“I am taking Serena home, where she belongs,” Val repeated, his Romanian accent so thick Kynan barely understood him.
Wraith’s voice scraped gravel. “If you touch her, I’ll drop all your buddies, and then I’ll take you apart, piece by piece.”
“You,” Val bellowed, “have no say in this. She’s dying because of you!”
The Guardians shifted, bracing for battle, and Wraith’s eyes went crimson. This was going to end very, very badly.
“Shade,” Ky said quietly, “bring Wraith down.” He turned to Val, whose dark gaze promised as much blood as Wraith’s. “You’d best back off. We need him to get the amulet from Byzamoth. And you know you can’t hurt him. Trying would be suicide.” Suicide, even if Wraith wasn’t in possession of the charm.
Serena placed a restraining hand on Wraith’s, and though he still looked like he was mentally fitting Val for a coffin, he’d stopped growling.
“Val, please,” she said calmly, as if she didn’t have over two hundred pounds of enraged demon vampire crouched over her. “The most important thing here is to stop Byzamoth. We all need to work together.”
“We agreed to work with the charmed one,” David said, “but we didn’t know he was a demon. We’re not working with them. No way.”
“Then lube up and prepare to call Byzamoth daddy,” Wraith said, not helping the situation at all.
One of the Elders, Juan, cleared his throat. “Kynan. Tayla. As Regent and former Regent, surely you recognize the problems inherent in Guardians working with demons?”
“I know firsthand.” Tayla morphed into her hybrid Soulshredder form, her veiny wings scraping the wall. Gasps filled the air. “Because I’m half demon.” She shifted back, rolled her shoulders. “Don’t make me do that again. It stings and makes me very cranky.”
David turned on her, his glower twisting his handsome face into something hideous. “You traitorous—”
“Be very careful what you say, human.” Eidolon’s eyes had gone as red as Wraith’s, and he now looked every inch the demon he was.
A long, tense silence had Kynan twitching. Finally, Val turned to him, though he shot wary glances at Tayla. “Did you know about her? Did you know she was a demon when you recommended her for the Regent position?”
“Yes.”
“Jesus, Kynan. What the hell were you thinking?”
“I was thinking,” Kynan said, “that she’s a warrior with damned good instincts. She can think on her feet. She knows the difference between good demons and bad ones—”
“There are no good demons,” Val bit out.
“Right now none of that matters,” Kynan said, because they didn’t have time to argue. “What matters is stopping Byzamoth. And trust me, you need Wraith to do that.”
Muffled grumbles rose up in the Aegis ranks. Val held up his hand; everyone went silent. “He’s right. We need to concentrate on the situation at hand.”
Kynan swore the house breathed a sigh of relief. Still, the room was way too crowded with mortal enemies. And Serena didn’t look comfortable in bed, where the state of the sheets and the discarded clothes on the floor told an X-rated story.
“Let’s clear out,” Kynan said. “We only need a few players in here.”
There was some discussion between the Elders and Guardians, and then most of them filed out, leaving only Val and his son, David. Gem and Tayla left to keep an eye on things outside. Reaver had come in, stood at the end of the bed, watching Serena with sad eyes.
Calmer now, Wraith sat on the edge of the bed, holding Serena’s hand. Still, he locked gazes with Val, who cleared his throat imperiously.
“The city of Jerusalem is being evacuated. Hundreds of Aegis and military teams will be in place at the Temple Mount in a matter of hours,” Val said to Wraith. “I assume you’ll use a Harrowgate to make it on time?”
“Duh.”
Shade sighed, and Eidolon rubbed his temples.
“You will distract Byzamoth so The Aegis can retrieve the amulet. Should you gain possession of it, you will immediately hand it over to a Guardian.”
Kynan winced as Wraith came to his feet. “Blow me. This isn’t your show, and I don’t take orders from slayers.”
“Josh. Val.” Serena’s thin voice drew everyone’s attention. The dark circles beneath her eyes seemed to have grown ten times worse in the last few minutes. “Just… get the necklace. Don’t fight.”
Wraith nodded and took her hand, and was it Ky’s imagination, or did her arm look thinner, more fragile? “Sorry.” He slid Val a covert glare, as if upsetting Serena had been entirely the human’s fault.
The room fell silent except for the sound of her raspy breaths, until Reaver spoke up. “I’m going with you.”
E cocked an eyebrow. “I thought you couldn’t help.”
“Fuck that.”
“How can you help, angel?” Wraith asked, and both Val and David gaped.
“Angel?” David echoed.
“Fallen. Don’t get excited.” Reaver shook his head. “I can fight him, but I can’t do it alone. He’s stronger than I am. He’s drawing on the power of evil. I, on the other hand, can’t claim the power of the Heavens or Hell.”
Wraith tucked Serena against him and ran his palm up and down her arm. “So we tag team him.”
“We tag team him,” Reaver agreed.
E clapped Wraith on the back. “I’m going with you. Tay, Luc, and Ky are coming with us. There’ll be a lot of casualties.”
They’d decided not to send Shade, because his medical gift would be needed here to care for Serena, and Gem was staying behind to help. All of the Guardians would remain in what was now Central Command. They would be responsible for calling in reinforcements, providing situation reports to Aegis cells worldwide, and basically, acting as the second line of defense should Wraith fail.
Of course, should Wraith fail, a second line wouldn’t make a drop of difference.
“Game on, then,” Wraith said. “We leave together. But Shade? No one takes Serena anywhere.” Wraith glared at Val, his voice dripping with warning. “No one.”
Shade crossed his arms over his broad chest, moved to the head of the bed, and nodded. “No one.”
Wraith kissed Serena so tenderly that something lurched in Kynan’s chest. He’d never in a million years have believed that Wraith could feel so strongly about anyone, especially a human. That the woman was dying only made the situation more unbelievable—and tragic.
Kynan thought of Gem and wondered what he’d do if he found out she was dying. God, he’d probably wither up and die with her.
Screw that. He wasn’t going to lose her to death or to anything else. Not now, and since things here seemed to be under control, he slipped out of the room.
In the living room, he walked into a tension soup. Four Guardians stood on one side of the room, Luc on the other, and all were glaring. The Guardians couldn’t know Luc was a werewolf, but they knew he was there with the Sem brothers, so they’d naturally assume he was some sort of baddie.
Ky pulled Luc aside. “Have you seen Gem?”
“Not my day to watch her.” Luc growled when one of the Guardians not-so-casually drew his stang and tested the edge. “But I saw her go into the kitchen a minute ago.”
Luc’s gaze went right back to a female Guardian standing near a window, and strangely enough, her gaze was fixed just as intently on him.
“What’s going on?” Kynan asked.
Luc smiled, which was little more than a baring of his teeth. “She’s a warg. She knows I know, but I’m guessing her human buddies don’t know. She’s afraid I’ll tell.”
“Are you going to?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
Luc’s voice dropped an octave. “Whether or not she gives me what I want.”
“And that is?”
“Fifteen minutes. Naked.”
“That’s blackmail.”
Luc snorted. “Wargs call it negotia
tion.”
“So you want fifteen minutes… what will she want?”
“With me?” Luc winked. “Two hours.”
Kynan shook his head. Wargs.
He found Gem in the kitchen, staring into the fridge. He didn’t bother asking her to come with him. He seized her hand and dragged her to the only room that was empty.
The bathroom. He shot Lore the bird on the way past.
“Kynan! What are you doing?”
He shut the door, spun, and kissed her. She made a small sound of outrage, but he pushed her up against the door, kept kissing her, and after a moment she relaxed against him.
“I don’t care what you are, Gem. I want you. I love you. And if our kids are a quarter demon, I can live with that. If you can’t, we’ll adopt. Or we’ll get a surrogate. It doesn’t matter.”
Gem’s mouth fell open. Closed. Fell open again. “What… what brought this on?”
“The woman Wraith loves is dying. They might only have hours left together. I know you have hundreds of years to live, and I can only give you a fraction of that with me, but watching Wraith and Serena made me realize that I can’t waste our time. Marry me, Gem. Be with me for as long as I have left.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and fear cut him wide open. He knew what she was going to say before she said it.
“I’m sorry, Ky… I can’t. Maybe after the battle and things settle down, we can see, but right now, I think you’re looking at the end and grasping at what you can.”
“Damn you,” he gritted out. “Why do you keep telling me what I’m thinking and how I’m feeling?”
“Because someone has to.” She tore out of the bathroom, leaving him staring at the wall. Outside, he heard a commotion, the sound of weapons being prepared, of battle looming.
Good. He was going to take out his frustrations on a lot of demons, because the one he wanted… didn’t want him.
Twenty-seven
The thing that sucked about Jerusalem was that there were only a handful of Harrowgates. There was one just paces from the Dome of the Rock, a temple that housed the Foundation Stone Byzamoth would use to open the gate, but it would be under the enemy’s control, and the next closest was on the outskirts of the city. Which meant that Wraith, Luc, Tay, E, Reaver, and Ky had to hoof it miles to the Temple Mount.
The city’s atmosphere was bleak. The few people on the streets were silent, heads down as if they expected fire to fall from the sky—which was dark, the clouds roiling and edged in crimson. Lightning streaked to the ground and thunder cracked.
Wraith saw them in the distance. Two armies… one massive, the other massively arrogant. Only The Aegis would think their righteousness would allow them to come out on the victorious end of battle when they were outnumbered twenty to one.
“Let’s do this thing,” Wraith said, and Luc took off like a shot. No one liked a good fight more than a warg.
No one but Wraith.
Reaver pulled Kynan aside and Eidolon grabbed Wraith. “Hold up, bro. Just a sec.” He turned to Tayla and framed her face in his hands so tenderly Wraith had a moment of longing for Serena. “Don’t shift into your Shredder form. I don’t want any military idiot or Aegi mistaking you for the enemy.”
“And you stay back. You don’t fight in this one. You heal. That’s all.” Tayla took E’s face in her hands and brought his mouth close to hers. “I love you.”
Wraith turned away to give them a moment of privacy. He’d always made fun of their sappy relationship, had never understood how E could give so much of himself to Tayla. Now he got it. Got it so well it hurt.
He’d give anything and everything to Serena, if only she’d let him. If only she’d live.
He reached into his coat pocket, but instead of feeling up a weapon, which always soothed him, he fingered the top she’d given him. He’d grabbed it on the way out of the house, a good luck charm he wasn’t going into battle without.
He felt two hands on his back—one belonging to E, and the other to Tayla. She gave him a tentative smile. “Good luck, Wraith.”
With that, she took off.
“Ditto,” E said. “I have faith in you.”
“Sorry, not buying it.” Wraith watched lightning streak across the sky, connecting the clouds in a celestial dot-to-dot. “But I appreciate the sentiment.”
“I mean it. I’ve never given you enough credit. But I’m seeing something in you I’ve never noticed before.” Eidolon spared them both more mushiness by slugging him in the shoulder. “Kick his ass, bro.” He set off after Tayla.
Wraith watched them go, took a deep breath, and moved out. Good thing he had broad shoulders, because the weight of the world… sucked.
Serena breathed deeply as Shade released her arm. She’d passed out right after Josh left, but Shade had done the glowy-arm thing that always made her feel better. He backed away and stood near the door like a sentry, his shrewd, sharp eyes shifting between Val and David, who both sat in chairs near her bed
“You know,” Val said, taking her hand in his. “I really would rather take you home, where you’ll be more comfortable.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know if I could make the plane trip.” She also didn’t want to go anywhere until she knew that the amulet had been retrieved.
And that Josh had survived.
She still wasn’t sure how she felt about him, because his betrayal had been so huge, so… awful. But she understood why he’d set out to seduce her, and how hard it had been not to go through with it when he knew he was dooming his brothers.
She wriggled into a sitting position, and Val fluffed the pillow behind her back. “Shade?”
He looked at her.
“Josh—Wraith—said you and Eidolon were dying. But you weren’t poisoned, right?”
Shade shook his head. “Long story. He didn’t even know about it until after the attack on Philae. He’d decided not to go through with the plan to seduce you. That’s when we told him that we were dying, too.”
God, he’d backed off his plan even earlier than she’d thought.
“What difference does it make?” David asked. “He’s a demon.”
“He saved me from Byzamoth.”
“So he could have you for himself, you idiot! You actually believe this… this creature?”
“David!” Val’s hand tightened on Serena’s almost painfully, though he didn’t seem to realize it. “That’s enough.”
Shame colored David’s face.
Serena coughed… and couldn’t stop. Immediately, Shade was at her side, his hand wrapped around her wrist, fingers to her pulse, tattoo glowing. In seconds, her lungs cleared, opened up so she could breathe better. Josh had said he was a paramedic, and no doubt, he was a good one. Attentive, efficient, and possessing an arrogant confidence that was justified. He knew what he was doing and he did it well. She’d bet he did everything well.
“You have a… mate, right?” she asked, and his incredibly long lashes flew up in surprise.
“Yes.”
“Did she know what you were when you met?”
He grunted. “Not until she caught me in bed with a vampire and a Trillah demon.”
Her jaw dropped. “And she still wanted you?”
“She wanted to kill me. Tell you what,” he said, giving her a sleepy, seductive grin that reminded her so much of Josh, “I’ll tell you the whole sordid story after Wraith defeats Byzamoth.”
She knew there were no guarantees that Wraith would survive the battle, but she appreciated Shade’s efforts to calm her. He moved back to the doorway, and she tapped Val’s hand to get his attention. He’d fixed his gaze out the window at the approaching dawn and had gone someplace far away.
“Val?” Her voice cracked as she spoke, and she couldn’t believe the effort it took just to say his name.
“What is it?”
Nerves fluttered in her belly. “Who all knew about my mission in Egypt?”
David spoke up. “Everyone in the Sigil.?
??
“But who knew about the specifics? Where I was staying, where I was going to be at what times… things like that.”
Val’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
She palmed the mattress to keep her hands from shaking. What if Josh was right about Val? “Because Byzamoth was always one step ahead of me. He knew things he shouldn’t know.”
David stiffened. “What are you saying? How dare you accuse my father of betraying you.”
“I’m not accusing Val of anything. But someone was tipping off the fallen angel and trying to get me killed. He couldn’t have known I was stopping by the Regent’s house, and there’s definitely no way he could have known what train I took from Aswan. Josh changed the reservations.”
“Well, there’s your answer,” David shot back. “And let’s call him by his real name, shall we? Since he pretty much stole Josh’s identity like he stole everything else.”
She slid a glance at Shade, who still watched in silence, but the way his chiseled jaw rolled gave her the impression that he was grinding his teeth.
“It wasn’t him,” she insisted. It wouldn’t have made sense for Josh to have been tipping off the competition.
David made a sound of disgust. “It’s so much easier for you to accuse us than to believe your demon lover could possibly have betrayed you, never mind the fact that it’s all he’s done since he met you.”
“You feeling a little guilty, human? Because she didn’t accuse you.” Shade looked at Serena and shrugged. “Just pointing that out.”
And he was right. “Val, tell me. Who all knew about the Regent’s house and the train?”
Val didn’t say anything, but she knew the answer. He’d known… and so had David.
David shoved to his feet with such force that his chair tipped over. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to this. Come on, Dad. We don’t need this.”
Shade blocked the door. “You don’t have to sit, but you will stay.”
“I’m trained to kill your kind.”
Shade cracked his knuckles.