“Then who are they making them with?” I exclaimed.

“Themselves.” He vanished.

“Fucking angels,” I muttered.

I arrived in my apartment only minutes before Dante showed up. “Oh, I’m in luck,” he said, seeing me on the couch with Aubrey. “You seem to always be busy lately.”

I felt a small pang of guilt at what I’d done tonight. A lie was still a lie, no matter who you were lying to.

“I’m saving Seattle,” I explained, making room for him beside me.

He sat down, clean-shaven for a change and looking good in his usual jeans, thermal shirt, watch, and boots. His insecurity was driving him to buy me gifts lately, but I realized I’d need to step it up and get him some wardrobe variety once all this madness ended.

“And how’s that going exactly?”

Everyone kept asking me that. Seth. Carter. Dante. And my answer was lame each time. “Not so great, actually. I think tomorrow’ll be the day it all resolves, and Jerome’s going to be lost forever. Even if he’s not, it’ll be too late for him to get his old position back. His best-case scenario’ll be someone’s lieutenant in northern Michigan.”

Dante put his arm around me and his feet on my coffee table. “Well, succubus, don’t take this wrong way, but I’ll be glad when this is over, new archdemon or no. I’m tired of you being stressed all the time, and I’m tired of not getting any face time with you.” He toyed with the strands of my hair. “I’m also kind of tired of how frizzy this is. Isn’t there some product you can use?”

“Hey,” I said. “Not funny. What happened to internal beauty?”

He seemed undaunted. “You’ve got plenty of that. I just want the whole package. Besides, the look on your face was great when I said that.”

His hand slipped from around my waist to trace patterns between my hip and thigh. It wasn’t overtly sexual but I had a feeling that between that and his good mood—which I was happy for, don’t get me wrong—there was an amorous advance in my future.

“Will you read my cards?” I asked abruptly.

He gave me a shocked look. “Tarot cards?”

“Yeah.”

“You know that’s all bullshit.”

“It is when you bend the truth for your clients. Please? Just do a quick one.”

“Fine. I’ll give you a card-of-the-day one. All the mysteries of the universe in one card.” I could hear the eye roll in his voice as he got up to get his cards out of his satchel. He usually kept them on him in the event of an impromptu client opportunity.

“Don’t lie to me,” I warned. “I know more than your clients.”