“But won’t he recognize you?” I asked, confused as to why he’d start a fight if he knew Ava.

She grinned. “Like I said, I’m not his favorite person. I haven’t been for decades.”

“Just stay calm,” Will said to me. “We’re not expecting a fight. Just be on guard.”

His words made me relax some, but I couldn’t help feeling like something was already very wrong. We climbed the stairs to the third floor and found apartment 310. The door was ajar and the wood was splintered as if it’d been forced open. The ill feeling in my gut spun and festered. I knew we were too late.

Ava didn’t waste any time; she pushed the door open carefully. She summoned the long, vicious talons through her fingertips and crept into the living room. Will followed, calling his sword, and entered on the other side of her, his back close to the wall.

It looked as if a tornado had blown through the apartment. Couches were shredded, their stuffing blanketing the living room like snow. End tables were overturned and one was shattered. Something had smashed the television, and paper, shards of glass and plastic, and a potted plant were strewn everywhere. I looked at Ava, whose face was hard and pale as she examined the room.

Then a rancid and overripe odor filled my nose and I clamped my hand over my mouth, almost gagging. Something was very clearly rotting. “Oh, God,” I groaned. “What is that?” It couldn’t be the relic guardian. Reapers didn’t rot when they died. They either burned up in angelfire or demonfire, or they turned to stone. Was it human?

Will stepped by me, following the scent into the kitchen, where he stopped in the doorway, his expression turning grave. At his feet was a river of dried blood that had flowed from the kitchen into the dining room.

“What is it?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Don’t come in here,” he responded firmly. “Stay back, Ellie.”

Ava turned toward him, her gaze darkening. “Is it a body?”

My heart plummeted when he nodded. “Human. She may have heard the commotion and come to check on the place. The face is too badly damaged and her rib cage has been torn open. She was definitely fed on by reapers. There are no large bites, so she must have been killed by demonic vir.”

“How long has she been there?” I asked, bile swarming in my throat. Images of brutal reaper kills I’d seen before flashed in my head, and I was very okay with taking Will’s advice to stay put. I had vision of my own half-eaten body lying at the feet of the mysterious vir that Cadan had warned me about. I could be next.

Will didn’t look up. “Days.”

Ava’s jaw tightened and she stomped toward the back rooms. She kicked open a closed door, took one look, and moved to the second bedroom. Will and I followed right behind her, and in the mess of the bedroom, I could see congealed blood splattered across the walls and carpet.

And the pile of gray stones in the far corner. We’d found Zane.

Ava stepped up to the rubble hesitantly and knelt down, her movements slow and quiet. She picked up the largest piece of stone and cradled it in her hands. Biting down on her lip, she brushed her thumb across stone lips and a square jaw, all that remained of his face. Her shoulders slumped, and she drew a long breath before tucking the piece into the inside of her jacket. She was still and silent for several moments until she rose and stared at Will.

“I’m sure the relic is gone,” she said. “But I know where he kept it in every location he stayed in. I’ll check anyway.”

Will nodded and she passed us both, heading for the kitchen. She pulled open the drawer beneath the stove and slipped her hand inside, feeling left and right across the ceiling of the drawer. With a cry of rage she ripped her hand back out and punched the front of the stove, her fist tearing right through the steel with an agonizing metallic groan. She straightened and ignored the blood running down her arm and pooling at her feet. “It’s not here. They took it. They killed him and took it.”

“I’m so sorry, Ava,” I said, watching her carefully.

Her eyes snapped to mine. “Do not weep for me or for the relic guardian. He did his duty. The only thing of value that we lost today was the relic.”

My heart broke for her and for Zane. I didn’t understand why the angelic reapers valued their lives so little. All life was too precious to just throw away.

A flash of power behind us made Will and me spin around. A blond-haired girl—no, a vir reaper—had appeared in the doorway. I willed my swords into my hands and lit them up just as her large eyes, dark and glossy as obsidian, fell to them, widening in surprise.

“You,” she breathed, gaping at my swords.

Before I could attack, Ava blurred past me and grabbed the girl by the throat and crushed her back into the wall across the hallway. To my shock, the girl knocked Ava’s arm away, freeing herself, and threw a punch. Ava ducked and kicked high, striking the side of the girl’s head. The girl hit the ground, blond hair flying, and rolled right back up to her feet.

“Wait!” she cried, but Ava kept coming. Ava jumped up, kicked into the wall, and propelled herself higher, wheeling through the air to strike the girl again, but the girl leaned back and avoided the blow. “Stop!”

Ava landed and launched herself at the girl again with her foot-long talons springing free.

“Ava, wait!” Will shouted, darting past me to the battling reapers. He grabbed Ava’s shoulder and wrenched her back, throwing her into the wall and putting himself between the two. He called his sword into his free hand and poised it at the unknown reaper in warning. Ava struggled against his grip, blind with rage.