“This is for protection.” Vince carried the spear in one hand, ready to swing it up and forward if anything threatened him. He hadn’t been fast enough back at the cave, but he was more ready now. He stayed back from Mallian, watching for any tricks. The big Nephilim’s limbs had not moved, and he could see the indentations in flesh and skin where the fairy’s invisible bonds still held him tight to the land.

“Protection from me?”

“Or from anything you’d send against me.”

“Me? Send? Why would I do that?”

“Because I foiled your plans for total world domination.”

“You’re the only one who’ll talk to me.”

“Don’t try to make me believe you care about having someone to chat with.”

Mallian sighed, a deep rattling sound that Vince felt through the ground. He looked around, cautious. He’d have to keep his wits about him. Mallian doesn’t care about me. I’m a human, and he hates humans.

“Anyway, it failed,” Vince said.

“What failed?”

“The pombero you sent to steal from me. I saw it off.”

Mallian’s expression did not change.

“You’re desperate,” Vince said. “Flailing in the dark. Can’t you accept that you’ve lost?”

“I accept nothing,” Mallian said.

Vince froze, then took a couple of steps closer. Mallian’s eyes flickered his way, but he still did not move his head. He looked so weak, so old. Vince had no idea how the Nephilim was even still alive, nor how long Grace would allow him to remain so.

“So you did send—”

“Talk if you want to talk. I’ll admit I enjoy our occasional exchanges. But don’t challenge me, and don’t assume anything about what might or might not have happened to you. Your mind’s too small to understand.”

Vince thought of saying more, but instead he took four steps forward until he was standing close to Mallian’s right shoulder. It was from this position that he sometimes dropped food into the Nephilim’s mouth, always from a height so that he could avoid those teeth should Mallian manage to lift his head from the ground. This time he offered no food.

He pressed the point of the stick against Mallian’s throat and leaned against it.

“I’m not afraid of you,” he said.

“Of course you are,” Mallian growled, and he projected every dark, terrifying aspect of himself into those words. His teeth clacked, his eyes narrowed and reflected all the dreadful things he had done, and his voice might have scared both angels and demons.

Vince stared right back. “I’m really not,” he said. “Not anymore. Even if you were up and walking around, I wouldn’t fear you. Every bad thing that can happen to me has already happened. Pain, torture, death, that would be a mercy.”

“Perhaps I just won’t take you when I return to the world,” Mallian said.