Once again, we all piled into Lilith’s truck, only this time Captain Rourke decided to join us. It seemed as though his connection with Lilith was making him lean a bit more heavily toward the heroic side.

As the truck rumbled down the road, I leaned forward where he sat in the front by Lilith’s side. “Last chance to stay in paradise,” I said, thinking back to Lilith’s comment about my love life. Rourke probably felt that paradise was by her side, and staying behind would be pure hell, so he’d rather walk straight into danger if it meant they could be together. Too bad my own unrequited loves didn’t feel the same way he did.

“I’m going with,” he grunted. “I’m not letting Lilith go straight into a horde of demons alone. Need to make sure she’s safe.”

“You do realize that she’s a blood demon, right?” I arched a brow. “And you’re a human.”

“I already tried that reasoning on him, Erela,” Lilith tossed over her shoulder as she changed gears, lurching the truck forward and back. “He’s not having it.”

When we started to get closer to London, I could see what Ramiel had meant about it being worse than New York. Already I could see plumes of smoke dotted across the horizon, building up into a massive cloud that hulked over the taller buildings that made up what used to be the City where financial execs had worked long into the night. The closer and closer we got, the thicker the smoke and the thicker the scent. It mixed with the iron tang of blood.

I pressed my hand to my mouth and tried not to gag, shivering when a heavy blanket of invisible darkness settled over my body. It pulsed against my skin, seeking for weaknesses, calling out toward the demon that lurked inside of me. Gritting my teeth, I squeezed my eyes shut against that call, hating that part of me with every fiber of my being.

“And that,” Az spoke up from behind me with a harsh, yet eager voice, “is what the portal feels like. At least we know we’re heading in the right direction.”

It took us another two hours to pick through the debris in order to reach the Tower of London. The truck might be built like a tank and prepared for war, but it still couldn’t bulldoze its way through piles of lamp posts that had been placed across the road to block travellers. Buildings on either side of the road had been demolished, and their remains had been used to create even more obstacles. We would stop the truck, clear as much space as we could, and then plow forward until we reached another blockade.

The entire time, I could feel the pulse of evil. The call of it. It sang in my bones, tempting my soul. Every now and again, I would glance at Sam to see if he heard it, too, but if he did, he did not acknowledge it.

Downtown, things were far worse. A few fires burned in random shops that we passed. They’d been raided and torched a long time ago, but their shells still raged with flames, as if the new demons who had entered this realm had decided to follow in the footsteps of their brethren.

Bodies littered the ground. I swallowed hard and glanced away from them. Despite the horror of New York, the violence had been more hidden there. Or rather, the violence had happened many years before I’d ever arrived. This was fresh and new and very real. New demons had just arrived in this city, and they were hungry for blood.

“Looks as though there are some fire demons and some blood demons among the mix,” Lilith said, turning up her nose at the bodies. Despite her own need for blood, this violence was the very opposite of everything she wanted for this world. She had once told me that there were more demons out there like her, but so far, we hadn’t met any. “I can tell by the way these humans have been attacked that this is the work of my own kind.”

“Fire demons, we can handle,” Ramiel said without even casting a glance in my direction. “Blood demons might be more of a problem.”

“Because we can’t kill them,” I said.

“They are extremely difficult to defeat,” he said. “Weapons are no good against them, as you have seen first hand with Lilith. We can get a brief respite. Our weapons can weaken them. But if they have fed recently…”

That was why Lilith had fallen so easily. Because of our trip from New York to Rhode Island, she didn’t have any of her human companions to feed from. Her defenses had been lower than they would have been otherwise.

“We just need to get into the Tower,” Uriel said. “If the human girl on the radio is right, the demons who attacked them there are long gone. They’ve moved on to other victims. We might come across a few here and there, but it doesn’t sound like any of them are guarding it.”

“No, it won’t be that easy,” I said quietly. “Berith would have made certain of that.”

Good old Berith. Nothing was ever straightforward with that demon. He would have left some kind of assurances in place that there would be more than just an unguarded open portal for us to find. After the massive snake we’d encountered in his castle, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to whatever we’d find waiting for us inside the Tower of London.

“She’s right,” Sam said, but he didn’t bother to elaborate.

“Wow,” I said, sarcasm inching into my voice as I turned his way. “I’m surprised you bothered to even acknowledge my existence, much less admit that I’m right about something.”

His face looked pained, but he didn’t bother to argue.

“Erela,” Ramiel said.

“What?” I frowned. “It’s true. You’ve all gone weird, even Az.”

“Now is not the time to talk about this,” he said, his voice firm and harsh.

Tears blinked into my eyes and I gritted my teeth, glancing out the window to look at anything other than any of their faces.

When we were about a block away from the entrance to the Tower of London, Lilith pulled the old junker to the curb and cut the engine. We all stared ahead at the arched entryway and the cluster of old stone buildings beyond. The sky was a steel gray, a murky backdrop to the ancient tower. A very, very long time ago—far before the demon apocalypse even happened—Kings and Queens had used this place for torture and executions. Many believed the souls of those who perished there haunted anyone who stepped foot inside.

Of course, that was nonsense. Humans might have been right about angels and demons and vampires (kind of), but ghosts were nothing more than a figment of their overactive imaginations.

That said, I could see why some had gotten the idea into their heads, and we hadn’t even stepped through that archway yet. There was something distinctly…off about this place, and it was more than just the aura of evil that emanated from the portal to hell.

Because, I mean, obviously that was still happening. There was just something more there, too.

“Is this what the portal always feels like?” I kept my face forward when I asked the question. Right now, I couldn’t bear to look at any of them.

“What do you mean, feels like?” Rourke grunted. “All I feel is pissed off.”

“There’s an aura in the air, sweetheart.” Lilith patted his knee. “Don’t you worry about it. To answer your question, Erela. No. It doesn’t always feel like this. Berith has obviously left us an extra present. I’m sure we’ll all have fun tackling whatever that is.”

We all piled out of the truck, grabbing our various weapons. Beneath my skin, my fire buzzed, the depths of my demonic powers awakening to the pull of whatever fresh hell sat waiting inside the Tower. I shuddered and pushed it down. Now was not the time for my skin to become flames. Now was not the time for the demonic part of my soul to come alive. I’d lived eighteen years as an angel, and I’d done just fine without the fire taking over my mind. I couldn’t let it take over me now.

“You okay?” Sam asked, taking my elbow in his hand.

With a sigh, I stepped away, pulling my elbow out of his grasp. “Fine.”

“Erela, come on,” he said, his voice pleading.

“Don’t,” I said. “You’re the one who said we should keep some distance between us. I’m only following along with what you said.”

“And this is exactly why I said we needed to keep our distance,” Ramiel said, grabbing his sword from the back of the truck. “We need to focus. Stop arguing.”

With that, we all shut up. When Ramiel spoke, we had to listen. He had that commanding aura about him. It was impossible to resist. In more ways than one. Something I wish I could very much forget. This whole thing would be a hell of a lot easier if they weren’t all so ridiculously hot.

I cleared my throat, strapped my sheaths around my thigh, and then grabbed a bow and quiver of arrows for good measure. I’d spent far more time training with a sword and a bow than I had daggers, but they’d become my go-to weapon-of-choice since arriving on earth. They were light and quick, and they dealt a surprisingly impressive amount of damage when paired with my enhanced strength.

Ramiel took the lead, and we all fanned out behind him. He eased slowly through the archway, holding up his hand for us to wait for a signal. After a long, silent, tense moment, he gave a nod and moved forward. I inched forward, sandwiched between Lizzie and Uriel. Lizzie’s face had gone a strange shade of white, and her hands trembled as she held the heavy sword up before her. Uriel’s long dark hair blew in the light breeze, the ends catching on his chiseled jaw and—

Damn it, Erela! Focus!

I tightened my grip on the bow in my hands, glancing around at the courtyard we entered. The entire ground was littered with bodies, and it made my stomach twist in my gut. The stench was overwhelming. So much blood and death.

And fear. I swore I could smell the bitter scent of it drifting toward us on the wind.

Sucking in a deep breath, I turned my attention on the buildings surrounding us. There were doorways that would lead into the inner walls and down into the tunnels below. Despite the horror of the courtyard, the portal was nowhere to be seen here. So, it must be somewhere inside.

“It feels as though it’s coming from in there.” Lilith pointed her long fingernail toward the nearest wooden door. It had been splintered, practically cut in half.

“It’s too quiet,” Ramiel whispered. “Be on guard.”

He moved toward the door and pushed it open. The sharp creak reverberated through the courtyard, making every hair on my body stand on end. The door opened to a grimy set of stone stairs that led into nothing but darkness. Dried blood painted the top step. Anyone else would take all of these things as signs to turn around and get the hell away as fast as possible. Instead, we continued moving forward.

Down we went, into the darkness. The light became nothing but a rectangle of steel gray as we went further and further into the dungeons. The tunnels stretched on. One after another after another. In each one, we passed more bodies. Stench clung to the walls, filling our nose. It was hard not to gag from the intensity of it.

When we reached the end of the fifth tunnel, we turned the corner, and there it was. The portal to hell. My skin buzzed, the fire brewing within me. I had the sudden urge to step toward it, to disappear into its depths. It was almost as though it was singing to me, tempting me, yearning me to walk closer. Begging me to step my foot—

Sam’s arm shot out, “Erela.”

I shook my head, my mind going clear. I didn’t know what the hell was going on with that portal, or if anyone could feel the pull of it the way I did, but it was pretty freaking terrifying.

“There’s someone here,” Ramiel said in a low growl. “Humans, show yourselves. We’re angels. We aren’t here to harm you.”

A figure stepped out of the shadows. Lizzie and I both gasped in unison. This was no human, even though he wore the unassuming skin of a man who might have worked for a technology company before the apocalypse, complete with a thick-rimmed pair of glasses that perched on his thin nose. Shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

It was the demon. The one from the bar. The one who had been trying to eat Mr. Whiskerson.

The one who had cast me and Lizzie out of Celestia.

“You,” I said, my eyes widening. Immediately, I dropped the bow and grabbed for my daggers, but he pulled another figure out of the darkness before my fingers could curl around the golden hilts.

This one wasn’t a human either.

“Isaac!” Lizzie yelled and took a step forward, but the demon put a sharp blade against Isaac’s neck. A warning.

I grabbed Lizzie’s arm, pulling her back to my side, my heart pounding so hard that it was next to impossible to hear over the roar of it.

“Fantastic,” the Archdemon said with a brilliant smile. “Now, let’s all calm down so we can have a little chat.”