“I did it! I did it!” Taige couldn’t stop chanting. He kept a vice grip on the four by four Cruor while Aiden controlled the dimensional pocket. His future and his fortune lay in his hands which was almost as satisfying as besting Malphas. Taige wouldn’t soon forget the fury on his former master’s face when he wrested the Cruor away from all who sought it.

Oh, this victory was to be savored, relished, and recycled in his memory as he sipped aged whiskey and dined on the marrow of an unfortunate human.

“You didn’t get the angel.” Aiden burst Taige’s celebratory bubble.

Let me have my moment. Taige tried to return to his happy place and couldn’t. Now all he could see was the angel slipping through his fingers. A setback he chose not to remember until necessity demanded, which was not right now!

He suffered a slow, draw out breath and studied the question with an objectivity he didn’t quite feel. How had she achieved it? Not slipping through his grasp, but transforming into an angel? She was very human when last he saw her hooked up to machines in a hospital bed. And almost dead after he’d drained her blood. Dead people didn’t punch with enough force to crack his jaw. He stroked the bruise on his chin.

The dimensional pocket faded, leaving them at their destination north of the city, in an industrial complex. Taige rested the Cruor next to a rusted beam Swiss cheesed with holes. The abandoned factory wasn’t cozy. It leaked and was infested with rats, but it was home—temporarily.

“What was an angel doing there? I thought I removed the Celestial Army from the playing field.” Aiden tapped his chin. “Could the Celestial Order have rebounded so quickly from such a crippling blow?”

Taige wasn’t sure what to address first: Aiden’s superior belief of his abilities or the return of the Celestial Order. He chose the former because Aiden needed to understand the hierarchy of their relationship and Taige already knew the answer to the latter.

Taige allowed his vocal cord to thickened, dropping his voice five octaves so his true, guttural tone could be heard. “I removed the Celestial Army, you acted on my orders, is that clear?” Regardless of it being a lie. He had no idea what Aiden had planned.

Aiden ducked his head and stammered an apology, like a good lackey. He offered his vein in the traditional way a Spaun showed deference and fealty to a superior. Taige ignored the proffered wrist and turned his attention inward. Her hair and coloring were the same, also her features, yet... “I’m not sure that was an angel. She was celestial, but that was the human I drained.”

“Are you certain?”

Again, Aiden had forgotten his place. Nostrils flaring, his demon alter ego stretched under his skin. “Never question me.”

Aiden ducked his head again. “Forgive me. I just don’t see how it’s possible. You said she was a hybrid, a halfling.”

“She is”—was— “And now she is something else. Something changed her. Made her more powerful.” Gave her wings!

Aiden walked over to the Cruor. His hand hovered over the surface. Just when Taige thought Aiden would touch it, he dropped his hand to his side, and moved on to the grace shimmering in a pail next to the pedestal the Cruor rested upon. “What if this grace isn’t strong enough?”

If the grace isn’t strong enough then the Cruor stayed closed. No Demoni Lords. Their masters remained trapped in Hell. Suddenly, that wasn’t such a horrible prospect. Taige eyed Aiden. The Spaun was so eager to please and so eager to free his Lord. Could be a problem.

Taige shrugged. “Then we go shopping for more.”

Aiden clapped and jumped up and down. “OOOhh! Grocery shopping! This time, I get to drain her, pretty please.”