There were no more infected Damned after that. At least none that were actively attacking.
The angel touched her neck, her hand coming away with blood. “She—she bit me. Why? What are they?”
“Damned souls,” I answered, my gut churning with the reality of her situation.
She didn’t even know what would happen. None of them did. We’d been keeping it so under wraps in hopes we’d eradicate the infection ourselves. Now, it was too late for her.
“Damned souls don’t have powers. They can’t get into the Redemption Circle.” She shook her head vehemently.
“Things have changed.” I scanned the clearing, finding two others clutching their necks.
Lucifer and I met each other’s gazes and came to a silent agreement. This was it. Lilith’s death hadn’t impacted them. Either her control over them was superficial, or someone else had taken command. And we were no longer dealing with small occurrences. This had been a large group.
The Redemption Circle had to be warned.
“Bitten, stay with us. The rest of you, back to the barracks or your houses. We’ll issue a statement tomorrow explaining what’s been happening in Hell,” Lucifer announced.
No one questioned Lucifer or demanded an explanation, not even the ones bitten. They followed his orders without protest. It was how we trained them—don’t ask questions, do as we say. We had little leeway with our authority being in Hell. Everyone here knew they would suffer one way or another, as decreed by the laws of our world.
But what of the living who paid for their debts and remained here oftheir own accord, for sanctuary or any other reason? I wanted to say we owed them more protection and less suffering. But they chose to stay. Yet I couldn’t shake my desire to give mercy to some of the blood-banded.
We waited until most of the angels left. Then Lucifer and Alexei escorted the bitten back to the castle in Lucifer’s sleigh while I flew to meet them.
I landed in the barn just as Lucifer handed his reins to Alexei and said, “You know where to take them.” He left us with the wide-eyed, confused angels. Two of them were blood-banded, and the third, with his exposed, bloodless scalp, was a soul.
“Great,” Alexei grumbled, stepping out of the sleigh to unharness the Hellcats.
It wasn’t like Lucifer to hand over the dirty work. Well, at least not completely. Usually, he would help put the angels in the dungeons, especially if it pertained to the infection. But I had a feeling he’d reached his limit today. And by the lack of feeling coming through the bond, save for a soft, sleepy hum of life, Lucille had too.
“Ro?” Alexei nodded to the three starting to move in the back.
Right.
I threw three shadowballs, hitting each angel in the chest. Two slumped over, knocked out, while the third groaned, resisting me. Interesting. That hadn’t happened in a long time. I formed a denser shadowball and tried again, reluctant to ingest her blood to try and rip through her mind shield. Fortunately, she crumpled, asleep like the two males.
Alexei quirked a brow. “That bruise your ego?”
My face remained flat.
“When’s the last time it took two tries to knock someone out?” he taunted.
“I can remind you what it’s like to be knocked out by one if you’d like.”
He eyed the three bodies behind me. “By all means. I wouldn’t mind a quick catnap instead of hauling them to the dungeons.”
“Where’s MJ when I need her?” I muttered.
Between the two of us, we managed to carry all three of them. Itwasn’t easy, and it took longer than we liked since we had to drag one between us, but it worked.
In the dungeons, we placed them on cots.
“Go get Sam. Then split the Dreads and Nightmares up to search the Eternal Forest and Hoar Hollow for more infected. I need to check on the pet.”
Alexei bumped his fist against his chest, then left.
Walking to the other line of cells, I passed by Anya’s.
“If you’re looking for the handsome one MJ released, he’s not here,” she said.
