I hesitated. Was I? Who did I answer to now? Did Jerome’s orders still stand? “I . . . I don’t know,” I admitted. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to. If I should leave.”

“Well,” he said. “It wasn’t like you were doing that great a job.”

“I was too! I’d gotten them to back down before their so-called angel spoke to them. She told them not to trust me.” I frowned, wondering if I should go on. I didn’t know who to trust without Jerome around, and as Hugh had said, Cedric was still a very likely candidate for Jerome’s summoning, in spite of my gut instinct. “And you know . . . I think I have an idea about who did this and who that angel is . . .”

Cedric groaned. “Will you give up on Isabelle already?”

I shook my head and lowered my voice. “I don’t think it was her. I think it was Nanette.”

The incredulous look on his face didn’t change. “That’s as ridiculous as Isabelle. You were there. You saw Nanette come to me because she was simply worried about managing her own territory.”

“Funny, she had a similar meeting with Jerome not long after that.”

Cedric’s face kept that cool, skeptical expression that demons excelled it. But, I was pretty sure I could see a spark of interest in his blue-gray eyes. “That doesn’t mean anything.” Another gut feeling told me he was lying. He started to turn, but then Cody spoke, voice hesitant.

“Excuse me . . . do you know . . . are we mortal?”

Cedric hesitated a moment and then laughed. When none of us said anything, he glanced between all our faces. “Oh. You’re serious?”

“Why is that such a crazy question?” I demanded. “We’ve lost everything else that makes us immortal.”

“You’ve lost it to keep you out of trouble,” said Cedric. “Nobody wants you guys running around unsupervised with your normal abilities. So when you lose an archdemon, you get cut off. But you’re still immortal. You think you can get out of your contract with something as easy as death?”

“So we could get hit by a car and still be okay?” asked Cody.

“Of course. Sure, it’d take awhile to recover. You’d heal like a human, but you’d eventually heal.”

“What if we got decapitated?” asked Peter.

“Yeah,” agreed Cody. “Like in Highlander?”

Cedric rolled his eyes. “Don’t get decapitated, and we’ll never have to find out.” He focused on me. “Look, stay here for a while. Something tells me that the Angel of Darkness isn’t going to be making any appearances anytime soon. I suspect the distraction is over.”

“I agree. Thanks.”

He gave me a curt nod and started to turn. Then, he glanced back at Tawny and did a double-take. “What’s your name?”

“Tawny,” she replied.