“Whoa,” Alex said in alarm. “What the hell?”
“Oh my God!” Luke exclaimed when the figure’s chest burst open, turning to look at Malachi like he couldn’t stand to watch any longer. Malachi cradled his face and kissed his temple.
“Ugh, possessors,” Talon said, rolling his eyes. “This isn’t new. This is, in fact, very old.”
Nathan turned toward him. “What? You know what that was?”
“Of course. Old school. Possessor demons don’t get a foothold much these days. Their powers have weakened considerably as the humans’ population on Earth has grown.”
“Possessor? LikeThe Exorcist?” Alex said, tugging Talon’s arm around his shoulders.
“Exactly. They’re rare these days. Unlike the monsters you hunt, they don’t have the power to come here without a host body. Why this one tried to burst out through its host, I can’t say. That would be the thing to investigate, though.”
“I was going by the morgue in the morning to look at the body,” Nathan said. “I’d be happy to have one of you along.”
“I’ll go,” Storm said quickly.
Nathan met his eyes, and Storm felt ensnared. Everything else faded away, and all he saw was Nathan.
Ira’s matter-of-fact voice finally drew his attention. “Good idea. Storm can recognize demonic signatures and report back to us.”
Satisfaction spread through him when Nathan didn’t protest, despite the uncertainty on his face. “Okay. Sounds good.”
Chapter7
Storm
It waslate by the time they all said goodnight. Storm knew the others would all wait to leave after he’d taken Nathan away, although he seemed to have made some headway in Talon and Malachi’s esteem. They weren’t glaring quite as hard by the end of the meeting, and if Nathan noticed their ire in the beginning, he hid it well. He might have been nervous before they went in, but he didn’t let it show in front of the others at all. Storm was pleased to have been privy to it. It felt like Nathan trusted him.
“I don’t think I said anything earlier, but thank you for driving me,” he said as they pulled out onto the highway.
Storm glanced over at Nathan’s handsome profile. “No problem. How are you holding up? Need another cup of coffee?” He didn’t mention how little of the first one Nathan drank.
“No, that’s okay. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Who are the other people Talon said weren’t there tonight? Halflings?”
“Not all of them. Xyra is a halfling. Shadrach is a leviathan, and there are two?—”
“A leviathan? What’s that?”
Oh, right. Alex said the guild thought Talon was a halfling. “Talon is a leviathan. The ones you guys call black-eyed halflings aren’t halflings at all. They’re leviathans—well, usually. Lots of demons have black eyes, actually.”
Nathan stared. “Seriously?”
“Yep. Different powers, different origins. At some point in history, the guild assumed the halflings were all demons who looked like humans. But that isn’t true. Leviathans look human, but they never were. There are a few others who also look human. Mozgorans try, but they always lookoff. Behemoths look relatively human. There are also things like kalmachs and the harbinger, but I haven’t heard of either of those being topside in centuries.”
“I’ve heard of mozgorans and behemoths, although I didn’t know the latter looked human. I don’t know anyone who’s ever seen one of those, and there’s very little about them in our archive.”
“As far as I know, only our little group of humans is aware that Talon and Shadrach are leviathans. We’d prefer to keep it that way.” It probably could’ve gone without saying, given that Nathan seemed to have no trouble keeping all their other secrets, but he’d rather be safe than sorry.
And to his credit, Nathan nodded at once. “Oh, absolutely. I’m giving Sloan the bare minimum. I don’t want to give him anything he might use against you guys.”
Storm cast him a pleased smile. “I figured. Just wanted to hear it.”
The rest of the drive passed in silence. Storm drove as slow as traffic would allow, savoring every moment in Nathan’s presence. When he pulled into Nathan’s driveway, neither of them moved for a moment, and then Nathan picked up his cup, fidgeting with the edge of the lid.
