Doriel settled in by my pool after using my mirror to send her minions scouring both sides of the gate for the Ancient calling himself Samael to demand an audience. Nyalla was out there with her, playing the hostess and keeping an eye on Lux. Last time I’d poked my head out, my girl had been gushing to Doriel about her vacation swimming with the dolphins. The Ancient had a somewhat stunned expression on her face, no doubt struggling to reconcile the Gabriel of Nyalla’s story with the archangel she’d known millions of years ago.

I smirked and headed back into the kitchen, leaving the pair alone. It was part of my evil plan. Doriel might be loyal to Samael, but Lux’s presence and Nyalla’s stories of Gabe would be a weighty influence on the Ancient’s decision if it came to a choice between me and the former Iblis.

An archangel in love with a human. A newly created angel. This was an intriguing, tempting new world that I wanted Doriel to long for and not throw away to take up with old alliances.

I was just thinking what I might want for lunch when Snip came through my door, Mestal at his heels. I thanked my Low and asked him to help Nyalla keep an eye on Lux while I spoke with the other demon. With any luck, he’d tell Doriel about his romance with the gate guardian and get her even more on my side.

“That was fast,” I told the greed demon as I led him into the kitchen. He looked much the same as he had the last time I saw him, tall and bone-thin with his hair in a man-bun and aviator shades hiding his beady eyes.

“I got resources.” He waved the laptop at me, then set it on the counter to root around in my fridge. Yanking out a soda, he poured it into a glass, then went back to the fridge to take out a bottle of chocolate syrup. “Between the handy-dandy internet, and my network of demons, all of whom owe me some pretty significant favors for the gains in their portfolios this last month, I pretty much know everything there is to know about everybody.”

That was definitely a gross exaggeration, but Mestal had proved to be a good resource to me. I watched as the demon poured a healthy amount of chocolate syrup into his soda and gave it a stir.

“Last chance to get in on that short-sale deal before I drop the hammer. You game or not?” he asked.

At first the demon had chafed at the restrictions I’d put on him for continued access to the human world, but he’d quickly turned the situation around to his advantage, keeping his scams low-key and confined to a group of already risky propositions within the financial markets. He’d had to be additionally sneaky to pull these swindles off, and Mestal found he really enjoyed being sneaky.

The reward was always greater when you actually had to use some finesse and brain to succeed. And this particular demon found even greater joy in his side project—being a snitch.

“No, I don’t want in on your fucked-up junk bond shit. I’m a slum lord. That’s about as much crap as I can get away with nowadays.” Being on the Ruling Council with a bunch of butthurt angels—especially Gabe—meant I had to be careful not to cross the line too far. Or get caught crossing the line too far.

“Your loss.” Mestal took a swig of his soda, then added more chocolate. The guy had a sweet obsession worse than any angel I’d ever known. I mean, chocolate in a full-sugar soda? Blech.

“So, I found out the deal on Caramort—who he’s reporting to as well as where he’s setting up shop. Popiel isn’t involved in any of this directly, but a dozen or so from his household are. And Basilisk is dead, trying to take down some angel in Wyoming somewhere. Seems he fucked up and underestimated what he was up against. No big loss there. Speaking of which…” The demon cast a narrowed, side-eye glance to the left, then to the right, as if he thought we might be overheard. “There’s a situation you need to know about.”

Did I mention Mestal was enjoying his tattle-tale project far too much?

“What? More tales of someone peeing in the City of Alexandria pool? Or keying cars in the Bethesda Metro parking garage?” Those were just two of the inane “infractions” Mestal had run to tell me about over the last couple of weeks. I’d seriously considered relieving him of his snitch duties, but was worried without the excitement of busting demon jaywalkers and shoplifters, he’d turn to more grim activities—ones that would cause me to do paperwork.

And in spite of all his misdemeanor policing, he had tracked down Caramort, Basilisk, and Popiel. Better than Gimlet, which really wasn’t saying much.

“This Caramort guy isn’t just involved in a plot to kill angels for bounty,” he announced, tossing the empty chocolate syrup bottle into the trash. “He’s hooked up with some Ancient claiming to be Samael. They supposedly have an army that they got through the Seattle gate after killing the former guardian. There’s a plan to claim a chunk of the human world, set up base here, and basically annihilate the angels.”

“From a base. In the human world.” I shook my head. It all sounded very military, which felt like something the Samael of legend would do. Make this world their battleground, since Aaru was out of the question. I hated the thought of what would happen to the humans caught in the middle of this.

And I hated the thought of how Gregory and the other archangels would suffer at having to face their brother in battle once more.

“Yeah. Caramort thinks the humans might join them if they word it something like ‘throwing off the shackles of their angel oppressors’ or something like that.”

I frowned. “The humans are nervous about the angels being down here, but there’s negotiations. The environment isn’t right for any shackle-throwing right now. There’s no cause for the humans to want to partner with demons against angels, especially when the angels have been helping close the rifts and taking down any supernatural baddies that cross.”

Mestal shrugged. “That’s what Caramort says. My guess is that if the humans don’t support them, the demons will just get rid of them, too.”

Idiots. Angels had been underestimating humans since day one. It seems Samael and his demons were doing the same.

“Caramort tried to recruit me, but I told him no way. I’m far too busy with my short-sale deals, and my…” Mestal looked side-to-side again, “my special project with you.”

I leaned against the counter. “So when is this going down? And where can I find Samael?”

“Caramort wouldn’t tell me that since I wasn’t willing to sign up as part of their army. I do know where you can find Caramort to ask him yourself, though.” Mestal sucked down his soda, then set his empty glass on the counter. “Oh, you might want to know that he’s got about fifty demons there with him. You’ll have to get through them to reach Caramort, and I’m thinking while you’re beating down his household, you might discover that he’s slipped away and run to hide behind this Samael.”

So I needed a plan to sneak in undetected, or a plan to lure Caramort out. “Think you can get him to come meet you somewhere? Alone?”

“No.” Mestal laughed. “Do you have any idea what I had to go through to talk to him? If I hadn’t done some deals for a few of his household back in the thirties, they would have chopped me up in little pieces and tossed me in the ocean. I managed to get an audience once. I might manage to get one again if I send him a message that I changed my mind, but I’ll need to go to him. He’s not going to come to me. I’m not important enough for that.”

I was going to have to sneak in. Either that or blast my way in and have someone ready to nab Caramort when he tried to escape. My Lows would be slaughtered, and I didn’t want to involve Gregory or Rafi when this trail might lead to Samael. Dar. It would have to be Dar. That fucker still owed me over the Haagenti thing anyway.

“Okay, so where is he?”

“Eugene, Oregon. You’re getting the bill for my plane fare and hotel room too. I don’t budget for that shit. Paying expenses out of my pocket isn’t part of our deal. If I’m in your household, you need to cover that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Whatever. No first class, though. Or business class either. And no pricy hotels. Holiday Inn Express, or I’m not paying.”

He pursed his lips and pulled out his phone. “Deal. I like their breakfast buffets. I’ll text you Caramort’s address as well as who in Popiel’s household are working with this Samael guy.”

My phone pinged and I looked down at it. “Can you try to find out everything you can on Samael? Like where the fuck he’s been for the last two-and-a-half-million years, what, if any, Ancients are in with him, and where he’s holed up right now?”

He shot me an incredulous look. “Uh, sure. Yeah. I’ll get right on that, boss. Just as soon as I finish up this short-sale project. Now, are we done? Because I have some stock market action I need to get moving on.”

“Yeah. We’re done.” Hopefully I could pry the information on Samael out of Caramort instead of having to wait for Mestal to finish playing the market. I walked the greed demon to the door and watched him get into a shiny black BMW and drive off. Then I sent a text to Dar.

He replied immediately.

You’re fucking kidding me. You want me to do what?

I texted back: I’ll be the one chopping heads out front. I just need you to be sneaky and grab Caramort if he tries to duck out the back.

There is no ‘grab,’ Mal. I’ll confront him. He’ll fight me. I’ll win because I’m a badass, but I won’t win without suffering some significant injury. Dar replied.

Awesome. Oh, and don’t tell Asta, but the bad dude in all this might be the former Iblis. I might need you to help me kill him.

No. Just…no. That is fucking not going to happen. Dar texted back.

Thanks, man. Knew I could count on you. I’ll be by to pick you up this evening. Maybe after we can grab some wings and beer. I’ll buy.

I shoved my phone into my pocket, ignoring the endless pings of incoming messages and headed out to the pool. Some of my Lows had popped over from the guest house. Rutter was fiddling with the grill. Nyalla was laughing at something Snip had said. Doriel had Lux on her lap, the pair of them stiff and awkward. The angel looked relieved to see me. As much as I wanted to leave him sitting on Doriel’s lap, it was clear he’d had enough. And it was clear that her fascination with Lux didn’t extend to wanting actual close contact with him.

I held out my hands, and with a flash of light he was there, wrapping his arms around my neck.

“I was thinking of cooking some burgers,” Nyalla told me, just as Rutter nearly caught himself on fire igniting the grill. “Doriel has never had them.”

The Ancient smiled up at me. “Or these potato things, or the pizza pie, or hot dogs, although I did have grilled canine meat the last time I was here. It wasn’t my favorite. I prefer lamb.”

Nyalla shot a quick glance over to where Boomer was sleeping and grimaced. “Well, we don’t eat dog. But, if you’re still here tonight, we can go out in Baltimore, grab a bite then go dancing. I’ll invite a few friends, if you don’t mind hanging out with humans and werewolves.”

Doriel appeared intrigued by the suggestion. “Perhaps. I’m waiting for my household to get back to me on something, so I don’t really want to commit myself beyond this afternoon.”

Rutter came over to me and tugged on my arm with a singed hand, inclining his head toward the house. I offered to get the burgers out of the fridge, and handed Lux to Nyalla, then followed the Low inside.

“I have the information on Leethu and the house she’s being held captive in,” he told me as I pulled the ground beef patties from the fridge. “It’s owned by a woman named Red Bird. She bought it only a few weeks ago. Here’s the address.”

I took the slip of paper he handed me. “DuNoir Valley, Wyoming. Closest town is Dubois, population nine hundred something.” Lovely. Middle of fucking nowhere. If the hunters didn’t shoot me out of the sky thinking I was a goose, I’d wind up mauled by a bear.

“Nyalla had me go to her brother to check on this Red Bird woman, and there’s nothing on her. It’s as if she appeared out of nowhere a few weeks ago, paid cash for this place, and moved in. There was some online gossip around town that she was running a commune or something out there. One local called them gun-toting lesbians.”

Well. Leethu did prefer female sexual partners, so maybe this summoning wasn’t as horrible for her as I was imagining. The last time I’d seen her, I’d gotten the impression Leethu could handle this summoning issue herself. Barf’s report of the dead summoner clearly supported that, but if there were a bunch of people yanking Leethu here and there, then this had to stop.

Gun-toting lesbians or sorcerers, they needed to let my foster sister go.

I glanced at the clock and grabbed a few spices from the rack. If I hustled, I could get Leethu free, and still swing by to pick up Dar at five to go nab Caramort. Two jobs in one day was pushing it for me, but Gregory was right. I needed to multi-task and get shit done. Besides, how hard could taking down a group of humans be?

As we headed back out, I noted Doriel was looking particularly ill, and one glance over toward the pool told me why.

Gregory. Fuck, that’s right. He was here to spend time with Lux and me. Whoops.

“Hey, babe.” I handed off the burgers and spices to Snip and walked up to give my angel a big kiss, placing myself strategically between him and the Ancient. “Don’t kill her,” I whispered. “I need her right now. And Nyalla’s going to take her clubbing later.”

“That’s Doriel.” The archangel was not whispering.

I grabbed his arm and hauled him behind the hedges. “Look, this is my house. I’m the Iblis, an Angel of Chaos, so guess what sort of guests I’m going to have here? That aside, I’m trying to bridge the divide between our people. There’s some dickhead killing enforcers. There might be some dickhead killing angels. Bridging the divide isn’t just me tracking those dickheads down, stopping them and punishing them, it’s working to convince demons and Ancients that it’s in their best interests to play by the rules, that there are all sorts of wonderful things they can enjoy here if they make peace and don’t upset the apple cart.”

“That’s why she’s within five feet of my offspring,” Gregory snarled. “That’s why the love of Gabriel’s life is taking her to club humans or animals later today?”

“Clubbing is not…it’s dancing, you moron. They’re going to go to Baltimore, eat dinner, drink a bunch of alcohol and dance. And yes, Lux is five feet from her. He was sitting on her lap ten minutes ago. She looked downright terrified.”

“She’s about to look even more terrified.” Gregory tried to get around me, and I blocked him, grabbing his arm.

“No. Take Lux somewhere else for the rest of the day if you want, but you can’t threaten or assault a guest in my home.”

“My child—”

“My child, too,” I snapped at him. “I might not be the best angel-parent, but I’ve kept him alive this long. Doriel isn’t going to hurt him. She’s here as my guest in my home. Demons take hospitality seriously, and Ancients take it even more seriously.” I hesitated to let that sink in a minute, and felt the muscles in Gregory’s arm relax. “Now you’ve got two choices. I need to take care of some urgent business that came up, and I don’t expect to be home until midnight at the earliest. You can go over there, make nice with Doriel, eat the hamburgers Nyalla is about to cook, and spend some quality time with your kid, or you can take him and go out somewhere for the day. Doriel will be gone by five. You’re free to come back then and wait for me to return.”

He scowled, looking over my head toward the pool.

“Glaring at her isn’t helping,” I scolded. “I need her on my side. If you were nice to her, maybe extended the olive branch a bit, then I’d really appreciate it. I mean really appreciate it. Blow jobs for a month, appreciate it.”

“I faced her in battle, I—”

“Two-and-a-half-million years ago,” I reminded him. “They lost. You banished them. She probably wants you dead too, right after she’s done crapping her pants over seeing you unexpectedly like this. I need you to be the strong one here, the mature one. I need you to at least try to mend this fence. Whether that’s just giving her a civil nod before flying away with Lux, or sitting down to eat lunch with her. Your choice.”

Gregory took a deep breath. “Blow jobs? For a month?”

I snorted. Like he’d ever take me up on that. We’d done a whole lot of naughty things together, but deep down he was still a bit of a prude when it came to embracing physical sensation. “Yep. For a month.” I held up my hand. “I vow it on all the souls I used to Own. I’ll even swallow.”

His lips twitched, then he bent down and kissed me. “I love you. That’s the only reason I’m going to eat a hamburger, let alone eat one with that disgusting creature next to me.”

I winced. “I love you too. Just…just don’t call her that to her face, okay?”

Gregory looked over my head toward the pool, scowling once more. “I’m not sure I love you quite that much, Cockroach.”