Chapter Ten

CHAPTER TEN

“Seems like no one’s home,” said Orrin, sweeping the open-plan log cabin with his gaze.

Khloé reached out with her mind, searching for others. The only ones she found were those of her lair members. “He was here very recently.” There was evidence of his presence all around them—the dirty skillet on the cooking stove, the remnants of recently burned wood in the stone fireplace, the pile of unlaundered clothes on the floor, the unwashed dishware that had been plonked in the sink.

She felt her nose wrinkle. “Not the tidiest guy in the world, is he?” She could never live like this. The sight of the mess actually made her shudder.

The cabin was pretty basic. In terms of furniture, there was a couch, small dining table, two wooden chairs, a bed, a night-stand, and a few outdated appliances in the kitchenette. It might have been cozy if it was in better shape.

A fine layer of dust coated most surfaces. Streaks of grime stained the windows. Flakes of mud and fragments of dead grass littered the floor and were wedged between the wooden planks. It surprised her that there were no patches of rot or evidence of leaks.

“Maybe he went for a walk,” suggested Ciaran, studying the empty gun rack near the front door. “What else is there for him to do around here? It’s not like he’d have to worry about being spotted by people who’d then report his whereabouts. This place is out in the middle of nowhere.”

Very true. Khloé peered out of a grimy window. There didn’t seem to be anything out there other than trees, thickets, and long grass.

“Can we be sure the cabin’s current guest is Enoch?” asked Richie. “David could have lied about his whereabouts.”

“It’s Enoch.” Kneeling near the nightstand, Orrin held out a framed picture. “Found this in the drawer.”

Jolene took the picture, and her face softened. “Molly. She was such a sweet kid.” The Prime tapped her nail on the silver frame. “I can’t envision him leaving this photo behind, so I don’t think he up and left. He’s around here somewhere, and he’ll be back sooner or later.”

“I say we lie in wait; surprise him,” proposed Ciaran.

“Maybe he never left,” mused Orrin, flexing his foot on a particularly creaky floorboard. He kicked aside the rug that covered it, revealing a cellar door.

Khloé exchanged a look with Ciaran.

Orrin dropped to his knees and put an ear to the hatch. “There’s movement coming from down there. I can hear scuffling sounds.”

“I doubt it’s Enoch,” said Jolene. “He’d do his best to stay still so that we wouldn’t hear him. Plus, he’d have had a hell of a time placing the rug over the hatch after closing it.”

“Not if he’s telekinetic,” Orrin pointed out, lifting his head to meet her gaze. “He isn’t known to have that ability, but we demons like to keep our secrets, don’t we?”

True enough. “I can’t feel any other minds here,” said Khloé. “Not even that of an animal, so it can’t be some form of wildlife scurrying around down there.”

“Something’s moving,” he said. “And my gut’s screaming at me to find out what it is.”

“Then do it, though I’m not sure what you expect to find.” Jolene cut her gaze to Richie, who stood near the front window. “Watch out for any signs of Enoch.”

Orrin unfastened the rusty bolt and then hauled open the heavy wooden door, making the hinges creak. Khloé peered down into the dark cellar. Dust motes danced in the shaft of sunlight that streamed through the open hatch and shined over a rickety ladder, a bare lightbulb, and the stack of boxes near the base of the steps. But it was what she could smell that snatched her attention.

Khloé backed away fast and put the back of her hand against her nose. “Something’s dead down there.” There was no mistaking the scents of death and decay.

Jolene’s mouth twisted in distaste. “It can’t be one of his puppets. We’d have felt their mind.”

“I’m guessing he killed and stashed someone down there,” said Orrin. “Only one way to find out.” He began a slow, careful walk down the creaky cellar steps.

Khloé looked at her father. “Any sign of Enoch, Pops?”

“None,” Richie replied without turning his gaze from the window.

Orrin paused halfway down the steps and tugged on the pull string near the bulb. The light didn’t flicker on. “Great. Anyone got a—”

A pale hand snapped out of the darkness and cuffed his ankle. It yanked hard, dragging him down the stairs. Orrin hit the floor hard and crashed into the boxes. Three rotting corpses stumbled out of the shadows and descended on him. His hoarse cries mingled with their grunts.

“Fuck.” Ciaran raised his hand and let out a telekinetic blast that swept the corpses off their feet and sent them sailing away from Orrin. He then teleported to the sentinel, grabbed his arm, and teleported him to Jolene’s side.

“Motherfuckers,” Orrin spat, covered in scratches, bites, and streaks of dirt.

Her heart thudding, Khloé quickly closed the cellar door and bolted it shut. “How the fuck didn’t we feel their minds? I can feel them now.” She could also hear them moving around, so Enoch clearly hadn’t withdrawn from their minds yet. “Shit, I say we get out of here right—”

The window near the kitchenette smashed as a black, smoky orb zoomed into the cabin and smacked Ciaran’s head. Khloé’s heart leaped into her throat as her brother fell to his knees, coughing and gagging. Fuck, no. Her demon hissed in pure fury.

In an instant, Jolene popped up her shield while Khloé and the others ducked and took cover. More black orbs were pitched through the air. They crashed into walls or furniture, rotting whatever they touched. Some hit Jolene’s shield but did no damage.

“Get behind me!” Jolene yelled.

Richie and Orrin followed the order but, seeing that Ciaran was struggling to fight off the strange gas, Khloé crawled to her brother.

“I’ll help,” she told him. “Combining our power did the trick last time.”

Sucking in air like a drowning man, Ciaran shook his head. It’ll wipe us out. You can’t afford to be weak right now.

Neither can you. Khloé clasped his hand and shoved some of her power inside him. His own rose to meet hers, and they melded into a powerful force that leapt on the gas, aiming to chase it from Ciaran’s lungs.

Even as Jolene, Orrin, and Richie launched balls of hellfire in the same direction that the black orbs were coming from, the imps all moved to stand in front of Khloé and Ciaran so that the shield would protect them too.

“Can you guys see him?” Khloé asked them.

“Yes,” replied Richie. “The fucker has a forcefield surrounding him. I can’t work out whether he’s trying to lure us outside or pin us in place.”

Or maybe he was keeping them distracted, she mused. But why?

Finally, Ciaran inhaled a long breath. “I’m good now,” he croaked, releasing her hand. He coughed and cleared his throat. “But I can’t teleport us out of here yet. Not strong enough.”

“There’s five of us against one of him,” Richie reminded him. “We’ve got this.”

The front door burst open. Corpses shuffled inside, slow and clunky with disturbingly vacant eyes. The ones in front were humans. Behind them on the porch were animals—a bear, a cougar, and several wolves.

Khloé felt her mouth drop open, and her equally shocked demon could only stare. Shit. None looked like fresh kills. They’d been dead a few days. And she strongly suspected they’d all died at Enoch’s hands.

“I can’t move my shield to block them or Enoch’s orbs will hit us,” said Jolene.

“You keep him occupied,” Orrin told her. “The rest of us will deal with his puppets.”

And then the cabin became a battlefield. Khloé set her sights on the bear, blasting it with a current of electric fire. Richie took on the humans, snapping their bones like twigs. Orrin concentrated on the wolves, hitting them with telepathic punches that knocked them off their feet. Ciaran fought off the cougar with telekinesis and hellfire, keeping it at a distance.

It would be fair to say that chaos reigned. Hellfire orbs sizzled. Electric fire crackled. Bones snapped in half. Bodies slumped to the floor. Voices cursed or cried out. Corpses grunted or growled.

Neither she nor Ciaran were at their strongest, due to having combined their powers only minutes earlier, but they kept up the pressure. Still, it helped that the corpses couldn’t move quickly, or they’d have pounced on the imps in a flash. That didn’t make the puppets much easier to fight, though. They were, as Keenan had once commented, the perfect soldiers.

You could knock them to the ground with pure power, but they’d get back up without a wince. You could shoot them with bullets of electric fire, but they’d do no more than flinch with the impact. You could break their necks or limbs, but they’d keep on coming—even if they had to slink like a worm along the floor.

And the human corpses could throw balls of hellfire. Two of which hit Khloé—one on her shoulder, one on her leg. Both hurt like holy hell, and the smell of her burning, blistering flesh was just as nauseating as that of the corpses that just kept on coming.

“Try to blind them,” Khloé advised. “If Enoch can’t see through their eyes, he can’t attack us.”

The imps smacked the faces of the corpses with hellfire, aiming for their eyes. Some dropped like stones, blinded and useless. Others kept coming, having dodged the orbs in time.

The corpses in front of them weren’t the only threat.

Enoch continued to sling black orbs through the broken window, uncaring that they couldn’t penetrate Jolene’s shield. Moreover, the corpses in the cellar had managed to punch enough holes through the hatch that one of them would no doubt crawl out of it any moment now.

“Motherfucking motherfucker,” cursed Ciaran, his voice thick with pain.

Khloé looked to see that the cougar had knocked her brother onto his back, its rear claws digging into his stomach, its teeth snapping at his face. Only the arm he’d placed against its throat kept it from biting down.

He wasn’t using his telekinesis to buck it off, which meant his reserves had to be super low. Her own were sadly no better. She flicked her hand, sending out a wave of electric fire that was strong enough to lash the wild cat like a whip and cause it to topple over.

She screamed through gritted teeth as hot pain knifed through her leg. Powerful jaws had clamped around it like a fucking bear trap. Khloé glared down at the dead wolf, knowing Enoch was looking back at her through the one eye that hadn’t yet been blinded. Well, she could fix that. She zapped its good eye with electric fire just as there was a loud crack. His broken jaws went slack.

She gave her father a grateful nod and pulled free of the wolf. Only then did she realize that all the puppets lay blind and still at their feet. The one that had half-crawled out of the hatch had taken a hellfire orb to the face, and its limp body blocked the other corpses from being able to exit the cellar.

“You’re all looking a little worse for wear,” said a voice that grated on her nerves and made her demon snarl.

Khloé snapped her gaze to the doorway. Enoch stood there, surrounded by his forcefield. Jolene had moved to block him with her shield, which was probably the only reason he hadn’t started hurling more of his weird black orbs at them.

“Khloé,” said Jolene.

Enoch laughed. “She’s too weak to destroy my forcefield at the moment. So, it would seem we’re at an impasse. I can’t penetrate your shield, and you can’t damage mine. I suppose we’ll have to continue this another day.”

“You think Molly would be proud if she could see you now?” asked Jolene.

His face hardened. “Don’t you speak of her.”

“We cared for her too, you know. We all mourned her. Her death was a tragedy—”

“Death is not the end. My power proves that. She could have lived, but you just had to interfere, and now I’ve lost her forever. I warned Khloé in her dream that I’d get my revenge on you both. It may not have worked today, but there’s always next time.”

“Molly was already lost to you, and you know it. Reanimating her body was selfish on your part. You treated her body like it was a doll, and you did it rather than deal with your own grief. If your mate had been alive, she’d have hated you for it. Just as your siblings hate you for resurrecting your parents and others they cared for.”

“Not all see the beauty in what I do. But I think you’ll be surprised to find out just how many people do.” A sly smile curved his mouth. “Bet you didn’t know some of the demons in your precious lair sought—and paid well for—my services when they lost their loved ones. It’s been happening under your nose for years.”

Khloé tensed. He could not be serious.

She almost jumped when Ciaran’s fingers linked with hers. The spurt of power that shot into her body wasn’t very potent, but it quickly blended with hers, strengthening her. We’ll probably pass out after this, you know that, right? she asked him. Melding their powers twice in a day never failed to leave them unconscious.

I know, he replied, but it has to be done.

He wasn’t wrong.

“I’m sure we’ll all see each other again soon,” said Enoch, giving them a little wave.

Adrenaline spiked through her. That rat bastard was going nowhere. She lifted her hand and let out a wave of electric fire that rippled through the air. It surrounded Enoch’s forcefield in a flash of speed, crackling and hissing.

His eyes widened, and his face fell. “No!”

Her demon smirked. “Oh, fucking yes,” hissed Khloé. She snapped her fist closed, cutting through the forcefield.

Jolene, Orrin, and Richie attacked as one, hitting the bastard with hellfire, telekinetic punches, and a snap of power that broke his neck. Enoch burst into a cloud of ashes that swiftly flew away. The corpses that were struggling to get out of the cellar instantly collapsed due to the breaking of the psi-connection. And Khloé, well, the world viciously spun around her.

Her vision blurred. A feeling of weightlessness filled her. Nausea roiled her stomach. The voices around her faded as the world just kept on spinning and spinning and spinning.

And then it went black.

*

“Drink it, Khloé, it’ll help you heal faster,” said Jolene, sitting beside her on the sofa.

Feeling her nose wrinkle, Khloé looked down into the mug, watching her tepid herbal tea whirl ever so slowly. She’d tried sipping at it, but her stomach felt jittery. Plus … “It tastes like swamp water.”

“Drink it in one gulp and get it over with,” advised Raini.

Khloé set the cup on a square coaster on the mahogany table. “I’d just vomit it back up again.”

She’d woken a few minutes ago, but Ciaran was still out cold upstairs in the spare bedroom. Jolene’s living area was packed with people. All were deep in conversation about Enoch, debating on what the lair’s next step should be.

The Prime was rarely alone. People waltzed in and out of Jolene’s house all the time, particularly kids looking for juice boxes, cookies, or other snacks. It wasn’t just that their lair members liked to be near the Prime. There was just such a welcoming feel to Jolene’s house. Who wouldn’t feel relaxed surrounded by the scents of baked cookies, lavender, and fresh coffee?

The earthy colors made the house feel even homier, as did the keepsakes, photos, and knickknacks. Jolene liked to be surrounded by the many memories she cherished.

Khloé let out a long breath. All she wanted to do was go home, shower the battle away, and just relax for a while. Her demon needed the downtime, too. But her parents seemed determined to keep her in their sight until her wounds healed a little more. To be fair, the burns were still ugly and raw.

A fist pounded on the front door. Khloé’s head snapped up.

“That’s probably Harper and whoever’s come along with her,” said Raini, who then walked out into the hallway.

The succubus had called the sphinx about what happened while Khloé was still in dreamland—something Khloé only knew of because Keenan had telepathically ranted at her the very second that she woke up for not calling him … hence why she’d slammed a mental door on him again. She didn’t need someone’s angry voice reverberating around her aching head.

Keenan stalked into the room, his face darkening as he caught sight of Khloé’s injuries. “The fuck? You said you were fine.”

“I am,” said Khloé.

His eyes blazed. “You’re covered in blisters, bruises, and puncture wounds! And you smell like death!”

Affronted, her demon gave him a haughty sniff. “Careful or all these compliments will go right to my head,” said Khloé, deadpan.

“Don’t downplay this. Why the fuck didn’t you call me and tell me you were attacked? I had to hear it from Harper, who heard it from Raini.”

“I was out cold until a few minutes ago. And before you rant at me for not giving you a telepathic holler for help, note that you wouldn’t have done it if the situation was reversed. Now I have a bitch of a headache, courtesy of expending a truck load of psi-energy earlier, so I’d appreciate it if you quit yelling.”

Keenan stared at her, his chest heaving. Then he leaned down, fisted the front of her tee, and slammed his mouth on hers. He kissed her hard, and she tasted his panic and relief. “I officially fucking loathe Enoch. Never met him, but I loathe him.” Don’t ever scare me like that again, he telepathically added.

He perched himself on the arm of the sofa, paying no attention to the imps who stared at them in open-mouthed fascination. Yeah, word hadn’t yet gotten around her lair that she and him had a thing going on.

Her mother looked pleased. Her father? Not so much. But then, he never liked any male sniffing around his daughters.

Knox frowned as his gaze swept the room. “Why do several of you look as though you went a few rounds with a tiger?”

“We can thank Enoch’s puppets for that,” griped Khloé. Her own claw marks and bites still stung like a bitch. She was supremely thankful that demons healed fast.

Harper folded her arms. “Can someone please walk me through what happened?”

“It was a trap,” said Jolene, a cup of coffee in hand. “Enoch knew we’d question the people he might seek help from. He knew David wouldn’t hold out against us. And he knew we’d come, expecting to find him all alone and an easy target. So he built himself a small army and waited. He planned to murder us all there and then.”

Orrin nodded. “He’d killed and stashed people in the cellar. They looked like dead hikers to me, but I can’t be sure. We couldn’t feel their minds at first, so my guess is that he kept them inside a forcefield until he was ready to pounce. Khloé managed to bolt the hatch shut before they could get out. That was when Enoch struck.”

“He targeted Ciaran immediately so that he couldn’t teleport us all away,” Jolene added. “I put up my shield to protect us while we struck back at him, but nothing hit him—he’d surrounded himself with a repellant forcefield. I realized too late that it was only a diversion.”

“Diversion?” echoed Devon.

“Yes,” replied Jolene. “He didn’t want us to see that he’d sent a small army of corpses to the cabin—some human, some animal. While I was fighting Enoch, the others dealt with his puppets, but it wasn’t easy. Eventually, only Enoch was left standing. We killed him, but not for good. He’ll be back.”

Keenan’s brow knitted. “How did you get him to drop his shield so you could kill him?”

Khloé lifted her hand. “With this.” She let flickers of electric fire play across the surface of her palm.

His brows shot up, and he looked sincerely impressed. “You can conjure electric fire? I’ve heard of the ability, but I don’t think I’ve ever before met anyone who possessed it.”

“It’s an uncommon gift,” commented Knox. He looked at Jolene, his lips curving. “It must aggravate you deeply that she hasn’t joined your ranks.”

Jolene’s mouth tightened. “Oh, it’s aggravating all right. She’d be a tremendous addition to my Force. Loyal. Organized. Meticulous.”

“But I think we can all agree that the people under my command would eventually unite to kill me,” said Khloé. She’d drive them insane. Often. Totally on purpose.

Harper tilted her head. “I think Devon once made a similar point.”

The hellcat nodded. “I did.”

“What’s the latest word on this blade that’s up for auction?” Jolene asked Knox. “I know there’s only two days left before the auction closes, but would the seller be open to canceling it and settling on a price?”

“I already tried that avenue; it got me nowhere,” said Knox. “He’s intent on going through with the auction. Be sure that I won’t allow anyone to outbid us. You’ll soon have the blade in your possession.”

Harper’s shoulders lost some of their stiffness. “Which means it’s only a matter of time before you have what you need to defeat Enoch. Good. Because he needs to die in a major freaking way.”

“Agreed. But we can’t kill him with the blade until he surfaces again,” Richie pointed out. “It’ll be a few days before his body has regenerated; he may attack immediately; he may wait.” A frown marred his brow. “He said that people from our lair paid him to resurrect their dead. Could he have been telling the truth?”

“I’d like to think not,” said Jolene. “But people can do irrational things when deep in grief.”

Tanner nodded. “It might be worth looking into.”

Jolene pushed to her feet and crossed to the fireplace, a restless edge to her movements. “He’s been part of our lair for over a decade now. We need to check how many of our demons have died within that period and have someone take a look at their graves.”

“Me and Mitch will do it,” said Orrin. “If we can’t positively say any of the graves haven’t been disturbed, we’ll pay a visit to their relatives—if there are dead bodies somewhere in their house, I doubt we’ll have a problem sniffing them out.”

Khloé sighed. “I need to go home and take a shower.”

“You need to heal a little more first,” Penelope insisted. “The hot water will hurt your burns.”

“But I reek.” Khloé looked up on hearing sounds coming from upstairs. “Ciaran must be awake.”

Relief fluttered across her mother’s face. “Thank God. I’m proud of him for joining your ranks, Jolene, but I still worry for him.” Penelope looked at Khloé. “Since you’re not a member of her ranks, is there any way you can spare me the worry I went through today and just leave this stuff to the people whose job it is to protect our lair?”

“None of them can destroy Enoch’s forcefields, so, no.”

Penelope’s shoulders slumped. Honestly, Khloé was surprised the woman wasn’t slurring. It was clear she’d been drinking a lot today—probably to calm her nerves, since one of her worst fears was that she’d lose another of her children.

Just then, Ciaran padded into the living room, his face soft and flushed with sleep. He frowned at Khloé. “You woke before me?”

“Blame Keenan,” she said. “He telepathically yelled at me, and I’m pretty sure it’s what yanked me out of sleep.”

The incubus curved a hand around her nape. “I needed to hear your voice and know you were okay. Slamming a mental door on me was mean.”

“Yet fun.”

“Will you always find joy in pissing me off?”

“It’s looking likely.”

He sighed. “I feel so cared for.”

“Do you? How strange.”

He just shook his head.

A little while later, imps began to trickle out of the house. Richie had to usher Penelope out, though, as she wouldn’t stop faffing over Ciaran and Khloé.

“We should all probably head out, too,” Harper told her lair members.

“I’ll be staying with Khloé,” Keenan stated.

“I figured as much,” said the sphinx.

“I’m glad you two finally got your acts together,” Jolene said, her eyes dancing from Khloé to Keenan. “You’ve been circling each other for far too long.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Ciaran. Groaning, he leaned back in his chair. “God, I feel awful. My throat is raw, and my chest hurts.”

“I feel your pain. Literally.” Khloé grimaced. “It’s been two weeks since I inhaled whatever gas Enoch produces, and I still feel like a bag of shit.”

Keenan frowned. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t see any reason to. My body had to tussle hard to fight the gas, so I’m not surprised I’m feeling the after effects of that.”

“What sort of after effects?” asked Raini.

“Nothing major,” said Khloé. “Sore throat. Achy chest. Tiredness. The occasional headache. I have a weird chill in my bones that I can’t explain, too.”

“Describe the gas for me,” said Knox. “Was it transparent? Did it have a scent? Was it like a hazy breeze?”

“No, none of that,” said Khloé. “It was a black, smoky sphere. He threw it at me. It tasted like rot and decay, and it burned like a bitch.” Her stomach sank when Levi swore and exchanged a grim look with his Prime. She looked from one male to the other and asked, “What? What’s wrong?”

“Yes, what is wrong?” demanded Keenan, his muscles suddenly rigid.

“That wasn’t a gas,” said Knox. “Not even close.”

Ciaran leaned forward in his seat. “Then what was it?”

Knox stroked his mate’s back, who’d turned to him, the image of anxiety. “The essence of death,” he said softly.

A boom of silence hit the room.

“No. No.” Jolene shook her head. “Nobody has the ability to conjure that. The ability doesn’t truly exist. It’s a myth.”

“No, it’s not,” said Levi. “It’s just so exceedingly rare that most believe it isn’t real.”

Knox nodded. “I had a childhood friend who could conjure it. I saw him throw an orb just like that at a cat. The animal died within minutes.”

“But I didn’t,” Khloé pointed out. “I fought it off. So did Ciaran.” By combining their powers, but that was something she’d keep to herself.

“You’re alive, but it’s possible that the orb did some damage to you,” said Knox.

Keenan cursed a blue streak, still stiff as a board. “What kind of damage are we talking about?”

“I don’t believe I’ve met anyone who survived such an attack, so I can’t say for sure,” said Knox. “There’s no way of knowing.”

“Maybe there is.” Jolene grabbed her cell phone from the table. “I’m going to call Vivian and have her take a look at you both.”

Keenan took Khloé’s hand. “Who’s Vivian?”

“An incantor within our lair who works as a nurse in a local hospital,” replied Khloé. “What makes her an excellent nurse is that she can see inside a person’s body.” So perhaps she could give them the answers they sought.

Khloé looked at her brother, who was staring into space. Raini was talking to him, but he didn’t appear to be listening.

It didn’t take long for Vivian to arrive. Jolene invited her to settle in the armchair and then told her about the whole death essence extravaganza.

Vivian studied Khloé closely. “Your cheeks are a little flushed. Do you feel hot, even with the chill in your bones?”

“Sometimes,” replied Khloé.

“Let’s take a closer look at you. After that, I’ll examine Ciaran.” Vivian knelt in front of her and weaved a pattern in the air with her hands. A light breeze built around them, and then Vivian stared hard at Khloé’s body.

A tense hush fell around the room as everyone watched and waited.

Vivian’s brow creased, and she jerked back a little. “What is that?”

Khloé tensed, her gut rolling. “What’s what?” But the incantor didn’t answer. “Tell me what you see.”

“Just a minute, honey,” said Vivian, her eyes roaming over every inch of Khloé.

A horrible tension built inside Khloé, and her inner demon went on high alert.

Tapping her foot, Jolene glared at the incantor. “Vivian, what do you see?”

Finally, the nurse sat back on her heels, her face a mask of concern. “I hate to say this, Khloé, but … it looks as if you didn’t drive all of the death essence out of your system, because tiny particles of it are floating around your bloodstream.”

Gasps and curses filled the room.

Khloé felt herself pale. “You’re sure?”

Vivian nodded, clearly distressed. “I can’t honestly say what the particles are doing to you, only that it isn’t good. I suppose it’s much like an infection. Or a virus. You’re feeling the symptoms of it. And given that you’ve been infected with death itself …”

Bile burned the back of Keenan’s throat, and he pressed his lips tight together. He heard what the nurse didn’t say. Khloé will probably die if she doesn’t get help.

His nostrils flared. This could not be fucking happening. It couldn’t.

For all his power, he could do nothing to protect the person who mattered most to him. He couldn’t kill Enoch permanently, and he couldn’t destroy the infection that would no doubt soon ravage her body if they didn’t find a way to stop it. Which they would. Keenan wouldn’t accept anything less.

“How quickly will the infection progress?” Keenan asked Vivian, who was now examining Ciaran.

“I don’t know,” she replied, her gaze on the male imp. “I’ve never come across a case like this before.” Once she’d finished her examination, Vivian swallowed. “You have a small dose of it in you, Ciaran, just as your sister does.”

Ciaran cursed. “This is just fucking great.”

“Shit, fuck, shit,” Harper hissed. “Is there anything you can do for them, Vivian?”

The nurse lifted her shoulders. “I could form protective shields around their vital organs, but that’s pretty much it. And those shields won’t last more than a month—the particles will eventually rot them.”

“The only thing that will combat death essence is pure life,” Knox added.

“Meaning only an angel can heal them,” Devon guessed.

Hope spiked through Keenan. “There are angels who’ll heal for a fee.”

“True, so the twins’ situation isn’t hopeless,” said Tanner. “But angels are always on the move, so they can be hard to find and pin down. Also, they won’t always intervene—sometimes they claim a person’s death is ‘meant to be.’”

Her eyes glittering, Jolene pulled in a breath through her nose. “Well, neither Khloé nor Ciaran are ‘meant’ to die yet—it’s nowhere near close to their time.”

Too right it isn’t, thought Khloé. “Where do we look for an angel? They spend most of their time at hospitals, clinics, and homeless shelters, right?”

“Places like that, yes,” said Vivian. “One visits my hospital twice a month, posing as a doctor so he can help heal some of the human patients. I’ve never met any others.”

Jolene’s eyes sharpened. “When did the angel last visit your hospital?”

“A week ago. If he sticks to his usual pattern, he’ll be back in seven days.”

“With any luck, we’ll have found another angel before then,” said Jolene. “If we don’t, we’ll speak with him. We will get you healed,” she told Khloé and Ciaran.

“I know you will.” Khloé had every faith in her grandmother. “I’ll do what I can to locate one,” said Knox.

Nobody argued it was lair business. Not when two lives were on the line.

Jolene’s gaze slid back to Vivian. “Get building those shields around their vital organs—that’s step one to fighting this thing.”

The incantor knelt in front of Khloé again and bit her lip. “The sensation isn’t going to be pleasant.”

Khloé sighed. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

Vivian hadn’t been kidding. The magick crackled through Khloé’s body like mini jolts of electricity. She flinched a few times but was mostly able to hold still.

Done, the incantor tilted her head. “How do you feel?”

“Edgy and jittery.”

“It’ll pass soon, once the magick fully settles into your cells.”

“Good.” Khloé looked at her grandmother. “My mom can’t find out what’s happening, Grams. She’s terrified of losing another one of her kids. It keeps her a prisoner in her own mind. Don’t put her through the worry and panic that this would cause her. She’s been through enough.”

Jolene sighed. “I know, but—”

“Khloé’s right,” said Ciaran. “Our mom doesn’t need to know. We’ll find an angel soon and then all will be fine.”

“It will,” agreed Keenan. “Because there’s no way either you or Khloé are dying. No fucking way.”