Chapter Eighteen

Rifters and Demons

 

When the insistent ringing of my phone began, I didn’t at first understand what it was. It didn’t belong there in that room of primal emotion, magical light, and ancient love.

But I pulled away from my men, dug it out of my pocket, and glanced at the screen. Crawford—which would mean trouble, as usual. He never called just to say hello.

“Captain,” I said, as the men, looking as dazed as I felt, went back to sit at the table. Rhys looked brighter, somehow. His breakdown had renewed him. “What now?”

Crawford sighed in my ear. “Trinity, I am not even sure.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “The waitress?”

“She said she was sexually assaulted years ago, and she thinks she’s being affected by PTSD. I don’t think that’s entirely true.”

“Tell me.” I certainly understood about PTSD.

“She said she fell asleep toward morning—as most of the city did—with her husband beside her, but an hour later she awakened to someone on top of her. She couldn’t speak or move. She can only conjure vague, fuzzy images of her attacker. She said he was like a ghost, but she could feel him, see him. She doesn’t think any of it really happened, but said it was so real that she somehow managed to hurt herself during the episode.”

“The bruises on her throat.”

“Yes. Apparently, she takes occasional medications to help her sleep, and they sometimes cause her to have what she calls sleep paralysis. Usually, she said, it only lasts for a little while. But she’d never dreamed she was being attacked while paralyzed, and the paralysis never came upon her after she’d already been asleep for an hour.”

“Did she say—”

“Hang on for a second, Trinity.”

He lowered the phone and I heard him murmur something to a person who must have just come into his office. He was back in seconds. “I have to go. A woman just came in and reported that she was raped after she fell asleep this morning.”

“Shit,” I whispered.

“You know something, don’t you?” he asked, almost gently.

“It’s the demon. I’m sure of it. The one who trashed my car. He’s back.”

“What does he want?” He didn’t sound surprised. “And how can these women keep him from coming into their homes?”

He wants Silverlight, and his sword wants Clayton. And he knows the city is vulnerable right now.

But I wasn’t going to tell the captain that, because Seamus Flynn wasn’t getting my sword, and Miriam-fucking-Blacklight wasn’t getting my man.

“I don’t know the answer to either of those questions,” I lied, “but I’ll call you back as soon as I get some information. There has to be a way to protect against the invasion of demons. I’ll find it.”

“Hurry, Sinclair.” He was gone.

“The demon?” Clayton asked, as soon as I hung up.

I nodded. “Seamus Flynn is raping human women. He’s invading their homes and assaulting them as they sleep. Two have reported so far, but I have a feeling there are going to be a hell of a lot more as the day goes on. Other women will find out they’re not alone and they’re not crazy, and they’ll come forward.”

“Rifters in the night, demons in the day,” Leo said, his voice soft. “Things are not going well for the humans.”

“Understatement of the century.” I rubbed my eyes. “It’s exhausting.”

Rhys leaned forward, still wrapped up in what had just happened to us. His eyes were ringed with red, but he was calm. “What happened with Silverlight? What did she just do, Trinity?”

I wet my lips. “I don’t know. It was like she…cleansed us, wasn’t it? And strengthened our bond.”

They nodded. “She touched us with power,” Angus said. “When she left, I felt less…”

“Broken?” Clayton asked quietly.

Again, they all nodded.

We dwelled on it for a moment, but there was nothing more to say. It had happened, and perhaps there were differences inside us. Perhaps we were all a little changed. Did I dare to hope we were…better? Even a little?

Maybe.

Finally, Shane shrugged. “The demon. How are we going to deal with him?”

“All of you know more about incubi than I do,” I said. “I need to know what you know. How are they repelled? How can these women protect themselves against the attacks?”

“There are a few things they can try on their own,” Angus said. “None of them are a sure thing. We can bring in a specialist to lay demon traps, surround their homes with spells, mark their bodies with repellents—but that’ll take a while.”

I began pacing once more. “There’s the exorcist we used on the first demon. Should we call him in for this?”

Clayton shook his head. “He’s a madman. We can’t turn him loose on the human women.”

“He can’t be worse than the demon,” I said. “And he for damn sure can’t be worse than the rifters.”

“I’ll contact Himself,” Angus said. “The demons might be secretive sons of bitches, but they can’t hide their truths from the King of Everything.”

I looked at him, surprised. “Contact him? What do you do, conjure him through a bowl of water? Breathe on a mirror while chanting secret spells? Drop your tears into a fire of bones?”

He grinned. “Nadine has a cell phone.”

I shook my head, disgusted. “That’s just wrong.”

He strode from the kitchen to make his call, and I noticed Jin huddling in the doorway. “Jin?” I asked. “Are you okay?”

“I know what the incubi are afraid of,” he said, his voice so rusty and low I could barely hear him.

I beckoned him into the kitchen. “Then you’re just the man we need to talk to. Have a seat, hon.”

“Hon,” he repeated, and giggled.

“Wow,” Shane muttered, ignoring me when I glared at him.

Jin smoothed his hair and then sat down at the table, his gaze flitting from one of us to the other before settling on the top of the table.

He thrived on being helpful, and sitting in his kitchen, surrounded by five attentive people, he seemed more comfortable than I’d ever seen him.

“There is a potion you can make,” he said, after I urged him on. “It is similar to injecting liquid silver into a vampire. It will not only physically hurt the demon, it can render him impotent. For years. The incubi have many secrets. The fact that they worship their sex is not one of them.”

He kept his stare on the table and seemed to have forgotten he’d been speaking.

“Go on,” I encouraged, when he remained silent for a good two minutes.

He jumped as though I’d startled him, then picked up where he’d left off. “If you concoct this brew, the threat alone will be enough to make the demon hie back to hell.”

Shane frowned. “Hie?”

Jin pursed his lips. “Hasten, child.”

I hid my smirk behind my hand. “How do we make this hie potion, Jin?”

“It will be difficult. One of the ingredients you already possess. The others may not be so easy to procure.”

“What’s the thing we possess?” Clayton asked.

“Not you. Her. Her pure blood.”

No one was surprised.

“And the other ingredients?” Leo asked.

“You will need the Foam of Aphrodite,” Jin answered. “The pure blood—a few drops should be sufficient. Seven ounces of fresh flesh taken from a living supernatural. A—”

Shane smacked the table. “Seven ounces of fucking flesh. Someone has to donate a foot or something?”

“He warned it would be difficult,” Leo said.

“Yeah, no shit,” Shane said.

“It doesn’t have to be a foot,” Jin said earnestly. “Some fingers, ears, a nice variety of toe. One of you could shave a piece of meat from your hip.” He leaned forward. “If someone were to donate a penis, all the better. The potion would be doubly powerful.”

Every man at the table paled.

“Yes,” I said, curling my lip. “Everyone knows how powerful the almighty penis is.”

Jin nodded solemnly. “That is true.”

Rhys walked to the sink to get himself a glass of water. “No one is cutting off pieces of himself.” He took a long drink of water, then turned to look at us.

Shane gave him a nod. “Not for the fucking humans.”

I understood that. Still, I was curious. “What else, Jin?”

“You will need an aged virgin’s…reproductive fluids.” He stared fixedly at the tabletop. “A small piece of a vampire’s heart. A spoonful of ashes from a burned human.”

“Okay,” I said. “So we need a new plan to deal with the incubus.”

“No,” Angus said, putting his phone away as he walked into the kitchen. “It’s a good plan. We will each gather an ingredient. There will always be demons, even when this one is gone. We need a protection in place.”

“Gathering those ingredients will take forever,” I said. “And besides…we’re not going to cut ourselves for the humans.”

“It’ll take a while, and that will give them time to appreciate the hell out of us when we save them from not only the rifters, but the nasty demons.” He shrugged. “I’m paraphrasing, but those were Himself’s words.”

Jin slunk from the room, leaving us to our plans.

“Smart,” Clayton said. “And the tide begins to turn.”

We could hope.

“I just want to know one thing,” I said. “Who’s going to donate seven ounces of flesh?”