“You got sand!” said Law as he unlocked the chains on Azazel and his friends.

Azazel rubbed his chafed wrists. “I’m sorry… what?”

Law slapped him on the back. “You stood up to Metorael, knowing full well who he was! Shit… that takes a lot of sand, Ozz!”

Ember chuckled. “He means balls. You got balls, sire.”

The five of them stood on the battlements of the fortress, under a star-filled sky. Law leaned up against the merlons and flicked his cigar ashes over the side. “I know I told him I’d discipline you, but frankly I’m just impressed.”

I’ve impressed Law?

Azazel’s pride swelled in his chest at the thought. He’d made one of his childhood heroes proud. After all the mistakes he’d made along the way, all the wrong he’d done, he’d finally accomplished something truly good.

Law patted Azazel on the shoulder. “So… you wondering why I’m here?”

“What? Oh… yes,” said Azazel, shaking his head out of the daze. “Why are you, Metorael, and a whole host of angels here? And why do you have zealots and crusaders among you?”

Law withdrew the cigar from his teeth and held it down at his side. The white smoke around his face dissipated, revealing a grim expression upon his brow. “According to three witnesses now, the city of Godsmouth has been taken over by demons.”

“Godsmouth?” Ember intoned. “The biggest adonium mine in Tir Shazelle?”

“The same,” came Law’s foreboding reply. “And the witnesses disagree on what exactly the situation is. One witness says he thinks half the people have been killed and replaced with demons who look just like them. The second witness was convinced that the people in town are the same, they’ve just… turned to the demons’ side. The third says she’s pretty sure the demons are controlling people’s minds somehow.”

“There are demons who can do that,” said Azazel. “And, let’s be honest, what seems more likely? That demons are trying to replace every man, woman, and child in an entire city? That thousands of otherwise god-loyal people suddenly turned to heresy? Or that a demon found a way to control a whole population at once?”

“Darling,” came Neji’s pitying voice, “listen to yourself. Those all sound far-fetched.”

“He’s trying to give the benefit of the doubt,” said the Knight of Thorns. “He wants to err on the side of assuming his subjects are innocent.”

“As do I,” said Law. “For that is justice, as it is written in Seth’s Scriptures. But Burny Boy is a war-monger, and the rules of war are diff’rent.”

Azazel chuckled at Law’s nickname for Metorael, until he remembered all that the nickname implied. “So, he plans to destroy Godsmouth so no other towns fall to corruption?”

“’If you find an enemy stronghold, eradicate it any way you can,’” came Law’s cold reply. “From Montu’s Scriptures. But I’m not here to help him wipe out the city, I’m here because our Archangel sent me to offer an alternative solution.” Law leaned in closer to Azazel, a hint of a smile tugging on the corner of his lips. “I’ll go in, assess the situation, kill the demon in charge, and see if that frees the city from their control. If it does, then there’s no need for a purge.”

Azazel forced an optimistic smile. “I see. And I’m guessing you were planning on doing this alone, as usual?”

“I was,” said Law, his mouth now in a full smirk. “But now I won’t have to. I’ll get your weapons back to ya, and the two of us can go together.”

Azazel’s heart soared. An opportunity to fight beside the angel he’d admired since he was a boy? This warrior without fear or weakness? “Sounds perfect!”

“My dear,” said Neji, “before you go galivanting off into danger, I’m afraid I must object.” The demon-slayer’s fingers crept up Azazel’s back to his shoulder, eliciting a shiver from him. “You two are angels going into a city full of demons. Does it not stand to reason that you’ll stand out?”

Law blew a plume of white smoke in Neji’s direction. “We’ll travel in disguise, of course. It’s not that hard to hide our wings. Not for those of us who only have two, anyway.” As if to prove his point, Law folded his wings under his long coat.

“Oh, you’re adorable, dear.” Neji waved a dismissing hand. “But, truly, just the two of you? Please say you’ll take at least one more on such a dangerous mission.” She leaned in closer to Azazel’s back, until he felt her warm chest pushed against him. Azazel focused his eyes on Law’s face, knowing that his sand-papery jaw would help banish all impure thoughts from his mind. Neji continued, “Allow me to accompany you, darling. Like dear Ozz here, I can sense demons.”

“Take me too!” Ember squeaked. “I have automaton helpers that can—”

“No,” Law barked. “This is a battlefield. We don’t take children into battle, no matter how useful they are.”

“Eff off!” Ember grunted. “I’ve saved his majesty’s ass more times than you have!”

Law folded his arms and slipped the cigar back between his teeth. “No children. End of discussion.”

“But—”

“No means no!”

“Ember,” the Knight of Thorns interjected. He held out his gauntlet between the girl and the grizzled angel, then knelt before her so they were face to face (if one could call the visor a face). “I understand your frustration. When I was a boy, I too was talented. By the age of twelve I was a better swordsman than most of my masters. Even so, they kept me out of the big battles…”

Ember rolled her eyes.

But the Knight of Thorns raised his index finger in her face to grab her attention again. “And they were right. For as good of a swordsman as I was then, I grew far better when I became a man. Had I fought in those earlier battles I might have died, and never gotten to be the master swordsman I am now.”

“Pffft,” came Ember’s sarcastic response. “Blow it outcher ass, Thorny! You know that’s a load of shit.”

Azazel gave Ember a stern look, “Maybe so, but if you use your automatons to help me in a situation this dangerous, they’ll surely be destroyed. This is a real battle this time, Ember. Do you really want to send your little friends into harm’s way?”

Ember twitched, taken aback by Azazel’s words. After a moment, she smiled up at him. “Damn… you have a way with words, sire. Fine! I’ll stay here.”

Azazel turned to the Knight of Thorns. “And you shall stay here as well. Look after Ember. I don’t like the look of some of the crusaders here.”

The Knight of Thorns bowed his head. “As you wish, my liege.”

Law looked over Azazel and Neji. “So, it’ll be the three of us. Good. For now, Ozz, find a place to get some shut-eye. We wake with the cock’s crow.”

A cold, hard corner was the bed for the King of Tir Shazelle that night.

The barracks was full, and the few solitary bedrooms were reserved for the Archangel and others of significant rank. Azazel found solitary sleeping quarters in a cellar below one of the watch-towers. Well, he found quarters. Whether or not they could be considered “sleeping” quarters had yet to be seen.

He lay upon his bedroll in that frigid cellar, clad in only his loin-cloth, with his suit of armor lying beside him. As he tried to sleep, he wrapped his torso in his own wings, so his feathers could keep him warm.

For hours he remained as still as he could, only making minor adjustments to get more comfortable. He held his eyes closed, but every time he was about to slip off into the realm of dreams, the priestess’ screams repeated in his memories, and he felt Metorael’s hand on his face again.

Each time his leg would kick, ready to carry him off into a sprint, away from the imagined danger, and his eyes would fly open, to stare at the brick ceiling above his head once again.

Above him he heard the wooden door creak open, and a chilling breeze snaked down the spiral staircase and into his bedroll.

The stairs moaned under light footsteps as someone, apparently barefoot, descended the spiral staircase toward Azazel.

An assassin?

No, that would be impossible. Wouldn’t it? An assassin couldn’t break into the fortress unnoticed, not with how many angels and crusaders guarded this place. Besides, if an assassin wanted Azazel dead they could just wait until he was on the road again rather than trying to sneak into a fortress this size. Moreover, if an assassin was going to target anyone in this fortress the Archangel Metorael would be a much better target.

Unless Metorael sent the assassin…

A sense of dread gripped Azazel’s heart at the thought. Maybe Metorael still wanted Azazel dead, and he’d sent a nakash to do the job. Azazel picked his head up off the pillow just a little to see the approaching figure through the stairs.

Dressed in black… dark skin… can’t see any wings…

It might have been a nakash, the so-called “Angels of Death,” come to take his life. Or it could even be a dreila. Perhaps one related to the demons he’d killed at the village so long ago.

Azazel reached out and gripped the hilt of his sword.

But the foe that approached him was far more dangerous than any assassin. A peril he could not be rid of with a simple swing of his sword.

When the dark figure reached the bottom of the stairs, what little moonlight peered into the room from the windows above revealed that it was a woman clad in a loose-fitting robe, one which was open in the middle to display her generous cleavage. She was a dark-skinned woman, and when she turned her head the moonlight illuminated her face.

Neji?

As Neji approached his bedroll, her robe parted around her legs, exposing her ebony flesh of her thighs. Azazel’s breathing grew ragged from a mix of fear and desire.

Neji stood over his bedroll, gazing down at him with eyes like a lioness stalking her prey. “Having trouble sleeping, darling?” she whispered.

Azazel said nothing. His mind was too busy trying to figure out how to escape the situation. He’d had his suspicions that Neji had been flirting with him for a while, but until now he couldn’t be certain.

“I can’t sleep either.” Neji folded her arms just under her breasts, pushing them up and together. Azazel’s eyes widened and his heart-beat quickened, before he turned his gaze away.

But the expert hunter was not about to stand for being ignored.

Neji dropped onto the bedroll, her legs straddling Azazel’s hips. “Darling, why don’t we stop pretending for a moment.” Azazel kept his eyes transfixed on the wall to his right. Neji bent down, pushing her breasts against Azazel’s chest, and her lips to his ear. “I’ve seen the way you look at me.”

“You’re imagining things,” Azazel whispered, not daring to lay eyes upon her now, lest he confirm her accusation.

“No, I’m quite keen on this, darling,” whispered Neji. Her hot breath on his ear tickled down his neck, and his whole body shook. Neji sat up again, grabbed Azazel by the chin, and forced him to look up at her. “I know you want to shag me. Frankly, I want that too.”

It took all the willpower Azazel had to keep his eyes transfixed on Neji’s, and not on her soft, inviting bosom. He kept his tone as cold as he could as he responded, “I’m engaged to Lady Calimei.”

“Are you now?” Neji smirked. “Because last I heard she refused your proposal.”

“She…” Azazel wanted to argue, but he gritted his teeth, unable to deny her.

“Sounds to me, you’re free to enjoy any woman you want.” Neji’s hips swiveled on Azazel’s lap. The motion created a pleasant friction there, which elicited from Azazel’s body the demon-slayer’s desired reaction, judging by the triumphant smile on her face.

Azazel gripped Neji’s wrist and forced it away from his chin. “Neji, stop! I love Lady Calimei.”

“Oh, come now, darling.” Neji snickered and slipped her arm out of his hand. “Kings and ladies don’t marry for love, everyone but the most naïve child knows this.”

Azazel’s brow furrowed. “Lady Calimei and I will marry for love.”

Neji took Azazel’s palm and pressed it to her left breast. “Kings have mistresses. Everyone knows this.”

“No,” Azazel said again. He tried to pull his hand free of Neji’s grip, but her fingers tightened around his wrist. Again, he pulled harder, and her hold constricted further.

“Come now, darling,” cooed Neji, “You could die tomorrow. Would you leave Tir Shazelle’s throne without an heir?”

“Stop it!” Azazel used his other hand to pry Neji’s fingers off his wrist, but he found himself once again shocked at her strength.

Or was it his weakness?

He squirmed under her, trying to slip away, but the movement only created more of that titillating friction in both their loins, and caused an ecstatic moan to escape her throat. Azazel reached for his sword again, but somehow during the struggle both it and his seleni bag had been kicked out of reach.

Neji licked her lips. “Your words keep saying no, but your body tells me yes.”

“Get off of me!” Azazel snapped.

Neji released his hand, and Azazel immediately withdrew it from her chest. For a brief moment, he took relief in the fact that she had released him.

Until she untied the belt around her waist and slipped the robe back off her shoulders, baring her supple flesh to his eyes.

Azazel screwed his eyes closed, which only allowed Neji to ambush his mouth and invade it with her tongue. The fleshy muscle covered in buds greedily lapped behind his teeth and under his own tongue. As she probed, he tasted the strong liquor on her breath.

His stomach turning, the young angel raised his hands to Neji’s shoulders to push her away, but she seized both of his wrists and pinned them down to the floor on either side of his head. With a few movements of her hips and legs, she’d kicked off the blanket which separated the two of them. His loin-cloth was his only armor against her attack.

Her left hand released his wrist and trailed down his exposed torso to the hem of his loin-cloth.

With his one free hand, he shoved her shoulder, hoping to send her toppling off.

She hardly moved and responded with a hard smack on his cheek. “Stop acting like a child!”

“Let me go!” he cried out, his vision in his right eye still a colorful blur of stars.

Neji released his other hand so she could cover his mouth, stifling his shouts. “I’m here to make you a man. Be grateful.” With both hands on her shoulders he pushed as hard as he could, but she wouldn’t budge. His wings thrashed about, but his own body-weight crushed them against the floor.

She tore the cloth from his loins, then smacked Azazel on the other cheek. “Just shut up and enjoy it!”