“Let’s worry about that later.”

  Another spark of blue further along the field had Nahum marching to the kitchen, Eli on his heels. Zee was readying his crossbow, and he grinned at their arrival. “Time for some target practice. I’ll head up to the roof.”

  Eli positioned himself at the back door. “If they find a way through, and they’re spread out like last time, we’re screwed. Unless we just take off. But that effectively means surrendering our house to them, and I won’t do that.”

  “It won’t come to that, I’m sure of it,” Nahum reasoned. “Eli, what say we edge a little closer. Zee, watch the front of the house while you’re on the roof.”

  He nodded and called over his shoulder as he left them. “Of course.”

  “I have one last suggestion,” Eli said, just as Nahum was about to head out of the back door. “Let’s take Belial’s jewels.”

  “What?” Nahum spun around, Black Cronos pushed to the back of his mind for a moment. “Are you nuts?”

  “There are only three of us. We could probably draw on his power to enhance our own—if needed.”

  Nahum hesitated, his normal revulsion at anything related to the Fallen pushed aside in favour of necessity. Perhaps they could use Belial for some good, after all. “Fine. But we need to be careful! He’s strong.”

  “Brother. The time for care has passed. The time for battle is upon us.” And with these most unexpected words coming from Eli, the lover and peacekeeper of their little family, he went to fetch the jewels.

  Olivia liked gardens, and would have loved one of her own if she had any time available to spend tending it. She contented herself with a few pots on her small balcony. The garden at Moonfell, however, was very unusual.

  Gravel crunched beneath their feet as they approached the Gothic mansion. High up, a window in a turreted tower glowed with a soft yellow light like a beacon. Or a lighthouse, warning them away from rocks that could kill them.

  Huge evergreen topiary statues marched down either side of the drive, lit up by the occasional spotlight. Others revealed themselves in glimpses between the shrubs. A few were elaborate mixtures of round balls, spirals, and pyramids, but amongst them were shrubs sculpted into leaping cats, dragons, snakes, and what appeared to be sigils. Someone was a very skilled gardener.

  Other trees—not surprisingly, considering it was mid-December—had bare branches that rattled together, sounding like cackling old crones. They reached towards the house, tapping the walls and windows as if announcing their arrival. Olivia longed to explore, seeing fallow beds, and others with frost damaged plants wilting in the cold. She sensed secrets in this garden, and she shivered.

  “It’s watching us,” she declared to Harlan and Maggie. “Assessing us.”

  “For fuck’s sake,” Maggie grumbled. “This place is weird enough without you making it worse.”

  “I can’t help it!” Olivia kept her voice low, and wished the gravel would crunch quieter. “I’m a bit freaked out, but I’m excited, too. Have you ever been in the house before? Either of you?”

  “Nope.” Harlan shook his head. “Not entirely sure I’ll be coming back, either. Now I wish I had called first.”

  “We did the right thing,” Maggie reassured him. “It’s harder to turn us away now that we’re here.”

  The huge, wooden front door was made of thick timbers and set between two ornately carved pillars. The door knocker was a raven made of burnished brass, and what looked like a bone in its beak.

  Saying nothing, but casting them a long look of apprehension, Harlan used it to rap on the door.

  The boom was loud, and for a while, nothing could be heard inside. And then the door swung inward on silent hinges, revealing a huge staircase and a long hallway beyond it. All three froze on the covered porch, goosebumps erupting along Olivia’s skin. No one was there.

  Thick rugs covered the floor, the slim edge between rug and wall revealing ornate tiles in rich colours that glowed in the subdued light. Dim lights from open doorways lit the hallway in stripes. Incense hung in the air, and occult imagery lined the walls. Power resided here. And more secrets.

  Maggie bristled with impatience, but Harlan smiled and said in an aside, “Arlo told me that Odette likes a dramatic entrance.” With a firm voice he shouted, “Odette! It’s Harlan. I’m here with friends.”

  A slender woman with shoulder-length hair falling in soft curls stepped from the room to the left and smiled, her teeth gnawing at her bottom lip with regret. “Harlan. Such a spoilsport!”

  Maggie huffed and stepped in front of him. “DI Maggie Milne. Don’t you have some dramatic music and the sound of bats, too? Maybe wolves?”

  Odette’s eyes sharpened, and she folded her arms across her chest. “Next time, perhaps, DI Milne. I remember you from Storm Moon club. You watched us treat Arlo. Is this a social call? It’s quite late.” And then she took a sharp intake of breath. “Darkness stalks you. Come in.” She hustled them inside and shut the door. “Put your coats on the rack under the stairs and come to the kitchen. We don’t stand on ceremony here.” Then she gave a sneaky little grin. “Well, sabbats notwithstanding, and spells, of course. We have plenty of ceremonies for them.”

  “Odette,” Harlan said, shrugging off his three-quarter length woollen coat. “This is Olivia, my colleague at The Orphic Guild, and a good friend.”

  Odette had cast only a cursory glance towards Olivia, but now she looked at her properly. Olivia noted her soft brown eyes ringed with amber set inside her heart-shaped face. She was beautiful, but her eyes reminded her of an owl. A predator. And Olivia was prey. For some reason Olivia couldn’t explain, she felt wary around Odette, almost an instant dislike, and she couldn’t fathom it. She had no problem with witches. She admired their magic.

  But before she had time to consider her response further, Odette had frozen, transfixed, eyes looking deeply into Olivia’s own. She grabbed her arms with her cool hands and pulled her under the light. Something within Olivia recoiled, and then flared in anger. A hard, jealous, resentful anger that craved destruction.

  Odette’s sharp voice was accusatory, like a slap. “By the Goddess. Something dark resides within you. What have you been doing?”

  Olivia floundered, trying to push her weird thoughts aside. “I haven’t been doing anything! Except being chased tonight, and almost killed! That’s why we’re here!”

  “Chased by who? What I see doesn’t seem possible!”

  “Woah, slow down!” Harlan went to place a calming hand on Odette, but she flung it away. Chastened, he said, “That’s why we’re here. We encountered an old enemy. Well, a new one, actually. Is that what you see? Black Cronos? Alchemical monsters?”

  Odette’s face wrinkled with distaste. “No, that is not what I see. It’s older. Far older.” She focussed on Olivia, repeating her earlier question. “What have you been doing?”

  Olivia suddenly felt very scared, and knew exactly what Odette could see. For some reason, however, she didn’t want to answer. She had to force a response, her body seeming at war with itself. Her voice sounded gruff when she answered. “Nothing. I helped a friend, that’s all.”

  “No. You lie. There is more than that. He’s extending his influence, even now. It’s a good job you came, Olivia. Before it’s too late. To the kitchen, quickly.” Her arm threaded through Olivia’s as if she didn’t want to let go, and she hustled her down the corridor.

  The others scurried after them, Harlan calling, “Odette! What’s going on? We came for help to find a friend! Will you help us?”

  “Of course I will, but this is more important.”

  Olivia squirmed in her tight grasp. “Actually, it’s not. Jackson is more important! He’s been kidnapped.”

  “And you have a small splinter of a Fallen Angel inside you, and he’s itching to get further in.” Odette stopped again. Her amber-ringed eyes peered deep into Olivia’s, and then beyond her, seeing something else. “Oh, my old enemy, I see you. But not for long.” She blinked, smiling at Olivia, her thousand-yard stare vanishing. “He’s hanging on by a thread, but he is tenacious. If we don’t act now, it will be harder to get him out. But don’t worry,” she squeezed Olivia’s arms again with her strong hands, her smile infectious. “I love a good battle, especially at midnight. The witching hour.”

  Nine

  Shadow slid from Gabe’s warm embrace and solidly muscled chest as he landed softly on the tiled roof of the museum.

  She pulled her fey magic around her, embracing the dark night and the song of the museum’s garden. The night sounds were different here, loud and voluble, despite the chill weather. Its exoticness reminded her of the Realm of Fire in her own world. But now was not the time to reminisce. They had work to do.

  She adjusted her slim-fit leather jacket that moulded to her body, her fatigues tucked into sturdy leather boots, and extracted her daggers. Their cool familiarity calmed her nerves and sharpened her senses. She studied the uneven rooftop, its skylights and vents scattered across the large building.

  Gabe folded his wings away and pulled on his jacket from his pack as Ash landed next to them. Niel still circled above. All three crouched in the shadow of the tower over the east wing on the roof. This was their way in. A couple of guards patrolled the high-walled perimeter, and the gates at the end of the drive were locked.

  Ash’s eyes were narrowed with worry. “This is a big building, and we barely saw half of it earlier. This is insanity. We have only a few hours before daylight. We should have waited.”

  “I think it adds an extra little fizz of fun to our endeavours,” Shadow said, silently lifting the air vent’s hatch and peering inside to assess the narrow space.

  They had noted the vents high on the walls when they walked around earlier. They hoped they weren’t alarmed like the doors and windows, but maybe that was naïve. If they were, they would just have to fight their way out. The east wing was one of the areas they hadn’t reached during the daylight tour, and it seemed to have the easiest access, too. Although they had spotted cameras, they suspected that they weren’t real-time monitored at night, and would instead record everything. They planned on disabling the system once they were inside.

  “I’ll go first to check the space.” She eyed the two large Nephilim. “You might have trouble getting in. Perhaps you should wait here.”

  Gabe shot her an impatient look. “You can’t search the entire place on your own. Carry on. We’ll follow.”

  The next few minutes were hazardous and awkward, and she negotiated a long drop, which necessitated her walking crablike down the narrow vertical vent, and then having to slide into one that ran horizontally. It quickly became clear this was very difficult. From the grunts she could hear above, the men weren’t faring any better. She shouted at them to back up, and in ten minutes they were all back on the roof, now very hot and grumpy.

  Gabe looked furious. “I knew that was a stupid idea!”

  “Well, at least it wasn’t alarmed!” she hissed at him, aware their voices could carry to the guards.

  Ash huffed. “That gives us very few options. We just have to break in, set the alarms off, and get out. We should have contacted Mouse for this.”

  Shadow scowled, not liking to be defeated, and even worse hating to think someone else could do the job better. “No! There has got to be a better way. We needed more time to prepare.”

  “Well, tough,” Gabe said, still grumpy.

  She knew he was worried about Belial. Once again, Gabe’s fears regarding their fathers’ interference in their new lives, after months of feeling like they had gone for good, had resurfaced. All of them were worried, actually. Ash and Niel had fallen into uncharacteristic reflection. At least this theft was a good distraction.

  The soft glide of wings was barely perceptible in the brisk wind that was blowing off the river, and Niel landed next to them, dragging all of them down into a crouch. His blond hair was in a top knot, and his piercing blue eyes swept across them. “What the hell is going on?”

  Gabe glared at him. “We got stuck. And you’re supposed to be watching our backs.”

  “I’m watching you fail! But I have a solution. A pair of guards are heading to the museum’s side door, I presume to patrol inside. I saw them enter that way last night, but hadn’t realised they did it every couple of hours. I suggest you get down there now, let them disable the alarm, and then incapacitate them. North side, centre. Get on with it!” Without another word, he launched back up into the air.

  “I guess that’s option two, then,” Gabe said, stripping to fly again. “Time to go.”

  “Drop me behind them,” Shadow instructed. “I’ll take one, one of you can take the other.”

  Ash nodded. “Deal. But wait until the alarm is disabled.”

  They circled high, spotting the two men that Niel had referred to. They were crossing the lawn along a path that snaked between sculptures, talking to each other and laughing. Gabe swept in low and dropped Shadow, and sticking to the deep shadows beneath the palms, she followed them silently. It would be far easier to just kill them, but Gabe was right. No one needed to die tonight—except maybe Black Cronos, who had forced their hand in all of this.

  The side door wasn’t as imposing as the front, but it had a security camera and a keypad, as well as a huge metal gate in front of a sturdy wooden one. Impatient, and as close as she could get, she watched them unlock everything and swing the door wide. A moment more, and she heard the beep of the alarm.

  With lightning reflexes, she raced across the remaining short distance, knowing her fey glamour kept her concealed. One man was still on the threshold, the other just inside. She crept behind the nearest one, wrapped her arm around his neck, and pulled him backwards before he even realised what was happening. Using the butt of her dagger, she hit him at the precise point required to knock him out instantly.

  While she silently dealt with him, Gabe landed and wrestled the other man backwards and out the door, leaving Ash to step inside and make sure the way remained clear. In seconds it was done, and they dragged the unconscious men inside.

  “In here,” Ash called from a side room. “We can lock them in.”

  After securing them as best as they could with what little they could find, they locked the door, hoping they would remain insensible for a while.

  Once back in the corridor, Gabe said, “I’ll find the camera feed and cut it. You two start searching. I’ll join you soon. We have a couple of hours, at most,” he reasoned. “Can you remember the different areas of the displays? We’ve searched the most obvious, but any ideas?”

  “Let’s just split up,” Shadow said, impatient already. “We have no time to waste!”

  “You’re right, but thinking logically will be quicker,” Ash reasoned. He was looking at her, clearly surprised. “You’re a thief! Surely you’re used to this.”

  “Usually I have more preparation time!” In the Otherworld, her team did extensive research before their heists, and Bloodmoon was the one who tackled all the security issues. She was relying on Ash and Gabe to do that now.

  Ash sighed. “Fine. Let’s just get on with it. The west wing is done, so I’ll take east, Gabe go north, when you’re done. Shadow, south.”

  “Suits me.” She wiggled her phone. “I’ll call.”

  “Do nothing until we’re with you,” Gabe warned her. She knew that he both admired and feared her headstrong approach to life.

  She winked and blew him a kiss. “Later.”

  Zee liked his perch on the farmhouse roof. It gave him an unobstructed view of the countryside.

  First, he focussed on the front of the house. The protective boundary was at its closest point to the house there, extending behind the barn and the outhouses to the end of their short drive. The last time they had been attacked, the soldiers had come at them from all directions. Their courtyard and barn had become a killing zone, and it had taken days to hose away the blood. Now, however, that way appeared clear.

  So, what was Black Cronos’s plan now? To kill them or capture them? They must have reasoned that approaching over the field was the less obvious route. He focussed on the edge of the field and the glowing points of light that showed where their attackers were trying to get in. Another fizz of blue illuminated an additional attempt.

  Zee’s unease settled. This would be fine. Their defences were too good. For several minutes, he watched their attempt to get in, debating whether to fly over them and take them out that way. However, that was pointless if he left the front of the house exposed.

  Nahum and Eli were poised at the edge of the field close to the house, also watching their attempts, no doubt hoping they would retreat.

  And then a loud explosion dispelled that hope. Rock and earth went flying, and a dozen soldiers dressed in black raced in through the breach. Zee raised his crossbow and fired, taking out at least three men before a strange whump drew his attention overhead.

  A helicopter was approaching from the sea, and it was coming straight for them.

  Black Cronos had obviously decided on another strategy to offset their lack of wings.

  Zee couldn’t be in two places at once, and he was loathe to leave his brothers. They were good fighters, but no match for another dozen men. Eli and Nahum were already running to meet them, weapons raised.

  Black Cronos weaved across the field, their progress slow because of the mud, and Zee shot a few more. So far, no one approached the front of the house. But with the helicopter closing in, he had to deal with that imminently. He extended his wings and took to the air.

  The helicopter swept closer, and he made out a couple of figures in the cockpit. He aimed his crossbow and shot, but the helicopter veered to the side, and his shot went wide. A soldier leaned out of the side door and shot at him in return, using one of their strange, silvery weapons that had almost killed Shadow.

  Fortunately, Zee was more manoeuvrable than a helicopter. This was his natural element. He flew low and quick, raised his crossbow, and peppered the helicopter with bolts, once again dodging more fire from above as the helicopter swung wildly over him. He swept around the rear, soaring high above the enemy. Then, his wings behind him, he plummeted like a bird of prey, aiming for the side door.

 

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