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Galen furrowed his brow. “Lazarus doesn’t show up unless shit’s hit the fan… or is about to.”

“I’ll ride with Clara,” I said before clinging onto her side. Ever since she’d saved my life, I’d been close to her. It wasn’t often my brothers and I were able to make—and keep—friends. But she was a great one.

Because of my sleepy spells hitting me out of nowhere, it was difficult for me to drive. Sometimes, I even had difficulty flying. Usually after hunting shades, Galen had to carry me home because I was too drowsy to fly on my own.

Sitting in the passenger seat of Clara’s car, I fidgeted with the radio, turning it to a station playing a new pop song. I moved my head to the beat and tried to sing along, although I didn’t know the words. Mainly trying to distract myself.

The sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach deepened once we arrived at the mansion and walked inside. Low voices came from Alastair’s study.

“I’ll wait here,” Clara said, squeezing my hand. “The angel doesn’t like me much.”

“Only because he has no taste. You’re awesome.”

Simon and Galen walked in behind us and closed the front door. Kyo had stayed at the shop since it didn’t close for another two hours.

“Want to play in the arcade while they talk?” Simon asked Clara. He wasn’t allowed to join in on the discussions either. Lazarus thought he was a useless human. He also didn’t like how Simon was related to Asa, however distant it might be.

“You’re on.” Clara looped arms with him, and they walked to the arcade.

Galen and I continued toward the study. Alastair stood at the window behind his desk, arms crossed, while Lazarus stood by the fireplace, devoid of emotion. He looked like a statue, not a living, breathing being. Seeing the angel caused my already budding anxiety to spike even higher.

No matter how many years had passed, I still remembered the day he’d found me in that cave—the day he took me away and turned me into his weapon.

Raiden and Bellamy were there too, both standing against the wall, silent. Castor was by the bookshelf, glaring at the floor. He wasn’t a fan of the angel either.

“Someone start talking before I lose my patience,” Galen said, cutting through the heavy silence. “Why are we here?”

“Call Envy,” Lazarus told Alastair, “so I can speak to all of you at once.”

Alastair pulled out his phone and tapped the screen.

“What?” Daman’s raspy voice answered seconds later over speakerphone. “It’s like 2:00 a.m. here.”

Daman lived in Russia with Warrin. It kind of made me sad when I thought about it, so I tried not to. Walking by his empty bedroom still hurt.

“Lazarus has news,” Alastair said before nodding to the angel.

I dropped down in front of the fire and waited for an explanation.

“After the battle in the Hoia Baciu forest, Asa and Belphegor returned to the underworld,” Lazarus said. “We kept tabs on them so we’d be ready when they surfaced again.”

“And let me guess,” Castor interjected. “They surfaced? Big surprise. Get to the point.”

Lazarus clenched his jaw. “Until now, Asa and Belphegor have worked on building their army. And now they’re putting it to use. Belphegor is commanding a force of monsters and ordering attacks all over the world.”

“Monsters attacking is nothing new,” Daman said from over the phone. “War and I just killed a few djinns outside of Esso two nights ago.”

“He’s right,” Bellamy said. “We’ve been killing monsters for years.”

“Yes, but these attacks are too close together, and the death toll is much higher than average,” Lazarus said. “Where before the attacks were isolated, mainly rogue beasts easily stopped, these are more like orchestrated chaos. A bloodbath. As if hundreds of them were released at once and given orders to kill as many mortals as possible.”

“What’s the point of it?” I asked, starting to feel sleepy. “Why set these monsters loose? Like what’s the goal other than to kill?”

Lazarus’ cold eyes landed on me, and I tried not to flinch under his scrutiny. “Does a mad man need a reason to commit heinous acts? Your father is a menace.”

A sick sinking in my gut had me averting my gaze.

“What are our orders?” Alastair asked, going into soldier mode. Not that he ever fully left it.