Biting Cold: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel (CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES SERIES)

a great job of war reporting because they can get in and around so easily.”
    The librarian set the first sheet aside and pulled another from the box. This one had a drawing. The images weren’t very sophisticated, but their subject was clear—a mud and stone city under attack by a storm of blue sparks as big as a cloud. The cloud had already consumed some of the buildings, leaving them in shambles.
    “I’ve seen that before,” I said, thinking of the wall of magic Tate had sent after us in Iowa. “Where was this?”
    “Carthage,” the librarian said. “The city was completely decimated by the Roman army, and they salted the earth afterward so nothing could grow.”
    “They destroyed the city with magic?” Paige asked.
    “That wasn’t the human version of the story,” I said, but looked at the librarian.
    “Do the Romans strike you as folks willing to credit someone else for a victory?”
    He had a point.
    “According to Kantor,” he said, “the Roman armies claimed the victory, but they didn’t exactly fight the battle.”
    I pointed at the document but was careful not to touch. My heart began to race as we moved closer to an answer. “Whoever did the fighting here, Tate can do the same kind of magic. What does Kantor have to say about it?”
    “He says the magic was made by a ‘Dark One.’” The librarian smiled smugly, but he’d earned it. He was good.
    “So what is a ‘Dark One’? Genies? Demigods? Are they related to fairies? Claudia, the queen, seemed to know who Tate was.”
    The librarian didn’t look impressed by my magical auction. “You’d hardly believe me if I told you.”
    “Try me.”
    “They’re called ‘messengers.’ They were tall. Winged. Their magic allowed them to serve the world.”
    “Are you talking about angels?” Paige had leaned forward a little, like she was afraid we’d think the question was crazy.
    “Yeah, but without the religious baggage,” the librarian said. He pulled out another document. This one showed a fight between two creatures—one with the white wings of a traditional angel, one with wings as dark and slick as a bat’s. They were both tall and sinewy with muscle, their bodies draped in flowing cloth, their wings slicing the air like blades. They were locked in battle with each other.
    “There were two kinds of messengers,” the librarian said. “Those who carried peace and bounty, and those who carried out justice.”
    “I assume this story does not have a happy ending?” I asked.
    “You would be correct,” the librarian said. “The messengers of peace did their jobs. They rewarded the good. The messengers of justice did their parts, too. They punished the evil. Together, they kept the world in balance.
    “But the messengers of justice enjoyed the violence a little too much. They decided small missteps by humans were worthy of severe punishment. It wasn’t about justice anymore. It was about ego, about their conceptions of right and wrong. They lost their moral compass.”
    “The Dark Ones?” I guessed.
    “The Dark Ones,” he confirmed. “Angels with brutal swords of righteousness. Humans fought back against them; the Dark Ones went nuclear. They took out entire cities they thought didn’t measure up to their standards. Carthage was just one example. The conflict goes back much, much further.”
    “How far?” Paige asked.
    “Sodom and Gomorrah far.”
    “Why call them ‘Dark Ones’?” Paige asked.
    “According to Kantor, the darker their souls became, the darker their wings became.” He flipped a page again. This drawing showed only a caricature of a creature with dark wings, their size dwarfing the rest of the image. “Because of that, some sups, including your gnomes, referred to them as ‘Dark Ones.’”
    “And other sups?” I wondered.
    He glanced at me. “Humans think of them as demons, although to be a ‘demon’ doesn’t really mean anything. ‘Demon’ is a quality, not a species. To be demonic —those who abandon good and give themselves wholly to the darkness.”
    “So Todd thinks Seth Tate was a Dark One,” Paige said. “Theory or fact?”
    “Tate fought Ethan with a sword, and Paulie was killed with a blade,” I said. “Paulie’s definitely guilty of some transgressions. Manufacturing V , for one. If Seth is a Dark One, he could have had a justice motive. Harsh justice, but still.”
    “Ironic he doesn’t consider himself worthy of that kind of justice,” Paige muttered.