Kody’s mother’s.
“Take Warbringer and do your mother proud.”
Elated, Kody rose on her toes and hugged Artemis. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”
Tears welled in Artemis’s eyes. “My pleasure, little one. I wish you luck.”
And with that, she vanished.
Kody tightened her grip on the bow. “Please let my powers work … please.” Leaning against the bow, she closed her eyes and tapped what she hoped hadn’t been stripped from her or bound by an enemy.
At first, she felt nothing.
But after a few terrifying heartbeats, that old, familiar sizzle began deep in her blood.
Then her powers engulfed her. Like a mother’s embrace. How could she ever have forgotten the feel of them?
Letting them flow all through her, she held her hand out and willed herself to New Orleans.
* * *
Caleb Malphas wasone of the surliest demons ever born. The son of a god, he’d been condemned by all for falling in love with a human and switching sides in the Primus Bellum—the first war of the gods.
From bad to good. As if switching to the right side had been the wrong move. But no one would believe a demon, even one in love, could ever give up his wickedness to fight for decency.
And so Caleb had lost everything, and been rejected by all.
Until Kody’s mother had believed in him. She’d been the first to see what no one else could … that there was a soul inside the demon. Because of her mother’s belief in Caleb’s heart, he’d been named her godfather when Kody was born.
There was more irony there than Kody wanted to think about. And because of Caleb’s loyalty and love with her and her mother, he was the one she sought first.
Or at least tried.
Frustrated, she stood outside his gigantic Greek Revival-style home like a human. “I forgot his sigils …” He’d given her access in her former body.
In this one …
She was completely locked out. So, Kody was forced to knock on the door of his palatial home like a regular person.
The gall of it all.
Then again, it probably kept her from being eaten by his unfriendly housemates. There was no telling what the hellhound crew would do if she popped into their house unannounced. None of them liked others as a general rule.
They liked uninvited intruders least of all.
Kody pressed the doorbell. A loud howling rang out through the entire house, and through the porch speakers. Wow.
How have I never heard that before?
Because you always popped into the house and never bothered with his doorbell.
Made sense, as did the unorthodox doorbell, now that she thought about it. It sounded like one of his hellhound friends. In the event one of them was in the wrong form when someone rang it, it would disguise their barking. Make a visitor think that he had a morbid sense of humor.
Or a bunch of big-ass dogs.
One thing about Caleb—he was brilliant. And very offbeat.
Out of nowhere, a voice growled, “What?”
