Haatim had thought the flight to the Vatican long and uncomfortable, but the series of flights to get him from Rome to Phnom Penh in Cambodia proved far worse. He felt like he had passed through the ringer with this trip.

The demon had seemed far less intimidating while chained up and he could take the luxury of just looking at it. Scary, yeah, but not that threatening. Haatim had almost forgotten what they were capable of while it stayed pacified, focusing only on what he could do to it and not the other way around.

“Focus, Haatim.” “I am focusing.” He shook his head in annoyance. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Dominick made it to Mitchell’s shop later that afternoon after a few hours of driving, still unclear exactly why he’d headed out there. He had left the Reinfer estate after giving Trent a vague explanation of where needed to go.

Haatim clicked through the various websites somewhat absently, sleepiness creeping in. He had trawled through the information for days and had a mind-numbing headache from spending so much time in front of a computer.

Dominick told himself that he did this for the sake of what Frieda wanted him to do. After all, he couldn’t do his job if the security team wouldn’t let him.

Father Paladina and Haatim arrived at an old building in an older district of the city early the next morning.

Dominick spent most of his time in the lounge on the second floor of the estate and tried not to think about just how much money someone had to have that their estate would have multiple lounges inside the same building.

Haatim arrived at St. Peter’s Basilica Cathedral early the next morning. A car waited for him when he awoke and drove him from the hotel and across the border into Vatican City.