“Was human. She’s cured of that now.”
Reaver rolled his eyes. It was a stupid argument; werewolves, both born and turned, had human souls, and were therefore technically human. Vampires were, as well, though the fate of their souls was more complicated than that of humans, weres, and shifters.
“Find another way to cure Wraith,” Reaver said, “because I won’t allow this to happen.” It was a bluff; under no circumstances were angels, especially fallen ones, allowed to interfere in a Marked Sentinel’s life.
Then again, he’d done it before when he’d facilitated the transfer of the charm from Patrice to Serena.
And he’d paid dearly.
Shade got right up in Reaver’s face. “You interfere, and I’ll make you sorry.”
“You can’t kill me, incubus.”
“I sure as hell can try. And if I fail, I can still drag your sorry ass down to Sheoul for a little eternal fun.”
Sweat dampened Reaver’s temples. Right now Reaver was stuck between realms, tossed out of Heaven but not completely ruined. A fallen angel who stayed in the human world still had a chance of getting back into Heaven, but one who entered Sheoul was lost forever.
“Shade.” Eidolon clamped down on Shade’s thick biceps. “Back off. This isn’t helping anything. Wraith will do the right thing.”
Wraith? Do the right thing? Reaver couldn’t believe that had come out of Eidolon’s mouth.
Reaver willed his heart rate to slow down so he could hear through the roar of blood in his ears. He didn’t care about Wraith’s survival, or even Serena’s, no matter how much he liked her. Because this wasn’t truly about her life or death.
Every Marked Sentinel was charmed for a reason. Every one of them was in possession of an object vital to the well-being of humanity.
And what Serena held was the most important of all.
Shade hung his head. “We tell him. Gods help us, we tell him.”
Darkness closed in on Serena as quickly as the demons surrounding her. Four of them, ugly toadlike creatures that came no higher than her waist, had ambushed her when she’d stopped the car at the mailbox outside Valeriu’s mansion’s main gate
Yesterday she’d depleted her entire savings to pay a sorceress to repair her cloak, but clearly, the word was out.
She still hadn’t told Val. There was no reason to at this point, and besides, he was already on edge, because an alarm had been sounded within The Aegis, of which Val was a high-ranking, card-carrying member.
According to Val, The Aegis was gearing up for what they thought might be a demon incursion. Demon sightings by the general human population were on the rise, skirmishes between demons and The Aegis were taking place much more frequently, and they were taking heavy losses.
In an effort to combat the growing threat, the demon-fighting organization had lowered their standards for recruitment, put former Guardians on alert for recall, and were deploying current members on research and reconnaissance missions.
Serena was itching to help, had been hoping Val would send her on her own assignment, and if the text message she’d gotten from him telling her to get home immediately was any indication, her itch might just get scratched.
After she got away from these demons, anyway. Their creepy, overly wide mouths gaped open, rows of sharp teeth disappearing far down their throats. A tremor of excitement shot through her, because she rarely got to handle things like this. Her specialty was treasure hunting, and normally her only challenges consisted of layers of dust, poisonous insects, and the occasional booby trap of either the physical or magical variety.
She supposed she should be cautious—after all, if her cloak had failed, maybe her charm could too, but she didn’t think so.
There’s a way around every charm, spell, and curse. Val’s constantly uttered words, spoken with a Romanian accent, rang in her head. The guy was seriously paranoid.
One of the demons hissed and leaped for her. She nailed it in the face with her purse, and it tumbled backward, bowling over two others. Whirling, she opened the Land Rover’s driver-side door, whacking a demon as it came at her. She jammed the SUV into gear and drove over the things, squashing them like bugs.
Though she’d never killed a demon before, Val had assured her that they disintegrated aboveground, and sure enough, as she idled in the driveway and watched through the rear window, they shriveled up and disappeared, leaving greasy stains on the road.
She was so not telling Val about this.