Angelus by Sabrina Benulis Page B

far, far away.
    â€œSophia,” Angela dared to whisper. Her voice echoed against the stone walls of the hole anyway. “Do you know what happened to Troy? Is she alive?”
    Sophia paused suddenly on the rungs above Angela. She stayed silent for a while, as if she didn’t quite know how to respond. “She’s alive,” Sophia finally said.
    â€œHow do you know?” Angela pressed.
    Another long pause. Angela could sense that Sophia’s mind was working. When Sophia spoke again, her voice sounded almost frantic, as if she’d forgotten something crucial. “Quickly,” she whispered. “We need to keep moving. There isn’t much time.”
    Angela knew that already. So Sophia must have been referring to something else that might happen soon. Without trying to pry any further, Angela forced herself to descend faster.
    She remembered that Sophia didn’t know where Kim had been taken.
    Maybe we can find him down here.
    Or perhaps someone else will find him first.

Nine
    Troy squeezed her eyes shut. The lights of the room, however dim for her, cut into her brain like claws. After weeks of being forced to fight for her life in Python’s noisy Arena, the sudden silence stifled her, and her eyes throbbed painfully.
    The demon hadn’t been kind enough to blindfold her this time, but he’d of course remembered to muzzle her. She licked her lips, wishing for a way to chew out of her prison. Manacles had also been clamped around her wrists, and a collar with a leaden chain attached her to her iron cage. She’d stopped trying to slip her wrists out of the manacles hours ago, but remained saturated in the stench of her own blood.
    She was certain she’d heard Sariel—her half-Jinn cousin known to others as Kim—and the Book of Raziel speaking to Python. She’d even dared to hiss at the sound of his voice.
    Now, she knew that perhaps it had all been a dream.
    She was too hungry and so confined that the world was escaping her. If only she could see through the velvet drapery thrown over her cage. For months she’d been jailed like this, forced to fight for her life for the demons’ amusement, thethought of her niece Juno traveling alone through the plain near Babylon torturing her at every other moment.
    Footsteps paused nearby. Python’s distinctive scent wafted through the drapery to her like a poison.
    Troy couldn’t stop a growl of rage from bubbling inside of her. The fabric lifted from her cage and she narrowed her eyes to slits. The demon stood right next to her, leaning over the upper bars.
    She turned on him, glaring from the darkest corner of her little prison. Python was decadently dressed in a black overcoat studded with red gems. A serpent brooch glittered below his neck. He paused, probably alarmed by the predatory hatred shining behind Troy’s eyes. But Python’s fascination soon overcame his fear. He knelt down to what they both knew was a dangerously close position. Behind him, the dull haze of the chamber cast a reddish glow onto his hair and back.
    â€œThe High Assassin of the Jinn,” he whispered proudly. “But thanks to me, no better than a flightless bird in a cage. Do you think you can keep winning your battles with only one wing? I’ll admit it’s certainly entertaining to watch. I see that the wound has healed over nicely—” His hand reached for a few feathers sticking out between the bars.
    Troy lunged.
    Python snatched his fingers away, but he smacked them accidentally against the bars, cursing.
    â€œIt will heal even better,” Troy hissed, “when I medicate it with your blood.”
    â€œAlways so feisty,” Python said, winking at her. He examined her fearlessly, shaking the pain from his hand. Troy stared right back at him, wishing he could see her teeth more clearly and feel her nails ripping into him all over again.The scar over his left eye always sent a thrill of