“I know,” Mellie said. But the fear did not fade from her eyes, and she made no move to take off her jeans.
“I’m sorry,” I said, turning to Damaris. “She’s never had an obstetrics exam.”
“I’ve had one,” Melanie said, and we both turned to her in surprise. “At the jail.” When they’d held her on charges of fornication and unlicensed pregnancy, as well as suspicion of possession. “They tied me down. Don’t let them tie me down again, Nina,” she begged, and my heart broke for my sister all over again.
“We don’t do things like that here, honey,” Damaris said. “I promise. I just need to see how far dilated your cervix is. Do you know what that means?”
“Of course.” Melanie looked more than a little offended by the question. “I’ve read seven books on pregnancy, labor, and delivery. I just…the reality feels different than I expected.”
“And this is just the beginning.” Damaris gave her a comforting smile. “Are you ready to be examined?”
“I want to change into my gown and robe first,” Mellie said. We’d found them both—as well as a selection of maternity clothes—in a shipment headed from a factory in Solace to a department store in Constance. Melanie looked up, and her gaze settled on Grayson. “Could you grab my hospital bag? It’s in the front of the cargo truck.” She’d had it packed for weeks, just like the books advised, even though we didn’t have an actual hospital to take her to.
“Of course.” Grayson grabbed the large hammer she’d been training with and turned toward the far side of the campsite, but Eli put one hand on her arm.
“I’ll go with you.”
“I can take care of myself.” Grayson let the hammer thunk into her palm.
“Good for you,” he said, smiling after her as she took off for the parked truck, which formed part of the perimeter of the campground.
Damaris gave Mellie another gentle smile, then turned to look up at her son. “Eli, go grab my flashlight and see if Brother Isaiah has any batteries left for it. We’re gonna have to do better than firelight for this little one.”
“We have flashlights,” Maddock said as Reese returned from stowing the cooled camp grill. “I’ll grab the one from the SUV. Reese, can you catch up to Grayson and have her grab the other one from the truck?”
“She went to the truck? By herself?”
“It’s just across the clearing, and she’s armed,” Eli said.
“She’s also a degenerate magnet. A largelyuntraineddegenerate magnet.” Reese took off toward the truck and Eli jogged after him, while Maddock headed for the SUV.
“Okay, they’ll be back with your gown in a few minutes. Let’s get you ready to change,” Damaris said, and my sister voiced no objection when the older woman began removing her sneakers. “The first thing we’re going to do is—”
“Grayson!”
Reese’s shout startled me so badly I would have fallen into the fire pit if Finn hadn’t grabbed my arm.
“Grayson!”Reese raced into the center of the large clearing from the darkness at the back of the truck, carrying Grayson’s hammer. He was lit on all sides by individual cooking fires, so even from across the camp I could see that the hammer glistened with fresh blood.
“Oh no…” I felt the warmth drain from my face, leaving cold shock in its place.
Eli appeared from the shadows a second later, dragging something in the dirt behind him.
“Mellie, I’ll be right back,” I murmured, gesturing for Anabelle and Damaris to stay with her. I jogged across the clearing with Finn on my heels, his rifle in hand, but Maddock and Devi beat us there.
“She’s gone,” Reese said as a drop of blood plopped onto his boot from the head of the hammer. “Someonetookher.”
“It looks like Peter died trying to help her.” Eli pulled the body he’d been dragging into the clearing, and several members of the Lord’s Army gasped. I recognized Peter as one of Brother Isaiah’s grandsons, a sweet man in his early twenties who’d obviously died from the gruesome dent in his skull. But…
“The Unclean didn’t do that,” I said, and Eli frowned down at me. “Degenerates would have torn him apart trying to get to his soul, and even a demon in its prime would probably have ripped his throat out or crushed his skull. Most of them enjoy the visceralexperienceof the kill.” They’d invaded our world—and our bodies—because their own lacked most physical sensation. They wanted to feel, taste, and hear things. Including death. “Demons only use weapons when they need to avoid exposing themselves to an audience.”
The Lord’s Army had clearly spent more time killing human hosts than observing the demons hidden within them.
Eli glanced from face to face in confusion, then down at Peter’s corpse. “Then who…?”
“Grayson.” Devi took the bloody hammer from Reese and held it up to the light from the nearest campfire. “Her weapon, her kill. But she wouldn’t have done it unless her life were in danger.”
Brother Isaiah made a stern noise in the back of his throat, at the front of the crowd already starting to gather. “That’s unthinkable. Peter would never have—”
