It had been a few weeks since I’d seen the winged pain in my ass. The invisible arrow I’d hung around my neck felt suddenly heavy. The arrow contained rowan— the only known vulnerability when it came to high demons.
On top of the arrow, I wore a lanyard which held my Benchmade Nimvarus Cub II— one of my favorite knives. The lanyard was studded with real diamonds and had been given to me by the same high demon who’d driven me to protect myself by wearing the arrow.
Our relationship was complicated.
The truth was, he’d hurt me. Deeply. When I first met the demon, I was terrified and furious. Slowly but surely, he’d chipped away at my fear, until I’d realized he would never harm me.
Physically.
He’d sure as hell hurt me emotionally.
I didn’t trust easily, and for a brief moment, we had something real. I’d hated demons, but he’d slowly cut through all my defenses and I’d allowed myself to… hope.
I don’t know what I’d been thinking. You don’tdatea man like Samael. He’d been alive for longer than I could comprehend. I was hopelessly out of my depth with him, and he’d toyed with me. He’d probably enjoyed keeping me ignorant about who and what I really was.
My jaw ached and I forced myself to stop grinding my teeth. At this rate, I’d need to see a dentist. One more thing to blame the demon for.
I sighed. Evie was still looking at me with a dull hope in her eyes. I’d only just gotten my sister back and she’d lost almost everyone she loved. If this was what she needed, I’d tuck my metaphorical tail between my legs and ask the demon for help.
I had no doubt he’d make me pay dearly for that help.
“I need you to tell me if you’ve noticed anyone hanging around the coven. Or the house itself. Someone you didn’t recognize.”
Evie’s lips parted slightly. “You’re going to find out who did this.”
“I’ll try my best. For now, I need a list of everyone who was in the house. We need to figure out if the coven was targeted as a whole, or if the killer specifically wanted one of them dead.”
Evie nodded, her gaze turning blank again. “Gemma and some of the others went to New York to meet with a coven we’ve been exchanging spells with. Out of the witches who stayed behind and who lived in the house, I’m one of the most powerful. I should’ve been here.”
Relief made my shoulders slump. The fire didn’t get all of them then. While a healthy percentage of the coven lived in that house, the fact that they weren’t all home was good news.
Tears streamed from Evie’s eyes and I wrapped my arms around her as sobs tore through her body.
“I can’t believe I wasn’t here,” she croaked out.
I eased away. “Listen to me. No, seriously, listen. This isn’t your fault. Whoever did this, they would’ve been watching this place for a while. They picked a time when Gemma and the others would be gone.”
This was the most powerful coven in Durham, and the witches who’d been slaughtered had been either knocked out somehow or trapped in a way that left them unable to use their powers. How the hell had the murderer accomplished that?
“Evie?”
I turned as a group of witches approached, automatically scanning and memorizing their faces. As far as I was concerned, anyone who hadn’t burned to death was officially a suspect.
A witch I’d only spoken to a few times shuffled over to me. She’d joined the coven after I left, and for the life of me, I couldn’t remember her name.
“I’m Freya,” she said.
“Danica.”
I glanced around. There were a bunch of witches from the coven standing on the street, many of them dressed in pajamas and robes, horror and grief written across their faces. A few of them walked over to Evie, talking in low murmurs.
“What do we know?”
I glanced at Freya. “Nothing yet. Does the coven have any enemies who might’ve targeted the house?”
She shook her head, her eyes on the blackened destruction. “Not that I know of. I’m not exactly in the inner circle though. You’ll want to talk to Gemma for that. She’s getting on a plane from New York now.”
A whoosh of air, a flap of wings, and Vas was suddenly standing next to me. Everyone in the vicinity went silent and most of the witches backed away, their expressions distrustful.
