“I mean, I can’t, Caim.” I blew out a breath and shrugged. “I obviously pulled tonight’s ‘meeting’ out of my ass. Tomorrow, I’ll just have to tell her it was a dead end. She might fire me for it, but what else can I do? I think it’s time I give up the job. I’ll be a full newborn demon soon. Doubt I’ll be able to manage work for awhile.”
His eyes flickered, his face still blank. “You can’t give this up, Eva. I know writing has been your dream for years.”
I furrowed my brows. “Sure, but I can’t write a story about this and expose you to the world.”
He pushed away from the counter and strode toward me, shadows whorling in the depths of his eyes. “Maybe it’s time we’re exposed.”
I sucked in a rattling breath. “You can’t mean that.”
“You heard what I said earlier.” He took my hands in his, and warmth flooded my body. “There’s too much information out there now. Every day, another story hits the news. I think it’s time we approach things differently. Ifyouwrite the story, we can control how it’s told. Or we can just wait for someone else to do it and get the whole damn thing wrong.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Humanity would never respond well to the existence of supernaturals. This whole thing would blow up in our faces. Mortals would revolt. Supernatural lives would end up in danger. No way in hell we got through it without at least a little violence.
“I don’t know, Caim.” I tipped back my head to meet his gaze. “We just need to find the cult, and then all of this will be over. They’re the ones causing all the trouble. The reports are because of them. Once you stop them, you won’t have to worry about this anymore.”
Of course, that was probably easier said than done.
28
Eva
We met the Legion at theInfernalnightclub. Most of the guys had stayed overnight to keep an eye on things. The cult hadn’t shown their faces, but that didn’t mean they weren’t watching from afar. And the Legion seemed hellbent on protecting the place.
It seemed odd to me. Weren’t they more likely to attack Caim’s loft? They’d already been there once, and the security system was practically nonexistent compared to the club.
“Eva!” Phenex’s voice boomed as he stood from a cluster of chairs near the bar. Usually, the Legion liked to meet in a back room where they kept their filing cabinets and an enormous map of New York taped to the wall. But today, they had the beer out and their feet up.Infernalwas closed for the next few nights. Caim didn’t want to risk an attack with so many patrons here.
Phenex wrapped his beefy arms around me and pulled me close. My breath hurtled from my lungs from the force of it.
“Um, hi?” I squeaked out.
He pulled back and gifted me with a grin. “Glad you’re okay. I hear last night wasn’t fun. Caim flashed his monster at you.”
“It wasn’t so bad.” I slid my gaze toward Caim, who had stiffened. “Other than the whole murder thing.”
“He should have ripped her limb from limb,” he growled.
Valac whispered out from the darkness. “I agree. Good thing Stolas was there to take care of it.”
Stolas and Bael nodded in unison. Even my roommates seemed to agree. I supposed I could see their point myself, but I hated that it had come to this.
Caim strode over the bar and poured himself a glass of whiskey. He grabbed a second glass, and then poured me one, too. “How many members do you think the Cult of Lilith has?”
Phenex frowned as he folded his arms. “About a dozen. Right, Eva?”
I was probably the only one who had any reliable information on their numbers. I’d been inside their little den. They’d all been at the ceremony when they’d taken my blood. I thought back, mentally counting them. “At the time, there were about twelve of them, but there were also two bouncer-type guys who took a drink. And I did hear them say they want to recruit more, though I don’t know how they’d do that without me or the orb.”
Caim nodded. “So, fourteen. Minimum. Take Andrea out of the picture and that’s thirteen.”
“What’s your point, Caim?” Stolas asked before tossing the last dregs of his beer down the hatch.
“Destroying the entire Cult means destroying at least thirteen newborn demons. I’m guessing, by this point, they’ve likely recruited more.”
“But they don’t have Eva’s blood, and she shattered that orb,” Valac argued. “So, they won’t have been able to do the ceremony again.”
“That’s the hope.” Caim took a sip of his whiskey, eyes going dark. “But we don’t know that for certain. They’ve been up to something the past few days, and it’s more than just chaos. Wedon’t knowif their numbers have grown. With the help of the witches, they could have found another orb. Or another way of creating demons entirely.”
Phenex’s frown deepened. “But then why still go after Eva?”
