I lunged to the left, ditching my pink arrow to try and break his sight of me. I dug my heels in and ran as fast as I could. My legs were already screaming. That was a fallen angel. In Salem. Did he come here for me? Or stumble upon me as I did him? Which one even is he? I knew which were Asmodeus and Azazel. They were easy. Soneillon was a female and Astaroth had the snakes. So that meant this one had to be Mammon.

A tide to wash away his greedy bones. That was what Valathame’s message said. Mammon was the Angel of Greed. The line was about him. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that I ran into him, but I wasn’t so sure what she expected me to do about it by myself. I darted down a narrow path between houses, holding the skirt of my dress up off the ground as I ran as fast as I could through the darkened alley. Without slowing down, I reached into my bag for my phone, but I had no better luck than I did inside the hotel. It made no sense. Something else was at play here, had to be. I cursed and shoved my phone back.

A cold gust of wind swept over my back, pushing my hair into my face. I reached up to push it back and something slammed into my back. A scream ripped up my throat as I crashed to the sidewalk. Hands gripped my arms, then I was lifted off the ground. I screamed and thrashed in his grip.

“You’re a pretty little angel, aren’t you?” he grumbled in my ear, his breath smelling like coffee and cigarettes. “Perhaps that is why Sweyn wants you⁠—”

I threw my head back as hard as I could right into his nose. He bellowed. His grip loosened enough for me to swing my elbow into his gut. His breath was a burst in my hair, but he still had a hold of me so I threw my magic at him as hard as I could—and then I was falling. Sharp pain shot up my heels as I crashed to my knees. But I couldn’t stop. That was not going to keep a fallen angel away from me. I didn’t look back or up as I took off running again. His aura was a pulsing, sticky heat in the air behind me. I still felt the heat from his hands on my skin.

Everest, where are you?

A deep chuckle echoed down the narrow alley. “That all you’ve got, little angel?”