The shock of the angel feather jolted my body alive with pure adrenaline—enough to give me the boost I needed to wrench my hand free for a just a moment. A moment was all I needed.

I brought the scalpel hard into the redcap’s back, and the blow stunned him just enough to make him release his grip on me. I grabbed the back of his tangled hair, yanking him off me as I thrust my hips. When he fell to the ground, I leapt up, slamming my boot into his skull with the full force of my fae strength.

As I kicked him again, trying to crack his skull, a shimmering, deep-blue glow caught my attention. I froze, ice-cold fear spreading through my body.

He’s here.

When I looked up from the redcap, my stomach dropped. The angel’s enormous, midnight-blue wings spread out behind him, fifteen feet wide. There, in the middle of the road, stood an angel, divinely beautiful and terrifying all at once.

* * *

Both bloodied redcaps had crawled to their elbows. All three of us stared, seemingly frozen in time.

The angel towered above us, honeyed sunlight washing over his perfectly bronzed skin. I caught glimpses of the magic curling from his body, dark as the hair that swept over his forehead. In contrast to the shadows that seemed to pool around him, light refracted off his inky wings, dazzling me.

His clothes looked expensive, finely cut to showcase his powerful body. In the deep V of his elegant shirt, I glimpsed a hint of spiked, thorny tattoos decorating his tawny skin.

Barefoot, he prowled closer to me, his gait relaxed. In fact, his expression looked amused, a lazy smile curling his lips. Our terror, our filth, our savagery, our frantic will to survive—it was all probably a hilarious joke to him.

When he came within a few feet, his power thrummed and sparked over my skin like an electrical pulse. I stared into his eyes—a stormy gray that blended to deep sapphire around the edges. Flecks of silver sparked there too.

Instinctively, I knew that he was a predator, and that beauty was one of his most terrifying weapons.

He stalked closer, and his inhumanly fluid movements sent my blood racing. As he walked, shadowy magic trailing behind him, I caught the breathtaking veins of silver that shot through his feathers, gleaming in the dying sunlight.

That sensuous smile never left his perfect lips. “I’m surprised to find a goddess such as yourself squabbling in the streets with these dregs.” The dangerous timbre of his voice promised death and seduction all in one. “At least you seemed to have the upper hand.”

The redcap at my feet scrambled up. “She did not have the upper hand,” he stammered. “No woman has the upper hand over me.”

The angel arched a perfect eyebrow, his expression faintly mocking. “Perhaps you enjoy pain? Would you like some more?” The threat of extreme brutality underscored the calm tone of his voice.

The redcap pointed at him, trying to feign bravery, even though we could all see his finger shaking. “You think you’re better than us, do you? You filthy carrion birds, vultures the lot of you. You should go back where you—”

The angel cut him off with a flick of his wrist, severing the redcap’s head from his body in a single, brutal instant. The headless corpse thunked to the ground, blood streaming over the pavement, and my stomach lurched.

I gasped for breath, my heart slamming against my ribs. In the next few moments, the sound of clanking filled the air as the second redcap started to sprint away.

The angel turned, cutting the air sharply with his hand. This time, he severed his prey at the waist, and the two pieces of the demon’s body slammed to the ground.

My jaw dropped. Was I next?

My blood roared in my ears, but I tried to hold his gaze steadily, tried to hide the terror that raced through my veins. My knees had gone weak, and the urge to fade into my fae form nearly overwhelmed me.

With his gaze now locked on me, the exquisite angel took another step closer, lethal grace imbuing his every move. The smell of myrrh curled off his body, along with the intoxicating scent of sycamore trees. Everything about him drew me in and told me to run at the same time, my brain a riot of conflicting emotions.

I stared up at him. He stood only a foot away from me now, his terrifying power caressing my skin. If I tried to run, I’d end up in pieces like the redcaps.

The angel reached for my face, and my breath caught in my throat.

He brushed his fingertip over a dab of blood on my cheek. At his touch, an electric jolt seared my core.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a succubus covered in blood,” he said quietly. “The days of the old sacrifices are long gone. Things didn’t turn out so well for your kind on Earth, did they? Pity. What fun it was to watch a naked succubus bathe in the blood of her male sacrifices. I imagine you miss the old days.”

I simply opened my mouth and closed it again.

His sensuous smile deepened. “I’d ask if you wanted to recreate it with me, but for an angel such pastimes might be frowned upon. We can kill, but we can’t appear to enjoy it too much.”

That’s right—I was supposed to be an ancient succubus. At one point, they had practically been deities. I shoved my terror under the surface, trying to summon the regal bearing of a goddess. One who’d once stood in the center of a temple, covered in sacrificial human blood. The succubi ran from no one.

Which, come to think of it, might explain why most of them were dead.

I swallowed hard. “So you remember the old days?” Unlike mine, his ancientness was probably real.

He laughed softly. “Do I look like I was born yesterday?” Arrogance laced his voice. “I’ve walked the Earth for thousands of years. Like you, succubus.”

Of course, any man who’d spent thousands of years looking like he did would develop a bit of an ego.

He cocked his head, studying me. “I’m surprised I’ve never run into you before. I would have remembered.”

A cool breeze rippled over us, toying with my crimson hair. “I’ve spent many years in hiding. There aren’t many succubi left. We have to protect ourselves however we can.”

The angel pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the blood off his finger. “Indulge my curiosity. Why were you fighting with those two curs?”

I met his gaze evenly. “Apparently, they wanted me to take my clothes off and wrap my legs around them.”

Darkness flitted through his eyes, and I realized I’d just confirmed to him all the despicable things angels believed about demons.

As he stood before me, shadows twisted around him, swallowing the air. “So they had good taste, but poor manners.”

“I had to teach them a lesson, as you might imagine. Sometimes violence is necessary. Things have changed in the past year.” I crossed my arms. “Since the angels commanded dragon shifters to start slaughtering us, things haven’t been great for females.”

“Well, like you said.” His velvety voice seemed to curl around me like a dangerous embrace. “Sometimes violence is necessary.”

All right. I wasn’t going to get into a philosophical debate with him about the justification for mass slaughter, or what the angels had done to the Earth. I had something important I needed to ask him, and I wouldn’t get many other chances.

I cleared my throat, steeling my resolve. “Look, I have a question to ask you. I’m looking for my sister. It’s the whole reason I came to London—”

Before I could even finish the sentence, he spread out his dark wings, the silver strands glinting in the sunlight. The sight dazzled me, cutting off my words.

In the next few moments, he took flight into the skies.

And with him went my only chance to ask an all-powerful being about the fate of my sister.