“A suicidal nature does not, however. You know you’re seconds away from being destroyed, don’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Roman. “And I’m sure killing me would help reinforce your badass status. But the truth is, I helped save you. You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.”

I wasn’t entirely sure if he’d done as much work as me in all this, but he had certainly made it easier for me. Nonetheless, even if he had actually single-handedly saved Jerome, it meant nothing. Demons didn’t operate by a sense of fairness or feel obligations. Jerome affirmed as much.

“I owe you nothing. If you want to risk your life, that’s no concern of mine. I don’t care whether you live or die.”

Roman struggled to his feet. “That’s not true, or else you would have killed me already. Maybe you don’t owe me anything . . . and yet, you’re indebted to me, even if you don’t believe in paying off debts—and I think you do. You can’t stand knowing you owe me.”

Jerome narrowed his eyes. “What is it you want?”

“Amnesty.”

“What?” I squeaked. No one paid any attention to me. As far as they were concerned, they were the only two people in the world, father and son.

“I’m tired of running, tired of hiding. I want a place to stay. A place I can settle down in for a while.”

“You don’t need me for that.”

“Don’t I?” asked Roman. “Any place I live, even with my signature masked, I live in fear of being discovered by the greater immortals who control it. I’m always watching my back. I want to be somewhere where I can walk around knowing I have at least some measure of protection.”

“If someone else wants to kill you, I’m not going to stand in their way.”

“I know that. But at least I won’t have to worry on a daily basis about you being one of them.”

Jerome fell silent, and to my complete and utter astonishment, I realized he was deliberating about this. I never would have thought it possible . . . and yet, as Roman had said, if Jerome’s mind had been made up, he would have smote Roman already.

Last fall, when we’d learned Jerome had his twin nephilim, we’d also learned that he’d had a wife long ago, a woman he loved so much that he’d fallen from grace to be with her. Did any of that love remain? Had it burned out over these millennia as a damned creature? Did he see any of her when he looked at Roman? When Jerome had helped hunt Roman and his twin, it seemed as though he didn’t care. He’d even helped kill Helena.