“They’d agree with me on this. If I took this cure and you sent us away, the cult might very well search for us instead of coming here. They want something from me. That would be like dangling a very juicy carrot in front of their faces. Wouldn’t you rather me be nearby where you can keep an eye on me?”
“You have a point,” he said slowly.
“And I’m sure as hell not sending my friends anywhere without me. Not after what happened. I’m not taking that chance again. We’re a unit, and we’re staying that way.”
Caim sighed and ran his fingers through his ruffled dark hair. It was more askew than normal. Not much different than how mine probably looked. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a full night’s sleep and a long, soothing shower. And another long night stretched ahead of us.
He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. “I can’t say no to you, Eva. I’ll gladly fight by your side. But I want Asmodeus to heal you first.”
* * *
The trap was set. Together, Asmodeus and Stolas had found the right seal and the incantation to set the spell in place. They’d even managed to wrangle up a nervous witch to do the deed for us. It effectively muted our own powers, but it would prevent the Cult of Lilith from using anything against us as well.
We’d fight the old-fashioned way. Thankfully, the spell did nothing to subdue my new monstrous instincts. Caim insisted I stay back during the fight, but I’d be able to defend myself with the dagger if necessary.
Now that the Legion had spread the rumor of an opened hellgate through the supernatural community—they told a few vamps and a few talkative fae—all we could do now was sit and wait. Unfortunately, the demons decided the underground tunnels would be a lovely place to spend the evening.
Asmodeus approached me as we strode toward the curving steps that would lead us into the caves beneathInfernal. His eyes were as dark as his midnight suit, but there was a flickering fire deep within them. A reminder of exactly what he was.
“You ready?” he asked, holding out a hand.
Swallowing hard, I nodded. My heart pounded so fast that my chest ached. For so long, I’d dreamt of this. The end to my illness. I could scarcely believe I was two seconds away from getting rid of it forever.
He gently placed his hand on my arm and closed his eyes.
I sucked in a sharp breath and waited.
But nothing happened.
His eyes flipped open, and he frowned. “That’s odd.”
Dread curled through me. “It didn’t work. Did it?”
Deep in my gut, I’d expected this. After Andrea’s words and Valac’s piercing gaze, I’d become all too aware that there was something very wrong with me. My illness was far worse than I’d ever thought. Not even a demon could heal it away.
“I’m sorry.” He shook his head, brows furrowed. “Perhaps it’s because of the witch seal. I should have tried earlier, but the grimoire seemed to suggest healing powers would not be muted by the magic.”
But it wasn’t because of the witch seal. And I knew it.
Right now, I couldn’t consider what that meant. I just needed to keep moving. We had a cult to catch.
We reached the steps that led down into a deep, impenetrable darkness. Up ahead, Mia let out a low whistle. “It’s as creepy as I remember. Can’t we just wait for the cult in the club? Where it doesn’t feel like zombies might pop out of the shadows at any moment and consume our souls?”
I bit back a smile. She’d practically read my mind.
“They need to think we aren’t here,” Caim said as he pressed a firm, comforting hand on my back. “Besides, we’d prefer not to have a mess in our club.”
My stomach twisted on itself as I read between the lines. The battle would no doubt lead to broken bottles if it happened near the bar. Broken bottles and worse. I swallowed hard. As big of a display of courage I’d put on, I wasn’t entirely thrilled about this little plan. Sure, it was mine and the best one we had, but it still felt like we were tempting fate. We were inviting our enemy into our home. And even if we did have the element of surprise on our side, that was no guarantee that we’d win.
When we reached the bottom step, we spilled out into the dungeon. Caim lit a torch that hung along the wall. It cast dancing shadows across the stone floor. A line of cages ran down the length of the cave. Each door hung wide, ready and waiting for their new captives.
If all went according to plan, the Cult of Lilith would be trapped behind bars by the end of the night. After that, well...I had a feeling Phenex would find a way to feed them to the fishes.
“We need to wait just down that corridor,” Caim said with a nod toward the looming darkness. “That path leads to the hellgate. There are some boulders that will hide us from view. When the cult comes rushing in, we’ll jump them.”
Sure, no problem. We were just going to wait in the dark beside a gate to hell and hope that nothing horrible went wrong.
I loosed a whistling breath and followed the others. Sarah fell into step beside me, holding a half-conscious Anya beneath the shoulders. Phenex had offered to carry her down with us, but Sarah had insisted she do it herself.
