Demon Night

length, and couldn’t come up with an explanation that satisfied either of them. “Assuming that a nephil could just take over a human’s body like that, possession would deny the human’s free will. That’s too big a contradiction, even for Lucifer.”
    She frowned again as Sir Pup got to his feet, his noses scenting the air.
    The odor of sulfur and rot hit Ethan just before he heard Michael’s melodic voice. “The humans whose bodies they possessed were dead.”
    Ethan only had a second to meet the Doyen’s gaze, note the black wings and bronzed skin, his white toga stained gray with soot and dirt. Then Charlie slipped through the door and wordlessly shook her head; she hadn’t been able to reach Jane.
    Her eyes widened when she saw Michael, and her nose wrinkled.
    Lilith didn’t hide her revulsion. “I guess that answers where you’ve been, Michael. You stink. And the smell is disturbing my puppy; he doesn’t have fond memories of Hell.”
    Michael sighed. “Tell me, Lilith—who does?” He looked at Charlie as she moved to Ethan’s side, his obsidian eyes narrowing. The familiar touch of his healing Gift slid gently through the room. “Were you forced into the transformation?”
    “No,” she rasped. Her cool hand found Ethan’s, and he squeezed it reassuringly. With his opposite hand, he quickly signed the details of her transformation, the feeding, and weight loss to Michael before she added, “I wanted— want —to live.”
    Michael shook his head, and his toga disappeared, immediately replaced by a linen tunic and long pants. His wings vanished.
    “It is not enough to simply want to live. Even those forced want to live,” he said, and Charlie’s breath caught, her fingers tightening painfully on Ethan’s. “You must want to live as a vampire . It is a small difference, but one that your body and your will recognizes when the change tries to take hold.”
    “It’s getting easier to be one.” Her hands, her voice were trembling.
    “Then you will continue getting better,” Michael said. “But because of your initial reluctance, it will be some time before the transformation completely sets.”
    “I’ve always been slow,” Charlie said with a rough laugh, and tears clung to her lashes before spilling to her cheeks.
    Well, hell. Ethan stared down at her, trying to figure the source of her tears—her expression didn’t show the fear or relief he’d have expected. She stared at Michael, her face open and seeking as if she wanted to reach out to him, her psychic scent projecting shimmering fingers of heat and light.
    Awe and wonder.
    She added in a whisper, “Do you sing?”
    “I have not in a very long time.” A smile softened the line of the Doyen’s mouth, and now that her question made Ethan listen for it, he heard the distinct tones running through the complicated harmony of Michael’s voice. “And if we are very fortunate, you will never hear me do so.”

CHAPTER 26
    Charlie eventually had to block out some of Michael’s incredible voice, force herself not to pay attention to the intricate, shifting melody that made up his words, as if each sound contained a song. And once she listened to what he was saying rather than just his voice, she had to rush to catch up.
    That the nephilim had been created by Lucifer was clear, but Michael didn’t explain how it was done. Charlie thought his evasion of their questions left Castleford and Lilith frustrated, although it was difficult to tell—and Charlie only received the impression because Lilith was stroking her dog’s heads a little more than she had been. Some of that frustration eased when Michael confirmed that the nephilim had attempted to take Lucifer’s throne, but that the creatures were imprisoned—and that he’d teleported throughout Hell for the last few days, searching for the nephilim’s prison.
    “For what purpose?” Castleford asked.
    “To see how many had been released.” Michael stood with his arms crossed over his chest, a huge painting of Caelum forming a backdrop behind him. Charlie didn’t know how he stood so straight and still without appearing uncomfortable, but he managed it. “The nephilim are methodical and powerful—and I began to suspect them responsible for slaughtering the vampires after we visited Washington, D.C. I did not wish it to be true. And yet, given what Ethan has told us, it must be.”
    Michael glanced over at Ethan, and Charlie fought not to shudder. Like