Harker stormed into Nerissa’s office. “Are you or are you not soldiers of the Legion of Angels, the gods’ army and upholder of the gods’ justice?” he demanded. He looked angry enough to demolish a few city blocks himself.
I stepped between him and my team. “We are.”
He spoke in a soft, harsh hiss. “Then why, in the name of everything that is holy, did you run from a werewolf and a vampire?”
“They weren’t just any vampire or werewolf,” I said patiently. “They were different.”
Behind me, Charlotte wept softly, as though she were reliving her nightmare in the alley.
“Different,” Harker said flatly, clearly unimpressed.
“Yes, different,” I told him. “They were mutated somehow. Like the water elemental this morning, their own powers were heightened. And they possessed the powers of many more supernaturals. They were like no vampire or werewolf I’ve ever seen before. Nothing hurt them. Nothing. Not even when Alec shot them in the head.”
“Decapitation?” he asked.
“I tried to decapitate the vampire, and it didn’t work. His neck was stronger than my weapon. Even when I poured magic across the blade, I couldn’t get it through fast enough. Just a few hours ago, Claudia killed the water elemental with decapitation. That is no longer a viable solution. This condition, or whatever it is, has evolved.”
“What do you mean evolved?”
“I don’t really know because I don’t understand it myself,” I admitted. “I just have this feeling… See, the elemental didn’t have as many powers as the vampire and werewolf just now did. It’s like they’re gaining more powers as time passes. Even in the fight, they gained more powers as the minutes sped by.”
“The vampire couldn’t put out my fire, and then he suddenly could. Their magic was growing in front of our eyes.”
“And you let two highly dangerous supernaturals, who have managed to steal magic, free in my city?” Harker said coldly.
I frowned at him. “They didn’t give us much choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“Yeah, the choice was to run, or to stay there and fight and let my team and Charlotte die just like the two poor soldiers who came before us,” I snapped. “Is that what you wanted?”
Harker bit his lip. I was pushing him too hard. I was betting on my theory that he needed me alive more than he needed to vent. Actually, his patron god was the one who’d told him to keep me alive, and I was reminding him that I knew all about that.
“You are resourceful,” he finally said. “You always find a way to cheat death.”
And there he was letting me know that I’d escaped death in Nero’s trials. Boy, this verbal sparring match was sure fun.
Or did he know about the trials? Maybe I was just being paranoid. The information surrounding the Gods’ Trials was kept confidential, even from angels. Especially from angels.
“That’s just what I did. I cheated death by not throwing my team into death’s jaws,” I said. “There was nothing we could have done had we stayed there. Nothing we tried did more than annoy the vampire and werewolf.”
“Actually, that’s not true,” Alec spoke up. “You managed to hurt the vampire with your elemental spells.”
“I’d hardly say that hurt him. Maybe it stung him. In any case, it wasn’t enough. I still couldn’t hold him off.” I shifted my gaze to Harker. “The vampire and werewolf would have killed us, and then they’d still be free. The only difference is we’d all be dead too.”
“Your spells still worked better than anything else we tried,” Alec persisted. “The vampire survived a bullet to the head. He didn’t even wince. But he hurt when you hit him with your magic. How did you do that?”
Speak a bit louder, why don’t you? I wished I were a telepath so I could send Alec a mental message to shut up. I did not need him drawing attention to this. The Legion didn’t want soldiers with dark magic and light magic. They believed dark magic belonged in the demon’s army. And that you couldn’t have both at once; that you could only give up one to have the other.
“I didn’t do anything special.” I shot Alec a smug smirk. “I just train more than you do.”
Alec snorted. “That’s the truth. I thought I trained a lot. But, woman, you don’t do anything but train, train, train.”
“Of course I train. I’m dating an angel. Training is good for my sex life.”
Ivy gaped at me. Drake coughed. Harker gave me a guarded, neutral look. Alec, however, looked at me like I was his hero. Nerissa chuckled under her breath.
I decided a change of subject was in order. “How is your patient?” I asked Nerissa.
“She’s traumatized, of course. But she’ll live.”
Ivy was holding the witch’s hand, speaking soothing words to her.
“She might need those memories wiped, though,” Nerissa added.
“No,” said Harker. “I need to know what she knows. I need to know how supernaturals have managed to steal magic that is not their own.”
“However it happened, I don’t think they can control it,” I told him. “Not entirely, at least. It is driving them mad.”
“This isn’t the first time something like this has happened,” he said. “About twenty years ago, the demons gave magic to a group of Earth’s supernaturals. They couldn’t control it. They went almost primitive, just like you described.”
“This isn’t demons,” I told him.
“How do you know?”
“Ivy didn’t find any demon marks on the bodies.”
“That just means demons weren’t possessing them,” he said. “Demons could have still given them magic.”
“The source of their magic—the elemental, the vampire, and the werewolf—was light magic, not dark magic.”
His eyes hardened. “Is there any point in asking you how you know that?”
“Light magic and dark magic both hurt when they hit you, but they feel different. They buzz at a different frequency as they tear through your body.”
Harker looked at me like he didn’t buy it.
But it was true. Light and dark magic did feel different. Plus, I’d seen the difference using dark magic against the vampire and werewolf had made. It had hurt them when my light magic had done nothing.
“Their powers come from light magic. I can feel it.” I looked at my team. “Tell him.”
“Much as I want to comply, they didn’t feel any different to me. Light or dark, I can’t tell the difference.” Drake shrugged.
“Same,” said Alec. “I believe you, Leda, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t even know there was a difference.”
“There is a difference,” Harker said to my surprise. “But only angels can feel it.”
Alec leaned back and looked at my back to check for wings. Or maybe he just wanted an excuse to stare at my ass.
“Oh, that’s right.” I snapped my fingers. “I forgot to tell you all that I became an angel when no one was looking.”
“Really?” A spark of hope flashed in Alec’s eyes. He was obviously excited by the idea of me as an angel.
I frowned at him. “No. Of course not.”
“Let’s focus.” Harker gave me a chiding look. “You’re sure their magic was light magic?”
“Why don’t you hunt them down and let them hit you? Then you can see for yourself.” I grinned at him.
Harker rubbed his head, his brows drawing together with strained patience. “Not now, Leda. I’m not in the mood for insubordination.”
“I’m not insubordinate,” I protested. “I’m just wicked.”
A smile broke Harker’s mouth, despite himself. He covered it up immediately, but I’d already seen it.
“Maybe you should ask the gods where these renegade supernaturals got their powers,” I suggested.
Harker frowned. I was pushing him too hard. But it was the truth.