Archangel's Legion(40)

From the way Raphael was staring at the healer, he didn’t know this particular story, either. “You will not stop now, Keir.”

Laughing, the healer said, “Eli was a seasoned and loyal general in another archangel’s army on the day of a great battle against—” Cutting himself off, Keir shook his head. “I will tell you that tale another time. It is far too long and interesting to shorten so precipitously.”

Fascinated, Elena waited for him to continue.

“Eli,” Keir said into the silence, “had just cut down the last of the enemy and raised his sword to declare victory when it hit: a sudden and total ascension that sent him screaming into the skies. It was extraordinary, as all ascensions are extraordinary, but what is most important is that when he returned from the sky to the earth, he was no longer a general but one of the Cadre.”

Raphael said what Elena was thinking. “He was Caliane’s general.”

“Yes, so unless you betray him, he will not first betray you. He would’ve hunted your mother in her madness had she not disappeared into Sleep, but he would’ve taken no pleasure in it, for he has never forsaken the vows he took to cause no harm to her and those of her blood.”

“Caliane’s never mentioned him.”

“Did you ask her?” An arch question. “You know her age. It’s very possible she hasn’t quite assimilated that you are now Eli’s peer, for he was an archangel before you were born, and in her eyes . . .”

“I’m a child still.” Raphael thrust his hand through his hair. “I wish you’d shared Elijah’s past with me earlier. It would’ve made certain negotiations much less fraught.”

Keir stood to pour himself a fresh cup of tea. “You are your mother’s son, Raphael. Until you had judged and decided to accept Eli’s friendship for yourself, it would’ve done no good.”

“There isn’t,” Illium said into the thoughtful pause that followed, “much difference between death and disease. Lijuan remains a prime candidate.”

Raphael stared into the flames. “Not for the Falling,” he said at last. “I cannot believe such a large-scale act didn’t need a closer hand, and Jason confirmed she was in her own territory at the time, busy with her reborn. For the vampire pox, however, she could’ve simply sent in a carrier of the disease.”

“It could even be a mortal.” Keir retook his seat, his expression intent. “My gifts tell me the disease is passed through blood, and a donor would be in the best position to infect many.” Frowning, he shook his head. “Yet if it is thus, we should have more bodies—the dead vampire had been so two days at least.”

“If the victims die at such speed,” Illium said quietly, “they might be locked up rotting in their homes.”

It was a horrible image, and Elena was glad for the distraction when Montgomery appeared in the doorway, his eyes sending her a silent message. “Guild Hunter,” he said when she excused herself to walk over to him. “There is an urgent call for you from the Guild Director.”

Taking the portable house phone, she said, “Thank you.”

Ten seconds into that call, and her gut churned. Because Ransom had just found those other bodies, and Illium had been right: they were locked up inside their home, rotting slowly from a malicious disease that had ended their chance at immortality.


• • •


All four of them landed on the tiny drive of a run-down house in a dingy part of the Bronx within the hour. Having been waiting outside, Ransom led them into the building without anything more than a nod, his cheekbones slicing against his skin from the way he clenched his jaw. She smelled the reason for his rigid self-control as soon as she stepped inside the house, the air putrid with disease and heavy with a warmth that told her the central heating had been on for the duration.

“How many?” Raphael asked, wings limned in a lethal glow.

“Five, and they’ve been dead a couple of days at least.” Ransom went left, heading toward what was probably a bedroom, while Keir and Illium broke off toward the other side of the house. “I turned off the heat and opened the windows to release the worst of the smell.”

Why is it always Ransom who shows up with these bodies?

Hearing the deadly supposition in Raphael’s tone, Elena locked eyes with the man who was her lover . . . but who she knew didn’t see other mortals the same way she did. Don’t get any ideas. Ransom grew up on the streets and still has all his old contacts. The people who talk to him, tell him things, wouldn’t ever talk to anyone from the Tower—or even most of the other hunters in the Guild.