“It’s the best place to do it,” I said, glancing around. “This is your home turf. You’d have an edge, just by knowing the building as well as you do.”
“And do you have any idea how you’d go about luring them here?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said firmly. “They want to open the hellgate. Make them think they somehow could.”
Az rubbed his jaw again and nodded toward Caim, who paced the room, arms crossed. He met my gaze. “It’s actually not a bad idea, Eva, but I don’t think you should be involved in this. After what happened with Anya, all three of you need to go hide out somewhere else. Somewhere we know to be safe.”
“Uh uh,” Mia interjected as she hopped up from her stool. “Eva deserves to be here. It’s her damn plan.”
I shot her a smile.
“Except Eva isn’t trained in warfare. She doesn’t have an immortal life. If the cult comes bearing weapons, one stab with the blade and she’s dead.”
Mia shrugged. “I thought she’d been transformed or something.”
“I have,” I said quietly. “Not fully, though. I can feel some kind of resistance inside myself. Like my body is kind of rejecting fully transforming?”
“Eva,” Caim said sharply as he turned toward the open door. “Can I speak with you in the hallway about something?”
Furrowing my brows, I stood and followed him. He led me halfway down the hallway, out of earshot of the humans inside the room. But I had no doubt the demons could overhear every word we said.
“What’s up?” I asked, cocking my head. “You want me to stay out of this, don’t you? Listen, Caim, I—”
“No.” He took my hands and pressed something into my palm. Curiously, I glanced down to see what he’d given me. It was a sparkling glass vial full to the brim with a deep crimson liquid. Blood? Why would he give me blood?
“What’s this?” I asked, my breath hitching. At any moment, I expected that weird hunger to rake through me, but it never came. Either this wasn’t blood or my darkness had given up trying to control me.
“It’s the cure.”
I jerked up my head, confusion rippling through me. “What? But I thought the fae had the cure.”
“They did.” His gaze narrowed. “But nowyouhave it. All of this can be over for you, Eva. You don’t have to become the demon you fear.”
My heart rattled. Shaking my head, I took a step back, my hand clutching the cure. I didn’t know what I’d expected him to say when we’d stepped out here, but it wasn’t this.
“How the hell did you get this?” I paused. “When?”
But I knew the answer before he even spoke it. He’d vanished earlier. None of the other demons had wanted to tell me where he went. It had been to get this cure. There was no telling how many fae he’d had to battle. And now it was here. In my hands. All I had to do was take it.
I lowered my hands to my side. “Thanks, Caim. I know how hard you must have had to fight in order to get this, but...I can’t take it yet. Not when we’re about to face the Cult of Lilith.”
His eyes darkened. “The idea was that you take it now and get the hell out of here before we set the trap.”
“You know I can’t do that,” I said softly. “I need to be here with you guys when it all goes down. I need to see this through.”
He closed his eyes. “Eva, please. Just take the damn cure.”
“Not until this is over.”
His nostrils flared wide as he released a pent-up breath. Shaking his head, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to his chest. His voice rumbled against my ear. “I should have known you’d say something like this. You’re the bravest girl I’ve ever met, and it’s infuriating as hell.”
I smiled. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
He pulled back, his flickering gaze sweeping across my face. “There’s nothing I can say to convince you to take the damn cure now and get the hell out of here, is there?”
“Nope.” The word popped from my lips.
“What about Sarah?” he asked. “And Anya?”
