“I understand that,” Azazel said. “I also know you can’t make a blood oath for any actions except your own. I’ve been around for a while—I understand the rules for these things. But you can do everything in your power to get your pack to heed your advice. The magic of the blood oath will know if you don’t.” He paused, as if letting it sink in. The way my blood would turn on me and burn me from the inside out if I went against an oath. An oath so powerful that its magic could kill even an angel in Heaven if that angel went against it. “So… there’s my offer,” he continued. “What do you say? Will you take it or leave it?”
I paused, thinking it over. I always avoided entering into blood oaths unless they were completely necessary. They were too permanent, and I liked to be able to change my mind when it suited me.
But I needed to know Sage’s next location. Knowing could be the difference between getting her back in time or not. Between her safety or her being killed by the demons.
“Oh, and Flint?” Azazel added, and I looked to him to continue. “If you refuse to make this blood oath, I’ll assume you’ve been lying about your loyalty this entire time, and my offer will be off. I’ll find another pack to blood bind with me, you won’t mate with Mara, and, well… you know what the demons plan to do to shifters who aren’t bound to us. Right?”
Of course I knew. The demons planned on exterminating all supernaturals from Earth. The only exceptions would be the shifters who pledged loyalty by binding themselves to the demons.
If I didn’t go through with this blood oath, the Montgomerys would surely be first on Azazel’s hit list.
I either had to risk losing my sister—which likely wouldn’t happen, since he’d be giving me information I needed to find her—or risk losing everything.
It wasn’t much of a choice. What I needed to do was clear.
“You have yourself a deal.” I shifted my fingernail into a claw and made an incision in my palm, holding it out to the greater demon across from me. “I’m ready to make the blood oath.”
32
Raven
After what had happened between Noah and me, I expected training the next day to be awkward, to say the least. Luckily, Sage joined in, which stopped any awkwardness from happening. Noah was all business—focused on teaching me as many defensive moves as possible before sunset—and Sage kept the conversation going the entire time with everyday chitchat.
Since supernaturals had humanoid forms—except for shifters in their animal forms—they had the same sensitive areas as humans. I learned all about the most effective body parts to strike in a fight—the eyes, nose, ears, neck, groin, knee, and legs. Noah had me reciting that and pretending to hit those areas so many times that I could sing the jingle I made up to remember it in my sleep. Besides their strength, supernaturals had a higher tolerance for pain than humans, and they healed faster. So I wouldn’t be able to do much damage. I was learning this to stun a potential attacker, break free of their hold, and hopefully buy myself time before help came.
We practiced getting out of so many holds that I felt like a human pretzel.
Of course, whenever I practiced getting out of a hold, I practiced with Sage—not with Noah. Noah only touched me when absolutely necessary.
He was acting like my skin was poisoned, and touching me burned him. And when he talked to me, he was straight to the point and devoid of emotions. Like talking to a robot.
I hadn’t thought things could get worse between us than him constantly making me feel useless and unwanted… but I was wrong. At least before, he acknowledged my existence.
This lack of emotion was far, far worse.
By the time we finished up for the day, I was drenched in sweat and every muscle in my body was screaming out in pain.
I spent extra long in the shower, glad to have time to myself. Right now, I needed space from Noah. But that wasn’t going to happen. So until we got to Avalon, I was just going to have to deal with being around him.
When I came out of the shower, Noah and Sage had already packed up our stuff. Once they showered, we’d head out to the Voodoo Queen to pick up my cloaking ring and have her do a scrying spell to locate the nearest demon.
Once we knew the location of the demon, we’d head out on the road.
After all, there was no reason to waste time sleeping in the hotel when we could switch off sleeping in the car.
Everything went smoothly with the Voodoo Queen. She did the scrying spell to discover our next destination—Charleston, South Carolina.
It took us all night to drive to Charleston, and we finally arrived in the morning. Charleston seemed like a cool little city—I would have liked to spend time there if we hadn’t been on a hunt to kill three more demons as quickly as possible.
Much to Sage’s dismay, there were no Ritz-Carlton’s in Charleston, but we found a cool luxury boutique hotel to stay in. She booked the biggest suite available. We had the same sleeping arrangement as New Orleans—Sage and I sharing the king bed in the bedroom, and Noah on the couch in the living room.
Charleston was apparently a town known for supernatural activity, and Amber pointed us in the direction of the most powerful witch circle in the city. The witches in the circle lived in a quaint townhouse walking distance from where we were staying downtown. From the looks of all the timeless antiques inside, the house had been in their family for generations. The leader of the circle—Yasmine—did a scrying spell and located the demon at a popular bar nearby.
Using me as bait went exactly as planned. Noah stood back, and Sage and I situated ourselves at the bar. As expected, the demon gravitated to me soon after we sat down. Again, he was in the form of a generic-looking man in his twenties. Since I couldn’t see past his supernatural glamour, Sage pinched me—the signal we’d created—to let me know he was the target.
It was still a mystery why the demons were so attracted to me, or what they wanted with me. It was something that was constantly bothering me. Especially because I wondered if my missing memories had something to do with it. But since Sage and Noah didn’t have answers, I tried not to mention it much.
I’d worry about it once I reached Avalon.
For now, we had demon hunting to focus on.
Just like in New Orleans, Sage and I flirted with the demon and eventually left the bar with him. Unlike in New Orleans, we didn’t give him enough time to pull us into a random alley.
We pulled him into an alley first—one that we’d selected ahead of time.
He was so surprised by Sage’s supernatural strength that I don’t think he processed what was happening before Noah came up behind him with his slicer. In what looked like less than a second, Noah stabbed his knife into the demon’s heart, crumbling him to dust.
Noah stood over the pile of ash and admired his handiwork. “That took us less than twelve hours,” he said as he picked up one of the demon teeth and stashed it in his pocket. “If Yasmine can find the location of another demon tonight, we can hit the road without even spending the night here.”
“Was that your fastest hunt yet?” I asked.
“Maybe.” Noah shrugged. “I don’t time them.”
That went against what he said by announcing it took less than twelve hours, but whatever. I was so over arguing with him.
“Yes,” Sage said with a smile. “It definitely was.”
“Great.” I gave her a small curtsey and glanced toward what was left of the demon. “I’m glad to be of service.”
Then I turned around and led the way back to Yasmine’s, still smiling as Sage and Noah followed behind.
Eight demons down, two more to go.
33
Raven
It was another overnight drive before we arrived at our next destination—Nashville. The lack of a solid night of sleep was starting to catch up with me, but I didn’t complain.
I could sleep once I got to Avalon and found my mom.
Until then, we’d hunt.
We were also bracing ou
rselves for another attack like the one from the coyotes. We still had no idea who they were working for or why they’d wanted Sage, but they’d yet to make another strike. It was a good thing, but none of us counted on it lasting. We doubted we’d be that lucky. So next time they attacked, we’d keep one of them alive and use truth potion to uncover their motives and get them to tell us who they were working for.
But while we remained on the lookout for anyone who might be after us, all we could do now was stay focused on the hunt.
Like in Charleston, there were no Ritz’s in Nashville. So Sage used Google during the drive there to research the best hotel in the city and book a room. We didn’t bother to unpack, since hopefully we wouldn’t be staying for long.
The witches in the area lived in a suburb outside of Nashville called Brentwood. Sage gave them a call and was able to book us an appointment for that evening. I was quickly learning that the supernatural community was nocturnal and tended to do business at night. Probably because of the vampires.
At first I hoped that the evening appointment meant we’d have time to rest. But I had no such luck.
Because Noah decided it was time for me to practice using the knife I kept in my boot. And unlike last time, Sage wouldn’t be joining. She was going to drive to a car dealership to replace the beat up truck we’d taken from the coyotes with a brand new Range Rover.
Which meant Noah and I would be training alone.
We didn’t have a patio like at the Ritz, so he pushed the living room furniture to the edges of the room so we could practice in there. There was enough space in the center of the room so we could hopefully train without breaking anything.
Like always, he was focused and got straight to business. He kept his distance and tried to avoid skin on skin contact whenever possible. But he didn’t succeed all the time.
Whenever his skin touched mine, I could have sworn I saw pain swirl in his eyes.
It hurt every time, because whenever I touched him, I didn’t want to let go. His touch thrilled me and sent warmth through my body, making me want more. I craved his touch like an addict waiting for their next fix.
But all I had to do was look at him to see that he clearly felt exactly the opposite way. He looked like he couldn’t bear touching me. He was just dealing with it because he had to.
To make everything worse, I was having a hard time focusing, so it was taking me longer to learn than it should have. This frustrated him, and created a circle of anger that I didn’t think I could escape from.
We were an hour into training when I couldn’t handle the tension between us anymore. I just wanted this to end.
I broke out of his hold, reached for the knife in my boot, twirled to face him, and held the knife up to his neck. Adrenaline fueled me the entire time.
I was just as shocked as he was when I realized that I’d done the move we’d been working on correctly.
“Not bad.” He pushed the knife down and took a step back.
“Not bad?” I asked, the knife dangling by my side. “I thought that was pretty awesome.”
He said nothing in response, instead just launching into telling me what we’d be working on next. Anger swirled in my stomach, getting stronger and stronger until it filled my chest, feeling like it was about to explode.
“Noah,” I said his name strongly but firmly, interrupting him as he explained something I was having trouble focusing on anyway.
He paused, looking stunned by the interruption.
It was the first time he’d looked at me—truly looked at me—since the kiss that had ruined everything.
And now that I had his attention, I had to speak my peace.
“I hate the way things have been between us since New Orleans.” I tried to keep my voice steady, despite the fact that it terrified me to be so open about my emotions.
He gave me a once over, and then closed himself off again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
“Come on.” I rolled my eyes, rushing to continue before he could respond. “Listen—I get that the kiss meant nothing to you. It was part of our act to hunt the demon. That’s fine. I’m fine with that.” It was a lie, but whatever. If I needed to lie about my feelings to save face, then so be it. “But I’m not fine with you treating me like I’m less than human.”
“I’m helping you learn how to fight—like you wanted me to do in the first place,” he said. “How is that treating you like you’re less than human?”
“You’re acting like I barely exist!” I said. “When I talk to you, it feels like I’m talking to a robot.”
He took a step closer, looking at me so intensely that my entire body felt like it turned to jelly. It took all of my effort to remember to hold onto the handle of my knife so it didn’t drop to the floor.
Was he about to kiss me?
Because I recognized that look—it was the same one he’d given me in the bar in New Orleans, right before he’d kissed me.
Kiss me, I thought, trying to use the same manifestation technique that I had when we’d been captured by the rougarou. I put everything I could into the thought, trying to let him feel my desire and know that if he felt the same, he shouldn’t hide it anymore. Kiss me, and we can finally stop pretending that this pull we feel toward each other doesn’t exist.
His eyes dilated, like he was dazed by my very presence. We moved closer and closer together, like magnets that couldn’t resist each other anymore.
Joy spread through my stomach at the realization that whatever I was doing was working. He was going to kiss me again.
But then he stepped back, looking away from me to stare out the window.
The joy I’d felt dissipated in an instant. It was like one moment he was there with me, and the next he’d checked out completely.
“Training’s done for the day,” he said, not looking at me as he spoke.
“What?” The pain of being rejected—again—sliced my heart in two.
“Because I said so,” he said. “Go to your room and get some rest.” He looked me over, like he was inspecting me and didn’t like what he was seeing. “From the looks of you, you need it.”
34
Raven
Sage pulled me out of bed a few hours later, and the three of us got in the brand new Range Rover and headed to the suburbs. The witches of Nashville did the scrying spell for the demon and located him in one of the most popular bars in Nashville.
“Were the first five demons you hunted always in such crowded areas, too?” I asked as we hopped into the car to head back downtown. Sage was driving, Noah was in the passenger seat, and I took the back. I directed the question to Sage, since Noah and I were doing most of our communication through her these past two days.
“Yep,” she said. “The most challenging part of the hunt has always been tracking them and waiting until they’re in a place where we can kill them without drawing attention to ourselves. Until you came along, of course.”
I smiled at the reminder that I truly was helping them with their mission.
“I wonder why they’re always in such packed places,” I said, fiddling with the clunky black cloaking ring I now wore on my middle finger. It was big and heavy, and I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it. “Maybe to avoid hunters like us?”
“They’re searching for something.” Noah stared straight ahead, not turning around to look at me as he spoke. “We already know there’s something about you that the demons want. Whatever that thing is, it must be rare. So it’s a numbers game. In crowded areas there are more people, and if there are more people, the demons are more likely to find what they’re looking for.”
“Me,” I said. “Or someone like me.”
“Yep.” He didn’t bother saying anything more.
“Plus, people are drinking in bars,” Sage chimed in. “It’s easier to get a drunk person to follow you down an alley than a sober person.”
“You’d think even a drunk person would know better than to
follow a man they don’t know down an alley,” I muttered.
“Except demons aren’t normal men—or women,” Sage said. “Demons have a strange effect on humans. They make them do things they otherwise wouldn’t. Bad things, daring things. They bring out a person’s ‘inner demon,’ so to say. And from what I’ve seen, people who are drunk are easier for them to influence than people who are sober.”
I thought back to when Eli had approached me at the bar on the Santa Monica Pier. It had been my twenty-first birthday, so I’d been drinking. While I was talking to him, I’d been getting red flags to walk away. But I’d also felt drawn to him. I’d ultimately made the decision to walk away, but I’d still talked to him for longer than I should have.
Could that be what Sage was talking about?
I wasn’t sure, so I asked.
“Sounds about right,” she said. “It’s also why Joe was trying to get you to drink in New Orleans. He wanted to make it easier to influence you.”
“Gross.” I shuddered, glad I’d had the sense to turn down his offer.
“But props to you for being able to walk away from Eli at that bar,” she added. “I don’t think most humans would have been able to do that. It takes pure stubbornness to push past the will of a demon.”
“Well, I’m nothing if not stubborn,” I said.
“That’s for sure,” Noah muttered.
There he was—well, there was a hint of the snarky guy I knew before the kiss made everything super weird between us.
“Hey.” I pretended to be hurt, although really, I was just trying to bring back a sense of normalcy between us. “I think stubbornness is a good thing.”
“Whatever.” He shrugged and returned to pretending I didn’t exist.
Sage tried to fill the silence with chatter. But it didn’t come close to getting everything back to normal.
The Angel Trials- The Complete Series Page 27
