I woke to ruddy sunlight streaming through my window. I rubbed my eyes, blinking. At the sight of daylight, relief bloomed in my chest.

While I’d slept, a servant had left a tray on my bed—coffee and pain au chocolate.

May the gods bless you, Elan. Earthly gods, Old Gods, all of them.

Based on the fact that steam was rising from the coffeepot and the pastries, the tray hadn’t been in here long. I poured myself some milky coffee, then dipped a pastry into it.

I could imagine my sister Hazel here, her long limbs tangled in the bedsheets, messy hair falling in her eyes as she chomped the pastries, crumbs falling over her nightgown. When I closed my eyes, I could almost hear her voice, hear her snarling with frustration as her computer crashed or laughing at some weird animal video online.

I had to find her. And on top of that, I had to do what I could to make the world safe for her.

I’d gotten about halfway through the pain au chocolate when the door opened, and Kratos strode into the room. In the morning light, he looked resplendent in his crimson and gold brocade clothing, even if his wings weren’t making an appearance. Maybe he only brought them out for killing.

With the covers pulled up around my shoulders, I summoned the haughty demeanor of a succubus. “Hello, Kratos. May I introduce you to the wonderful earthly custom of knocking before entering a room?”

He bowed his head curtly. “Welcome to my home. Since you saved Culloch’s life, it is only fair that I allow you to recover here. You will have all the food you desire.” He gestured at the balcony above us, which I could now see was lined with rows of books. “You’ll even find books to entertain you.”

“The room is sufficient,” I said haughtily. “But why keep the door locked? I’m not a prisoner, am I?”

He narrowed his golden eyes. “You do realize that your lodgings would be far inferior if I’d left you in the streets.” Under his smooth voice lay a steely threat.

My first instinct was to pull the blankets up even tighter over my chest, to scream at him to leave, then to lock the door. But he wouldn’t keep me around here very long if I didn’t tempt him the way a succubus was supposed to.

I let the sheets drop and arched my back. “Like I said, the room is lovely.”

For a moment, his gaze slid down my body, and I realized just how much of me was showing—in the pale pink nightie, most of my cleavage was on display, my skin peering through the lace fabric. I let the strap of the nightgown fall, exposing just a little more of the curve of my breast.

I sensed his gaze mentally stripping the rest of my meager clothing off, and I had no doubt whatsoever as to what he was thinking about. Despite myself, my cheeks flushed at the way he was looking at me.

“Oops,” I said, pulling up the strap again.

The open-mouthed expression on his face told me that I now had the upper hand. His gaze locked on my breasts, and golden light beamed from his body.

I slipped my legs over the side of the bed, making sure he had a view of my skin all the way up to my thighs. Then I leaned back on my hands. “Nice of you to come visit me.”

For a moment, he seemed to have lost the ability to speak, his fists clenched tightly, eyebrows drawn together as if a brutal battle raged in his mind.

After a long pause, he spoke in a husky voice. “We haven’t had many female visitors here,” he said, as if by way of explanation. “I lived in isolation for a long time.”

I cocked my head, keeping my back arched. “That sounds lonely.”

He took a step closer, apparently entranced by my body. “We have a mission, and I should not let myself become distracted by earthly temptations, or I’ll become one of the fallen.”

So he hadn’t spent much time around women. Were angels even allowed to touch women, or was I his forbidden fruit? Whatever the case—given the way he was undressing me with his eyes and probably thinking about touching my body—I had the impression that the urge to fall nearly overwhelming him.

I hated him more than anything. And yet, weirdly, the thought of him lusting after me didn’t bother me like it should.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to tempt you away from your mission.” Seduce him and make him trust you, Ruby. I toyed with the hem of my nightgown, pulling it up just a tad to expose more leg. “How is your hound? Recovering from the attack?”

“He is fine, thank you for asking.” His powerful voice rumbled over my skin. “The other angels will want to meet you, of course. They don’t trust outsiders and demons.”

I smiled coyly. “And you trust demons?”

His eyes wandered down to my chest again. “Perhaps ‘trust’ isn’t the right word. You intrigue me.”

Based on your eye contact, I don’t have to wonder too much which part of me intrigues you. “Where are we, exactly?”

“Hotemet Castle. Outside London. It’s been hidden through magic for thousands of years.”

“Will I be able to look around? I’d like to see what sort of a place I’m living in.”

With what looked like considerable effort, he raised his gaze to mine. “Perhaps I could give you a guided tour.”

Of course. He wasn’t going to leave me to wander around unsupervised to search for his secret apocalyptic plans. He wanted to see me naked—that didn’t mean he trusted me.

A flicker of movement in the window caught my eye, and I watched as another sentinel drifted by, eyes locked on me.

I yawned lazily, feigning relaxation. I half wondered if I should let the strap of my nightgown fall lower. His restraint—the fact that he didn’t want to become fallen—suggested that he wouldn’t be too eager to jump into bed with me.

“Kratos,” I purred. “Tell me what fallen means? I don’t understand your kind so well.”

“When angels fall, we become like the beasts. Like the fae. It would destroy our mission.”

Destroy his mission. That sounded like something worth exploring.

I sipped my coffee, still aware that his gaze was devouring me. “So you haven’t spent much time around female company?”

“I was raised to remain separate from humans and demons—to think only of my purpose.”

“And what purpose is that?”

His gaze shuttered. “Like I said. You intrigue me, but it doesn’t mean that I trust you.” His fists clenched again, knuckles whitening.

“Mmm. Well, Kratos, I’m sure we will get to know each other better.” Was it possible that this ancient warrior angel was a full-blown virgin?

“I’ve gotten to know humans mostly through books,” he said. “Demons, too. I’ve learned about the strange mixtures of brilliance and depravity among both species.” His eyes flashed with an intense light. “I must say, some moral standards are lacking in human history, at least as much as among the demons.”

Tell him what he wants to hear, Ruby. Tell him what a succubus would say. “Oh, don’t lump the succubi in with the humans. Human culture is riddled with hypocrisy. Look at the literature. A girl tries to have a little fun for once, and she’s stuck wearing a scarlet letter A for the rest of her life, or throwing herself under a Russian train. Men are allowed to do what they want. I know you angels aren’t big on pleasure, but surely even you can see that humans are irrational.”

I was playing a role, but those sentiments were pure Ruby. Humans could be so stupid about how they viewed pleasure. They lived for a mere eighty years and wasted most of that time feeling bad about all the things that made them feel good.

That’s what civilization meant to some humans. Self-denial.

Kratos’s eyes glinted in the morning light, and he took another step closer. “Tell me more about your experience of humans.”

“Humans are not supposed to kill other humans. Unless, of course, one of their leaders has demanded it, or if their victim is evil enough, or if someone stepped on their lawn, or was the wrong color or religion.” I let out a long, weary sigh. “I think the Earth is due for a reckoning, don’t you?” I smiled wickedly, letting my nightgown strap fall once again. “Burn it all. Let’s start again. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

For a moment, an icy silence fell over the room. I felt as if an electrical current buzzed over my skin, raising the hair on the back of my neck.

After another moment, golden light glinted in Kratos’s eyes. “I like the way you think.”

So far, this was working out nicely. Maybe it was time to step it up another notch. I’d seen the uncontrolled lust in his eyes, knew that he wanted me. Could I actually bring myself to undress in front of this virgin, even if I hated him? Could I lure him to fall?

I rose from the bed, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. “I think I’ll get dressed now.”

His body seemed to glow brighter. “I’ll leave while you dress, of course.”

For a man who slaughtered people with dogs, he really was a gentleman.

“You don’t have to—”

My sentence was interrupted by the opening of the door, and my stomach tightened.

The angel who strode into the room was not what I’d been expecting. Slate-gray wings swooped behind him, the color a dull contrast to his electric-blue mohawk. He gripped a half-empty bottle of vodka, and he wore tight, ripped jeans riddled with safety pins and a torn black T-shirt with a skull that read Eat the Rich.

Given his scrawny physique, maybe he needed to expand his diet. His bony elbows and legs made him look about a month away from starvation. Come to think of it, there probably weren’t many rich people around since the apocalypse had taken root. But since this dude’s wings were out, was he about to slaughter someone?

All I knew was, this angel must be Johnny.

The punk frowned at me. “Ah. And here we have one of your best strategic decisions. Bringing a demon into the angels’ castle for no reason whatsoever, apart from her admittedly perky breasts and shapely legs. Which, all things considered, will probably tempt us to become fallen. Do I have that all about right?”

Kratos cut him a vicious glare. “Silence, Johnny.”

Well, well, well. I’d come here looking for divisions within the angels’ forces. Had I stumbled into a little one already?

I didn’t really like Johnny’s eyes on me, so I slid back into the bed and pulled the covers over myself. “I was actually hoping to dress before meeting the entire castle.”

Johnny chewed a piece of gum. “Too late now, I guess. I’m Johnny Savage.”

“I’m Ruby. I also go by Angela Death.”

Johnny blew a bubble, letting it pop in front of his face. “How old are you, anyway?”

This was one of the biggest distortions of reality I had to contend with. The succubi were ancient. “Four thousand years, roughly.” Only about… oh… three thousand, nine hundred and seventy-six years off my real age. “And how old are you, Johnny?”

He nodded at Kratos. “Not half as old as this ancient bastard. I was born in 1961, came of age in the seventies.”

My eyebrows rose. I had no idea some of the angels were so young. Were they born, just like fae and humans were? Did they procreate?

Johnny grinned. “Nineteen seventies were the best time in the history of the world.”

Kratos’s gaze flicked to him. “Be honest, Johnny. You really don’t know anything about the history of the world.”

Johnny shrugged, popping his gum. “Can’t argue with that.” Suddenly, his blue eyes sharpened, his jaw stilling. An icy chill fell over the room, and he took a few slow steps closer to me.

As he did, a wild hunger began to grip my stomach, and I had the strangest feeling that Johnny was causing it. I clutched my gut, practically drooling.

“Kratos.” Johnny’s eyes narrowed on me. “How much do you know about this demoness, exactly? What if she’s here to find out things about us, pass it on to the humans so they can resist us? Wouldn’t want dangerous types in here, would we? Unsavory types?”

“I know she’s not working with the Order, because I watched them shoot her, and I watched her beat one of them within an inch of his life.” Kratos arched an eyebrow. “Something on your mind, Johnny?”

Johnny cocked his head. “Maybe I did a little research with the sentinels. Maybe I unearthed a few things about a vindictive and maniacal demoness slaughtering people willy-nilly.”

I raised my hand. “I’m right here, you know.”

Kratos’s body glowed with gold light. “Care to share?”

Johnny curled his lip in a sneer. “The day you brought her here, she murdered a man in cold blood. Beat him half to death, stabbed him. Shot him with an arrow or two. Watched him die in the street. I just wanted to be sure you were aware of what sort of person you picked up off the street, though of course, if you’re bringing home stray demons, you might not be too particular.”

I opened my eyes wide, as though I’d been caught. As though I hadn’t set this all up to prove that I didn’t care about humans.

Kratos blinked. “I don’t understand your objection. You love killing people.” He turned away from Johnny, quirking a smile at me. “Burn it all to the ground. Start again, right, Ruby?”

I smiled. “Exactly.”

Johnny crossed his arms. “She might try to slit my throat in my sleep. Wouldn’t kill me, but it would be unpleasant. How do you know she’s not some sort of a Trojan horse?”

I blinked. “Do you expect an army to burst out of my chest at any moment?”

“Not a literal horse.” Johnny scowled. “It’s like… a metaphor. And anyway, why do I think this has more to do with how she looks than anything else? She’ll distract us from our mission.”

The idiot was on to something, because that’s exactly what I had planned, along with thwarting their mission entirely. Once I figured out what the hell it was.

Kratos remained silent, but I could almost feel the tension rolling off him, and something about it terrified me at a primal level. “Do you really think I would let anything distract me from my mission? I know what happens if we fail.”

I don’t. But maybe that can be objective number one.

Johnny scratched his cheek. “Nah. Of course I don’t think you’ll forget our goals. Just be careful.”

Kratos’s jaw tensed. “I have work to do. Don’t harass my guest.”

And with that, he strode out of the room.

Johnny pointed a long, bony finger at me. “I’ll be watching you, succubus. And Adonis will too.”

As Johnny let the door slam behind him, another sentinel floated by, eyes wide.

Oh believe me, Johnny, I know never to relax here.