“Admin first. After that, today’s all about researching ways that Lilith could get into Allie. I’ll text Eric and have him meet me, and get him and Eddie on it, too.”
“Good. The more the merrier.”
“I’m still not familiar with Eric’s library—have you seen all the books he had hauled in and set up in there? Some of those books are incredible. And scarily ancient. But I don’t know how to read half of them, and I’m afraid to turn the pages on the others. And theForzadatabase is still a mystery to me. I’ll get there, but boy do I have a steep learning curve.”
“That’s what you get for not taking ancient Sumerian in college.”
“What can I say? I was a slacker.”
“In the meantime, there’s always Google.”
In our early days fighting demons in San Diablo, Laura’s internet searching skills had given theForzadatabase a run for its money. “The good old days,” she said. “I remember when all the bad guys wanted from Allie was to impregnate her with demon spawn.”
“Don’t even joke about that,” I said, but at the same time I had to agree with Laura.
Her brow furrowed. “Can Jared have kids?”
“Laura!”
“I’m not suggestingthat. I’m just curious.”
“I cannot even go there. That is not allowed in my brain.”
“You don’t know the answer.”
I tilted my head and stared her down. “And that surprises you?” Laura knows perfectly well that research and the nitty-gritty factual part of this business were not my forte.
She snorted. “No, it really doesn’t.” She started to step away. “I’m off to research. Are you going to train with them?”
“No. Lucky me, I have administrative things to do, too. I’m not really sure why I took this job,” I added, only half-kidding.
She flashed me a final grin and continued down the hall, passing Ana who was sporting baggy sweats with a T-shirt that was at least two sizes too big, leaving her looking like she had no form at all.
She paused in the doorway beside me. “Hey.”
“Good morning, Ana. Did you sleep okay after last night?”
She lifted a shoulder. “Took a while to fall asleep. But no nightmares. Eliza says it’ll get easier. The falling asleep part.”
“So you guys are getting along? Good roomie match?”
“I guess. She’s nice. Probably hated getting stuck with me.”
“I doubt that.”
Once more, she shrugged, then ran her hand over her close-cropped hair. Her skin was the color of dark caramel, and I remembered that her dossier indicated that her mother was black and her father was born in Mexico. They’d been killed in a house fire two years ago that Ana had barely escaped. She had no other family, and had avoided social workers by living on the street until she ended up at a shelter run by the local diocese.
I watched as she stood in the doorway, her eyes glued to Allie. She followed every move my daughter made, her mouth hanging open a little.
Mindy was leaning against the wall, breathing hard as she too watched Allie defend herself from the knives and swords that Marcus and Cutter were advancing with.
She blocked, parried, jumped, and kicked, deflecting every one of their advances. And with each thrust, my chest tightened painfully. I wished they would train with less lethal weapons—and I knew they did with the other students—but with Allie, it was no holds barred.
So far, she hadn’t received a serious injury, which I considered a blessing, but it left open the question of whether or not her special genetics meant she would heal faster. Part of me hoped she would. Part of me didn’t, because that just meant that she was even closer to her demonic lineage, something I hated thinking about, even if it did make her who she is today.
“Why is she even bothering to train?”
It took me a moment to realize that Ana was talking about Allie.
