Page 44 of Roman

Phoenix was right.Roman couldn’t help but feel as if the demons had known they were coming.

“I agree with Phoenix.It means something that the demon was there.Many people knew about this mission, and we called in a lot of help to find Charlotte,” Maalik said, staring into his whiskey, his face bruised as he kept rubbing his chest.

I feel your pain, brother,Roman thought, rubbing his ribs again.

“Listen to yourselves,” Turel piped up from across the table, his brown shoulder-length dreadlocks bobbing as he tilted his head to the side, his amber eyes watching everyone closely.“You are seriously thinking someone betrayed us?I think you’ve all gone mad.”He laughed.

Roman took a sip of his whiskey as a few of the others argued their point with Turel, who seemingly wouldn’t have it that someone tipped off the demons.What caught Roman’s interest was the way Ariel, the red-haired beauty, sat there as still as a statue, her green eyes staring intensely at Turel, who seemed oblivious to her.

Something’s not right,he thought, watching Turel, the angel’s arrogance annoying him.

“Where were you back at the warehouse, Turel?”Roman asked, the room falling silent.

Turel stared at Roman, a small smile playing on his face.“I spent most of my time outside killing demons and taking out the surveillance cameras so there would be no evidence left for the humans.”His eyes never wavered from Roman’s stare.“Look, I’m sorry you guys got your asses kicked by the Archdemon.Next time, I swear, I will be front and center, getting my ass kicked just like the rest of you,” he answered with a shrug.

“I’m going to hold you to that, brother,” Roman told him in a calm voice.

The others playfully teased Turel, throwing insults his way and joking that he had been too scared to come into the warehouse.All the while, Ariel’s gaze never left Turel.

Something is off here.Roman felt unsettled.The whole warehouse situation had been a disaster, except, of course, getting Charlotte back.

“Ariel,” Roman interrupted the others.

Ariel whipped her head around, startled.“Why don’t you fill everyone in on what happened while you were all in Rome?”

A bruised face accompanied Ariel’s tired appearance.The black singlet she wore bared her shoulders and arms, which were covered in bruises and cuts.She constantly rubbed the center of her chest.The stab wound must be giving her grief.

“Demons have infiltrated the Vatican,” she told them.

“What?You’re kidding, right?The Order would never let that happen.No one has ever gotten into the Vatican,” Phoenix said, sounds of disbelief coming from the other angels as well.

She shook her head.“I’m afraid not.They slaughtered over half the cardinals and at least a dozen soldiers of The Order.The only thing they’ve found missing is an ancient scroll.”

Roman frowned.“A scroll?”

He looked around the table, noticing Armaros was missing.Maalik and Phoenix had taken him to his room as soon as they’d arrived.

He must still be out cold.His old friend was another thing for him to be concerned about.Sabriel and Marius were missing, too.Marius had taken Sabriel to her room to help her with her wounds.Ariel would no doubt fill them in later.

“They have thousands of ancient scrolls and artifacts under protection there, and all they took was just the one.They are sure?”He thought it odd nothing else was missing.

Ariel nodded.

“But why a scroll?”Maalik wondered aloud.

“It’s one of the oldest, written in ancient Sumerian,” Ramiel answered.

In his pursuit to speak to the Almighty, Ramiel had dedicated most of his time on Earth studying all known religions.He’d spent hundreds of years living in the Himalayas with mystical monks who thought he was a god.He’d traveled the world, studying every ancient text he could get his hands on.At one stage, he spent years studying everything in the Vatican’s vault.What the humans would allow him to see, that is.If anyone had a chance of knowing what was on that scroll, it was Ramiel.

“What I want to know is how the hell did these demons get into the impenetrable Vatican?”Phoenix asked, glancing around the table.“You can’t tell me no one thinks it’s crazy that these demons got in?”

“They have been trying for hundreds of years.They must have finally figured it out,” Turel said, taking a swig of his beer.

Ariel leaned forward, resting her battered arms on the smooth black table.“They had help.”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her in disbelief.

“There’s no other way.Someone showed them how to get in.There are secret tunnels, which we all know about.That’s how they got in.But what shocked me was that someone deliberately disabled the security to the door, granting them access to enter the building and the vault door leading to the library with the artifacts, which we all know is hidden and heavily guarded.”

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