“Please. And a tea bag, if you’ve got one.”
I thunked half a bag of sugar on the dining-room table, where Will was making himself comfortable, and glared at him. “You came over for some sugar and a tea bag.”
“I fancied a cup of tea.”
“Can I get you some hot water, too?”
Will leaned back in his chair and grinned. “That would be capital.”
I put the kettle on the stove and set out a cup for myself, plus a plastic bear filled with honey.
“So what’s the fits about, then?”
“Fits?”
Will squirmed in his chair. “You said you were antsy, right?”
“Oh, fits. Yeah. I just”—I used my fingernail to dislodge a prehistoric piece of Hang Chow fried rice stuck to the table’s fake wood veneer—“I feel like I’m forgetting something.”
“Didn’t we have this conversation? You said you were forgetting something. I told you it was the files, and you showered me with thanks and biscuits?”
“Where are the files, then?”
“Where are my biscuits, then?”
“Anyway,” I said, my patience wearing thin, “I know that what happened to Kale wasn’t a coincidence. I know that this wasn’t just some guy tearing through an intersection. Ditto with Bettina”—I swallowed thinly—“and Mrs. Henderson.”
“And you.” Will reached out toward me, his finger tracing what still remained of the bruise and scratch on my collarbone.
Whether it was his gentle touch or the tenderness of the injury, I wasn’t sure, but my skin immediately broke out into a sheath of gooseflesh, every fiber of my being on high alert.
“You’re worried,” he commented.
I gave him my “duh” look and poured boiling water from the kettle.
“But you know you’ve got your Guardian right there across the hall.” Will patted his chest smugly.
“And you’re going to defend me with what? You don’t even own a tea bag.”
Will cocked an eyebrow. “With all due respect, Miss Ungrateful, I wasn’t planning on killing anyone with a tea bag. And you certainly didn’t mind my interference during your run-in with the idiot vampire slayer.”
I chuckled despite myself. “Imagine someone thinking I’m a vampire.”
“Well, you could use a bit of sun, love.”
I shot Will a withering look. “Tanning advice from the sun-kissed Brit.”
Will rolled his eyes and dunked his tea bag, then squeezed it against the side of his mug. “Anyway, who said I wasn’t going to outsmart your projected assailant?” He tapped a finger to his temple. “Brain can be stronger than brawn.”
“And you’re all brain?”
“Cunning, even.” Will sat back in his chair and sipped his tea. “So cunning that I have an entire cupboard full of tea and yet here I am, drinking yours.”
“Well, now that you’ve said that, I feel ever so foolish.” I batted my eyelashes and sipped my tea.
“So tell me what you’re so worried about.”
“I’m not that worried,” I said.
“So you shredded that napkin for the sadistic pleasure?”
I looked down at the heap of napkin shreds and sighed. “I think there might be another fallen angel.”
“Do you think another one is possible?”
I shrugged. “Why not? There was Ophelia, and then Adam and his band of goons. Why wouldn’t there be another fallen angel taking their place?”
Will was playing with the handle of his mug and avoided my gaze.
“What aren’t you telling me, Will? What do you know?”
“I was just thinking ...” His words trailed off.
“What were you thinking?”
“Maybe it’s not another angel after you. Maybe it’s the one that’s always around.”
I spat my tea in a mammoth shower. “Alex? You can’t be serious!”
“Look”—Will’s hazel eyes glittered, the light from our chandelier catching the gold flecks in them—“you said yourself that fallen angels are unrepentant. You said yourself that they would keep coming until the Vessel of Souls is theirs, right?”
I rubbed a napkin shred between my forefinger and thumb. “That’s what Alex told me. But he was helping me. He was protecting me from Ophelia.”
“Or he was protecting the Vessel from Ophelia.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Hey, you’re the one who said there is something more to all this demon-gone-missing stuff.” He sipped his tea, looking at me over the brim. “No need to shoot the ruggedly good-looking messenger.”
I chewed my bottom lip, considering. “Yeah, but if this was about me, why mess with my demons?” I forced a chuckle and then stopped. “My demons.” My heart did a double thump. “All the missing demons are my clients.”
“And?”
“And maybe someone is trying to distract me, to get me focused on something else.”
Will bobbed his head. “Okay, I’ll bite. Now what about Kale?”
“She works with me.”
“Directly?”
“No, she’s in finance. But she’s out at the front desk a lot and—and we’re friends.”
Suddenly the hot honeyed tea burned in my stomach. My saliva went bitter and my throat felt dry.
“Sophie?”