Page 83 of Alastair

“I have pants you can wear,” he said. “Since we’re flying, you won’t need a shirt.”

“What’s the deal with you and shirts?” I asked as it occurred to me I’d never seen him wear one.

“They’re too restricting.” Lazarus opened a drawer and tossed me a pair of black trousers. “Those should fit. Perhaps a bit loose in the waist, but they’ll have to do.”

“I think this was your plan all along, you sneaky angel. You knew I’d need clothes today and just wanted to see me in yours.”

His lips twitched.

“Uh-huh. I’m onto you.”

That smile surfaced, if only a little. “Stop whining and get dressed.”

Within the hour, we headed to the villa to join the others. Gray lounged on the patio couch in the shade, his head on Mason’s lap. He shifted a gaze between the two of us, then to my pants that were obviously not mine, before a slow smile spread across his face. He seemed too sleepy to comment on it though. It was about time for his midmorning nap.

“Enjoy your breakfast?” Michael asked with a knowing gleam in his brown eyes. He sat at the table with Penemuel, King Tatsuya, and a hungover-looking Baxter, who’d no doubt had an eventful night of his own.

“Very much,” I answered. “I couldn’t get enough of those apples.”

The archangel smirked.

Lazarus quietly cleared his throat. “Any further updates about Lucifer?”

Changing the subject. I was quickly learning how amusing it was to tease him. I only hoped we had more mornings like this. More time to catch up on the years we’d missed.

“Only that he’s allied with the tengu,” Michael answered, and King Tatsuya nodded before taking a drink of his green tea. “I have scouts all over Tokyo, as well as other areas of the world likely to be targeted. If Star surfaces, I’ll know.”

Star? The nickname seemed to be a slip of the tongue judging by Michael’s expression directly after he’d said it. But it was a reminder that Lucifer had once been his friend. Lazarus’ friend too. Both of them kept such serious and hardened dispositions when discussing the war, but it wasn’t easy going to battle against someone they once loved. Maybe still did.

I should know. I had loved Lucifer once too.

Wings sounded in the distance, growing louder. Raiden, Titan, Kallias, and Nico then landed in the grass beside the patio.

“Morning!” Nico plopped down beside Tatsuya with a slice of cinnamon toast sticking out of his mouth. He peered at the water dragon. “Why are you dragons so pretty?”

Tatsuya chuckled under his breath. The compliment didn’t faze him. With his harem of wives, he knew of his appeal all too well.

“Nice pants,” Raiden told me, following it with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle. For someone who was normally so oblivious, he’d picked up on it surprisingly quick. Then again, even after a shower, Lazarus’ scent was all over me.

By late afternoon, everything had changed.

Any hope I’d had for more time was snuffed out almost instantly.

Tatsuya received a call from his friend Shin about an attack in Yoyogi Park during a winter festival. The park, as well as the forested area around it, had been swarmed by shades who left trails of blood in their wake. Meiji Shrine, which sat adjacent to the park within the spacious forest grounds, had also been attacked. Tengu had been spotted among the chaos.

Before Tatsuya managed to tell us everything, Michael received a report about simultaneous large-scale attacks in London, New York, and Milan.

“What the fuck is happening?” Baxter asked, scrubbing his hands over his face. We had all gathered in his study that afternoon as the reports flooded in so fast it made me feel like I had whiplash.

I stood by the window, absorbing the reality of our situation.

“War,” Michael said. “Lucifer told me to prepare for the worst I’d ever seen. He’s now bringing that to fruition.”

King Nikolai then contacted Warrin about a force of Nephilim—who had originally allied with Asa, then with Lucifer once he was freed—attacking cities in Russia. Sirena heard from the force she’d sent to Cairo that the attacks had flared up there as well.

“Lucifer’s moved beyond sporadic monster attacks,” I said. “He’s finally stepped out of the darkness and began his conquest of the human realm.”

His armies were attacking in swarms. Killing. Setting everything on fire.