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Godwin, curling her black wings around his body until Bruno saw nothing but a stream of blood

falling over the floor. When she’d finished she left Godwin’s mangled remains among the ruins of the

laboratory. What disturbed Bruno most of all was the fact that the surveillance reports had been

wrong—Eno didn’t keep the trophies of her kills. When she’d finished with Godwin, she turned to

Bruno, her lips red with blood, and he understood the true horror of what she did to her male victims.

Bruno knew that Godwin’s fate could have been his own.

As they drove onward, Bruno tried to make a division between the pain he felt burning through his

body and the clear, direct movement of his thoughts. Despite the agony, he must remain sharp; he must

keep his mind directed on the future. The real battle would be coming. If they made it out of Siberia

alive—and, with Yana at the wheel, their chances were strong—the fight would be at its beginning.

The greatest difficulties lay ahead. Soon there would be nowhere to hide.

“You’re going to get us back to St. Petersburg in one piece?” Bruno said to Yana, his voice little

more than a whisper.

Yana kept her eyes fixed on the road. “Even if I do,” she said, “What are we going to do then?”

Bruno felt the ice melting against his cheek. The cool liquid fell along the curve of his hand and

along his neck. Before Bruno could respond, Verlaine spoke. “We’ll fight them,” he said. “We’ll fight

them together, and we’ll win.”

Academy of Angelology, fourteenth arrondissement, Paris

Easter Sunday

Verlaine sat at the long oak table, listening to the church bells in the distance. The council would

arrive any minute, and Verlaine wanted to be ready. For two days he had practiced the speech. He

knew that, despite their tendency to make conservative decisions, it wouldn’t be difficult to convince

them. The damage alone was enough to warrant full and immediate deployment of all their agents. The

meltdown had poisoned a third of the planet. The Watchers were free. Human beings were terrified

and had begun forming armies. Angelologists had no choice but to fight.

A door opened and, with a great shuffling of feet, the council members entered the athenaeaum.

Verlaine, Yana, Dmitri, Azov, and Bruno stood, waiting as the council sat around the table. Bruno met

his eyes and smiled, his expression weary. Even if they got everything they wanted, there would be

nothing to celebrate. They all knew that they were bound to fight until the last creature had been

killed.

A council member, a woman with gray hair and large eyeglasses, nodded to Verlaine and his

companions. “My fellow angelologists, we have called you here to ask for your assistance.”

The council member cleared her throat and met Verlaine’s eyes. He felt a shiver of admiration.

There was something in her manner that inspired a sense of fearlessness.

“Our council has spoken at great length about the current situation. We are fully aware of the

danger of our position. We are also aware that we are fighting for the very existence of our world.”

She took a deep breath and continued. “And so, we have decided, after much consideration, to

disband the council. It is clear that we are entering a new era, one of great destruction, one of terrible

danger and sadness. At the same time, we are aware of the prophesies that have been made, the

apocalypse that is at hand, and the possibility that this time of pain has arrived so that we might rise

into a new and better world. To do this we need a leader, one who knows the enemy, one who has the

strength to see this battle through. We expect this leader to be chosen from our elite angel hunters.”

Verlaine felt the eyes of the council members burning into him as he realized, suddenly, that they

expected him to volunteer. Bruno nudged him softly, as if pushing him forward. In that moment, with

the council members gazing at him, with Bruno at his side and his body seething with fear and anger,

Verlaine knew what he must do. He would stand and lead the battle. He would kill the Nephilim,

destroy the Watchers, and bring human beings to victory. Above all, he would find Evangeline. And

when he did, he would look into her pale green eyes and he would kill her.

ALSO BY DANIELLE TRUSSONI

Falling Through the Earth: A Memoir

Angelology