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I closed my eyes, succumbing to the thought that if the dark took me, at least whatever this new nightmare was, it would be over. An unsettling wave of emotion remained lodged in my soul, as if something horrific had happened to unseat my entire world. And yet I couldn’t recall what. As sleep tugged me down, I thought I heard a soft whisper.

“Safe…”

40

ANGEL

Victor made me dress before I could enter the house.

“There’s glass everywhere,” he said, shoving the duffle into my hands.

I would have growled at him, but Nat was still talking to the other Reapers. He could only hold them back for so long before a Shepherd appeared to begin forcing the movement. Mass death created a lot of problems.

The fact that there was enough carnage at this suburban house in a high-end neighborhood to warrant the arrival of a Shepherd, made me question a lot of things as I pulled on jeans and a shirt, then slipped into a pair of sneakers. The cuts from the glass had healed, and Nox pulsed on my back like a living battery as though trying to keep me upright, while still charging Jude as much as he could.

The police were taping off the street and keeping everyone back, evacuating neighbors as they waited on the arrival of the SED. Wade’s SUV pulled up first, followed by the tactical van.

“What the fuck?” Wade asked as everyone stepped out and filed through the open fence gate. The cops had blocked off the other end of the street, but there was no way to miss the strange twisting of the house and yard. “Is this a full merge?”

“Are those ghosts?” Bobby asked.

“I think they’re ghosts,” Tiana said, eyes wide.

“And Reapers,” Ezra muttered. “T, keep the norms back.” She nodded and darted back through the fence to run interference.

I wasn’t certain how much seeing a Reaper really shortened a person’s life, but at this rate, we were all drawing the short straw.

“This place is about to be lousy with SED,” Victor added. “My team is less than two minutes out. Followed by all available units.” He glared at me. “Yours has a tracker on you.”

I blinked at my team. “What?”

Bobby gave me a sheepish look. “Remember when you got your last tat? You always fall asleep midway, though who finds a thousand needles relaxing…”

That had easily been over a year ago. “What did you do?”

“Added a microchip to the ink.” He shrugged. “Experimental. Sort of like the ones they do for pets.” Then he seemed to realize what he was saying. “No one else knows about it, and your body would have rejected it if it was going to cause problems.”

“We all have them now,” Wade admitted.

“You could have said something.” Damn, that was a good idea, as long as it stayed out of the wrong hands. I’d have put one in Jude. Maybe we’d have ended all this before it became madness by finding his body.

Remi stared up at the house, saying nothing, his gaze unreadable.

“Is this going to grow?” Wade asked.

“We’d need to evacuate more than just the block,” Bobby added.

I followed Remi’s gaze, finding him focused on the second floor. Where Jude was?

“It’s not another one of those death curse things, is it?” I asked quietly. “There were layers of magic hiding the merge, but I think it’s been here a while.”

He sucked in a breath, likely remembering how the last one had nearly melted his brain. “Honestly, I can’t say either way. I see hundreds, maybe thousands, of broken rune strands. Spells. All of it tangled.” He tilted his head as if to get another angle. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

I stared at the house finding the wavering colors almost like the intricate details of the weave itself. Broken parts of the runes flickered and fizzled, like the energy or magic still sought to rewrap itself around the house.

Nat approached with hesitation, though everyone still tensed. “Lots of lives sacrificed,” Nat sounded somber. “We won’t be able to hold off a Shepherd for much longer.” He gazed toward the woods, where Lilith had wandered off with Melody.

“Jude’s inside,” I could sense him, but he hadn’t moved. That worried me.