Finale

Dante putting the fallen angel population at risk. If fallen angels were wiped off the face of the Earth, Patch would
go with them. I wasn’t willing to lose Patch, and I’d do whatever it took to make sure his species survived.
    In other words, I was no closer to answers. I was right back at square one, playing both sides of the field. The irony of it all struck me. I was just like Pepper Friberg. The only difference
between me and Pepper was that I
wanted
to take a side. All this sneaking around and lying, and pretending to have allegiances to two opposing sides, was keeping me up at night. Pretty
soon my mind would be consumed with memorizing lies so I wouldn’t get caught in my own elaborate net.
    I heaved a sigh. And double-checked Patch’s freezer. No cartons of ice cream had magically appeared since I’d last checked.

C HAPTER

11
    A T FIVE THE FOLLOWING MORNING MY MATTRESS dipped under the weight of a second body. My eyes sprang open to find Dante
seated at the foot of the bed, wearing a somber expression.
    “Well?” he asked simply.
    I’d spent all of yesterday, into the night, trying to make up my mind, and I’d finally decided on a course of action. Now came the hard part: carrying it out. “Give me five
minutes to get dressed, and I’ll meet you outside.”
    His eyebrows lifted slightly in question, his hope visible. “Does that mean what I think it does?”
    “I’m not out training with fallen angels, am I?” Not exactly a straight answer, and I hoped Dante didn’t press the issue.
    He smiled. “Five minutes it is.”
    “But no more blue stuff,” I said, bringing him to a halt at the door. “Just so we’re clear.”
    “Yesterday’s sample didn’t convince you?” To my dismay, he didn’t look remorseful. If anything, his expression revealed disappointment.
    “I get the feeling it wouldn’t make the FDA’s approved list.”
    “If you change your mind, it’s on the house.”
    I decided to take advantage of the conversation’s direction. “Is Blakely developing any other enhancement drinks? And when do you think he’ll widen his test group?”
    A noncommittal shrug. “I haven’t talked to Blakely in a while.”
    “Really? You’re testing devilcraft for him. And you were both close to Hank. I’m surprised you don’t keep in touch.”
    “You know the saying ‘don’t put all your eggs in one basket’? That’s our strategy. Blakely develops the prototypes in his lab, and someone else delivers them to me.
If something happens to one of us, the other is safe. I don’t know where Blakely is, so if fallen angels grab and torture me, I can’t tell them anything useful. Standard procedure.
We’re starting off with a fifteen-mile run, so make sure you’re well hydrated.”
    “Wait. What about Cheshvan?” I studied his face steadfastly, bracing myself for the worst. I’d lain awake several hours last night, tensely waiting for an outward manifestation
that it had arrived. I’d expected a shift in the air, a current of negative energy sizzling over my skin, or some other supernatural sign. Instead Cheshvan had arrived without so much as a
whisper. And yet, somewhere out there, I was sure thousands of Nephilim were suffering in ways I couldn’t imagine.
    “Nothing,” Dante said grimly.
    “What do you mean nothing?”
    “As far as I know, not one fallen angel possessed their vassal last night.”
    I sat up. “That’s a good thing! Isn’t it?” I added upon seeing Dante’s grave expression.
    He was slow to respond. “I don’t know what it means. But I don’t think it’s good. They wouldn’t hold off without a reason—a very good one,” he added
hesitantly.
    “I don’t understand.”
    “Welcome to the club.”
    “Could it be mental warfare? Do you think they’re trying to unsettle the Nephilim?”
    “I think they know something we don’t.”
    After Dante quietly shut my bedroom door, I dragged on some sweats and mentally stored away this new information. I was dying to get Patch’s take on last night’s unexpected and
anticlimactic start to Cheshvan. Since he was a fallen angel, he’d likely have a more detailed explanation. What did the standoff mean?
    Disappointed not to have an answer, but knowing it was a waste of time to speculate, I turned my focus on what else I’d learned. I felt one infinitesimal step closer to tracking devilcraft
back to its source. Dante said he and Blakely never met in person, and that a middleman acted