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Tatyana looked like an ordinary human because her wings were missing. Not cut off, but as if they were never there, to begin with. Her eyes bulged open in shock, frozen in time. Her pale face was now bloodied, as if someone had struck her repeatedly with their fist. A look of pure horror was painted across her face—the last thing the killer saw—would now be forever embedded in my own mind.

A sword pierced through her stomach and congealing blood dripped down the cement crypt onto the cemetery grounds.

“Who could do this?” I whispered.

My legs buckled underneath me, causing me to collapse to the ground. As much as I tried, I couldn’t hold in the vomit that rose in my throat. After I stopped throwing up, I wiped my lips with my sleeve, then placed my hands on the grass. My nails dug deep into the soil while gritting my teeth, willing myself not to faint. I felt Dorian’s hand on my shoulders, and I squeezed my eyes shut as his touch attempted to soothe me. After a few minutes, I turned to face him and held my hand out so he could pull me to my feet.

Someone had slaughtered my creator. Why was she even here? And what the fuck happened to her wings?

CHAPTER 16

Mercy

THE COVEN SURROUNDED me as my hands trembled around a hot mug of tea. Leah rubbed my arm, attempting to soothe me, but I couldn’t relax. I couldn’t get the image out of my mind of Tatyana’s body impaled by that sword, lying in a pool of her own blood that painted the grass beneath her.

“She’s in shock,” I heard Dorian tell them, but I looked up toward Caleb.

They can’t see me like this. Pull yourself together.

“Tatyana’s dead,” I stated for the twentieth time.

“We know, Mercy,” I heard Caleb say as he sat beside me. “We’re all in shock with you.”

“How did this happen?” I asked, still not understanding what I had seen. Angels couldn’t die. They were immortal.

I looked over at Dorian, who had his arms crossed over his chest. “She’s fallen.”

“Yes, you’ve said that before. What the hell does that mean?” I asked.

“When Tatyana rescued Noah and me from Maurice’s lair,” Dorian said, “she told me she couldn’t return to Earth again. That was her only chance to meet you face-to-face since she created the five of you and to make things right. The angel was only allowed to create the Chosen Ones, not help you beyond that. She explained that if she was to ever come back, she’d have to sacrifice her wings by becoming mortal. Hence, a fallen angel.”

I looked at Caleb and the rest of the coven. “But why would she do that? Why was she even here?” Dorian shrugged, so I looked over at Caleb. “Why would she sacrifice her wings?”

“I don’t know, either, Mercy,” Caleb said. “If Tatyana went so far as to sacrifice her immortality, she must have been desperate to reach you.”

My hands gripped into fists as the only obvious explanation hit me. “Maurice. It must be Maurice.” I looked up. “She took down his clan to rescue everyone and took everything from him. Maybe she came to warn us about what he’s been doing, and he killed Tatyana to stop her.” I turned to Caleb again. “Ithasto be him.”

Caleb placed his hand on mine and gripped it tightly. “Then we’ll find the piece of shit and put a stake through his heart.”

The rest of the coven had been silent up until now. They joined Caleb, agreeing that Maurice was the prime suspect in the murders in East Greenwich and of Tatyana. However, Ezra mentioned a good point. It could be two completely different killers. A vampire hadn’t killed Tatyana. It was death by sword, not by a bite.

The fury in the room from the coven gave me hope. I wasn’t alone in my anger and desperation to find Maurice and make him pay for what he was doing. All of what he had done to Tatyana, to the innocent victims in East Greenwich. It had to end now.

“What do you want to do?” Caleb asked me, his voice deep yet calm.

“I want totalkto Maurice. We can’t kill him just yet,” I said, knowing they would never be okay with that. “Believe me, killing Maurice is our top priority, but he has answers that cannot be confessed when he’s a pile of dust.”

“No.” This time, Leah stepped up. “No way. It’s too dangerous, and you know it.”

“I’ll go with her,” Dorian said, stepping near me. “I know Maurice, and every single one of you knows I’d give my life to protect her.”

“And you betrayed him,” Caleb reminded him. “He’ll kill you without a single thought of remorse.” When Caleb saw Dorian by my side and me not backing down, he added, “So the three of us will go.”

That wasn’t exactly what I wanted. Caleb and Dorian despised each other, and we had yet to work as a team for any cause. I wasn’t ready for it.

“What do you want us to do?” Simon asked, moving toward Ezra and Leah.

“I’d love to kick a vampire’s ass right about now. It’s been painfully too long,” Ezra suggested, pulling his lips into a wicked grin.

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