Marna’s face darkened. “I’ve never seen her that upset. She’s always been protective of me, but this isn’t something she can save me from. I know she feels like the world is ending, but I need her now more than ever. If I give her a little time and space, maybe she’ll be okay. . . .”
Marna met my eyes, and I could see we both knew. Ginger, the mama bear, would be wrecked by the loss of her twin. I couldn’t imagine the world without Marna, so I couldn’t begin to understand how it felt for Ginger.
“I’ll talk to my dad and ask what he thinks we should do.”
Jay jumped to his feet, a terrified look in his eyes. “You can’t tell him!”
“Her dad is good,” Marna explained.
We spent the next hour explaining everything to Jay. From meeting Kai, to my parents’ story, to the Great Purge when demons killed all the Neph, to Sister Ruth and the prophecy that said I’d rid the earth of demons. By the time I got to the events on the island, Jay looked ill.
“Is there anywhere I can take the baby to be safe?”
Those words made me dive forward and hug him, getting choked up.
“Oh, my gosh. You’re going to be such a good daddy.”
I heard Marna sniffle.
“You’ll take good care of the baby, Jay,” she said. We were a mess.
I wiped my eyes and thought.
“We took Zania to a convent. What about a church? Demons avoid places where two or more people convene in prayer.”
“I’m on it,” Jay said. “I’ll contact every church I can find and see if they have something, like a room to rent or a basement, or anything. I don’t know. I’ll figure out something.”
Marna beamed up at him.
“It’ll be okay,” he said to her. He sounded strong and sure.
He sounded in love.
CHAPTER SIX
LIE DETECTOR
Like every other night in the hotels, I couldn’t sleep well. I spent a lot of time begging for peace and clarity, and now I had the Marna situation on my mind, too. I couldn’t think too hard about losing her. I just couldn’t. I wanted so badly to talk to Kai about it, but for all I knew he was flanked by whisperers at any given time.
I wanted to cry with relief that night when I received a text from my father.
Where are you?
I gave him the name of the hotel and the city: Marietta, Georgia.
I waited, but he didn’t respond. After an hour I was starting to get worried, and considered leaving the hotel in case someone else had gotten ahold of my father’s phone. Just as I was shoving stuff into my bag, I heard a familiar, gritty voice in my head.
Greetings, daughter of Belial.
I’d gotten good at controlling my reactions, even while my innards liquefied with fright.
Azael, I responded telepathically.
He peered down at me, his heavy feline features fixed in an intense glare. My pulse slowed as I watched our spirit ally, but my nerves were still shot as I waited to hear his news.
You will have Nephilim visitors. Be careful what you say.
Neph visitors? Oh, heck no. I shoved the last of my things into the bag and ran to the door as Azael flew away. I lost my cool, letting out a scream when I swung the door open and found two people standing there—a young girl with dark, slicked-back hair, and a blond man with sharp cheekbones and icy eyes. Both had black badges at their sternums.
“Going somewhere?” the girl asked in a high-pitched voice, her accent replacing w sounds with v’s and rolling her r’s. Her identity hit me with a sickening slap.
Caterina. Daughter of Jezebet, the Duke of Lies.
I fought to control my breathing. Caterina may have looked young and harmless, but I knew better. Up close, the evil glint in her eyes made my stomach turn. She had no idea I’d been hiding under the dock on Duke Melchom’s private island. She had no idea I had witnessed the part she’d played in the death of Flynn. She was the one who’d told the Dukes he was lying.
“What do you want?” I asked.
“We aren’t here to hurt you.” The man’s accent was thick and European, sounding something like Russian to my untrained ear.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am Marek, son of Shax. From Czech Republic.” Son of the Duke of Theft. I held the shoulder strap of my bag a little tighter as he continued. “And this is Caterina, daughter of Jezebet, from Romania.”
He smiled warmly. She didn’t.
“What do you guys want?” I asked again.
I had to be careful, just as Azael had said. Caterina could sense lies and she was absolutely no friend to fellow Neph.
“We just want to talk,” Marek said, never losing the pleasant smile. “May we come in?”
I remembered back to last week when I’d seen Dad in L.A. He’d mentioned looking into the possibility of the son of Shax being an ally. That made me feel slightly better . . . but only a smidge. For a possible ally, he didn’t keep very good company.
“I was just leaving. We can talk outside.”
The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in a room with them. I felt the light weight of the knife in my pocket, though I didn’t like the two-against-one odds.
They crowded the doorway, but I pushed my way out. The door was almost closed behind me when Caterina slapped her tiny palm to my chest.
“We prefer to speak in the room,” she said.
I smacked her hand away on instinct and yanked the door shut.
“Sorry, but I prefer to speak outside.”
“You are not sorry,” she scoffed.
Dang it. Stupid lie detector. I’d have to watch every word I said around her.
“Fine. I’m not sorry.”
“It’s all right, Caterina.” Marek smiled at me. “You can hardly blame her for being cautious, yes?”
He gave her a look that said something along the lines of Chill out, you’re scaring her. She rolled her eyes and started moving to the exit door down the hall. She looked like a soldier the way she marched in her black pants and stiff button-up white shirt.
“Come on then,” she called brusquely.
Marek shot me an apologetic glance and waved a hand out for me to go next. I went, looking over my shoulder at him several times with distrust. I had the hilt inside my bag since I was wearing shorts, and I wasn’t letting his stealthy hands anywhere near it.
When I slowed near the door, Marek bumped me from behind and I let out a little screech, turning on him. He kept his hands on my back to steady himself, and I had to shove him away with an elbow.
“My apologies,” he said, all innocence. He slipped his hands into his pockets and nodded down at the paper outside someone’s hotel-room door. The caption was about a huge pawnshop robbery in Atlanta. “The headline caught my attention.”