TAIYA'S WAILS WERE the first thing I heard when I woke up. I wasn't sure how much time had passed. Warren's face appeared above me, shielding my eyes from the bright sunshine. "Lie still," he said, lifting my shirt gently.

"What happened?" I asked, trying to look around. All I could see was Reuel talking to Enzo a few feet away.

"Nadine is dead. The Morning Star is gone. Taiya is missing a few fingers, and you are going to need stitches. This cut is superficial, but it's deep."

"The Morning Star was in me."

"He what?"

I touched my forehead. "He was in me. Inside me. Are you sure he's gone?"

"Positive," he said. "He went up through the sky and parted the clouds. Look."

He moved so the sunlight blinded me.

I covered my eyes with my arm. "Why is Taiya missing fingers?"

"Because Fury shot her hand as she went to stab you again," he said. "Risky shot. Too risky."

"Taiya stabbed me?"

He gave a noncommittal shrug. "I guess stab isn't the right word. I think The Morning Star was trying to use her to cut the baby out of you."

I felt like I might vomit.

"Need a med kit?" Cooper asked, walking up behind Warren.

Warren looked back over his shoulder and nodded. Cooper handed him a canvas bag with a red first aid cross embroidered on the front. Warren unzipped it.

"I don't want stitches. Butterfly it or tape it closed as best you can so it won't scar as badly when it heals," I said.

He nodded and poured some kind of solution over my belly. It had to have been an antiseptic, but it burned like battery acid. Tears leaked back into my hair. "Enzo!" Warren yelled, digging through the bag.

Enzo left Reuel and came up on our right. "Sir?"

"Pinch the skin closed for me." Warren tore off pieces of medical tape with his teeth as Enzo dropped to his knees and put his hands on my stomach. I winced as he closed the wound.

"Get the team out of here and back to the airport before this place is crawling with cops," Warren said to him as he pulled my skin closed with the tape.

"What about the rest of you?" Enzo asked.

"We'll warp back and meet you at Claymore," he said. "Go. Now."

Enzo nodded and pushed himself off the ground.

Through her painful screams, Taiya was shouting, "Praea, forgive me," over and over again in Katavukai.

"Is she going to be OK?" I asked.

He nodded. "She won't go bowling ever again, but she'll live."

"She didn't mean to hurt me," I said.

"I know that. The Morning Star's power over her broke as soon as you forced him out. She's been screaming for you ever since."

"I need to help her."

"You'll have to hurry. She needs to leave with Enzo."

I held up my hand. "Help me up."

He hesitated, then hooked his arms under my armpits and lifted me so I didn't have to bend at the waist. As soon as I was vertical, the blood rushed to the wound, making me dizzy. I wavered, but he caught me. "You OK?"

"Yes," I said.

When the dizziness passed, I looked around the broken cemetery. The members of SF-12 were loading into the second van. I didn't see Fury anywhere. Azrael was behind us, slumped over Nadine's lifeless body. She was dead because of me. Warren caught my eye and shook his head. "Not now." He nudged me toward Nathan who was holding his jacket as a compress around Taiya's right hand.

We walked over and Warren helped me down next to them. Taiya shook and sobbed uncontrollably. "Praea, forgive me. Please forgive me."

I cupped her face in my hands. "Shh. I forgive you. You didn't do this. It wasn't your fault. Do you hear me?"

She nodded her head.

I looked at Nathan. "Let me see her hand."

He cringed. "It's really bad. Cooper gave her morphine."

She was missing a bit more than a few fingers. Half her hand was gone, part of it missing almost to her wrist. Only her pinky finger and part of her ring finger remained. "I don't know how I can fix this," I said.

"Do your best, but hurry," Warren said again.

I conjured a ball of light between my hands and Nathan held up her arm. The light was pliable like putty and I moved it around her mangled limb. She screamed even louder as the light cauterized the wound. As her screams faded, sirens intensified in the distance. My light fizzled out. The wounds had closed and the pain was gone, but her fingers were still missing and her hand was terribly deformed. I knew there was nothing else I could do.

The second van drove out of the cemetery. Enzo got in the first van and started the engine. Reuel got in the passenger's seat.

Warren pulled on Nathan's shoulder. "You have to go and take Taiya with you."

He nodded and stood up before pulling Taiya to her feet. When she was standing, she threw her arms around my neck. "Thank you, Sloan."

"You're welcome. Hurry and get in the van. I'll see you when we get back to Claymore."

"Do you promise?" she asked, tears dripping off her cheeks.

I kissed her forehead. "I promise. Stay with Nathan. He'll take care of you."

But it was too late. Blue lights bounced off the tombs and sirens blared as two city police cars came over the hill. They parked, and the officers got out with their weapons drawn, taking cover behind their doors. Nathan stepped protectively in front of me. Warren took my hand.

"Hands where we can see them!" someone shouted.

We obediently raised our hands into the air. In the van, Enzo's hands were on the steering wheel, Reuel's were on the dash. I couldn't see Azrael, but I doubted his compliance when the officer shouted again, "Get your hands up!"

Just then, to our right, an unmarked black SUV with flashing lights pulled in from the opposite fork in the path. And for the first time ever, I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Sharvell Silvers as she stepped out of the passenger's side, holding her badge up in one hand and waving with the other. "FBI, lower your weapons!"

She carefully crossed the lawn and approached one of the police cruisers.

Even from across the way, I could hear them talking. "This is part of an ongoing federal investigation of which I'm the lead investigator. I'm going to need your men to move out of here so my team can come in."

The officer argued. "We had reports of shots fired. It appears there are two dead bodies—"

She interrupted him. "I'll handle it from here, gentlemen. This is my crime scene and those are my men out there."

There was a lot of swearing as the officers retreated to their cars. Agent Silvers either didn't hear or she ignored them as she walked over to us.

"I never thought I'd be glad to see you," I said as she approached.

"Would you mind explaining what I'm doing here and why this cemetery looks like a war zone complete with dead bodies?" she asked.

I looped my arm through hers partly because I was so relieved she was there and partly because I needed a crutch. The cut on my stomach still burned enough to make my eyes water. "How did you know to come here?" I asked as I guided her to the small body lying near the pieces of the broken stone cross.

"I've been temporarily reassigned to Chicago while our investigation continues. Azrael called me this morning and said to keep an eye on this place today. We heard the reports come in over the scanners, so we responded." She stopped walking. "Is that Maria Juarez?"

I nodded. "That's her body, anyway."

"And the demon?"

"Destroyed."

She sighed with relief and looked around. She pointed to where Azrael was still holding Nadine. "Who's that?"

"That was Warren's mother." I took a deep breath. "I killed her."

Her arm went slack in mine.

"I'm still not sure how it happened, but I think you'll find prints or other evidence that ties her back to this somehow. I'd start with looking at the home in Los Angeles. The City of Angels seems an appropriate home for this one."

I heard her gulp next to me.

"Thanks for coming and saving us," I said.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I'm going to call the coroner."

While she made the call, Warren came over and put his arm around me. "I think you should talk to him now."

I bit my lower lip and hugged my arms. "OK."

He tucked my hair behind my ear. "Maybe count to ten before you talk to him. He was right about a lot of things."

I nodded. "I know."

"I'm going to try to clean up some of this mess."

He walked off toward one of the demolished tombs, and I crept down the hill toward the fallen Angel of Death. "Azrael?"

He turned his face enough to acknowledge me. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Sloan."

"Why did you lie to me?" I asked.

"Honestly? I feared you'd crumble under the pressure of the truth."

"What is the truth?"

His shoulders rose with a heavy breath. "The Morning Star came to me in Chicago three decades ago, before Nadine gave birth to Warren. He wanted to use my son to breed the Vitamorte to destroy the spirit line. When I refused his offer of partnership, Phenex cut Warren out of Nadine's belly and left her there to die. I couldn't save her and get Warren back, so I made a deal with the devil. I pledged my allegiance to him if he saved her."

"And you were kicked out of Heaven," I said quietly.

He shook his head. "That wasn't the worst of it. The real evil was the method he used to save her." He stroked her face. "She was his insurance policy to secure my compliance."

"But you weren't planning on helping him?"

"Of course not. Life here would be slowly destroyed, and he would have no need for Nadine and Warren when he was finished with them. They would die anyway."

"So instead you tried to keep me and Warren apart," I said.

"I tried to delay it for as long as possible, and in the meantime I built an army to protect you."

I didn't realize I was crying till my tears nearly froze to my cheeks. I sank onto the ground beside him and put my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I doubted you. Forgive me?"

He put his hand on the side of my face. "There's nothing to forgive. You had every reason to distrust me. And you were amazing here today. Exactly what this world needs you to be."

"I'm sorry I couldn't save her, Azrael."

"There was no way you could have. It would take too much to defeat The Morning Star. She probably wouldn't have survived either way. I made my peace with that many years ago."

"But then why the training with Lamal? You believed I could save her."

He shrugged. "I had foolish hopes, and I was wrong." His voice fell again. "There wasn't any way."

"Was that Nadine in the beginning who warned me about Phenex and it being a trap?" I asked.

"It was. The Morning Star was hidden at the point, giving Nadine control over her own mind." He smiled, but there was so much pain in it. "Even to the end, she was a fighter."

"I wish we could have known her," I said.

"Me too."

We both sat there in silence for a few minutes. "What happens now?" I finally asked. "I didn't destroy The Morning Star."

He looked up at the darkening sky. "No, but you certainly weakened him. It will be a long time before he's able to strike again." He turned to me. "And he will strike again. Maybe not in your lifetime, but this isn't over yet."

"No surprise there."

"Our priority now will be finding your mother," he said.

I shook my head. "Please don't call her that."

He put his hand on mine. "I apologize."

"Why is she the priority and not him?"

"Because Kasyade can procure another body in a moon cycle, which has already passed. It will take The Morning Star a solar year to do the same. The Vitamorte will be born by then."

"A whole year?"

He nodded. "It's part of his curse. He's also never allowed to cross the spirit line at all."

"So no warping for him?"

"Correct. He's actually quite limited in your world," Azrael said.

"What will happen with Nadine?" I asked.

"I want to bury her here. We used to take walks through these grounds when we were dating," he said.

"Az?"

"Yeah?"

"That's really creepy."

I felt his shoulders shake with laughter. "Perhaps a little." He reached into his jacket pocket and handed me his cell phone. The missed call that saved his life had been from Adrianne.

"She loves you," I said with a sigh.

He looked at me. "And I care for her very deeply. I hope now you understand."

I nodded. "I do."

"I'm going to make it right with her."

"I believe you."

We sat in quiet for a little while longer, then he gestured toward the tall marble angel that towered over us a few feet away. "I had this placed here over twenty years ago. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Very beautiful," I agreed.

Azrael leaned over and pressed a kiss to Nadine's frozen mouth, then he gently placed her hands over her heart. "Vara nai minta cantik, me anlo."

Until we meet again, my love.

* * *

While we waited in the freezing cold for the coroner to take Nadine and Maria away, Agent Silvers pulled me to the side. "Can we talk a second, Sloan?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"I thought you might like some good news in the midst of all this."

I sighed. "I'd love some good news."

"I found the other girls who were infected with the antibiotic-resistant Chlamydia strain."

My heart pounded with hope.

"Sofia Fuentes and Isabel Valenzuela have been at the Children's Research Institute in Dallas. When their medical team was informed that Amalia Acevedo, the girl you cured here, had recovered from the disease, they brought her to Texas to study the antibodies in her bloodstream. Because of that research, they've successfully developed a treatment for the disease that not only cured Sofia and Isabel, but it will also cure Ariana Padilla and anyone else who might have been infected that we don't know about."

I began to cry, and I covered my mouth with my hands. "That's the best news you could have given me." I hugged the agent. "Thank you so much."

She pulled back but held onto my arms. "No, Sloan. Thank you. None of this would have been possible without you."

I smiled and wiped my eyes.

"Go home and get some rest," she said. "You've certainly earned it."

"You too, Agent Silvers."

She winked at me. "Please, call me Sharvell."

* * *

Rather than warping back to Claymore, we took the jet with everyone else. Azrael stayed behind to take care of Nadine's arrangements. When we got on board the plane, Fury was in her seat, eyes closed and earbuds in place. I stopped beside her row, and Kane moved out of my way. I took his seat and tapped her arm.

She looked at me, readjusted in her chair, then closed her eyes again.

I plucked the speaker out of her ear. She was listening to the rock band Shinedown. I loved Shinedown.

She turned and glared at me. "May I help you?"

"I wanted to say thank you," I told her.

"Don't mention it," she said, taking her earbud out of my fingers.

I blocked her hand from stuffing it back in her ear. "I am mentioning it. You saved me out there today, and you saved Taiya rather than killing her. I wanted you to know I appreciate it."

Her head nodded slightly. "Then help me when we get back. Talk to Azrael. I want to be reassigned."

I blinked with surprise. "OK. I will."

She turned her face away from me and put the speaker back in her ear. I got up and walked back to the conference cabin. Enzo was filling out paperwork. Reuel appeared to be asleep. Nathan and Warren were quietly talking while Taiya studied the new form of her hand. Lamal's seat was empty.

Warren looked up at me. "Everything OK?"

I smiled. "Everything's great."

He got up and moved over a chair so I could sit between him and Nathan.

"So what do we do now?" Nathan asked.

Enzo pointed across the table at him. "You return to training."

Nathan's nose scrunched up.

"You've only got, what? A week left?" Warren asked.

Nathan nodded. "A week too long."

"I can't wait to tell Fury you said that," Enzo said with a grin.

I looked at Warren. "Speaking of—she wants out. She asked me to talk to Azrael about having her reassigned."

His eyes moved to the door to the room where she was. "That's probably best for everyone."

Nathan whimpered. "Say it ain't so…"

I shoved his shoulder and laughed.

The plane roared to life underneath us, and outside the window, the crew rolled the stairs away from the door. I leaned my head against Warren's shoulder. "Are you all right?" I asked, sliding my hand under his arm and threading my fingers through his. "A lot went down today."

He tightened his fingers against mine. "I'm still processing it. It's weird. I feel like I should have stayed with Azrael."

"He didn't want us to."

"I know. Still, it's my mom."

"I'm sorry for what I did and for what I couldn't do." My voice cracked as I stared at the table.

He reached across his body and put his hand under my chin to force my eyes up to meet his. "It wasn't your fault. You were absolutely amazing today."

"I'll second that," Enzo said.

"Most definitely," Nathan agreed. "Sloan, you were a badass."

"Verta," Reuel said with a nod.

Warren pulled our hands up and kissed my knuckles. "You need to focus on the positives. You destroyed Phenex and defeated The Morning Star. Our daughter is safe. And our wedding is in less than two weeks."

I rolled my head back against my headrest. "Oh geez. There's so much work to do."

He laughed. "And we took off without telling Adrianne we were leaving."

"Ugh. I'd better call her." I looked around for my bag that I'd left on the plane.

"Here," Nathan said, handing it to me.

I dug my phone out of the main pocket. There was, of course, two missed calls and a dozen text messages from Adrianne.

Enzo handed me a satellite phone. "Use this to call her. Yours won't work once we're in the air."

I hesitated. "Are you sure that's OK?"

He smiled. "Sloan, you own the plane."

Everyone at the table laughed.

I dialed Adrianne's phone number. As the phone rang, I prepared myself for a verbal lashing for not keeping her in the loop. She picked up after the third ring, but she didn't say hello.

"Adrianne?" I asked, plugging my free ear with my finger. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

The line was silent, but not dead.

"Adrianne?"

There was more silence, and then I finally heard her breathe on the other end of the line. Her words came out slowly, in a voice that didn't belong to my best friend.

"Hello, Praea."