had to control my temper for the sake of another person, or keep my cool under pressure in a job. For all intents and purposes I had the emotional control of a three-year-old.
And while I learned how to find the magic inside of me, and turn it up or down as needed—if I stayed in control—I didn’t know how to call specific abilities. Twice I used the electromagnetic pulse to defend myself without knowing how I’d called it to me. And since neither Gabriel nor Beezle had ever seen abilities like mine, they didn’t know how to tell me to do it. Both of them just counseled control, control, control until I was ready to blast them with nightfire just so that they would shut up.
By the end of the training session I’d broken an old futon that I had been meaning to sell or give away and blasted apart several boxes of accrued junk. All in all I felt lucky not to have nuked Gabriel by accident or had a massive starburst explosion that collapsed the entire building. Beezle went in the kitchen to make popcorn— again—and Gabriel went downstairs to his apartment to change. I closed my eyes and let myself doze.
I opened my eyes when I heard Gabriel open the front door. His face was troubled.
“What’s the problem?” I said.
He hesitated, and I saw an indefinable emotion flicker across his face.
“Lord Azazel has ordered that we do not track Ramuell at this time. After the incident at the Agency he is wary of your drawing too close to Lucifer’s enemies.”
I wanted to retort that one more enemy wouldn’t make much of a difference, but I bit my tongue. Gabriel didn’t deserve to be shouted at just because I didn’t want my every breath approved by Azazel first. Although I was pretty annoyed that he had talked to Azazel. It made me wonder if I would ever come first in his eyes.
“And he is sending Nathaniel to you to ensure your safety,” he said.
“What!” I exploded, coming to my feet in one angry motion. “I don’t want that pompous jerk hanging around and annoying me while we have work to do.”
“You do not have a choice, Madeline. He is your betrothed,” Gabriel said softly.
“We’ll just see about that,” I muttered. “Look, it’s almost daylight. Ramuell attacked me in the alley near Greenwitch’s house. You may be able to trace him directly from there. And maybe we can avoid Nathaniel while we’re at it.”
“He would still be able to trace you,” Gabriel said.
“How?”
He held up his cell phone.
“You don’t have to answer that, you know.”
“Yes,” Gabriel sighed, “I do. And you cannot ask me to directly ignore an order of Lord Azazel’s.”
Which told me everything I needed to know. When push came to shove, Gabriel would choose Azazel over me. It made the feelings between us a little easier to ignore, I supposed. I wanted him but there was a universe of obstacles in our way.
“Fine. You don’t have to ignore Azazel’s orders, but I can.”
Gabriel took a deep breath and closed his eyes, as if he were searching for patience. “It is seditious for you to ignore the will of your father.”
“If my father wanted me to respect his will, then he should have hung around. As it is, he missed the key personality-formation years and therefore can stick it.”
“Madeline . . .”
“No,” I said, growing angry. “I am not going to sit around and wait for Ramuell to come after me again. I am not going to wait for him to tear some innocent bystander to pieces. I am going after him. Are you helping me or not?”
Gabriel looked at me. I gazed steadily back. Beezle rotated his head back and forth between us, trying to see who would break first.
Something shifted in his eyes. “Lord Azazel did not, I suppose, directly order you to stay away from Greenwitch’s.”
I nodded.
“And I am bound to stay at your side.”
I nodded again.
“Then I suppose I must accompany you there, and if we happen to come upon Ramuell’s traces, then it would be folly not to follow them.”
I smiled. Maybe the obstacles between us weren’t so great after all.
“Can nephilim come out in the daytime?” I asked.
“I suppose so,” Gabriel answered. “Why?”
“Nothing. It’s just that I’ve only seen Ramuell at night. I was wondering if maybe sunlight ...”
“Burned the nephilim to ash like a vampire?” Beezle snorted. “Maddy, remember that the nephilim are half- angel, and angels are born of the sun.”
“Right.” I nodded and went into my room to change. But I was thinking about the ragged shreds of skin left on Ramuell after I’d blasted him with the starburst. That power seemed to have a lot in common with the sun. Maybe every nephilim wasn’t vulnerable to sunlight, but Ramuell could be. His father was the Morningstar, after all, and Beezle had said that the traits of the angels were twisted inside the nephilim. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that a father so closely associated with the sun could have a child that couldn’t bear the touch of it?
It was something to think about, anyway.
We managed to get out of the house before Nathaniel arrived. Beezle promised to delay the angel as long as possible so that Gabriel and I could work uninterrupted. The sun was just peeking over the horizon when we arrived at Greenwitch’s place. It was too early even for the coffee shop on the corner to have opened yet.
The building looked much the same as it had the last time I had been there. Gabriel stepped up to the door. He put his hand over the doorknob and muttered something under his breath. I heard the dead bolt click open inside.
“It can’t be that easy,” I said, hesitating on the threshold.
Gabriel stepped inside and headed down the staircase. “My magic is not insignificant, Madeline. I, too, am a descendant of Lord Lucifer.”
I dithered for a moment in the doorway and finally decided it was better to follow him and close the door. No sense standing on the stoop, yelling after him and waking the neighbors.
The air inside was filled with the scent of herbs, thyme and sage most predominantly. It didn’t have that unused smell that living spaces get when the occupants are gone for more than a few hours. Greenwitch hadn’t been gone for that long but still, I’d have expected the air to be a little stale.
“I didn’t say your magic was insignificant. And I’m not interested in playing a who’s-closer-to-Lucifer’s- bloodline game,” I said as I hurried after him. “I said it can’t be that easy. Greenwitch was an extremely powerful demon. She probably had a lot of enemies.”
Gabriel had already turned into the workroom where Greenwitch had taken me on my last visit. “And your point is?” he called back, sounding distracted.
“The point is that she should have had some protective wards or something. We shouldn’t have been able to walk right in. Something isn’t right here.” I rounded the corner after Gabriel and plowed into his back. “Hey.”
“You’re right,” he said, stepping aside so that I could see the room. “Something isn’t right here.”
It looked as though an extremely destructive pack of toddlers had been through the room. The wardrobe where Greenwitch had kept my charm had been broken open and the doors wrenched from their hinges. Charms and herbs were scattered everywhere and the air was redolent with the smell of the crushed leaves. Her worktable had been smashed in half by something very big, very strong, or both.
“Damn,” I said, backing up a little to stand in the doorway as Gabriel picked through the mess. “Who could have done this, and why?”
“I am not sure,” Gabriel said, picking up a silver locket, examining it and discarding it.
“Someone needs their apple juice and cheese crackers,” I said, examining the destruction, and then I smelled it.
The whiff of sulfur came a breath too late. Antares already had his claws around my neck, even as I was turned, even as I tried to tap my magic. He yanked me close to his body and bent his head close to mine.
