Sin Undone

“But—” He gripped her shoulder, gently but firmly. “I know. We’re demons. I get that. You probably saw my mate, Tayla, when you were in Egypt. And I’m sure you’ve heard she’s half demon as well as a Guardian. But she didn’t know she was a demon when we met.” A wry smile turned up one corner of his mouth. “Trust me, we didn’t exactly have an easy path. But eventually, she accepted it. We’re not the monsters you think we are.”


That wasn’t entirely true. Sin had met a lot of monsters in her life, and most of the time she felt like one herself. But no, for the most part, Eidolon and his brothers, his staff, were no worse than a lot of humans, and in many cases, a lot, lot better.

Kar turned away like she wasn’t sure how to respond, her gaze lighting on Luc. And then she turned back to Eidolon, resolve burning in her eyes. “I’ll have to take you at your word for now, but what it comes down to is that I would make a deal with the devil to save my child, so do what you have to do, Doctor.”

Good for her. Sin waited until Eidolon finished taking blood before engaging her gift. Man, it was weird threading her power through Kar to the tiny fetus. The virus floated around inside the womb and inside the baby, and for a moment, Sin didn’t do anything. Yes, she’d cured the warg in Montana, but she’d killed two others. This was a baby, one the parents were desperate to save, and if Sin made one little mistake, used too much power, not enough…

“Sin,” Con whispered into her ear. “You can do this.” God, how had he known what she was thinking, what she needed? Grateful for his encouragement, she sent a controlled burst of power into a mass of virus strands. They ruptured, coming apart in pieces as others rushed in, almost as if they were trying to help. Fucking demon virus was freaky.

She was about to hit another cluster when Kar stiffened, her back arching so violently Sin heard the crack of spine.

“She’s seizing,” Luc barked, and suddenly, Kar was falling backward, her body flopping. Her skin turned red, hot, and her eyes rolled up into her head.

Con gripped Kar’s wrists and pinned them to the couch while Eidolon gripped her legs. “Hurry up, Sin!” Eidolon grunted as Kar thrashed. “We need to finish—” He broke off as Kar roared, exploding out of her seizure. Eidolon flew into the air, coming down awkwardly against the stone fireplace, and Con rocked backward into the wall. Kar, a mass of teeth and rage, lunged at Sin, her hands wrapping around her throat.

“My baby!” she snarled. “You’re hurting it!”

“Kar, no!” Luc wrapped his arms around her, but he couldn’t break Kar’s stranglehold on Sin. Eidolon spoke sharply. “Fever delirium. Luc, pin her!”

Sin’s lungs burned. Panic frayed the edges of her consciousness, which was starting to fade. Her gift flared, her instinct to kill Kar, but instead, with the last bits of concentration she had, she struck out at the virus strands in the baby, exploding them like little bombs.

Somehow, Eidolon managed to pry Kar’s fingers away from her throat, and Sin took several grateful gulps of fresh air. Luc bore Kar to the couch cushions and even as Sin sucked deep breaths, she gripped Kar’s ankle and started work again.

It seemed to take forever, and by the time the last virus strand was a crumpled, shrunken little string, she was shaking and her power was nearly drained. “It’s… done,” she breathed. The world spun, and as she keeled over, Con was there, tucking her against him, stroking her hair, and wow… to have someone catch her like that… it made her world spin again.

Kar groaned as Eidolon dug through his medical duffel. “The baby,” she rasped. “How is the baby?”

“It’s fine.” Sin cleared her throat, which was still tender. “I think it’ll be fine.” Then Con, smiling broadly enough to flash those sexy fangs, shook his head. “Who would have seen this coming? Luc the family man.”

Luc snorted. “Trust me. I would not have bet on those cards.” He inclined his head at Sin. “Thanks.” The word was barely more than a grunt, and a stranger on the outside might have doubted his sincerity. But his hands trembled with the emotion that wasn’t in his voice, and his throat worked on audible swallows that spoke volumes as he twined his fingers with Kar’s.

Just a few days ago, Sin would have been rolling her eyes at the intimate, tender gesture. Now, she just remembered how she’d awakened after being hit by the exomangler, and Con had been at her side, holding her hand the same way.

“Just lie still,” Eidolon was saying to Kar. “I’m going to take some blood from you. And then we need to get you to the hospital for more tests. The fact that you were producing antibodies to this virus is major.”

“Won’t it take some time to make a vaccine?” Sin asked.

“If it can be done, yes, but I’ve got demon magic and bone devil eggs at my disposal. I should be able to test the first batch of vaccine within a day or two if all goes well.”

“Bone devil eggs?” Kar asked, and Eidolon nodded.

“They’re what we use instead of chicken eggs to develop vaccines. They cut incubation time by two-thirds.” “You said if,” Sin said. “Why?”