Chest tight, I shimmied back and forth with my eyes locked on Andrea’s slack face. Moments ticked by in brutal silence, the sound of the fraying rope filling my head like the static on the radio. Snitch, snitch, pause. Snitch, snitch, pause. On and on and on it went until I was certain it would never end.
Until the final fray of the rope snapped.
The tension around my wrists vanished, and the pain instantly soothed, even as my skin still throbbed. After one last glance at the unconscious cult, I scrambled to my feet and raced back toward the door.
I didn’t dare look behind me as I ran, following the now-familiar path. My feet pounded the creaking floorboards. When I reached the front door, I flung it wide open and stumbled out into the night.
As I sucked in the crisp fall air, I glanced around. It was just as I’d expected. The quiet road stretched out in a straight line on either side of me. Beachy homes with manicured lawns and dark windows hunkered in the shadows. Curving metal gates hid some of them from view. If this wasn’t The Hamptons, I would eat my shoes. Both of them.
With another deep breath to settle my racing nerves, I swung a right onto the road and braced myself for the long trip home. I wasn’t out of the woods just yet.
* * *
After jumping some turnstiles and sneaking my way onto a train, I managed to reach Hell’s Kitchen without too much drama. Exhaustion tugged on my heavy eyelids, and that old familiar ache lingered in my bones. My rib hurt, not that I could blame it this time. It felt like it had been years since I ate or slept, and the cloud of dread hanging darkly over my head only amplified it all.
By now, the cult had probably awakened. A dozen more demons called this world their home, and they had vengeance on their minds. I’d thought about running straight to the cops, but what would I say?
“Hey, I just escaped from a demon death cult. They used my weird black blood to transform themselves into creatures of the underworld. Want to go take them down before they try to bring Hell on Earth?”
No, there was little the cops could do now, even if they did believe me...which wasincrediblyunlikely. The Legion was all that could stop the newborn demons. If anyone needed to know what had happened tonight, it was the Princes of Hell. Not to mention, Caim was probably out of his mind with worry.
He had no idea where I was. I could be dead for all he knew.
I picked up my pace when I rounded the corner and realized I was only half a block away from his apartment building. Eager anticipation swirled through my veins, erasing the exhaustion and—
A fire ripped through my belly. I stumbled forward, clutching at the sharp pain that radiated through me. Darkness slithered into my vision like a hundred tiny fingers.
And then all went black. The night swallowed me whole.
6
Caim
The air suddenlyshiftedinside my loft like someone had just opened a spaceship hatch. Some deep part of me went whooshing out into the streets down below, and a whisper of fire drifted in from the open window. Frowning, I crossed the floor and peered down at the sidewalk. People scurried along in beanies and scarves and boots, the crisp fall air biting at their faces.
Frowning, I zeroed my vision in on a lone figure zigzagging half a block away. Blonde hair. Dark clothing. Familiar face screwed up in pain.
“Eva,” I murmured, my heart flipping. We’d been searching for her all damn day, hunting every nearby street for any sign of her. I’d only come back here to see if she’d somehow returned while I’d been gone.
And now there she was.
Sarah rushed across the room to join me by the window. Her roommates had been with me every step of the way. Despite the supernatural load I’d dropped into both their laps, they’d barely even flinched. Eva was blessed with good friends.
“You see her?” she asked frantically, her eyes darting back and forth across the distant sidewalk. But she was human. Her eyesight wasn’t strong enough to pick up her friend’s familiar face from so far away. “Where? I don’t see any sign of her!”
“Just trust me.” I shoved the window open wider and hopped onto the ledge.
Anya’s startled gasp echoed through the loft. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to jump out the window.”
“I have wings,” I tossed over my shoulder. “It’s the quickest way to reach her. She looks...” Unsteady, lost, confused. “Unwell.”
“Go get her, Caim,” Sarah said, her voice a little steadier than her friend’s. “Bring her back to us.”
With a nod, I leapt from the window, ignoring Anya’s sharp cry. Humans rushed across the sidewalk down below as my body hurtled toward the concrete. I gritted my teeth and focused on Eva’s hunched form. Wings exploded from my back and pounded the air just in time to slow my descent. I landed in a crouch only a few steps away from Eva.
Humans screamed, but I ignored them. Hiding our existence from mortals was written into supernatural law, but fuck the law. Right now, that didn’t matter. I shoved up from the ground, folded my wings into my back, and strode toward my lover’s trembling body. She hadn’t even noticed me land.
Eyes wild, she stumbled forward. She seemed to see right through me.
