It took Elspeth a moment to grasp that the name Maedoc spoke wasn’t Luc’s—who was here somehow. How cute. He’d followed them. At least he’d taken her message to heart about sticking close. Good practice for later when she really needed him.

And the bodies in the ground, bodies she’d seen before in a vision, which lessened the shock, meant things were settling into the final path.

As to the enemy, Elspeth finally had a name. One she didn’t recognize.

She frowned. “Who is Eogan?”

“Voadicia’s closest servant,” said Maedoc, the Emerald dragon snitch. He’d told them about the locket and the phone call he’d gotten from a friend of his who went hiking.

“How do you know the names of those who worked for her?” Babette asked while watching Luc who approached them, eyes blazing.

His forehead showed signs of bumps pushing at the flesh.

“I know his name because—”

“He is the brother of the dragon mage,” Luc accused while pointing.

“Dragon mage? Rewind. I thought he called our killer a demon.” Babette’s gaze bounced to Maedoc.

“Mage, demon. Does it really matter?” Maedoc asked.

“Don’t tarnish my kind with your crimes,” Luc sneered as he planted his hands on his hips. “Be advised, ladies, that person styling himself as a member of a Sept is Maedoc, one of the jailors from my world. He worked with the suzerain to destroy my people.”

“Only because I had no other choice.” Maedoc thought he could excuse his behavior.

Luc spat on the ground at his feet. “Liar. You had a choice to die a natural death. To not prolong it by stealing the life of others. You are a perversion.” Luc practically growled the words.

The man with his smooth features and thick, ebony hair offered an apologetic mien. “You mean I was. I’ll have you know I’ve not taken a single life since my arrival here. I don’t need to. I am finally free. Just like you.”

Luc’s lips pressed tight, and even without touching him, Elspeth could feel the anger burning inside him, saw it in how his horns pushed from his skin and his voice dropped a few octaves.

“Foul dragon,” Luc spat. “We are nothing alike. While I starved in a cell, you were fat and bloated topside. You were never locked away. Never forced to suck at the moisture in the cracks of blocks. Never had to wonder if the next time you woke would be your last.”

Maedoc sneered. “Show a little gratitude. I kept you safe. The suzerain would have eaten you alive. Even Eogan wanted to have a piece of you. I convinced him not to.”

“Only so you could steal more secrets. More magic.” Luc’s voice deepened further, and his skin took on a grayish cast.

“You were learning, too.”

“Because I had no choice.” The words spat out of Luc, and the tips of his fingers shot longer and became clawed.

“Am I understanding this correctly?” Elspeth interrupted, well-aware that Luc seethed, his inner demon pushing at his surface. “This guy was one of your jailors. One of the people directly responsible for the extinction of your race. The death of your parents.”

“Yes.” His eyes blazed even brighter, and his horns pushed through the skin of his forehead and kept pushing, curling a bit at the end.

Almost there…

Elspeth kept stoking his anger. “Seems like Maedoc is one of the reasons you have nothing left.”

“Hey, hold on,” snapped the man. “What are you doing?”

Luc’s gaze turned red as he looked upon Maedoc. “You did nothing to save us.” The words emerged hot and gruff. The shirt at his back tented as if wings might be sprouting at his back.

“I kept your ass alive,” Maedoc argued. “I freed you.”

“You killed my mother.” Luc could barely get the syllables to roll off his tongue.

“He did,” Elspeth whispered. “When your mother spoke of revenge, this was who she meant.”

“Yesss.” The word had a sibilant hiss to it.

Maedoc’s gaze narrowed. “I know not what game you play, little girl, but I would advise you keep your demon under control.”

“Or what?” purred Babette, jumping in to sass. “Afraid now that Luc’s not in a cage anymore he might be able to whoop your ass?”

“He’s but a baby when it comes to fighting,” Maedoc declared, cupping his hands and showcasing a glowing orb. “With just this, I could extinguish you where you stand. I can even put the demon to sleep with just a word. Azzzreyoth.”

Luc crumpled, and his features smoothed. All hint of demon gone.

“What’s your end game?” Babette asked, unimpressed by the ball of magic. Whereas Elspeth bit her tongue before she crooned, “Ooh, pretty light.” Auntie Sylvie often muttered that Elspeth had a hint of squirrel somewhere in her bloodline.

“Does a man need a reason to do the right thing and ensure justice?” Maedoc said, holding the light ball in one hand while slapping his free hand on his chest in an aggrieved pose.

“I’d say you need a reason. Why are you ratting on your dragon brother?” Babette shook her head. “That is so not cool.”

Maedoc might act big and tough, but he had an annoying slickness to him, the kind that screamed he liked to cheat. And boast.

He was also a snitch.

“Now that we’ve all escaped Hell, we have the option of a second chance. But I won’t get that if I can’t get the killing to stop.”

What kind of brother ratted out his own? Having been the accomplice more than once for the family, Elspeth had vowed to never tell anyone where she buried the bodies.

“And your brother is the killer?” Babette asked him directly.

“Yes.”

Which caused Elspeth to frown. She couldn’t read truth or lie in this. As a matter of fact, she could read nothing at all from the man.

“Is he also part of the Emerald Sept like you?”

“Yes. It’s how he got involved with Joanna. He’s made her certain promises. In return, she’s removed some of the more annoying and useless members of her Sept and covered it up.”

“She offered up her own people?” Even Babette sounded shocked.

Elspeth had seen too much in her visions to be shocked by anything anyone could do.

“Joanna had no choice but to comply after Eogan captured her. As part of the terms of her release, she was expected to facilitate some of his meals.”

Elspeth’s stomach turned. “He ate them.”

“He ate their life force,” Luc said softly, the sleep spell not having kept him down for long. He struggled to his feet, no sign of the demon rising. But Elspeth knew it was there. It just needed the right incentive to come out.

Count on Babette to ask the tough questions. “If you and your bro both came from Hell, how come your brother is eating people and you aren’t?”

“I am not driven as he is to feed.”

Luc shook his head. “It’s more than that. Eogan does it because he enjoys it.”

“Enjoys killing people?” Elspeth asked. “That does seem wrong even if he’s doing it to survive.”

“But he doesn’t need it.” Luc’s words held a mocking lilt. “Because the sickening thing about the magic to take someone’s life is it’s not cumulative. Taking a large amount of someone’s life at once isn’t necessary. You can’t keep extending by imbibing over and over. The essence stolen moves linearly.”

“Which means what?” Babette asked. “In English.”

Maedoc spread his hands. “What he’s saying is we didn’t have to kill everything. While it might have seemed like we needed to in order to keep extending our lives, the fact of the matter was that we would only live as long as what we stole from our last host.”

“The theft only gave you their lifespan? It couldn’t be stacked?”

“Correct. We could go years between feedings if we wanted. And at first, we did. It’s why it took centuries before we ran out. However, the magic, the euphoria of immortality…” Maedoc’s eyes closed, and he inhaled deeply. “Ambrosia. We bloated ourselves on life. We ate because we couldn’t control our appetites.”

Luc sneered. “You talk as if the ingesting of my people was a large meal and you got indigestion. You committed genocide because it felt good.” Luc’s blazing gaze turned her way, his features taking on an alien cast with his cheekbones sharper than usual and his skin turning dark. The demon within hadn’t sunk far.

“It did feel good,” Maedoc admitted. “Incredibly delicious. Did you expect me to lie about it? There’s a reason some of us acted the way we did. The taking of life, the imbibing of it…” Maedoc’s lips curved, and he took a deep breath. “It’s…well, more divine that you can imagine. Orgasmic even.” Maedoc held Elspeth’s gaze as he said the last bit.

Luc rumbled, a bestial growl that saw Elspeth worriedly taking a step closer.

Babette, however, kept plowing ahead. “What you’re saying is that your brother, Eogan, is killing these women because he wants to get high.”

“He is addicted. Which is why he must be stopped. Just like we must trap the demon in our midst.” Maedoc fixed Luc with a stare. “My brother isn’t the only guilty one.”

“He lies. I don’t indulge in perversion.”

“You should try sometime, demon spawn.” Maedoc grinned. “Maybe if you’re a good demon, I’ll show you some of my favorite positions.”

“What are you talking about?”

For a moment, Elspeth got a disturbing vision of her and Luc in chains. Naked. But not alone.

“Lucky for you, I brought some items from the other side. One especially guaranteed to tame a demon.”

Tame Luc? Elspeth frowned as Maedoc withdrew a pair of shackles from his satchel. Another reason to dislike him. His satchel was much nicer than hers. But those handcuffs he pulled from them gave her the shivers. She knew that metal.

Babette barked, “What are those? Why is it making me pimple worse than the time I did a polar dip?”

“Because this is dracinore. A metal from Hell. It stops the demon from changing.”

Luc spat, “It is how Voadicia and the others subjugated my people.”

“Don’t blame us for using the tools at hand. The stuff was lying around everywhere. We simply harnessed it.” Maedoc acted as if this were normal.

Even Elspeth was hard-pressed to find a positive spin. “Why do you have it? It is forbidden.” Because it was the metal the dragon mages smuggled into this dimension that caused the dragons to lose the war against humans. It also saw their numbers plummeting, sending them into hiding from the hunters, trying to rebuild their numbers. Centuries later, humanity knew about them again. And this time, they were even more numerous, as well as armed.

Imagine if a certain military-geared government got their hands on this metal? She could see a future where dragons were slaves.

Luc seethed, his bulking body tense. “Try and put those on and see what happens.”

“No one is handcuffing anyone. Unless there’s a bed involved.” Make love, not anything else, was Elspeth’s motto.

Maedoc twirled them on his finger. “We must trap him. He’s a demon.”

“Yup. He is. And according to your own words, a victim of dragon mages. Which makes us look bad. The PR folk won’t like that at all. There will probably be reparations involved and complicated repayment schemes.” Elspeth was so proud of Babette’s grown-up reasoning.

Maedoc pursed his lips. “Are you taking the side of a demon over a dragon?”

“I am taking the side of a guy I know over you,” Elspeth corrected. “I don’t like you.” Mostly because she couldn’t see his face in any of her futures. Yet, he obviously would play a role. He was too evil not to.

“Don’t like me?” Maedoc’s lips rounded. “Impossible.”

“Guess again, douchenozzle. I don’t like you either,” Babette confided.

“Your hatred is to be expected. It’s why the suzerain seduced you in a feminine shape.” Maedoc casually admitted that Babette had been led astray on purpose.

Her bestie took it with a stoic face and clenched fists. “I am going to bend you so far you’re going to have your head shoved up your ass,” she promised with a smile.

“Now, Babsy, let’s not be hasty. No one has to get hurt today.” She held out soothing hands.

“Way to ruin everyone’s fun,” Babette growled. “Ever think a girl is intentionally trying to start a fight?”

“Fighting doesn’t solve anything.”

“Now you sound like my father,” Luc grumbled.

“This entire conversation is boring. As is your interest in the demon. Did he seduce you? Is that why you would prefer to support him over me?” Maedoc affected effrontery. Clutching his chest melodramatically.

“I wish he’d seduce me. But he’s too polite for that.” Elspeth finally found a reason to roll her eyes.

“I won’t be polite anymore,” Luc muttered.

I should be so lucky.

Elspeth moved closer to Maedoc, who still dangled those cuffs. “You know, I am really beginning to wonder about your motives. Why did you call us? Because it was you, not some anonymous tipster, right?”

“It is kind of funky, especially since you’re claiming that you kicked the habit of eating people’s souls,” Babette remarked. “Seems interesting you can do it that easily when your brother couldn’t.”

“Never said it was easy.” Maedoc tucked the cuffs away, and his chin dropped as he regarded them from behind a long hank of dark hair. Amidst the strands, his eyes glowed red. “And, sometimes, I might have a wee lapse.”

Mind you, Elspeth had not met many dragon mages, Maedoc being the first, actually—rumor said Samael might be one, too, but she liked him. Despite her lack of experience, she was gonna bet that, since no one else sported red eyes, it probably meant something.

What was a dragon mage’s secret weapon?

Anything he can imagine.

The very idea was why she knew to throw herself at Luc when Maedoc’s hand rose and a fireball launched from it.

“You double crossing bastard,” Babette screeched. “I’m going to fuck—trill. Tweet.” A transformed Babs fluted the things she’d do to Maedoc. None of them possible without bones breaking.

Trusting that Babette could take care of herself for just a minute, Elspeth turned her head to better talk to Luc, given she lay plastered atop him—a living shield.

“Hi, good-looking. What’s cooking?”

He squinted up. “While new at relations with the opposite sex, I am fairly certain you’ve emasculated me. Possibly beyond repair.”

“Did I crush your balls?” She squirmed and almost cheered as she felt something stirring. His equipment seemed to be in working order.

“I am talking of my pride. Why did you throw yourself on me?”

“To protect you.”

“Because you think I’m weak.” His lips pulled down.

“No, because I saw the danger and acted.”

“Because I am vastly inexperienced.”

“For now. But that will change. You can learn.”

“I can’t learn if you keep saving me.”

“Would you have preferred I let you be a victim of that fireball?”

“Yes.”

“You are just like every dumb guy I’ve ever met then.” She sighed. Kind of disappointed.

“Thank you.”

“What?” She blinked on account of her ears not working.

“I said thank you because you are correct. The emasculating encounter quite possibly saved my life. It is a reminder that I must be more vigilant and faster so that I might save you in the future.”

She blinked again because jumping jellybeans on a griddle, her ears still weren’t darned working.

“Save me? But I’m a dragon.” He hated her kind.

A true dilemma, given her fascination with him. She kept staring at him as Babette trilled something rude and silver dust lifted into the air. Babette was still playing with Maedoc, who laughed.

“Is that the best you can do, sweetheart? I expected more out of you. Maybe I won’t make you my lunch for a while.”

Blart. That was definitely a rude bugle.

It almost hid Luc’s words. “I’d save you because I can’t help myself. You are…”

He didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t have to because she suddenly saw it, a possible future that flashed in the blink of an eye, a lightning-quick peek at what could be if she made the right choices.

And if she failed and turned down the wrong fork? She’d already seen how she would die. Knew it down to the ruby-red rockabilly dress in her closet with the glittering Dorothy shoes.

Without her drugs to shield her, the vision shook her like a lone loose leaf in a tempest. She collapsed, her body turning into a boneless jelly mess. Arms caught her, swept her high.

Voices spoke, buzzing high and far away. The effort to truly listen was too much. She preferred to snuggle against her warm rock.

The rock would keep her safe.

In her quiet space, nobody spoke, nobody listened. She might have floated away if the rock hadn’t remained constant.

He even tucked her into a bed, the sheets soft. He thought he could leave.

A whimper solved that.

He cradled her body against his, anchoring her to this reality and not the madness of her dreams. Only in the cocoon of his arms did she finally allow herself to truly shut down her mind.

When she next woke, the sun was shining, she was feeling great, and Luc was in bed.

With her.

It was only right that she straddle him, grab his hands, and pin them over his head before he could move, and sing, “Oh, what a beautiful morning.”