I pounded my hands on the steering wheel and started my car.
This was why you didn’t mess around with demons.
I called Bael back. “Get to Geer Cemetery.”
“Don’t you dare go in without us.”
I hung up on him, ignoring my phone as he immediately called back. My mind raced as I attempted to remember everything I could about the cemetery.
When we were kids, Evie had to choose a historic site in Durham to present to her class. Evie had chosen the cemetery because, even when she was ten, she’d wanted to draw attention to what she considered a deep misjustice. The cemetery was the first public burial ground for the city’s African American population, and many of Durham’s founders were buried there.
Before the portals opened, Durham residents and descendants of those buried in the cemetery had been working toward achieving perpetual care to ensure the cemetery would be looked after.
Mom had taken us to the cemetery one afternoon and we’d walked around, gawking at the gravestones— some of them from the early 1900s. By the time we’d visited as kids, the cemetery was a tangle of weeds, fallen trees, and crumbling gravestones. It had made my heart hurt.
And the coven was planning to desecrate the cemetery with a demon sacrifice. My hands had clamped around the steering wheel so hard they ached. The cemetery was surrounded with roads on three sides and a parking lot at the back. It’d be difficult to sneak up on the witches.
Whatever. Being sneaky was overrated.
Vas was waiting for me outside the cemetery when I arrived. “Your driving could use some work. Also, you sat in your car staring at nothing for almost an hour. Is the pressure getting to you?”
“Blow me.”
He grinned as I stalked to my trunk and popped it, revealing my trunk safe. His grin faded as I explained what had happened.
“They think they can kill Samael?”
I paused, fighting the urge to grab my closest gun and storm the cemetery. “Someone betrayed him, Vas. How many people does he trust enough for this kind of betrayal?”
A muscle jerked in his cheek. “A handful. Maybe two.”
“That’s what I figured.” I grabbed my Colt 1911, inserted a magazine, and racked the slide. I flicked the safety on and reached for my shoulder holster, strapping it on my left side. I had a narrow chest and it would give me a shorter reach with my right hand.
Vas grabbed my arm. “Danica. We need to wait for backup.”
“We do that and he’s dead. The sun will be going down soon.”
“Samael would want me to sit on you if that’s what it took to prevent you from risking your life.”
I bared my teeth at him. “Try it.”
Something entered my peripheral vision and we both spun, staring into the cemetery.
The good news? The trees had grown since I was a kid. That made it easier to sneak up on the coven. The bad news? We couldn’t see exactly where the witches were. All we had to go on was the thick, black power that was beginning to glow from between the leaves and branches of the trees. It began to creep toward us and I swallowed.
Demon power used by witches. And I thought I’d seen it all.
I pulled one of my favorite knives— the Kershaw Leek. The blade was tucked away, which made it safer to hold in my hand while running through unfamiliar terrain, but once I swung the blade out, the assisting mechanism would take over in an instant.
Vas watched me. His claws were out. He didn’t need a knife to rip someone’s throat out.
“Why not keep your gun in your hand?”
“Their ward will protect them from bullets. I need to get close enough to break it first.”
And it was going to hurt like hell. I’d need time, and I couldn’t risk losing any element of surprise.
I glanced at him. “Can you get above them and be ready to swoop down when I break the ward?”
