She remains incapacitated. Your hunter friend Demarco was able to put eyes on her—the stump I filled with wildfire isn’t healing as quickly as the rest of her body.
Elena’s gut iced; she’d known Demarco would be going into enemy territory, but it was still a shock to hear he was in the heart of danger. Who else is behind enemy lines?
Janvier, Holly, Ashwini, and the rest of Demarco’s sniper team. They entered via the tunnel system.
Those tunnels were on no maps except those kept in a secure Tower locker—and in the minds of every member of the senior Tower team. They’re all insane. Worry pounded a drumbeat in her blood. Naasir? The sneakiest of them all and the acknowledged leader of the stealth team.
He is in the city, doing what he does best.
The smudge in the sky began to take shape. Dawnlight glinted off the gold of Elijah’s hair and shimmered over the black of Hannah’s. As they got closer, Elena felt her eyes widen. She’d always before seen Hannah in elegant gowns, her hair in styles as elegant. Today, Elijah’s consort wore a simple brown tunic and pants, an outfit similar to fighting leathers.
A sword was sheathed and strapped down the side of one thigh. Tightly braided to her skull, her hair had then been wrapped in a knot at the back of her head. “I didn’t know Hannah could fight.”
“Do not forget, Elena-mine, Hannah has lived many mortal lifetimes and she’s long been consort to an archangel who was once a general.” He angled his wings in a signal to Elijah, who angled his own in return.
“But you are right in that she has never been a warrior at heart—however, Hannah has always stepped into battle as one who will assist fallen warriors. She has carried countless wounded to safety, bandaged injuries enough to hold them together for survival, worked alongside medics trying to save the fallen.”
Well able to see Hannah doing all of that, Elena raised a hand in a wave to her fellow consort. The other woman waved back. Condors and other winged birds of prey danced in front of the archangelic couple, several coming forward to sweep around Elena and Raphael.
When the four of them met, it was several beats ahead of Elijah’s army. That army spread out behind him on a wave of wings and below him in a sweep of heavy-duty vehicles. Raphael had told her that Elijah was later than expected because he’d chosen to bring everyone in together rather than flying ahead with his aerial troops. Splitting the two had risked leaving the ground forces without aerial support should Lijuan decide to aim her eyes in that direction.
“Eli.” Raphael clasped the other archangel’s forearm as Elijah did the same to him.
Elena exchanged a hug with Hannah.
“Your wings, Ellie,” whispered the other woman. “I am astonished.” Despite the wondering words, lines of strain marred the normally smooth darkness of her skin.
“I have only been able to bring half my army, my friend.” The Archangel of South America glanced behind then below him to take in that army. “All those who were close enough to your border to get here in good time.”
“That you have come, it is an act of friendship I will never forget.”
“My intention was to bring all of them,” Elijah continued, “but Lijuan was clever in a way I did not predict.” He exchanged a tight smile with Hannah. “My people were successful in halting the majority of attempts to bring in a single reborn to begin a nest.”
“We never expected to catch every one,” Raphael said. “I believe the only reason I have not had news of any infestations in my territory is because Lijuan didn’t bother with such a stratagem here. Her plan was always to take Manhattan, then loose her creatures.”
Elijah nodded. “The few nests that got through are not the problem—my teams are well able to eliminate them. Charisemnon, however . . .” Elijah’s eyes grew cold enough to cause goose bumps on Elena’s skin, his wings limned with light. The hilts of the swords he wore crisscrossed on his back glinted with jewels.
Hannah had once told Elena those jewels were part of a large horde Caliane had gifted Elijah prior to his ascension, in thanks for Elijah’s loyal and courageous service.
“While I have never fully trusted Charisemnon,” he said now, “our territories have done trade with each other for centuries. I was complacent, for never has an archangel used trade as a back door for an attack. It is not an action of integrity or valor.”
That sounds ominous, Archangel. Do we do any trade with Charisemnon?
I have asked Dmitri to check. Out loud, Raphael said, “The fault is not yours. You are right to say such things are beneath the Cadre. What did he do?”
“Use his access as a trade partner to spread disease.” Elijah’s cheekbones sliced against the sun-brushed warmth of his skin. “Well-hidden within his recent shipments were insects infected with the same disease that killed a vampire in your territory and caused angels to fall from the sky.”
Wings of lush cream with a blush of peach on the primaries holding an effortless hover, Hannah picked up the thread. “Our people in the ports are trained to treat all shipments with tinctures against insects.”
Elena figured by “tinctures,” Hannah must mean fumigation.
“Many of the shipments were also personally checked.” Elijah pressed his lips together. “But to find such miniscule and cleverly hidden things . . .” A shake of his head. “We believe he had operatives in my territory who retrieved the insects from their hiding places and held them safe until Lijuan’s assault against Manhattan. They are spreading like a plague—and the disease is far more virulent than the last time.”
“We’ve lost a hundred vampires already.” Hannah’s eyes shone. “A vampire must be bitten many times to die, but their poison incapacitates with only three or four bites, leaving the victim helpless to crush or otherwise annihilate the creatures.”
“I have ordered the other half of my army to evacuate a large infested area, and to then scorch the earth with fire.” Elijah glanced back as his aerial army came to a hovering halt a respectful distance away; the ground troops followed. “If you’ve any containers from Charisemnon’s territory and they are mercifully unopened, destroy them at once.”
“I will, my friend.” Raphael began to turn. “Come, I will lead you to where your army may settle.”
They angled their wings toward Manhattan.
Dmitri says we have had ten recent shipments from Charisemnon.
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Raphael’s statement froze Elena’s veins. Their city couldn’t handle an infestation, not with Lijuan at their doorstep.
Then her archangel’s lips curved in a smile that was deadly. All those shipments are sitting on a cargo ship anchored far off the coast—and crewed by Tower personnel. Your friend with the third eye told Dmitri that she didn’t think they had good “feng shui.”