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excuse, which Anthony bought hook, line, and sinker. But we both know there's more to it than that."
    Rico thought Rafe cut Moira as some sort of excuse? A cover for nefarious activity?
    "I don't know what the hell you're talking about, Rico. What I told Anthony was the truth."
    "The truth?" Rico said. "I don't think you know the truth."
    Rico was baiting him and Rafe tried not to jump.
    "You took Moira's blood because you think it's a weapon."
    "Isn't that what you used it for? None of us even suspected her blood might hold the answers."
    "It was just a theory, I didn't know it would work. We were all going to die. I had to do something."
    "But you knew exactly what to do."
    "That's why you want her blood. You're going to test my theory, try to hurt a demon with it."
    "It's not a theory if you're using magic."
    "I'm not going to tell you again that I'm not."
    "I don't believe you."
    "Go to Hell."
    "You're playing a dangerous game, Raphael."
    "I'm not playing. I've never been more serious in my life."
    "If anything happens to Moira under your watch, I will kill you," Rico said. He strode toward the sliding glass door, but Rafe wasn't letting him have the last word.
    "The same goes for you, Rico. And I'm betting that your plans for Moira have more to do with her dying than mine."
    Rico hesitated a moment, then continued out the door without looking back.
    Rafe stared after him. You're on notice, buddy .

FIVE
    Rico and Anthony retrieved the tabernacle that housed the demon Envy from St. Francis de Sales Church, and Anthony drove Rico to the small Santa Louisa airfield where Rico had landed his private plane earlier that morning.
    Rico always kept his emotions under tight rein, which was why most people thought he was heartless. In many ways, he was; his vocation required it. He had no time for the pleasantries that were customary among people. Like Anthony and the others, he'd been abandoned as an infant at St. Michael's doorstep and raised by the priests and monks in the fortress they called home. He'd been trained to be a warrior for God. He knew nothing else. He didn't want to know anything else. His calling was clear, and he had never doubted it once in his thirty-seven years. Never.
    Which was why Raphael was able to get under his skin. Ex-hunter, ex-seminarian, the guy was full of doubt and questions. And he had the audacity to question Rico about the single most important, most dangerous battle they'd faced this century--which also could be the last. Raphael had never understood that he was a soldier, and soldiers take orders. Though he didn't agree with them, Rico had accepted Raphael's choices. Until now. Raphael was spreading his doubts to others, including Anthony. The cardinal had always supported Raphael's rash decisions, so Rico had kept quiet. But now Moira was showing shades of Raphael's influence.
    Without her doing exactly what she was supposed to do, they would lose. All her training, all the time Rico spent working with her so she would have the mental and physical strength to do what now very much needed to be done, would be wasted.
    He hadn't enjoyed being the lead trainer. He had to break down his people to ensure that they could not be broken when in battle. It was grueling work. Rico survived only because he knew it was necessary to ensure the survival of the human race. Few people wanted to go to war. But in the battle between the underworld and humanity, the underworld would never stop coming for them. It was relentless. Vicious. Evil.
    So Rico accepted his calling, but there were times he despised what he had to do. Such as when he had put Moira in a dungeon not unlike the one her mother had kept her in for nine days. Being physically trapped was Moira's greatest fear. Rico had to put her in the same situation so she could learn to survive if it happened to her again.
    God, how she had suffered! Rico had wanted to pull her out time and time again, but he didn't. He couldn't. And she was stronger for