EVEN THOUGH THE symbols Balchezek carved reversed the original ritual and sent the demon splits out of everyone else and back into Wraith, Mencheres and Kira still drank enough salt water to kill a normal person from organ rupture. The goal was to have everyone’s bodies filled with the liquid so they would be inhospitable to demonic repossession, because we weren’t done yet.
Denise swam over in time to be enveloped in a bear hug from a newly un-possessed Spade. She’d jumped off the boat before detonating it, but her top looked ragged and lacerations crisscrossed her face from being in the blast radius. At least with her nearly immortal status, she’d be healed in hours.
Ian still held Balchezek aloft. The demon’s skin looked red and irritated from the residual sea spray, but he’d stayed out of the ocean for more reasons than how the salt water would burn him. Balchezek tore away some of the duct tape that had kept the rectangular plastic container secured to his belt and opened the latch, pulling out a large rat. The rodent’s rapid heartbeat was audible even above the sound of the waves.
Balchezek grinned at Wraith. “Look at your new home,” he said while holding the rat above the vampire’s stricken face. Mencheres still had Wraith in a punishing squeeze of power, cutting off even his ability to speak.
“Don’t torment the creature,” I snapped, flying over.
Balchezek snorted. “Now you feel bad for the demon?”
“I was talking about the rat,” I said. “Give it to me.”
Balchezek handed the rodent to me with a muttered comment about misguided feminine sappiness.
“Will drinking enough salt water force the demon out of him and into that?” Bones asked, nodding at the rat.
I briefly closed my eyes. I’d hoped to have this part done before Bones resurfaced so it would be too late for him to be involved, but I hadn’t had the chance.
And now I had to tell him the truth.
“Wraith can’t be saved.” I wished he could tap into my feelings to know how sorry I was about this, but his emotional connection as the vampire who sired me only went one way. “The demon is in him so deep; she couldn’t pull herself out if she wanted to. The only way to get her out of him is to kill him.”
Pain brushed over my emotions, mixed with a jaded resignation that I hated because I’d felt it too often from Bones. Life had been cruel to him many times in the past, and it seemed Fate wasn’t done with her tricks yet.
“I suspected as much, but . . . I’d hoped.”
Those quiet words broke my heart. I came over, pulling out a silver knife with grim resolve. Better for Bones and the man trapped underneath the demon inhabiting him to make this quick.
I nodded at Ian. “Now.”
Ian abruptly plunged into the ocean, forcing Balchezek down with him. Water covered Balchezek up to his waist, and he screamed like he’d been plunged into acid.
“Get me out of this!”
“Not so fast,” I said coolly. “Why don’t you tell us the real reason you’ve been helping us trap this demon?”
“Because you’re fucking paying me!” Balchezek thundered, the words ending on another anguished yowl.
I watched his skin bubble up without mercy. The salt water wouldn’t kill him, but it might make him wish he were dead. “Liar. You slipped up and called her Hazael, but none of us knew her name, and you didn’t admit to recognizing her even though you obviously did. So let’s try this again. Why did you really help us? ”
Balchezek glared at me as the water looked like it boiled around him. I stared back, unblinking. “Go on, take your time. I love a nice evening swim in the ocean.”
“She’s my ticket to a better job,” he gritted out.
My brows rose. “I thought you wanted Ian’s protection because you were quitting that job.”
“And live the rest of my life among fangers?” The skin on his face began to split, but he smiled even though that made it worse. “I’d rather stay in this ocean. No, I’m earning my way out of the minor leagues, and bringing in Hazael will guarantee my promotion.”
“So you were going to let us do all the legwork whilst you made off with the prize?” Bones let out a derisive snort. “Right piece of work you are. Why is Hazael worth so much to your kind that she’d guarantee you a promotion?”
Another grotesque smile. “You know America’s Most Wanted list? Demons have their own version, and Hazael’s been on it for over two centuries. Probably why she jumped into a human to hide. She must’ve thought she hit the jackpot when that human got turned into a vampire; I told you demons avoid the vampire world as a rule. But just like greed and arrogance led her to kill an influential Fallen, Hazael must’ve gotten fed up living the quiet life inside the vampire she’d possessed. Maybe she thought enough time had passed that she could risk expanding her powers without getting caught. So she went for the simultaneous possessions and grab for Mastership of your lines. Probably had even bigger plans after she got them.”