“What the hell are you talking about?” Kate snapped.

I put a hand to my forehead and scanned the crowd, hoping to find a distraction. “I’m so disturbed right now.”

Landon examined both of us a little too thoroughly with his gaze. “You mean if they banged? Yeah, man, two chicks is always hot.”

“No, no, I mean like if they banged and had a baby together. It’d be the hottest, most perfect baby ever.”

Landon looked like he was about to barf. “Babies aren’t hot, dude. That’s sick.”

“Well, it’s got to grow up first. But right? They would make the perfect baby together.”

I stared at them both. “You two are the dumbest people I have ever met in my life.”

“You don’t mean that.” Chris grinned.

“Yeah, I do actually. Good-bye.”

I grabbed Kate and dragged her onto the dance floor. There were so many people packed together that I lost her in the crowd in minutes, but managed to locate Will keeping guard by one of the exits. When I saw his bored face and nothing written on his skin, my fingers suddenly itched to scribble with a highlighter.

“Hey.” He greeted me with a warm smile.

I stood close to him, my shoulder touching his arm. “I’m ready to go when you guys are. I think I’ve made enough of an appearance. I really just want to go kill stuff.”

“Me too,” he agreed.

I frowned at him. “You didn’t let anyone write on you? How does that happen?”

He gave me a disapproving look. “Seriously, Ellie?”

“Ah,” I said. “You must have glared at them just like that. I’m the only one who’s not afraid of you. Maybe I could draw over your tattoos so they glow and write BADASS on your forehead. All I’ve got is pink, though. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Please, don’t. I beg you.”

I laughed and kissed him, standing on my toes to reach him. “You’re looking a little green there, homeslice. You going to pull through?”

“Not if you draw on me in pink highlighter, I won’t.”

I laughed even harder. “Okay, okay. You’re safe, I promise. Let’s get out of here. I’ll try to find Kate and everybody and say good-bye. Find Marcus, okay?”

He nodded and moved through the crowd. I pushed my own path through the dancing mob, hoping to spot Kate’s rainbow hair over the sea of bouncing heads. I really needed to get a leash on that girl, or some kind of tracking device for long distance. I passed by Evan and Rachel, who seemed to be having a blast dancing. I hadn’t seen much of either of them since they began dating, but it was good to have hung out with them tonight. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how much more of my friends I’d be able to see. There were some serious missions about to go down.

A pang of hurt hit my heart. I ought to be relishing every moment with them, living those moments to the fullest, and not wishing I were somewhere else. Once this was all over, I promised myself, I’d try to spend as much time with my friends as I could.

A girl screamed. I looked around, hoping the screams were just from kids goofing around, but the crowd seemed to have gone still. A few people were still dancing to the music, but in seconds all heads turned in one direction. When I followed their gazes and spun to the right, I bumped into the giant body of a demonic reaper.

Merodach.

I wasn’t breathing. I blinked a few times, hoping the mirage would go away, but it didn’t. He was difficult to see beneath the black lights, but his dark form blocked out a large number of highlighter-covered people. His horns spiraled toward the ceiling, his wings folded tightly to his back, and his moonlight eyes gleamed, the dim light reflecting off his pupils like an animal’s. It took me that long to realize he wasn’t in the Grim, and everyone else could see him just as well as I could. They were all staring at him, but he was only staring at me.

“No,” I whimpered, but the word was only an exhale. I doubted anyone could even hear me speak.

“Hello again,” Merodach said, his heavy voice like scraping gravel. “Gabriel.”

“If you have any honor at all, then you and I will take this outside.”

He smiled, an unsettling gesture. The crescent scar I’d given him was bright, gnarled, and angry-looking. “And let all these souls go to waste?”

Before I could respond, more screams erupted. My head snapped around. There were more demonic reapers in the room. They shoved through the humans, grabbed at them, and then all hell broke loose. Everyone was screaming now, darting in every direction, most fighting their way toward the exits. I saw one of the demonic reapers grab a girl and bite into her neck, splashing blood over himself and the bodies of other kids. Beneath the black light, the blood was like a bucket of neon paint tossed through the air.

I took off like a shot to help the girl, leaving Merodach at my back. The demonic reaper took another chunk out of the girl before I got to her and he bared his bloody teeth at me. He dropped her; legs tripped over her, bodies slammed into him, and I called my swords. Angelfire lit up the dark room like a bonfire and more shrieks echoed off the walls. I heard two voices screaming my name in the distance.

The reaper slashed his claws, catching my tank top and shredding a long tear through the front. One of my swords took off the arm that clawed me and the limb disappeared in flames as the reaper screeched in pain and fury. His remaining hand lunged for my throat, but I jammed my blade into his chest and ripped it back out sideways, turning his heart to giblets, and the rest of him erupted in angelfire.