CHAPTER 3

DEEP WITHIN the inner circles of the spirit realm sat the Guardian Council’s glittering Judgment Hall, where aged and true warriors, chosen for their wisdom and zeal, presided over all of Logos’s forces. Twelve in number and robed in white, the Leader’s spirit forms were blinding in their intensity and intimidating in their countenances.

York had peeked into the hallowed hall once, but he’d never sought entry.

Whether it was because he felt unworthy or because he harbored anger over certain judgments was up for wager. The bottom line was, he didn’t trust himself in their presence, and Sven wisely didn’t, either. Sven’s extraordinary leadership and diplomacy always led him to face the Guardian Council over dire issues, of which there had been many of late—a situation that left York always waiting, an intolerable state of being.

“It is a wonder you have not paced a rut down to Heldon’s icy realms by now,” Sirius said, frowning at him as he passed.

York wanted to do something rash to ruffle the Pyrathian’s calm, but his mind was too full of worry to think of anything. “How can you just stand there, leaning upon a saintly pillar with your arms crossed, as if Sven isn’t in the Council right now, facing complete ruin?”

“Logic demands patience at this point,” Sirius said. “No wonder Logos gave Pyrathians the gift of fire and not Blood Hunters. Your tempers run so hot you would have incinerated the universe millennia ago.

York swung on his heel and glared at Sirius. “By Logos. What does ‘logic demands patience’ mean? You, Sven, and I seem to be the only ones who realize the situation upon the mortal ground is dire.”

“True, but are we right in taking the actions we have?” Sirius sighed, adding to the heaviness of his doubt. “Given the results, I find myself questioning it all with a much needed dose of logic and a great deal less emotion, which is how warriors are supposed to assess battle situations. I did not do that. I acted out of impatience, knowing my choices might not be what the Council would have wanted. I placed Ramos within the mortal realm, correct?”

York adamantly shook his head. “You’re not shouldering that alone. We were in agreement. Given what happened to split Navarre’s spirit after he was injured, Aragon taking him to the mortal realm and me bringing him back, there was no other way to save him. And we both thought he’d be able to help Jared and Aragon in battling Cinatas and the demons.”

“But was it the wisest thing to do? Are we so involved in the situation that we have lost perspective? We both know the Council would have chosen to let Ramos die rather than for things to be as they are now. A warrior trapped in the mortal realm. And what of Ramos’s feelings? You tell me. Would he have preferred death to weakness and blindness? As a warrior, what choice would you make?”

York cursed and turned away, yet could not deny the truth. “Death,” he whispered.

“As would I,” said Sirius. “So my impatience to act without the Council has led Ramos to a fate we both consider to be worse than death. It was my impatience that caused everything to happen in the first place. I led my unit in the hunt for Aragon when the Council called for his capture and execution.”

“It was Draysius’s blow that injured Ramos.”

“Draysius was acting under my orders.”

“Which you have more than made up for since.”

“There are some things that can never be atoned for or made right,” Sirius said.

York paused and gave Sirius a second look. More than Ramos’s situation burdened the warrior, but before he could ask, Sven returned.

York’s breath caught and held at his leader’s grave expression.

“York, you and Flynn are to join another Blood Hunter unit. The Council is allowing you to choose which and you may continue to mentor Flynn for now as they assess the situation. Sirius, you may return and remain leader of your Pyrathian unit.”

After a long pause, York narrowed his eyes at Sven. “And?” he demanded. “Besides the fact that our band of five Blood Hunters have been reduced to only you and me, why are just Flynn and I joining another unit? What about you?”

Sven exhaled sharply. “I am relieved of duty until the Council can review my decisions since taking over leadership of our unit.”

“By Logos!” Sirius’s cry of outrage resounded louder than York’s cry of disbelief. Sven was the greatest leader he’d had the privilege to serve under. Sven never failed to make a difference in the ongoing battle against Heldon.

“It’s because I left Ramos upon the mortal ground, isn’t it?” Sirius demanded.

“Ramos was my warrior and ultimately my responsibility. But the answer to your question is no. It is all of the choices I have made since taking over leadership of the unit. We’ve lost three of our five members. I’ve continually made controversial decisions that require Logos’s intervention. And they are very displeased that I went above them to Logos’s right hand, Elohim, the Guardian of Hosts, seeking special dispensation for our attack against the evil overtaking Twilight.”

“A very successful attack,” added York angrily. “Did they not consider that? What right do they have to punish you for exercising a privilege that all Shadowmen hold?” He punched the air with his fist. jG “Any one of us is allowed to seek Logos, Elohim, or his left hand, El Shaddai, provided we have a worthy cause and the courage to do so.”

Sven sighed and set his hand upon York’s shoulder. “Anger and resentment will not gain us wisdom and power, my brother. The Council rightly fears that I have been too focused on Jared and Aragon’s battle upon the mortal ground. That I must distance myself and regain Logos’s broader, eternal perspective in the fight against Heldon and the Fallen Army.”

“I have thought the same,” Sirius whispered, his voice taut with anguish.

York could tell there was a great deal Sirius was not revealing, but he was too angry to speak of it now. York shook his head and backed away from Sven and Sirius before he said something he’d regret, yet he couldn’t hold his tongue completely. “You’re giving up the fight. You’re letting old rules and ways creep in and cloud the real issue here. We’ve all seen the balance between good and evil shift upon the mortal ground. We know that evil is gaining at an alarming rate. Jared and Aragon realized this, as well. They felt the call and they’ve found a way to fight against it. You can’t abandon them now just because twelve warriors who haven’t seen the situation and haven’t been in battle for millennia are afraid to do something different or are resentful that you had the courage to act.”

“York!” Sven cried, clearly shocked by what York said. “Listen—”

“No. Both of you have suddenly become too burdened with some private guilt to even realize what is happening.” Biting his tongue before he could say more, York turned and left. He didn’t even know where he was going. He just knew he had to escape the disappointment that Sven and Sirius would even begin to doubt what they had done to help in the fight. He also realized he had to face the crushing fact that he might be the only one left in the spirit realm who would help Jared and Aragon stand against the overwhelming darkness moving across the mortal ground.

Twilight, Tennessee..

Deputy Nick Sinclair felt as if the tornado that had hit the town last night had picked him up and had yet to spew him out. It had been a whirlwind twenty-four hours and the ride was just beginning, he thought as he studied the fax that had just come through.

“We have a lead on Angela and Ramos,” he said, sticking his head into the command center for the tornado relief efforts. The town had been lucky, no deaths from the twister despite major structural damage, but he and the rest of the team fighting against the murderous Dr. Cinatas, his Milan Vampires, and their corrupt medical corporation, Sno-Med, had taken a hard blow.

“Thank God,” Dr. Annette Batista said as she moved his way, carrying a large box. Her response was amplified by cries of relief from the other two people in the room, Erin Morgan and eleven-year-old Megan Linton.

The people he needed most—Sheriff Sam Sheridan and the ex–Blood Hunters Jared and Aragon, along with Marissa’s close friend Stefanie Batista, weren’t there.

“Sam and Emerald aren’t back yet?” he asked.

“Five minutes away. They just called. Jared and Aragon will be here by then, too.”

“Good. We’ll have a meeting then. I want our asses at the airport in an hour. Where’s Stef?”

“She went to the chapel. She said she needed to be alone for a little bit.” Annette’s dark eyes were rightly filled with worry. When she was rescued last week with Angela from Valdez’s hellhole, Stefanie had been close to the point of starvation, having lost her will to live. She’d made her first steps to recovery over the past few days and now everyone feared she’d relapse. She hadn’t eaten much at all today, despite working many hours to help with the tornado cleanup. She’d only drunk a milk shake at the Burger Queen Delight when everyone else had had the works, from cheeseburgers to banana splits.

Nick touched Annette’s arm. “This news should help Stef. A private jet left Nashville about two this morning for a municipal airport outside of Belize City. We have a starting place and an approximate time with which to trace Herrera. I’ll go tell her.” He started to turn for the chapel then noticed again the box Annette held. “Do you need me to carry that somewhere for you?”

Annette shot him a wry look. “Actually, no, but you can bear witness to Jared and Aragon that the delivery did arrive. It’s the ten pounds of truffles Jared ordered. I intercepted the UPS man. Erin and I are going to take charge of the chocolate.”

Nick’s brows lifted as he recalled Jared’s plan to extract undisclosed favors from Erin in exchange for the mail-order truffles. A half smile tugged at Nick’s mouth, the bit of humor amid the turmoil making things a little more bearable. “This is going to be interesting.”

“Very,” said Annette. “I’m on my way to hide them.”

“Don’t forget about me,” added Megan Linton. “I’m sticking with Erin and Dr. Nette. Us girls will rule with the truffles and the men will just have to drool.”

“What about me, squirt?” Nick asked. “Surely you’re not putting me in with the other men. I’m special.” A breath of relief whispered over his heart at the spark of humor in Megan’s green eyes. Last night’s kidnapping by vampires and Cinatas’s heinous plan to make Megan his child bride hadn’t set the spunky girl back for long. She’d gotten up first thing today wanting to help those affected by the tornado. Nick was still getting used to the idea that she and her mother were part angel.

Megan winced. “Sorry, but you’ll have to drool, too, or it wouldn’t be fair.”

“Ah, Meggie, you’re breaking me heart,” Nick said. “You have to at least save one peanut butter truffle for me.”“Maybe,” she said. Then her gaze turned serious. “Bring Risa back safe and I’ll give them all to you.” Tears filled her eyes. “And, and watch out for...I don’t know. Just be very careful, okay?”

Erin set her hand on Megan’s shoulder. “Hon, have you had another vision, about Angela? About any of us going to find her?”

Megan shook her head and drew a shuddering breath. “Nothing that I can really see. Just a lot of darkness and pain.”

Nick walked over and squatted down in front of Megan. “It’s going to be all right. We’re going to find Angela and Ramos and bring them back here.” He chucked her on the chin with his knuckle. “And we’ll split the peanut butter truffles when I get back, okay?”

Megan nodded. Then before he could stand up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. He hugged her back, knowing all the way to the core of his soul that whatever it took to send Cinatas and his minions back to hell for good, he’d do it or die trying.

They were all tired and stressed beyond what any human should have to bear. They’d been in this battle against evil for weeks now, and had made some progress, but last night had been the most harrowing altercation yet. Cinatas had taken over the town of Twilight, killing Nick’s fellow deputy, John Michaels, and then kidnapping the women who’d been at the ranger camp. When Nick and the others had intervened, Erin had been minutes away from being beheaded and Megan was about to become Cinatas’s child bride. Vampires wanted not only to sink their fangs into angel blood, but to get their hands on angel powers and twist them for the damned. Unfortunately, Herrera had absconded with Angela and Ramos while the team was saving Erin and Megan. The team had been searching everywhere for clues to where Herrera had gone. They’d logically assumed it would be back to Belize, but had waited a few hours for proof and an exact starting point for their search. They didn’t have time for wild-goose chases.

Nick left the room and headed for the chapel. He braced himself for the sight of Stephanie’s haunted eyes and pale, gaunt face, so different from the woman he’d known six months ago.

He knew better than anyone else how hard last night’s events had hit Stefanie. A few days ago, she’d confided in him just a fraction of what she’d been through as a prisoner of Luis Vasquez with Herrera as her “personal” guard. The sexual abuse she’d suffered from both men had grabbed Nick by the guts and had him all twisted up inside.

He’d spent the last few hours before dawn this morning, sitting in the dark with Stefanie, listening and waiting for her to voice the few things she could. He could tell that she had lost all hope of ever being safe from the monsters who’d hurt her. And he really worried that her fear for what Angela could be suffering already would send her over the edge of sanity—especially if they couldn’t find Angela.

Last night had made a complicated situation between them even more complex. Nick hurt for Stefanie so badly he couldn’t see straight. He had to help her. He had to find Angela. He also needed to figure out exactly what in the hell he felt for Stefanie apart from his empathy. She was special; he’d known it when he’d seduced her six months ago. But a one-night stand didn’t a relationship make. Then again he was no longer the footloose and fancy-free player he’d been then, either. Her kidnapping and this battle against evil had ripped apart how he saw the world, and the pieces hadn’t yet settled back into place.

The light spilling through the open door of the sanctuary had a blue cast to it. Part of the left wall and its stained- glass windows had been destroyed by the tornado; relief workers had covered the gap with blue plastic tarps. The path of the twister had taken a hit-or-miss route all the way through the town, then up the valley to completely decimate the top of Hades Mountain. The Falls Resort, Cinatas’s stronghold of demons and vampires, had been leveled. And the mushrooming black cloud of demonic power that had hovered over Twilight for the past two weeks was gone. The citizens who’d been under the spell of black magic were back to normal and didn’t remember anything odd at all.

Though they’d seen the tornado suck up some of the Red Demons, Nick was way too jaded to think for a minute that Cinatas and his flock had been completely wiped out, not with the way they could disappear in the blink of an eye.

Nick crossed the threshold into the sanctuary and came to an abrupt halt, feeling as if somebody had slapped a pair of thumbscrews on him and cranked ’em down. Stefanie was up at the front of the church, but she wasn’t alone. Staff Sergeant Jaymes Bond was with her and they were talking in hushed tones.

Not cool. Not good. Staff Sergeant Bond was the woman whose pretty neck and ass he’d saved twice now—first from a lynching, then from being iced by Red Demons. She was also the woman he’d kissed in the midst of that hell. If she and Stefanie got to talking about him, he’d be screwed. Before he could duck, turn around, or do anything smart, Bond looked up at him. Then Stefanie with her haunted eyes did, too.

Biting the bullet, he headed down the aisle, his palms sweating. He held the fax up for Stefanie to see, telling her about the middle-of-the-night flight to Belize.

“I knew he’d take her back to the jungle.” Stefanie shuddered. “Back to Corazón de Rojo.”

Nick shook his head. “Not unless they’re camping out in ashes. Sam checked that out first thing. The prisoners we freed from there burned it to the ground. And what didn’t burn they destroyed beyond recognition. So far we get zero feedback on where Herrera disappeared to after we got you out of that hellhole.”

“Stefanie was just telling me about Dr. Cinatas and her kidnapping. I can’t believe what the bastards are getting away with. Concentration camps? Deadly experimental treatments? My God.”

Nick blinked with surprise that Stefanie had told even that much to someone else—especially someone she barely knew.

Stefanie shut her eyes. “Angela could be lost in that jungle forever.”

“Nope,” Nick said. “Ain’t going to happen. We’re going to find her. The helo is sitting on go. As soon as I talk to Jared and Aragon, our asses can be at the airport and on my pal’s jet inside of an hour.”

Stefanie opened her eyes and the determination in them slammed full force into Nick. He’d been expecting last night’s hopeless devastation. “I’m coming with you,” she said.

Stunned, Nick grappled for words, his insides more twisted up than ever before. “Stef...you can’t. That’s insane. Not even taking into account what happened to you there, you’re not well enough to go hiking through the jungle.”

“I’m going,” she said firmly, with more strength and resolve than he’d ever heard from her before.

“You can’t deny me justice,” she continued. “It wasn’t your body and soul they raped. I worked all day helping here with the tornado cleanup. I regaining some strength. I can and I will do this or I will die trying. It’s the only way I can get my life back. It’s the only way I’ll ever be able to live with what happened.”

Bond reached out and touched Stefanie’s shoulder. “I’m coming with you. You asked about my Special Forces experience and how you could get comparable training. I’m going to give it to you.”

Nick wasn’t exactly sure how, but his rescue mission had just gone to hell in a hand basket in less than sixty seconds. Not only was he screwed, but the men and the women of the team were so going to kill him—because he supported Stefanie’s request completely.