1
DANICA
“You should eat something,” Vas said.
I didn’t bother taking my eyes off the man lying in the bed in front of me.
“I’m not hungry.” Even the thought of food made me nauseous.
Vas heaved a sigh from where he stood behind me. “If he were here, he wouldn’t tolerate you wasting away like this.”
“Heishere.”
Silence.
I reached out and stroked Samael’s cheek. With his extremities slowly turning to ash, it was one of the few places I could touch without risking pieces of his body crumbling beneath my hand. But his cheek was cold. Cold and lifeless.
Vas was right. If Samael were awake… if my demon wasn’t dying…
He’d likely be forcing food down my throat at this point.
The corner of my mouth lifted. Overbearing jackass.
“Fine,” I said. “Let’s eat.”
Vas stepped forward. He must’ve arranged for the kitchens to make comfort food, because one of the servers wheeled in a cart loaded with chicken soup and what smelled like bread fresh from the oven.
I ignored the pitying look she sent my way.
I didn’t need pity. I needed actionable advice and intelligent suggestions.
Vas handed me a tray and my stomach rumbled. The first mouthful almost made me throw up. The second made my hands shake with a sudden ravenous hunger. I dunked the bread and kept my gaze on Samael.
I needed to leave him soon. There was work to be done. Samael wasn’t going to survive if I just sat here with my busted leg raised up on a chair while I felt sorry for myself.
My hands fisted at the thought of how we’d ended up here.
Two days ago, I was betrayed.
Cara turned on me. As far as Ben, Bruce, and Wes were concerned, I’d never expected anything other than duplicity from them. But Cara’s betrayal had hit me like a fist to the face.
Of course, I’d also taken more than a few ofthosethat night.
All four of them had worked together. They’d taken orders from one of Lucifer’s demons, who’d promised them all kinds of things if they could just get me through the portal to the underworld.
Since– according to a prophecy– I was the only one alive who had a chance of killing dear old granddad, I would’ve likely been dead moments after I was pushed through the portal.
I’d held my own, considering how beat up I’d been. Rose killed Cara, Mella killed Bruce—I didn’t think I’d ever get the image of her eating his heart out of my head—and I pushed Wes through the portal.
But the part I’d never seen coming—and I should’ve—was the Spell of Three performed on those who were working for the demons. Performed by none other than Gloria herself—Samael’s black witch. She changed sides, and by now, she was likely up to no good in the underworld, if she hadn’t already been killed.
If shewasstill alive, I’d make her beg for mercy before I killed her myself.
The Spell of Three was one of the nastier spells in existence. Entirely illegal, it involved the sacrifice of a sentient being—Gloria had used a gnome—and the spell itself was completely invisible. That meant that the person who got caught in it wouldn’t know what had happened—until their power was reflected back at them… times three.
Samael had arrived just in time to find me wrapped in Naud chains with broken ribs, a dislocated kneecap, and a mage with a gun pointed at me. I couldn’t blame my demon for going a little crazy.
All of the blame lay with me. I’d had all of the clues right in front of me, and I hadn’t put them together.
