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A STORM IS COMING

Lightning flashed across the cloudy November sky, trailed by a heavy belch of thunder which broke the silent stalemate that had been hanging over Purgatory all afternoon. The air was charged, heavy with an odd sort of pressure that weighed down on me.

“A storm is coming,” I commented, looking up at the foreboding ceiling of dark, swirling clouds.

“No shit, Leda,” Alec Morrows snickered beside me.

Alec was a beast of a man, large even for a soldier in the Legion of Angels, but that’s not why I’d made him my head of security. He was actually way smarter than he pretended to be. He was also fiercely loyal. And in my line of business—saving the world—loyalty was everything.

“Leda wasn’t just talking about the weather, genius,” Claudia Vance said from my other side.

Alec’s thick shoulders lifted in a casual shrug. “I knew that. I’m more than just a pretty face.” His gaze traced her curves, and he licked his lips. “And so are you, sweetheart.”

“Morrows?” Claudia said through a tight smile.

“Yes?”

“What have I told you about hitting on me?”

“That you like it?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Try again.”

“Not now, honey. We’re working. But later I’m all yours.” He winked at her.

Claudia gave him an icy look that should have given him cause for concern. After all, she was just as tall as he was and strong enough to throw him across the street, which she looked very tempted to do right now.

“You’d better not.” I caught her wrist before she could follow up on the unspoken promise in her eyes. “Alec would just see it as encouragement.”

Alec nodded, grinning. “She’s right, you know.”

Claudia drew her sword.

“Hey, I was just messing with you,” Alec said, lifting his hands in the air.

But her sword wasn’t meant for him. In a flash of superhuman speed, she disappeared behind a nearby garbage dumpster. She reappeared a few moments later, clutching a small cat by the scruff of its neck.

“New pet?” Alec asked her, his mouth twitching.

Claudia eyed the struggling, scruffy fluff-ball in her grasp. “I heard someone tailing us.”

“Yeah, well, apparently someone was.” Alec’s eyes danced with delight.

Claudia released the kitten, and it scrambled away from us faster than you could say meow.

“You know, I think I almost liked things better when there were monsters everywhere for me to slay.” Claudia sheathed her sword. “Life was way simpler before you came around, Leda Pandora.”

“The world was also overrun with monsters,” I pointed out.

“And there were snowstorms in the summer!” added Gin, my sister and the fourth member of our team. “The world—no, the universe—was broken for so long. And Leda fixed it.”

“Well, it’s still a work in progress,” I said with a sigh.

It had been nearly three years since the Great Battle. Three years since we’d ripped open the gates of the Guardians’ Sanctuary, breaking the spell that had kept them hidden for centuries. Three years since the remaining Guardians had fled this world and escaped to some unknown other.

“This isn’t over until the Guardians are gone,” I said.