Eve of Warefare Read Online Free PDF

of the flaws was a visible acknowledgment of her lack of celestial enhancements. “How are we supposed to find a vamp in this condition?”
    “You are not searching for anything. You are here to be found.”
    “What?”
    “There is some concern that there is a growing demand for angel blood in the Fallen community.”
    “Oh my God.” She waited for the chastizing sting of the Mark, which acted like a behavioural-modification dog collar. When the burn didn’t come after taking the Lord’s name in vain, she found some of the fog in her brain lifting. She’d lost the Mark. “You want bait for a trap. That’s why you wanted to use Reed. Because he’s a mal’akh. When Alec offered himself, you figured an archangel is better than an angel. Especially an archangel that’s immediately recognizable.”
    “Something like that,” the cherub agreed smoothly.
    “So why the hell did you strip Alec of his powers?”
    Zaphiel leaned back in the chair, making it creak. “Well, we cannot risk actually losing angel blood until we know what they want it for.”
    “And you say you don’t want us dead.”
    “No one will suspect that Cain does not have what they want,” he argued. “And the blatant nature of your presence here will make them overconfident.”
    “Why can’t you leave this to Adrian?” she shot back. “This is his business, not ours. In case you hadn’t noticed, I have enough trouble keeping up with the Marked system.”
    “It has been left to Adrian for centuries, but he refused to use a Sentinel as a lure, so it is left to me—” he smiled, “—and you. Sentinels prefer to use their dogs on the front line, but lycan blood is not what the Fallen want.”
    “Lycan?” Eve looked at Alec. “Werewolf?”
    “Some of the Fallen made a bargain to serve the Sentinels to regain their souls and avoid vampirism,” he explained. “They were turned into lycans and now they work like herding dogs to keep the other Fallen in line. What Zaphiel isn’t saying is that the Sentinels haven’t been reinforced since they arrived. They’re forbidden to reproduce, so their numbers have shrunk with every casualty. The lycans can breed, but they’re not immortal, so their numbers have grown very slowly. The Fallen, however, are immortal and they can spread vampirism to mortals so their numbers have exploded over time. Adrian can’t afford to risk any of his Sentinels as bait. That’s why he didn’t agree to Zaphiel’s plan.”
    “And lycans are what?” she asked. “Werewolves of the angelic variety?”
    “Right.”
    Eve exhaled harshly. “You know . . . Whether you Celestials like to admit it or not, Heaven and Hell are just opposite sides of the same coin.”
    His mouth curved. “Where do you think Sammael got ideas for creating Infernals? He saw what Jehovah was cranking out and got inspired. His versions have a few defects: his vamps are sensitive to sunlight and blessed objects, and his weres are forced to change forms at certain times of the month. But unlike the Fallen, the Infernals have souls . . . even if they are rotting.”
    “Lucky them,” she muttered, turning her attention back to Zaphiel, a being she doubted had a soul himself.
    The cherub gestured to a dagger that had appeared on the table. “This silver-plated blade will kill the vamp, if the situation gets that far.”
    Eve just stared at him, incredulous. Alec’s hand on her shoulder tightened in warning, as if he knew just how close she was to lunging across the table and strangling Zaphiel.
    “We should continue this conversation later,” Alec said tightly.
    The cherub lifted one shoulder in an offhand shrug, then disappeared.
    Four
    Alec pulled out the chair beside Eve and sat.
    “Are all angels sadists?” she muttered. She was flushed, bright-eyed and really pissed off.
    And he was madly in love with her. Where he’d felt hollow the night before, he now felt too much. The surge of emotion made it damned hard to think