Demon Forged

encountered Anaria since her escape, but Alejandro knew they all dreaded the inevitable meeting. Though Anaria might harbor no ill will toward the Guardians, they had to fight the nephilim—and Anaria, as their leader, was a powerful, deadly opponent.
    Through the prophecy, had Belial’s demons anticipated Anaria’s return and allied with the nosferatu to strengthen their numbers against the nephilim? Or had there been another purpose?
    With a low sound of frustration, Lilith shook her head. “I don’t know what the fuck it means. When Michael gets in again, and Jake reports back on the church, we’ll work out how we’ll go forward with this info. Until then—” She lifted two folders from her desk, and Alejandro vanished them into his cache. “Rumors of human sacrifice outside London, and a bloodsucker community in Buenos Aires that we need to talk to, because their heads have just been killed.”
    Which might be just the usual vampire politics, similar to what had ousted Deacon. Or it might be a sign that the nephilim were planning another massacre—and might lead the Guardians to Anaria.
    Alejandro looked up as the lights in the room flickered, which meant that Jake had just teleported into the warehouse. Good. After Lilith gave the young Guardian his assignment in Rome, Jake could take Alejandro to his. It was still midday in Argentina, so Alejandro wouldn’t find any vampires awake for several more hours. He’d go to London first.
    Lilith frowned, picked up her cell phone, and sighed. When she began typing a message on the keypad, Alejandro took that as a dismissal.
    She caught him at the door. “Alejandro, hold on.” When he turned, she said, “We’ve got a potential problem: Jake’s here with Alice, and Khavi’s following them.”
    Khavi was a Guardian and one of the grigori. She was also Zakril’s sister and had hidden with her brother after Michael had sentenced Anaria to death. With her Gift of foresight, she’d been the source of the prophecy, but even that powerful Gift hadn’t helped her avoid being trapped in Hell by Belial, or prevented her husband, Aaron, from being killed by the demon. She’d lived a solitary existence in Hell for almost as long as Anaria had been in her sarcophagus. Though Alejandro would never make the mistake of thinking Khavi was harmless, she’d returned to Caelum with a gratitude that was genuine after Michael had brought her back from Hell.
    Khavi had visited SI a few times without incident, so Alejandro didn’t see the problem. “And?”
    “Can you run interference?”
    Interference . . . between Khavi and Irena? Christ. Had nothing he said made a difference? Irena hated demons, and everything they’d created—and had openly declared her distrust of the grigori. But that didn’t mean she’d kill Khavi without a good reason.
    Lilith held up her hand, as if to head off his anger. “Honestly, I’m with Irena on this one—I’m not sure we can trust that Khavi’s on our side. But like I said: We can’t lose anyone, and I’d rather have Irena’s temper directed at you. Michael can take it without hitting back. We don’t know enough about Khavi yet.”
    He couldn’t argue that. “You must be thankful that neither one is often here.”
    She looked surprised. “You’re wrong. I prefer it when people are as direct as Irena is. You know where you stand. And in her place, I’d question Michael’s decision to put me in charge, too.” Lilith shrugged. “But Michael’s an idiot, so what can you do?”
    “You could, perhaps, refrain from calling the Doyen an idiot,” he pointed out. And with a slight bow, he left.

    Irena knew she was making the others nervous. Alice’s mouth had taken on a thin, pinched look; her eyes were sharp and wary. Drifter had aimed for casual by hooking his thumbs into his suspenders, but the only reason he’d ever strive to look at ease was when he needed to cover up his tension. Jake chewed on a toothpick and held onto a smile, but he’d edged closer to Alice—to teleport her away, if he needed to.
    And Khavi knew it, too. The grigori sometimes appeared confused, but her eyes were always clear. She pushed, just to see reactions, to find weaknesses. Irena knew this. Knew she was being tested.
    It didn’t matter if she failed. Demons played games; Irena did not.
    But she should have realized that when Jake and Alice teleported into the warehouse’s central hub, it meant that Alice’s language lesson with