The bedroom door opened to her left. Instinctively, she cowered, the events of the day before still alive and well in her memory. Elizabeth Riley held up both hands in a gesture meant to calm and rea.s.sure. Because it was Riley, it didn't have the desired effect.

"I'm here," she told Henderson. Her heart hammering, she swung her legs out of bed for a second time. "And apparently so is Riley. Can I call you back in a while?"

"Ten minutes. You can call me back in ten minutes, or I'm getting on a plane and coming out there myself."

She didn't bother pointing out that the flight would take him the better part of the day. "Ten minutes," she agreed.

Dropping the phone onto the covers beside her, she met Riley's bright blue, too observant gaze. At least the psychiatrist's presence explained the pajamas. Alex shoved aside the usual p.r.i.c.kle of antagonism and mustered a smile.

"You didn't have to stay the night."

Riley shrugged. "I promised your supervisor I would. Did you sleep all right? I only gave you a mild sedative. I wasn't sure it would be enough."

"It was," Alex a.s.sured her.

"Good. I've made coffee if you're interested."

"Very."

The psychiatrist disappeared from the doorway, presumably headed for the kitchen. Alex frowned. That was it? No other questions? No probing her psyche to ascertain her level of sanity after yesterday? She scooped up the cell phone and padded after Riley. If the promise of coffee hadn't been enough of a draw to get her out of bed, curiosity would have been.

Chapter 91.

Riley turned from the counter as Alex entered, handed her a mug, and watched in silence as she added cream and sugar. Alex lifted an eyebrow.

"None for you?"

"I prefer tea. I couldn't find any, so I'll get some at the hospital."

The sip of coffee Alex had taken turned tasteless. She forced it down just to get rid of it. The hospital. Jen. She stared into her cup at the brown-paper-bag colored liquid.

"Is there any change?"

"They've removed the restraints, but other than that, no. I'm sorry. She's moving up to the psych ward this morning. I'm going to stop in and check on her, then I have a meeting with your chief and Dr. Bell before I catch my flight back to Vancouver."

Alex set her mug on the counter, wondering what Riley would think if she poured herself a Scotch instead. She studied the pet.i.te woman. Which of those topics did she want to take on first: hospital, meeting, or flight out? Riley forestalled her.

"You don't need me here, Alex. After what's happened in the last few days, the very fact that you're upright and not curled into a ball in the corner proves it. I plan to tell your chief exactly that-and I'll probably tell your department shrink to go screw himself."

Alex's jaw dropped. "You-I-that's it? No questions, no trying to get me to talk?"

"Do you want to talk?"

"Not particularly."

"I wouldn't either, if I were you," Riley said. "So. I guess that's it, then. I'll make sure the hospital has your contact information. They'll notify you of any change in your sister's condition, so unless you hear from them . . ."

Alex set her mug on the counter with an unsteady hand, finishing Riley's sentence in her head. Unless she heard from the hospital, she didn't need to go to the place that had housed her mother on so many occasions-the place that had now claimed her sister. She folded her arms across her belly.

"Thank you."

"Will you return to work?"

She nodded. "That and look for Nina."

Riley hesitated. "Part of me would like to ask what's coming," she said. "What we should expect. The rest of me thinks I'm better off not knowing."

"I couldn't tell you if you did want to know, because I have no idea."

"None?"

"Apart from a feeling that the rest of you is right? None."

Riley nodded. "In that case, I should go. I've left my card on the hall table for you in case you change your mind about talking. My cell phone number is on the back so you can call anytime. And if you don't call me, at least stay in touch with Hugh and let him know how you're doing. Please."

Alex gave a soft laugh. "I don't imagine he'll give me much choice."

"Good point."

Then, before Alex realized her intent, the psychiatrist wrapped her in a quick, hard hug. "Look after yourself, Alex," she whispered. "Stay strong."

Stay sane.

She'd reached the door at the end of the hallway before Alex found her voice.

"Elizabeth."

Riley looked over her shoulder.

"Tell Bell I said ditto."

A smile. "I'll do that."

The door closed, the click of its latch near deafening in the silence left behind. Alex stood for long minutes without moving. The emptiness of the apartment closed in on her. Pressed down. Squeezed the air from her lungs, the life from her heart.

She looked around the kitchen, at the bananas on the counter that were Seth's favorite fruit, at the dish of chocolate-covered almonds that he'd bought for her, at the dishwasher needing to be emptied of the dishes from the last meal he had made for them. The meal she hadn't come home for because he'd been right. She had been torn between him and Aramael, and work had been an excuse-a way to keep her distance. And now . . .

Now this was it. This was all she had left. An apartment filled with memories and a life that would let her remember for eternity.

She dumped the coffee into the sink and reached for the Scotch.

Chapter 92.

"The Fallen are gathering."

Mika'el looked around at Gabriel, who stood in the doorway of his private quarters. He went back to adjusting the scabbard at his side. So. The time for war was come at last. He had never doubted it would, but oh, how he had wished he might have been wrong.

"Did you hear me?" she asked.

"I heard." He picked up his sword and slid it into its sheath. "The others are at the border with our forces?"

"Waiting for the first strike."

"And the Guardians?"

"Recalled as ordered, except for the patrols. Still no word on where the Nephilim have been hidden."

"Then we're ready."

Gabriel said nothing. Mika'el watched her tight-lipped reflection in the mirror. He knew what she was thinking. It was the same thing they all thought, that in truth, they had no idea if they were ready. If they could be. Heaven's forces had always been driven by the will of the One. Without her- Without her, they had no idea what to expect. What they could do.

What they couldn't do.

He picked up a second sword from the table beside him and slid it into a second, smaller scabbard. His fingers closed over it tightly. He turned, donning the familiar persona of military leader as he faced the other Archangel.

"You know what to do, then," he said. "I'll join you shortly."

Gabriel's sapphire gaze settled on the sword in his grasp, then rose to meet his again, clear, calm, determined. She nodded her understanding.

"I'll tell the others," she said.

Alex climbed the stairs from the parkade toward Homicide's temporary new quarters on the ninth floor. A uniformed officer getting into his cruiser had a.s.sured her the elevator was working again after the terrorist attack-was that really what they were telling people?-but she'd taken the stairs anyway. It was quieter here. She could pace herself, steady her nerves, give herself time to plan how she would handle the questions, the concern . . .

The search for Nina.

Gripping the handrail, she paused and closed her eyes, listening to the sound of her own breathing, the beat of her heart. Roberts had called the night before to check on her and give her the option of taking another day or two off. She'd turned him down. It was best to throw herself back into the fray where she wouldn't have too much time to think. Or too much time alone with a bottle of Scotch.

She began her climb again, turned a corner on a landing. Only four flights left. Four flights to get her focus together and pretend she could do this. Pretend she could- A sudden shadow loomed over her.

Instinct drove her sideways into the protection of the corner.

"It's me," said a familiar voice.

She remained where she was, her hands braced on her knees, waiting for her heart rate to return to normal. Wondering if her nerves would ever do the same. She glared at the black-winged, black-armored Michael.

"You scared me half to death!" she snapped.

"I'm sorry, but I promised we would talk."

"I don't want to talk."

"We have to. There are things-"

"Can you stop the Nephilim?" she interrupted.

"No."

"Help me find Nina?"

"No.

"Undo what Seth did to me?" she asked.

He sighed. "No."

"Then we have nothing to talk about."

She moved to go around him, but Michael's wings opened, blocking her route. She stared at the glossy feathers, near enough to see the barbs along each of them, and then stepped back. Crossing her arms, she waited in tight-lipped silence.

"Lucifer is gone," he said.

"So what? In case you hadn't noticed, the damage is already done. Eighty thousand women are dead, the babies they carried have disappeared, and he impregnated my niece." Her voice wobbled on the last bit. She lifted her chin to continue. "Whether he's here or not doesn't matter anymore because he already accomplished everything he set out to do."

"The One is gone, too."

"Again," she said harshly, "so what?"

Pure fury flared in the emerald gaze holding hers. For a moment, she quailed. Then she stood taller. Grew angrier.

"d.a.m.n it, look around you, Michael. Look at the mess we're in-at the mess she left us in. Seth has stepped into his father's shoes, you're at war with h.e.l.l, Aramael is dead, and I'm going to live for G.o.dd.a.m.n forever. Where, in all of that, is my reason to care about the being who's responsible?"

"The fault wasn't only hers. We all made mistakes."

"Yes, and now the world gets to live with those mistakes. I get to live with them."

For a long moment, Michael said nothing. Then he held something out to her that she hadn't noticed him holding. "It was Aramael's," he said. "I had the armory make it over for you so it would be easier for you to handle."

Alex stared at the sword in its hardened leather scabbard. Remembered the feel of it slicing through Seth's flesh, biting into his bone. Crimson washed across her vision. She blinked it away.

"I don't want it."