Simon left the room and headed for the barracks. He had to get some sleep before he fell over.
Wake up!
Merihim’s command exploded inside Warren’s head and yanked him up fromblissful slumber. He’d slept on his back, with Naomi’s cheek against his and oneof her horns pressed to his forehead. The pain of the demon’s voice drove himfrom the bed to his knees.
What do you think you’re doing? Merihim demanded. You’re supposed tofind Fulaghar’s lieutenants.
“I will,” Warren said. <
Across the room, a pair of eyes opened on the book. They regarded Warren in silence. But as soon as those eyes made contact with his, some of the pain in his head dissipated. He got control of the nausea cycling through his stomach.
You’re wasting time.
“I don’t know how to find them.”
Then come. I’ll show you.
The pain dragged Warren to his feet and out onto the balcony. He hated being there. Toxic rain fell from the leaden sky maskingthe moon and spattered across his naked shoulders. The drops left chemical burns behind.
Below in the city, the demons prowled and some of the braver humans hunted for enough food to get them through another day or two. Warren feared that he would attract a demon’s attention, and he kept imagining that he heard clawsclicking against the rooftop overhead.
A Blood Angel swooped through the street in front of Warren. She never turned in his direction.
Her, Merihim said. Use her. She can find Knaarl.
Warren recognized the name as that of one of Fulaghar’s lieutenants. “How amI supposed to use her?”
See through her eyes. Just as you use the other Blood Angel eyes you have.
Warren wanted to point out that he’d bound those eyes to him, and that he’dspent days doing it. But he knew it would be no use. It was better to try and fail.
Unless Merihim killed him out of frustration.
“He won’t kill you,” the voice said. “Not yet. He needs you too much.”
The pain inside Warren’s head exploded again. He almost dropped to his kneesand reached out to the balcony railing for support. His vision turned red
Then it cleared, and he realized he wasn’t seeing through his eyes any more.As he stared, his head pounding somewhere far away, he watched the London cityscape spin by below him. His vision was incredibly sharp, even clearer than it was when he enhanced it. For a moment he saw himself standing in the rain on the balcony. The rain drummed down on him and he felt burning sensations, but they were so far away they seemed more irritating than harmful.
The Blood Angel saw everything with more color and vibrancy than anything Warren had ever experienced. There were colors that hehad no names for. And seeing prey was simple.
Warren watched in amazement as the Blood Angel spotted a man edging through the darkness near a tube station. Heeling over, the demon went in pursuit, dumping altitude like a fighter jet as it whipped through the city.
The man never knew what hit him. He was alive one moment and dead the next. Hooking her rear claws into the dead man, the Blood Angel flew her prize to the nearest building and tore the corpse to pieces to feed to a nearby group of Stalkers.
The Stalkers growled and fought among themselves for the remains.
Overcome by revulsion, Warren vomited. He was weirdly aware of being in two places at the same time: on the balcony and inside the Blood Angel’s head.
Knaarl, Merihim said.
Warren knew the Blood Angel heard the name as well. Her perspective changed as she peered around. Then she took wing once more and Warren’s sight rode alongwith her.
THIRTY-EIGHT
While he stared at the city below him, Warren wondered why Merihim didn’tsimply use demons as his servants instead of him. They would have gotten around much more easily and been less noticed.
“Because they don’t have the untapped power that you do,” the voice said.“And because other demons would eventually resist Merihim’s control because hehas no right in this place to command them. The Blood Angel is a deadly foe, but she’d be no match for Knaarl. She wouldn’t have lasted against Hargastoreither.”
“But if Merihim could bind more than one demon to his will”
“He can’t. Not without losing a measure of control. As you can see now, evenyou have your secrets from him. It helps that you have my protection, but Merihim isn’t as invincible as he’d like you to believe. Not in this place.”
Warren couldn’t get the night of destruction that Merihim had arrived inLondon out of his mind. Cabalists had died by the dozens. Invincible or not, the demon was deadly.
“If he isn’t so invincible,” Warren said, “then why don’t you confront him?”
“Because I’m not strong enough to defeat Merihim. As I’ve told you, I’mbound. All that I have open to me is subterfuge. My powers will grow just as surely as yours are. It will just taketime.”
Time was one thing Warren wasn’t sure he had, though. He was surprised thatMerihim didn’t say anything about the way he looked. To him, his appearance haddrastically changed.
“He doesn’t see you,” the voice stated. “He only sees the power you can wieldfor him.”
Minutes later, the Blood Angel glided to another building, this one overlooking the British Museum. The demon held her position there and studied the structure.
Knaarl is here, Merihim said. Doing his master’s bidding.
“Why is he here?” Warren asked. He drew back from Merihim’s instant anger andalmost lost touch with the Blood Angel Merihim had enthralled. “I need to knowif I’m going to hunt him. Will Knaarl be here long? If not, will he be hereagain?” He waited silently for the blow he felt must surely be coming. Even outof his body, he knew he would feel agony if the demon wanted him to.
Merihim stayed his hand, though. As Hargastor did, Knaarl hunts for an artifact that Fulaghar
