soothed. “It means nothing.”
“It means something! I was irritated by the woman—until she changed. Then. . .” Riesgo moved to the door and fisted the bars. “Then, my reaction to her changed.”
“You are speaking of the Devil himself,” Raguel argued, struggling to stand. “He has ways of making you see things that are not there. He can make you believe a lie as if it were gospel. It is no reflection on you or your faith.”
“Isn’t there a grain of truth in every lie?” Rattling the bars, Riesgo craned his neck to see outside. “I have to get out of here. Now. I have to get out.”
Raguel moved carefully over to the priest and touched his shoulder. “You feel drawn to Evangeline because God has a purpose for you in her life. Sammael has twisted that in your mind to circumvent God’s will.”
“You don’t know that.” Riesgo looked at Raguel with wild eyes.
A guttural, yet amused voice intruded. “I was going to let you out. But what’s the point when you two are so damned loud?”
Turning his head, Raguel found Asmodeus at the door.
Riesgo retreated with a horrified gasp.
Raguel’s shoulders went back. He, too, was disgusted by the multiheaded demon, but he would not show it.
Glamourless, Asmodeus was a squat, wide, lumbering monstrosity. A creature both demon and beast.
The king leered with his many mouths and stepped back, gesturing at the cell with a wave of a cloven hand.
The lock bent of its own accord, shrieking as the metal was distorted beyond use. The door fell open.
“Go that way.” The king pointed to the left. A cobblestone path appeared, floating over the endless void and seemingly without end. “You’ll find a pond a ways down. Swim to the bottom and you’ll find a cave. Take that to its end and you’ll be back on the surface. The portal won’t be open long. You’ll have to make a run for it. If you’re able”
Raguel hesitated. If Sammael had truly decided to free them, he would do so himself. That way, he could boast of his largesse.
Asmodeus laughed. “Hurry, Raguel. Before the distraction I created runs its course.”
“Distraction?” Glancing at Riesgo, Raguel found the priest to be deathly pale but nodding slowly.
“When Satan was called away,” Riesgo said. “It seemed urgent.”
“That’s why they sent you back so soon.”
“Yes.”
Raguel turned back to Asmodeus, but the king was gone.
“Let’s go,” he said, gesturing for Riesgo to precede him out.
They didn’t look back.
Reed shifted into the hallway outside of Cain’s condo. He ignored Ishamel in favor of his brother. “What the hell is going on? Where is my car?”
“Abel.”
His mother’s voice drew his attention to Cain’s open doorway. She stood there wide-eyed, with a trembling mouth. “Is that your car on the television? Was Eve in it?”
“My car is on television?” Irritated by the distress everyone was displaying, he brushed past his mother and entered the living room.
He found his father sitting on the couch facing the TV. He turned to look, watching as a camera zoomed in on firemen using the Jaws of Life to pry open what remained of his car.
“Holy shit.” He shifted back to the hallway, landing directly in front of Ishamel. “Where. Is. Eve?”
The mal’akh met his gaze directly, unresisting yet defiant. “I don’t know
Catching him by the lapels of his gray suit, Reed slammed him into the wall. “Wrong answer
Cain grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him around. Ishamel’s feet hit the carpet with a thud, but he didn’t stumble.
“You are such a monumental fuck-up, Abel. You have one job. One f**king job, and you can’t get it right.”
“Cain. . .“ their father warned.
“No, Abba.” Cain made a slashing gesture with his hand. “Your precious Abel f**ked up, whether you want to hear about it or not. He’s supposed to be keeping his charges safe, but in the last two days Eve was ambushed by Azazel and now—”
Cain’s voice broke, which nearly broke Reed. Was Eve still in the accordion-like remains of his car? Nothing could survive a collision like that. Nothing.
“You’re her f**king mentor, a**hole,” Reed tossed back, fists clenching at the brutal understanding of his own culpability. He hadn’t wanted Rosa in the vicinity, yet he’d allowed Eve free rein because... Fuck.
Because she was mad at him and he wanted to pacify her? Because he couldn’t read her and took it personally? Because he felt like he was hanging on to her by his fingernails and was afraid to fight with her?
“She was driving your car!” Cain bit out.
“I didn’t know! I thought she was riding in the limo with Ishamel
Cain’s face took on an ugly, twisted cast. “Betcha left the Lamborghini out front, right? Smack dab in the entryway so everyone would see it. ‘Look at my awesome car, which I drive to stroke my massive f**king ego and compensate for my miniscule prick.”
“Cain!” their mother snapped. “That was completely—”
Reed didn’t wait for the rest. He lunged across the space between them, tackling Cain halfway down the hall. They hit the carpet and skid, grappling. Weeks of frustration, jealousy, and anger poured out through his fists. He didn’t feel his brother returning blows. He didn’t feel fear at challenging an angel far more powerful than himself. All he felt was good. Really damned good.
Arms and hands intruded too swiftly; his father and Ishamel digging between them to rip them apart. With his wrists restrained behind his back, Reed was pulled off Cain and yanked upright. He continued to kick with his legs—once while his brother was still on the floor and again as Cain managed to regain his footing.
“Enough!” their mother shouted, slapping Reed in the face, then Cain. “Why can’t you work together for once? Is your feud more powerful than your feelings for Evangel—”
The sudden halting of her tirade arrested everyone in the hallway.
She moved closer to Cain, her fingers finding and lifting the necklace that had fallen out of his shirt. “W-where did you get this?”
Cain looked down at her hand, his irises still flickering with the lingering rage of angels. “Eve gave it to me.”
Reed’s teeth ground together. Eve had given a gift to his brother?
Doors opened along the hallway and residents poked their heads out. Sydney, too, appeared from Eve’s condo.
“What’s going on out there?” one woman asked crossly. “I’m calling the police.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Ishamel released Reed and moved away to address the concerns of the onlookers. Sydney joined him in working damage control.
“Where did Evangeline get it?” their mother persisted, sounding formidable despite her petite stature.
“An Infernal in the firm made it’ Cain answered.
Their father stood still and watchful. “No, he didn’t.”
Tugging at it, she said, “Give it to me
Cain’s head tilted. His gaze narrowed. “I can’t. I promised Eve I wouldn’t take it off
“She could be dead!” she snapped, chilling Reed with her callousness. “Give it to me.”
Then she gasped and covered her mouth as her careless words registered. “I’m s-sorry. I didn’t mean that.”
“What is this, Ima?” Cain asked with dangerous softness, watching her like the predator he was. “What does it do?”
“It doesn’t do anything.”
“How do you know?”
Adam stepped forward and caught her wrist. “Leave it.”
“I can’t just—”