Ethan had clearly misunderstood something.

Rae, the so called fallen angel, shot him a glare sharp enough to cut steel. Before he could say another word, she grabbed him by the arm and leaped straight off the thirty something floor building. The city vanished beneath them in an instant, cold wind rushing past as gravity pulled them downward.

The moment they cleared the building, her wings burst open behind her, wide and powerful, catching the air in a single smooth motion.

"Follow me," she called, already angling herself forward to fly.

"Hold on. Where are we going?" Ethan halted midair, hovering effortlessly. It was not fear that stopped him. He simply refused to follow anyone blindly, especially someone who still felt unpredictable.

Rae did not slow down. "You’ve heard the saying, the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

She did not wait for confirmation. Her wings tilted and she shot across the skyline like a streak of shadow.

Ethan’s eyes brightened as he considered her words. The implication settled quickly in his mind, and whatever hesitation remained disappeared. With a burst of speed, he chased after her, cutting through the sky like a beam of light.

They did not travel far.

Rae descended first, landing lightly on asphalt. Ethan followed, glancing around as his feet touched the ground.

An airport parking lot. A private one.

"We’re taking a plane?" he asked, confusion obvious. Flying halfway across the world by aircraft felt absurd when both of them could travel faster on their own.

"Yes. Italy."

Rae walked briskly through the rows of parked vehicles and stopped beside a sleek Maserati. She pressed her fingerprint against the door handle, and the lock clicked open.

Ethan reached for the passenger door.

It locked instantly.

The car’s windows were tinted almost completely black, opaque from the outside. Unfortunately for Rae, Ethan did not rely on eyesight alone. His soul sense passed through obstacles effortlessly.

"...Seriously?"

Inside the car, Rae had already begun stripping off her clothes. She pulled a suitcase from the back seat, revealing neatly packed outfits. Completely unaware she was being observed, she changed with brisk efficiency, tossing aside the silk nightgown she had worn earlier and replacing it with practical travel clothes.

Ethan rolled his eyes and looked away out of courtesy rather than necessity.

She finished in under two minutes. The passenger door unlocked at last.

Ethan climbed in without comment.

Rae started the engine and accelerated toward the airport exit, the Maserati gliding smoothly onto the road.

"Why can’t we just fly?" Ethan asked. "It would be faster."

"If you want to get shot down like a clay pigeon, go ahead."

She rolled her eyes, clearly convinced he was being reckless.

Of course, her judgment came from ignorance. Rae’s flight speed could easily be tracked by modern surveillance systems. Ethan, however, was an entirely different matter. Breaking the sound barrier meant little to him, and his soul power concealed his presence so completely that even advanced satellites would fail to detect him.

Still, he had no interest in arguing. What truly interested him was her destination.

Why Italy? Was the fallen angels’ headquarters located there?

After all, Vatican City sat within Italy’s borders.

Vatican City was almost absurdly small, barely 0.44 square miles, a country consisting of a single city enclosed within another. Yet Ethan knew size meant nothing. Something immense was hidden there. He could already imagine countless winged beings gathered behind those ancient walls while the outside world saw nothing more than a famous tourist attraction.

Their plane departed as dawn began to break over the horizon.

Rae had chartered a private jet.

Ethan stepped inside and briefly noted the luxury, polished surfaces, wide leather seats, soft lighting, everything designed for comfort and status. None of it interested him. He chose a seat, sat down, and closed his eyes almost immediately.

Rae tried several times to start a conversation. Each time she opened her mouth, hesitation stopped her. Eventually she gave up, lay back in her own seat, and closed her eyes as well.

Ten hours passed without incident.

When the jet finally landed, Ethan stepped onto foreign soil and learned their destination.

Rome, the capital of Italy.

The moment he heard the name, his gaze shifted instinctively toward a distant direction. Something powerful existed there. His soul sense could not quite reach it, yet the presence pressed faintly against his perception like distant thunder.

"That way..." Ethan narrowed his eyes.

"That’s Vatican City," Rae said, following his line of sight.

Vatican City. A country within a city, nested inside Rome itself.

Standing this close, Ethan could feel it clearly now. A vast and ancient force rested there, heavy enough to send a faint chill through him despite the distance. He remembered Vasuki’s warning before leaving: do not act recklessly. The old serpent had departed afterward without explanation, leaving Ethan to interpret those words on his own.

Now he understood why caution had been necessary.

"Where are we going?" Ethan asked. He doubted Rae intended to walk directly into Vatican City. Fallen angels would hardly choose to linger near such a place.

"Just follow me," Rae replied, offering no further explanation.

She led him across half of Rome, deliberately moving away from Vatican City rather than toward it. Eventually they arrived in a busy district filled with narrow streets and aging buildings, stopping in front of an unremarkable bar.

The establishment was closed during the day, but Rae entered through the back door without hesitation.

Inside, Ethan slowed.

Several people occupied the dim interior, scattered across booths and tables. At first glance they looked ordinary, yet his soul sense immediately revealed the truth.

Two figures carried energy signatures similar to Rae’s.

Fallen angels.

The others possessed strange, mixed auras that felt foreign to him. One booth held several strikingly attractive men and women whose gazes lingered openly on Ethan as he entered.

"Well," Ethan thought, meeting their stares without discomfort.

Their pupils were vertical slits. Their skin pale as milk. Long fingernails rested casually against wine glasses.

If someone claimed they were vampires, he would have believed it instantly. In truth, he already suspected as much.

"So this is the outside world," he murmured inwardly.

Creatures like these did not exist in the US, though his homeland had its own mutants and monsters. If North America held its legends, then naturally the Europe would have its vampires, werewolves, angels, and fallen angels. After everything he had seen, nothing felt surprising anymore.

In another booth sat several massive men with bulging muscles and heavy builds. Ethan extended his soul sense briefly.

Werewolves. Without question.

"Damn..." The thought slipped through him as he suppressed a strange excitement. It felt as though he had stepped straight into a fantasy novel made real.

Rae guided him deeper into the bar. The two fallen angels approached immediately.

"What are you doing here?" the male angel demanded harshly, his expression filled with undisguised contempt.

The change in Rae was immediate. The woman who had argued fiercely even while pinned beneath Ethan’s control now appeared subdued, almost shrinking under their gaze.

"I..." she began.

"You what?" the female angel cut in sharply. Her voice was cold and biting. "You’re a field agent. You returned to headquarters without submitting a request. Do you understand the penalty?"

Her face twisted with disdain as she looked at Rae like something beneath her notice.

Rae trembled.

Ethan watched, disbelief creeping into his expression. This woman was more than eight hundred years old, yet she stood here unable to defend herself. Where had all that earlier arrogance gone?

A pair of curses slipped from his mouth before he could stop himself.

Rae flinched immediately, trying to silence him, but it was too late.

The two fallen angels had noticed him long ago. They had simply chosen to ignore him. Now their attention snapped fully toward Ethan.

"Rae," the male angel said coldly, "not only did you return without authorization, you brought this lowly insect with you. You will share his punishment."

They reached out toward her, dismissing Ethan entirely.

Rae did not resist. Ethan sighed and shook his head.

"Get lost."

His voice was quiet, almost casual. He lifted a hand and waved it lightly through the air.

CRACK. CRACK.

Two sharp sounds exploded through the dim bar.

Every conversation stopped. One of the werewolves dropped his glass, staring in disbelief.

"Holy shit..."

The vampires leaned back with amused expressions, faint smiles forming as though a performance had just begun.

Ethan had barely moved, yet both fallen angels now stood frozen. He gave two clean slaps. One for each of them.

He had not used much force. Their heads barely turned from the impact, but the sound rang loudly, and within seconds the right sides of their faces swelled dramatically, puffing outward like balloons.

The effect looked absurd.

"Ah..."

"Rrgh..."

They remained stunned for two full seconds before pain registered.

Rae trembled where she stood. "It’s over... it’s over..." she muttered under her breath, regret flooding her thoughts. Bringing Ethan here suddenly felt like the worst decision she had ever made.

The two fallen angels finally screamed.

Ethan frowned.

"That’s annoying. Shut up."

He backhanded them again.

CRACK. CRACK.

The screams cut off instantly. Now both sides of their faces were equally swollen, their once refined appearances reduced to something closer to pigs. The discoloration was so severe it looked as if touching them might make the skin burst.

A collective shudder passed through everyone in the room. Silence settled over the bar as every eye turned toward Ethan, the atmosphere shifting completely in a single moment.