When the sun finally set that night, a pounding on the hotel door woke Shea and Jesse. Shea bolted upright with a hiss, and in the twilight, Jesse saw the glint of her fangs. He calmed her with a hand on her arm, got out of bed, pulled on his pants, and went to the door to look through the peephole.

Mammot stood on the other side. Jesse should have known by the stench. An old hooded coat hid the demon’s features, and when he turned his head to look down the hall, the bones of his teeth were exposed through the rotted flesh of his cheek. The body the demon inhabited was dying, which meant the others weren’t far behind. They were going to have to move fast.

Jesse came back inside and found his shirt. “Shea, I need you to go into the bathroom and stay there until I come get you.”

She was already out of bed and digging around in her bag. Stepping into a pair of cotton underwear, she pulled them up over her hips and bent over again to pull out a bra. “I’m not hiding in the other room. I’m staying out here with you.”

He pulled a black T-shirt on and prepared to force her into the other room if need be. “Don’t argue, Shea. Please. He will know you’re here, and he knows who and what you are. But I can perhaps convince him not to fuck with you just yet. Now do as I say. Please.”

She stared at him. “What do you mean, you know ‘who and what’ I am?”

“Let’s not play this game right now. We don’t have time, love.” And with that, he shoved her toward the bathroom. “Lock the door and turn on the shower.” His tone left no room for argument.

He waited until he heard the click of the lock and the water, then he narrowed his eyes at the door. She would hear everything that was said, despite the running water. Shea could hear a human heartbeat four blocks away.

Jesse didn’t like this. It wasn’t the way he wanted her to find out. He sighed heavily. There was nothing to do for it now. He would just have to do damage control as best as he could once the demon was gone.

A moment later, he released the chain and invited the demon into their room. The morbid appearance didn’t faze him. He’d seen much worse. “What are you doing here, Mammot?” He didn’t bother to ask how the demon had found him. He was a demon, after all, and had abilities that nearly rivaled Jesse’s own.

“Where is she?”

Jesse crossed his arms over his chest. So, it was getting straight to the point. “She’s not a concern to you. Her being here has nothing to do with our deal.”

Mammot cocked his head slowly to the side. The action caused the rotting skin of his face to gather in loose folds. “No concern?” he mocked. “You have a descendent of the holy bloods here and you expect me to not be ‘concerned’?”

“She doesn’t know what she is, other than a vampire.” Not completely true. “And she is only here because it was the only way I could make sure she never found out. At least, not until the ritual is performed and it’s too late for her to do anything about it.”

The demon leaned in until he but a few inches from Jesse’s face. Cruthú clicked her beak from her cage, angry at the threat to him. Jesse held up a hand behind his back without taking his attention from the demon, telling her it was okay. He stayed where he was, even though he wanted to recoil from the smell.

“Give her to me,” it growled.

Jesse stared down the fires of hell standing before him. He had no fear of hell. Or of the creatures it birthed. “No.”

Mammot straightened. If it were smart, it would leave the subject alone. But apparently, its skin wasn’t the only organ that was rotting. “The bitch is coming with me, witch.”

Jesse smiled as an icy-hot rage filled him. Everything else left his mind except the need to protect his female. “You take one step farther into this room, and I will rip you apart where you stand and toss the bloody pieces of you out of that window.” It wasn’t a bluff. Having the demon in chunks would do nothing to mess up Jesse’s plans.

Mammot/Steven eyed him with his one good eye. “You wouldn’t dare. You need me. You need us.”

“I will still get what I want. This body does not need to be whole to be effective.”

“Perhaps I’ll find a different body. You’re lucky I haven’t already. For as you can see, these vampires are not so resilient once their creator is dead. And then what will you do, witch? Come after us? Send us back to the altar?” He laughed at the idea. “I think not. Not after you’ve spent so much time and effort helping us to get this far.”

“The time I’ve spent with you and your dead mistress is naught but a flash in the pan during my long life. And patience is something I’ve had to learn along the way. I need you, yes, but not as much as you need me. If this doesn’t work out, I will only find another way to get what I want. So, let’s not push it, Mammot.” Jesse purposefully called it by its original name, because he knew it pissed it off. “Now let’s stop worrying about things that are no threat to you, or me.” He walked away, turning his back on Mammot to prove to the demon how little it threatened him. Getting a water out of the small refrigerator, Jesse twisted off the top and took a drink. He kept his back to the demon, unafraid that it would sneak up on him. Jesse would know what it was going to do before it managed to fully develop the thought. “Where is the blood, Mammot?”

After a tense few seconds of silence, Mammot/Steven said, “We have it.”

Jesse glanced at the bathroom door. He could imagine Shea pressed up against it, her ear to the door. He turned to face the demon again. “The blood, where is it?”

“It’s safe.”

Jesse needed to get his hands on it to ensure his plan was going to work. “You need to give it to me so I can prepare it for the ritual.”

The demon crossed its arms over its chest. “Why can’t you prepare it there?”

Jesse didn’t have the time or the patience for this bullshit, but he kept his voice level. “Because there are things I need to do it, and because it will take time. I need to re-activate the life force in the blood cells. It’s been stagnant for many years.” It was a bit more complicated than that, but that was the gist of it. “I need time, and a quiet place to prepare it. I will bring it with me to the altar. Safe and sound and ready.”

Mammot/Steven grunted at him, but didn’t agree.

“Hand it over, Mammot. We don’t want to take any chances that even one of your idiot followers happens to get an idea in its head and takes it upon itself to take the blood to someone else. Or worse, spill it back into the earth while they knock each other around in one of their never-ending disagreements.”

The demon didn’t like it, but it finally agreed. “All right. Fine. I will bring it back here. Tonight.”

“When?”

“In one hour.”

Jesse gave him a nod. “You need to leave now.”

Mammot didn’t so much as twitch a finger. “You know, I’m not afraid of you, witch.”

Jesse pinned it with an unflinching stare. “Perhaps you should be, demon.”

The water shut off in the bathroom, and Jesse knew—without having to read her mind—that Shea was about to come out. “It’s time for you to go,” he told Mammot. “I will meet you in the alley behind the hotel in an hour to get the blood.”

The thing still made no move to leave. “How do I know I can trust you?”

Jesse set his water down and laced his fingers together in front of him. “You don’t. But what choice do you have?” When it had no response, he walked past the demon and opened the door. “You’d best hurry if you’re going to be back here in an hour.”

Mammot/Steven walked out into the hallway, pulling its hood down to hide the rotting face from the humans. “One hour.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Once it was on the elevator, Jesse closed and locked the door. He turned to find Shea directly behind him. He wasn’t surprised. He’d known she was there without needing to look. He could feel her.

She didn’t say anything. Didn’t ask any questions. Just watched him with those green, green eyes.

Jesse returned her stare without flinching. “There are things you need to know about me.”

The life appeared to drain from her face as he watched, but she nodded. “Yes. It’s time to talk.”