What if Daimonion had gotten to him? What if he was lying somewhere, hurt? Or worse… What if he was nothing but ash, and Bael was on his way to tell me he was gone?
I startled awake. I must have fallen asleep on the sofa, because it was pitch black outside. I squinted into the darkness as a knock sounded on my door.
The knock came again.
Please be Vas. Please.
I stumbled blearily to my feet, rubbing sleep from my eyes as I slipped into my flip-flops.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
“Amy?”
It was the middle of the night. Had something happened to her kid? I opened the door.
Daimonion grinned at me.
For a long moment, I could only stare at the assassin. I’d seen him briefly on the battlefield but never up close. Despite the heat of the night, he was wearing a trench coat. Subtle.
His blue eyes twinkled at me, as if we were good friends. In his arms, Amy trembled, her face so white, she looked as if she’d pass out at any moment.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “He made me.”
“Quiet,” Daimonion said absently. “That’s a nice little ward you have on your apartment, Meredith.” He sniffed at the air. “It smells of the underqueen.”
My knees had turned to liquid, and I reached out, holding on to the wall for support. Daimonion just watched me. Amy’s big blue eyes had turned stark. My fault. It hadn’t occurred to me that the assassin would go after one of my servers.
“Come out,” Daimonion said. He raised his hand to slowly run one finger over Amy’s cheek, and her eyes glazed, as if she’d gone elsewhere in her mind.
Vas would want to kill me for this. But Amy had a son. Her four-year-old was named Archie, and he needed his mom alive.
“Let her go, and I’ll come out.”
Daimonion smiled again, and I could see madness in that smile. He slowly shook his head. “I don’t believe you have any bargaining power here, witch.”
“I come out, and you kill us both anyway. Let me switch places with Amy, and I’ll go with you.”
Daimonion lit up his hand with demon fire, and I squashed the urge to attempt to yank Amy out of his arms. I had to be smart about this.
“This is between us,” I said. “Let Amy go, and I swear I’ll go with you.”
He studied my face. “If you choose not to honor your word, I will kill everyone you love.”
“I will. I will honor it. I swear.” This was my only chance to save Amy’s life. And she could contact the demons as soon as we were gone from here.
Daimonion seemed to read my mind. He cocked his fist and slammed it into Amy’s head. She crumpled like a tissue, hitting the floor with a thump.
“I know where her son is,” he told me. “I know where your other pretty little employee is. Try to play with me, and I’ll kill them all. Slowly.”
“Understood. Please, just let me help her.”
He smiled. “Humans are so predictable.” He stepped back, and I leaned out of my apartment door, grabbing Amy’s arms and hauling her into my apartment. Behind the ward.
Daimonion watched me the way a lion would watch a wounded antelope. Confident that he had all the time in the world to enjoy his meal.
“Come now, witch, or I start killing. The ward won’t protect your apartment from my fire. I’ll burn the human and enjoy it.”
