After spending several hours cooped up with the illustrious leaders of the supernatural world, I dismissed the meeting for lunch. They’d spent the whole morning fighting. I left the room, feeling more exhausted than I did after a day of hard training. Politics were definitely not for me.

Bella and I walked together to the canteen. I had never before looked forward to lunch as much as I did right now. It wasn’t about the food. It was about getting away from those bickering, childish supernatural rulers.

Spending a few minutes with my sister was the icing on the cake. She was the only bright spot in this whole mess of a situation.

Demeter was packed. It seemed everyone had gotten hungry at the same time today. Claudia and Basanti were sitting with their initiates, who looked as exhausted as I felt.

“They look so…scared,” I commented to Bella. “That was me not so long ago, caught in a fight for my life. A fight I wasn’t sure I would win.”

“And how does it look from the other side now that you’re older and wiser?” she asked me.

“I’m not out of the woods yet. In fact, I feel like I’m going in deeper and deeper.”

She looped her arm with mine. “It’s always darkest right before dawn.”

“See, that’s why I love you so much, Bella. You see only the beauty in the world.” I glanced at the initiates. “Some things are different from the other side. Nero never sat with us. Harker sometimes did back then. He wouldn’t do it now. Angels have to keep their distance, you know. To be unattainable. They are as close as most people get to a god.” I looked across the room. Nero sat at the head table next to Harker. “Don’t tell Nero I compared him to a god. It’s not good for his ego.”

“As always, your secrets are safe with me.”

Pasta was on the menu today. It smelled great, but when I took a bite, I hardly tasted it. My mind was too distracted.

“What does Constantine Wildman know about this situation?” I asked Bella.

“I don’t know. He doesn’t share anything with us.” She poked at her pasta. “When I was chosen to be one of only two aides on an important assignment, I thought he was choosing the best witches. But I’m starting to think now that he just wanted eye candy.”

“Well, you are the prettiest witch I know.”

“Silent eye candy,” she added. “He’s encouraged us to smile and never to speak. Or to think too much. He says thinking will only give us wrinkles.”

“Well, isn’t he a tool.”

“If he knows anything about what’s going on, he certainly hasn’t told us.”

“Constantine Wildman is a misogynous pig, but he’s a brilliant witch,” Marina Kane said as she joined us at our table.

Bella gave her friend’s hand a squeeze. “How are you holding up here?”

Just a short while ago, Marina had attended the New York University of Witchcraft with Bella. But the Legion’s Interrogators had manipulated her into joining our ranks. It was either that or her coven and everyone in it would be disgraced. She’d sacrificed her future for theirs.

“No one ever said joining the Legion of Angels was easy,” Marina said. “Well, joining is easy. It’s surviving that’s hard.”

“I can’t believe they coerced you into enlisting.”

“Come on, Bella,” I said. “You’re smart. You know the Legion.”

My sister sighed. “You’re right. I can believe it.”

“I’ll be fine.” Marina leaned in, dipping her voice to a soft whisper. “I’ve heard about your problem.”

“As always, news travels fast at the Legion.”

“All of New York’s supernaturals are talking about it. They’re calling it Angel Fever,” she told me. “Because the affected supernaturals are gaining the abilities of angels.”

“They’re also gaining insanity,” I pointed out.

“Some people say it’s worth the price. And some think they could control it if they were infected.”

“They couldn’t,” I told her.

“You’re probably right,” agreed Marina. “There’s no hope of controlling this. But there are a lot of arrogant supernaturals. Word’s gotten out that the condition is contagious. Some people have begun to seek out the infected, trying to catch whatever it is they have.”

Harker would have loved that. How the hell did anyone find out so much about this disease? If that was even what it was.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the leaders who’ve come here know something about it,” Marina said. “Maybe one of them was responsible.”

None of the supernatural leaders had that kind of power. In fact, no one short of a deity had that kind of power. But then again, no one really understood everything about magic. So never say never. Centuries ago, no one thought monsters would overrun the lands as a war played out on Earth between gods and demons. Hell, people hadn’t even known magic existed back then.

“How do you know all of this?” I asked her.

“I might not be a witch anymore, but I still have connections. I hear things.”

She froze when she saw Harker walking toward us. Her heart might have even stopped when he sat down beside me. She must have never been this close to an angel before.

“If you’re interested, there’s a trick for getting an angel’s wings to come out,” I told her. “You touch them just between the shoulder blades and then…”

“Careful, Pandora,” Harker warned me. “Nero is watching. And if you flirt with me, he’ll tear my arm out of my socket.”

“I am not flirting with you. I’m merely sharing my expertise on angels with my friends.”

Harker looked amused. “Expertise?”

“Yes, expertise,” I repeated. “And don’t get your wings in a twist. Nero knows I love only him.” I looked across the room and winked at my angel.

Nero’s lips turned up, ever so slightly.

Marina didn’t meet Harker’s eyes. She looked down at her hands. So the confident witch was shy around angels.

I looked at Harker. “Now see what you’ve done. You’ve scared her.”

“Believe it or not, Leda, I scare off a lot of women nowadays. Apparently, angels are intimidating.”

I snorted. “No kidding. Having regrets that you became an angel, are you?”

“No. The benefits outweigh the costs.”

“It sure would be useful to be able to fly.” If I were an angel, I could have flown away instead of going back to that meeting chamber.

“I can take you flying sometime if you want,” Harker offered.

“Na, you’d probably drop me.”

Harker looked offended. “I would never do such a thing.”

“So, did you come over here for smalltalk, or do you have another reason for gracing us with your angelic presence?” I asked him.

“You know why I’m here, Leda.”

“You want an update on the Council of Unfortunate Supernaturals.”

“Yes.”

“Well, I got them to stop fighting. And then it was lunch time.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Consider yourself updated.”

Harker frowned. “I asked about your progress. Are you telling me you got absolutely nothing accomplished?”

“The supernatural leaders don’t get along.”

“They don’t have to get along. It’s your job to make them obedient. And to see if any of them know anything. I expect a report by the end of the day.”

He rose, then his gaze shifted to Bella. “You are Leda’s sister.”

“I am,” she said coolly.

“Has she always been so frustrating?”

“It depends on who you ask,” Bella replied.

Harker laughed. “I’m asking you.”

“Then you’re out of luck. I don’t tattle on my sister.” She frowned at him. “Not even to angels.”

I’d never seen her so cold with anyone. She was usually so friendly.

“I see.” Harker looked at me. “The report is due at midnight, Pandora. And you’d better have something illuminating to put in it.”

I watched him leave, frustrated.

“He is so hot,” Marina muttered when Harker was sitting back at the head table.

“It doesn’t matter how hot he is. No one treats my sister like that,” Bella said, steel in her voice.

So that was why she’d been so cold to him.

Marina didn’t seem to hear Bella. She was too busy staring at Harker.

The bell chimed, and I stood. “Time to return to the battlefield.”

“You mean the ballroom,” Bella corrected me.

I shook my head. “No. I really mean the battlefield.”

* * *

The afternoon session of the Council of Unfortunate Supernaturals didn’t prove any more fruitful than the morning session had. I left the ballroom at the end of the day, my ears still ringing from the hours of insults the supernatural leaders had hurled at each other like children throwing food in a high school cafeteria.

Ivy and Drake were sitting on the sofa in our living room, getting ready to start a movie.

“Leda, you’re just in time,” Ivy said. “You can help us pick the movie. Which should it be: The Witch Covens of Sleepy Hollow, or Vampires vs. Werewolves?”

“I had quite enough of Vampires vs. Werewolves last night.”

Drake looked at Ivy. “I agree.”

“The Witch Covens of Sleepy Hollow, it is.” Ivy turned the disc over in her hand. “I’m not sure if this film is a love story or a horror movie.”

“I think it’s both,” Drake told her.

Ivy grinned at him. “That’s the best kind. Remember back in eighth grade when our parents went out of town and we watched The Vampire Hunter trilogy?”

“Sure I do, but I’m surprised you remember.” Mischief sparked in his eyes. “You spent most of the trilogy hiding your head under the blanket in terror.”

“That was you, genius.”

“No, I distinctly remember it was a girl with red pigtails.”

She tossed a few pieces of popcorn at him. He caught them all in his mouth, one after the other. But he swallowed too fast and choked on a kernel.

Ivy snorted, thumping him on the back. She looked at me. “Come on, join us, Leda. We have popcorn.”

She and Drake were sure sitting close. And the way they were looking at each other made me realize I needed to be somewhere else—anywhere else. Maybe I’d pay Nerissa a visit.

“How is Nerissa doing?” I asked Ivy.

“She got some sleep this morning and now she’s back at work,” Ivy told me. “She looks worlds better. But she kicked me out of her lab so she could concentrate. She kicked out everyone else too. We’re all banned. She promised to give us Dragon Pox if we returned before morning.”

Ok, maybe I wouldn’t pay Nerissa a visit after all. She obviously wasn’t in a talking mood. Dragon Pox weren’t deadly, but they were really itchy.

“I’m going to head to the library,” I decided. “I need a quiet space to write my report for Harker.”

“What you need is your own office.”

“I certainly do.”

They turned on the movie as I walked out. Ivy and Drake seemed to be slowly realizing how they feel about each other. They just needed some time alone so they could take the plunge.

And I needed to find a way to fill several pages with text. I didn’t have anything to tell Harker. I had no clue what Angel Fever was, no clue how it had started, and no clue how it was spreading. On top of all that, I also had no clue how to stop it. How the hell was I going to expand that to five pages? I was definitely going to need a really big font.

One thing I did know was the infection was spreading. And if supernaturals were purposely putting themselves in its path, soon Angel Fever was going to get out of control. If we didn’t have a cure before then, more people were going to die.