" Nephilim," I corrected. Hesitantly, I looked at Jerome. "Can I?"

 "You're asking me for permission? How quaint."

 Taking that as acquiescence, I began uncertainly, " Nephilimare the offspring of angels and humans. Like in that passage in Genesis. Where the angels fell and took human wives? Nephilim are the result. They have certain abilities... I don't know all of them... strength and power... like Greek heroes..."

 "Or like major nuisances," added Jerome bitterly. "Don't forget that."

 "How so?" Hugh asked.

 I continued when Jerome didn't. "Well... what I read said they used to cause strife and slaughter among humans."

 "Yeah, but this one's not going after humans," pointed out Peter.

 Carter shrugged. "They're unpredictable. They don't play by anyone's rules, and honestly, we're not really sure what this one's intentions are. It's playing a game, that's for sure, what with its attacks on random immortals and that note it sent Georgina."

 "Two notes," I corrected. "I got another one just before Lucinda died, but I was with Seth all night and didn't read it until the next day."

 Hugh and the vampires turned to stare at me.

 "You were with Seth all night?" asked Cody, astonished.

 "Which one's he again?" Hugh asked.

 "The writer," provided Peter.

 The imp regarded me with new interest. "What'd you do 'all night' then?"

 "Can we not discuss Georgina's love life right now, fascinating though it may be?" Jerome gave me a speculative look.  "Unless, of course, this Seth person is someone of strong moral character and principle whose life energy you plan on stealing soon in support of the greater cause of evil and its goals."

 "Right on the first, not on the rest."

 "Damn it. I need a drink."

 "Help yourself."

 Jerome wandered over to my liquor cabinet and sifted through its contents.

 "So how can we spot this nephilim ?" asked Cody, getting us back on track.

 I glanced uncertainly at Carter and Jerome. I didn't know any of the technicalities.

 "You can't," the angel announced cheerfully.

 "They can hide their signature too, then. Like higher immortals. “

 He nodded back at me. "Yes, they have the worst characteristics of both their parents. Ample power and pseudo-angelic abilities, mixed with rebelliousness, a love of the physical world, and poor impulse control."

 "How much power?" I wanted to know. "They're half-human, right? So half the power?"

 "That's the clincher." Jerome looked much more cheerful with a glass of gin in hand. "It varies wildly, just as each angel has a different level of power. One thing is clear: Nephilim inherit a lot more than half their parent's power, though they can never exceed it. It's still plenty—which is why I've been trying to knock sense into all of you to stay clear. A nephilim could easily blow one of you out of the water."

 "But not one of you." Peter spoke the words more as a statement than a question, despite the uncertain note lacing his voice.

 Neither angel nor demon responded, and another piece clicked into place for me.

 "That's why you guys are going around with your signatures masked. You're hiding from it too."

 "We're merely taking appropriate precautions," Jerome protested.

 "It ran from you," I reminded Carter. "You must have been stronger than it."

 "Probably," he agreed. "I was more concerned with you, so I didn't get a good sense. An angel in full form will freak most beings out—it'll kill a mortal—so I could have been stronger than it or not. Hard to say."

 I didn't like that answer, not at all. "What were you doing there anyway?"

 The angel's trademark sarcastic smile appeared. "What do you think? I was following you around."

 I started. "What? Then I was right... that day at Erik's..."

 "Afraid so."

 "My God," said Peter, amazed. "You really were on to something, Georgina. At least about him stalking you."

 I felt semivindicated, even if Carter obviously didn't seem to be the culprit anymore. Hugh had been right in accusing me of bias. I had really wanted Carter to be the responsible party for all these attacks, as a sort of payback for all the times he'd mocked me. His timely intervention in the alley only muddled my opinion of him now.

 Carter explained, "After realizing that first note was probably from this nephilim, I thought it'd be prudent to pop in once in a while since our friend here seems to have an especial interest in you. My intention was to catch him or her off-guard, not to help you, though I'm happy to have been able to. Plus, that day at Erik's..."

 He looked over at Jerome. The demon threw his arms in the air. "Sure? Why not? Tell them. Tell them everything. They already know too much."

 "Erik?" I prompted.

 "This thing, this nephilim..." Carter paused thoughtfully. "This being knows a surprising amount about us and about the immortal community."

 "Well... it's like you said, right?" asked Peter. "This nephilim would find one of us and follow him or her around."

 "No. I mean, yes, that's possible, but evidence indicates this one knows much more than simple surveillance might give it..."

 "For Chrissake," Jerome snapped, "if you're going to tell them, tell them. Stop speaking in riddles." The demon turned to us. "He's saying this nephilim is working with a leak. Someone's feeding it information about the immortal community here."

 Cody caught the insinuation just as I did. "You think Erik's doing it."

 "He's the strongest suspect," admitted Carter apologetically. "He's been here for decades, and he has the talent to sense immortals."

 "And to think, he spoke so well of you," I murmured, feeling aghast. "Well, you're wrong. It's not him. Not Erik."

 "Don't get huffy about it now, Georgie. He's not our only lead, just the most likely."

 "And I don't like it any more than you," the angel added. "But we can't dismiss any possibilities. We need to neutralize this nephilim threat soon. It's out of hand; we'll get outside involvement before long, and that's always a pain."

 "Then why aren't you letting us help you?" I cried. "Why all the secrecy?"

 "Are you deaf? It's for your own protection. This thing could blast you to Armageddon!" Jerome downed the rest of his gin in a flurry.

 I didn't buy it. There was more than just our safety at stake here. Jerome still hadn't come clean. "Yes, but—"

 "The committee meeting is over," he interrupted me icily. "Would the rest of you excuse Georgina and me?"

 Oh shit. I looked desperately at my friends, hoping they might stay and defend me, but they all scurried out. Cowards, I thought. None of them would cross Jerome when he spoke like that. Okay, I wouldn't have either in their shoes.

 Carter, I noticed, did not leave. The directive apparently did not apply to him.

 "Georgie," began Jerome carefully, once the others were gone, "you and I seem to be facing off more often than not lately. I don't like it."

 "It's not exactly facing off," I noted, squirming uneasily, recalling his display of power at the hospital and threat to "stash" me somewhere. "We're just having differences of opinion lately."

 "Differences that can get you killed."

 "Jerome, this can't possibly just be about—"

 "No more."

 A wall of power slammed into me, throwing me back against the couch. It was like one of those carnival rides where people stand along the sides of a round room that spins faster and faster until inertia pins everyone's limbs to the walls. Moving became agony. Even breathing was a struggle. I felt like Atlas, bearing the brunt of the world's weight.

 Jerome's voice boomed inside my head, and some brave part of me cursed his parlor tricks, even as the rest of me recoiled.

 I need you to listen to me for once without constantly interrupting. You cannot keep poking around here. Doing so calls attention to yourself, and you already have a lot more of it on you from this nephilim than I would like. I neither need nor want a new succubus. I've grown accustomed to you, Georgina. I do not want to lose you. I am more lenient with you than I should be, however. You get away with things no other archdemon would allow. I haven't minded indulging you thus far, but things can change— especially if you continue to be insubordinate. I can have you transferred somewhere else, away from this cozy delusion of a human life you've established. Or I can call Lilithin and report your behavior to her directly. I'm sure she'd he happy to do a little retraining with you.