Page 129 of Angel Betrayed

In an instant, Sam had the bastard by his black T-shirt. And since when did Uriel wear a torn T-shirt and jeans? “You’ve seen her?”

Uriel nodded. “She’s one of mine.”

“No,” Sam snarled, choking on rage. “She’s mine.”

Az closed in on them. “Are you serious? Seline’s an angel?”

Uriel didn’t look particularly concerned about the fire or the tight grip that Sam had on him. But, what was new? Uriel was never concerned. That’s why he was good at his job.

And those punishment angels who weren’t so good—they wound up like Rogziel.

“Sometimes angels walk on earth. Mistakes are made. They have to be called home.” Uriel inclined his head toward Sam. “Thank you for taking care of Rogziel. He’d become a nuisance.”

What the fuck? “Take care of your own garbage next time.”

“That’s not the way it works.”

“How do you know?” Sam fired back. “Have you ever actually asked?”

Uriel’s eyes narrowed. “Rogziel received his punishment.”

“Yeah, no thanks to you!” Sam dropped his hold on the angel. “What? Did you want me to do your dirty work for you? And here I thought you enjoyed the punishment.”

He’d hoped the words would crack Uriel’s icy facade. They didn’t work. Because that wasn’t a facade. It was just Uriel.

“You know the rules.” Uriel shrugged. “No angel can kill another. Not without earning damnation.” He brushed off his T-shirt. “We didn’t just want Rogziel to suffer. We wanted him destroyed.”

And so he had been. “And the Fallen who got taken out along the way?”

“A Fallen was the only one who had a chance of fighting him.”

Ah, right. Since they’d fallen and lost their wings, they weren’t exactly angelic any longer so that whole rule about one angel not killing another wasn’t technically in play. Angels hadn’t just learned to twist the truth over the centuries. They’d learned to twist the entire world.

“Unfortunately,” Uriel sighed, “the first few Fallen he found weren’t strong enough for the job.”

“Very unfortunate,” Az echoed, but there was emotion in his voice. Now that Az was on earth, he was sure picking up the human ways fast.

I like him better this way. Az wasn’t quite as much of a dick.

“But the job is done now.” Uriel leveled his stare back at Sam. “It’s time for you to move on.”

No. “I want to see Seline.”

Uriel’s brow furrowed. “And I do what you want because…?”

“Because if you don’t, I will light this whole town on fire.” He smiled, showing lots of teeth. “I don’t have anything to lose. I’ll burn. I’ll fight.” Sam pulled out the claw that was still stained with an angel’s blood. “And I’ll kill.”

Uriel’s gaze dropped to the weapon. “You’re actually threatening me?” Now there was emotion in his voice and on his face. Shock.

“I killed one angel.” Sam shrugged, then yanked out the bottle he’d gotten from Mateo. Smart-ass witch. Mateo had no doubt seen this coming. No wonder he’d made sure Sam had a good stock of the holding powder. The bottle exploded, and the white smoke sprang up around Uriel, trapping him just as it had trapped Rogziel. “How much harder can it be to take out another?”

Uriel’s jaw dropped. He slammed his hands against the invisible wall that bound him in place.

“I don’t think he realized that was coming,” Az murmured.

“Angels.” Sam shook his head. “Sometimes, they’re just too damn cocky. Just because they’re high up on the food chain, it doesn’t mean they can’t still get eaten.”

Uriel screamed. No, he roared, and his wings slammed into his crystal-clear prison.

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