Grex was in front of me in an instant; his arm hanging limp and blood pouring as from a river, but his voice was clear and steady.

“We need to go, Mistress. Right now.”

The angel's eyes narrowed. “I see... you're one of them. Brilliant camouflage, you had me fooled.”

My eyes were squinting before I realized what that meant, the sword just missed my nose as Grex tackled me, throwing me back out of range. So fast!

Grex didn't stop, flying up and away with powerful wing beats, fighting against my drag effortlessly. I curled my own wings up as much as I could to reduce the drag instinctively, even as I objected.

“Wait, what about...”

Even mouthing the words face into the wind, Grex heard me. His own response was easy to pick out. “They will be fine! They are not the target here, you are.”

The angel's voice was even clearer than Grex's. “To where do you run, fallen? You should know there is no escape.”

He was right behind us, preparing the swing that would sever both of Grex's wings from his body. I reached and sped up time for us both, the invisible railroad spike that jammed into my brain a pretty good clue that I might be overdoing it.

But we were still flying, so it must have worked. Grex did something and explosions sounded off behind us; I was focusing on the fact that even cracking my eyes open was painful.

“I need you to try something, Mistress. Can you focus for me, please?”

Grex's voice was surprisingly gentle, even as he juked a painfully intense beam of light that stopped in front of us and burst with all the fury of the sun. Even the very breath I took burned.

“Wh-what do you need me to do?” I swear I could see smoke rising from me, my mouth included. My voice was rough enough for it.

“I need you to focus on your apartment, your space. You need to take us there.” Grex stopped all forward momentum, juking again; the sword of doom cut the air past us and was gone. There was too much light, I couldn't see anything.

Something cupped my left ear gently, and some of the pressure in my head eased; Grex had just removed an earring.

No, he had removed more than one. Power flooded me, and I focused it on home. I needed to be there, right now. I knew what Grex was asking me to do... he was asking me to teleport us; to bridge the space between us and my apartment with magic. Normally it could only be done by ritual, and only by the strongest summoners; I didn't know how risky it would be for me, but it was better than staying here; that angel was crazy.

Was it even an angel? It wasn't acting like one.

Questions could be asked if I survived, and those questions were apparently long overdue. I focused, trying to ignore the sudden movements, glaring lights, and loud sounds. Grex should really be the one doing this, but I was pretty sure I wouldn't last ten seconds against our adversary.

The power so recently freed went somewhere, but there wasn't any noticeable change in my surroundings: no pop in air pressure or the other tells that usually signified a proper teleportation.

Grex sighed. “Of course. I apologize, Mistress, I should not have asked so much of you.”

I managed to crack an eye open enough to take in the scenery. We were still there, flying for our lives, though we were doing it much faster than before. I guess my power went down the oft-traveled path of least resistance?

Grex dodged another beam of light, this one actually slow enough to fully dodge. Apparently, our friend back there didn't have the same kind of insulation against time's passage that we did, but he wasn't frozen like everything else was. He was slow, but not slow enough that I'd risk getting close.

“Give me the abomination, fallen, and I'll spare your existence.” Yeah, those words were pretty clear. A little slow, but easy enough to understand.

If Grex was a fallen, then I was the abomination? I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that. Grex didn't either, from the sound of his response: “I'm afraid I can't do as you request, lapdog. Why don't you come a bit closer, and we can discuss it?”

I knew he was bluffing; he didn't want that maniac anywhere near me.

Unfortunately, the maniac was faster than we were, and it was only my power keeping us ahead of him.

Grex leaned into my ear and whispered. “Mistress, My lady, I need you to try again. I am not strong enough to defeat this enemy while burdened with your safety. Focus on the runes on the wall above your bed, and will us there. Let desire be your guide.”

I tried focusing again, ignoring the sudden barrel roll I found myself in. I felt something, and then Grex did something with the power I'd gathered again, and we plopped onto my comfy bed in an explosion of feathers and blood.

Grex was on top of me, leaking and groaning. It took some effort to roll him off, but he didn't complain.

His right wing was sliced clean through; it had come about four inches away from a clean amputation. His side had been clipped too, but in a spot that on a human would be above the kidney. I had no idea if it was serious for him or not. He was reacting mostly like a human would, rapid breathing, sweat, clammy skin... but his eyes were clear.

His side was still burning.

“Grex, is there anything I can do for you?”

“No. I yet exist and shall be fine soon enough,” He sighed, fingering the hole in his suit. “I shall have to start carrying my own sword, it seems.”

Good. “Well, if you aren't dying, perhaps you can answer some questions for me.”

He sighed again, louder this time. “As you command, my mistress.”

Guess I should lead off with the big one. “What was that, that attacked us last? Was it an angel?”

Grex nodded. I got up to get the bandages. He was still bleeding, and whether he wanted them or not, he was getting them. Besides, he was soaking my bed! I wasn't cleaning that up. “It was indeed an angel, one of the heavenly host, here to solve all the problems humanity might face and keep the wheels started by God turning smoothly.”

Wow, that was some pretty heavy sarcasm. “Alright, so why do you get to be a fallen, and I get to be an abomination?”

“Because I am an angel that fell, and you are not.”

Well, that was clear. I couldn't see any way to twist that around.

“Alright, so what is an angel doing in our neck of the woods other than trying to kill us, and are we safe here from him?”

“We are. This apartment is protected from most beings which could come to do you harm; I saw to it personally. Angels are chief among those.”

I motioned for Grex to take his coat off and started bandaging, thinking. That made no sense at all. Humanity hadn't even seen an angel; we only had the word of the dwindling priesthoods of the various Christian churches that they existed at all. The entire reason the Summoners had come to be was because prayers were not answered when the demons were loosed and began ravaging the world.

“Okay, I get why an angel would be trying to kill you... but why me?”

Grex smirked, and winced a little when I pulled the bandages tight. Perhaps tighter than I'd first intended. “Not I, my dear Lady, but you. If I had been alone, or faced Verborax alone, there would have been no problem. The angel only intervened for you.”

That made no sense. “But why?”

Grex sighed as I started binding his wing. “He likely mistook you as an angel, embroiled in a fight between two demons. Angels do help each other, and from a certain distance, you resemble one of them. It is mainly your beautiful speckled wings.”

Grex ran fingers through my plumage; right, I really should put those up. I guess from distance they appeared white or nearly so, just barely tinted gray here and there. Kind of like a dove's wings and unlike the inky black the Eriynes all seemed to have. I wonder if Grex would give me a straight answer on that.

“So the angel had bad eyes, came in to help and aced our demon. Then when he got low enough to see he made a mistake, he ignored you and went after me alone, which is when you stepped in. What I want to know, is why?”

Grex stood up; his wounds didn't seem to pain him at all. “You're a summoner, my lady. You willingly signed a contract on your soul to summon demons from Hell. The demons themselves are being punished for their own sins; no angel will target them unless attacked. You, however, are breaking the law. God's law. And the full force of the heavenly host will come for you now that they know of your existence. I should have stayed and fought.”

This was big. Very big. All this time the summoners had been on the side of the angels using the devil's tools, or so we thought. And it turned out the angel's side was closer to that of the devil's all along? This was big... huge even. World shattering. All that dedication, all that sacrifice for the home team, picking up the slack against forces that humanity was not equipped to handle – and it was betrayed from the start.

No, wait. I couldn't afford to just take Grex's word for this. Grex was a demon, and not to be trusted. No matter how much his behavior screamed genuine to me. Perhaps because it did.

But the 'angel' had hurt Grex badly, even if Grex wasn't showing all the signs. That wasn't something that could be ignored. The surprise Grex had displayed in seeing both the demon who attacked us and later the angel, well that probably wasn't feigned either.

“Are we in danger here? Can the angel find us?” I followed Grex into the kitchen. Where was he even going?

He started fumbling with the teapot one handed, the other still clutching his side. He filled it and dragged out two cups. Making tea at a time like this?

“No. He can find us through more normal means, but he cannot simply attack us here, in your stronghold. It is unlikely he will use those normal detection methods, those are beneath the heavenly host, and so you are safe so long as we replace your earrings. He and others can track you by your power quite easily.”

Well, at least now I knew why he insisted on the earrings. If only I didn't feel like putting those things back on right now would kill me; I was out of gas as it was.

“So he won't be waiting at the police station for me?”

Grex shook his head, pouring two cups of tea and sitting one in front of me before easing into a chair with the other. “No. However, if he sees you enter it, he won't hesitate to follow you and attack at an opportune moment. He will not be concerned overmuch about casualties, either. Anyone deemed in his way will die.”

“So what do we do?”

Grex grimaced around his tea. “Hope he was on another assignment, and moves on. An alternative would be to ambush and kill him.”

That didn't bear thinking about. “I'm not going to ambush and kill one of the good guys, Grex. Even if he is an asshole.”

Grex barked a laugh, spattering me and the table with blood. I wasn't cleaning that up, either. “Good guy? Do you know how many summoners he has killed? Angels kill summoners as a matter of course.”

My blood ran cold. “Wait, you mean it wasn't just the wings? Angels are hunting summoners? Why do we never see them, then?”

This was big news, if true. Grex gave me a look. “Because the summoners invariably die. Even the best of us find fighting angels directly difficult, and no witnesses mean no sightings.”

Well, if the demons were banished on the death of the summoner, or killed before... yeah it could make sense, but still, you'd think someone would know.

Wait. “You mean the recent attacks? The dead summoners with no apparent or demon or terrorist causes, some of those may be angel intervention?”

Grex nodded. “I'd dare to say most, actually. Very few demons get the chance to kill summoners.”

Well, at least he didn't insult my intelligence by saying they wouldn't.

“Would an angel make a kill of theirs look like it wasn't, in order to blame someone else?” That seemed slightly underhanded to me.

Grex shook his head. “No, but in many cases they don't have to. A sword wound looks much like another sword wound, for example. Light that burns to ash is no different from fire that burns to ash. Such kills are easy to mistake if one does not know or admit the existence of the true cause. After all, before demons gained ready access to this world, how many humans admitted their existence?”

He had a point.

The police needed to know. The Summoner Corps needed to know. The public at large needed to know.

“I know what you are thinking, my lady. And I wish you to reconsider; no good will come from this, and the angels have allies on Earth. You will paint a large target upon your back.”

My phone chose that moment to ring. I pulled it out, amazed it had managed to survive in my robe pocket all this time; it was tougher than it looked. My radio hadn't fared nearly as well and was half melted. I looked and the caller ID showed it was from Sarah.

I had expected this call sooner. I hit accept and her voice came out so loud I could have had the phone in another room and still heard it. “Snow, are you alright!?!?”

“I'm fine, or fine-ish. Are you alright? How's the team?” I could hear why she had to yell, from the sirens and crackling, I'd guess the fires weren't out yet. A glance at the time proved why... it had been less than a minute since I'd been there, engaging Verborax.

“The team's fine,” she answered. What happened after you aced the demon? Where did you go, and why aren't you here?!?”

Great, she thought I deserted. I guess I can't blame her, she didn't know. “I didn't kill the demon, something else did. I had to run to draw it away, too many civilians were at risk. Well, that and Grex was wounded; we made it chase us.”

Having a demon chase you instead of civilians was a time-honored and accepted tactic, especially if it made the demon forego massive property damage. Usually, it was a hard plan to follow because any demon summoned was on a mission. Never mind that what chased me wasn't actually a demon.

Baiting an angel was easier than my normal job; all I had to do was show up.

“Fine, whatever, where are you now?”

I didn't really want to answer that, but it'd be obvious the moment I stepped outside the door. “My apartment.”

I could hear the pause on the other end. “....What?”

“I'm at my apartment. It was the only place I could think of that would be safe. The thing that aced the demon was very strong. Were there any witnesses at the scene?” It would be nice to have some corroboration.

“No, everyone who was still around and looking just saw a light show and heard the screams. Look, the office is closer; you going to be able to meet us there?”

My car was at the office. I turned to Grex, to see him stitching up his wing. I remembered my own and began the process of drawing them back into my back. “No, I don't think I have transportation.” My team was on foot too; how would they be getting back?

“Roger. I'll send someone to come get you. Sarah out.”

Great. Just great. “Grex, more tea.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The wait wasn't long; a mere fifteen minutes later a familiar knock sounded on the door. “Hey! Hello, Snow! Open up please!”

I was closer so I opened it for once. Karen took a step in, mouth open to say something, and stopped, looking at Grex and I could only assume all the blood. I pulled her in and shut the door, so the wards would reactivate.

Karen finally settled on “What happened to you two?”

No sooner had I opened my mouth to tell her than she raised a hand; “No, wait, don't tell me. The debrief is downtown. Seems somehow there are a dozen dead and two buildings that are a complete write-off, or near enough that we will be paying for new ones out of discretionary.”

“Fine. But Grex is staying here, he's hurt.”

I wasn't much better. Sure, I was physically fine, but I was so tired that feeling dead would be a step up; I had literally used everything I had. Add to that I felt queasy, as if my stomach were upset or I had acid reflux, but all over instead of localized. I recognized the sensation, from the last time I'd had a power imbalance, the night Cords and I went to the museum. I hadn't drank this time, though.

I knew Grex wasn't about to let me out without and escort, but that escort didn't have to be him. “Abnex, Sarex, veni huc!”

The twins poofed into existence instantly with a hint of sulfur and a swirl of smoke, looking around wildly. “Abnex, come help me.”

He arrived just in time, getting an arm around me just as my knees started to give. “Run into a bit of trouble, my lady?”

Sarex was pointing at Grex and laughing silently. His eyebrow was raised and posture was slouched, but his eyes were tight. “Sarex, take point. Keep a good look out.”

“What are we facing, my lady?” Abnex asked.

“Grex said he was an angel, and he looked the part to me.”

The twins both drew weapons, their faces grim and bloodless. Sarex drew her wings in tight and all but marched down the hall without a word. Abnex managed to keep me upright even though I was pretty much just leaning on him by this point, and kept up with his sister. Karen followed behind us all, her own athame out. I could feel the skepticism weighing down her gaze; I wished she'd focus behind us and not on my back, but I couldn't really order her to since she outranked me.

“Abnex, can you two handle an angel if one attacks?”

Abnex nodded, his face away from mine. “Depending on the rank of it, yes. We can handle your average run of the mill angel.”

He cut off with an almost audible snap; there was something he wasn't saying about this. He'd also readily admitted the existence of angels. No doubt if I ask why I wasn't told before, it would be because I never asked; that's how these things usually went.

Karen was rolling her eyes by the time we reached the parking lot, but her hand was wrapped around her athame and Thor was out. They were both watching the twins more than their surroundings, but I'd take what I could get.

Abnex deposited me in the back seat with his sister and took the front. Remembering the beams of light I could understand the precaution. I stretched out so I couldn't readily be seen from the air or ground and tried not to shake; the reaction was getting worse.

Karen got in, looking back at us. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” I told her. “I'm taking no chances. What I fought was powerful, and I'm in no shape for round two.”

It wasn't until Sarex started stroking my hair that I realized my head as in her lap. Which seemed a very bad place for it, but it was too late to move.

It seemed Karen was taking that much seriously, at least, because Thor didn't get in the back; he must be flying overhead keeping a lookout. A great idea as long as he didn't stay too close and lead the angel to us.

The angel was probably long gone by now, cursing my name with his buddies on his cloud, or whatever. I really wanted to believe that.

We pulled into the parking garage without incident, the sunlight cutting out into gloom was actually a bit of a relief. Abnex helped me out; my knees had recovered, mostly.

Karen stopped in front of me with a frown. “You sure you're up for this? You don't look well at all.”

“We're already here, let's just get this done.”

She stopped me with a hand on my arm; I managed to stop Abnex from cutting her in half, but she didn't even spare him a glance. “Snow, this isn't an attack or an inquisition. It's a debrief, and it can wait.”

I waved her on ahead; I hoped she wasn't picking up more than my fear and irritation. “No, it can't, that's the problem. People have to be warned.”

With a shrug Karen walked, taking the lead. Thor took up the rear, landing just behind Sarex with a muted thump. He was too casual to have seen anything.

It wasn't until we were in the office that I relaxed. This was the second safest spot in the city. I got a few stares, but the rumor mill hadn't had time to travel far just yet. We all piled into a conference room; there were too many of us to fit in the Chief's office, and I wasn't dismissing anyone. Karen dismissed Thor, and we waited.

It took another twenty minutes for my team to arrive, most of it spent in complete silence.

Then they all piled in, with Sarah and Judge taking seats on either side of me. No one sat on the other side of the table.

A moment later and the Chief walked in; he had to have been watching or had someone watch. He sat across from us, and Karen took the seat next to his with an awkward smile.

A moment after that, the Captain came in, big and boisterous. “And what have we here? A team willing to set entire new standards in collateral damage. Well done, well done!”

Well, that didn't sound accusatory at all. His smile was wide enough, and the tone was joking, but I wasn't convinced.

Sarah was. “All part of the plan sir, just before we ask for raises. Clearly, those requests will be granted without complaint, right?”

“Oh absolutely, Sarah. I'll just crap the money out, and we'll be golden, right?”

“Enough,” The Chief cut the banter off by growling that single word. “What happened an hour ago?”

He was looking at me, so I started things off. “We, that is Sarah's team and I, responded to a request for backup on a demon call downtown, somewhere around 5th and Kennedy. I'm unsure of the exact location. Before we reached the first scene we were attacked by a demon on Kennedy. Having no choice, we engaged.”

And we hadn't had one. The only proper choice when a demon attack was so public was to take it down as fast as possible to minimize casualties. It was even in the handbook I'd slept through reading, months ago.

The Chief looked from me to Sarah. Like me, she took that as her cue. “I ordered everyone out of the transport, and Snow covered us with her power and demon. We spread out and took up covered positions; the demon was on the roof, utilizing a very hot flame indiscriminately.”

Huh, I didn't even know Sarah knew that word; I'd never have guessed. I refocused as Sarah continued.

“Our transport was hit directly after and exploded. Snow and her demon engaged the enemy directly, and the collateral rose, as a result, finally culminating in the death of the target that attacked us. I did not see how, but it was sudden, so it must have been a kill-shot of some magnitude. It was that shot which later brought the Scorpio office complex down.”

“A clean collapse?” The chief asked. What, the office complex the angel's sword hit collapsed? Just from that?

“Very clean sir; straight down. Luckily we had time to evacuate.” Sarah answered. A small relief, at least. I knew I'd be looking up how many dead and injured later.

The Chief looked at me again, so my turn again. “Right. We were engaged against the demon, whose name is Verborax, by the way, and my power was working but kind of useless. Grex went in to fight him hand to hand, and we were just starting to make some headway when another player showed up. A large well-built guy sporting white wings and a sword that cut through both the demon we were fighting and the building as if it wasn't there. He asked me some confusing questions and then attacked, leveling the facade of the building behind us.”

“Wait, what sort of questions?” At least he didn't call me on my almost blatant lie; Verborax had the advantage in our fight. Maybe he felt it wasn't worth mentioning.

I really didn't want to admit them all, but I had to give him and the Captain something. I also needed to omit the fact that I was flying at the time. “One question was, 'what was I doing', and another was 'where was my sword'. I don't remember the rest. I got the impression he thought he knew me, but I'd never even seen him before, let alone met him.”

The Captain clued into what I was saying immediately; The Chief didn't seem to get it. “Did the other demon give a name?”

“No sir, the other player did not give a name; he just called me an abomination and attacked. I used that perceived hatred to lead him away. Also, I don't think he was a demon; Grex identified him as an angel.”

I was about to continue on, but the Chief held up a hand. “No such thing, summoner Numens. Angels do not exist, only demons. What you saw was likely a demon that looked the part, much like your own summon, Grex.”

That guy had looked nothing like Grex, not really; he had lacked the vaguely predatory air and slightly off body lines Grex pulled off without thinking. He had looked more like an Adonis, a vision of stern perfection that was somehow uncompromising. That and he used a light that was so bright it was painful as a weapon; that was literally the opposite of most of demon-kind, who couldn't stand bright light.

I didn't really want to argue, even though the Chief was wrong. “If you say so, sir. However, I will hazard a guess and say he's the one that's been taking shots at the demons we've been finding dead. He is certainly strong enough for that.”

The chief pondered, hand under his chin in a classic thinking pose. “Just the demons? Not our own?”

No way; it didn't fit what I knew of the guy. He had confronted Verborax and myself directly when a potshot would have killed us both. “No sir; if he was lining up on ours, we'd have fatalities by now.”

“Agreed. So... he chased you to your apartment? Does he know where our summoners live now?”

If he didn't five minutes with a phone book would show him. “No sir, I managed to lose him before then.”

They didn't need to know how I did that, either. Teleportation was one of the holy grails of the corps; it existed but was so rare it might as well be legend.

“Any other observations you can recall now?”

“No sir.”

“Alright, you're dismissed. I'll expect your report on my desk tomorrow morning.”

I sighed. There was a huge drawback for being one of the few sane ones. “Yes, sir.”

I got out of there as they turned to - or on - Sarah again. No doubt they would expect her to account for each bullet spent in the fight.

The rest of my team was still downstairs, getting looked at by a nurse. Minor wounds, and I was thankful that was all they were. I should probably get my burns looked at; I hadn't even seen them yet, and they were tender, just patches of skin that were slightly more red than my standard. Of course, they still stood out since my standard was bleach white, but they didn't look too bad.

“Snow!”

I turned, Cords was coming out of the dispatch room. He all but ran to me, stopping with an audible screech of rubber soles on the floor.

He grabbed my hand and pushed back my hood, staring, focusing silently on my burns. His eyes tightened and his teeth ground together.

“That bad? I was just going to get them checked. They don't hurt all that much, anymore.”

Maybe I'd need to wear the hood all the time after all.

He put that short-lived worry to bed. “No, no... they aren't bad. You can just tell if you know what to look for... but I'd heard you had gotten burned. I just didn't know how serious.”

He straightened up and blew a breath. “Right, to the hospital you go. I can't leave the dispatch room unmanned for long, but I want to hear about it later, alright?”

I nodded. “I don't plan to go to the hospital, though, just downstairs. My team is getting checked there too, and I wanted to see how they were.”

“Well that's no good; burns are something that should be checked out by a professional, even if they don't look like much; too easy for infection to set in and spread. Go to a hospital, soon!”

He tried to put on a stern face but spoiled it with a smile. Honestly, his concern was a little cute. I wasn't going to say it was unfounded, either. I headed downstairs.

Wait a minute, how had he known about my condition again? My own team hadn't known until Sarah called me... on my personal phone. And I don't remember mentioning how I was hurt. Was Cords tapping my phone?