Hunted

true after what that archangel said.”

“Don’t take anything Raphael said to heart,” Dante said reassuringly. “Most archangels resent the fact that the Principalities rebelled against the prime directive, and chose free will and love. The thought that you could unite the Nephilim and start our path to ascension bothers them. I don’t know what verdict the court came up with, but Raphael is running his own show, so be very careful. Any time you leave the safety of your enclave, make sure you let us know. Stop by here first, or send someone to inform us.”

“Okay. Since you know more about them than we do, do you know if they or the court can bring back someone from Tartarus?”

Dante’s eyes narrowed. “They are the ones who put the Principalities there to begin with, so that is possible, but I’ve never heard of anyone coming back. Why do you ask?”

“Just something Gavyn said. Could they…do you know if Valafar is alive?”

Dante shook his head. “Of course not. Your grandfather defeated him and sent him to Tartarus.”

“Who told you Valafar is alive?” Bran asked from behind me, his voice deceptively soft. I hadn’t realized he’d joined us. “Gavyn?”

“No, Solaris,” I said, turned and realized my mistake when his emerald eyes grew stormy. “Bran—”

“You what?” He was by the twins’ side by the time he finished the question.

Solaris cringed.

“I…I, uh…” Solaris stammered.

“What did you tell her?” Bran snarled through gritted teeth. Esras opened his mouth and started to speak up, but Bran silenced him with a look. “Home. Now. Follow us.”

He was back by my side before I could protest his attitude. I didn’t need him fighting my battles. Worse, he was humiliating the Cardinals in front of Dante and Kael.

“Bran,” I protested.

“She had no right to screw with your head like that, Lil. Not right now with all the crap we are going through. I’ll be in touch.” A nod at Kael and Dante and we teleported.

He looped our teleport before we ended in the foyer of my house. Along the way I tried to reason with him, but I might as well have been talking to a wall. The others appeared behind us, not giving me a chance to calm Bran or lecture him on his high-handedness.

He rounded on Solaris. “Start talking.”

Fear paralyzed her. Lucien distanced himself from her as though her guilt might rub off on him. Esras wore a resigned look.

“Our parents were killed during the nature-bender’s raid and we wanted Valafar to pay when we heard he was alive,” Lunaris said. “We’d been searching for several weeks when we heard that Cardinal Falcon had killed him.”

Bran’s eyes narrowed. “So you decided to mess with Lil’s head, while we are in the middle of a crisis, by saying he’s alive.”

“We were told he was alive,” Lunaris said.

“Told by whom?”

“A Civilian Guardian saw him in Buenos Aires,” Solaris finally spoke up. “I set off with my Cardinals to investigate. There’s a group of Werenephils in the Amazon. They are hiding a powerful but aging demon.”

Bran cocked his brow. “And?”

“They were gone by the time we got there.”

“That is because Valafar is dead and trapped in Tartarus for eternity. I was there. I watched him die,” Bran said. “The two nature-benders who helped us today were his men. Dante was his right-hand man, Kael one ofhis senior guards. They betrayed Valafar by helping us. Do you know what he would have done to them had he survived?”

The twins shook their heads.

“Used them as an example. Hunted them down and publicly punished them before killing them, so no demon would ever thinking of crossing him. He was ruthless, the kind of demon not afraid to get his hands dirty.”

Silence filled the room, but in my head the conversation with Gavyn kept replaying. Could Valafar have summoned the Tribunal and sent the archangels after us, then asked Gavyn to offer Bran and me a deal? Bran stepped aside and said, “Now about what you said to Lil…”

“No, that’s okay,” I said. Please, let me handle this.

He hesitated, then stepped back.

When I glanced at him, I found him standing guard, arm crossed, legs apart, gaze locked on the twins as though to warn them to act right or else.

Please, wait for me in the kitchen.

His eyes narrowed and he appeared ready to refuse, then he nodded and left. I waited until he disappeared, then faced the Cardinals. “Tell me again what you learned about Valafar.”

Surprise flashed across the twins’ faces.

“It’s just like I said,” Solaris said, for once her voice not belligerent. “We had a lead, a den of Werenephils in the middle of the Amazon guarding an aging, powerful Lord that fit Valafar’s description. That lead turned cold. We were about to give up when one of my Civilian Guardians spotted him in Buenos Aires again. Before we could confirm it, the Damned Humans in our sector whose contracts we’d canceled were being attacked and their fortunes reversed, and young demons started disappearing. We even thought our inquiries had led to the attacks. Then the incident on the island happened and we were put on lockdown.” Lunaris gave me a look I couldn’t explain, like she felt sorry for me and wasn’t too happy about it.

The hated hollow feeling settled in my tummy again. “You heard what Gavyn said about the Tribunal bringing back demons from Tartarus. There could be a connection.”

“Can we trust anything he says?” Lunaris whispered.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ll ask Dante and Kael to look into it after we’re done with the archangels.” If I survived.

They nodded.

“Okay. I’ll see you guys around.” I turned to head to the kitchen.

“I’m sorry, Cardinal Lil,” Lunaris said, stopping me in my tracks. “We shouldn’t have brought up Valafar during a mission or now when we have other things to worry about.”

“That’s okay.”

Solaris looked like she’d swallowed a rotten egg. An apology from her wasn’t going to happen. Fine. I didn’t need it. “See you later, Cardinals.”

“May I say something, please?” Esras said. He’d been so quiet I’d forgotten his presence. Lucien’s too.

Why couldn’t they just leave? I was sure they had to report to Master Haziel or something. “Esras, I’ve a lot on my mind, so please make it quick.”

“I’m sorry if you feel we misled you about our identities,” he said.

“I don’t feel you misled me, Esras. You misled me. Whether Master Haziel put you up to it or it was your brilliant idea to test me is now pointless. Are you a Cardinal too, Lucien?”

Shoulders hunched, the younger man shook his head. “No. Master Haziel asked meto…to…”

“To what?” I asked impatiently.

Lucien swallowed visibly. “To be his, uh, ‘eyes and ears’ is how he put it. He wanted to see if the four of you, all sector heads, could work together. He said you could learn a thing or two from each other.”

Yeah, Ilearned something all right, how to be a jackass. “My grandfather heads this sector, not me,” I reminded Lucien.

“But you will be the leader when your grandfather retires,” Lucien said.

Sure, if I survived the archangels. I was too tired to argue with him. “Thanks for having the guts to tell me the truth. I did learn something from you guys, so all in all a successful mission.” I turned to leave, but the Cardinals didn’t move.

Lucien looked confused. “But Master Haziel expects all of us back in the pit.”

“You guys go ahead. I’ll see him later.”

“But—”