Angels' Blood (Guild Hunter #1)(93)

"Perhaps an immortal needs a vulnerability," Raphael said, thinking once more of Lijuan's "evolution."

"I-" A cell phone rang.

Raphael nodded at Dmitri to go ahead and answer, readying himself to take off. Dmitri's raised hand stopped him. "It's the Guild Director."

Raphael took the phone. "Director."

"I don't know what the hell you've got Ellie into but I have a feeling it has to do with the girls disappearing around town." Her dislike of him was a taut thread that vibrated with pure anger.

"Elena is lucky to have you for a friend."

"If anything happens to her, I don't care who you are, I'll shoot you myself." Worry mingled with the violent anger to turn her voice harsh.

Had it been anyone but Sara making the threat, Raphael would've meted out swift punishment-perceived weakness in an archangel could lead to death for millions. But he'd never been a hypocrite. He'd done unconscionable things in the Quiet, crossed an inviolable line when he forced this woman to betray one of her deepest loyalties. The scales were not close to even. "Do you have something to share, Director?"

"Five bodies were just found in Battery Park, all drained of blood. They were hidden very well."

Uram had acted fast to replenish his energy. "Have the authorities been alerted?"

"Sorry, couldn't stop it," Sara said, telling him she had her finger very much on the pulse of the city. "But the bodies are in transit in morgue vans-I'm guessing you have to make them disappear. Don't kill the attendants when you do it."

"That won't be necessary." Sometime after his two-hundredth birthday, Venom had gained the power to entrance humans, much as a cobra did its prey-something Raphael was sure Elena would be aghast to discover. The vampire used it rarely as Neha would not be pleased to realize she'd lost so valuable an asset. However, it would come in useful today-none of Uram's victims could be allowed to be put under the microscope. Holly might be the only survivor, but that didn't mean Uram wasn't forcing the others to drink his toxic blood . . . or worse. "Thank you for the information."

"Don't thank me. Just keep Ellie safe from whatever monster you've let loose."

Yes, Uram was a monster. With a monster's strength. Raphael's heart suddenly sped to a killing beat, though the air was still, the winds silent. "Give Dmitri the details." Handing back the phone, he took off from the balcony. His wing ached but he pushed onward, attempting to contact Illium as he flew.

A dull silence was his only answer-not the blankness of death, but something close. He got a little more when he tried Elena. Pain and nausea and anger.

He arrowed a thought toward Dmitri. Forget the bodies for now. Find Elena.

I'm contacting my men.

Jason. The black-winged angel was a master at coordinating the wings of angels under Raphael's command. Locate Illium. He's down.

I'm on my way. I'll brief the wings en route.

Raphael flew harder, cursing his own stupidity. Uram didn't need to rest to heal, not when he could hasten the process through blood. Another advantage of the bloodborn, another thing that made them feel as if they'd made the right choice. At this point, Uram would believe himself sane-he'd begun to think, to make decisions, but his personality was warped on the deepest level, his brain swimming in the toxin.

The worst thing, Raphael thought as he pushed himself to reach Elena, was that such devolution didn't happen overnight. Uram's servants had to have known but, unlike Raphael's powerful Seven, the other archangel had kept no one strong nearby. No one but Michaela. Raphael's mouth twisted-he was sure the woman who'd once been called the Queen of Constantinople had helped her lover evade the protocols set in place to prevent exactly this type of thing. Perhaps she'd wanted Uram dead, but more likely, she'd wanted to see what would happen, ascertain if the rest of the Cadre was lying to her.

He reached the part of Manhattan directly across from Castle Point, the spot where Elena had last checked in. "I have a good feeling about this," she'd said. "The scent's been diffused by the moisture in the air, but I'm going to keep circling until I hit a stronger concentration."

"I'll send more angels your way."

"No, don't pull them off the grid searches yet. This could be a trick. I'll get Illium to contact you if I think I have a bead on him."

Elena had obviously been far closer to the Angel of Blood than she'd believed.

As he flew over the area, looking for her car, his eyes-sharp, like a raptor's-found Illium instead. The angel's blue wings stood out even as he lay half-submerged beneath a pier. Diving, Raphael ignored the onlookers who'd begun to gather on the pier as well as the rescue boat powering Illium's way. Several humans had actually jumped in and were helping to keep Illium's face out of the water, though they'd been unable to lift him given the weight of his waterlogged wings. They scattered at Raphael's approach.

Scooping the unconscious angel out of the water, he rose to the sound of camera shutters and cries of wonder mixed with sorrow. Illium had become well-known in the city since his arrival from duties at the Refuge, his blue wings distinctive, his personality infectious. They thought him dead, forgetting that he was immortal.

Uram could have killed Illium, but he'd chosen the faster option and disabled, clearing the way to his real target. Illium, wake. Raphael held position high above the cloud layer, Illium's shattered body cradled in his arms. The other angel's wings were torn, his bones broken from the high-velocity impact with the water. Bruises and cuts marked his skin where he'd probably hit something in the river. He'd lost an eye.