I continue healing, letting the holy magic welling inside of me course over the demigoddess like water that gathers in all the little cuts and the gash in her side, slowly mending everything in its path. Since Maven is the furthest thing from a chatterbox, I settle into the familiar ebb and flow of healing.
I'm trying to stay relaxed and focused, as Pietro Amato once taught me was important. But worries about Heidi and the others keep encroaching on my mind. Kaenon clearly thinks that fucking incubus was here to give us a warning about staying away from Heidi. I don't like that some monstrous psychopath is out there on the loose and could return any moment.
Once we find him, I'm going to kill him. I held myself back with Ryan, but with this fucker?—
"If you're plotting a murder, at least invite me."
I realize Maven is right that I look murderous and tame my expression quickly, focusing on her injuries. "Not that I mind you freaks crashing Jada's place, but why couldn't you just heal this yourself? You don't suck as bad with holy magic spells anymore."
"I was tapped out," she admits.
"Of magic? You're a damned demigoddess. What the hell kind of fiend were you hunting in the Nether that you depleted your magicandalmost lost your guts?"
Maven's typically unreadable expression darkens ever so slightly. "We weren't in the Nether. We've been hunting an incubus in this area. The full-blooded monster kind, not a legacy."
I freeze, looking at her.
"The one that escaped the excavation site in the Nether?"
She arches a brow. "Tell me what you know, and maybe I'll share."
As I finish healing Maven, I share everything Kaenon told me, and then I tell her exactly what happened just before they got here. When I'm done, she's thoughtful as she touches her newly-healed side, finally starting to regain some color in her face as she stands. I stand, too.
"Veld," she repeats his name, memorizing it with narrowed eyes. "He's surprisingly decent at fighting. He's also irritatingly elusive and stronger than Somnus was."
"Or maybe you're just losing your touch, Oh Mighty Living Weapon," I can't resist pointing out.
Maven's lips twitch at the trash talk before she fixes me with a serious look. "Recently, Veld put an entire nearby town to sleep. Lots of powerful casters, legacy incubi, and others have gathered there to try to wake the people. No one has had any luck, but while we were there earlier, we found out that Veld has been…doing things to the people under his influence. Mostly to teen girls," she adds with a look of sheer disgust.
Sickness fills my stomach. "Motherfucker."
"He needs to die in the most drawn-out, excruciating way possible," she agrees. "We tracked him to a place near the sleeping town, where he was hiding out in Limbo. Crypt went into Limbo to draw him out, but Veld put him to sleep?—"
"I didn't know it was even possible for that freak to sleep," I frown.
"It is, but like I said, Veld is a thousands-of-years-old incubus stronger than even Somnus was. The fact that he can put another incubus to sleep is alarming." A flicker of murder crosses Maven's face as she goes on. "When Crypt went silent through the bond, I had Silas use a spell to send me into Limbo. I didn't want that fucking incubus to hurt him while he was unconscious. Veld escaped fighting me when a couple of shades and wisps showed up. I had to protect Crypt until he could wake up," she adds softly.
"And that fucker makes it hard to wake up," I mutter. "So, what's the plan to take him down? Whatever it is, I want in. That piece of shit needs to die before he comes anywhere near Heidi again."
Maven studies me for a moment before squinting. "You caught feelings for her."
What a fucking topic change. "Mind your business."
"I am. She's my sister-in-law, and I happen to like her."
I scowl. "Just tell me what the plan is for killing Veld."
"We're working on one," the demigoddess says, glancing at the doorway her quintet went through. "If we need to involve you, we will."
"Good." I pause before sighing. "Are you going to tell Everett about Heidi and me?"
"I'm a bitch, not a snitch. You'll tell him yourself. Thanks for the healing," she adds, already walking in the direction of the kitchen to rejoin the others.
Using one of the first spells every healer memorizes, I use magic to cleanse the blood left behind on Jada's wood floor, leaving it spotless before I decide it's been way too fucking long since I last held Heidi.
I need to see her smiling and acting like herself again. I need her in my arms, kissing me, flirting with me, and calling me Buns of Steel or whatever silly shit she wants. Gods, I justneed herso much in every way, it's killing me. Seeing her so terrified tonight has awoken something even more viciously protective inside me when it comes to her.
I'll talk to Everett later about resigning.
