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The dude in the alley, he was royalty, too, but of another sort A de every sin, vice, and earthly nuisance iuns Now, you’d think that the Prince of Sloth, someone who rules the doerous But that’s where you’d be wrong A demon is a demon is a demon, and the princes were the worst of them all

“Well, keep or said “Just know that I had nothing do with those four that attacked you That’s not my style And need I repeat rinned openly “Trust me”

“Tough proposition,” I said “Now, if there’s nothing else you want to talk about, I’ to – ”

I heard it first Belphegor clearly heard it too, one of his ears pricking up at the first few sounds of popping I knehat thatinto existence, probably an advance teaate I flickedas it returned to the Vest me towards the mouth of the alley

Belphegor ran, too, keeping pace withfull well that he had h power to simply teleport to safety

“Why don’t you just runted as my feet beat a steady rhythm on the pavement “Would be the easiest way to avoid the Lorica”

Belphegor took a great gulping breath as he ran, his grin huge as he lifted his head to the sky “Oh, I’ I’ start”

I panted as I struggled to keep sprinting Belphegor’s shoes clicked as he hopped off the ground, striking the pavement one last tie, leathery wings burst fro his hoodie to shreds He turned his head over his shoulders just long enough to wink atup and away behind the clouds

Fucking show-off

4

The princes were bad news, at least based on the three that I’d already met Yet in a way, the Lorica was even worse forall of North A tabs on supernatural activity within what everyone liked to refer to as the arcane underground

For the reed to uphold the Veil, an unofficial pact of concealing our nature from huic and the occult was one that the norh it was interled and layered with their own

What ht in the heart of Valero, er pain in the butt to avoid them Valero, California was a weird little hotbed of supernatural activity A lot of the gods – yes, the saends – liked to keep tethers and portals to their own dimensions within the city

I’d ods – entities, as all the most powerful of supernaturals were knoeren’t the kind of people I’d love to hang out with Entities were like that Fickle, frequently cruel, and prone to popping up whenever the hell they damn pleased

Angels weren’t exempt from that kind of behavior, either But at least this particular angel, the one sitting on my apart a newspaper up to his face, a golden pen in one hand as he perused the classifieds section