“God created humans,” I said. “You want to destroy God.”

  She laughed, and then walked back out into her living room. She opened a closet and reached up onto a shelf, bringing down a small wooden box. “God didn’t create man,” she said. “Not originally. The science makes that plain as day, for anyone who chooses not to be ignorant. No, God came here. He discovered us. He made the angels in our likeness. In their jealousy, they destroyed us. He punished those who did it, and gave us new life. That is the true story of creation. That is why He is the enemy.”

  I knew her words were untrue. I had been touched by Him, and I had felt His goodness. He had changed me, in every way my soul could be changed. “That isn’t how the Divine understand it to be,” I said.

  She opened the box, and took a small ruby from it. It was etched with demonic runes. “I wouldn’t expect that your masters would want you to know the truth. That is why we fight, Rebecca. We are the rightful owners of this world, not you or your kind.” She couldn’t disguise her anger and hatred. “It doesn’t matter now. We need to stop the poison first, and then we can move on.”

  “I didn’t ask to be what I am,” I said. I don’t know why, but I felt like I needed to defend myself.

  “Few enough of us ask to be what we are. That doesn’t change it. Your guilt lies in your progenitors.”

  She took the stone and brought it back into the bedroom. She held the crystal, rubbed it between her thumb and forefinger so that the runes began to glow, and then threw it into the fire on top of the dead man. The crystal erupted in a geyser of hellfire that reduced the body to ash within the few seconds that it burned.

  “Only the most powerful demons can control hellfire,” she said. “But did you know that they make these for their loyal servants, to give them a taste of that power?”

  She turned away from it and went out and over one doorway, into her bathroom. It was a massive room, with a large closet, a shower, and a jacuzzi. The fish tank wound its way through here as well. Small sharks combed the bottom of the tank, while a ray skated the top.

  Elyse pulled off the ninja clothes she had been wearing. Passing a full-length mirror, I could see all of the kit she wore in rings and necklaces and hip chains that she kept hidden from sight. She was also covered in tattoos and scars, some that had been carved and filled like the Eye, others that were inked in demonic runes or seraphim scripture. Naked, I could almost feel the stolen power radiating from her.

  “What does it all do?” I asked.

  “Protection,” she said. “I don’t have anything of my own but the natural strength of my muscle, and the understanding of physics to turn my body into a weapon. Against a vampire, that is usually enough. Against an archfiend or a seraph, I wouldn’t last a blink.”

  She grabbed a thong, a lacy bra, a pair of skinny jeans, a black cami, a leather jacket and calf-high black boots. She left the knife she had used on the vampire in the closet. “We’ve got better tools than that.”

  On her way out, she picked a pair of sunglasses from a nearby shelf, and wrapped a bandana around her bald head to hide the Eye. Passing the mirror again, I could see that nearly all of the tats, scars, and jewelry was hidden from view.

  “You’ve done this before,” I said.

  “I’m Joe’s favorite retriever,” she replied.

  We left the bathroom and her apartment, stepping out into the carpeted hallway and turning right. Elyse walked with confidence, her head up and her jaw out, challenging anyone who might happen by to question her activity. As we reached the corner of the hallway, Joe came around it, leaving her to spin out of his way, grab his arm, and pin it tight against his back before he could react.

  “Ahh, nice move, darling,” he said with a laugh. “I should have been more careful.”

  Elyse leaned up and kissed the back of his neck. “You should father. You never know what might be wandering these halls.”

  She let him go, and he turned around, looking at her with intense brown eyes. “In here? Not likely. The diuscrucis might have been able to pull it off, but they’re gone. Why are you headed for the armory, anyway? Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

  She didn’t hesitate. “There was another changeling outside, a vampire. I was going to get the stone and make sure the area was clear.”

  Joe waved his arm. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell Reza to have Yu do a sweep before he comes in. Get some rest. I have a lead on that girl, Sarah, I want you to check out in the morning.”

  Elyse cocked her head. “Sarah? What kind of lead?” I could tell she was faking. She already knew something about it. But how much?

  “I’ll tell you in the morning, sweetheart. It can wait until then.”

  “Tell me now. Maybe I can do some research ahead of time. It will help me fall asleep.”

  Joe pursed his lips in consideration, and then shook his head. “I know you. You’ll be up all night instead. I need you rested for this one. None of this stuff makes you impervious to fatigue.”

  I could feel her getting angry, her heart beating faster. “Father, I’ll be fine. You know I don’t need much rest.”

  He turned and started walking away. “In the morning. Good night, Elle.”

  “Stubborn pain in the ass,” she said under her breath. “Good night, father.”

  She stood there seething until he had gone, and then made a beeline to the armory. It was around the corner and down a quiet hall, behind a huge steel door that required both fingerprint and retina scans for access. She stuck her finger in the hole and bent her face to the level of the eyeball scanner, and the door clanked and swung inward. She ducked inside and pushed it back closed.

  When she turned around, all of the lights blinked on, revealing a long square room. It was sterile and barren, an empty room with a cold steel floor, ringed with hundreds of cabinets built into the walls. It looked more like a morgue than an armory.

  “Do you know what you came for?” I asked.

  She answered by walking to the back of the room, and reaching up to pull open a higher shelf. Inside was a Roman spatha. She lifted it from the black velvet pad it rested on and showed it to me.

  “What is it made of?”

  Both the hilt and the blade were the same dull, plain, matte black, though the hilt also had black leather wrapped around it for grip. Etched lines ran across the blade itself, a smooth rhythm of letters from opposing alphabets.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “It is believed to have been forged from the ore of a meteorite, by a Roman blacksmith who then went on to gift it to Augustus Caesar. The runes and scripture were added later, when the blade was gifted by Tiberius Caesar to one of his greatest generals, who also happened to be Awake. He convinced an archfiend and a seraph to etch the blade, using another Divine artifact to glamour the weapon, and keep the truth of the work from being known to either side.”

  “I take it he was a Nicht Creidim?”

  “Of course. This blade is one of our most prized possessions, for obvious reasons.”

  A sword that could kill both angels and demons. I could imagine how thankful Landon would be for a weapon like that.

  She turned it over in her hand, showing me a dark stone that was resting in the pommel. She held the blade up and let her pinkie brush against it. Everything but the stone vanished. She put it in her pocket.

  “Where did it go?”

  “Heaven and Hell aren’t the only places out there,” Elyse said. “There are many places close to this one. There are many places to hide things. This particular bauble came from a djinn.”

  She put her hand up into the same shelf one more time. It was above her head, but she seemed to know exactly where everything was placed. She took down a brown leather glove that looked too big for her tiny hands. Stitching of demonic runes twisted and turned all around it. She slipped it on, and it looked as if it shrunk to fit her. “It can glamour anything it touches.”

  She made her way over to another drawer on the south wall, bending down to pull it open. It was filled with all kinds of throwing blades. There were two distinct rows, one for seraph and one for demons. She took a half dozen knives from each side, and tucked them into pockets sewn inside her boots.

  Then she went to a third drawer and removed three more of the red crystals that had exploded into hellfire. “Father is going to be pissed at me for taking these,” she said.

  “More pissed than for taking the sword?”

  She laughed. “Not a chance. Just one more thing to collect.”

  She made her way back to the front, and opened a shelf near the door.

  “One of our newest additions. Landon destroyed most of them, so they are incredibly rare.”

  She reached into the back and lifted a silver chain. As it became taut, it pulled its attachment out and left it swaying in front of her. A crystal amulet filled with a red, viscous smoke. I had seen it before, when Merov had put it around my neck as a birthday present.

  “Why do you have this?” I asked. The amulet was made for demons, not humans.

  “It’s an insurance policy. When a human breaks the crystal and drinks the blood, they’re able to regenerate for a short time. A few hours. At least, that’s what my brother Kelvin said. He’s our top researcher.”

  “You haven’t tried it?”

  She put the chain over her head, and tucked the amulet below her cami. “Like I said, it’s very rare. We can’t go wasting it just to see if we’re right. Kelvin has a lot of experience. I trust his opinion.”

  Seeing one of them again made me uneasy. It was a reminder of a different place, a different time, when I had betrayed Landon after he had been so kind to me, all in my lust for power.

  Elyse checked her other gear one more time, making sure she wasn’t missing anything, and then went back to the door. She had to run her finger and eyes through it to get out too. She backed away as the door swung in.

  Joe was standing behind it.

  “Didn’t I tell you to go to bed?” he asked.

  I could feel Elyse’s heart rate increase, and she lunged forward and threw a heavy punch into her father’s face. He was caught off-guard, and he stumbled backwards, giving her time to pull an ordinary knife I didn’t even know she had and press it to his neck.

  “Elle?” Joe was confused, but not afraid.

  “I’m sorry, father,” she said. “Your way is going to ruin this world. I’m going on my own. Now, tell me what you know about Sarah.”

  Joe shook his head. “You always were stubborn,” he said. “Fine. I’ll tell you.” He let his body relax, and Elyse started to relax with him.

  “No,” I said, all too familiar with this trick.

  Elyse was strong, but she was young. Joe’s shove sent her backwards, where she hit hard against the wall, the knife clattering to the floor. He was on her in an instant, his own fists pummeling her body with sharp blows that threatened to break her ribs.

  “I won’t kill you,” he said, “but you need to learn a little more respect.”

  I didn’t ask her for control. I took it. All at once I became flooded with her memories. It was my second time through them, and so they didn’t cause much pain. Within an instant I could feel my heart beating, and the blood flowing through living veins.

  Joe’s next punch came in, and I angled my forearm to push it aside, into the solid wall. I had always been fast, and in a body like Elyse’s, I was even faster. I caught the blow from the other side and turned my arms, wrapping his up and twisting it at the elbow until it threatened to break. He grunted and wrinkled his forehead in pain and anger.

  “I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” he said. He backed up a step and threw a foot. I let go of his arm and sidestepped, and then moving in and smacking him hard in the chest, knocking the wind out of him.

  “Sarah,” I said. I could feel Elyse observing, but there was nothing she could do. She could see spirits, but she could only protect herself from the outside.

  “Elle, the Box has the power to destroy all of the Divine. We can put an end to them, a total end.” He coughed and choked between the words, slumping down against the wall, accepting his defeat. He held his arm across his chest, keeping weight off it.

  “We’ll become the Divine,” I said, knowing what she would say. “It’s already started happening. That isn’t why we’re here.”

  “We’ll have the power of the Divine,” he replied. “Isn’t that what we’ve always been after? Isn’t that why we collect all of their artifacts? You can’t deny that they are superior to us in every way.”

  I stopped and stood there, not sure how to respond.

  “The vampire changelings, they don’t need to drink human blood to survive. They feel the compulsion because of the way their genes change, but it can be controlled. In exchange they get increased stamina, strength, longevity, intellect. Who wouldn’t want that?”

  “They aren’t human,” I said, my voice little more than a whisper. “Isn’t that enough?” Humans were inferior, but there was something to that inferiority that was appealing. So few resources to work with, and yet they still managed to thrive.

  “No,” he said. “It isn’t.”

  I bent down and picked up the knife. “Tell me what you know about Sarah,” I said. In the past it would have been a Command, but my Commands didn’t work anymore.

  “Fine,” he said. “I’ll tell you because I think you can get to her, but keep an eye on your back Elle. Once you have the Box, I’ll do whatever it takes to get it back from you.”

  “You’re welcome to try,” I said. I stood over him, holding the knife and waiting.

  “New York. She’s in New York. Montauk. She’s living like a mortal, and keeping her signature disguised. The only reason we found her is because she slipped up in her web browsing, of all things. Our sister in the NSA caught an encoded and encrypted message on a Tor message forum. She’s been in communication with Ulnyx, the Great Were that the diuscrucis befriended.”

  That was an interesting development. I had assumed the Were would catch up to her. What I hadn’t considered is that they would work together. “You’re sure it’s her?”

  He nodded. “We don’t have a precise location, but the IP address block was Montauk. You want to find her, be my guest. I’ll deal with your insolence after I get the Box.”

  For just a moment, the idea to kill him crossed my mind. Reyka would have done it and not cared. Reyka was dead, lost in the power of God’s Blade. Joe was defenseless, unarmed, and not threatening. Besides, he was Elyse’s problem.

  “I’ll deal with you after I get the Box,” I said. I leaned in and kissed his cheek. I figured it was what Elyse would have done. Then I turned and walked away.

  He didn’t try to stop me.

  Chapter 6

  It was a long flight from Kyoto to New York. We touched down nearly twenty eight hours after the confrontation with Joe. I had given Elyse control back for some of the trip, so that we could discuss all of the various tools, markings, and scars she was wearing. I had her memories, but trying to sift through them for details was a dull waste of time. It was easier to just have her explain what she was capable of.

  Quite a lot, it seemed. She wasn’t invincible, and she certainly couldn’t withstand damage the way a Divine could, but she had a laundry list of tricks up her sleeve that would come in handy more than once, I was sure. She had one trick that was naturally born into her, because she was fully mortal; Divine couldn’t See her.

  It made it a lot easier to get into and out of the airports, where there were always Divine stationed to keep an eye on one another. It was true I could have managed it on my own in my ghost form, but Elyse’s body fit me like a tailored glove, her lithe strength and balance superior to any of the forms I had taken before. She was the best shell I could have wanted, and I was grateful to have succeeded on that front.

  We traveled light, carrying a single backpack filled with the items that wouldn’t make it through security, most of which were sharp. I had used the glove on them before we’d gone through, so while the machines had shown the truth of our cargo, the humans watching them had no idea. All they’d seen were a bunch of metal figurines. I was a collector, after all.

  Once we landed, I wandered through the parking garage for a while, until I spotted a valet parking a red Porsche that looked like it wanted to be driven. I asked Him for forgiveness as I approached the attendant, a young man with an acne scarred face and straw hair.

  “Excuse me,” I said, trying to sound sexy instead of threatening. I could see him shake, clearly startled, before he turned around.

  “Can I help you?” he asked. His face turned red, and his eyes made their way up and down Elyse’s body. I couldn’t blame him, even the most pious seraph would have trouble ignoring it.

  “Yes. I think I locked my keys in my car. Can you help me?” I pointed down the row towards a random car.

  “Uh… Yeah, okay.” He looked down at the fob for the Porsche, searching for the button to lock the doors.

  That was when I hit him in the temple. Hard, but not too hard. He crumpled to the ground like a bag of meat. I lifted him under the shoulders and leaned him up against the car next to us.

  “My apologies,” I said, taking the keys from his hand and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. He was out cold, but maybe he could feel it in his subconscious.

  Sliding behind the wheel, I felt a sense of exhilaration to be able to drive again. It hadn’t been that long in terms of time, but it felt like forever. I started the car and whipped it backwards, then peeled out through the parking lot. I almost careened right into an oncoming Mercedes, having to slam on the brakes and twist the wheel to avoid it. I had forgotten that I was as mortal, and nobody was going to move out of the way for me.

  The other thing I had forgotten, because I had never kept a shell too long, was that my body was human, and needed to rest. I couldn’t keep going indefinitely without breaking down, and after an hour on the road that found me still on the west end of Long Island, I knew I needed to stop to sleep.