“No, but she suspected why I wanted his aid.”
“Aid with what?”
Jonas didn’t respond. Just stared into the fire.
Patience thin, Knox bared his teeth. “Jonas, do not fuck with me right now. It’s not the time to test just how much tolerance I possess. Someone recently posed as Harper to get to my son. We suspect they wanted to take him, and we’re betting they were sent by the Horseman.”
Jonas’s face went slack. “Posed as Harper?”
“Took on her physical form. They left no scent or blood behind, and I don’t have to point out that such a thing isn’t at all common.” Jonas went so deathly pale that Knox’s muscles bunched with tension. “What do you know?”
Closing his eyes, Jonas shook his head. “Oh, Alethea, what did you do?” he muttered.
Knox took an aggressive step toward him. “Tell me what you know.”
Jonas pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a hard sigh. “Alethea. She … ”
“She, what?”
“She had an incorporeal demon in her possession.”
Everything in Knox stilled. Even his demon stiffened. Fisting his hands, Knox echoed, “An incorporeal demon? She had an incorporeal demon?” A demon without a body. A demon that could possess others. A demon that, if extremely powerful, could also temporarily maintain the physical form of anyone it chose. A demon that was as near to indestructible as anything in their world could get. Mostly intangible, it had no bones for you to break, no blood for you to spill, no heart for you to stop, no brain for you to damage. Very little could kill it … making it the perfect weapon, and one of the worst opponents imaginable.
“I don’t know how long she had it. She was behaving strangely. Acting secretive. She also kept putting off our dinner plans, which was out of character for her. Concerned and annoyed, I went to her house to see her. She was angry that I hadn’t called first, and I could tell she wanted me gone. I noticed a glass display case on the mantelpiece in her living room. It caught my eye because it was empty. But when I moved closer, I saw that there was something inside it. A sort of hazy vapor. So faint you could easily miss it.”
Jaw hard, Knox exchanged a knowing look with Levi.
“I didn’t need to ask what it was. I’d never seen an incorporeal before, but I’d heard enough about them to know what I was looking at. Still, I’d hoped she’d tell me I was wrong.” Jonas tossed back the last of his brandy. “But she didn’t. Of course, I demanded to know where the hell she’d gotten it.”
“And?” prodded Knox.
“She said she stole it from a private collector. And that she meant to free it.”
Levi swore under his breath.
“I insisted that she return the display case to wherever it came from,” Jonas went on, “but she said that it was for protection. Said that she suspected you or Harper could be the fourth Horseman and that she thought one of you would come for her.”
“But you didn’t believe her,” Knox sensed.
“No.” Jonas rubbed his temple, as if a headache was building. “I knew that, whatever the case, I needed to somehow get rid of it. I also knew she would protest, so I pretended that I understood her motives, and I promised that I wouldn’t say a word about it. But at the meeting, when you revealed that I wanted to make a deal with Lucifer, she became suspicious that I’d sought his help to destroy the incorporeal. That was why she disappeared—she ran from me, because she didn’t trust me.”
“And, knowing the type of destruction an incorporeal can cause, you didn’t think to say something to someone?” clipped Knox, wanting to shake the other demon. So much could have been avoided if Jonas had just spoken up about it.
Jonas’s eyes flared. “She was my sister. I knew people would come for the incorporeal, and I knew she’d never give it up easily—even if it meant risking her life. I thought if I could just get rid of it before anyone got hurt, no one would ever know. Besides, I didn’t think she would truly be able to free it. She just wasn’t strong enough for something like that. I spoke with an incantor about it—the same incantor people mistakenly believed I was dating—and she said it would take several things to free an incorporeal, including the sacrifice of a demonic child.”
Levi looked at Knox. “Harper’s younger cousin, Heidi, could have been Alethea’s chosen target.”
Jonas’s gaze snapped to the sentinel. “No. Alethea would never have done something like that. She may have thought about it, yes, but she wouldn’t have gone through with it. She was vindictive, but she wasn’t evil. Someone was using her. She was seeing someone else, but she wouldn’t tell me who. Wouldn’t even tell me if I knew them. The two must have worked together to free the incorporeal.”
And now it was targeting Knox’s son. His demon growled. “You should have told someone that she had one in her possession.”
“I’d planned to destroy it,” Jonas defended. “The incantor I spoke to said that nothing of the Earth could kill an incorporeal. Everyone knows that nothing is impervious to the flames of hell. Archdemons are the flames of hell. I wanted Lucifer to either banish the incorporeal back to hell or give me the brief use of an archdemon, but he wouldn’t even speak with me. I was determined to undo what she’d done before it got her killed.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “But I failed. I should have looked harder for her. I tried to find her, I really did, but it was like she didn’t want to be found.”
“Or she didn’t want the incorporeal to be found,” said Knox. “If she freed it, she would have given it an order; made a bargain with it. There would have been no other point in freeing one, especially since it could have turned on her. What do you think she asked it to do?”
A weary exhale shuddered out of Jonas. “I don’t know.”
“If you had to guess … ?”
“I don’t know. Truly. I suspect that whatever order the incorporeal was given came from the Horseman, not from her. And I believe deep down to my bones that she didn’t know they were the fourth Horseman—the bastard wants to see the fall of the US Primes. I am a Prime. Alethea wouldn’t have been party to anything that would harm me.”
Knox could agree with the latter. “But she would have been party to something that brought harm to me, my mate, or my son, wouldn’t she?”
Jonas looked about to deny the accusation, but then he sighed. “The temptation would have been there, but I don’t believe she would truly have gone through with it. No, I think the Horseman lied to her about what his intentions were for the incorporeal. They told her whatever would gain them her cooperation.”
“Yes, because Alethea was so naïve and easily manipulated,” Knox said, sarcasm heavy in his tone. “Be real, Jonas. Your sister was cunning and devious; she would have recognized if someone was trying to play her.”
“Then they were damn convincing or someone she trusted, because there is no way I will believe she would have knowingly worked with the Horseman. She obviously discovered who they were and wanted out, so they killed her to protect their identity. And now they’re coming for you. Or, as it would appear, they’re coming for your son. And if they really have an incorporeal in their arsenal, I’m sorry to say that he’s doomed.” Jonas turned back to the fireplace. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone. There’s truly nothing more I can tell you anyway.”
Believing the latter, Knox decided to back off. But it was hard when anger still ravaged his insides. If Jonas hadn’t kept the incorporeal a secret, the entity wouldn’t now be targeting his son. If Harper had been here, she probably would have flown at the other Prime and gripped him by the throat. Knox was highly tempted to do that very thing, but it was possible that Jonas would later think of something else that could help. And considering Jonas wanted the Horseman as badly as Knox did, killing the Prime would mean there was one less person searching for the bastard. Knox would deal with Jonas at a later date.