A woman with intense grey eyes appeared on the screen. A chill went over me. This was actually one of the Twelve: one of the ones we hoped to kill. Yet somehow the features of her face were oddly difficult to grasp hold of; it was like you kept forgetting them every second you looked. In a daze, it struck me that I didn’t know what this angel looked like, even though I was staring right at her.

The angel spoke in apparently flawless Spanish – but her voice had a strange resonance, almost like several people talking at once. My mouth went dry. “We are speaking to the world today because statements have recently been made which are false, and must be corrected,” Kara translated. “This will be our only public statement.”

“Okay, these are some seriously creepy angels,” muttered Brendan. The faces of the others said he’d taken the words right out of their mouths. I reached for Alex’s hand; felt his fingers squeeze around mine.

“We are the angelic ruling body. We want to let the world know that regardless of what you may have heard, things are indeed going to change. We speak for all angelkind – and we are the only angels with the authority to do so.” She paused to let that sink in.

And suddenly I got what this was about. Raziel. He’d appeared on TV and promised nothing would change – as if it were up to him.

The reporter’s face was pale. “What changes can we expect?”

The angel gazed directly at the camera for the first time. Her chorus of voices turned lower, more deliberate. “Primarily, there will be imminent changes in how the Church of Angels is run.”

“Do you mean—” started the reporter.

She spoke right over him. “We’ll keep on with the tradition of an angel heading the Church for the time being – and in fact, will soon appoint an angel to head the Church here in Mexico. However, this angel’s name will not be released; from now on, we’ll be keeping a much lower profile in your world. Any angel who you know by name will soon be retiring from public view. That is our promise.”

The grey eyes burned as the angel echoed Raziel’s words. I swallowed. I had no sympathy at all for Raziel, but I was glad I wasn’t him, just then. I could imagine his impotent fury so clearly that for a second it was almost like the emotion beat through me.

Beside me, Alex’s expression was intent as he took it all in, trying to see if there was anything here that could help us. Seb stood frowning. His feelings about the angels were a lot more complicated than mine – he’d had a love-hate relationship with their fierce, powerful beauty for years – but I knew he was as disconcerted by the Council as I was.