We landed in Rome after dusk, the sun already a memory behind the concrete maze of Fiumicino. We picked up our suitcases, navigated customs, and stepped into the arrivals hall.

  Again, nobody reacted to Takezo carrying around his swords. The urge to ask him how that functioned intensified within me, but not enough to ask. This, I was going to figure out by myself.

  I half-expected a team of assassins, or Isabella herself, waiting at the curb.

  Instead, there was just a line of taxis, drivers leaning on their hoods, smoking and yelling at one another like it was the only way to live.

  “Can’t we just take the connecting train? I saw signs for that earlier.”

  Takezo shook his head. “Taxis are harder to follow. Fewer cameras, and no passengers.”

  We climbed into the first cab, a battered Fiat with cracked vinyl seats. The driver glanced at us, at the suitcases, then shrugged and floored it.

  As we sped down the street. Rome flickered past, and quite the view, actually.

  So many old buildings, which somehow weren’t crumbling.

  We reached Roma Termini just as the city slipped into the night. The plaza in front of the station was a chaos of buses, streetlights, people dragging luggage, and lighting cigarettes, the air thick with noise.

  Takezo paid the driver and then turned to me. “You ever been here before?”

  I shook my head. “First time.”

  Roma Termini at night was quite the sight.

  Every inch of the floor was occupied by a suitcase, a sleeping body, or a cluster of plastic chairs welded together to ensure maximum spinal misery.

  We shouldered through the tide, past espresso stands and phone card kiosks, all the way to the long digital board that displayed the departures.

  “So,” Takezo said. “Where to?”

  Right. I never told him. “Napoli Centrale.”

  “Naples… I’ll book us a hotel for the next few nights.” Takezo bought tickets from a machine that screamed at him in five languages. He picked one. The machine printed us tickets.

  I followed him to the platform, dragging my suitcase like a leash. As we walked up the stairs, I got curious about what types of trains they had here in Italy. The train station combined the modern and the ancient, so the train could be anything.

  The train itself turned out to be older than I am.

  The vinyl seats were patched with duct tape, and someone had covered the windows with advertisements for a brand of bottled water that I had never seen. Takezo chose the last car, farthest from the conductors, and we hunkered down in an empty coupe, sitting opposite each other by the window.

  We put the suitcases above us. The city passed behind the window, and the view from the train was much better than from the car.

  Rome sure was a sight to behold. I had to take some time to tour the city when things calmed down.

  Right now, I could enjoy watching it.

  For the first hour, we were alone. The rhythm of the train did its work, allowing me to relax in quiet calm. Maybe I should call Isabella to iron things out.

  Nah, it could wait for tomorrow.

  If she wanted to catch me in person, she would have intercepted me at the Rome airport. I took her not doing that as an approval.

  The coupe door opened, and a couple entered. They walked in as if they’d always belonged there. He was all jawline and messy hair, an unbuttoned shirt, and a brown leather jacket that looked more than worn stretched over a massive chest.

  He looked incredible, but still paled next to her. She looked like a delusional dream made manifest, hotter than a photoshopped model, dressed in a silver dress, blonde hair done into a complex bun that was only worn at high-class balls.

  “Evening,” the man said and sat down next to Takezo.

  She sat next to me.

  Slightly flustered, I looked out through the window. Not that Isabella wasn’t hot, but she barely felt like the same species in comparison to Miss Silver Dress. In the window’s reflection, I observed the man. He calmly relaxed onto the seat.

  Except that I couldn’t see the woman in the reflection at all.

  Wait a minute… they greeted us in accent-less English, which was not supposed to happen in Italy. I glanced at Takezo, who had tensed, and at the blonde next to me, who sat comfortably with her legs double-crossed.

  I focused on the System and activated the level scanner. First, the man.

  Name: “Hutriel” Jason Carter Laen’Ash

  Age: 39

  Level: 92

  Oh… I gulped dryly, turning my gaze towards the woman.

  Her blue eyes faintly flashed red, and my level scanner turned off.

  My mouth slightly gaped open. She counter-spelled the System. And it didn’t even seem to require any effort from her.

  “So,” Takezo said, voice betraying more tension than he would have wanted to, his eyes fixated on the woman. “What do you want from us, Cassandra?”

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  “Not much,” she replied, voice smooth and seductive. “Just need to ask you two a few questions.” She ran me down with a gaze. The expression did the typical shift people had when looking at me. I still couldn’t place it though, only that the final expression, once again, carried a hint of pity. “What are you two doing in Italy?”

  “That’s not any of your business,” Takezo cut her off.

  “I wasn’t asking you.” Cassandra formed a sharp smile. “You demon filth lie the moment you open your mouth. I wouldn’t waste my breath with you. So, shut your mouth and wait until humans are done talking. And then, we will see if your next stop is Naples or Hell.”

  Takezo froze. His hand instinctively jerked towards the katana hidden by his side, but he stopped himself. We were completely outmatched by the guy alone, and she seemed to be the one calling the shots.

  She ran her fingers through my hair, gently turning my face towards her. “Why are you two here?”

  The hot, gentle touch made my blood flow into all the wrong places. Shame, because I needed to think. I focused. If there was one thing Isabella had taught me, it was to focus on the matter at hand. Plus, she ran her hand through my hair to verify I didn’t have horns. There was nothing personal to it. “We have lost a friend, and we are going to visit her family.”

  Cassandra narrowed her eyes. “What’s her name?”

  “Francesca Amoretti.”

  She glanced at the man, at Hutriel.

  He nodded slightly. “She has been missing for almost a month. What happened to her?”

  “Demons,” I said, mightily unsure if I could talk about the portal. Actually, I knew the answer to that. I really shouldn’t talk about it.

  “Oh, really?” Cassandra asked. Her gaze bore into my eyes, and the whole world became hazier, only her in sharp focus. “What happened to her?”

  “She fell through a portal that leads to the future of Tokyo,” I said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “She died by Kallisto’s hand in there.”

  Cassandra frowned, clearly thinking.

  Shadow!

  Time stopped. Shadow appeared in his usual suit. “Man, this place sure is crowded,” he remarked, and sat between Takezo and Hutriel, passing through both of them to fit in. “Called me to fetch condoms?”

  “No. She’s using some spell to control me. How do I stop her?”

  “By having enough willpower to withstand the spell. Or you can punch her in the face. That always works.”

  I had invested precisely zero points into willpower. Great. “You told me to focus my stat points into a few stats. Now, I am completely defenseless when I need the other stats.”

  He shrugged. “Cassandra here is running a pure-intelligence build. She’s got a solid three to four thousand points stacked up in intelligence. Do you think you having like fifty willpower would have helped?”

  No… it was the same as when Isabella used her chains, or when Sora tried to cut me, or when I tried to wound Kallisto. When facing a specialty of a strong mage, I couldn’t do anything. “So, what am I supposed to do? Just, let it happen?”

  “Enjoy the ride. She’s really hot.”

  Because that was the important thing right now. Was he for real? I glowered at him. “You’re so useful.” Wait a second. “Why can you talk to me about her build? You never told me anything about anyone else.”

  “I can talk to you or not talk to you about whomever I please. And since I’m feeling generous, I’ll give you a hint. Your plan has a major flaw, in that you don’t have a new body for Francesca. Cassandra can solve that for you. Have fun.” He vanished, the time unfreezing with him being gone.

  “Where is that portal?” Cassandra asked, done with her thoughts, her voice an octave lower.

  “Somewhere around Naples,” I said. I couldn’t stop myself from answering, but this was technically true.

  “What other portals are there?”

  “We’ve got one near Philly. And then there’s one in Tokyo.” I noticed Takezo glaring at me, but I couldn’t refuse to answer. What did he expect me to do?

  “That explains you two being here together, but not why neither of you has been registered to be coming here to Italy. How did that happen?”

  I shrugged. “We’re kind of on a run. Literally. We aren’t supposed to be here, but it’s personal to us. I’m on my PTO.”

  Cassandra measured me again. She spared a glance at Takezo, but it was a look filled with disgust and murderous intent. That lasted only for a split second before she refocused on me. “Is that why Isabella keeps calling you? Because, truth be told, we are here investigating who Isabella is calling.”

  Oh. I drew my phone, and indeed, I had nineteen missed calls and six messages. I forgot that I put my phone on mute. “Yeah, she may not have been conscious when I announced my PTO.”

  “I see.” She smirked. “The little slut sure hasn’t changed. She arranged you like this, didn’t she?”

  “Like what?”

  She ran me down with her gaze again. “She did. Dial her up for me.”

  “Before you do,” Hutriel interjected. “Do you need refuge? Ultimately, we are here on behalf of the Vatican Inquisition, and thus, we can offer refuge and protection, should you need it.”

  I froze, stuck between dialing Isabella and answering the question.”

  Cassandra clicked her tongue. “Answer.”

  “No. I’m here willingly on personal business, and things are fine between me and Iseballa. Maybe even too fine.”

  “Lovely. Dial her up.”

  I pressed to call back to the latest of Isabella’s calls. Cassandra took the phone from my hand and put it on a speaker.

  Isabella picked up in a second. “About time you called back.”

  A vicious smile spread over Cassandra’s face. “Long time no hear, Pet. Shame you didn’t come yourself.”

  A heavy second of silence passed. “Casey, dear, what are you doing with Peter?”

  “What do you expect me to be doing with him?”

  “I don’t know. I’m far too normal to ever figure out the thought processes of a twisted monster like you. You should come around to New York sometime, so I can feed your face to dogs.”

  Cassandra chuckled. “I actually might. Tell me, do you still play with the tentacle dildo I gave you?”

  Even I caught a shade of red. So did Hutriel. Only Takezo remained stoic while Cassandra’s smile broadened.

  “Anyways,” Cassandra said as Isabella didn’t answer. “Junior will be fine, and you’ll have him back after his PTO ends. If he wants to return, that is.” She finished the call and handed me back the phone. “There. Your PTO has been approved.”

  By coercion. I took the phone and slid it back into my pocket.

  “Anyways.” Cassandra rose, sliding the door open. “I believe we are done here.”

  Hutriel also rose.

  “Wait,” I said. My heartbeat sped up, sweat emerging all over my body. “We are going to get Francesca’s soul back from Kallisto. We don’t have a new body for her yet, and I’ve heard that you could help with that.”

  Cassandra narrowed her eyes. “Who did you hear that from?”

  “My system agent.”

  She clicked her tongue. “Of course you did. He just cannot shut up, can he? The next time you see him, tell him to stick to his damn role.”

  Hutriel smiled. “What Casey wanted to add was that we would love to help you get a new body for Francesca. When do you need it?”

  Cassandra fired a short glare at him, but didn’t say anything, only her smile changed into a razor-thin one.

  “In three days,” Takezo said.

  She kept looking at me. “Is that true?”

  “Yes,” I confirmed. “In three days.”

  “All right. See you then.” Cassandra left the coupe, vanishing out of sight.

  “Enjoy Italy,” Hutriel said. “If you need help, stay in touch.” He drew a business card from his pocket and put it on the seat next to me. He left, closing the door.

  The air became breathable again. I picked up the business card. A white business card with a symbol of a cross on one side, and the name Hutriel, and a phone number, on the other side.

  I put it into my pocket. “That was weird.”

  “Sort of.” Takezo relaxed into the seat. “The weirdest thing is that I have survived it. Angels rarely let demons off when they find them outside of the designated territory.”

  Hmm… “There are a lot of angels, aren’t there? This is like the third level ninety-plus angel I’ve met in two weeks.”

  “Yeah. There are about forty-eight level ninety-plus mages. Thirty-six of them are angels, and then there are over a hundred angels at levels eighty-plus. On paper, the Vatican Inquisition is the overwhelmingly strongest secret society.”

  I frowned. “I haven’t seen them doing anything about Kallisto, though.”

  “That’s the strange part of the world beyond the portal. I would have expected a demon princess invasion to be met with a joint force of all secret societies, leading to a complete obliteration of the demons. But instead, that’s not what happened, and I found no indicator as to why.”

  Me neither. I watched the passing countryside from the window. Why didn’t the world unite against the demons?

  I didn’t know. But there had to be a reason.

  The thought made me lose my appetite for talking.