"You have seriously screwed things up," said Mei.

"I have improved my situation," said Grace evenly. "And I can improve yours."

"I don't need your help-especially when I reveal that you were behind all this. The others will reward me. Jerome will reward me."

"You're an idiot! Do you want to spend the rest of eternity working for someone else?"

"My time will come," Mei returned smoothly. "And I'd rather work for him than you."

And without any more banter, they lunged at each other. It was a bizarre fight. Half of it seemed very human, complete with physical blows and grappling. At the same time, there was definitely a supernatural element to it, as they wielded the same kind of elements and invisible blows Grace and Roman had. The rain was pouring down, drenching both of them. With their abilities, they could have remained impervious, but they were too distracted by each other.

Roman was still crawling toward me. Holding onto the seal and the box, I hesitantly moved to meet him half-way.

"Can you open it?" I asked, handing him the box.

His breathing was heavy and pained, but he gripped the box like I had and tried to pry the lid open. His fingers clenched the wood, and I saw exertion on his face, both of a physical and magical level. At last, he grimaced. "No. Not a greater immortal power I inherited."

I looked up at the demonesses. There was a slight shimmer around both of them. As the battle intensified, they were in danger of shifting to their true immortal forms, which would be bad for me to see. "Who's stronger?" I asked.

"They're evenly matched," said Roman, following my gaze. "Grace is a little worn down, though."

I hoped it would be enough. Hugging the box to my chest, I watched them fight, ready to look away if they totally shifted form. I'd always thought they had a hard sort of beauty, but now, it was all hardness and no beauty, and it wasn't difficult to see that under their human facades, they were truly demons of hell. I could also see what Roman meant about them being evenly matched. Each time one gained an advantage, the other took it back.

Until, just when it seemed Grace might be getting the better of Mei, Mei suddenly came on full force with an attack of unseen blasts that caught Grace off-guard and made her stumble back. With inhuman speed, Mei reached forward and ripped the choker from Grace's neck. Equally fast, she threw it toward me and then turned back to block Grace, who seemed to realize the end was near.

I grabbed hold of the necklace with trembling fingers and pulled off the crescent-shaped piece of the seal. I placed it next to Dante's half, unsure what to do, but as soon as they were close enough, they merged together into one whole disc.

"Put it on the box," said Roman. "Hurry."

I pressed the seal onto the box's top, and again, it seemed to know what to do, embedding itself in the wood's surface, almost like it melted. And with that, there seemed to be no other option. I opened the lid.

The power that blasted out of it knocked both Roman and me backward, and at the same time, I felt a different sort of power snap into my body. The strings that bound my soul to Hell reattached. My immortal essence coursed through me, and with it, I felt all the other abilities Hell had granted me return. I felt strong. Charged. Invincible. My senses tuned back in to the unseen world, and the blast of powerful immortal auras filled the air.

And there, in the rain, light and color slowly coalesced out of the box and into a man-shaped form. A few minutes later, it took on a completely human appearance. One that looked like John Cusack. Grace and Mei halted their attack, both staring.

Carefully, hesitantly, Mei then took a few steps back. Jerome paid her no attention. He was focused on Grace.

"Oh man," I said softly. "You are so fucked."

CHAPTER 25

To her credit, Grace didn't cower. She stood firm, regaining her composure as she matched Jerome's stare with one of her own. In fact, she regained enough of herself that she remembered to avoid the rain. The drops parted around her, much as the fire had parted around Roman. Her suit and hair were dry again, crisp and perfect.

"You would have done the same thing," she told Jerome.

I couldn't see Jerome's face when he spoke. "I wouldn't have got caught. You did. You failed."

"You should be impressed with my ingenuity." She crossed her arms, almost defiant. "I'm useful to you."

"You are meaningless. I could blight you out of existence, and no one would think twice about it."

I wasn't sure about that. Demons smote each other all the time, but that didn't mean Hell liked it. It created paperwork, and if you were caught, you got sent to Hell's equivalent of prison. Grace apparently shared my doubts about how easy it would be for Jerome to kill her.

"I don't think so. As it is, you'll be lucky if you have your job when you get back. You got yourself summoned." Her eyes flicked to me and Roman, huddled together on the sand. "Your territory's in chaos. They'll send you off to a desk job-or make you somebody else's subordinate. Quite a fall from an archdemon's position."

"Not likely," said Mei, speaking up. "Not if we spin this right. Jerome's got powerful connections. So do I. And Cedric will advocate for him."

Her willingness to help and assurance about Cedric surprised me, but then, perhaps it was back to the know-thy-enemy philosophy. Grace glared at her former counterpart.

"You're the biggest fool of all here."

"Enough," snapped Jerome. "There's been enough villainous exposition here. The matter's done." I didn't have to see him to know he was smiling at Grace-only, I suspected it wasn't a very nice smile. "I will see you in Hell."

He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, what looked like black ice sprang up from the ground and crawled up Grace's body. She hardly had any time to scream because it coated her so quickly and then froze into place, leaving her immobile. She had become a thorny black statue.

"What is that?" I breathed.

"Kind of a demon stasis," Roman murmured back. "A prison of sorts. He's ten times more powerful than her-it's an easy thing for him to do."

I wondered then just how powerful Roman really was. He'd seemed matched against Grace, but I still wasn't sure if he'd been holding back or not, for fear of detection. As it was, he now had his signature turned off, appearing as a human for all intents and purposes. He'd done it just before Mei fully materialized.

"You need to get out of here," I told him.

"Wait," he responded.

Indeed, Roman seemed the least of Jerome's concerns as the archdemon studied Grace's frozen form. Her defeat had been anticlimactic, really. There had been no flashy brawl as everyone else seemed to have had today, but then, I supposed when you wielded the kind of power Jerome did, there was no need. I also had a feeling that Grace had been right about something. Even if he did have connections, Jerome probably couldn't risk doing anything rash to reestablish his control back in Seattle. He probably did want to torture her and blight her from the face of the earth, but binding her and taking her to face hellish justice-such as it was-was going to do him more good. Hell would be more kindly disposed to him if he followed their rules.

He turned and faced Mei, who stood off to the side. It was the first time I'd gotten a good glimpse of my boss since his return. His face was blank and cold, but I was pretty sure I could see the fury kindling behind his eyes. Being summoned was pretty much the worst thing that could happen to a demon.

"She was right to a certain extent," he told Mei. "It could have been advantageous to turn against me."