At least someone in this house was getting some action. When I wandered into the living room after a fitful night of sleep, I found Lilith and Rourke curled up together on the couch. Once again, he was topless.

“You know, both of you have bedrooms where you could be doing your kinky blood sex,” I said, loud enough that they both awoke with a start. Lilith was immediately on her feet, adjusting her shirt and her pants while Rourke just smiled lazily up at me.

“You still high on the blood thing or something?” I arched an eyebrow.

“Nope.” He grinned. “Just happy.”

“Jesus.” I turned to Lilith. “What have you done to the poor guy?”

She turned toward Rourke and winked. “Rocked his world a few times.”

“Alright, listen.” I laughed and held up my hands. “That’s enough information.”

“Hey, you’re the one who played matchmaker,” Rourke said.

“He’s got a point,” Lilith preened. “How could you possibly be complaining when you were the one who wanted us to get together in the first place?”

“Get together.” I gave Lilith a soft little push toward the door. “In your bedrooms. Other people have to sit on those sofas, you know.”

“The radio is in here,” she said, pointing to the contraption with about half a dozen antennas. “It took Harry forever to find the exact right spot so that it could get all the signals. If we move it, then…well, it’ll be a pain.”

“I can’t help but notice said radio is off.”

“We may have turned the volume down so that we could…” She glanced at Rourke and bit her lip. “Concentrate.”

She said the last word just as he said, “Do activities.”

I rolled my eyes, now understanding why Ramiel was so hardcore about people focusing when on duty. Boinking caused distractions. But at the thought of Rourke, all the light-hearted banter I had cued up on my lips disappeared into a puff of smoke. Last night had sucked ass, and a part of me kind of felt adrift after our conversation. Ramiel had broken my heart. And what’s worse, I understood why he did it.

Now, I had to live and work and fight in an Order where I had to spend all my time side-by-side with four males I knew I could never have, and that I knew I would always want. I had fallen for these males, in more ways than one. While I’d wanted to stay on earth to help fight against the demons here, I’d also stayed for them. Because I wanted them. Because I loved them. Every single damn one of them.

“Erela?” Lilith said, tilting her head and frowning. She must have sensed the change in my mood. “You okay?”

“No.” Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them away. “Actually, yes. I am fine. Let’s get back to the radio thing. Should we turn the volume back up?”

She opened her mouth to say something, but then seemed to think better of it. She turned to her lover and said, “Why don’t you go and get some rest? We’ll take over the radio shift from here.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Rourke stood and made his way out of the room. Lilith stared after him, lust and affection blazing in her eyes. After a moment, she cleared her throat and moved to the radio, turning the dial until we could hear the unmistakable sound of…well, absolutely nothing. It was just static. Lots and lots of static.

“Now, you see why we turned it down. Not really a good soundtrack for—”

“I get it.” I held up my hands. “Trust me, I get it. No need to explain beyond that.”

She chuckled, eased into the wing-backed chair that had replaced the recliner, lacing her hands behind her head. “You didn’t seem nearly so allergic to affection in New York. Trouble in paradise?”

“If by paradise, you mean my love life, then there’s no such thing as paradise.”

“Ouch.” She leaned forward and propped her elbows on her knees. “I thought you and your lovers were getting along splendidly.”

“We were. And then I got dumped. Twice. Well, I guess four times since one of them dumped me for the rest of them. It turns out that dating four fallen angels at once isn’t acceptable even down on earth.”

“Honey, that kind of thing isn’t acceptable anywhere, but we’re in the middle of the apocalypse. I say you do whatever you damn well want.”

“Thanks, but they don’t seem to agree.” I sighed and shrugged. “I guess I’m officially in the forever alone club.”

“Have you ever thought about, I don’t know, just choosing one of them?” Lilith lifted an eyebrow. “I know you have feelings for them all, but—”

I shook my head so hard that my long dark hair slapped my face. “Ramiel seems convinced that any romantic relationship between Order members will only lead to major problems. Besides…” I let out a light sigh. “I couldn’t choose, Lilith. I could never choose. My heart will always belong to all of them. It wouldn’t be right or fair to anyone if I tried to pick one and ignore the others.”

“Least of all you.” She gave me a knowing look. “You have a big heart, Erela, as evidenced by the rat that seems to be scurrying over to see you.”

My lips tilted up into a smile when the rat in question climbed up my pant leg and perched on my knee. “Mr. Whiskerson. At least you haven’t abandoned me.”

He twitched his little whiskers, scurried down my leg, and then raced across the room to the radio. Frowning, I watched as he spun in circles, almost like he was trying to tell us something.

“What do you think that’s about?” I asked.

“I haven’t the foggiest. You’re the one who can speak rat.”

“Funny,” I said, still watching the creature dance his little jig in front of the radio. “He’s obviously not doing that for the hell of it. Is there something wrong with the radio?”

“Honestly, Erela. He’s a rat. How could he—”

But I’d stopped listening. Instead, I stood and walked over to the radio, bending down to stare at the wires and antennas and the various little knobs. As soon as I’d begun to approach, Mr. Whiskerson had stopped spinning. Clearly, he was trying to tell me something about this thing…

“What happens when I twist this knob?” I pointed to one of the dials.

“It changes the station. But every news alert I’ve ever heard has been on this station here.”

I turned the dial. At first, nothing happened. Just more static. And more and more and more. But after I’d spun the dial about halfway around, crackling voices filled the room.

“Stop!” Lilith jumped to her feet and raced across the room. Her eyes wild and her cheeks dotted with pink, she took over, spinning the dial a bit further until the crackling dropped away, revealing a very clear female voice, speaking in a British accent.

“We don’t quite know what to do. There have been at least two hundred more deaths in the past few weeks. Our communities are suffering. The food supply seems to be cut off, and there’s no way out. If anyone, anyone hears this, please help. Or please stay away. I honestly don’t know which would be worse. We need your help, but there are hundreds of them.”

Lilith and I exchanged a glance. There was only one thing this woman could be talking about, and that was the portal. The demons had discovered that it was open then, and they’d been swarming through. Killing innocent humans, destroying food, and god knew what else. We needed to figure out where she was, and we needed to get there stat. If we didn’t…things would only get worse.

* * *

We listened for a few moments longer, and the woman began her news alert again. This time, we got to hear the beginning. She and her friends were located in London. They’d holed up in the Tower of London, the perfect location to keep humans safe from the demons outside in the streets. Until a new portal had opened. From inside the Tower. Knowing Berith, it made sense. It was the exact kind of move I would have thought he’d make.

The survivors had holed up in one of the dungeons until the demons got bored and broke out of the Tower. They’d spilled out onto the streets, leaving behind a trail of bodies.

Ramiel joined us in the living room, and we listened as the girl read out the news alert again. I could tell it wasn’t a recording. Every now and again, her breathing would change as if she were crying. A word would be different here and there. I couldn’t help but wonder how many times she’d said this exact same thing, hoping and praying that someone out there would hear her.

Wishing for her guardian angels from above to come save her. Guardians who couldn’t care less.

At least there was us.

“What do you think?” I asked after we’d listened to it three more times.

He gave a solemn nod. “It seems legitimate. I assumed that Berith would open the portal far from where he’d hidden the amulet, but I suppose he did not have a great deal of time.”

“So, we need to go to the Tower of London,” I said. “And it sounds like we might need to free some humans who are trapped in a dungeon.”

“That probably explains why the radio station is different,” Lilith said. “They’d have set up a different antenna to make it work down there.”

“What’s London like, anyway?” I asked. “Is the demon population anything like it was in New York?”

Ramiel pressed his lips tightly together. “It’s worse.”