"Enough." Raphael was suddenly in front of Elena, blocking her from Michaela's rage.
She wasn't stupid enough to repudiate the gesture. She stayed behind him quite happily, using the time to rearrange her weapons to maximum advantage. Including the small gun she'd found hidden under her pillow. It was identical to the one Vivek had given her. Sara was the real angel, she thought as she moved that gun from an ankle holster to one of the side pockets of her cargos, from where she could fire without having to take it out.
That done, she focused on Raphael's wings. Up close, they were impossibly perfect, impossibly brilliant. She couldn't help but stroke her finger down the part closest to her. Some things were worth the dance with danger.
"We don't need her." Michaela's voice dripped power.
"Yes, we do." Raphael's tone shifted, became an icy flame. "Calm down before you overstep the rules of Guesthood."
Elena wondered what those rules were even as she realized that Raphael had never spoken to her in that tone. Oh, he'd used some pretty harsh stuff, but not this one. Maybe it was reserved for other archangels. If so, they were welcome to it. She had no desire to face him down in that kind of a mood.
"You'd make an enemy out of me over a human?" The word "human" might as well have been "rodent."
"Uram is an archangel in the grip of a killing lust." Raphael's tone hadn't changed-she could almost glimpse the ice particles in the air. "I have no desire to see the world descend into another Dark Age because of your constant need to be the center of attention."
"You think to compare us?" A snide laugh. "Kings have fought and died for me. She is nothing, a man in women's clothing."
Elena was really, really starting to hate Michaela.
"Then why are you wasting our time?"
A short silence, then the unmistakable sound of wings settling. "Release your pet hunter. I'll wait to deal with her after."
"Great." Elena walked out from behind Raphael. "Join the queue."
Michaela folded her arms across her front, plumping up her br**sts. "Do tell. It might be entertaining to see who gets to you first."
"Excuse me if entertaining you isn't at the top of my agenda." Oh, she could be brave now, when she knew Raphael needed her. After . . . well, she had so many other problems, it didn't seem worth the effort to mollify a pissy archangel.
Raphael curved his hand over her hip. Michaela's eyes zeroed in on the touch, the green heated with a spark of unhidden fury. Well, well, wasn't Ms. Angel a fast mover? According to several of the articles she'd found that first night, Michaela and Uram had been hot and heavy for years. But here her lover wasn't yet in his grave and the female archangel had already picked out a replacement.
"Elena,' " Raphael said, and she understood it was a command to behave. "We need to discuss certain aspects of the hunt."
Deciding she was too curious about Uram's descent into vampirehood to waste time antagonizing Michaela, she zipped her lips and waited.
Someone knocked at that moment and a second later, Jeeves entered with a gleaming silver tea and coffee setup, his minions pushing along a cart filled with food, which they placed on a beautiful wooden table by the windows.
"Will that be all, sire?"
"Yes, Montgomery. Make sure we're not disturbed unless it's one of the Seven."
With a nod, Montgomery left, closing the door behind himself. Elena went to the table and chose the only viable seat-at the head, with a bookshelf at her back. Michaela took the other end while Raphael remained standing. Elena wondered if Michaela was waiting to be served. Snorting inwardly at the idea, she poured her own coffee-and, because she was feeling generous, and okay, maybe because she wanted to irritate Michaela-Raphael's as well. Then she put down the carafe.
"So," she said, "tell me what I need to know to hunt this son of a bitch."
Michaela actually hissed. "You'll speak of him with respect. He is an ancient, so old your puny human mind can't imagine all that he's seen and done."
"Did you see what we found in that warehouse?" She put down the coffee, suddenly sick to her stomach. Those images were burned into her brain. Like the ones of that vampire who'd been tortured by the hate group, they would never leave. "He might be an ancient, but he's no longer anything close to sane. Seriously f**ked up would be a better description."
Michaela swiped out a hand, sending her table setting crashing to the floor. "I won't help a human hunt him down like a rabid dog."
"You agreed." Raphael's knife blade of a voice. "Do you recant your vote?"
Tears shimmered in those green eyes. "I loved him."
Elena might've believed the stunning archangel had she not caught that earlier flash of fury. This woman loved nothing and no one but herself.
"Enough to die for him?" Raphael asked with smooth cruelty. "Now he sends you his victims' hearts. After he sates the first surge of bloodlust, it'll be your heart he desires."
Michaela wiped away a tear, making a show of coming to grips with herself. Most men would've fallen for her act hook, line, and sinker. "You're right," she whispered. "Forgive my emotional nature." A deep breath that pushed up her br**sts to full advantage. "Perhaps I should return to Europe."
Elena knew from her research that Michaela held power over most of central Europe, though it was unclear where her boundary ended and Uram's began.
"No." The single word was resolute. "It's clear he followed you here-if you move, so will he. We may not be able to catch his trail again until it's too late."
"He's right," Elena said, wondering why Raphael hadn't shared Uram's fixation with Michaela earlier. Her guess was that it had something to do with the murders-perhaps a hunter could only track an archangel after he killed? But archangels killed many people. "We have a scent now and if he's circling around you, we have a general idea of where to look for him. I need to know the outline of that area-the places where you spend most of your time."
"I'll provide it," Raphael said. "I want you to listen to Michaela's story of how she received his offering and tell us how far Uram has devolved."
Elena looked at him, squinting against the brightness at his back. "How would I know?"
"You've hunted vampires who've devolved."
"Yes, but Uram is no vamp." She really wanted to know why and how in hell an archangel had gone so wrong. Her earlier anger at being told to run this blind rose anew.