I BRUSHED A LOCK of golden brown hair away from Rex’s face as he peacefully slept.  I’d barely taken my eyes off him the last few hours.  Now I knew how he felt every time I’d been nearly killed.

Except this was my fault.

“Start from the beginning,” I whispered to my parents who were leaning against the archway between the bedroom and the small living room. 

Everyone else had left.  Ash went to make a report to The Council.  He was going to keep my parents’ presence a secret, but he had to tell them Rex and I were caeteras.  I passed out in class then started screaming his name.  If people didn’t already know, they’d make assumptions.  Something had to be said to The Council so they wouldn’t come snooping around us.  I didn’t want them to find my parents.  The Council wouldn’t hesitate to kill them. 

My stomach clenched every time I thought about facing the dreaded ferrum government.  No one had ever recognized their caetera at seventeen.  Were they going to put me under a microscope over this?

Annabeth had left with Maxton.  Her heart was broken.  I could see it written all over her face.  Her little fantasy of getting back together with Rex had been crushed the moment my mother blurted I was his caetera.

Portia and Hunter were getting the cabin ready for my parents.  I was surprised the two seasoned hunters were willing to stay with demons just to please me.  Those said demons also saved their son's life.

“It all began with The Book of Blood better known as the Liber de Sanguine.”  My mother took a deep breath and started unraveling all of the lies, secrets, and mysteries I’d stumbled upon this year.  “James, Ian, and Cade.”  She nodded toward me.  “I believe you know Cade Dixon.”

“Yes.”  I was betting my mother really had been crawling into Cade’s window over the years to visit him.  He wasn’t crazy after all—well on that aspect.

My mother tucked a dark lock of hair behind her ear, her fingers trembling.  “The four of us were visiting The Council in Rome.  We were in the historical atrium when we happened across a demon.”

A wry laugh escaped my father.  “You can imagine how surprised we were to find a demon inside The Council headquarters of all places.  We knew he had to be there for a reason.”

“He tried to fight us,” she said.  “But he also began asking about the Liber de Sanguine.  The book documenting bloodlines from the beginning of our race had been missing for years, but he seemed to think it was a lie.  It wasn’t.  It just disappeared one day without a trace.”

My father nodded.  “We took it upon ourselves to capture the demon and get answers.”

My brow arched.  “Torture?”

“Yes.”  He ran his hand through his hair, mussing it up. 

Having parents who looked so young was making my head hurt.  Both appeared to be in their late twenties.  Rex was only a couple years older than that.

I shivered at the disturbing thought.

“He broke easily.”  My mother interrupted my horrifying line of thinking.  “He admitted Lucius was alive and he wanted to have his light restored.  He needed the book to find his last living relative and two other important descendants from different bloodlines.”

I scoffed.  “And you just believed him?  I mean, it sounds like a far-fetched story.”

“Our torture methods were very effective.”  My father’s eyes darkened.  “We believed him.”

I swallowed hard.  Who the hell were these people?  My few memories painted them as gentle, loving parents, but they had clearly been some badass demon hunters too.

And now they were demons.

“We kept this information to ourselves,” my mother continued.  “If the ferrum world learned Lucius, the oldest creature, and creator of the demon race was alive, it would fall to pieces.  Part of our race would be running scared, and the other would turn the world upside down searching for him.  Countless hunters would want to be the one to drive a knife through his heart, a pointless effort since that doesn’t work.”

My lips puckered.  “Why can’t he be killed like a regular demon?”

My mother shook her head.  “I don’t know.  Maybe since he’s the original demon or maybe he used more dark magic to make him invincible.  A god.”  She shrugged.  “At the time, we didn’t know he was unkillable.  This is a new development we discovered not long ago.”

Did this have anything to do with Kye trying to kill him recently?  Did he tell my parents?

Just the thought of him sent a swell of fire through my veins.  My eyes flickered toward Rex’s bandaged chest.  That monster did this.  And he was going to pay next time I saw him. 

 “We began preparing to find and kill Lorne,” my mother said, stealing my attention from my murderous thoughts.  “Not long after, I felt someone watching us, even in the daytime.  Lorne must have found out we were the ones who tortured and killed the demon.  Maybe he thought we knew something.

“During our planning, I visited Amarose Academy and saw Mr. Karr.”  A smile melted over her lips, one that didn’t belong on a demon.  “He was such a sweet, old man.”

My father’s massive hand made her arm look miniature as he rubbed it comfortingly.  “He always liked you.  Kept you from getting into as much trouble as you should have.”

A soft laugh exited her lips.  “I probably would have been kicked out if not for him.”

“My little rebel without a cause.”  He kissed her cheek and whispered under his breath.  “I’ll give you a cause later.”

I just threw up in my mouth.

“Gross,” I blurted.  I did not just hear my parents talking about getting it on.

I never knew demons could blush until now.

My father rubbed the back of his neck and took a step back from his wife.  “Sorry.  You weren’t supposed to hear that.”

“Obviously.”

“Mr. Karr.”  My mother awkwardly cleared her throat and tried to resume the topic at hand.  “When I saw him, low and behold he handed me the Liber de Sanguine.  He said Aurora visited him when he was younger and told him about the school.  It was how he ended up knowing about this world and working at Amarose.  Later she visited him again and gave him the book.  He was to keep it safe until the time was right to give it to me.  According to him, it was all part of her plan.”

Now I understood why he was so devout and meticulous with the altar room.  He really had seen Aurora or at least believed he had.  Anyone could have given him that book.

Rex stirred, shifting in his sleep.  I watched him for a second, pulling the covers higher on him before quietly slipping off the bed.  “Let’s go in here.”  I jerked my chin toward the living room area and followed my parents.

“You tore out the pages of Lorne’s tree,” I guessed.  “Your family’s name was at the bottom.”  I leaned against the bar while my father sat on the couch.  “Why didn’t you destroy the book instead of hiding it?” 

She took a seat on the arm of the couch.  “It’s a part of our history.  We couldn’t just burn it.”

Maybe there was something hardwired in us to prevent that from happening.  I didn’t want to destroy the book either.  It was a good thing too.  Finding out who else Lorne needed might be the only way to stop him. 

“Did you bring the book to Amarose?” my father asked.

My expression was blank.  “Maybe.  Maybe not.” 

My mother let out a wry laugh.  “It’s good to be untrusting in this situation.”

“She doesn’t have to be that way with us.  We’re her parents,” he muttered under his breath, very undemon like.

She ran a hand over his head, mussing up his brown waves.  “Then we found out I was pregnant with you and that changed everything.”

“It made me the last descendant.”

“Yes.”  My father squeezed her knee.

She laid her hand on his for a moment as if gathering strength from him.  “You became our first priority.  We had to keep you safe.  Ian and Cade helped us disappear, but they didn’t know about you.   Ian later found out.”  A bit of regret seeped into her expression.  “They helped us fake our deaths, and it worked.  We lived as humans, Kathryn and Owen Colt, with our little girl Koralein.”

I quickly blinked back the unshed tears thinking about how happy I’d been until they were gone.  I wouldn’t cry over them anymore.  Not now.  Maybe not ever.

My father’s expression hardened.  “Years later, Cade was caught and tortured by demons.  Lorne still suspected he knew something.  Cade didn’t break and got away.  But then Lorne himself caught him again and carved a pavor sigil on him.  During his hallucinations, he told Lorne we had the book and Cordelia was his last descendant.  And she was still alive somewhere.”

“It’s not his fault,” I blurted.  “He couldn’t help it.”

A line formed between my father’s brows.  “We know.  We don’t blame him.”

“Good.”  I trekked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.  “So, Lorne found us?”

“Not exactly.”  My mother’s voice darkened.  “Kye found us first.”

My fingers gripped the bottle tighter at the mention of the blue-eyed demon.  I glanced between the archways, checking on Rex.  He was still sound asleep.

Kye was the demon in Jasper my parents and Maggie were talking about.  He was the reason they sent me away with her.  That was the last time I saw them.  Until now.

“You weren’t there when he came for us.”  She wrung her hands together, hands that were capable of easily snapping someone’s neck.  “He found out what Lorne was up to and wanted to destroy his chances of gaining his light.  He gave me the option of turning or dying.”

A sick feeling twisted my gut as I pictured it all unfolding.  The Kye I’d first met was exactly the kind of evil creature to give such an impossible choice.  And kill Rex.  I’d thought something changed him recently, but I was wrong.

He was going to die soon, and I was going to be the one to shove my knife into his chest.

“You chose demon.”  My eyes flickered toward my father.  “And you followed her because you’re her caetera.”

He nodded.  “I’m so sorry, Kory.  We—”

I shook my head, cutting off his words.  “Just finish.”  I didn’t want their apologies.  I wanted the truth for once in my life.

My mother swallowed hard, blinking away what looked like tears.  Did demons cry?  “We faked a car accident and left you with Maggie.  She assumed we’d been murdered by demons.  We thought it was the only way you would truly be safe.  Kye didn’t know about you and Lorne would think his chance ended with me.”

Obviously that didn’t happen.

“We stayed with Kye for a while until he lost interest in us.  We moved around, staying as far away from you as possible to keep Lorne from finding you.”  Her body stiffened.  “And then Lorne found you.” 

A heavy silence permeated the air.  The despair in my mother’s face cut right through my heart.  The woman had done so much to protect her child only to fail in the end.  The monster that had gone after her had finally found me.

“We don’t know how he knew you even existed.”  Her fingers trembled as they twisted her dark locks, a habit I’d gotten from her.  She took a deep breath, slowly blowing it out.  “When Kye got wind of his brother’s presence lingering in a small city, he went to investigate.”  Her eyes settled on me.  “He discovered you.  He was going to kill you, but—for some reason—changed his mind.  He’s now completely obsessed with you and having you by his side with a bunch of pureblooded demons.”

“I was thirteen when I first saw Kye, but he wiped the memories clean.  He decided not to kill me after he stopped these creeps from attacking me.”  I snickered.  “Well, he helped me stop them.  I would have been fine without him…”  I trailed off.

“Did he tell you this?” my mother asked, her lips pulling down. 

“I remembered it.”  The water bottle crinkled in my tight grip as I downed a gulp and then leaned my elbows on the counter.  “Why did you come back to me now?  Why are you here?”  I couldn’t stomach talking about Kye right now.

 “It’s taken us awhile to fully control our darkness,” my father admitted.  “We didn’t want anyone, especially you getting hurt.”

“We don’t kill.” My mother tucked her dark hair behind an ear, her gaze shadowed.  She meant they didn’t kill anymore.  “We take a little life force and compel the humans to forget.”

“And the darkness?  It doesn’t make you want to kill?”  It sure as hell turned me into a murderous little psycho. 

“Oh, make no mistake.  It’s there every day, taunting us.”  Her breath was heavy as if talking about it was exhausting.  “But we learned to push it to the back, cage it in.”

My father put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing.  “We have something to keep us going.”  His gaze settled on me.

How sweet.

I mentally rolled my eyes.

I trailed around the counter and perched on a stool, placing the water bottle on the bar behind me.  “What was the DNA test I found?”

“My DNA and Lorne’s,” my mother said.  “I had to make sure we were really a match.  I was grasping at straws, hoping it was a mistake.”  She shook her head.  “It wasn’t.”

Of course not.  That would have been too easy.

“Kory…”  Her voice softened.  “Once we heard Maggie had been murdered by a demon, we sought you out.”  Her lids drifted shut, taking a moment to mourn her sister.

Would she still mourn her if she knew all the shit I’d been through because of Maggie’s addiction?

“We saw you with Rex, and we knew you’d be okay.”

I scoffed.  Where were they before Rex?  Where were they when I was starving because Maggie forgot about me?  Where were they when her loser boyfriend burned me?  Where were they when her creepy friends tried to sneak into my bedroom at night?

I shook the crushing thoughts off as best as I could, but from their faces, they knew I was walking a thin line between remaining calm and losing my shit.

“Lately, we’ve been looking for a way to kill Lorne.”  There was no mistaking the frustration in my father’s voice. 

“I’m guessing no luck on that,” I blurted.

He shook his head.  “Lorne isn’t you’re only problem though.”

My mother’s eyes hardened to deep amber colored shards of glass.  “We don’t want you turning into a demon, and that’s exactly what Kye wants.  He won’t stop until you turn or he dies.”

I would have argued with them if my caetera hadn’t almost died at the hands of that blue-eyed monster.

My mother stood.  “You’re strong, Kory.  Much stronger than we ever thought you’d be.”

Part of me knew it was because of what I endured in their absence.  I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that or thank them for it.

“But you have to be strong enough to kill Kye before he ruins you,” she said.

My eyes shifted to Rex still sound asleep, watching his chest gently rise and fall.  That steady motion wouldn’t be happening if that demon had succeeded today.  A mixture of hot anger and darkness hemorrhaged through my veins.  My fingers twitched, wanting the feel of cold metal in my hands.  “I am strong enough to kill Kye.” 

I couldn’t do it before, but nothing would stop me from driving my iron knife into his black heart the next time I saw him.