Page 69

“Sean bloody Cullen,” she called out, her British accent cutting through the din of the bar. “Haven't seen your miserable face in what, two months?”

I slid onto a stool, giving her a half-hearted salute. “Been busy.”

“Too busy to check in?” Juno raised an eyebrow, finishing the drink and sliding it to her waiting customer before moving over to me. “Last I heard, you were on some suicide mission to find Cade. Word was you'd gone off the deep end.”

“Yeah, well,” I muttered. “He came back.”

Juno went still, her movements becoming unnaturally precise as only a vampire's could. “Came back? Cade Cross is alive?”

I nodded grimly. She placed a glass in front of me, pouring a generous measure of amber liquid. I drained half of it in one go, welcoming the burn.

“How?” she asked, her voice dropping to a predatory whisper, red flickering briefly at the edges of her irises. “No one just walks out of hell, Sean.”

“He didn't walk out,” I said, the memory of Cade's sudden reappearance still raw. “He just... appeared. Standing on my doorstep like he'd been gone for a weekend, not six months in the pit.”

Juno studied my face, her vampire senses dissecting my micro-expressions, the subtle changes in my scent betraying my distress. “But something's wrong with him,” she stated rather than asked.

Before I could answer, the door opened, bringing in a gust of cold air and Lex, his usual flamboyance on full display in a deep burgundy jacket. His eyes landed on me, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Holy shit,” he said, making his way quickly to the bar. “The prodigal hunter returns. I'd heard you'd gone completely off the grid.”

“Disappointed?” I asked dryly.

“Intrigued,” Lex corrected, sliding onto the stool beside me. “Last time I saw you, you were bleeding all over that warehouse in Queens, threatening to skin a crossroads demon alive if it didn't tell you how to find Cade.”

“Sounds about right,” I admitted.

Lex's eyes narrowed, his usual charm giving way to the sharp intelligence that made him so dangerous. “Wait. Your aura is different. Did you actually...”

I nodded, and Lex's mouth tightened.

“Cade's back?” he asked, his voice uncharacteristically serious. “After all this time?”

“Technically,” I said, and took another drink.

“What the hell does that mean?” Lex demanded.

I stared into my glass, watching the liquid catch the dim light, my thoughts a tangled mess of anger and fear.

“Like I told Juno, He just showed up,” I said flatly. “But it's not him. Not really. We found out why he's been so... off since he returned. He doesn't have a soul.”

Juno's fingers tightened around the bottle until the glass creaked in protest. “A body without a soul,” she murmured, something hungry and fascinated in her expression. “Walking, talking, thinking... but empty inside.”

“How did you figure that out?” Lex asked, his usual theatrics abandoned.

“This angel, Cassiel,” I said. “He did some kind of... examination. Put his hand right through Cade's chest, like it was nothing.”

“Angel?” Juno repeated, her voice uncertain. “Like, actual angel? With wings and halos and all that?”

“More like wings and attitude problems,” I muttered.

“Christ,” she said, looking shaken. “I thought they were just stories the older vampires told to scare us.”

“It's recent,” I said, noting her reaction. “He showed up claiming he's been watching us. Some kind of celestial observer tracking the seals breaking.”

Juno's eyes darkened, the humanity in them receding slightly. “The older vampires have stories about angels, Sean. None of them end well for anyone involved. If half of what they say is true, you need to be careful.”

“I don't trust him,” I admitted. “But he's been right about everything else so far.”