The other man turned on him and snarled showing razor-sharp, white fangs. His eyes glowed crimson as he reverted to what he really was. A bloodsucking monster.
Ash stood his ground. “You’re being fucking self-indulgent. You’re no help to Tara like this.”
The humanity bled back into Christian’s features and a measure of control swept over him. He took a deep breath and nodded.
“So we work on the assumption that they took Tara by mistake,” Piers said.
“Until we find anything to the contrary, I think we have to.” Ash didn’t like it though. Angels didn’t make mistakes. But maybe this was a subcontracted job, and the contractors had bungled it. “I’ll get people asking questions see if there could be any reason for taking Tara.”
“What about the fae?” Christian asked. “Could they have decided to finish what they tried to do and taken her?”
“I can’t see it,” Piers said. “Much as I hate the fae, they’re not underhanded. They might have killed Tara but they wouldn’t have pretended to be go along with us and then done this behind our backs.”
“She’s not dead,” Christian growled.
“No, she’s not,” Ash agreed. “But I can’t sense her, which means they have her warded.”
“Which rules out a straight human kidnapping for monetary gain.”
Ash nodded. He shared his blood with Tara and could usually sense where she was in the world. That he couldn’t, suggested something of supernatural nature had her imprisoned. “Which brings us back to the angels and that they took Tara by mistake.”
“Will they give her back when they realize?”
“Maybe. Or they might try and trade her for Roz.”
“How did they find her? Roz I mean?” Ryan asked. “I thought you said there was no connection and as long as she didn’t use the fire thing again they couldn’t locate her?”
“Maybe someone talked,” Piers said.
“If they did, I’ll rip their tongue out.” Christian prowled the room, but at least his eyes had returned to normal. He turned to Piers. “You need to take Roz and get away from here.”
“Why, she’s as safe at the Order as anywhere. The place is warded. They’ll never get to her.”
Ryan looked thoughtful. “Unless someone helps them.”
“Are you saying we have a traitor?” Piers frowned as though the idea was impossible.
“No,” Ryan said. “I’m saying if we don’t know where you and Roz are, then if they offer a trade, no one will be tempted to take them up on it.”
Ryan was suggesting that either he or Christian might betray them. What would he do faced with the choice? If they offered Tara’s life in exchange for Roz—would he give her up? He didn’t know, and the same confusion was echoed on Christian’s face.
If they hurt his daughter, tortured her, could he stand by when he had the means of saving her. “He’s right,” he said to Piers. “Take Roz and get the hell away from here. Don’t tell us where and don’t come back until this is over.”
Piers glanced from him to Christian and finally nodded. “We’ll go.”
“Good.” Ash tried to think what else they had to do but he was desperate to get away, start hunting. He needed to organize a meeting with Raphael, tell him he had the wrong woman. If he didn’t return her, he’d rip the bastard’s wings from his fucking shoulders and beat him to death with them.
What else did he need to do?
Faith. He didn’t think she was in danger but he wasn’t taking any chances.
“Tell Carl to set a round-the-clock guard on Faith.”
Ryan frowned. “You think someone might come after her.”
“No, but it can’t hurt.”
“What are you going to do?” Piers asked.
“Go down to the Abyss first. Send out some of my people to start asking questions. Then organize a meeting with Raphael. Tell him he fucked up.”
“I’m coming with you,” Christian said.
He glanced at the vampire. It was probably safer to keep Christian close by—the vampire wasn’t rational—but he’d never thought it would come to this. Babysitting a vampire. “Okay.”
Ash nodded to Piers. “Keep Roz safe.”
“I will.”
Then he opened a portal and dropped down into hell.
…
Faith discharged herself from hospital the following morning. The doctors didn’t want her to go, but she felt fine, and she could see that puzzled them.
Apparently, she’d lost a lot of blood and she shouldn’t feel fine. In fact, she shouldn’t even be able to get on her feet. But here she was. And apart from an ache when she raised her arm, the bullet wound wasn’t causing her any problems.
So it seemed like the doctors were wrong.
Maybe they could be wrong about other things as well. Like the fact that she had vein swelling in her brain that might burst at any moment leaving her dead—or worse—brain damaged.