Page 78 of Indecent

Chaol leaned over to ask Daniel, “Who’s Cyrus?”

“A paladin. Friendly-ish, as far as I know.”

“Why didn’t he leave when everyone else did, then?” Chaol asked.

Daniel shrugged. “Cyrus kind of moves to the beat of his own drum. He’s helped us before, but no one can really guess at his motives. He does what he wants when he wants.”

Chaol hummed. “Interesting.”

“What time is it there?” Alex asked Talon as Ira answered the phone.

“Around… ten PM,” Talon said, checking his watch. “Ten-thirty, really.”

“Ira, you guys need to get to your club right away, if you aren’t already there,” Cyrus said through the receiver.

Ira stood sharply, and the rest of them converged around him. “What? Why? What’s going on?”

“Shit’s gone crazy here, man. The angel has taken Sloan and a bunch of paladins to In Extremis to kill all the halflings. Are you guys there?”

“Oh my God,” Nathan breathed, and suddenly everyone was scrambling for shoes, weapons, and jackets.

“No, we’re not there,” Ira said. “But we can get there soon.”

“A little more warning would’ve been nice!” Shadrach shouted, buttoning his outer shirt.

“Sorry, I just heard about it. The whole compound is buzzing about the news. The angel has completely gotten in Sloan’s head. He thinks he’s God’s gift to mankind now, because Ramiel says he’s doing the right thing. Fuck, Maxwell’s been whipped twice in the courtyard for openly disagreeing with him. If he hadn’t lost his damn mind before, he sure as shit has now. They just announced that Ramiel has found the hidden location of In Extremis and wanted to hit it right away. They woke the whole compound up and took a bunch of volunteers with them.”

“I thought you warned the halflings,” Talon said to Shadrach.

“I did,” Shadrach said.

“We’ll go to the club, Cyrus,” Ira said. “Thank you for the warning.”

“Good luck.”

Ira hung up, and the humans returned, strapping on their holy blades.

“Let’s go, let’s go,” Talon said, grabbing onto Alex and Luke, who snagged Malachi’s hand.

“We can’t kill him!” Chaol said, stopping them all short. “It’ll be the same thing that happened yesterday.”

“We can’t just stand by and do nothing!” Julian said. “Those halflings aren’t hurting anyone, and plenty of humans go to that club, too. They could be caught in the crossfire.”

“You’re both right,” Talon said, massaging his forehead. “Valac, you and Julian go to the Rink. See if Menadel is there. The rest of us will go to In Extremis and hold him off for as long as we can.”

Julian looked stricken. “No.” He turned to Valac. “Take Ira. I want to go and help the others fight.”

“What?” Ira said, looking between them and Wolf.

Daniel nodded. It was the best option. Julian was a hell of a fighter, and while Ira had been training with them, he didn’t have as much experience as the rest of them. He would be safer at the Rink. They needed his visions to help guide the Sentinels on the right path.

Losing any of them would hurt, but they had to be practical.

Grief passed across Valac’s face. “My jewel…”

“No time to argue,” he said. He reeled Valac in for a quick, hard kiss, and then stepped away. “Be quick, okay?”

“The quickest,” Valac swore. “Come, Ira.”