“Are you sure about this?” Selene whispered to Jason. “He’s a demon, like from the underworld. How do you know he’s not manipulating you?”
“He’s not from the underworld. He’s from New Jersey,” Jason whispered.
“Huh?”
“His mother was human.” He glanced in her direction. “I gave him the loan to start Lost Things. We got to know each other.”
“Can we trust him? He almost killed you with that snake ring.”
Jason took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. “Ryker’s help is often complicated. But he’s an incredibly useful friend to have.”
“By the goddess.” Selene lowered her chin and squeezed Jason’s hand harder.
“This is the vampire district. Why would Alex come here?” Jason mused.
“It’s the middle of the day. Most of the local residents are sleeping,” Selene said. “If he came earlier this morning, there’s no place safer.”
“Or a vampire is helping him,” Jason said.
Ryker looked both ways before climbing three stairs to reach the entrance to an apartment complex. He sniffed, then tried the door—locked. Selene perused the intercom system, noting it was labeled with symbols instead of names.
“Don’t bother,” Ryker said to her. “Everyone who lives here is snug inside their coffin for the day with the exception of the man you’re looking for, and I’d rather not call his attention to our presence.”
“So how do we get in?” Jason asked.
Ryker’s brow puckered, that wicked grin turning his full lips. With a twist of his neck, his entire body transformed into a column of smoke that filtered under the door and re-formed inside. He unlocked and opened the door for them.
“That must come in handy,” Selene said.
The demon held a long, tapered finger to his lips. “Shhh.”
They followed him up the stairs, Selene rolling her footsteps to keep them as quiet as possible. Jason did the same. Ryker’s feet never seemed to fully make contact with the floor.
When they reached apartment 5A, Ryker stopped. He glanced at Jason and did the disappearing smoke act again. The lock clicked slowly, and the door opened.
Jason motioned to Selene to wait where she was. She shook her head. Not a chance. They drifted into the apartment, but it was completely empty. Not so much as a chair in the main room.
Selene turned to Jason in confusion and caught a streak of blue moving out from behind the door. “Look out!”
Alex’s joined hands pounded the back of Jason’s skull, sending him toppling forward. Instead of falling flat on his stomach, he tucked and rolled. Selene shuffled out of the way as Ryker blew through Alex like a dark wind and disappeared. So much for a show of solidarity. While Alex shook off the sting of sulfur, Selene went for the amulet. She planted her bare foot on his stomach, snatched the dragon scale, and lifted. It slid over his head easily enough, but his hand shot out and caught the chain.
“Not yours, wolf bitch.” Alex sneered at her before wrapping his hand in the chain and yanking, hard. Her slight weight tumbled into the wall.
Jason jumped onto Alex’s back, his bigger size dwarfing the rogue wolf’s sickly physique. One, two quick punches to the werewolf’s temple and Jason had him by the throat. Alex spun away and stumbled backward toward the window, holding his neck with one hand and his side with the other.
“Still hurting, Alex?” Jason asked, approaching slowly. “Maybe you needed another month in Nickelova’s pickle jar. I don’t have one of those for you to heal in, but the pack has a nice strong prison cell.”
Alex donned the amulet again. “I could kill you, blow you apart. But we worked together to fight Nickelova, Jason. We’d be stronger if we joined forces now. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Selene focused in on a bead of sweat at Alex’s temple. It rolled down the side of his face, followed by another. His muscles twitched like he could barely hold himself up.
“Youcan’thurt us,” Selene said. “Not without hurting yourself even more.”
Alex took a step back.
“All magic comes with a price. Using that amulet costs you, and judging by your appearance, you’ve paid a high one the past couple of days. You’re even more emaciated than you were only days ago. You might be able to use magic against us, but the process could kill you.”
Jason took another step forward. “Where’s the heart?”
