Eva
When I woke up, I felt eerily normal. Strange, considering I’d gone on a demonic rampage only a few hours before. I’d fought Caim. I’d tried to eat some blood. And my thoughts had not been my own.
I was alone in Caim’s bedroom. After I’d climbed from bed and tossed on a fresh change of clothes, I padded into the main living area of the loft to find everyone waiting for me. Even my roommates. They looked about as haunted as I felt.
“Hi.” I shot Phenex a shy smile. He’d been so accepting of me, especially lately, and I’d practically bitten off his head.
Probably would have literally tried to do just that if he’d given me the chance, too.
“Well, if it isn’t our friendly, neighborhood baby demon.” He grinned.
“Please don’t call me that.” With a sigh, I shuffled the rest of the way into the living room and perched on the arm of the sofa. “Listen, everyone. I’m so sorry about last night. I—”
“No apologies.” That came from Valac. I hadn’t even seen him there, not from his spot in the shadowy corner by the fake bookshelf wall. “We’ve all been through shit. It’s not your fault.”
“Yeah, but...”
I turned to Phenex. He shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I’ve done far worse than you could ever dream. All you did was yell at us a little bit. I don’t mind.”
“Wow. Thanks.” Demons were great at forgiveness. Who would have thought?
Caim crossed the room and slid a dagger into my hands. He levelled his gaze at me, his eyes fraught with meaning. “You ready?”
I blinked at him. “Um. For what?”
“I meant what I said earlier. It’s time we go find those fae and get the cure.”
“Wait.Now?” Shocked, I glanced out the window at the morning sunlight beaming down on the rooftops. It wasn’t any later than nine. “Surely you want to wait until nightfall, right?”
So far, everything the demons did happened at night. The cover of darkness went a long way, especially when it came to demons, cults, and conniving fae who wanted to find a way to knock Lucifer off his throne. Probably best not to catch the attention of humans and cops.
“Now could be the best time to do it,” Stolas said. “The fae might suspect we’ll track them down. Or that witch you met with could have spilled the beans. If that’s the case, they’ll expect us to come at night.”
“Alright,” I said in a small voice. Things were escalating quickly.
Even as much as I wanted to track down this cure, I wasn’t super excited about walking into a court full of evil fae. The other court had been strange enough, and those were supposed to be the good ones. It had been an incredibly long few weeks, and last night hadn’t been any better.
I felt normal, but...I also felt drained. Tired. Achy.
Exactly how I often felt right before a bone attack.
Dr. Wilkes would tell me I needed to get some rest. Lie low, throw on a Netflix marathon, and hydrate.
Caim nodded and turned to the others. “I want one of you to come with us, just in case. The rest of you need to stay here and keep an eye on the club.” He flicked his eyes toward my roommates, and an unspoken message passed between them all.Keep an eye on the girls.
Phenex shoved up from the chair, but Caim shook his head. “It should be Stolas.”
A growl erupted from the ginger’s throat. “I’m itching for a fight, Caim. Let me have at them.”
“We’re trying toavoida fight,” Caim said flatly. “The best thing for everyone is for the fae to give up this insane plot to remove Lucifer from the throne. Logic is the best way to tackle this. Stolas knows more than all of us combined, especially about the fae.”
Bael furrowed his brows. “I don’t know, Caim. I’m not sure negotiation is the best tactic here. The fae are never going to give up on this plan. Not after they’ve committed so hard to it.”
“I think you underestimate their fickleness. It wouldn’t be the first time they changed their mind about something this important.”
“Sure,” Bael said, frowning. “But that was River’s court. We know very little about this new offshoot.”
“We can’t just barrel into a fae court and kill everyone in it. Especially because we have no idea what or where the cure is. If we kill them all, we’ll have no way of finding it.”
