Thiswas that friend. The angel who had searched the Empyrean Library for information on how to remove Mist’s slave brands. Lily had taken control of the brands when she pushed Mist’s former mistress into a pit of monsters, but they still remained on his body.
Dan hadn’t outright said that he’d lied to Sunshine about why he wanted the info, but it was implied. No angel in their right mind would help a demon. If Dan had been honest, she would have shown up with the cavalry and taken them all out. Much easier than removing Mist’s brands was to simply kill him. And seeing as they were rogues, it was completely within her rights to do so.
Sunshine had evidently become suspicious on her own and tracked them down.
The question remained, however… How much did she know? And perhaps more importantly, why wasn’t Raum already dead?
He decided his safest course of action was to play dumb. His knowledge of who she was was his only possible advantage right now.
She clasped her hands at her front. “My name is Sunshine.”
Great, so she didn’t care if he knew who she was. There went his advantage.
She stood at the edge of the sigil, just far enough away that he couldn’t reach her. Not a hair was out of place on that head of silky straight hair, even after their fight. Her white dress was unwrinkled, her smile sweet and polite.
Damn her for being beautiful. And damn him for still noticing, even after finding out what she was.
“I know who you are, Raum. And I know who your brothers are as well.”
It was meant to be a threat, but she couldn’t pull off threatening to save her life. With that sweet countenance, it was more like she was introducing him to her grandmother.
But she didn’t have to look threatening for the threat to be there.
She was a fucking angel. She had the ability to teleport, which gave her a serious advantage over him—one of the many bullshit ways the whole ‘battle between Heaven and Hell’ had never been a fair fight to begin with. And he was trapped in a sigil.
“Asmodeus, Belial, and Mephistopheles,” she went on. “And a new addition: Mishetsumephtai. You’re closest to Mephistopheles, who goes by Meph. Meph has a relationship with a blood-born witch named Iris, and her twin sister Lily has one with Mishetsumephtai, or Mist. And Asmodeus, or Ash, has a human girlfriend named Eva.” Sunshine continued to smile, but her gaze sharpened ever so slightly. “Or should I sayhalfhuman.”
She knows about Eva.Raum’s blood went cold.
The angel knew what Eva was, which meant she knew Eva was Dan’s daughter. That meant she knew Dan was a big-time rule violator, harboring his forbidden half-angel offspring and throwing his support behind a group of rogue demons.
“What do you want?” he asked, abandoning the pretense. “Why am I here?” He didn’t ask what he really wondered—Why am I not dead?—because he didn’t want to give her any ideas.
She shifted on her feet and twisted her hands. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she appeared nervous. It was so at odds with the current power dynamic, he figured he was imagining it.
“When you and your so-called brothers escaped your duties in Hell—”
“They’re not myso-calledbrothers. They’re my brothers.”
“Demons cannot reproduce, and therefore they can’t have siblings. Only humans can.”
“Brothers are related by blood. We did a blood ritual and shared blood. So we’re brothers.”
“That’s not how brothers work.”
“Why not?”
She opened her mouth and closed it again.
“This is irrelevant,” she said with a shake of her head. “Regardless of the legitimacy of your brotherhood, you are living on Earth against the rules. If Hell finds you, you will face severe punishment. If Belial resists and attempts to gather forces in support, it may set off an underworld war of epic proportions. If Heaven catches you, on the other hand, you will simply be dispatched. The chance to eliminate five greater demons of such power is one we are rarely offered, and it will be taken.”
“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”
But shewasdriving home how fucked he was. She was reminding him what would happen if they were caught—after having already caught him.
But she hasn’t killed me yet.It had to mean she needed him for something, which meant there was a chance he could bargain his way out of this.
“I know everything,” she said. “I’ve been watching you for the last three weeks. I should have gone to my superiors the moment I realized who you were, but by staying to observe, I learned far more than I would have otherwise. I learned about Daniel’s transgression and his forbidden Nephilim child.”
