“Tell Vyns they can follow us,” said Asius to Yala.

  They’d just come out of the entrance to the subway and started walking. Asius was leading them toward the room they had been able to identify as the last place Nilia had been before going to the place where she’d captured Diago. The images he’d seen in his mind were quite confusing and he’d had to work hard to be able to pull any kind of meaning from them. He’d seen a very small room in his vision, but he did not expect to find Diago there since it did not look like a place that was suitable for detaining an angel. Still. he hoped to find some kind of clue there that would indicate where they were holding him captive.

  Yala was walking silently behind him. He had refused to speak when Zaedon asked him something about how he communicated with the other Twin. Asius knew how jealous of their closeness he was so he had been prepared to change the topic of conversation, but it hadn’t been necessary since Zaedon hadn’t pressed the issue. He moved next to Lyam, and they passed the time by sharing their impressions of the Minors.

  When they got to the building Asius was looking for, they turned the corner and headed for the main entrance.

  “Hey, you!” a man in a military uniform called to them. He approached them, followed by three of his partners who looked young, inexperienced, and slightly nervous. “Why are you dressed like that? You’re going to freeze.”

  Asius swore under his breath. They could not afford to waste time with Minors, and he wasn’t sure what to say to them to avoid making a scene in the middle of the street. He went blank for a moment, not used to dealing with Minors.

  “We’re going home, sir,” Lyam said cordially. Asius was immensely grateful to him for interceding. He’d spent more time on Earth and so had more of an idea of what to say to not raise suspicions. “We live right near here. Our coats are completely worn out and this is the only thing our friend could offer us to get home.”

  “Well that’s some friend you have,” commented the one who seemed to have the highest rank. The three younger soldiers who were behind him found their chief’s comment quite amusing and demonstrated this with boisterous guffaws. “This area is being investigated. We’re searching for the instigators of that last demonstration. Your city passes—show them to me.”

  The four angels were quiet. Lyam looked over his shoulder for Asius. The chief of the soldiers approached Yala.

  “You, the tall blond guy,” he said authoritatively. “Show me your pass.” Yala was as still as a statue. The soldier grabbed his arm and squeezed it. “Are you deaf?”

  “Don’t touch me again or you’ll regret it,” the angel calmly stated.

  The soldier’s eyes narrowed and he looked enraged. He obviously was not accustomed to being disobeyed, and certainly not to being threatened.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “I’ll teach you some manners,” he growled.

  In an instant, he raised his rifle, drew it back, and thrust the butt of it into Yala’s stomach. The Twin didn’t bat an eye when the weapon ricocheted off his belly. The soldier staggered back from the unexpected contact with this wall of muscles as the rifle fell to the ground. Yala swiftly backhanded him, and the soldier fell down hard on his back. His three young cohorts turned and ran off, terrified.

  “Damn it!” cursed Asius.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It doesn’t matter now. Let’s get out of here before they come back with reinforcements.”

  Asius led them inside the building through a glass door. They went down some trash-strewn steps that creaked beneath the weight of their bodies. They stopped in front of a door at the end of a long hallway. Asius placed his hand on the door and studied it for a moment.

  “This is it,” he announced. He immediately shoved the door and it opened. They went into the windowless room. Four candles were burning in four slender candlesticks. There was a bed, a table, and two folding chairs. A lifeless body lay on the floor, but there was no blood; the only sign of violence were the two long wounds in each of the cadaver’s eyes.

  They heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Asius straightened up, instinctively on guard.

  “It’s Vyns,” Yala reassured him.

  “What happened?” asked Vyns as he came in the door followed by the other Twin. Yala told me something happened with some Minors.”

  “Nothing important,” Lyam clarified.

  Asius turned toward the dead body while Lyam told Vyns the details.

  “These candles are not from this plane,” Zaedon told Asius. “And there’s something else strange about this place. I feel a presence here that I can’t understand. It seems like that of an immortal, but at the same time, it doesn’t.”

  “It’s Raven. He’s been in this room. Nilia must have hidden him here.”

  “I sense it, too,” said Vyns. “Who’s the dead guy?”

  “It’s a demon,” explained Asius. “I can’t identify him, but I have no doubt who killed him. Do you see the wounds in his eyes? What does that tell you?”

  “They’re too small to have been caused by a sword,” reflected Vyns as he studied the body.

  “Exactly. They look more like wounds caused by daggers. By two daggers, I’d venture to guess. And who is incapable of separating herself from her precious daggers?”

  “Nilia!” huffed Vyns, furious. “That psychopath can’t move without killing someone, even if it means taking down someone in her own clan.”

  Asius did not necessarily agree with that conclusion. Nilia was a nasty beast, that much was true, but she didn’t kill without a reason. He didn’t know what had happened in that room but he was sure it had to do with Raven.

  “Look at this, Asius,” said Lyam, handing him a crystal. “I found it hidden next to the bed.”

  “Let’s see what we can get out of this.” He took the crystal and traced a symbol on it with his index finger. Before finishing the symbol he pulled his hand back, as if he’d been pinched. “It’s sealed. We won’t be able to open it.”

  “Let me try,” Zaedon suggested.

  Asius gave him the crystal, surprised he’d asked him for it. Zaedon took it and sketched a symbol like Asius had done. It didn’t work. He tried again. Still nothing.

  Four tries later, the edges of the crystal lit up and an image formed in the middle of it. Everyone but the Twins leaned in over it, watching in amazement.

  “There must be at least two hundred of them,” declared Vyns.

  “There’s no way so many of them got out of the Hole.” Lyam’s eyes were glued to the crystal.

  “The Wave must have completely opened up the gates of Hell.” Zaedon’s eyes were wide with shock. “There’s no other explanation.”

  “Now we know where they have Diago,” Asius stated dryly. “Let’s go rescue him.”

  No one said anything, but they all watched in bewilderment as Asius left the room. Apparently, the fact that they’d seen hundreds of demons where Diago was being held didn’t worry the Counselor.