“Are you telling me you’re unable to break it?”
“I didn’t say that. But you have ten hours until you belong to me. If I were you, I’d get back to work.” He lowered his voice until it was a purr. “Unless you’d like to crawl back into my bed where you belong.”
“Die, Samael.”
I hung up, ignoring his laugh. I didn’t have time for the fury that burned through me. The McCormick descendants would die— either by my hand, the Mage Council’s, or Samael’s. The only difference would be whether I was a free woman afterward.
The world seemed to narrow around me as I thought frantically. While Bael was interrogating Malgron, I’d make a list of all the descendants of the McCormick coven. Vas and I could start searching their houses for anything that might lead us to wherever they were hiding.
I glanced at my phone. Ten hours. I could do this. I knew they wanted to kill demons. Now all I had to do was find them.
25
Danica
Seven hours later, I was walking out of Veronica’s house. She lived in Hope Valley, in one of the sprawling mansions surrounded by fae. Her house stank of black magic, but we hadn’t been able to find anything that would lead us to their base. We’d searched eight other houses so far, and we had nothing to show for it.
Bael had messaged us earlier, letting us know that Malgron had been spelled. For a witch spell to work against a demon, he would’ve had to consent. He’d admitted he wasn’t the demon who’d been in Mary’s bed, but nothing Bael did to him could make him give up whoever else was betraying Samael.
We’d stopped by Mary’s earlier, talking to her neighbors.
Mary’s closest neighbor, a woman in her seventies, had seen the demon on a few occasions. She’d described him as “tall, dark, and handsome.” So basically, it could be almost any of Samael’s demons.
I glanced at Vas. He was taking the betrayal hard.
“I don’t get it,” he scowled. “Samael is…”
“A Machiavellian, underhanded, arrogant bastard?”
He shook his head at me. “He’s the best of us. And the worst of us. But he’s had to be. We all know why he is the way he is. And for two of our people to betray him…”
Atleasttwo demons. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were more. “Obviously those demons have decided that these murders will create a power vacuum they can take advantage of,” I said slowly. Something pricked at the edge of my brain. There was something I just wasn’t seeing.
Frustration gnawed at me. “I’ve got three hours,” I said. “Let’s make them count.”
Vas nodded and disappeared into the sky, while I got in my car and headed to the next house on my list, back in Trinity Park.
My phone buzzed and I absently reached for it, my mind whirling. “It’s Bael,” the voice said. “Samael is missing.”
I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?” How could a demon as powerful as Samael go missing?
Bael’s voice dripped ice, and I was glad I hadn’t done anything to piss him off. “He was betrayed. Now’s the time to prove your usefulness, witch.”
Betrayed. The demon Mary was rolling in the sheets with. It had to be.
Bael hung up on me and I pulled the car over, thinking furiously. I glanced up. Vas was hovering above me, his eyes on my car. I gave him a wave to let him know I was okay, and he waved back.
Who the hell was strong enough to take Samael down? I closed my eyes, blew out a breath, and considered what I knew so far.
The first body was found in Maplewood Cemetery. The second was found sprawled in the middle of Raynor street in Wellons Village. According to the information Agaliarept had given me, whoever had killed the demon there had almost been discovered— the body had been desiccated like the others, but still warm.
Why hadn’t they used Sherwood Park, which was right around the corner? My eye twitched and I reached for my phone, marking the site on a map. I found a pen in my glovebox and rifled through the junk until I came across an empty envelope.
Sherwood Park?I wrote on the envelope. The next was in South Durham, on Massey Ave. Again, the demon was killed in the middle of the street, even though there was a parking lot next to where the body was found, and again, there was a park just a few blocks away. A park that was guaranteed to be more private.
Massey Ave. I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned over, groping beneath my passenger’s seat. Mary’s mail.
The postcard. The address was the same. And the shape of the cauldron the cartoon witches were using was the same as the tattoo on Mavis’s foot. I didn’t have time to kick myself. I marked it on the map and reached for my notes for the other locations.
