The bird-of-prey cages were a bust. No demons fitting Gem’s description were being held there. Some sort of winged demon occupied a cage, but having no idea if the thing was dangerous or not, Tay left it imprisoned.
Disappointed, she used abandoned buildings and trees as cover as she worked her way to the old koala habitat. Quick and sure, she slipped through underbrush and overgrown hedges, easing up to the viewing area, a pavilion built against a glass-enclosed habitat. The rustle of movement and soft crunch of footsteps on pine needles alerted her to the presence of others even before she elbowed aside some prickly branches.
What she saw nearly paralyzed her.
In the center of the pavilion, Gem knelt, head down, while Lori tied her hands behind her back. Where was Luc?
“When can I see my parents?” Gem asked.
“I didn’t say you could speak.” Jagger slapped her hard enough to make her nose bleed, and it took every ounce of self-restraint Tayla possessed to keep from bursting out of the bushes and tearing him apart.
Hatred and defiance blazed in Gem’s eyes, but when she slid a covert glance directly into the brush where Tayla crouched, one corner of her mouth turned up in satisfaction. Emotion nearly sapped Tay’s strength at the realization that struck her. Gem wasn’t afraid, wasn’t even worried. No, she knew that as grim as her situation appeared to be, nothing bad would happen to her. She had backup. She had Tay and Eidolon and his brothers. She had family.
Yeah, they were all one big, happy demon family. And Tayla needed to put a crush on the sap factor, because the mission hadn’t ended yet. It was time to put on the game face and worry about touchy-feely moments later.
Lori finished securing Gem’s wrists. Jagger checked the knot, and then, in a move that shocked Tayla to the core, he grabbed Lori by the hair and brought her face to his. “I wish we could kill her.”
“We have orders.”
“Yes,” he murmured, and ran one finger over her lips. “But someday, I want to make love to you in the blood of our kill.”
Dear God. They were lovers. Twisted, evil lovers. Though Tayla had to admit that Lori didn’t appear to be thrilled at the idea of rolling around naked in demon blood. In fact, when he kissed her, practically crawling down her throat, she struggled against his hold.
“What. The. Fuck.”
Oh, shit. Kynan stood at the far side of the koala viewing area, his expression a mixture of shock, devastation, and rage. Lori gasped and jumped away from Jagger as if her husband hadn’t already seen her kissing another man.
“Kynan—” she said, but he wasn’t looking at her. His gaze was fixed on Jagger, and there was murder in his eyes. The men stood deadly still, and then, like two rival lions, they met in a furious explosion of blood and limbs.
“Dammit.” Tay burst from the foliage and darted toward Gem. Sobbing, Lori backed away from the battle, her hand over her mouth as if she wanted to scream. But she didn’t. She turned on her heel and bolted.
Tayla grabbed Gem and dragged her out of the way of the two men, who didn’t care what got in the way. Ky and Jagger, both expert fighters, were normally graceful, purposeful, beautiful to watch in combat. But not tonight. Tonight was about pain—who could dish out the most and draw the most blood. There was nothing graceful or beautiful about it. This was raw, brutal, a fight to the death.
“Sister?”
Tayla tore her rubbernecking gaze away from the battle. “Sister?” It was the first time she’d been addressed that way. Sister. It felt strange. But good.
“Yes, sister,” Gem said. “But yo, I’m the tied-up twin.”
“Right.” Tay whipped out her stang and sliced through the ropes binding her sister’s wrists. “Where’s Luc?”
“I made him stay at the front when my parents hadn’t made it through the gate by the time I was supposed to meet my contacts here.”
“Find them,” Tayla said. “I’m going after Lori.”
“But Ky—”
“He can handle himself. Go!”
After casting Kynan a worried glance, Gem took off, and Tayla sprinted in the direction Lori had gone.
Aside from being extremely annoyed, Gem’s parents were no worse for wear when Eidolon released them from the polar-bear enclosure. He sent them on the run with instructions to find Luc out front, and then he released a corpse-eating demon and dispatched a mamu, a demon that ate humans and that didn’t need to be on the loose in New York City.
As he slipped away from the bear exhibit, he heard a sound. Thumps. Spinning, he came face to face with three Aegi who had leaped from a rock wall to the ground. He recognized one from Tayla’s apartment . . . the one he hadn’t killed, and dammit, he should have, because the slayer recognized him, too.
“He’s a demon,” Bleak said, and the three immediately spread out, circling. “He killed Cole.”