“None.” I stared over his shoulder into Eve’s bedroom. “I swear, I had a thousand different theories and daydreams about who I was. Even after we came here, when you told me what Demons were, I had this silly daydream that maybe my parent was a Demon like Jabol. Somebody kind and decent who gave me up for safe keeping so that I could escape the Silent Homes.”
I gave Sam an apologetic glance. “Deep down I think I knew there was something more. Something bad. That’s what stopped me looking in the box all these years. This creeping dread inside my stomach. I need to know everything about the world, but I couldn’t open that Pandora’s box. I guess my instincts were right, but it never occurred to me that I could have been conceived with the energy of one of those… things. I should have just asked Cat. She would have told me the truth, maybe she knew I didn’t want to know. I should have had an ounce of courage. Instead of dreaming Lizzie was going to walk in here and pull me into her arms. Pathetic.”
“I’m sorry, Grace. I should have talked to you about all this. I knew how little Eve had taught you about the hidden world, I just didn’t think she would have kept something that big a secret.”
“I don’t know. How do you tell somebody something like that? Has Cat told Dawn? How could she explain without ripping Dawn to shreds?”
Sam cupped my face in his strong hand. “She’ll find a way. She’s a good mom. It’s better to be upfront. I wish I had been more honest with you. I should have told you the truth the very first day, at the library. I thought I knew better.”
“You were doing what you thought was best for my family, Sam. I get it. I appreciate it. I still think you were out of line for the way we acted when we got to Shadow Hall. Creeping around my room when I was unconscious and then being mean because you’d be too irresistible if I knew the truth? Please! You should be so lucky.” I made a face at him.
The vulnerability of Sam’s smile caught me off guard. “Trust me, I know I’m not irresistible, Grace. You’ve jumped away from my kiss twice. I know what I am. I know I’m not perfect like Elijah. I did want to tell you how I felt, to explain. I was ready to try after the Spirit attack that night, after you found Ozzie and Frank. I was going to talk to you the next day, but then you were holding Eli’s hand in the magic room, and you said you wanted to be friends when we were on our way to see Lizzie. And when I kissed you in the alley.” He rubbed his jaw. “You looked like I’d shot you. I get mean when I’m scared, Grace. I’m a petty guy, deep down. I told you. I’m not the hero.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed his lips with all the force I could manage. Megan clapped her hands together, and we sprang apart, both of us flustered. “Okay, people. It’s go time. Lucas, you are first up, Jasmine will go with you. Sam and Grace you follow three minutes later, Elijah and I take the rear.”
My throat felt dry and scratchy. This wasn’t a game of dress-up. Megan whirled to her left. “Jasmine. You’re opening a slip one block from the main entrance to the club. Seething Lane.”
Jasmine tipped her head in acknowledgment and slipped out the door after Lucas. Megan turned the laser beam of her attention on me. “Grace, this is all new to you. You need to follow our lead, but don’t ignore your instincts. They’ve served you well under pressure so far.”
My arms acted without consulting my brain, and I reached out and drew Megan into a hug. “Thank you, Megan. You don’t owe me anything. Thanks for helping me find them.”
I bit back the tears tickling my throat. Megan untangled herself from my grasp. I shot Elijah a chagrined goodbye and headed for the door. Megan caught my hand and pressed it firmly. “Everybody deserves a chance to save their family. They’re lucky to have you in their corner. I’m honored to help.”
Sam knotted his fingers in mine and dragged me out the door, still gaping at Megan. The corridor was deserted, most of the family quarters emanating the sounds of people preparing for bed. Sam’s lips quirked to one side as he watched me out of the corner of his eye.
I arched my eyebrows. “What?”
Sam rubbed his thumb over the soft flesh inside my wrist. “I told you so.” I screwed up my face and rolled my eyes. He grinned. “Don’t be such a sore loser, Grace.”
“It wasn’t a game, so I didn’t lose,” I said. Sam grinned, and my heart jumped at the sight of his dimples. “Anyway, Sam, it might be a temporary thing. Megan could be a horrible person again by tomorrow.” I bit my lip. “Who knows what tomorrow will bring?”
Sam lifted our joined hands and pressed my hand against his heart. He opened his mouth to speak but froze midway and narrowed his eyes at the empty stairwell. I squinted trying to isolate the source of his concern from the mass of shadow. A small figure with an unlit Spirit blade in his hand. I pulled away from Sam and sat down beside Ozzie.
He stared at me with huge brown eyes. “I saw Lucas and Jasmine leaving. You shouldn’t be going. Something isn’t right. Deirdre said Dawn was gone on vacation. She’d never leave without saying goodbye to me.”
His mouth turned down at the corners, a balanced blend of disappointment and fear. I patted his knee. Sam gave me a warning look. I turned my back to him. “Ozzie, you’re right, Dawn would always say goodbye to you if she had the chance. We’re going to try and figure out what’s going on. You don’t need to be scared.”
Oscar shoved his chin in the air. “I’m not scared. I’m never scared.”
My lips curved upward of their own accord. “That’s great, Ozzie. I need you to do me a favor, okay? Is your mom back in your quarters? Are all the other adults from the New York cell upstairs for the evening?”
He nodded.
“Okay, Ozzie, I want you to keep your eyes open. If you see anything you don’t like, anything that makes you feel strange, you tell your mom, and you get all the families to the chapel. Okay? You use your superpowers and build another one of those awesome walls, yeah? We’ll be back soon, Lucas too. But you only need to do that if you feel something is wrong, can you do that?”
Ozzie grinned at me. “I can do that. I know when things aren’t right. I can feel it.” He tapped his chest. “Mom says I was born with a compass for danger in my heart.”
My fingers pinched over my upper lip, trying to dissipate the burning sensation behind my eyes. I couldn’t trust my voice, so I kissed him goodbye instead, giggling as he wiped his forehead in disgust and scampered back toward his quarters.
Elijah and Megan appeared on the step in front of me. Megan tapped her watch and pursed her lips. The smile died on my lips at the familiar gesture. I closed my heart to any memory of Eve and followed Megan and Elijah back to Sam.
We had bigger fish to fry tonight.
Chapter Forty-Two
London by night was a different beast entirely. Megan whistled, giving the signal we were safe to climb over the railings of Seething Lane Garden and onto the pristine pavement. Megan led the way, pulling Elijah against her side like a typical courting couple.
The street was shrouded in mist, punctured every few feet by the light of a streetlamp. I tripped on a cracked paving slab and stumbled against the gate to a chapel. A trio of skulls grinned down at me, watching me blindly from eyeless sockets. St. Olave’s Church. Sam tucked my hand inside his closed fist.
Lucas gestured for us to stop at a cash machine on Tower Hill. There was already a queue building outside the club, snaking around the corner like a young, vivacious serpent.
Jasmine traced her eyebrows with her middle finger. “I really wish I had my glasses and my boots.”
Megan nodded in agreement, eyeballing the crowd and yanking at the neckline of her dress. Lucas patted them both on the back. “Chins up, ladies. You’re not here to hustle tonight. You’re here to down the champagne and spend daddy’s money, comprende?”
They watched him shove a wad of cash into his back pocket with matching scowls. I tipped my head toward the cash machine. “Speaking of which, whose money are we spending, Luc?”
“Shadow Children’s.”
Lucas slid a one hundred pound note inside my purse.
I raised my eyebrows. “And a secret organization that’s hunted by one of the most powerful police teams on the planet manages to accrue massive wealth, how?”
I eyed two policemen marching along the opposite side of the street as I spoke, following the bobbing of their tall helmets. The other five answered me in unison. “Blood.”
My eyes widened. Jasmine linked my arm and lead me toward the end of the queue. My feet were heavy. “Nobody has to donate their blood, but most Half-Born are happy to offer a donation to help fund the society.”
I spoke slowly, annunciating every syllable. “Jasmine. You take their blood. And sell it?”
Jasmine shrugged her shoulders.
“To who?” I asked. Jasmine flashed her bottom teeth at me and tipped her head toward the club. I answered my own question. “The Demons. Of course. So they can use it for their otherworldly magic crap.” I pulled my eyebrows together. “Do you want my blood?”
Megan snickered, and Lucas shot her the evil eye. She looked away. Lucas linked my other arm as we crossed the road, keeping his voice low. “Grace, Half-Born blood has been traded for centuries, ever since the Spirit War. Whatever quality it possesses that attracts the Spirits and amplifies the Half-Born’s gifts seems to be a potent medium for the manipulation of magic. Demon-Born blood— it’s not the same. My mom says even Emmanuel hasn’t been able to make use of it, and he got his first sample thirty years ago.”
I looked at Lucas in surprise. “The Shadow Children only rescued their first Demon-Born thirty years ago?”
Lucas nodded, glancing over his shoulder at Sam. I glared at them both, sensing the tension building as we joined the end of the queue. “What, guys?”
Sam sighed. “There’s no record of anyone like us until about three decades ago, Grace. No mention or sign of people being able to harness the power of a Spirit Demon at all. Never mind using their essence to procreate.”
“But that’s ridiculous, Sam. There were Demon-Born before that. Eve must be at least forty.” Sam held my gaze, letting the cogs turn in my mind. “You think she’s the first one. You think Eve is the first Demon-Born?”
Sam pressed his head against mine and kissed my nose. “That’s what Peter thinks.” He paused, and I yanked my head back refusing to let him pull me closer until he finished what he was going to say. He narrowed his lips in apology. “The Mother of Demons. That’s what he calls her.”
I let him wrap his arms around me, pressing my face into his chest as the queue inched forward. The Mother of Demons. I closed my eyes and my heart ached. Eve, what have you done?
The bouncer at the door was a dark haired man. Short and slight with a friendly face. Only his eyes gave him away. Hidden in their depths, I saw a hundred lifetimes of blood and hunger. As he ushered us into the nightclub, he pressed a cold hand against my back. I shrank away from his touch, certain that I had seen the flash of needle-sharp teeth in the instant of contact. Sam snatched my hand and pulled me through the glass doors, searching for the spot on the dance floor where the crowd was deepest.
“What the hell was he?” I asked.
I could barely hear Sam over the throbbing bass and the thrumming voices. He leaned forward, whispering into my ear. “Careful, Grace. Your magic. It’s free. You can sense them now, you know that. The Demons.”
I let myself relax into his embrace, trying to control the panic rising from my gut. I couldn’t mess up. Cat and Dawn were depending on me. Cain too. Jasmine and Lucas forced their way through the crowd to join us. Elijah raised a glass at us from the bar. Megan lifted a shot glass of a bright green substance and clinked it against his champagne flute before knocking it back in a single gulp. Her face split into a grimace as the taste hit her mouth. I smirked.
Jasmine shouted into my ear. “Megan and Elijah can watch from the bar. None of the Demons has seen them up close. They should be safe.” I wiped my sweaty hands in my silky fabric of my dress, praying she was right. She shouted again. “We need to find Gabriel, can you do that thing? Try and sense him?”
I bit my lip and hoped that I was right about my ability. I pressed my face against Sam’s shirt to help me focus. I tried to block out the noise in the club. The rhythm of the bass. The beat vibrating across the floor and up my bare legs. The smell of fresh sweat and pheromones. I opened my mind’s eye and let it absorb the world around me.
Sam hit me first. The essence of him: determined, strong, arrogant. It rolled over me like the tide, dragging me deeper inside him, where the hurt and vulnerability was curled tightly. He ran his hand down the length of my hair, and I writhed against his body, overpowered by the strength of his emotion.
I ground my teeth together and forced myself to stretch further, away from where my heart beat in time to Sam’s. The room was pulsing with life of every shade and texture. Lust, desire, heartbreak, hope. It lashed me until my jaw ached from the pressure building inside my head.
And then I found him.
A drop in the ocean of life. His essence was singular. Loneliness. Pure and utter tormented solitude. I fell back into my body with a shuddering gasp. Sam cupped my face, his eyes as black as night. “He’s here. Over by the door to the Dungeon Path.”
I waved Sam’s hands away from my face and kissed his lips, resisting the temptation to taste his longing again. I gestured for Jasmine and Lucas to follow us. Elijah tipped his head, eyes trained on our little groups as we negotiated a path through the crowd.
“I see him. The end of that bar. Doesn’t seem to be any other Demons around but we need to be certain. We won’t get a second chance.” Sam’s lips barely moved as he leaned over Jasmine and me, pretending to study the cocktail menu.
Lucas ran his eyes along the length of the bar, searching for any sign of Angels. He froze to the spot when he reached the halfway point, every inch of his body as taut as a drum. I followed his line of vision to a slender figure wearing torn jeans and bright yellow trainers. His hair was braided in precise cornrows. The realization hit Sam’s brain a second before mine. “Oh crap, it’s Brandon.”
Lucas grabbed Sam’s arm and squeezed it. His nails dug into the skin with such force I could see the flesh beginning to color. “We can’t let him see us, Sam. If the Demons think he has anything to with us they’ll hunt him down when we’re gone.”
Sam’s jaw pumped in time to the grinding of his teeth. He ran his hand over his forehead in frustrated disbelief. “Go get him, Lucas.”
Lucas crushed his fingers more tightly into Sam’s arm. Sam shook him off. “Luc, man, listen to me. We don’t have time to hang back and wait for him to move on to another spot. Gabriel could leave at any minute. Go and get him, bring him back up to Megan and Eli. Be cool. You guys never have to be seen with us. The minute we’re done we leave separately, you kiss Brandon goodbye, and nobody ever makes a connection between him and Grace and I. Okay? You got this?”
Lucas nodded, his face tight.
Sam caught his hand. “Just don’t let him see us, right? Whatever you have to do. Get him the hell out of here and over to the others before he can catch sight of us.”
Lucas held on to his hand for a second before shooting a look in my direction. Jasmine and I gave him matching grim smiles. Sam turned his back to the bar and pulled myself and Jasmine into a huddle. “Okay, our target is still standing down the end of the bar, nursing his drink. We need to catch him off guard. He can’t know it’s us until we have him where we want him. Jasmine, you look least like you did the last time we met him. Can you hold his attention?”
Jasmine threw back her shoulders and licked her lips. “Easy as pie.”
We watched her saunter down the length of the bar. Every inch of her body exuded confidence. Sam and I traced her movements, swinging around in a wide circle, so we were pressed against the wall beside the back entrance to the club, facing Jasmine and the bar.
Gabriel stood between Jasmine and us, watching her approach. I let m
y mind open a crack and sensed his interest in her stirring like a dragon waking from an eternal slumber. She stopped a few feet short of him and leaned over the bar between two strongly built men in their early twenties. She let her braid fall onto her chest, twirling it between her fingers as she pretended to peruse the cocktail menu.
One of the men grabbed the end of her braid and brushed it across his face. “I could think of plenty of places I would like to have tickled with that plait.”
He leered down at her, muscles straining against his form fitting shirt. Gabriel watched the scene unfolding with the intensity of cheetah stalking a gazelle. Jasmine snatched her hair back, winding it slowly around her wrist. The man on her other side leaned over her, winking at his friend. “Feisty little thing. You should let your hair down, love. Pull it out of that ratty braid. Pocahontas goes wild, yeah?”
Jasmine smiled at them both sweetly, batting her lashes. “That’s terribly sweet of you, guys, but I don’t think you’re my type. You know what they say about boys who need to pump their muscles up like a balloon?”
A look of shock flashed across their faces, quickly chased by a burst of anger. Gabriel slid off his stool and rapped his hand on the bar. “Party’s over, men. Go.”
They didn’t even broach an argument. Both men turned and slithered across the dance floor, leaving behind full glasses. Jasmine continued to run her finger along the cocktail menu. She didn’t glance in Gabriel’s direction. I felt his interest in her swelling. He tapped the menu with a long elegant finger. “Number 9 might be a promising choice.”
Jasmine drew her full lips together. “Sex on the beach. That’s as original as you can get? I was handling those clowns myself, by the way.”
The Demon-Born Trilogy: (Complete Paranormal Fantasy Series) Page 24
