I recognized Nolan Ash in the crowd. Gemini and Sagittarius were there too. It seemed the bounty hunters were my new shadow.
“Some of your friends?” Colonel Fireswift said to me with a sneer.
“Angels!” several people shouted, dropping to their knees.
As he turned to them, his halo lit up with magic, Colonel Fireswift’s sneer transformed into an expression of majestic superiority. At least I thought that was the look he was going for. Sometimes it was hard to tell with him. Many of his expressions looked much the same.
“This is how you captivate the masses,” he said quietly to me as he waved at the adoring crowd. “Not by blowing up outhouses.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks. “I didn’t blow up the outhouse. That was the invisible monster.”
But Colonel Fireswift wasn’t listening. He was too busy basking in the crowd’s reverence for him.
Until someone called out, “The Legion of Angels is supposed to be the Earth’s protectors! How many more people are you going to let die before you start protecting us?”
I located the speaker. It was a woman dressed in a brown safari suit. Except the suit was made of fine silk, and she was wearing a pair of stylish stilettos that looked like the heels would snap off at the first sign of monsters. I bet she was a reporter, one of those who’d jumped on the incendiary reporter’s bandwagon.
I subtly stepped in front of Colonel Fireswift before he made a move to blast the woman away. He wanted to. I could see the fury burning in his eyes.
“I guess not everyone can be captivated,” I commented.
His response was spoken in a low snarl. “Move aside, Pandora.”
“Not a chance, Fireswift. If you strike at the reporters now, the world will condemn us.” I glanced at the cameras in the crowd. “But if we wait until they trespass, we can arrest them and charge them with obstructing justice.”
Some of the tension melted off of him. “That’s not a half-bad idea. I like it.”
“I thought you might when I suggested it.”
Nero had been the one to teach me how to use the rules to my advantage. I didn’t tell Colonel Fireswift that. He got along with Nero even worse than he did with me.
“You know,” he said as we fluttered our wings once to jump over the yellow tape. “You really would do better with my guidance. I could tame your wild tendencies, get you into line. I know Faris would approve.”
“Honestly, I don’t think Faris cares about how proper I am, only that I get the job done. I’m just the weapon he throws at problems.”
Colonel Fireswift’s blond brows furrowed. “That’s not a very respectful way to speak of a god.”
“As you’ve pointed out time and time again, I’m not a very respectable person. Besides, if I did act properly, I would rob Faris of the joy of complaining about my behavior later.”
Colonel Fireswift took a step away from me.
“Relax, Colonel. Faris isn’t going to smite me,” I told him. “He needs me.”
“Perhaps. But that won’t stop him from smiting the next closest thing.”
I turned my head up to the sky and said, “Don’t smite Fireswift, Daddy. He’s one of the few people who actually likes you.”
“Be silent,” Colonel Fireswift hissed. “Your impudence is going to get me killed.”
I looked at the tranquil clouds, then I looked at Colonel Fireswift. “But not today.” I pulled my buzzing phone out of my jacket and read the message on the screen. “There’s been another incident. It’s at Storm Castle. An attack by an unknown assailant.”
“It could be the demons’ Dark Force taking advantage of the unrest,” said Colonel Fireswift.
“Leila needs my help.”
“Colonel Starborn has been an angel for a very long time. She is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.”
“When I see Leila, I’ll tell her how perfectly capable you consider her to be.”
His mouth drew into a hard, thin line. “Don’t you dare leave now. This incident takes priority over a normal attack.”
“You said yourself that you think it’s the Dark Force taking advantage of the unrest. That hardly sounds like an irrelevant matter. And besides…” I winked at him. “…I thought you couldn’t wait to get rid of me.”
Hard, unyielding leather creaked as he folded his arms over his chest. “I don’t like you, Leda Pandora.”
I smiled. “Oh, you. Stop. I’m blushing.”
Colonel Fireswift’s scowl deepened. “I don’t like you, but you do have an uncanny knack for sorting out chaos.”
“Why, Xerxes, that just might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
He glowered at me.
I messaged Basanti and told her to bring Drake and Ivy to Storm Castle to check out this mysterious attack. I would have gone myself, Colonel Fireswift’s protests notwithstanding, had I been certain it was related to the murders. But so far, the perpetrator had only targeted supernaturals, not Legion soldiers, so it seemed the incident at Storm Castle was indeed something different. Which meant I should stay here and check out the crime scene.
Sometimes being responsible really sucked. I’d much rather go help my friend Leila than stay here and trade insults with Colonel Fireswift.
We entered the barn and examined the two dead witches. Both were male, and they were young, neither older than twenty-five. They lay on the floor, close to each other. When I walked toward them, something crunched under my boot. I lifted up my foot and found a tiny glass sliver on the ground.
“It looks like the glass from a potion bottle,” I commented.
Witches’ bottles were made of a very special kind of glass, the kind that potions wouldn’t dissolve, but that would still shatter on impact when thrown.
I walked a few loops inside the barn, then said, “There are a few more pieces of potion bottle glass scattered across the floor. And some herbs.” I bent down and plucked a dried leaf off the floor. “Someone was mixing a potion in here.” I sniffed the crusty leaf. “Dragon’s breath, one of the ingredients in the Noxious Mist potion.” I rubbed it between my fingers, and it crumbled to bits. “It looks like…” I frowned, then met Colonel Fireswift’s eyes. “…it looks like someone tried to clean up in here but missed a few things. Especially the glass pieces.”
As anyone who had ever dropped a glass could attest, you never found all the broken pieces.
“There was a fight,” I said. “The witches tried to brew a potion.”
“You’re just speculating now.”
“No, I’m not.” A quick check of the witches’ bodies showed marks on their skin. “Something attacked them in here. The witches didn’t have any potions on them, so they tried to brew up something using common herbs. Dragon’s breath and fireweed, the two ingredients in the Noxious Mist potion, can be found outside the barn.” My gaze panned across the barn’s floor. “Aha! There you are.” I pointed at the dented metal bucket in a corner of the barn. “That’s what they used to brew the potion.”
Colonel Fireswift gave me a hard look. “A milk bucket.”