Something is wrong with me.
Ric Kasun frowns, his muscles tense when he advances on the fallen angel. Even out of uniform—his broad frame in flannel, jeans, and boots—he looks every bit the sheriff this town needs. He removes a pair of sunglasses perched on his nose, revealing silvery blue eyes framed by black hair and a scruffy jaw. “There are rules in place here, Mr. Fox.”
Lucas’s gaze hardens, his smirk wiped away. For the first time since I’ve met him, he scares me. “I’m not breaking the law, Sheriff. I just changed the Court’s venue. Should I remind all of you that I’m here to help your town, not hurt it?”
“We have a certain way we do things,” Saundra inserts.
“I’m becoming well aware of that,” Lucas mumbles. Setting down his glass, he straightens to full height, putting him eye to eye with Sheriff Kasun. “My first priority is the girl and the archdemon using her as a conduit. You don’t want a demon like him anywhere near your Court.” He comes around the counter, leaving nothing between him and the Court members. “Let me give you a rundown on how archdemons play games. Leviathan—Levi to make things simple and because I seriously don’t like the bastard—won’t set off your wards. He’s not like the demons you have in residence here. He has an eternity of tricks up his sleeve. You won’t know he’s coming until he shows up.”
My heart begins to race, and I tug at my shirt as heat washes over me. I am hot, so very hot, and I never get hot.
Ric’s eyes narrow. “Talk to us, angel. Why won’t our wards detect him?”
“Because he has other ways of getting into your town.” Lucas’s gaze finds me. “It starts with nightmares, terrible visions full of death. Then the marks come.”
I can’t breathe. My world has narrowed to the heat in my skin and the look Lucas gives me. Blue eyes. There are too many blue eyes in this room.
My vision blurs.
Lucas approaches me, a hazy figure in a shop full of mystical things.
“What are you doing?” I gasp, my words sounding so very far away, as if I’m yelling inside an echoing tunnel.
I want to back away, but I can’t.
“Angel,” Ric warns, a low growl escaping him. His wolf is on high alert.
When he reaches me, Lucas grabs the hem of my sweatshirt, fisting the material in his hands before jerking it up past my bra, his gaze locking with mine. “Don’t look down.”
The Court members gasp.
“Oh, my God!” Eloise exclaims. “What’s happening to her?” She starts to rush toward me, but Lucas pushes me toward the counter.
“Keep your distance,” he says. “You’re psychic, and she’s a conduit. You touch her now, and you’re just as likely to suffer.” He leans forward. “Deep breaths, Harper.”
I inhale, exhale, and inhale again. Oxygen rushes into my system, clearing my vision and making me horrendously lightheaded.
Putting a little distance between us, his hands still wrapped in my shirt, Lucas finally gives me space enough to look down.
“Prepare for the worst,” he advises.
My gaze falls, my breath catching in my throat. Shock and horror turn me mute, trapping any noises or words I’m tempted to make or say. Claw marks run across my stomach, ending just beneath my ribs.
Saundra Beaumont bears down on us, her face stormy. “What does this mean?”
“It’s exactly what it looks like,” Lucas replies. “Demonic possession. Well, a form of it. He’s not directly inhabiting her body, but he’s siphoning power and energy. When the time comes, Levi will use Harper to get into Havenwood Falls. She’s his portal. By the time the wards detect him, he will have caused a lot of destruction.”
My aunt begins to cry, her tears an eerie song in a tense room of silence.
“But the archdemon wants you, right?” Saundra asks finally, her deep brown eyes locked on Lucas.
“All because I wanted to write my name,” I whisper, mostly to myself.
Lucas lets my shirt drop, but he doesn’t release me, his gaze swinging to the witch. “He holds a grudge against me.”
Saundra’s jaw tenses. “Can you defeat him?”
“Them,” Lucas corrects. “There are two demons attracted to Harper. One can trip your wards, but don’t underestimate her. Because I’m not sure why I feel her, and I don’t know why she’s linked with the psychic.”
“Two!” Eloise’s sobs grow. It sounds like her heart is breaking. Maybe it is.
“Shit!” Ric swears. “This is a security nightmare!” He glances at me, and I know what he’s really thinking by the sympathetic look in his eyes. I’m the security nightmare. His heart is too big to admit it, too big to blame me out loud.
Ric turns to Saundra. “We need to keep them out of the town. I don’t have any desire to tie up with an archdemon or a stranger, but I’ll be damned if I let them hurt anyone in Havenwood Falls.”
“What can you do to help?” Elsmed steps forward, his disconcerting eyes studying the fallen angel. “On Saundra’s request, we summoned you to fix this problem.”
Lucas’s gaze finds mine again. “I have some favors I plan to call in.”
The way he says it—the way he looks at me—is oddly reassuring. His hands are warm against the skin of my waist, and I find myself struggling with the need to push him away and the desire to pull him closer. Stranger or no, he looks like salvation.
With a small wink, he releases me, and turns to Saundra. “You and your witches may have to spell a few people, but I’ll do my best to keep it contained.”
“And you don’t know when he’ll come?” Saundra asks.
“It depends on how much strength he’s gained. Any advantage I have will depend on how weak being in the Infernum has made him.” The look he gives her tells a thousand stories. “You know what the Infernum does, witch. You hold a key that opens a portal into part of it. It’s a potent feeling finding a weakness that can trap something powerful, isn’t it? I have friends in very high places. Low ones, too. I am impressed by what you’ve done with the Blue Dragon Dagger.”
Saundra’s eyes fill with understanding and wisdom too deep to fathom. I’ve known the Court members since I was a child, but I don’t think I truly realized how much they knew about this strange world we live in. Until now. They know things I can’t even fathom. Things I’m not sure it’s safe for me to know. Things I wonder if I should know.
Saundra sighs, swipes her hands down her black business suit, and says, “Just get that devil and anyone working with him out of my town, angel.”
Lucas bows, and although it comes off as sarcastic, respect flickers in his gaze. “My pleasure, my lady.”
“And follow close on his heels while you’re at it,” Saundra adds.
Lucas grins. “Aw, I see just how much you’re going to miss me.”
Saundra studies him, her lips twitching. “I don’t know whether you’re one of the good guys or one of the bad, Lucas Fox, and that unnerves me.”
“We’re all walking a blurred line, witch. It often takes being bad to save the good.”