As night fell and the last few meetings at the Regency Two wound down, Christian cleaned out the larger office and slouched in a chair. The upcoming meeting loomed before him like a harbinger, and he had to reassure himself that he'd made the right call this time.

This was not the first time Christian had dealt with the Archangel Gabriel. As far as Christian was concerned, Gabriel had been helping with the defense against HRL. Like most non-angels, he was not aware that Gabriel had spent almost all of his recent time being punished and tortured in the Hellhole for crimes that no mortal could remember.

But the Gabriel who teleported into the Regency's supposed processing office seemed markedly different to Christian. It had to be the same angel, because Christian himself had rigged the room to only allow teleports for specific energy signatures, and yet something about Gabriel was changed.

He'd dropped the glamours, Christian decided. Before, Gabriel had been hiding something behind an angel façade—not the same as a Fae glamour, but still noticeable if one happened to be looking for it. What he was hiding Christian did not know or care at the time, but he was now willing to bet that the distinct air and look of defeatism that pervaded Gabriel's spirit was probably the issue.

Who died? Christian almost asked. But he decided to stick to his plan. He already had one problem: Jaime himself. Jaime had been refused all forms of caffeine for the past three hours, just to reduce the likelihood of his doing something stupid to jeopardize everything.

"Welcome, Gabriel and Jael. Please have a seat." Christian gestured toward a pair of chairs placed opposite the intake table, another relic from the club's days as a humanitarian rescue center.

Gabriel shook Christian's hand and sat. Jael looked more suspicious. She folded her arms and leaned against the wall behind Gabriel.

Christian sat on the table. "We appreciate your taking time out of--"

"You said you had something to share with us?" Jael asked. She'd lived in the city long enough to know not to let New Orleanians talk.

Christian wrung his hands. "I'll ask you to reserve judgment until after we explain."

Jael shifted her weight from one foot to the other, a clear way of getting Gabriel's attention. He shot her a coded look, which she understood.

In Gabriel's view, Christian had changed just as much as Gabriel had. The Christian that Gabriel knew was headstrong, opinionated, and rash. Not deferential, and certainly not disposed to asking for mercy.

If an Eccentric changed his behavior, it was cause for concern. But this behavior was so uncharacteristic that Gabriel was willing to follow its thread. Besides, how often was anyone going to give Gabriel's own changes a chance?

"Very well," Gabriel said.

Christian opened his hand, and a wisp of something bluish-purple appeared for a moment. A second later, the door opened, and Reynardo entered with Jaime.

The Eccentrics were most protective of these two, their ancient vampire and their youngest scion, and Gabriel's interest was piqued. Why trot out the two most vulnerable of their number?

Gabriel got the sense that something was about to pay off for him in a major way.

After all, these were not men who often asked for favors.

Not without being aware of the bill coming due.

"Jaime." Christian nodded to the young man. Jaime glanced at him, then at Rey, then at Gabriel and Jael.

Then he unfurled his wings.

They were not grey, as a Naphil's wings should be. They were a pure, illustrious white. They phased out of his back and through his shirts and jacket as though natural, materializing to fill the room to its high ceiling and touching two opposite walls.

Jael did a wonderful job of hiding her surprise. Her mild scowl remained unchanged. Gabriel, however, made no such attempt. He could read a little bit more into Jaime's energy, mostly by dint of knowing more angels. Also, he figured that he had little to lose but more to gain by allowing the Eccentrics to witness his quite genuine reaction. His jaw dropped a bit and his eyes widened, and then his lips shifted into a grimace, noting the source of the young Naphil's power. Hanael's signature was unmistakeable.

For their parts, neither Christian nor Jaime looked pleased with having managed to surprise the Messenger, which was also a departure from their usual selves. Reynardo did not look happy either, but he was always the least likely of them to gloat.

Gabriel gave himself a long moment to appreciate the beautiful clusterfuck he'd just walked into. Then he started to draw up a force shield around the building, to prevent anyone from looking in and spotting their hapless friend.

"Already done," Christian said, opening his hand to reveal the wisp again. "We've been assuming that he'll be sought after by dangerous parties, so we've all done our parts to keep him well hidden."

"You don't know how right you are," Gabriel breathed.

Jaime folded away his wings. "That kinda doesn't sound good."

"Oh, it isn't," Gabriel assured him. "You're fucked. All of you, but especially you. Completely, totally, and utterly fucked. Every adverb of fucked."

Christian's jawline tightened, and as he got to his feet, he looked even more like Blair Winters than usual. Threatening; imposing. "We sought your good will tonight in order to align him with you, not make him a target to you."

Gabriel's grey gaze swept over Christian. "Don't misunderstand. I am no threat to him, nor to you, this night. Your problems are greater than that."

Reynardo looked worried on behalf of all three men. "Then would you care to explain, señor?"

"You can drop the act with me," Gabriel told Rey. "I know what you really are. As for the problems, they can be summarized as such: You are protecting an unfallen Naphil when, not an hour's drive from here, a conspiracy of Nephilim are looking to close their grand schemes of world domination using an unfallen Naphil."

Reynardo grimaced. "We haven't had the best luck of late."

"It gets worse," Gabriel said. He looked up at Jaime. "Do you know who your father is?"

Jaime shook his head.

"We were hoping you could tell us," Christian said.

"I will," Gabriel said. "It's fucking Hanael. As you've likely guessed, she's not fallen. She never will fall. I didn't know that she had you, but I'm sure Michael knew. She and Michael are close. And she coaches angel sports with Uriel."

"Wait," Jaime said. "'She'?"

"Angels are genderless. Or we're all genders. Depends on your perspective." Gabriel waved a hand. "Stay focused. Is your mother still alive?"

"Yeah." Jaime looked wary. "Why?"

"Not for long," Jael muttered.

"Right," Gabriel agreed under his breath. "Where is she?"

Jaime's frown deepened. "Los Angeles."

Gabriel stifled a desperate laugh. "Bring her here. She needs to be protected. When they find you, they might kill her even before they kill you."

"They?" Jaime asked. "As in Hanael? Isn't she the Angel of Joy?"

"She is," Gabriel replied. "And she'll make sure your mother is perfectly happy while she murders her."

"What about the nearby Nephilim?" Christian asked.

"That's what I'm telling you," Gabriel said. "The Nephilim need an unfallen Naphil so that they can access Heaven, which Jaime can do, incidentally. That means they need him alive, for now. But Hanael, and by extension my brothers, will want him dead. The Nephilim will find him, and then the archangels will eliminate the threat he poses by literally eliminating him."

"I've never been a threat," Jaime said.

Gabriel scoffed. "Don't waste my time, Jaime Francisco Rennick. The mortals may accept you as a bumbling but brilliant financial analyst, but Creation sees your full potential, and I still see through its eyes."

"Then what do you suggest?" Christian asked.

"We give Jaime to the Nephilim," Gabriel said.

Christian let his jaw fall. "Absolutely not."

"Listen," Gabriel said, leaning forward. "The Nephilim have already found him. If you control the way in which they pull him into their ranks, then you can keep him safer, and also, we have a better chance of stopping their plans."

"Then you want him for your plans." Christian advanced, his hands clenched into fists. "There's not a chance in--"

"In exchange for what?" Jaime asked.

All eyes turned to him.

"You want me to help you," Jaime said. "You know who I am. I don't have any interest in saving Creation, like you. I also don't care to destroy it. If you want me to care one way or the other about what happens with these Nephilim, you're going to have to offer something worth my while. That doesn't include vague warnings about my being captured by them, since any of my friends could own them five times over."

Jaime's apprenticeship among the Eccentrics was going well, Gabriel observed. The young man strategized like Blair and negotiated like René, even when neither man was present. Christian and Reynardo both looked ready to battle an archangel to keep him safe, a fool's errand in any setting. Perhaps Jaime was the most vital of the Eccentrics after all.

Gabriel formed his response while meeting both Jaime and Christian with his gaze. Jaime was the one who should be addressed, but Gabriel understood that the Fae were very particular about the chain of command. In this scenario at least, Christian seemed to consider Jaime under his protection. It would be rude to disregard him--and the Fair Folk took rudeness a good deal more seriously than their human neighbors did.

"If you help us stop the Nephilim," Gabriel said carefully to both Jaime and Christian, "I will ensure that Heaven recognizes you, Jaime, as an allied Naphil, which would shield you from the coming Nephilim purge and any future ones during your lifetime."

Jaime seemed ready to answer, but he glanced at Christian first. Christian was looking at Reynardo. The diminutive vampire had been watching Jael while Gabriel made his offer.

"Give us a moment," Christian said.

Gabriel nodded.

Christian, Reynardo, and Jaime huddled at the back of the room. The way their huddle formed, with Christian's back to their guests and the other two each on one side of him, was not accidental.

"It looks and sounds to me as though Gabriel has something deeper going on," Rey murmured. "I don't know that we want any part of it."

"But he's ready to give us exactly what we came here for," Jaime said.

"True," Rey said. "But Jael looks unconvinced of his trustworthiness. Coming from his first in command, that's problematic."

"What do you think he could be up to?" Jaime asked.

"I don't know. If the rumors are true--if he's fallen--then ostensibly he should be on his best behavior, trying to get back into Heaven," Rey said. "Maybe he plans to deliver your head on a platter to the Throne."

Jaime grimaced. "Let's say it's not that."

Christian seemed to be staring at the ground. He was in a telepathic conversation with Blair.

"Then what? There's something the two of them aren't saying, and I don't think we should trust it," Rey argued.

"I don't think we should trust it either," Jaime replied. "But I do think we should humor it. Maybe there's something in it for us."

Rey gave him a sharp look. "You're the center of this. Is this what you want to do?"

"Yes."

Rey glanced at Christian, who sighed, shook out his head, and looked up.

"Blair and René also say to go for it," he said.

"Then we're outvoted either way."

"Yes, and I don't like it." Nevertheless, Christian squared his shoulders and led the way across the small room.

"If I do this," Jaime said to Gabriel, folding his arms, "then I also want your word that my mother will be guarded and that you will be transparent about your plans."

"Agreed," Gabriel said. "I swear it."

"Well." Jaime rocked on his heels. "Okay then."

"You'll keep Jaime safe too," Christian warned.

"Of course I will," Gabriel replied with a cavalier wave. "He's no use to me dead."

Jaime frowned at that. "So. Where do I start?"

His question was interrupted by a series of curt, rapid knocks at the door.

"Come in," Christian called.

The door opened, and Melisma Ramijozana stepped into the room. She strode up to Christian and spoke in quiet Almajoyese.

"The Agents Rodgers are here," she said.

Christian rubbed his face. "I'll be there in a moment," he answered in Almajoyese, not appearing to notice the difference. Melisma nodded, turned, winked at Gabriel, and left.

Gabriel responded to the wink with a cool nod, but he failed to hide his shock otherwise. His eyes were blank and unfocused as a million calculations unfolded themselves in his head at once.

"There's an urgent matter that needs my attention." Christian's voice broke through Gabriel's wild thoughts. "Protection for Jaime and his mother, and full transparency on your end, in exchange for Jaime's cooperation with your anti-Nephilim plot. Are we agreed?"

"Yes," Gabriel said, rising to his feet. "No. Cooperation from all of you."

"Of course," Christian said.

"Then we're agreed."

"Excellent. We'll be in touch." Christian extended his hand--the non-wispy one--and Gabriel shook it, sealing the deal. Then Gabriel and Jael teleported out.

"Huh," Jaime said. "Why'd he get so shaken up when Mel walked in?"

"I don't know," Rey commented, "but I bet Christian here does, and I also bet Blair is very proud of him right now."

"He would be if he had any idea what I just did." Christian waved the wisp away. "Let's go. I've got work to do, and so do both of you."