"Here's the way it works. You're going to find yourself at a crossroads. There's going to be decision you'll have to make, an action to be taken or not, a choice between polar opposites. All of what you are and what you have been and what you could be will be measured on your decision. And the consequences? They don't just affect you. They affect everyone. This is not simply life and death - it's about eternity. Yours. Others'. Do not underestimate how far this goes."
-Jim Heron to Veck
Envy is the second novel of the Fallen Angels series set in the same universe as The Black Dagger Brotherhood series. It follows Crave and precedes Rapture.
Along with Black Dagger Legacy, Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp, and Lair of the Wolven, Fallen Angels is a spin-off from the main series Black Dagger Brotherhood. Unlike the other spin-offs, this is a stand-alone series and Black Dagger Brotherhood is not required in order to fully understand the lore, characters, and story-lines of Fallen Angels. Each book was published alternately with the main series, but chronologically the series more or less takes place at the same time as Lover Unleashed. Envy was released after Lover Unleashed and before Lover Reborn.
Envy continues the story of Jim Heron and his mission to prevent all of existence from being wiped out in the war of good and evil.
Synopsis[]
As the son of a serial killer, homicide detective Thomas “Veck” DelVecchio, Jr., grew up in the shadow of evil. Now, on the knife-edge between civic duty and blind retribution, he atones for the sins of his father - while fighting his inner demons. Assigned to monitor Veck is Internal Affairs officer Sophia Reilly, whose interest in him is both professional and arousingly personal. And Veck and Sophia have another link: Jim Heron, a mysterious stranger with too many answers... to questions that are deadly. When Veck and Sophia are drawn into the ultimate battle between good and evil, their fallen angel savior is the only thing that stands between them and eternal damnation.
Main Characters[]
Other Characters[]
- Adrian Vogel
- Bails
- Bertie
- George Strauss
- Britnae
- Byron
- Colin
- José De la Cruz
- David Kroner
- Devina
- Dog
- Eddie Blackhawk
- Gary Peters
- Hannaford manager
- Jim Heron
- Nigel
- Ralonda
- Sophia's mom
- Susan Barten
- Thomas DelVecchio, Sr.
- Thomason
- Throe
- Tom Reilly
Mentioned or non-Speaking Characters[]
Plot[]
Warning[]
Readers should be aware that this book contains themes of serial killers who prey on female victims.
Reminder that this wiki contains spoilers so please proceed with caution.
Chapter 1[]
Detective Thomas DelVecchio wakes up next to the mauled body of a man and with a knife in his hand. The last thing he remembers was going to the Monroe Motel & Suites nearby to ostensibly take a murder suspect, David Kroner, into custody, yet he'd deliberately dressed all in black and came armed with a knife. Trying to remember what happened only brings on a migraine. Veck calls both 911 and his partner, José De la Cruz, and knows that he's screwed. His own father, Thomas DelVecchio Sr, is a serial killer who makes Kroner look like an amateur and Veck knows he has a dark side he inherited. Even if he doesn't have memories of it, he knows he attacked Kroner.
De la Cruz calls Internal Affairs officer Sophia Reilly, who's already on her way to the motel having received a call from dispatch notifying her of Veck's 911 call. Since Veck's father, Thomas DelVecchio Sr, is a notorious serial killer, she's more concerned about the situation that she might have been with anyone else. At the scene, she finds Veck standing still and composed to one side without any apparent signs of a struggles on him while medics work on Kroner. Sophia confiscates his knife as possible evidence, which is free of blood as are his hands, and explains that she's been asked to lead the investigation to avoid potential conflicts of interest within his department.
Even though it's apparent Veck thinks he's guilty, Sophia doesn't how he could have done that much damage to Kroner while staying mostly clean and uninjured.
Chapter 2[]
Jim Heron's pissed as hell over losing the last round, the rules of the "game," and Nigel. Adrian and Eddie are pissed at him for dragging them back to Caldwell to try and fulfill his promises to Sissy because they think he's distracted and not taking the contest seriously.
Going to Nigel, Jim demands to know who the next soul is and is frustrated when Nigel reminds him that he can't or else they'll forfeit the contest entirely. He does tell him, however, that returning to Caldwell was a good idea; since it's not a small city, Jim doesn't see that as much help at all. Colin reassures him that he will inevitably find the next soul, but they only end up arguing and Nigel dismisses Jim, who leaves without any assistance. This is a sign of his growing power and Colin and Nigel are concerned that, that means they're losing control over Jim.
Chapter 3[]
Sophia confiscates Veck's weapons and asks him to go home so the cops can begin processing the scene and to report to his sargent the next morning. At home, he notices an undercover cop car across from his house. Inside the car, Sophia gets an eyeful of Veck before he hops in the shower. She suspects an animal was behind the attack, but since his father's a serial killer, she's not entirely convinced. He comes out to hand over the clothes he'd been wearing and offers her coffee, but she can't look him in the eye after seeing his goods through the window. They talk and it becomes clear that he thinks he did it, but she doesn't. It's also apparent that he doesn't trust himself.
Chapter 4[]
Devina's moping because she's falling for Jim since he's strong and resistant to her wiles when he contacts her, demanding to know who the next soul is and uses sex as a bargaining chip. She agrees, but only if he'll give himself up to her whenever she wants. He agrees if it's the right name, which won't be confirmed until the end of the round. Then she quietly ensures that Sissy's watching from where she's trapped in the wall.
Since Jim hadn't told Adrian and Eddie what he was up to, Adrian's wondering what's taking him so long with Nigel, which only worsens when Jim does return and it's obvious that he'd been to see Devina. Adrian tries to warn him not to trust her, but Jim's determined not to lose another round.
Chapter 5[]
Heading to the diner near the station for breakfast, Veck picks up a newspaper and is relieved to see that the incident from the night before hasn't made the news yet. Sophia's there and she invites him to join her. She tells him her suspicions that it was an animal and he got knocked out by falling backwards and they argue as he picks holes in her argument. He doesn't want her to ruin her career because of him and she tells him that just because his father is who he is doesn't mean that Veck tore into that guy. He goes a step too far and she leaves, reminding him that their meeting with the sergeant's in twenty minutes. A gorgeous woman dressed to the nines enters the diner, but instead of being attracted to her like nearly everyone else in the diner, he feels in danger and leaves a minute later.
Jim, Adrian, and Eddie pull into the diner and he meets with Devina who tells him that Thomas DelVecchio Jr is the target.
Chapter 6[]
The sergeant agrees with Sophia's findings that Veck didn't do it. He likes Veck, but wants him on a probationary leash and pairs him with Sophia instead of de la Cruz to work on cold cases for the next month. Even though he's been told not to work on Kroner's case, Veck takes some time to look into missing person reports of women who fit Kroner's preferred victim type since they could be counted as cold cases.
Chapter 7[]
After seeing a cute admin flirt with Veck, Sophia hits Victoria's Secret to buy lingerie for the first time and walks out with several hundred dollars worth of stuff. Back at the office, the missing person Veck wants to look into is Cecilia Barten and he has a strong sense of knowing that she's dead. At her family's house, they meet with Jim, Adrian, and Eddie posing as federal agents and Jim sets off Veck's instincts; his intensity regarding Sissy doesn't do anything to help Veck's unease.
Chapter 8[]
Jim looks in Sissy's room and he feels closer to her while wanting to make Devina pay.
Chapter 9[]
Sophia and Veck talk to the manager at the market and he suggests a working dinner. She asks if he's going to his dad's execution, which according to today's paper, is scheduled for next week. Veck tells her no and that he hopes they fry the bastard.
Chapter 10[]
Jim researches Veck and his dad and he has his suspicions on what the crossroads will be for Veck.
Veck's attempt to make nachos at Sophia's place is a disaster and they end up ordering pizza.
Chapter 11[]
Sophia and Veck get hot and heavy. The arrival of the pizza makes things awkward and he leaves.
Chapter 12[]
The three angels go to Veck's place to search for a metal object to make a connection and dig up his memories of what happened with Kroner. While in the bathroom, Jim senses Devina's taint in the mirror that Veck keeps covered with a towel. All three of them have to go invisible when Veck returns home, but the cop seems to stare right at them. When he falls asleep, Jim takes his police badge.
Devina goes to see Kroner in the hospital and it doesn't look like he's going to make it. According to her, Veck was supposed to kill Kroner and win her the round, so she uses her powers to keep Kroner alive long enough to give Veck another chance at it.
Chapter 13[]
In their hotel room, Jim connects remotely with Veck and finds that there's basically two versions of him overlapping each other. When he tries to separate them, he finds that the double is a version of his dad. Demonic influence pours from the badge like smoke and infects Jim. Before it can reach his heart and kill him, Eddie dumps a bucket of vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, lemon, and witch hazel he had on hand in case of an emergency like this. Eddie explains that Devina's already deep inside Veck.
Adrian returns the badge and dips inside Veck's head to find that between Kroner's wounds being from sharp teeth and the altered memories a vampire was behind the attack.
Chapter 14[]
Sophia and Veck receive word that Kroner's took a turn for the better.
Chapter 15[]
Veck calls Jim in his guise as a federal agent for help on Sissy's case. Adrian and Eddie notice the necklace that Sissy's mother gave him and they argue, telling him that "she's just some girl" and to get over it since she's not his problem and he needs to get his priorities straight. There have been plenty of casualties in the war and to them, she's just another one.
Chapter 16[]
Colin and Nigel argue over how to deal with Devina and Nigel tells the other archangels of the rift between Jim, Adrian, and Eddie, leaving Jim on his own and unprotected against Devina. Nigel's given up hope of winning this round and possibly the entire contest. Byron tries to patch things up between Colin and Nigel not only because he's kindhearted, he doesn't want Nigel distracted by a quarrel with his lover.
Chapter 17[]
Jim and Veck meet to compare notes and Veck tells him that he'd had a gut feeling that someone was in his house the night before, but Jim gives nothing away. Veck assumes it's because the FBI's worried he'll follow in his dad's footsteps and the situation with Kroner didn't help any. Then he tricks Jim into revealing that he's not familiar with the Barten case and demands to know why Jim was in his house last night. Jim tells him that he has a special interest in him and Sissy's disappearance and asks if Veck ever feels like he's being pulled in two directions, like some other force inside him that makes him do things he wouldn't ordinarily do; things that remind him too much of his dad. Thinking he's crazy, Veck doesn't want to hear what Jim's saying, and the angel tells him to look down at his feet, then give him a call when he gets scared since Jim's the only one who can help him. Veck calls the FBI to check on Jim, but they don't have any agents by that name.
Veck tells Sophia about his suspicions of Jim and they both agree he needs to be reporting for impersonating a federal agent. She asks him if he wants to try dinner again, this time with her mother.
Chapter 18[]
Adrian and Eddie are drinking at the Iron Mask where Devina finds Ad to subtly inquire about Jim, which means she can't sense him, either. Rather than let on that anything's amiss, Adrian goes about business as usual and in doing so realizes that he uses sex to fill the emptiness he feels inside, which was how Devina was able to get inside him in the first place. He tells Eddie that he's going to die before the end of the war.
Chapter 19[]
Veck is nervous when he meets the man of a mountain that is Sophia's dad until he starts yanking Veck's chain. He has a good time with the Reillys over dinner as Jim watches from the backyard, which is where Dog finds him to keep him company and help protect him.
Chapter 20[]
Disguised as the office bimbo, Devina manipulates the officer doing intake and processing into taking her into evidence lockup where she leaves one of Sissy's earrings with evidence from the Kroner case that's still being processed.
Chapter 21[]
Sophia's parents approve of Veck. On their way back, she tells him of how she was born to two drug addicts and ended up getting adopted by her parents. At his place, they have sex and afterwards it hits her that he's practically a stranger that she was supposed to be overseeing.
Chapter 22[]
While leaving the Iron Mask, Adrian and Eddie are jumped by a possessed junkie with a knife.
Jim's thinking that maybe his boys were right when they accused him of focusing too much on Sissy and not the fate of the universe when he gets a call for help and a location from Eddie. Arriving to find Eddie seriously injured, Jim blows the demon attacking them apart.
Chapter 23[]
Veck senses Sophia withdrawing and acknowledges that she probably feels it was a mistake. For him, between meeting a woman's parents for the first time, a home-cooked meal, and his growing feelings for her, he feels like a normal person. Putting aside his own feelings, he does his best to making leaving easy for her.
de la Cruz calls Sophia to let her know that Kroner's up for answering questions and they make plans for her to see him at the hospital the next morning. She gets the sense that she's being watched and, remembering what Veck had said about Jim being in his house, she arms herself.
Chapter 24[]
Despite Jim's attempts to heal Eddie, he dies, devastating Jim and Adrian.
Chapter 25[]
Nigel is shaken by Eddie's death, he'd never imagined losing either him or Adrian and now Jim's going to have to take care of Adrian in his grief. It's a painful reminder that Nigel isn't powerful enough to have protected him. He goes looking for Colin, but stops, thinking that his own feelings towards Colin are a weakness. Determined to do his duty, he doesn't want to be compromised by his own desires.
Chapter 26[]
While Sophia's interviewing Kroner, Veck heads to evidence lock-up to see if there's anything connecting the murderer to Sissy.
At the hospital, Sophia has a strange encounter with Devina disguised as a nurse. Kroner does his best to manipulate Sophia during the interview and tells her that Veck is an old friend since like recognizes like. He seems oddly compelled to tell her of a victim with long blonde hair hidden in a cave in the quarry and that she suffered before collapsing into a seizure.
Chapter 27[]
In evidence, Veck sees a gold dove earring he recognizes as Sissy's and tells Sophia when she calls a minute later; she guesses correctly that he found it in the Kroner evidence and tells him that Kroner had described her hair and the supermarket where she was last seen alive. They argue over going to the quarry, but Veck's determined to discover what happened to the girl and resigned, Sophia tells him she'll meet him there.
Jim and Adrian take Eddie's body back to Jim's apartment where they stash his body in a crawl space and Jim casts a spell of protection over it. He promises Eddie that he won't leave him behind and they'll keep him with them until he returns to them. Jim's forced to leave Adrian and Dog at his apartment while he goes to Veck.
Chapter 28[]
Things are awkward between Sophia and Veck as they help search the quarry. He confesses to her that he's always felt like some part of his father is inside him and he's always been scared it would come out, which was why he was scared that he'd attacked Kroner. She tries to reassure him that he's not like his father, but he reminds her that she doesn't know him. He tells her that he's glad she left so quickly the night before because he could fall in love with her and she realizes the real reason she'd run was because she felt the same way and was scared.
He tells her of his mother's horrific murder and to remind him that one's fears don't always come true, she tells him that she sleeps with a copy of her adoption papers in her bedside table because she still has occasional nightmares that her biological mom will return and take her away. He tells her that he's falling in love with her.
Chapter 29[]
At the quarry, Jim follows a light coming from a cave to find Sissy's body therein and Adrian shows up for emotional support. Jim tells Sophia and Veck that he found the body before walking off behind a boulder and disappearing again. The two officers are perplexed when the only footprints they find in the mud in front of the cave are their own.
Chapter 30[]
Sophia and Veck both agree that Kroner couldn't have been the one to kill Sissy because it doesn't fit his MO, but there's still the earring and Kroner's knowledge of the location of the body drop.
Jim sits in, invisible, as de la Cruz breaks the news to Sissy's mom when he gets a text from Adrian. Jim goes to Sophia's house and helps Adrian fight off demons.
Chapter 31[]
Noting how Sophia's rearranged her furniture so she could watch every possible mode of entry without being caught from behind, Veck's angry that she didn't tell him that she was being watched, too. An unearthly screech puts them on high-alert, but the backyard's empty. They both wonder if they're losing their minds.
Chapter 32[]
Adrian and Jim trade barbs with Devina and Jim's amazed that Adrian's reined in his temper to remain in control instead of wildly attacking her.
Chapter 33[]
Sophia and Reilly have a sex-athon.
Chapter 34[]
At work, Veck receives a letter from his father telling him that he's allowed a final visitor and he chose Veck, but he's torn between walking away and looking into his eyes one last time to see whether or not they are alike. She makes plans to go talk to Kroner again and find out about the earring and how he knew where the body was if he wasn't the killer.
Chapter 35[]
While helping de la Cruz door-knock looking for witnesses to a shooting, Veck notices that he has two shadows, visual evidence of the dual sides to his nature that he's always felt. Remembering Jim's words to look down at his feet and call when he gets scared enough, he calls Jim, who's right behind him and casting no shadow of his own.
Veck's buddy, Bails, goes to the hospital with Sophia and on the way, he warns her about Veck. When Veck came to Caldwell, Bails helped him move and inadvertently came across Veck's juvenile record; it showed that he had every marker for psychotic, antisocial behaviour. Bails didn't start worrying about Veck until he punched the paparazzo and then the Kroner incident. He tells Sophia this because he's worried that something might happen to her and he's questioning whether the person he knows as Veck is just him pretending to be decent person until he can't keep the psychosis at bay any longer. Remembering what Veck had said about his dad cultivating his mom's love and dependency on him, Sophia thinks about how she fell in love with him in only four days.
Then Bails tells her that he thinks Veck planted Sissy's earring with the Kroner evidence since he'd had the opportunity at the Barten house and it wasn't in the initial log. Maybe he planted the earring because he was really Sissy's murderer. And his father's first victim had been strung up by the feet, bled out at the neck and wrists, and symbols carved into her stomach.
Sophia's convinced that he'd manipulated her in order to keep his job.
Chapter 36[]
Veck tells Jim that his dad wants to see him. Jim explains that he'll find himself a a crossroads where he'll have to make a choice between two extremes and everything hangs on that choice, not just for him, but the life, the universe, everything. Jim confirms his suspicion that he's half evil and he'll have to choose between his two halves. When Veck asks Jim what he is, he reveals his wings and tells him that he's been sent to help him so when he goes to see his dad, he wants to go with him.
Kroner took a turn for the worse and Bails and Sophia weren't able to get anything out of him. When Veck calls her, she tells him that everything between them was a mistake and she's going to come clean with her supervisor. She interprets his icy response to that as his true self, a psychopath.
Chapter 37[]
Veck meets with his dad, who tells him of his first victim and the description of what had been done to her matches what happened to Sissy; although he denies ever having actually killed someone, he's just repeating what he's been accused of. He tells Veck that he understands how alone and lost he feels, but he can find a better way if he listens to the part of him that's also in his dad. Continuing to maintain his innocence despite the screamingly obvious subtext, Senior tells him that he's talking about God and not murder; Veck just needs to accept who he is and give into the impulse. When Veck tells him he's going to hell, he says he's taking Veck with him because they're the same.
Senior tells Jim, who's invisible, that "she wants you to know that she suffered horribly" and says to Veck that he knows he brought friends.
Leaving the prison, Veck feels the evil within him spreading.
Chapter 38[]
Sophia, her supervisor, and Veck's sergeant plan on arresting Veck on charges of tampering with evidence after looking at the security footage from the evidence room where he perused the Kroner collection and had opportunity to plant the earring. Sophia's convinced herself that Veck's been lying all along and Jim's in on it with him.
On the way back from the prison, Jim gives Veck an idea of what they're up against and he asks if Sophia's in danger; Jim recommends staying away from her for her safety. Because of how Senior's first victim was killed, Jim and Veck suspect that's when Devina first got into him.
Chapter 39[]
Byron informs Nigel that Colin hasn't been seen since dinner the night before. Nigel finds him at Jim's apartment, watching over Eddie's body, and scolds him for leaving heaven without permission. He tells Colin that henceforth they will only have a working relationship, nothing more. They continue to disagree over how to handle the contest and Nigel reminds him that the responsibility falls on his shoulders, not Colin's. He tells Nigel that Eddie's death wasn't his fault, but he doesn't believe that.
Chapter 40[]
Veck's getting interrogated over the footage of him in the evidence room and since Jim Heron doesn't really exist, he can't prove he didn't already know where Sissy's body was. They get a lie detector and a warrant to search his house. Things are not looking good for him.
Chapter 41[]
At Veck's, they don't find anything, not even signs of things being hastily removed, plus he passed the polygraph. He didn't even deny wanting to kill Kroner.
Chapter 42[]
Worried about leaving Eddie's body unguarded, Adrian goes to check on him even though Jim warns him that's exactly what Devina wants, their forces divided. Sure enough, shortly after he arrives, demons attack him in the driveway.
Searching through online serial killer fan videos about DelVecchio, Sr, Sophia finds one with Bails in the background, then finds him in others once she knows to look for him. She realizes that if Bails was a fan of Senior, then he'd be upset if his idol was executed. By setting Veck up, the fandom would love the idea that the son was following in the dad's footsteps, or, even better, drive him to actually kill.
Determined to know the truth, Sophia calls de la Cruz for help.
Chapter 43[]
Adrian fights the demons and since they can't leave Eddie's body unattended, Colin creates mirror images of Adrian to help even the odds between their different numbers.
de la Cruz somehow obtains a copy of Veck's juvenile record and Sophia finds that everything Bails said was a lie; he thinks it's Bails on he video, too. On the way to her car, Bails attacks her and knocks her out.
Chapter 44[]
Bails calls Veck from Sophia's phone and it doesn't take long for him to realize his buddy is yet another one of his dad's fanboys who managed to get close to him before he realized what they were. Bails lets Sophia speak as proof of life and she apologizes for not believing him, that Bails lied to her and she knows he didn't do what he was suspected of. He then hands the phone over to Devina to talk to Jim, but first she tells him that the towel he keeps over his mirror only stops him from seeing her, it doesn't block her. She's always had her eye on him. She warns him to come alone or she'll kill Sophia using all of the tricks she taught to DelVecchio, Sr.
Veck draws down on Jim and Adrian and demands to know where Sophia is.
Chapter 45[]
Looking at Veck's double shadows, Jim gets an idea and goes incorporeal, hiding inside Veck. Jim gets them to the quarry where they find Kroner strung up in a cave, Bails' corpse nearby, and Devina tells Veck she'll only let Sophia go if he kills Kroner.
Chapter 46[]
The person hanging from the ceiling isn't actually Kroner, but an illusion to make Sophia look like him. Veck's ready to do it, but stops, filled with the conviction that it isn't his life to take. He doesn't hear or see anyone else nearby so for all he knows, she's already dead, and he knows that Devina can't be trusted. He refuses and she screams at him, telling him that his dad didn't so much as blink when she gave him a similar chance. He tells her that he is not his father and she leaves in a raging storm.
Chapter 47[]
The illusion drops, revealing Sophia, and the three of them leave.
As an EMT checks her over, Sophia tells Veck about Bails' lies and before they take her to the hospital, he promises to call her parents for her.
Chapter 48[]
Jim confirms that Veck passed his crossroads and did the right thing, he won't have to worry about Devina again, and he points out that Veck only has one shadow now. He encourages Veck to go to Sophia, but he refuses, wanting to walk away from her for her own good.
de la Cruz tries to get Veck to go to the hospital, but Veck continues to decline. They talk for a little bit about the big questions of God and heaven and the devil in hell. de la Cruz believes people can be saved, which gives Veck hope and he asks him to take him to the hospital.
Chapter 49[]
Nigel tries to warn Jim about the deal he made with Devina, but Jim reminds him that since they picked him, the archangel has to trust him. He does warn Jim that he'll recognize the next soul and it will be obvious. As usual, Jim hates the vague intel and Nigel tells him to trust him.
When Devina shows up to make good on their agreement, Jim tells her that he took a page out of her playbook and lied. That pisses her off.
Chapter 50[]
After getting out of the ER, Veck goes to see Sophia and runs into a huge guy in black leathers who tells him that he'll make things right about Kroner. The sight of him gives Veck a splitting migraine.
Sophia and Veck confess their love for each other and talk about getting married without actually saying the words.
Since Colin missed the celebration, Nigel goes to tell him that the Creator's changed the next soul on the line to Matthias, giving Jim another opportunity to save his soul. He catches Colin seemingly getting ready for a date and after imparting the news, he retreats to his own tent with his heartache. Colin finds him there and tells him that he was dressing up for him.
Chapter 51[]
Sissy's mother's sitting alone in her grief when Jim appears to her, but she's not afraid and tells him that she killed her daughter by asking her to go get groceries. His presence provides some comfort as she cries and he reveals his wings to her and that he's still wearing Sissy's necklace. When he leaves, she feels better knowing an angel's looking out for her daughter.
Epilogue[]
Sissy's death was blamed on Bails, whose death was ruled a suicide, which it kinda was albeit with some "help" from Devina.
As they're getting ready to have dinner with Sophia's parents, Veck proposes to Sophia, who says yes.
International Covers[]
