***
I woke up to a splitting headache and a dry, bitter taste in the back of my mouth. It took me a few minutes to remember what’d happened. A mixture of horror and disappointment jerked me upright, on alert despite the throbbing ache radiating down the side of my face. I touched my head gingerly, feeling a knot the size of an egg.
Woozy, I looked around the lavishly furnished room. The cedar log wal s, the large bed covered in satin sheets, the plasma television, the handcrafted furniture, al of it appeared familiar to me. It was one of the bedrooms in the cabin we used to visit, the one I’d slept in a half a dozen times. A pot of purple hibiscus flowers sat beside the bed
—Mom’s favorite. She had a thing for purple flowers.
Shock and dismay set in. I remembered this room. Oh, gods. This wasn’t good. Nope.
I was in freaking Gatlinburg, Tennessee—more than five hours away from the Covenant. Five hours. Worse yet, I didn’t see Caleb. Creeping over to the door, I paused and listened. Not a sound. I glanced at the glass doors leading out to the deck, but there was no way I could leave. I had to find Caleb… if he was stil alive.
I clamped down on that thought. He had to be alive.
There could be no other way.
Of course, my gun was gone and Caleb had taken my dagger. There was nothing in this room I could use as a weapon. If I started breaking stuff apart, it would draw attention, and it wasn’t like any of this stuff could be converted into a weapon. Anything that might’ve been made of titanium had been stripped away.
I tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. I inched the door open and looked around. The sun rose outside, pushing the shadows out of the living area and kitchen. A large round table sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by six matching chairs. Two of the chairs had been pul ed back, as if they’d been occupied. Several empty beer bottles rested on the carved oak surface. Daimons drank beer? I had no clue. There were two large couches, nice ones covered in luxurious brown fabric.
Across the room, the television was on, but muted—one of those big thin-screen ones, mounted on the wal . I went to the table and picked up a beer bottle. It wouldn’t kil a daimon, but at least it was a weapon.
A muffled scream drew my attention to one of the back rooms. If I remembered right, there were two more bedrooms, another living area, and a game room. Al of the doors were closed. I crept closer, freezing as the sound came again from the master bedroom.
I clenched the bottle in my hand and murmured a soft prayer. I wasn’t sure what god I was praying to, but I real y hoped one of them answered. Then I kicked the door. The hinges creaked and gave way as the wood around the knob splintered. The door swung open.
My breath caught in my throat at the nightmare unfolding before me. Caleb was pinned to the bed. A blond daimon was on him, his rough hands covering his mouth and holding him down while he tagged his arm. The sounds the daimon made as he drained Caleb’s blood to get at the aether horrified me.
At the sound of my rage-fueled screams, the daimon lifted his head. His empty stare bored straight through me. I launched myself away from the door, bottle raised high in the air. It wouldn’t kil him, but I was going to make it hurt.
Except it never happened.
So caught up on what the daimon was doing to Caleb, I didn’t check the room. Stupid. But dammit, these were the kind of things I’d missed out on when I’d left the Covenant. I just knew to act and fight. Not to think.
Someone snatched me from behind. My arm twisted back until I dropped the bottle to the floor. The two chairs pushed back from the table flashed before me. Should’ve seen this one coming. Struggling proved useless from this position, but I stil kicked out and tried to wrench my body away. It only succeeded in causing the daimon to tighten his grip until it became painful.
“Now. Now. Daniel isn’t going to kil your friend.” The voice came from behind my ear. “Not yet.”
Daniel smiled, flashing a row of bloodstained teeth. In a blink he stood in front of me, tilting his head to the side. The glamour took over, revealing the pure-blood characteristics.
He would’ve been beautiful if it weren’t for the rivulets of blood dripping down his chin.
Caleb’s body jerked every few seconds. Aftershocks of the tag—I would know. His bare arms revealed not one but two daimon tags. Furious, I screamed at the daimon in front of me. “I’m going to kil you!”
Daniel laughed and wiped the back of his hand over his chin. “And I’m going to love tasting you.” He sniffed me
— literally sniffed me. “I can almost taste you now.”
I kicked out, catching him in the chest. He staggered a couple of feet back, hitting the bed. Caleb groaned and tried to sit up. Daniel coldcocked Caleb. I cried out, struggling like a rabid animal, but the daimon knocked me to the floor.
And then I was flying up, but no one was touching me. I hit the wal so hard the plaster cracked, along with what felt like every bone in my body. There I stayed, pinned with my feet dangling several feet off the floor. The daimon control ed the air element—something else I hadn’t learned how to defend myself against.
“You need to learn to play nice. Both of you.” The other daimon held his hand up. He had a Southern accent—
smooth and deep. He stepped up to where I hung, leaned in and patted the top of my foot. It was the daimon from the al ey, the dark-haired one who’d been with Mom. “We do get hungry, you know? And with you here… wel , it gnaws out our insides. It’s like a fire inside of us.”
I tried to pul away from the wal , but I didn’t move. “Stay away from him!”
He ignored me, walking over to Caleb’s motionless frame. “We aren’t new daimons by any means, but you…
make it hard to resist the lure of the aether. Just a hit. That’s al we want.” He ran his fingertips down Caleb’s face. “But we can’t. Not ‘til Rachel e returns.”
“Don’t touch him.” I barely recognized my own, low voice.
He glanced back at me and waved his hand as if it were an after-thought. I hit the floor feet first, and then fel to my knees. I ignored the way my stomach muscles pul ed and pushed to my feet. Without thinking about anything other than getting him away from Caleb, I rushed him. The dark-haired daimon shook his head and simply threw his arm up.
My body slammed into the wal , knocking several framed paintings to the floor. This— this was nothing like training.
And this time I didn’t get up.
Clearly annoyed, he pushed away from Caleb. He advanced on me, and I screamed, swinging on him. He caught my arm and then my other, hauling me to my feet.
With both arms rendered useless, I had only my legs.
Aiden had always praised my kicks, and with that thought in mind, I pushed my upper back against the wal . Using the daimon’s arms and the wal for support, I pul ed my legs up to my chest and kicked out.
I caught him right in the chest, and by the startled look on his face he hadn’t expected it. He fel back several feet, and I hit the floor once again.
Daniel shot away from the bed and dug his hands into my hair, wrenching my neck back. For a moment, a sick sense of déjà vu hit me, but there was no Aiden to save me now—
no cavalry would be arriving.
As I struggled with Daniel, the dark-haired daimon dropped down in front of me. With his hands resting on his knees and the lazy smile splayed across his face, he looked like he was about to talk about the weather with me.
He was that casual.
“What’s going on here?”
Daniel released me at the sound of my mother’s sharp and angry voice. I struggled to my feet, twisting toward her. I couldn’t help the mixture of terror and love coursing through me. She stood in the doorway, surveying the damage with a critical eye. I only saw the glamour. I couldn’t see her true form.
I was so screwed.
“Eric?” She directed her scowl at the dark-haired one.
“Your daughter… she’s not happy with t
he current state of things.”
I couldn’t pul my eyes off of her as she stepped over a piece of broken wood. “My daughter better not have one hair on her head missing.”
Eric glanced over at Daniel. “Her hair is perfectly fine.
She’s fine. So is the other half-blood.”
“Oh. Yes.” She turned to Caleb. “I remember him. Is he your boyfriend, Lexie? Sweet of him to tag along either way. Stupid, but sweet.”
“Mom.” My voice cracked.
She turned to me with a smile—a big, beautiful smile.
“Lexie?”
“Please… ” I swal owed. “Please let Caleb go.”
She tsked and shook her head. “I cannot al ow that.”
My insides twisted. “Please. He… just, please.”
“Baby, I can’t. I need him.” She reached out and brushed back my hair, the way she used to. I flinched, and she frowned. “I knew you would come. I know you. The guilt and the fear would eat at you. What I didn’t plan on was him, but I’m not mad. See? He’s going to stay.”
“You could let him go.” My chin trembled.
Her hand drifted down my cheek. “I can’t. He’s going to ensure that you cooperate with me. If you do everything I tel you to do, he’l live through this. I won’t let them kil him or turn him.”
I wasn’t stupid enough to be hopeful. There was catch, probably a big and terrible one.
She stepped away, turning her attention to the two male daimons. “What have you told her?”
Eric’s chin came up. “Nothing.”
My mother nodded. Her voice was the same, but I realized as she talked, it lacked what actual y had made it hers. There was no softness in it, no emotion. It was hard, flat—not hers. “Good.” She faced me once more. “I want you to understand one thing, Lexie. I love you very, very much.”
I blinked, backing against the wal . Her words hurt more than any physical blow could. “How can you love me?
You’re a daimon.”
“I’m stil your mother,” she replied in the same flat tone,
“and you stil love me. That’s why you didn’t kil me when you had the chance.”
An act and truth I was already regretting, but looking at her now, I could only see her—Mom. I closed my eyes, wil ing myself to see the daimon, the monster inside of her.
When I opened my eyes, she was stil the same.
Her lips twisted into a smile. “You can’t go back to the Covenant. I cannot al ow that. I have to keep you away from there. Permanently.”
My gaze fel to Caleb. Daniel inched his way closer to him. “Why?” I could keep my cool as long as the bastard didn’t touch him again.
“I need to keep you away from the Apol yon.”
I blinked, not expecting that. “What?”
“He wil take everything from you. Your power, your gifts
—everything. He is the First, Lexie. Whether he knows it or not, he wil drain everything from you so he can become the God Kil er. There wil be nothing left of you when he is done.
The Council—they know this. They don’t care. Al they want is the God Kil er, but Thanatos wil never al ow that to happen.”
I backed up, shaking my head. Mom was utterly crazy.
“They don’t care what it wil do to you. I can’t al ow that.
Do you understand?” She stalked forward, coming to a stop in front of me. “That’s why I must do this. I must turn you into a daimon.”
The room spun and for a moment, I thought I would pass out.
“I have no other choice.” She caught my hand, pul ing it to where her heart beat. She held it there. “As a daimon, you wil be faster and stronger than you are now. You wil be immune to titanium. You wil have great power… when you turn eighteen you wil be unstoppable.”
“No.” I pul ed my hand back. “No!”
“You have no idea what you are saying ‘no’ to. I thought I lived before, but now I am truly living.” She held her free hand in front of my face, wriggling her fingers once, then twice. A tiny spark flew from her fingertips, and then her entire hand was on fire.
I jerked back, but her grip increased on my hand.
“Fire, Lexie. I could barely control the air element as a pure-blood, but as a daimon, I can control fire.”
“But you’re kil ing people! How does that make it okay?”
“You get used to it.” She shrugged dismissively. “You’l get used to it.”
My blood froze in my veins. “You sound… freaking insane.”
She looked at me blandly. “You say that now, but you’l see. The Council wants everyone to believe the daimons are soul ess, evil creatures. Why? Fear. They know we are far more powerful, and in the end, we wil win this war. We are like gods. No. We are gods.”
Daniel practical y licked his lips in anticipation as he eyed me. Sickness and fear clawed through me, and I shook my head. “No. Don’t do this. Please.”
“It’s the only way.” She turned away, glancing back at me over her shoulder. “Don’t make me force you into this.”
I looked at her, wondering how I could’ve hesitated in the al ey. There was nothing about this thing in front of me was my mother. Nothing. “You’re freaking insane.”
She whipped around, expression hardening. “I told you not to make me force you into this. Daniel!”
I pushed off the wal as Daniel grabbed for Caleb, who groaned as he started to come around. Mom caught me before I could reach them. The daimon bent his head to his arm.
Horror twisted through me. “No! Stop!”
Daniel laughed a moment before his teeth cut into flesh.
Caleb jackknifed across the bed, eyes going wild as his terrified screams fil ed the cabin. I pushed at my mom, but I couldn’t get past her. She was strong, so unbelievably strong.
“Eric, come here.”
Eric seemed to be more than happy to oblige. His dark eyes flared with hunger. Revulsion and fear fil ed me, and my struggles renewed.
Mom’s hold tightened around my waist. “Remember what I told you, Eric. Smal bites, every hour and no more. If she fights you, kil the boy. If she complies, leave the boy alone.”
I turned cold. “No! No!”
“I’m sorry, baby. This is going to hurt, but if you don’t fight them, it wil be over soon. It’s the only option, Lexie. I’d never be able to control you any other way. You’l see. It wil be for the best in the end. I promise you.”
Then she shoved me at Eric.
CHAPTER 19
JUST LIKE THAT.
What a bitch.
I screamed and twisted back to her as Eric pul ed me into his arms. “Don’t let them do this!”
She raised her hand. “Eric.”
The daimon flipped me around. I kicked and I threatened every possible method of death and dismemberment, but it didn’t stop him. The daimon smiled at me through my rant.
Then his fingers squeezed, and in a mil isecond, his teeth sank through the soft flesh of my arm.
Red-hot fire shot through me. I reared back, trying to escape the burning, but it fol owed my movements. Over my screams, I could hear Caleb yel ing and begging for them to stop. Neither Mom nor the daimon paid any attention to him. The pain slithered through every part of my body as Eric continued to drain. The room tilted, and there was a pretty good chance I was going to pass out.
“Enough,” she murmured.
The daimon lifted its face. “She tastes divine.”
“It’s the aether. She has more in her than a pure does.”
Eric let go of me then, and I fel to my knees, shaking.
There was nothing—absolutely nothing that felt like that.
Even the aftershocks of the tagging stole my breath.
Gasping for air, I stayed there until the fire dul ed to nothing more than an ache.
Only then did I realize Caleb was silent. I lifted my head and saw him staring at me. There was a dazed look to his eyes, as if somehow he’d managed to remove himself from t
his place, left his body or something. I wanted to be wherever he was.
“Now, that wasn’t too bad?” Mom grasped my shoulders and forced me back against the wal .
“Don’t touch me.” My words came out weak and slurred.
She gave me a cold smile. “I know you’re upset, but you’l see. We’l change the world together.”
Daniel returned to Caleb’s side, but he didn’t move. The way Daniel looked at him made me think he wanted to do bad things to Caleb. Abruptly, the oracle’s words came back to me.
One with a bright and short future.
Caleb would die. Horror forced me toward the bed. This couldn’t be happening! In an instant, Eric had me pinned back against the wal . Blood— my blood—stil stained his lips. Once he was sure I wouldn’t move again, he let go and leaned back with a smug half-smile.
Sickened, I pushed down my own pain and fear. “Mom…
please let Caleb go. Please. I’l do anything.” And I meant it.
There was no way I was going to let Caleb die in this godforsaken place. “Please, just let him go.”
She studied me silently. “What would you do?”
My voice broke. “Anything. Just let him go.”
“Would you promise not to fight me or run?”
The oracle’s words kept replaying over and over, like some sick chant. There was no tel ing how much more of this he could take. Caleb’s color was chalky, sickly. What was about to happen was fated, wasn’t it? Had the gods already seen this? And if I chose not to fight, I would be turned into a daimon.
I swal owed down the taste of bile. “Yes. I promise.”
Her gaze flickered over Caleb and the daimon. She sighed. “He stays, but since you made a promise, I’l make you one. They wil not touch him again, but his presence wil make sure you keep your promise.”
Snapping out of his daze, Caleb frantical y shook his head at me, but I agreed again. I wanted him out of here, but for now, this was the best I could do. I sat opposite the bed with my back pressed against the wal , eyes trained on Caleb and Daniel. Eric took up position beside me. Al I could do was hope someone had checked on us by now.
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