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

“But even if that explains Seth,” Paige said, “what about the other Seth?”
    “I have no idea. So, to summarize, Seth was an angry angel, Mallory tried to conjure evil, and Seth touched the book at the same time she triggered the spell. That somehow doubled him up, so now we have two identical angry angels flying around Chicago.”
    The very idea made me want to run away screaming . . . or hide under my bed for a few weeks.
    “That would appear to be the case,” Paige said.
    I glanced back at the librarian. “Were there a lot of messengers? If he’s one of them, can we narrow down which one?”
    “There aren’t many. Some you’ve heard of: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael.”
    “The archangels,” I said.
    “An angel by any other name,” the librarian said. He flipped back to the first page he’d showed us, the one with the Latin text. “There are three Dark Ones listed: Uriel, Dominic, and Azrael.”
    “Are there any drawings that show their faces in any detail?”
    “Not that I’m aware of.”
    Every question we managed to answer about Tate seemed only to spawn four or five more.
    But the real question was how much time we’d have to figure it all out.
    The sun was nearly up before I returned to Ethan’s apartments. I’d have much rather returned to my room, but we’d made too much progress not to give him a report. Trouble didn’t care if he was being an ass; in fact, the Tates probably would have been thrilled to hear it.
    I found him in a leather armchair in his sitting room, one leg crossed over the other, his head on the back of the chair, his eyes closed.
    He looked exhausted, and I could sympathize. It had been a long night—too full by half of magic books, pretentious Brits, and murder, and not nearly full enough of satisfying answers. But we had at least one more than we’d had a few hours ago, so I stood in front of him at attention and gave him a precise report.
    “So Tate is a Dark One. An angel of retribution who couldn’t control his more violent urges.”
    “That seems to be the case. Do you know anything else about the ‘Dark Ones’ myth? Does it sound familiar to you?”
    “You mean because of my age?”
    Angry or not, I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to tease him. “Well, you were alive during the big bang, weren’t you?”
    He rolled his eyes. “I know the myths of the fallen angels. Those who didn’t support the right camp and ended up cast aside at a decidedly downward angle. I wasn’t aware they were alleged to have caused the destruction at Carthage. It hardly seems possible the Romans would have been able to destroy all the evidence they weren’t the true victors.”
    “You came back from the dead,” I pointed out. “You really aren’t in a position to argue what is and isn’t possible.”
    “A fair point.”
    “How are you feeling?” I asked him.
    “She’s there,” he said, rubbing his temples. “There’s a dull buzzing. But I’ve pushed it back into the corner of my brain dedicated to football and video games.”
    “In other words, rarely used.”
    “Just so.”
    “Is it wrong of me to say this could have been avoided if only the Order had paid better attention to Mallory?”
    “Not wrong at all,” he murmured. “Unfortunate that it’s come to this, but not wrong. They have failed all of us, and Mallory, in a multitude of ways. And they appear to be offering no assistance in cleaning up the mess they so tidily made.”
    We were quiet for a moment, watching each other. Ethan seemed to be at peace, but it seemed likely his mind was roiling with possibilities, probabilities, strategies, outcomes. I just wasn’t sure how many of those involved me.
    I decided to save myself the rejection, even if it was only temporary. “Well, I should get back to my room. Dawn will be here soon.”
    “I want to pretend all is well in the world,” he said. “I want to pretend our House will be safe tomorrow and secure in the bosom of the GP. But that’s not the world around us.”
    I think he meant it as an apology, but I wasn’t in the mood. I wanted sleep and a warm body to curl against, and I wasn’t going to get it.
    “The world is what it is,” I said. “We can only battle it back.”
    As dawn approached, I slipped back into my room and my own bed, the sheets cool and undisturbed. I tried to quiet my mind, and I tried not to worry about what tomorrow might bring, or the fact that the Tates were still out there, undoubtedly