“Good to see you too, Stace.” Jillian stood back to let her friend inside.
Stacey slipped out of her parka as Jillian closed the door. “So. What’s going on?” Stacey kicked out of her boots and looked around. “Where’s Reseph?”
A lump of emotion clogged Jillian’s throat, and she had to swallow a few times before she could talk. “He’s not here.”
“Good.” Stacey started toward the kitchen. “I wanted to talk to you alone.” She helped herself to a Sprite from the fridge.
“Why’s that?”
Turning to Jillian, Stacey popped the tab on the soda. “I needed to apologize. I was a little hard on you and Reseph. You’ve had a rough time, and if you need him in your life, I have no right to interfere.”
“You were just looking out for me,” Jillian said miserably. “If you’d taken in a complete stranger with no background history, I’d have done the same thing.” Turned out Stacey was right to be worried, which made this even worse.
Stacey ran her finger along the rim of the can, averting her gaze. “Maybe. But I think I was a little jealous, too. The way he was watching out for you… it kind of made me feel useless, you know?”
“Oh, Stace.” Jillian’s voice was toast, her words coming out as a croak. “You could never be useless.” She hurried over to her best friend and gave her a big hug, not even realizing until that moment how badly she herself needed one.
Stacey knew, though, and the moment Jillian pulled back, Stacey stiffened. “What’s wrong?”
“You should probably sit down.”
“Dammit, Jillian, you’re scaring me.”
Scaring you? Girlfriend, you ain’t seen scared yet. Jillian took a seat at the table and gestured for Stacey to sit. “Reseph got his memory back.”
Stacey inhaled a harsh breath as she pulled out a chair. “Oh, wow. Is that why he’s not here? Where is he? What did he remember?”
“It’s bad,” Jillian said. “Really unbelievable.”
Stacey’s fingers tightened on the can. “Do not tell me I was right. That he’s a drug dealer or serial killer or some shit.”
“Worse,” she rasped.
“How can it be worse than a serial killer?” Stacey shook her head. “Unless he’s a genocidal dictator or something.”
Jillian’s stomach turned over, and she grabbed the soda from her friend, drinking half of it before she could talk again. “You’re getting closer.”
Stacey stared. “This isn’t some kind of sick joke, is it? People with cameras aren’t going to pop out of your closet, right?”
“Just think about the last year. About the demons. Entire countries overrun by them.”
“And?”
“And someone was behind it. All of it.” She’d learned all the whys of it over the last couple of days, thanks to the book one of the Horsemen had left on her bedside table. It was fascinating reading, completely unbelievable if she hadn’t experienced the Horsemen and their world herself.
For a long moment, Stacey just sat there. “I know you aren’t saying Reseph is that someone,” she said slowly.
A chill wrapped around Jillian at the cold truth coming from her friend’s lips. It just sounded so real, so much worse when Stacey said it.
“That’s what I’m saying. His brothers and sister showed up, and he remembered everything. This is going to sound crazy, but… he’s one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”
Dead silence fell in the house. Jillian was pretty sure Stacey stopped breathing. And then she stood so fast her chair tipped over.
“Knock it off,” Stacey snapped. “If this is a joke, it’s not funny. And if it’s not a joke, I’m going to kill that bastard for messing with your head like this. What the fuck? Really? He conned you into believing he’s some biblical legend?” She sucked in a sharp breath and grabbed Jillian’s hand. “Oh my God, did he get you hooked on drugs?”
Jillian pulled away. “No, and I know this sounds insane, but I saw everything with my own eyes. He remembered, and he went crazy. Turns out his Seal had broken, and he turned evil. I guess one of his brothers killed him, and then an angel rescued him from hell, erased his memory, and sent him here so I could nurse him back to health.”
Very calmly, Stacey righted the chair and sat down again. “Sweetie, I think maybe we should go to the hospital.”
So, this wasn’t going very well. “I don’t need a hospital. I need you to believe me.”
Closing her eyes, Stacey rubbed her lids, looking suddenly very tired. “Okay, let’s say I believe you.” She opened her eyes and regarded Jillian with concern. “Where is Reseph now?”
“Greece, maybe. It’s where Reseph’s sister, Limos, took me.”
“You… were in Greece.” Stacey’s voice dripped with disbelief.
Jillian nodded. “We traveled through some sort of gate that lets them be anywhere in seconds. We went to Reseph and Limos’s brother Ares’s place. Reseph was in bad shape. The memories of what he’d done were haunting him.”
“I’d hope so, given that he’s responsible for the deaths of millions.” Stacey coughed a little. “You know, if it’s true.”
“It’s true. But it wasn’t him. It was his evil half, a demon named Pestilence.”
“Riiiight.” Stacey looked at Jillian like she was sizing her up for a straightjacket. “Maybe you should come stay with me for a little while. We’ll find someone to take care of the animals, and you can get some rest.”
“I don’t need rest.”
“Okay, what if Reseph comes back?”
Clearly, Stacey saw Reseph as a threat, but probably because she thought he’d brainwashed her or drove her insane or got her hooked on drugs.
“I don’t know.” And that was the problem. She didn’t know how she felt about everything that had happened. All she knew was that she loved Reseph, which made what he’d done as Pestilence harder to deal with.
“So you’re saying that you can forgive everything his alter ego did? You know how no guy you’ve dated has turned out to be who you thought they were? Well, if it were a competition, Reseph would win world champion triple-gold medal.” Stacey gave Jillian a look that tacked on, if what you’re saying is true.
The doorbell rang, making both Jillian and Stacey nearly jump out of their skin. Stacey reached automatically for her holster before cursing at its absence.
“Civilian clothes,” she muttered. “Let me get the door.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m not an invalid.” She tore open the door and silently cursed.
“Good to see you again,” the Aegis guy, Lance, said. He glanced over Jillian’s shoulder and gave a curt nod. “Officer Markham.”
“Who are you?” Stacey asked, moving next to Jillian. “How do you know my name?”
“We know more than you can imagine.” Lance’s condescending smile was as annoying as his answer.
“Lance and Juan are from The Aegis,” Jillian ground out, never taking her eyes off Lance. “A demon-hunting organization.”
Stacey eyed the men and their truck, her expression guarded. “Are you here about the local killings? There’s already been a team from DART here to investigate.”
Oh, right. Jillian had forgotten to mention that the DART guys were also involved with the Horsemen. One of them was even married to one. That would have been the nail in Stacey’s skepticism coffin.
“We’re not here about that,” Juan said. “We were wondering if Jillian had seen Reseph lately.”
Jillian really did not like the vibe she got from these guys. “I’ve told you all you need to know.”
“Then you won’t mind if we set up on your property to keep an eye out for him,” Juan said, and it wasn’t a question.