The first time I’d seen Jonah fight, he’d ripped a man’s head clean off his shoulders, making the feat look effortless. It was only recently that I’d learned he had a demon inside of him—one created by a faith magick ritual gone wrong. He’d told me back then that he had control. Seeing him now, appearing as if he’d grown two sizes, I wondered if that was true. Could he really control something so deadly?
“Nicole?” he said, making my name a question. His eyes slid toward me, taking in my predicament. “You trust me?” His voice had gone a few octaves deeper.
“With my life,” I said.
He dipped his head in acknowledgement and refocused on the people who stood in complete silence. There was no warning—no, ‘Brace yourself,’ uttered from him at all, before he let his head fall back and his demon crawled out of his chest.
A mishappen humanoid shape with stringy white hair surveyed the room out of black-rimmed burnt amber eyes. Its skin resembled cooled lava, pock marked with craters so deep, it looked as if someone had carved out its skin. When it left Jonah, it resembled a child in shape and form. But once free, it started to grow. Someone screamed—possibly me—as it loomed up over everyone.
Jonah stepped away from it and came over to me. Salome had run back toward the safety of her family and the rest of the worshipers.
“How did you find me?” I asked while he cut me free from my bonds. The original stab wound had started knitting itself back together. Rachel had told me I healed fast. I had never been awake when this happened. Now, I could almost feel the skin as it closed in on itself. “Can you take the knife out?”
He pulled it out fast, and I bit down on a scream. Pain radiated down my arm, and I wondered if my healing would also mitigate the obvious damage done. If I went by the amount of pain I felt, my arm should have fallen off by now.
Once freed, Jonah helped me up, and I quickly scrambled off the altar. He pulled his shirt over his head and handed it to me.
The room had gone silent. I turned and got a good look at how many people were there. Damn. Along with the remaining Young family, at least fifty robed figures stood surrounding the dais. Salome was right. There would have been no way possible for me to rip all of their souls out. A pregnant pause ensued as they all stood, staring rapt at the twisted thing in front of them.
“Why isn’t he attacking?” I asked.
“He’s waiting for me,” Jonah said.
I looked up at him. “And what are you waiting for?”
“I needed to free you first.” He turned from me and focused on the demon.
It swiveled its now-massive head toward Jonah and smiled.
Slowly, the demon slithered toward the Young family and the fifty others who still stood in stunned silence. It crawled across the rock, and they all backed up until they were flush against the furthest wall.
Eyes wide, they screamed out as the demon reared up, its body expanding. In one massive rush, it dove into the first person. Blood sprayed, coating the walls, as the demon ripped out of the woman, sending body parts flying.
A guttural cry escaped its mouth. It mashed its mighty jaws, blood dripping from deformed teeth.
One of the girls on the dais stirred as a long strand of blood flew from her body toward a woman who, deciding she had nothing to lose, stood her ground, ready to fight.
The bowls under the altars rattled as more and more blood flew into the waiting hands of the women mages. I guess we had our confirmation: They were using blood magick.
The demon stared down at women, who had formed a circle—backs to one another. It laughed, the sound echoing around the room.
“Help me untie the women,” I said to Jonah.
I went to Monique first. After untying her, I examined her wound. While the cut shouldn’t have been fatal, the blood loss could be if we didn’t get her and the others out of here in time. I touched her skin. Cold. I shook her slightly. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at me out of glassy eyes.
“Hold on for just a little while longer,” I said.
She nodded and closed her eyes again.
After untying the rest of the girls, we turned back to the fight. They were at a standstill. Someone had thrown a blood blade at the demon. He stared at it protruding from his body. I turned away, looking for Gavina. She stood off to the side, her gray aura blazing. She locked eyes with me. Pure hatred filled her.
“Gavina is mine,” I said.
“Wait,” Jonah said, placing a hand in front of me.
“What is it doing?” I asked, staring at the demon. Why hadn’t it attacked again?
“It’s feeding off their fear.”
I glanced up at Jonah. It looked like the demon wasn’t the only one feeding off their fear.
“We should attack!” I screamed.
He looked down at me. “We’re outnumbered.”
“Call the others.”
“No cell service down here.”
Fuck this. I couldn’t just stand here. I centered my thoughts again, going for my magick. Turning my gaze to Gavina, I found her corrupted soul, and before I could reach in and rip it out, the demon roared, breaking my concentration.
Like some crazed ping-pong game, it dove in and out of the women. They screamed, breaking their circle and dropping the blood blades. Now that the demon was attacking, they finally decided it was a good idea to try and get away.
Blood surged out with each of the demon’s kills, coating the walls of the cave.
While they ran, we went around the circle and helped the women who hadn’t been bled out to stand. Five remained laying on the altar. Two were dead, and three were close to it—including Monique.
Jonah helped me get her up. “I can take her out of the cave,” I said.
Careful not to touch the knife, I tried to secure her arm around me but she moved away. She opened her eyes and stared at me. “Freedom is so seductive,” she slurred, then smiled. Then, faster than I believed possible, she yanked the knife out of her shoulder and lunged at me. I managed to sidestep her, but only barely. She fell to the ground and stayed there.
I didn’t have time to process it; didn’t have the mental space to deal with the betrayal. I snatched up the dagger and turned, waiting for the next girl to attack.
One of the other freed girls started for Jonah, dagger in hand.
“Jonah,” I yelled, and he whipped around to where I was staring. The girl let out a guttural cry and ran at him. The blade made contact, slashing across his back.
I ran toward him to stop the next stab, burying the dagger in the girl’s back. She screamed; the sound bounced off the walls. I turned in time to see another girl charging me. They weren’t eager to save their own lives. They were going to allow themselves to be sacrificed—willing to give Gavina the blood she needed to become a god.
“Can you fight?” I asked Jonah, keeping my eye trained on the other women now closing in.
“The cut is shallow. I’ll manage.”
“I haven’t had time to practice the moves all of you use during battle. But I will watch your back.”
“Our moves?” he asked, straightening.
I gave him a quick glance. “When all of you fight, it looks choregraphed. Like you all train daily for battle.”
He chuckled at that. “Just try not to get hurt. Alek might break my mind in two.”
I smiled at the thought and charged the first girl, slashing down as I reached her. The surprise on her face made me angry. I used that rage to fuel my movements since the pain was trying to push me down. I promised Jonah I’d have his back, and I wasn’t going to break that promise.
Jonah snatched the next girl up. Her nails raked down his arm as he lifted her above his head and in a surge of power, slammed her to the ground. I winced at the crunch. There was no hesitation; no allowances for her being a girl. All he saw was a threat, and he dealt with it. Some part of me wanted to scream at that—to yell, ‘No fair!’ like we still lived in a time when women were supposed to be put on a pedestal and treated like wilting flowers.
We no longer lived in that time. And women could be just as deadly as men.
As evidenced by the remaining girls, who despite knowing they would die, continued to charge at us. We continued to beat them off, using minimal force since they had been weakened by blood loss. As we carved our way through them, I completely lost sight of the demon. Only the cries of his victims told me he was still there, playing his bloody game of ping-pong.
When the last of the girls lay dead, I glanced out again at the destruction and found Gavina, covered in blood—chest heaving up and down, glaring at us.
I had only a moment to register this before Jonah buckled, grabbing at the side of his head. She was using her magick to hurt him.
“I will kill you,” she uttered.
“Not today, bitch!” I yelled and charged. She stopped her assault on Jonah and tried to attack me. My magick flared, knocking her back. I guess she didn’t learn the first couple of times.
And then, everything went silent.
The demon turned, covered in blood, and stared at me.
Shit.
I stopped in my tracks.
He continued to watch me.
“Jonah,” I said in a whisper.
“He’s pure magick, Nicole. If he attacks…”
“It would be a magickal attack,” I finished, and ran at Gavina, knowing now I would be safe from the demon. She braced herself, her robe flying open, revealing her naked, glyph-covered body underneath.
Before I could reach her, a bloody body rammed into me, knocking me to the ground.
Salome.
Another bloody figure rushed Jonah, and when it got close enough, Jonah rammed his fist into its face. The robe fell back, revealing a man. So, there were a few men participating. I thought it would only be women. The demon rushed at the man and dove into his body, and when it flew out, blood and guts flew everywhere. It licked its fingers and once again focused on me.
I had managed to hold Salome at bay as her arms pinwheeled. She was being fueled by pure rage and frustration, and possibly, fear. I planted my hand on her chest and shoved her away. She scrambled back up, teeth gnashing, hands curved into claws, and started for me. Why didn’t she use her magick? Had she been battle trained?
The knife had skidded away when she knocked me to the ground. But given her decision to attack me with her hands rather than her magick, I figured I didn’t really need it. So, when she was in range, I lifted my elbow up and slammed it into her chin. Blood flew out of her mouth as she fell back. The demon moved in close, its burnt amber eyes studying me. I stayed rooted in place. It licked its bloody lips and slowly turned away from me, setting its sights on Salome.
“Kill her,” I said.
It turned back to me and smiled. My eyes widened, and a chill ran down my back.
It opened its mouth. “Blood,” it said and dove into Salome.
I glanced back at Jonah, who stood, his hand wrapped around a man’s neck while he stared wide-eyed at me. He too seemed confused as to why his demon had followed my command.
Of course, Gavina chose that moment to attack. Pain radiated down my spine as she drove a knife into the space between my shoulder blades. I fell forward and landed hard on my stomach, smacking my face against the rock floor. The world swam, and my vision wavered in and out. Gavina’s screams were like nails running along my skin. I had no idea if Jonah or his demon would save me. But it didn’t really matter, anyway. If they didn’t, I was going to die. Well, at least I tried.
Blackness crept around my vision.
Booted feet came into view.
The knife was yanked out of me, and I screamed.
Jonah’s warm hand pressed against the wound. “Hold on, Nicole,” he said, his voice sounding far way.
“Is it bad?” I mumbled.
He laughed without humor. “She managed to miss your neck by a centimeter. Can you control your healing?”
I tried to shake my head no, but Jonah stilled my head. “Not a wise decision. Focus. Please.”
I licked my suddenly dry lips, blinked a few times to clear the fog trying to settle over me, and looked inward at my magick. Its red mass beat against the phoenix wings as if it were trying to get free. Small tendrils licked out. A warmness settled on my skin. I reached for the magick to push my healing along, but it didn’t respond. Maybe it was something I couldn’t control.
“Your skin is knitting together,” Jonah said with relief in his voice. “Fuck. This was my favorite shirt.”
“Well, it’s garbage now,” I mumbled, thankful that he was trying to add some levity to the situation. “Did you kill Gavina?”
“Yes.”
I shifted, trying to get up. “Let me up.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“I need to kill her again.” I would yank that bitch’s soul back into her body and make her pay for all the pain she had caused.
He gently shifted me around and pulled me in his lap. “Why?”
He didn’t need to elaborate. I thought about my need for vengeance—my need to make her pay, and realized it wasn’t just her I needed to make suffer. It was Monique for making me believe she was a victim. Juliette for making me doubt my instincts. But most of all, it was the woman who claimed to be my aunt and the pastor whose twisted beliefs almost destroyed me. They were the ones I needed to hurt. So, it wouldn’t just be Gavina I was killing; it’d be the pastor she represented. Along with all the others.
Jonah watched me, waiting for me to make up my mind. After a short while, I asked, “Are they all dead?”
“Yes.”
“Your demon?”
“Contained.”
“Then we should go,” I said, and let him help me up.
I didn’t need to exact revenge. I survived. That was all that mattered.
The early dawn greeted us when we finally made our way outside. I’d been in the cave all night. Turned out, the entrance had been under Boyd’s altar all along. Jonah found my clothes in the cave, drenched in blood. I had no plans on ever wearing them again. He told me on the way to the church, he had spotted my car, and when we got out of the church, he called Devlin and asked him to arrange for it to be picked up. I was in no shape to drive. Besides, I was probably going to get rid of the car, anyway. First, I needed to get my purse out of it. I only hoped those crazy bitches hadn’t stolen it.
Speaking of Juliette and Bridgette, they hadn’t been in the caves. I knew our paths would cross again. And this time, I was prepared to do some serious damage. I let them go free once. I was not going to do that again.
We rode in silence for a while. Before Jonah reached out and squeezed my hand. “Nicole,” he said.
I shook my head. “Everything about this was…”
“Engineered,” he offered when I had trailed off.
I turned to him. “By Lemuel Oren.” He gave me a surprised look and then turned back to the road. “Something about my apartment building and the cult had made Rachel curious. If we had stayed focused on that, we probably would have figured it out sooner.”
He nodded, his face going pensive. “We set out to stop blood magick users. Devlin—hell, all of us—believed they would be like the Stewart family. And in a way, they were. They lied to those women. The Stewarts just took what they needed. The Young family conned people into it. Different paths to reach the same point.”
“I just can’t wrap my head around it,” I said, remembering the frenzy of the girls who tried to kill us. They were so far gone. Nothing we did could have reached them.
“Remember what I told you about how cults operate? Those women were broken before Gavina seduced them with promises of freedom and peace.”
“Gavina’s magick…” I trailed off. How could a faith mage attack the mind?
“She had managed to gain some mind abilities.”
“I’m thinking it was Xavier’s magick. He told me she stole it from him.” I leaned back. “Logan told me things weren’t what they seemed. I guess he knew.”
“When did you see Logan?” Jonah’s voice had gone cold.
I rubbed my arms. “He freed me halfway and urged me to rip their souls out. I managed to do that with Gavina. Only, when her daughter attacked, her soul returned to her body.”
“We’ll help you with your magick. Next time, you won’t even need me to rescue you.”
I nodded. Maybe next time, I could stop all of them on my own. Or maybe I would just make sure I had backup.
I turned to him. “You didn’t hesitate when you came in the room,” I said, thinking about the reason he had a demon in the first place. “And your demon seemed…interested in me?”
Jonah nodded and gave me a side look. “Your being tied to the altar was confirmation enough, and I have to think on the last. I don’t let him out often. And when I do, it’s usually in the pool.”
“Is that why you’re always swimming?” I asked, shocked.
“Most times, yes. I’ve been meaning to share that with you in case you happened to walk out when he was circling the pool, but never got the opportunity.”
I sat back, going through what he said. Gavina said Set couldn’t enter the cave because he couldn’t cross the water without a host. The Stewarts had their ritual set up in a barn on a bayou, which meant they were all aware of Set. But then again, they had to be since they knew a member of their family was meant to be sacrificed to help free him. But why had they assumed he couldn’t cross water?
Lemuel Oren.
The Mastermind.
An Old One.
He had to have told them that. Or, at least implied it. Which meant he knew they would betray him. What I didn’t know was how I fit into his plans. But more importantly, when he became aware of me and my magick in the first place.
There were so many things we needed to figure out. But my mind was tired. So, I laid my head back and rested. My only thoughts were of the much-needed shower to wash the blood and taint off me.
A short while later, we pulled up to the house. As soon as Jonah shut off the engine, Alek snatched open the door and pulled me out. He wrapped his arms around me; his heart pounded against my chest. I let myself relax into him.
“She’s safe, man,” Jonah said.
Alek nodded, then scooped me up and carried me into the house. Once inside, he strode past the front room, down the hall, kicked open the door to his room, and took me inside, not stopping until we were in the bathroom.
Without asking, he lifted Jonah’s bloody shirt over my head and dropped it to the ground. His jaw clenched as he took in the many markings and deposits of blood on me. “Is this your blood?” he asked, his voice sounding strangled and so full of emotion. I was somewhat surprised I was able to make out his words.
I swallowed against my own emotions rising. “No,” I whispered. “Not all of it.”
He turned on the shower. He moved as if he were trying to keep himself from falling apart. I reached out and touched him. “Alek, I’m fine.”
He shook his head, turned from me, and walked over to the sink. He gripped the side of it as he stared at me through the polished glass. “I should have been the one to save you,” he choked out.
I stood there, naked, trying to find the words to soothe him, but came up short. No matter what I said, he was going to continue to beat himself up about it. I moved slowly toward him and wrapped my arms around him. “I know you need time to work through this. I know telling you I’m fine won’t be enough.” He turned in my arms and stared down at me.
“Nicole, we have been here before. You, broken and healing, and me feeling helpless. I can’t…” I placed a single finger to his mouth, silencing him.
“Will you help me wash the blood off?” Maybe helping me with this would ease some of his worry. He pulled his shirt off, and I backed up. Once his jeans hit the floor, I stepped into the shower and let the warm water wash over me.
Alek climbed in behind me and pulled me to him, splaying his hands on my stomach. I relaxed against him as mist filled the room. The last time I’d taken a shower with a man, it had been Jordin Cisco. That shower had been about sex. Now, here with Alek, with his warmth pressed up against me, I could feel love building between us. The attraction and need were there, but this was about comfort, and the tenderness he showed me filled me to the point I thought I’d explode. Tears streamed down my face, and he pulled me closer, humming to comfort me.
When the water started to run cold, he washed my body down, then lifted me out of the shower and wrapped me in a towel.
Safe in his arms, I let the night’s events melt away. I would deal with the emotional pain later. For now, I let Alek hold me while I held him.
“Will you sing me to sleep?” I asked, my words muffled against his chest.
“Always,” he said and lifted me up and took me to his bed.