A second later, her front door clicked. When it opened, Taeg stood on the other side. He adopted a roguish grin. “Come on in.”
She gasped. “How did you do that?”
“Magic,” he quipped. And in a way it was. Taeg’s particular brand of fae magic.
Brynn stepped into her apartment. “No, really, how did you do that?”
Taeg sobered. “You don’t want to know.”
She opened her mouth as if to protest, but she must have decided to let the matter drop because she simply exhaled and turned away. Keegan didn’t fool himself into believing the matter was over, though. She’d eventually ask again, and keep asking until she got an answer that left her satisfied. That much he was sure of, from the short time he’d known her.
“I’m going to go change my clothes. I’ll be right back.” Brynn disappeared through a door and swung it shut.
Keegan glanced around the tidy living room. It was tiny but very bright, with blond wood floors and daisies arranged in a glass vase on the coffee table. From what he already knew of Brynn, it suited her.
A hard, unexpected shove sent him staggering toward the wall. Taeg pounced on him, grabbing him in a chokehold. “What the devil is wrong with you, bro?”
Dagan stepped behind Taeg. “I’m with Taeg on this one, man. I’m doing everything I can to avoid getting attached to the chick, and here you are, eye-fucking each other already?”
“Fuck off,” Keegan said.
“Right back at you, bro,” Taeg snarled.
“Settle down, everyone.” Ronin stepped forward with his hands up. “Let’s think this through.”
Ronin’s soothing energy spread through Keegan, and he fought it back with a low growl. He didn’t want to calm down. Right now, he was itching for a fight.
Taeg must have felt the same way because he shouted, “Tone that shit down, Ronin,” keeping his eyes on Keegan the entire time.
Keegan pried Taeg’s hands off his throat, pushing him away with a hard shove. “Don’t forget who’s in charge here, little brother.”
“You’d never let me, big brother,” Taeg shot back. “And right now, you’re being a huge asshole.”
“That’s it,” Keegan bit out, lunging at Taeg. His fist connected with Taeg’s jaw.
Taeg’s head whipped back. He rolled his head around before looking back at Keegan with a devilish chuckle. “All right, let’s go.”
He flew at Keegan, slamming his fist into the side of Keegan’s face. Keegan swung Taeg around, about to retaliate, when Ronin’s voice boomed, “Stop it now!”
The barely restrained fury in Ronin’s voice stopped them, all the more effective because he rarely lost his temper.
Keegan’s rage faded as quickly as it had come. Taeg’s too, apparently, since he mumbled out a quick “Sorry.”
“They were just letting off some steam,” Dagan said to Ronin with a casual shrug.
“Yeah, well, any other time you two can pummel each other to the ground and I won’t give a rat’s ass,” Ronin said through gritted teeth. “But right now we’ve got bigger things to worry about.”
“I know.” Keegan started pacing. “Damn, I know that.”
Once he’d calmed down enough to speak rationally, he turned to face his brothers. “I won’t deny that I find her attractive, or that I feel bad for her. But I’ll do what I must.” When they continued to look dubious, he said, “I will. I have to. There is no alternative. If it’s one life or the destruction of billions, then I’ll do what has to be done.”
After a tense silence, Ronin nodded. “We all will.”
The heavy air in the room dissipated.
“You really do need to get laid, bro,” Taeg said.
Dagan chuckled, but his expression became pensive. “You know, I met these adventurous twins the other night—”
He broke off as the door to Brynn’s room opened. She stuck no more than her head out. Devil, was she only half-dressed? It sure looked like it from this angle.
“Is everything okay in there?” she asked. “I thought I heard something bang against the wall.”
“Fine,” he said, while his brothers mumbled similar responses.
“Okay. I’ll be right out.” She shut the door and Keegan let out a deep exhale.
He turned back to Taeg. “Hey, what about that incubus friend of yours who moved to this world a few years back?”
“Cresso? He was in London last time I heard from him.”
“Can you track him down, maybe see if he can get wind of what’s going on in Egypt?”
Taeg nodded. “No problem, man.”
“You and Ronin are right,” Keegan said. “We need to do something to find the Book, even if we have to dig up all the damn graves in Egypt ourselves. We—”
“Shh,” Ronin interrupted him. He slanted his head to the side. “Do you feel that?”
Keegan stilled and concentrated. If Ronin sensed something, that meant something was there.
Yes, there it was. Like a pulse of energy. Something malevolent.
“Shit.” Keegan’s eyes darted toward Ronin as they both realized what it was. “Demons coming—”
The front door exploded, and a small army of demons marched inside, some humanoid, the rest glamoured into human form. But the energy that emanated off them gave them away. Demons always recognized other demons that way.
The invading demons stared uncertainly at one another before one of them turned to Dagan and said, “Who the fuck are you?”
“One, two... ” Taeg counted the demons out on his fingers before shooting Keegan a deep look. “Ten of them, bro. You know that fight you’ve been itching for?”
“Yeah.” Keegan bared his teeth at the nearest demon. Ten to four? He probably wouldn’t have minded those odds if Brynn wasn’t in the same apartment.
As if she’d sensed his thoughts, the door to her room opened.
“What—?”
She cut off with a gasp, fear etched all over her face.
“Get back in your room,” he ordered. “Lock the door.”
He didn’t have time to make sure she heeded his command before one of them jumped him. The demon’s fist smashed into the left side of his face. His head jerked to the side, the loud crack in his jaw accompanied by a burst of pain and the metallic tang of blood. He ignored it, using the momentum to duck when the demon swung again. The demon lost his balance and stumbled forward. Keegan shoved him back at the same time he swung his left fist. It caught the demon square on his ear. He hit the ground hard and didn’t get back up.
“You want some?” Dagan yelled somewhere behind him. “Take that!”
Keegan turned just in time to see his brother’s obvious relish as he knocked another demon to the ground with a brutal blow to the head. A quick glance confirmed his brothers had wholeheartedly thrown themselves into the fray. Guess they all needed to let off some steam. He turned his attention to the next demon.
Blocking jabs and throwing punches consumed the next few minutes. The demons got a few lucky ones in, too, and one asshole broke Keegan’s nose with a kick to the face and dropped him to the ground. These guys were trained to fight, and this was taking too damn long. What if more of them showed up?
Shit. Times like these, he wished he had more control over his other abilities, the ones he’d inherited from his mother’s side of the family. But no—they were too sporadic, too uncontrollable. Too fucking dangerous.
“Watch out,” Taeg yelled.
He whirled. A long, wicked dagger headed for him. Blocking the hit just in time, he disarmed the demon and slit his throat.
Finally, there was no one left to fight. His war haze cleared enough for him to see Taeg, Ronin, and Dagan standing over the bodies, shallow wounds covering their faces and torsos.
Keegan nudged one of the demons with his foot, rolling him onto his back. His glamour had slipped in his deep state of unconsciousness. Red horns sprouted from his green, pockmarked face. Two mouths existed where one should be.
“Ugly asshole,” he commented to no one in particular.
“Oh, shit,” Dagan said.
Keegan turned his gaze toward him. “What’s wrong?”
Dagan’s eyes darted over the bodies of the fallen demons. “Only nine of them here. One escaped.”
“Not good.” Keegan let out a curse as worry and fear settled in his stomach like a lead weight. Not good at all.
“This was obviously Mammon’s work,” Taeg said.
Ronin touched his fingers to a gash on his arm, which immediately knitted itself together. He gave Keegan a meaningful glance. “You know what that means, right?”
Keegan nodded at him. Oh, he knew. His tone flat, he voiced what they had all clearly deduced.
“It means Mammon knows about Brynn.”
Chapter Eight
Brynn leaned against the locked door of her bedroom with her ear pressed to the cold, hard wood. Thumps, yells, and crashes punctuated the huge brawl in her living room. There were so many of them—more than Keegan and his brothers. That much had been clear.
Her heart hammered against her ribs as she searched her room for potential weapons. But of course, she didn’t own any. With her gift, she’d never thought she might need one. Now she didn’t know if her abilities even worked anymore.
The fire escape. She could take that. What if more men waited downstairs for her?
Oh, this sucked. Big-time.
Fear and uncertainty filled her. What should she do?
After what seemed like an eternity, the sounds of battle died down, settling into a murmur of voices. Please, please, let that be Keegan and his brothers.
She strained, trying to hear. Finally she heard the unmistakable sound of Keegan’s voice saying, “We’ve gotta move. Now.”
“Oh, thank God.” Taking a deep breath, she unlocked her door and swung it open. A loud creak interrupted the silence, and she poked her head out. Keegan and his brothers stood in the living room, battered but largely unhurt as they examined the figures of the men lying on the floor.
Superheroes. That was what she’d called them yesterday, and obviously she hadn’t been far off. Her own little band of superheroes. Respect and admiration for them swelled up inside her. These guys kicked major ass.
“What was that?” Her voice cracked from the remnants of her fear. “Was it Mammon?”
Keegan’s head swiveled toward her, an alarmed look crossing his face. “Stay in there.”
Wait a second... his face.
“Your nose, it’s healing.” She stumbled toward him, surveying him, then his brothers. Taeg’s and Dagan’s wounds weren’t disappearing, but Ronin... “You, too, your wounds are healing. How is—how is that possible?”
“Brynn, go back into the room,” Keegan ordered.
Keegan and Ronin could heal themselves? Amazing. No wonder they were so badass.
The large gash down the center of Keegan’s nose closed itself. Other than a few stray droplets of blood, his nose seemed untouched. She took another step toward him, but her foot collided with a hard object. She’d run into one of the downed men. She lifted her gaze back to Keegan.
Wait!
Doing a double take, she stumbled backward to get a closer look at the figure of the man at her feet. No, he wasn’t a man. Not a man!
His characteristics were definitely male and his body mostly human, save the gray pallor of his skin. But his face—it was all wrong. Five eyes instead of two. Rhinoceros-like horn instead of a nose. Ridged spikes covered his forehead. His nauseating stench burned her nostrils, like a horrid mixture of wet dog and burning asphalt.
Warm hands gripped her arms, and someone shook her. “Brynn. Brynn.”
She looked into Keegan’s face. His lips moved, but she couldn’t hear him over the loud, shrill sound of an alarm.
He shook her harder. “Brynn, stop screaming!”
She realized with a start that he was right. Shutting her mouth abruptly, she moved her gaze back to the thing on the floor. She couldn’t help it.
“Look at me,” Keegan said, his voice harsh.
She focused on his eyes, his lips, his nose—his fully healed nose. When she found her voice again, she sputtered, “What the fuck is that thing?”
Another figure on the floor moaned and stirred. Taeg strode over and kicked him, and he stopped moving. But even from here, it was obvious he wasn’t human.
“What are they?” she whispered.
Keegan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he reopened them, they blazed with the intensity of some unspoken emotion. Almost like he felt sorry for her. But when he spoke, all he said was, “Demons.”
“Demons?” She laughed. Then laughed some more. In some distant part of her brain, she recognized she bordered on hysteria. “Demons?”
Keegan just stared at her.
“Are you kidding me? Demons?”
“You freely accept people with special abilities,” Ronin said as he moved next to Keegan and pinned her with his gaze. “Is it too much of a stretch to believe that demons might also exist?”
“Yeah, but... ” What were they going to tell her next, that aliens were real, too? “But I have special abilities.”
Dagan coughed. “You also have dem—”
“Dagan,” Keegan snarled, followed by a string of foreign words. Dagan yelled back before whirling around and stomping out the front door.
She concentrated on reading Keegan’s expression. “You actually expect me to believe those were demons?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
She took several deep, calming breaths. “How? How do you know all this? How can you tell me with such certainty that these are demons?”
He exchanged a serious, telling glance with Ronin before answering her. “Because, Brynn... I am one.”
§
Back at their borrowed apartment, Keegan paced the length of the living room while Taeg stood by the windows. Dagan and Ronin sat on the leather sectional, though relaxation looked like the last thing on their minds. Tension filled the air, thick and oppressive to the point that it overwhelmed.
“Shit,” Keegan said. “Where is Mammon getting his info?”
“Good question,” Taeg grumbled as he stared out the expansive windows. “He discovered Brynn’s identity right after we did, and we’ve got the whole damned Council on our side.”
“He doesn’t know where she is now,” Dagan pointed out. “At least we have that.”
Ronin shook his head, wearing a weary expression. “With intel that good, it’s only a matter of time before he figures it out.”
Double shit.
Keegan punched the wall nearest him, not caring that it gave way beneath his fist.
Ronin was right—if they stayed here, Mammon would eventually find Brynn.
“Okay.” He withdrew his hand from the rubble and watched the scrapes heal. “Until we’ve recovered the Book, the best thing we can do is move. Ronin, find somewhere else for us to stay in another city. We’ll move every couple of days.”
“Got it.” Ronin rose and left the room.
“Taeg, Dagan, you two go to Egypt. Try to find out everything you can about possible locations where the Book might be buried. Also, see if you can get Cresso to talk to the local demon population, maybe catch wind of something.”
“What about you?” Taeg asked.
“Me and Ronin will guard Brynn. Splitting up is the best way to spend our time right now.”
“Divide and conquer, and all that rot,” Taeg quipped halfheartedly. He turned to Dagan. “I’ll flash over to London, round up Cresso. Once you know when your plane is coming in, give me a call. I can meet you at the airport.”
“Done,” Dagan said.
Taeg grunted and turned to Keegan. “Listen, bro. Be careful, okay?”
Keegan gave him a terse nod. “Yeah.”
The air shimmered almost imperceptibly in front of Taeg, creating the invisible fae path only he could travel. He stepped into it and di
sappeared, leaving Keegan alone with Dagan.
“You think Brynn will be okay?” Dagan asked.
“Don’t know,” Keegan answered truthfully.
After he’d confessed his ancestry to her, she’d clammed up. She’d simply stopped communicating, though she had enough presence of mind to allow him to usher her downstairs and into a taxicab. They’d ridden in silence the whole way back to the apartment, and once they arrived she’d gone straight to her room, where she’d stayed for the past half hour.
Would her mind handle the stress of what she’d just learned? She had to accept the truth, or her thread of sanity might snap. After all, she was mostly human.
“I’ll go check on her,” he said.
Dagan nodded and turned to leave, but then he paused. “I’m worried about you, dude.”
“I’m fine,” Keegan answered automatically.
“Just... don’t get in over your head, okay?”
Keegan gritted his teeth and fought the urge to snap at Dagan. He was just being a caring brother, after all. If Dagan didn’t care, he would be little better than a monster, than Mammon himself.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m in control.”
Dagan hesitated, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say more. But in the end, he nodded and left.
Keegan started down the hall toward Brynn’s room. No point in putting off the inevitable. He had to make sure she was okay. But he couldn’t help but wonder if she would welcome him, or if she’d have a million questions about what he was and what he could do. Maybe she’d shrink away in fear, cower in front of him the way others did before his father. She might see him as a monster.
If she did, would he be able to deal with it?
§
Brynn sat on the bed and stared out the window, not really seeing anything. To think that yesterday, her biggest worry had been figuring out why Keegan kidnapped her. That seemed like a cakewalk compared to today’s problems.
Demons. Keegan actually expected her to believe he and his brothers were demons.
Even if she did believe in demons—which she wasn’t willing to admit just yet—she’d never believe Keegan was one. Those things lying on the floor of her apartment? They looked like demons, with their grotesque faces and off-colored flesh. But not Keegan. Not his brothers.
Blood of the Demon Page 6
