“Inside with the kids.” She waved a hand toward the right. “I'm having a well-deserved cocktail.”
I straightened. “After dinner cocktails?”
“What kind of cocktail?” Trevor asked.
“Sangria.” Sam waved at a pitcher on the coffee table. “Help yourself.”
“I'll get some glasses.” Odin, who had yet to sit down, turned around and started back inside.
“And maybe make another pitcher of sangria while you're in there,” I called after him.
“Good thinking.” Sam saluted me with her wineglass.
I sighed back into a slump. “Why does Jerry have to be such a dick?”
Before anyone could answer, someone shouted Azrael's name inside the palace.
“What fresh hell is this?” I whined.
“Sounds like Michael,” Trevor said as he stood up. “We're outside.”
Mike came running out to us, panting and wingless. “Where's Az?”
Two other Angels came out with him; Cassiel and Zachariel. They looked as shell-shocked as Mike.
“Az went to visit his brother,” I said as I got up. “Is that blood on your shirt?”
Mike absently looked down at his stained T-shirt. It was one of his favorites—a Hang Loose shirt with a hand making a shaka. I'd bought it in Hawaii for him. Now the shaka sign, the symbol of aloha, was bloody. A bloody shaka. Was that an omen?
“He took them,” Cassiel whispered.
“Who?” Viper asked as he got up and waved the Angels toward the chairs. “Sit down. You guys look as if you're going to fall over.”
“Who was taken?” Re helped Michael to a seat while Cassiel and Zachariel found their own.
“The other Archangels.” Mike looked at Re with wide, blue eyes. “We've been trying to persuade the Angels to switch sides, and most of the Archangels have been helping.” He waved a limp hand at Cassiel and Zachariel.
“They've got Raph,” Zachariel said brokenly. “That bastard is going to kill him.”
“We don't know that,” Cassiel said as he laid a hand on Zachariel's knee.
“Hold on, what exactly happened?” I asked.
“Jerry sent a bunch of applefied Angels to apprehend us,” Cassiel, the calmest of the three, said. “We were the only ones who were able to reach a tracing room.”
“Where would Jerry put them?” Trevor asked.
“I have no idea,” Mike said. “They didn't kill anyone.” He looked at Zachariel. “So we don't know that's what Jerry will do. But he might torture them.”
Zachariel started sobbing.
“What about Samael? And the Horsemen?” I asked.
“They got Samael, but the horsemen have been in Hell,” Mike said. “They should be safe.”
“They got Samael?” Odin asked, surprise lacing his tone.
I hadn't even noticed that he had returned without the glasses or sangria. He probably heard Mike on his way to the kitchen and doubled back.
