For a moment, the demon leaned back, saying nothing.

Then all seven demons began laughing.

“Hahaha! Did you hear that? Any girl would have died of fright by now, but not this Candi girl.”

“Okay then Candi. How did you know that this one gem was the only one worth taking?”

She took a deep breath. She could not tell them the truth. She had to make up something quickly.

“It was a deep pink color and I liked it.”

Another demon approached her. This one peered at her with curious eyes before speaking.

“You are lying. Your eyes give you away.”

He turned back to the first one who had carted her off.

“When you first saw her make the heist, did she look around at all the other gemstones?”

Tree-trunk arms shook his head. “No. She went straight for the Avgo. She knows its significance.”

The demon who asked the question turned back to her.

“You still have the Avgo, yes?”

“Yes.”

He stood up. “We’re done here.”

He reached out and passed his hand over her face, phasing her into oblivion.

???

When Candi came to, it was morning.

She was lying on the floor of her tiny apartment on the nineteenth floor of a high rise building in the middle of bustling LA.

Candi sat up and immediately gasped as a shrieking pain hit her. She was still fully dressed in her ops clothing.

Within the arm of her jacket was a hard lump the size of the gem she had stolen the night before. Why she still had this thing, Candi had no idea.

The seven demons had returned her to her home, along with the very item she had stolen from them.

She pulled off her ski mask and a tumble of honey blonde hair fell from its restrictive net. It cascaded down past her shoulders to the middle of her back.

She gripped her head and swallowed. Her throat hurt. Her chest hurt too, as if she had fractured a couple of ribs.

She tried to stand up and nearly fell back onto the floor. Her right hip was aching so badly, it almost felt as if she had broken it.

“Aaaaaahhh.” She groaned as she crawled to the bathroom. She needed to soak her body in some very warm water.

Within fifteen minutes, Candi had stripped herself of the black bodysuit and thrown a couple handfuls of epsom salt into the water.

She lowered herself into the steaming water and gasped as the heat caused her body to ache even more.

Candi looked down at her battered and bruised body and winced. She almost looked like a black and white Holstein cow!

As she rested within the water, the events of the night before flashed before her eyes.

She grimaced and recoiled from the memory of the black featureless faces of the seven demons with huge black leathery wings.

Candi reached out and touched the areas where the rock hard bands of the first demon had clutched her.

He had not been gentle, but what did she expect? She was a thief and he had caught her. She was lucky he hadn’t killed her!

What Candi was really surprised about was the fact that she was still alive and back in her safe little apartment, soaking her wounds.

By rights, she should be on top of that sky scraper, torn to pieces by those seven demons.

Candi took a deep breath and tried to clear her mind of the horrors of the night before.

She had no idea who or what those demons were, but if she didn’t believe in angels and demons before last night, she surely believed in them now.

She was still soaking in the now cooling water when her mobile alarm rang. She had run out of time to nurse her wounds.

Candi got out of the water and quickly got into her field clothes, a pair of jeans, white cotton button-down shirt, and a light jacket.

Within fifteen minutes, she had exited her apartment and taken the elevator down to the lobby.

No time to think about whatever supernatural event that had just happened to her. She needed to focus on the convention that was about to occur.

Candi stood out in front of the apartment complex and punched in the code on her mobile device for a driverless pod.

Within a few minutes, a small white pod stopped in front of her and she stepped in.

The interior was cool and smelled faintly of mint and sandalwood. It reminded her of something.

As she closed her eyes, the frightful vision of those dark featureless visages once again appeared before her.

The fourth demon, the one who had said that she had lied, that her eyes had given her away. He smelled like mint and sandalwood.

She quickly opened her eyes.

She could not sink back into that abyss. It was too scary to dwell upon.

Within twenty minutes, the pod deposited her in front of the San Lorain Hotel.

She had barely stepped out when a porter appeared at her side.

“Miss Candace Farrah.”

She gave him a startled look.

The man was not asking if she was Candace Farrah. He knew exactly who she was.

Perhaps the organizer of the event had given this porter her personal details. She wasn’t exactly an unknown. She had done quite a few of these fundraising events in the past.

“This way, Miss Farrah.” He took her arm and led her through the double doors that had swung open.

Candi pressed her lips together and accompanied him.

Obviously, they were expecting her.

It was also obvious that there was no backing out of whatever it was that would be waiting for her.

He took her to the elevator and slid into the interior with her.

As the elevator door slid shut, he stuck a card into a side slot and punched a few buttons on the panel.

Once the elevator began to move, he started humming a little tune that sounded like ‘C’est si Bon’.

“You’re French?”

“No.” He grinned. “I just like this song.”

“Ah.”

In no time at all, the elevator had “stopped.

The porter held the door and bowed. “This way please. The Princes are waiting for you.”

“Who?”

The porter smiled and indicated for her to step into the hallway.

As soon as she had stepped out, Candi knew this had nothing to do with the event organizer. She turned back around, but the elevator doors had closed.

There was nowhere to go but forward. The little hallway was not so much a hallway as it was a foyer.

From the foyer, there was only one set of double doors.

Candi gritted her teeth and walked towards the doors. Even before she reached the threshold, the doors had opened for her.

The first thing that hit her eyes was the bright blue sky showing from every single glass floor-to-ceiling window in the entire sun-drenched room.

As she narrowed her eyes to the brightness of the space, she could hear voices coming from one side of the room.

“Ah. There she is. The Cancandi girl.”

Candi turned in the direction of the sound.

Seven beautiful men of great height and varied colorings stood around a seating area.

Two of them were identical twins. The others looked as if they could be brothers, but their hair, skin, and eye colors were so different that it would have been difficult for them to have the same set of parents.

They were dressed in expensive looking suits and looked like exceptional specimens of human males.

But Candi knew better.

These were the seven demons who had haunted her the night before.