“No way. She knows we’re onto her. Why would we give her another two weeks to plot against us?”
“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t make the rules?” Balchezek grumbled. “Mid-December is when many of the world’s largest religions begin their big to-do’s. Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Muharram . . . faith is at an all-time high. That weakens demons. If you want to drive those splits out of your pals, that’s when you have your best shot.”
“If she knows she’ll be weaker soon, what’s to stop her from killing everyone before that happens? That’s what I would do,” Ian stated with blunt callousness.
“Survival instinct,” the demon replied. He jerked his head at me. “Know how your vampire grabbed control instead of killing her, or watching you sex her up? What do you think will happen if the demon tries to kill the people those other vampires care about? She’ll have a mass uprising, that’s what. So until she’s got everything in place, she’ll keep those vamps complacent by not fucking with who they love.”
Everything in place. For the demon, that would be her assurance of taking over Bones’s line when he died. He’d publicly disowned me, but if needed, we could reverse that and deal with the consequences of his enemies and people knowing they had no head to their line. Plus, as long as we had Bones, then the demon couldn’t act against the others yet. She’d need them if she tried to find another way to grab the same power. We would use her own plan against the bitch.
“All right, then it’s mid-December.” My smile was tight. “So we have to kill Wraith, which we know how to do. But how do we get the demon’s splits out of Bones and the others?”
Balchezek laced his hands behind his head. “That’s where your filmy little friends come in.”
Twenty-One
TWO WEEKS BEFORE Christmas, Fabian flew into our new location in a derelict waterfront factory with the news we’d been waiting for.
“Denise picked up the charges and she is on the boat.”
“Thank God she managed to get away,” I breathed. “How’d she do it?”
“Wraith would not consent to let her leave no matter what excuse she fabricated, so Denise turned herself into a duplicate of your cat and meowed at the door until one of them let her outside. They never knew it was her.”
Faint wonder tinged Fabian’s voice at Denise’s shapeshifting ability. It still bowled me over, too, and I’d seen her do it several times.
Ian chuckled. “Clever poppet.”
I was too keyed up to comment on Denise’s smart improvisation. Bones was below in the former boiler room, slumped in his chains, locked in a battle of wills against a creature that could be thousands of years old. So much of his willpower focused on his internal struggle that he couldn’t spare the energy to stand. Fifteen days of this while not allowing himself a moment of sleep had taken a brutal toll.
It had tormented me to watch the demon eat him up from the inside out while not being able to help, but finally, I could act. Not a moment too soon, either. Even with his extraordinary willpower, I didn’t think Bones could make it much longer.
“Then let’s get this show on the road,” I stated. “Fabian, you know what to do. Ian, summon Balchezek. I’ll get Bones.”
I went downstairs, my heart clenching when I saw his dark head bent forward on his chest. His eyes were closed, and not a muscle twitched on his tall frame. Inwardly, I sighed. He’d fallen asleep. I knew it would happen soon. It had been a miracle that he’d held out this long, especially since Bones had no idea that we were waiting for a specific date to act. How could we tell him when that would only be alerting the demon, too? He’d been fighting with no end in sight, and his body had at last given out.
Well, maybe we’d be lucky and he’d sleep so long that we’d have the demon beaten before he woke up and she took over—
His eyes opened, startling me. They settled on me in what looked like an unfocused manner.
“Kitten?”
“Bones?” I replied with the same amount of question in my voice.
“Mmm.” That was his only response, as if more words were too much for him.
Was it still him? He might have had his eyes closed for concentration; I’d seen him do that before. But in his current state, I’d be amazed if he could shut his eyes and not sleep. Or had he been asleep and this was the demon pretending to be exhausted so I’d think Bones was still at the forefront?
I had to be sure. “What was the first thing I said to you when we met?” The demon had infected his body, but Bones had confirmed that she didn’t have access to his memories, just like he knew almost nothing about her.
He didn’t reply, just kept staring at me with that unfocused look in his eyes. I shook his shoulder roughly, chains rattling under my touch.
“Come on, Bones! What was the first thing I said to you when we met?”