Sirian was easily the angel most hated by the demons. His name had come up in innumerable conversations during the period when the Fallen were locked up in the Hole, and they had fantasized his death millions of times. The reason for this was simple; they considered him to be one of the principal reasons why they’d lost the War.

  Now the demons were looking at each other, not knowing how to react. After devoting an infinite amount of time to dreaming about meeting up with him again, the fact that he had shown up there by himself, unarmed, and of his own accord was as disconcerting to them as the Wave and the disappearance of the Favored One combined.

  Stil threw a warning glance at Nilia, who was observing Sirian with a lethal glimmer in her eyes. Then he and Elnis approached the angel and pulled him to his feet, each one gently holding one arm.

  “Time is flying, traitor,” said Stil. “We only have a few hours left. If you truly can open the portal, you’d better do it right now. If you wait much longer it won’t matter whether you can do it or not. Am I making myself clear?”

  “Perfectly.” His voice was returning to normal as he was catching his breath after having the wind knocked out of him. “I will open it, but first we have to clarify a few points. And don’t worry, I’m aware of how much time you have. Do you think I would have handed myself over to you on a silver platter if I didn’t know you were in it up to your necks and could use my assistance?”

  “Watch what you say,” warned Elnis. “You cannot imagine how much we would love to properly thank you for your collaboration during the War. I can’t speak for everyone else, but if it were up to me, I wouldn’t mind cancelling our plans and torturing you for all eternity.”

  “I had nothing to do with the War,” replied Sirian. “It wasn’t my fault they defeated you.”

  “You are a liar and a coward!” screamed Tanon. “We had a deal that we would rebel, and at the last minute you changed your mind. You and the rest of your cowards left us on our own, seriously outnumbered. That’s why we lost. I know most of what happened was your fault. And I suppose you’re still the leader of that pathetic group of limp-wristed pacifists.”

  “We never agreed to going to war,” defended Sirian. “Killing one another is not the solution.”

  “You are nothing but a bunch of cowards,” said Stil. “You didn’t care for the way the Elder was handling things any more than we did. You wanted to overthrow him—don’t pretend you didn’t. You simply lacked the courage to confront the Creator, and you abandoned us at the last minute.”

  “We didn’t agree on how to go about it,” replied Sirian. “There were other ways to resolve our differences. Talking, for example. Now there’s a concept that doesn’t suit you much, right? It’s better to kill anyone who doesn’t agree with you. At any rate, we remained neutral, we didn’t fight against you.”

  Tanon shook his head.

  “That doesn’t excuse you abandoning us. We were counting on you, you bunch of damn cowards. And you know it’s stupid to even suggest we should have talked it out. We tried, but the Elder doesn’t listen to reason. His decisions are indisputable; don’t you remember that?”

  “I know. We were punished, too.”

  “I’m sure you were, you poor things,” said Tanon mockingly. “They locked you up in the Nest. But you don’t know what Hell is like. How many of you neutrals died while you were locked up? Not a single one, right? And they didn’t take away your ability to cure yourselves, either; you still have Healers. So don’t you dare compare our punishments, Sirian. You cannot possibly imagine what we’ve been through.”

  “We all did what we thought was right. You chose War; we chose dialogue. We were after the same end. So don’t blame me for your problems. I don’t blame you for mine, and I can assure you I have plenty. We’re the least numerous clan and are equally hated by both sides.”

  “That’s how it usually goes for cowards. You never know when you have to give your all for a cause—to risk your life if necessary” Tanon walked up to Sirian. “You make me sick. We rose up against the Creator Himself, against God, because we thought it was the right thing to do. You won’t find anyone weak among the Fallen. We don’t fear anyone, and our determination to finish what we start is unbreakable. We will establish a new order.”

  Every demon in the room unfolded his or her wings in a show of support. Sirian looked at them expressionlessly.

  “Nice speech,” he boldly stated. “I see you haven’t changed. What destiny have you reserved for the Minors if you should triumph?”

  “Worried about them, eh?” said Tanon scornfully. “You were always like a true angel in that respect. At least they clearly have the guts to fight for their ideals. The Minors don’t concern us; they are irrelevant in this conflict. But we don’t share your vision of giving them total freedom. They are stupid and selfish and incapable of understanding the far-reaching consequences of their actions. If they are permitted to follow their whims, they’ll end up turning Earth into an uninhabitable wasteland. They must be controlled. But that can wait.”

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  “I see. So you’ve thought it all out. How lucky for them that you should take them over, since you know everything.”

  “Watch your tone, Sirian. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your situation has changed in the last few minutes. I suggest you start explaining how you found us.”

  “I’ve been tracking you for quite some time. I was spying on you when you opened up this room and engraved the activation rune on the floor.”

  “How did you escape from the Nest?”

  “The same as you, I suppose. The Wave allowed us to break out of our prison and we fled before they could react.”

  “Why were you spying on us?”

  “We are still neutral if that’s what you’re worried about.” A look of disgust flashed across Tanon’s face, making it clear he wasn’t worried in the least. “We don’t want to interfere in your wars, but I do need your help.”

  “I’m sure we’d be thrilled to offer it to you. And what might we do for you?”

  “I know it’s the last thing you’d want to do, but we can help each other. I need to go to the Nest. In exchange, I can open the portal for you.”

  “If you can open the portal, why haven’t you gone to another of the ones that already exist? You don’t need us to go to the Nest.”

  “That’s true, but there’s something else. Not all the neutrals were able to escape. My intention is to return and rescue the ones who are still imprisoned there.”

  “And you want to do it while we’re attacking, so the angels are otherwise occupied and you can easily slip in and get your friends. Totally your style. We fight and the neutrals sneak away. You still need to clarify for me how it’s possible that we can’t open the portal, but you can.”

  “It’s actually quite simple. When considering the possibility of going back to the Nest on our own, we discovered there’s a blockade that only affects the demons. I can activate the seal because I’m an angel.”

  “There’s something about your story that doesn’t fit, Sirian. Angels are not that cautious. They aren’t afraid of us. They know they defeated us the first time and that we don’t have Healers anymore, not to mention their absolute confidence in their impregnable Citadel. Besides, if they had set that blockade in place, we’d know about it. We have ways of finding things out.”

  “I don’t know how you get your information, but if you didn’t know that detail it’s probably because it isn’t a decision approved by the Council. It’s the work of one or several acting on their own. Apparently someone considers you a threat.”

  “Asius!” Stil immediately concluded. “I’m sure it was that stinking redhead. From what we know, he’s the most intuitive.”

  “Don’t go anywhere. We’ll be back in a minute,” Tanon murmured to Sirian. They left him there leaning against the wall, still weakened from the terrible blow Tanon had brought down on him. He held the gaze of the demons still standing there with a surprising amount of dignity considering he was surrounded by his worst enemies.

  “No one is to touch the coward,” warned Tanon loudly.

  The Barons gathered together again in the center of the room.

  “We should make him open the portal and then kill him,” suggested Urkast as soon as everyone was present.

  “Or put him in the Hole,” added Elnis. “I know how to make sure that despicable creature suffers for at least a couple of millennia.”

  “We need him,” said Stil. We have no choice. And he knows it. That’s why he showed up here. There’s not much time left.”

  “I was thinking maybe . . .” began Elnis, “if the blockade affects the demons, we could use a Minor to place the seal. That way we could open the portal and rid ourselves of Sirian.”

  They all pondered that option for a moment.

  “We don’t have time,” countered Stil. “We’d have to go to London to get a Minor we could make do it. And besides, we aren’t sure the blockade doesn’t affect them, too. We’d waste time and Sirian might not be so anxious to collaborate then. Don’t underestimate him. He’s neither stupid nor suicidal. If he’s here it’s because he knows we don’t have much room to maneuver.”

  “It’s not smart to kill him,” hissed Dast. “We need him alive. We don’t know anything about the neutrals, and they might hold some interesting surprises. Seeing the importance that Sirian has suddenly acquired, it occurs to me it might have been a mistake on our part to have ignored them. Who knows what they’re scheming? There are less of them than of anyone else, though, so they might be planning to try to balance things out. Just the same, I wouldn’t cast him off just yet; we can use him later to lead us to the rest of the neutrals.”

  “Very clever, Dast, as always.” Stil looked at him, intrigued. “I agree with you.”

  “All right,” conceded Tanon. “But I do not intend to take any risks with him. I will make sure we have him under control, and if he tries anything, I’ll kill him.”

  They returned to the wall where Sirian was waiting. He looked like he was recovering from the blow Tanon had dealt him.

  “It appears we will once again be collaborating,” stated Tanon, his voice deep and serious. “You will open the portal for us and we will let you rescue the other outcasts from your group. Do we have a deal?”

  “We do. I hope this will resolve our differences. So, to reiterate: I’m going to save you from having to give up on your plan—since we all know how little time you have left for the portal to work—and, in exchange, you’ll let us out of the Nest.”

  “Exactly. Quite a simple arrangement.”

  “Fine. I’ll go get the seal,” announced Sirian.

  “Not so fast.” Tanon pushed Sirian back against the wall and placed his hand so it was spread over Sirian’s face. “Just in case you have other ideas, let me remind you one more time who you’re playing with.” A red light shone from the Baron’s hand, covering Sirian’s head. Just as he let out a moan, the light faded away and Tanon pulled back his hand. Sirian’s face was covered in deep furrows of burnt skin that formed a rune. “That was simply to mark you. I want to know where you are at all times, since it’s been such a long time since we’ve seen each other. Any problem with that?”

  Sirian didn’t answer. He slowly advanced toward the symbol, tracing over the rune on his face with his fingers. He picked up the seal under the weight of the demons’ heavy stares, his violet eyes looking to Tanon for the go-ahead. The Baron nodded.

  Sirian set the seal in place.

  The stone sank into the floor and turned until the activation rune was completed.

  “Everyone to your positions!” exclaimed Tanon. “It’s time to go home!”