They drove long enough that the sun rose and evening came, the sky flaming out in reds and pinks and then darkening into a thick violet that seeped into the van. When Helena looked out the window, her reflection ghosted over the dark lines of trees and occasional shimmer of marsh water. She’d known from the start that they weren’t taking I-10, but the longer they drove, the deeper Dominic seemed to be winding into the bayou.
Morbid Angel blasted out of the car’s speakers, and neither Dominic nor Aleksi spoke much—when they did, it was only to each other, and in soft tones that Helena couldn’t make out over the music. She knew she should feel more afraid than she actually did.
“Excuse me,” she said, raising her voice. Neither of them acknowledged her.
“Excuse me!” she said, more loudly, and this time Aleksi paused the music and looked back at her expectantly.
“You said you would drop me off in New Orleans,” she said. “We should have been there hours ago.”
“We’re taking the long way,” Aleksi said. “Had to stay off the main roads.”
He switched the music back on and Helena pushed back in her seat, her arms crossed over her chest. She hoped she wasn’t being naive, thinking they actually were going to send her back to Houston. The music washed over her, thick and heavy. It was hard for her to think.
The car turned, the headlights sweeping across a hand-painted sign, a rickety old mailbox. Gravel crunched beneath the tires.
“What’s going on?” Helena pushed up in the seat. “Why are you turning?”
“We should stop here for the night,” Dominic said. “Rest up.”
“I don’t need to rest,” Aleksi said.
“I do.”
“What!” Helena shrieked. “You’re stopping for the night? I thought we were going straight to New Orleans.” Fear began to pulse through her in time with the frantic pace of the music. “Where are you taking me?”
“Someplace you can get some food,” Aleksi said. “And a bed to sleep in. We’ll go to New Orleans tomorrow morning.”
Helena screeched and kicked the back of his seat. It felt puerile and pointless but it was also the only thing she could think to do.
Aleksi laughed.
The van slowed. Helena peered between the two front seats, but all the headlights illuminated was a tangle of black forest.
“Get ready to walk,” Dominic said.
Helena felt light-headed. They were going to kill her. She wondered how much of her combat training would come back to her. She’d always been terrible at fighting: clumsy and ungraceful. But surely there had to be some kind of muscle memory that would kick in, especially in the face of death.
“Can’t I just stay here?” she said. “Sleep in the van?”
“Let her.” Dominic killed the engine, and the world plunged into silence save for the singing of crickets out in the trees. “At least we won’t have to listen to her complain anymore.”
“Absolutely not,” Aleksi said sharply. He glanced back at Helena, and she felt that heat rising up in her body again. The forcefulness in his voice—it almost felt protective. But she knew it was her imagination.
Dominic scoffed.
“You know it’s not a good idea to leave her out here,” Aleksi said to him. “If she dies, then the Lineage really will become a problem.”
“That’s true,” Helena said quickly. “The Lineage protect their own.”
“I thought you weren’t Lineage anymore,” Dominic snapped.
Helena scowled. “My sister is still going to track me down—”
“Which is why we will be sending you back to Houston tomorrow,” Aleksi said, leaning close to Helena, the dark scent of him wafting around her. “Now, stay close. I’m not letting you die.”
Helena hesitated, unsure if she should trust that they weren’t going to kill her. Dominic was glaring at her through the darkness. He’d clearly had a taste of the Lineage at their full strength, the way he was worrying. That gave her an advantage, even though Helena knew damn well the Lineage wouldn’t be sending their full strength to retrieve her.
“You kidnapped me,” Helena said. “The least you could do is tell me what the hell is going on.”
Aleksi studied her for a moment. “There are extremely dangerous things in this particular spot of bayou,” he finally said. “More dangerous than alligators and panthers.” He put his hand on the door handle. “If you really are Lineage, then you know about Liminals.”
Helena went very still. Even her breath caught. “We’re in a Liminal?” she whispered.
Liminals were another reality her family always avoided saying out loud, as if the name itself could conjure one into existence. They were places where the Infernal realm collided too strongly with the human realm, and the fabric of reality warped and weakened. When blood mages pulled through a lesser demon, they had to do it at a Liminal.
“Afraid so.” Aleksi pushed open the car door, letting in the musty scent of the swamp.
“And you want me to walk through it?” Helena squeaked.
“Can’t drive,” Dominic called out through the open door. “Too swampy.”
Aleksi glanced back at her, his face hidden by the damp shadows. “Your sister isn’t here, is she? Then my protection spell will work fine. Come along.”
Helena took a deep breath. She had never been in a Liminal in her life. Her mother had, and told her and Juniper the story only once, when they were teenagers. It had been in the Canadian tundra, a windswept place where time bended space and one wrong step would drive you mad. Where microscopic creatures had slid in from Hell, mindlessly churning through the frozen ground, looking for sustenance. For human flesh.
“Come on.” Aleksi looked at her through the window, his voice muffled by the glass. “You’re safer with me, I promise you.”
Helena shivered at the thought, then forced herself to step out of the van. The ground was wet and unstable, and she could barely see Dominic, who stood a few paces ahead. He had turned on the flashlight on his phone and it shone like a star in his hand.
She wondered what would happen if she ran. But the swamp closed in black and murky around her, and she knew she’d never make it out. Even if they weren’t in a Liminal.
Bring back intel, she thought. Make it through alive and bring back intel to Mom and Dad—
“Stay close,” Aleksi said in a low voice. Then he put his hand on her upper arm, his touch warm. Helena stiffened as he guided her forward through drooping webs of Spanish moss, the trailing curls of woodsy vines. Every time something grazed over her skin, Helena shivered and braced herself, imagining insects and snakes dropping into her hair.
The crickets’ song swelled, droning into her head. Endless and unsteady.
Aleksi guided her over to Dominic, who turned and led them deeper into the woods. The muddy ground sucked at Helena’s feet and splattered up around her ankles. “This place is half wetland,” she said. “We’re going to walk into the fucking water.”
“Not if you stay on the path,” Aleksi said.
“I can’t see the path!”
“That’s why I’m guiding you.”
Helena glowered at him. They were close enough, his palm still pressed gently to her arm, that she could just make out a teasing smile. Which only annoyed her further.
They plodded through the swamp, Dominic swinging his phone light back and forth as he led, illuminating snatches of the surrounding trees and the occasional glimmer of brackish water. Helena’s skin grew dewy with sweat.
And then something shifted in the crickets’ song. A distortion. A note that shouldn’t exist.
Helena gasped and stumbled, her foot catching on—something. A root, a slick patch of mud. For a moment she was careening sideways. And then Aleksi caught her.
“You do have a good ear,” he murmured, his arms wrapped around her. She could certainly smell his scent now, brown sugar and burning cedar. He hoisted her back up.
“The crickets?” she gasped. “How—”
“We’re in a Liminal,” he said. “Even your insects can create the most beautiful music in a place like this.”
“Beautiful?” Helena glanced at him sideways. “Infernal music always hurts my brain.”
“Infernal music.” Aleksi laughed. “You sound like our fans. Infernal this, Satan that.”
Up ahead, Dominic made a strangled noise that might have been a laugh.
“If the name fits.” Helena didn’t want to tell him she had seen them call their music Satanic black metal on their Facebook page—that would mean admitting she had looked at their Facebook.
“It’s a name from your universe.” Their feet squelched through the mud. “Of course, if I tried to tell you what we call it in my universe, I’m afraid the language itself would shred your mind.”
Helena heard a tinge of cruelty in his voice, and she realized how dangerous this banter was. One wrong word, one insult too many, and he could leave her here to die. Dominic might be afraid of the Lineage, but Aleksi clearly wasn’t.
The night’s thick humidity filled her lungs and dampened her hair. It was getting hard to breathe.
“It’s interesting,” he continued, “to see how the music of my world combines with the music of yours. I think that’s what makes the magic so strong. All that chaos. My melodies, your melodies. Music contains it. Makes it easier to understand.”
Ice speared through Helena’s chest. How could a demon share her same insights about chaos and magic and music?
Her mother was right. She was too susceptible.
Dominic stopped suddenly, hoisting up the light of the phone. Aleksi’s fingers tightened against Helena’s arm.
“I sense it, too.” Aleksi nudged Helena forward.
“Sense what?” Panic soured the edges of her voice.
Aleksi didn’t answer, only pressed her up against Dominic. In the flare of the flashlight she could see him moving his fingers through a series of arcane contortions. The air shimmered like an oil slick.
“Don’t move,” Aleksi said in a low voice, and then he stepped in front of her and Dominic. The light from Dominic’s phone cast him in a sallow spotlight as he crept up ahead, his back hunched. Beside her, Dominic muttered in an unrecognizable language.
Helena’s throat constricted. Sweat beaded across her forehead, dripped down her back in a sharp prickle.
Aleksi melted into the shadows.
Dominic’s hand gestures moved so quickly his fingers were a blur. The light from his phone flickered like an old newsreel.
Aleksi reappeared, lunging forward, movements shuddery and strange in the light. He lifted off the ground, his arm outstretched, hair flying.
Something flashed between his fingers. A lightning strike, a camera flash. Immediately, Helena’s eyes watered. A dull pain throbbed up from the inside of her skull.
“Got it!” Aleksi shouted.
Dominic dropped his hand, let out a deep sigh. The light went back to normal. Aleksi walked back toward them, wiping his hands off on each other. A cloud of silver dust billowed around him, glinting in the flashlight.
“Namuzuti,” he said. “Poor bastard.”
Dominic nodded, plunged back into the woods.
“Namuzuti?” Helena didn’t recognize the name.
“Mm.” Aleksi jerked his head. “Come along. It’s all clear.”
“What was it?” Helena said. “It just looked like light.”
“You can thank me for that,” Dominic called out. “If the two of us were to see the Namuzuti in its true from, we would have lost our minds.”
“Oh.” Helena’s heart pounded. “Namuzuti. Is that what you call—the things that come through in Liminals? From Hell.”
“The things that come through,” Aleksi scoffed. “More like the things that shatter.”
“What?” Helena looked at him in the dark.
“Legionnaires,” Dominic answered. “What you people call the Lower Court.”
Helena blinked. “They aren’t, like, bacteria?”
“What?” They were moving into a more heavily wooded area; twigs showered down around Helena and Aleksi. “No. Legionnaires get pulled through accidentally if they get too close to the boundaries. Without the right magic, they shatter. Turn into those pitiful things.” Aleksi gestured into the dark. “Namuzuti.”
A light fluttered through the trees, and Helena’s chest seized up. Another Namuzuti? But no—this light was yellow-tinged and garish. Ordinary.
Dominic’s flashlight shone over a glimmer of water, the sagging boards of a wooden bridge. “Watch your step,” he called out halfheartedly, as if he didn’t really mean it. His boots thudded against the bridge. Aleksi followed him. Helena paused, blinking in the dark. The air smelled of moisture and dirt. Stagnant water. She heard something splash.
“Come on,” Aleksi said, stopping. He was a shadow in the middle of the bridge. “I don’t actually want you to die, but if you stay on the side of the water without me, that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”
“Where are we going?” Helena demanded. The reflection from Dominic’s light bobbed across the water and then blinked out.
“Someplace safe,” Aleksi said. “I promise.”
Helena scoffed. She might not officially be Lineage anymore, but she knew what promises were worth to a demon: exactly nothing. A chance to find a loophole to exploit.
A screech echoed through the swamp behind her.
“I’m not waiting here all night,” Aleksi said.
Helena sighed, her shoulders sagging, and took a hesitant step onto the bridge. She thought she could see a glimmer where Aleksi’s eyes should be, a reddish sheen like a lunar eclipse.
“Made the right decision,” he said. Helena didn’t acknowledge him. Whatever this place was, she’d be describing it to the Lineage as soon as she was home safe.
They walked across the bridge, the thick humidity of the marsh rising up around them. Eventually, the yellow light reappeared, and Helena realized it was the glow of a porch light. It was attached to a double-wide trailer that sat up on cinder blocks, a wooden porch built up against the front door.
Floodlights switched on, illuminating both Dominic and the clearing they found themselves in. The trailer sat in the middle of a raised patch of dry ground webbed with cypress trees. Vines crawled up the trailer’s walls and around the porch, threatening to consume it. A barbecue pit leaned sideways in the yard and an old pickup truck was parked off to the side, among a thick knot of trees.
“I thought you said we couldn’t drive here,” Helena said.
“The van can’t,” Dominic shouted back at her. “And that thing barely can.”
The door to the trailer swung open, the screen door banging up against the wall. A woman stepped out, cradling a shotgun—although when she saw Dominic she broke into a wide smile and held the gun up overhead.
“My favorite assholes!” she shouted. “Get your butts up here.”
Dominic bounded up the steps and threw his arm around the woman’s shoulder and, for the first time that Helena had seen, grinned. “Thanks for waiting up for us.”
“Always.” She turned her gaze back out to the bridge and her eyes settled on Helena. “I see you’ve brought a guest.”
“Long story,” Dominic said.
Helena stepped onto the soft earth of the yard while Aleksi loped ahead of her. She wasn’t exactly afraid. The woman didn’t have the air of a blood mage and, in fact, something about her seemed vaguely familiar. She wore a pair of cutoff jeans and a faded old halter, and a halo of curly dark hair was piled up on top of her head. She leaned up against the shotgun like it was a cane, Dominic’s arm still awkwardly slung around her shoulder—she was at least four inches taller than him, barefoot.
“Does it have something to do with a certain aborted concert you had back in Houston?”
Dominic groaned.
“Oh, it’s all over the news. I’m shocked you two made it over the state border.” She peered out at the swamp. “They didn’t say anything about a missing girl, though. I’m Corina, by the way.”
Corina. Helena felt something spark in the back of her head. She moved forward over the grass, her heart thudding, and peered up at Corina. And like that, Helena knew why she looked familiar. Because Helena had seen her before, five years ago, in a dark, smoky bar in the Houston suburbs.
“Corina Vincent?” Helena sputtered. “The guitarist for Double Chaos?”
Corina let out a string of loud, sparkling laughter. She punched Dominic in the shoulder. “Your girl’s got good taste.”
“You know Corina’s band?” Aleksi said.
“Oh my God,” Helena said, whiplashed between the thrill of seeing Corina freaking Vincent and the seeping dread of being kidnapped by a blood mage and a demon. “Oh my God, Black God Forest is one of my top ten albums of, like, ever.”
“We recorded that not far from here.” Corina leaned the gun against the wall and pressed her elbows onto the porch railing.
“Seriously?” Helena cried.
“Hell yeah. Maybe I’ll walk you over there if you’re up for it tomorrow.”
“Okay, enough.” Dominic’s voice sliced through Helena’s excitement. “You won’t have time for that. We need to get her to New Orleans tomorrow. This was a whole—” He gestured loosely. “Misunderstanding.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to tell me about it,” Corina laughed. “Get in there.”
Dominic grinned at her and then pulled open the screen door and vanished into the trailer. And Helena felt herself coming back to the present. To the fact Corina Vincent, whose guitar work on Black God Forest made Helena decide to play herself after she heard the solo on “Night Track” for the first time in her dorm room a decade ago, was associated with blood magic.
With a fucking Upper Court demon.
Helena felt a tight twist in her chest. She knew exactly what the Lineage would do to Corina if they caught her. The spells and potions they’d use to extract information.
But this intel—it was Helena’s chance to go home again.
Corina stepped off the porch and walked through the grass and mud in her bare feet. She went to Aleksi, and that just made Helena’s heart shudder even more.
Corina studied Aleksi for a long moment. “It was him, wasn’t it?” she murmured.
Aleksi nodded. “You think you can get some answers for us?”
“I’ll try my best.” She turned to Helena and winked. “And how about this one? How is she involved, other than having excellent taste in music?”
An angry, disappointed heat crept up Helena’s face. “They kidnapped me,” she said, wanting to add, You shouldn’t associate with them.
Corina burst into laughter. “Are you serious?” She looked back at Aleksi. “What the hell are you two doing?”
Aleksi glowered. “We thought she was one of the Children of Adrasteia,” he said. “She had a protective sigil; there was some blocking magic following her around.”
“There’s no way that girl is a follower of Gavin.” Corina looked at Helena. “Please, let me apologize on behalf of these two idiots. If I’d been there, I wouldn’t have let that happen.”
Helena immediately tensed, waiting for Aleksi to lash out at a human calling him an idiot.
“You can’t say that.” Aleksi sighed, with no sign of anger. “It was absolute madness last night.” He glanced sideways at Helena. “And anyway, she claims she’s one of the Lineage.”
Corina arched her eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“I don’t do any of the work,” Helena said, tensing with an unwelcome embarrassment. Despite wanting, deep down, to find her way back to the Lineage, she hated that the genius behind “Night Track” might write her off because of her family. “I dropped it all when I was eighteen. I was at the show with my sister—”
Corina darted forward, her movements so fast as to be a blur, and pressed the back of her hand against Helena’s forehead, as if she were feeling for a fever. Then she dropped her head back, her eyes rolling until they were nothing but whites.
A conjurer, Helena realized with a jolt. Not Lineage, but not a blood mage, either. A witch of the land, with magic entirely of this world, even if it wasn’t Lineage approved.
She suddenly saw Black God Forest in an entirely new light.
Corina pulled out of the trance. “Juniper Muir,” she said. “That’s your sister, isn’t it?”
Helena nodded, faintly stunned, faintly afraid.
“I’ve had my share of run-ins with her.” Corina smiled. “I’ve helped out too many wayward blood mages to be in the Lineage’s good graces.” She paused, her smile fading. “I never would have guessed her sister was a fan of Double Chaos.”
Helena blushed. “I wouldn’t have expected it, either.”
Corina laughed. “Well, welcome to my home, even if you are a Muir. I’ve got some leftovers in the fridge I can heat up for you if you’re hungry. Assuming Dominic hasn’t demolished them all by now.”
The mention of food made Helena realize just how hungry she was—and also just how long they’d been out on the road. She’d been so terrified that food hadn’t crossed her mind until now.
“I promise it’s safe,” Corina said. “I know the Lineage has their hang-ups, but no one in this place is going to hurt you.”
Helena glanced at Aleksi, who was listening to their conversation with his head tilted.
“Not even him,” Corina said.
She turned back toward the trailer. Helena hesitated, listening to the sound of insects chirping up in the trees.
“She’s right,” Aleksi said softly. He’d stepped up beside her and his presence made Helena jump. “We’re not going to hurt you.”
Helena gave him a dark look and then followed Corina into the trailer. A blast of AC shivered across Helena’s face, a relief after standing out in the muggy swamp. Inside smelled like lavender and sage, and the living room was neatly decorated with antique furniture. Dominic was already sprawled out on the sofa, eating out of a plastic container.
“He’s already hit the gumbo,” Corina said. “But I’ve got some chicken and rice in there, too. Stuff for a salad. There’s plenty. Help yourself.”
“Thank you,” Helena said, and without thinking she glanced back at Aleksi—he hadn’t eaten, either.
“I don’t need to eat your food,” he said. “So don’t worry about saving any for me.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“Benefit of hosting a demon as a houseguest.” Corina smiled.
Helena shivered, hating the way Corina treated Aleksi’s presence so normally.
Corina just gestured toward the kitchen, on the other side of the living room. Helena went over to the refrigerator, pulled it open. It was full: cartons of leftovers, bottles of beer, bundles of fresh herbs and wildflowers sitting upright in jars of water. Helena pulled out the chicken and rice.
“Make yourself at home!” Corina shouted from the living room. “Plates are above the sink.”
It was surreal, to be kidnapped and at the same time treated like a guest. But Helena was hungry enough to ignore her concerns right now. As she piled food onto her plate, Aleksi’s voice drifted in across the bar counter, low and urgent.
“I just want to know what you can see,” he said. “If Gavin was able to follow us. Anything.”
Helena paused, fork hanging midair, listening.
“You know that’s a risk. He’s going to feel it,” Corina said.
“We can recast the binding spell,” Dominic suggested.
“Too much work.” Aleksi sighed. “He can feel it, but can he track us? He knows we’re going to be looking for him—”
Helena put the plate in the microwave and edged closer to the living room. Maybe it would be enough to take the Children of Adrasteia to her parents. Leave Corina out of it—
This is why they kicked you out. Helena’s face felt hot.
“Look, I’ll do it. But you need to be prepared to run. And don’t forget your guest.”
Helena froze. The microwave beeped.
“I know you can hear us in there,” Corina called out. “You’re part of this, too. Come in and let me know what you think.”
“I’m not—” Helena started, peering into the living room. “I’m not involved with any of this. Magic and demons. Not anymore.”
Corina studied her with dark, glittering eyes. “You are now. Grab your food. Take a seat. I know my boys have treated you like shit the last twenty-four hours, but we’re putting a stop to that now.”
Aleksi sighed. “We thought she was one of the C.O.A. It was chaos in there.”
Corina just rolled her eyes.
Helena grabbed her food and slunk back into the living room. She perched daintily on a free lounge chair, the others all sitting on the sofa, across the room from her. She took a bite of food.
“My god,” she said. “This is delicious.”
Corina just laughed. “Glad to hear it. Now.” She settled back in the sofa. “What have they told you? You know what you’re involved in?”
“She’s part of the Lineage,” Dominic said.
“My family is of the Lineage,” Helena said to Corina. “But I didn’t have a knack for magic, so I gave it up.”
“The Lineage doesn’t exactly let people go that easily,” Dominic grumbled.
“How would you know?” Helena snapped.
Dominic glared at her.
“Anyway, no, I really don’t know what I’m involved in. I’ve never heard of Gavin or the Children of Adrasteia.” She took another big bite of chicken. Her mouth was salivating.
Corina glanced at Aleksi. “You kidnap this girl and then don’t even explain why.”
“We were going to put her on a bus when we got to New Orleans,” Aleksi muttered—somewhat sheepishly, Helena thought.
“Nonsense,” Corina said. “I’ll drive her back to Houston myself.”
Helena’s misgivings about Corina’s connections to Aleksi and Dominic vanished, replaced by a surge of surreal excitement. “Oh, wow,” she said. “Thank you so much. That’s so generous.”
Corina flicked one hand. “It’s the least I can do, what with how terribly these two fucked everything up.”
“We panicked!” Dominic said, tossing his empty carton on the floor.
“Take that to the kitchen,” Corina said.
Helena expected him to laugh, but he stretched off the couch, picked up the carton, and did as she asked. Seeing the two of them here, in this house, interacting with Corina Vincent, of all people—they didn’t seem so frightening anymore.
A huge mistake, but still.
“We’ll leave first thing in the morning,” Corina said. “Let these two deal with Gavin.”
“You still haven’t told me who he is,” Helena said. “Not really.”
Corina went quiet. Glanced at Aleksi—but he was staring off into space. “He’s a blood magician,” Corina said.
“I figured out that much.”
“A dangerous one.” Corina stood up. “The most dangerous one I’ve ever encountered. I can tell you more tomorrow. What you need to do right now is get some rest.” She smiled, the darkness leaving her expression. “But first—ice cream.”
Helena nodded. She’d inhaled the chicken and rice, and ice cream sounded perfect after the endless day she’d had.
As she followed Corina into the kitchen, she glanced back at Aleksi. He was watching her, his expression unreadable.
Helena rolled over, her head throbbing behind her eyes. For a moment she was disoriented, the room swarming with unfamiliar shadows. Her blankets felt scratchy and heavy and she kicked them off, knocking them to the floor.
She sneezed.
“Shit,” she mumbled, sniffling. She’d been around more Infernal magic in the past twenty-four hours than she had for her entire life, and certainly for the last decade she’d been forced out of the family business. Every time she felt it, scratching at the back of her throat and watering out of her eyes, she felt a quiver of fear. There was too much power in Infernal magic. Too much chaos.
Helena rolled over in the narrow bed and found the room flooded with harsh, arctic light. She immediately froze, her blood pounding. She was in what Corina called the guest bedroom, but really it was a storage room with a twin bed tucked into the corner. Which meant it was filled with boxes stacked at precarious angles that looked like lumpen monsters in the eerie light.
But they were just boxes, and the light, she realized, was spilling in through the window. But it was still too early for sunrise.
Helena slid out of the bed and padded across the floor. Her eyes watered, her throat itched. She nudged the curtain aside, her chest tight, knowing she really shouldn’t be looking out there. But as long as she was here, she wanted to know what her sort-of-captors were up to.
At first, all she could see was light, blazing and cold. But then shapes began to form: the lines of the trees, a small pile of stones or wood or—something. Helena didn’t want to consider all the possibilities. It looked like a conjure pile, a place where conjure machines worked their spells.
Aleksi.
He had stripped off his shirt and stood facing the conjure pile. Facing the house. His tattoos pulsed like a heartbeat. As Helena watched, he lifted his hands up, threw back his head. The conjure pile flared, making the white light shudder. A twist of smoke coiled up around him. Helena’s head ached.
Then he began to speak, and the walls of the trailer were thin enough that she could make out the jagged syllables of the Infernal language. A deep-seated revulsion shuddered through her; goose bumps prickled along her skin. Fragments of an old prayer filtered through her thoughts: a ward her mother taught her when she was a child, meant to keep the Infernal language from driving you mad.
She rubbed her throbbing head. She didn’t feel like she was going mad.
Aleksi’s voice swelled. The conjure pile flashed and billowed smoke.
And then Aleksi began to change. His body swelled and lengthened. Coiled horns emerged from his forehead, burning with the same white-cold light as the conjure fire. Helena couldn’t see his face but she could see his eyes, bright and shining like stars.
His true form, or some semblance of it.
She jerked away from the window, her heart pounding and her eyes burning. She stumbled backward, and her foot caught on a loose box, sending her sprawling hard across the bed.
The light from the conjure pile winked out.
Helena took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The prayer skittered around inside her head. Lead me, Jesus, lead me straight—
Aleksi flashed inside her head. The horns and the burning eyes. And then she was thinking of the demon that had attacked her, plunging its claws into her chest. Its eyes had shone like stars, too.
“Lead me, Jesus,” Helena whispered, her voice cracking, even though she hadn’t believed in Jesus since she was a little girl.
Someone knocked on the bedroom door.
Helena jolted and shouted in fear, then scrambled up onto the bed. “Who is it?” she called out.
The door swung open. It was Aleksi, back in human form. He stalked forward into the room.
The shadow he cast on the far wall was horned.
Helena gasped and pressed up against the wall, eyes flicking over to the now-darkened window. He was even more powerful than she’d realized if he could move that quickly.
But at the same time, she noticed that he looked worn-out, his hair lank with sweat, his skin sallow.
“You saw that.” Not a question.
“I’m sorry,” Helena whispered, gripping tight on the sheets, her gaze constantly flicking back to that horned shadow, to that hazy memory of the time she was pinned to the ground, a monster hunching over her.
“You don’t have to apologize.”
His voice jerked her back into the present. He stood in the doorway, looking entirely human.
“I mean, it’s not a secret. At least, not from you.” He grinned, but only for a second. “Can I come in?”
Helena stared at him, her grip loosening on the sheets. “Why?”
He sighed, lowered his gaze. “Corina was right. I owe you an explanation. And since you saw—” He nodded toward the window and quirked an eyebrow. “You’re not getting back to sleep tonight. We both know that.”
Helena drew up her spine. “Actually, you don’t know that. I’ve seen all kinds of things.”
“I’m sure you have.” Aleksi tilted his head. “Although not for eleven years.”
Helena glared at him but didn’t say anything.
He stepped into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. He didn’t look at Helena, and she arranged the blankets over her bare legs. Corina had given her an old T-shirt to sleep in. No bottoms.
“So,” Helena said. “What did you want to tell me?”
He pushed a hand through his lank hair. “Let me start with an apology.”
She blinked in surprise.
He glanced at her through loose strands of his hair. “I’m sorry we mistook you for one of Gavin’s followers. I—I wasn’t thinking clearly. Too much—” He gestured expansively with both hands. “Predatory magic.”
Helena gave a little laugh. “Including your own?”
His expression darkened. “My magic is not predatory. It’s protective. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
His voice was so forceful that Helena felt a glimmer of regret. Protective Infernal magic?
“Gavin Vargo,” Aleksi growled. He stood and paced into the light spilling in from the hallway. Helena reached over and switched on the lamp beside the bed, and it cast Aleksi in a sphere of bronze light, drops of sweat gleaming on his bare chest. She tried not to stare. “I had him bound for the last four years. Somehow he got out.”
“I still don’t know who he is,” Helena said.
“I’m trying to tell you.” Aleksi watched her in the murky light. “Five years ago, he summoned me.”
Aleksi’s shadow slid across the closet door. It still looked like the true form she’d just gotten a glimpse of. Massive, terrifying, and strange. Her muscles tensed. She forced herself to look at his human form, his sharp features and glossy hair.
“A human should not have been able to summon me.” Aleksi’s features twisted with anger. “But Gavin Vargo managed it.”
Helena didn’t move.
“Somehow he got his hands on the Book of All Ways—”
“I thought that was a myth.” Helena shivered. The Book of All Ways was a legendary grimoire, one that could supposedly summon Satan himself. But the Lineage had never taken much stock in it.
“It’s not. I mean, it’s not actually called that, but again...” Aleksi shrugged. “Our language does terrible things to your minds.”
Helena frowned; she knew he had been speaking Infernal earlier, and it hadn’t done anything to her but give her the usual sniffle.
“So I won’t say the true name to you. But yes, he found it somehow. Compelled some legionnaire to translate the chant to open the rifts. And he opened one.” Aleksi’s eyes glittered. “And he pulled me through. A couple of human sacrifices gave him the strength. Typical blood magic. Only with the rift open.”
Helena’s chest felt tight. A leak, Juniper had said. This was where it came from.
She had to get this information to the Lineage as soon as possible.
“He tried to bind me,” Aleksi went on, staring hard at the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. “But he’d used all his power to pull me through. I—” Helena heard a crack of hesitation. The claw scars on her chest throbbed. “—got away. So did he.”
Aleksi went quiet. Helena felt herself unfolding, stretching her legs out across the bed. Aleksi looked over at her, his eyes skimming across her face. The intensity in his gaze made her face hot.
“Was last night—” Helena blurted, trying to diffuse the tension thickening in the room. “Was that the first time he’d found you again? After you got away?”
Aleksi nodded. “After I escaped, I did a summoning of my own, to draw a sympathetic blood mage toward me. Dominic showed up.” His mouth quirked into a smile. “The way those spells work in your world—everything ends up as a coincidence. His car tire blew out, sent him careening off the side of the road. I had sealed off a space for myself under the freeway. A temporary hideout. He sensed the magic immediately. Not that he could get through the barrier.”
“You were living under a freeway?” The image was startling to her. Aleksi, as an upper demon, a member of the High Court, represented everything her family and the other families in the Lineage had fought against for generations. All the power of Hell. Living under a freeway.
“Hiding for the time being.” Aleksi smiled. “It was dark and damp, perfect for my needs. Anyway, Dominic helped me bind Gavin to a place called Spalding, Idaho.”
Helena let out a little laugh at the unexpectedness of the location. “Idaho?” she said.
Aleksi shrugged. “It’s located near a Liminal. Easy access.”
“I see.” A demon living under a freeway and damning people to Idaho. Not exactly what the Lineage had warned her about.
“Anyway, we used what you call Infernal music to generate the magic, and so we started Black Moon as a way of ensuring the spell would hold.”
“That’s clever,” Helena said without thinking, and then blushed—what the hell was she doing, complimenting a demon?
“Thank you.” Aleksi gave her a wicked smile. “Although it was actually Dominic’s idea. He’s been a musician for years.”
Helena nodded, still blushing.
“Of course, Gavin escaped. Corina is supposed to be scrying in the next hour to find out how.”
Helena shifted her weight. Aleksi wasn’t looking at her. His hair formed a curtain that parted around his shoulders. She took a deep breath. “It wasn’t—wasn’t because of my sister?”
Aleksi turned toward her. “Not his escape, no. But neither he nor his followers should have been able to come anywhere near the bar. Black Moon is online—Dom and I aren’t exactly in hiding.”
He moved closer to Helena, his eyes burning into her. All the hairs on her arm stood on end.
“So as we found out he’d escaped, we cast spells to protect ourselves. The magic is designed to act like a bubble around us, to keep him from getting in.”
“And he got in.” Helena swallowed. “Because of Juniper.”
Aleksi nodded. “It was her protective magic.” Something softened in his expression, just barely enough for Helena to notice. “It weakened everything, trying to keep you safe.”
Helena’s face warmed again and looked away. “Well, I told you. I’m not a demon hunter. I wasn’t going to investigate Infernal music without some kind of protection.”
“You didn’t know.” There was a silky gentleness in his voice that made Helena feel as if he had touched her in some way: tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, brushed a hand over her hand. She didn’t like how calm it made her feel. “And it might be easier this way. Now we know he’s out, we know he’s after me again.”
“What does he want?” Helena said. “Those cults, they always want something.”
Aleksi leaned back, laying his head against the wall. “I can just hear Dominic,” he said. “Telling me that you’re going to go tell your family, that they’ll fuck everything up.”
Helena’s fear spiked through her, sudden and painful. She thought she’d been subtle. Or was he joking? One hand fluttered to her chest; she could just feel out the rough scar tissue through the flimsy T-shirt. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means—” Aleksi tilted his head toward her “—that you’re about to go back to your normal life, and you can forget about all of this. Just like you want.” He smiled a little. “Although I’ll be sad to see you go.”
Helena glowered, ignoring his teasing. “Is that rift still there? The one that Gavin pulled you through?”
Aleksi hesitated.
“Because if it is, then this is going to affect me regardless, isn’t it?”
“It’s smaller,” Aleksi said. “Much smaller. Nothing could come through.” He pushed himself up to sitting and leaned forward, moving closer to her across the space of the bed. She held her breath.
“Tomorrow morning Corina will take you back to Houston,” he said softly. “You can tell your sister what I told you. It won’t matter. I’m the only one who can stop him.”
And then he slid off the bed and disappeared out of the room, leaving her frozen in place.