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 the 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.”