Five hours until sunrise.

Crickets and cicadas chirped. Azazel and Neji crept through the shadows in Duncaster. They stayed close to the outer walls of each home they passed.

Why can’t we just have the town guard round everyone up and then check the citizens one at a time?

He followed Neji to the front of the first house. Neji placed her hand on the door and gave it a light push. “They’ve barred it,” she whispered. “And here I thought these tiny villages didn’t worry about crime.” She drew her sword and slipped the blade into the gap between the door and the wall. “Would you be a dear and give me your sword too?”

Azazel gave her a confused look, but did as he was asked, and she slipped his blade in through the gap on the other side of the door. From the other side, Azazel heard the board blocking the way slide up the wall.

Neji pushed the door open and gestured for Azazel to follow her, which the young angel did. Once inside, she slipped the board back in place to block the front door and gave Azazel his sword back.

Floor boards creaked under Azazel’s feet, and Neji turned to glare at him with fury in her eyes. Azazel furrowed his brow and shook his head at her.

Do I look like an expert burglar to you?

Wind howled through the gaps in the walls, and the sound of sleep apnea accompanied it. Neji and Azazel rounded a corner to find a husband and wife aslumber on a bed of straw. The demon slayer raised her hand to signal Azazel to stop, and he did as she indicated. She drew her sword, leaned in close to the two sleeping figures. As she bent over at her waist, Azazel’s eyes fell to the shape of her round posterior, at which he did his best not to stare. She took a deep breath of the air around the sleeping couple. Her head tilted to one side, and she leaned in closer, until her nose almost touched the husband’s cheek. Azazel’s heart raced, and his mind scrambled to think of some manner of excuse if they were to be caught.

Neji shook her head and gestured to the front door again. Azazel led the way out, and they closed the door behind them.

Once outside in the cold night air again, Azazel whispered, “There must be a better way to do this.”

Neji shook her head and whispered back, “My dear, don’t be so naïve. If you were a demon and knew you were about to be caught, would you not either flee or take hostages?”

Azazel rubbed his right temple with two fingers. “Ugh… you’re right… I’ve had enough of hostage negotiations for now.”

The two of them continued to the next house and the next after that, repeating the process. Again, Neji opened the door with both her own sword and Azazel’s, crept through the house, and smelled the sleeping denizens inside. Each time she leaned in so close to the sleeping villagers that Azazel was sure they’d feel the warmth from her body or hear her heart beat. After each villager she gave a look of disbelief before confirming that these were not the demons she’d smelled earlier.

Four houses clear.

Then five.

Then six.

Still Neji could not find the demons.

“Maybe they left?” Azazel suggested. “Think about it, they saw an angel walk into town. Maybe they slipped out of the tavern when no one was looking and fled.”

Neji shrugged. “I suppose that’s possible, dear, but I won’t be satisfied until we’ve tested each home in Duncaster.”

The seventh house. Again, Neji used two blades to lift the board on the other side of the door.

CRACK!

The beam had fallen from where it was balanced on the two blades and hit the cobblestone floor.

“Bugger!” Neji hissed. With both blades in hand she took off from the front door in a blur and dashed down a nearby alleyway.

Azazel beat a gust with his wings and landed on the house’s rooftop.

From within came a nearly-naked man with long hair, a bushy beard, strong muscles, and a wood-cutting axe held high. “Who’s there?” he shouted. “DUNCASTER! We have a burglar among us!”

Azazel crouched low on the roof as men and women emerged from every house in town carrying weapons. Even Strato appeared from his inn, clad in a long night shirt and wearing a floppy cap on his head. Azazel would have thought the sight of the burly man in his sleeping clothes amusing, were it not for the blunderbuss in his left hand and the sledgehammer in the other.

“Thief!” Strato’s voice boomed. “We’ll find you and string you up!”

The guards in the watchtowers took positions in front of the gate with pikes at the ready. “The thief won’t get past us!” one of them yelled.

Azazel’s eyes searched the shadows for any sign of Neji. If they caught her, they’d have to come up with an explanation which wouldn’t alert the infiltrators.

“Thief!” Neji’s voice rang out from behind one of the houses. The demon slayer ran out into the middle of the town with her sword in both hands. “Show yourself, coward!”

Azazel breathed a sigh of relief, then drifted to the ground behind the house he stood upon and walked round to the main street. “I’ll help find the burglar! Let’s bring them to justice!”

“Wait!” called out the bushy-bearded villager. “I found something!”

“What is it, Carver?” yelled Strato.

Carver, the villager with the axe, held up something in his hand. One of the other villagers brought a lantern closer, illuminating three bronze-colored feathers.

All eyes turned to Azazel, who folded his wings on his back.

The curls of Strato’s mustache drooped, and his shaggy brow furrowed. The blunderbuss in his hand turned toward Azazel, though he had not yet taken aim. “Is there something you’d like to confess, your majesty?”

Carver gripped his wood-cutting axe in both hands. “What manner of angel breaks into people’s homes in the middle of the night?”

“A fallen one!” a villager called out.

“Or one who’s actually a demon!”

Strato raised a calloused finger to silence the murmuring mob. “Now, let’s allow him to explain himself. I’m sure his highness has an excuse.”

Azazel turned his eyes to Neji, who shook her head at him. He gritted his teeth at her in frustration, then said, “My demon slayer companion smelled an intruder among you, a foul child of Sygin! We hoped to discover the identity of this creature, so we could save your town!”

Carver sneered at Azazel. “That’s a blatant lie! If there was a demon in town, I would have smelled it! I myself was a demon slayer once.”

Azazel felt a chill creep over him. “Neji! Tell them! Tell them of the scent you detected!”

Neji opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. In her eyes Azazel saw panic and confusion.

“There are no demons here!” Strato bellowed. “But it seems there may be a fallen angel, one disgraced and cast out of the heavens!”

Carver drew closer to Azazel, as did the rest of the villagers.

Of course, the town which turns against me is the one that’s well-armed.

“Don’t do this!” said Azazel. His hand hovered near the sheath on his belt. When he did not feel the pommel, he remembered that Neji still had his sword. “Don’t forget, Heaven has chosen me to be your king!”

Strato snorted. “And yet you are the only angel here to tell us that?”

“We know better,” said Carver, “than to take every angel’s word at face value.”

“Especially one who breaks into our homes!” cried out one of the villagers.

The rest of the townspeople murmured their agreement.

Azazel raised his hands. “I understand your suspicions, but what if you’re wrong? Think about it! If you kill me here, and I really was sent by the gods to be your king you will incur their wrath!”

A few of the townspeople backed away. Strato and Carver, however, stood their ground. Strato stroked the curls of his mustache, then snapped his fingers. “Then take your friends and leave our town. Forever. We’ll allow you all to leave safely, but if you ever return to Duncaster, unless it is in the company of other angels declaring their support for you, you’ll be buried here.”

Azazel hung his head in defeat. “That is fair. I broke your trust, and—”

“Go!” Carver shouted. “Now!”

The crowd jeered and hissed as Azazel walked back to the inn to inform Ember and Jasper that they were to leave town. The angel’s golden hair fell to hide the shame on his face.

“It’s too cold for this…” Ember complained and scooted her bedroll closer to the campfire.

Azazel took one of his blankets and spread it over her. “I hope this will help.”

With chattering teeth and shivers, Ember nodded her head and closed her eyes.

Jasper slipped off his robe, revealing a body made of nothing more than bleached bones. He slipped the robe over Ember and pulled the hood over her head. “There. I need not keep warm.”

Azazel turned to Neji and glared. “We need to talk.” The angel pointed to the trees outside the camp. “Over there. Now.”

Neji averted her eyes from his. “Yes, of course, sire.”

The two of them left the camp together, and once Azazel was fairly certain they were out of ear-shot he hissed, “Would you mind telling me what the hell all that was about? You led me astray, Neji!”

Neji fell to her knees before Azazel. “Please, have mercy, your majesty! Sometimes demon slayers smell like demons…”

“What? So… it was Carver you smelled?” Azazel grunted. “How does… how does something like this even happen?”

“My dear king, do you not know how demon slayers get their powers?” asked Neji.

“Enlighten me.”

“Well, this may sound positively beastly,” began Neji, “but they drink demon blood. This gives them greater strength, speed, and cunning. Most of all, it allows us to smell demons.” She wrung her hands. “But when demon slayers have slain too many, they start to smell like their prey. Most demon slayers retire before then.”

“And so, you got confused…” Azazel rubbed both of his temples with his fingers. “By the gods! This is a terrible blunder!”

“I am so sorry, my liege!” Neji bowed her head. “And I will accept whatever punishment you see fit. You have every right to discipline me.”

Her specific choice of words threatened to bring impure thoughts to Azazel’s mind, but he banished them immediately by repeating Calimei’s name in his head.

“No.” Azazel pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes with two fingers. “I share the blame in this. I’m able to sense the presence of demons, I can feel their wickedness when they are near, and I couldn’t sense any demons in Duncaster. I should have guessed something was wrong, but I let you take command.” Azazel beat his chest with his fist. “My fault! I am the king! It is my responsibility to lead, not follow!”

Wolves howled in the distance, and Azazel’s head jerked to look in the direction from which the noise came.

Neji’s hand on Azazel’s shoulder jerked his attention back away from the distant predators. “Those are real wolves, darling, not demons, don’t fret. Wolves fear us, and stay away from human camps.”

“I’m not… fretting.”

“No?” Neji giggled and ran a finger along her own chin. “Your bunny eyes say otherwise.”

“Bunny eyes?”

“Yes, bunny eyes,” said Neji. “Have you not seen the way rabbits react when you draw near? Their ears perk up, and they have that wide-eyed, frightened stare you so often see on the face of prey. That was your face, darling. Positively petrified. Do you see yourself as prey?”

Azazel raised an eyebrow at her. “What sort of question is that? Everyone’s prey to something.”

Neji reached out and took both of Azazel’s hands in her own. “Only if they allow themselves to be, my dear. As for me? I’m a hunter.” She looked up into his eyes with an intense hunger which made his heart race. “I see what I want, I stalk it, and when it’s unaware I take it. I am the predator, darling, not the prey. And my fangs are sharper than any wolf’s.” She grinned at him, her snowy teeth accentuated behind her dark, full lips.

“I don’t know…” Azazel smirked, “Your teeth look pretty flat to me.”

“I said fangs, dear. Not teeth.”

Azazel attempted to slip his fingers out of her grip but found that her hold on him was stronger than he’d anticipated.

Neji’s ravenous eyes never left his. “Those who fall into my traps find themselves totally at my mercy.” She stepped in closer, and Azazel could feel the heat radiating from her body. Her tongue slipped out and licked her lips, as if preparing for a meal. The demon slayer stood a head shorter than Azazel, and yet the way she looked at him made him feel small, weak, and completely under her power.

Worst of all, he enjoyed it.

Lady Calimei… remember Lady Calimei…

Azazel did his best to compose himself. Then, in the flattest tone he could muster, said, “Please release me.” His voice cracked on the second word, something it hadn’t done in over five years.

“Why?” Neji asked. “Don’t you trust me?”

I don’t even trust myself right now…

“It’s not about trust,” said Azazel, a hint of anger in his voice. “As your king I asked you to release my hands. Next time I won’t ask.”

Neji’s fingers slipped away from his, lightly caressing his palms as they passed. “Yes, your majesty.”

Azazel turned his attention back to the crackling fire. “Let’s return to camp. We’ll need our rest before we continue to Briar Hold.”