Demon Bound

statue. “But Lucifer had not foreseen friendship and family, that demons might care for their human partners and their children, or that the light would balance the dark.”
    Lucifer? Jake had been operating under the assumption that this had been one of Belial’s grabs for power. “Hold on a second. Lucifer planned this?”
    “Yes.”
    Something wasn’t right about that. Frowning, Jake set Anaria’s head on the table, gave himself a moment to think. Michael was stronger than any demon, except maybe Lucifer or Belial. Why create such powerful beings—such powerful potential opponents? Unlike demons and the nephilim, the grigori wouldn’t have been bound to serve him. So it didn’t make sense.
    Unless Jake was going about this the wrong way. He shifted gears and tried to think as Lucifer would.
    Because the angels couldn’t completely hide their difference from humans, they’d been worshipped as gods—which had pissed Lucifer off. He’d planned to wipe them out using the dragon. And, like any power-hungry prick, he would’ve assumed victory.
    But even with the angels gone, he couldn’t do much to the people. Lucifer was still required to honor human free will and life.
    So, what’s a prick to do? Jake thought grimly. What else, but develop a race of powerful beings and raise them to despise mankind? The grigori wouldn’t have had to follow the Rules.
    Yep. That would have been one hell of a plan: ten hate-filled Michaels, consumed by anger and loose on Earth with no angels left to fight them.
    Just the thought of it coated his stomach with ice.
    It took only a second to sign his conclusion to Alice. She nodded, her mouth prim, and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. Yeah, the idea unsettled her, too.
    “Then you . . . and Michael”—Alice’s lashes flickered as she added the name—“don’t have to follow the Rules?”
    “We do. It was a condition of our transformation—just as dying while saving another’s life was. It still is?” Khavi waited for them to confirm it, then nodded. “We fought alongside Michael after he was changed. As you can imagine, it was not long before we were all killed defending others from demons or nosferatu, just as he was.”
    “ Michael was killed?” Alice shook her head. “I cannot even imagine it.”
    “His death might free you, yet you never imagine it?” A hard smile touched Khavi’s mouth when Alice stiffened, but she only continued, “I cannot imagine anyone emerging unscathed from a battle with a dragon—as Michael did not. And three of us—of the grigori—were killed simply defending themselves, and could not become one of the watchers.”
    “Guardians,” Jake said.
    “Yes. And for those of us who were changed, the difference was not so very great. We already possessed our wings, our strength and speed—and we could sense another’s emotions. Afterward, we could alter our shape, move between realms, and we each had our individual abilities.” She paused, and her Gift eddied around them. Pulling in the correct words, Jake realized. “Our Gifts. If we Fall, are no longer Guardians, we give those up—but we no longer have to follow the Rules, either.”
    Jake exchanged a doubtful look with Alice and said, “You can teleport.” Yet she’d stayed here?
    “I could —if not for the symbols. But I do not know where he placed the ones that prevent it.” She gestured to the glyphs on her face, then behind her waist. “Somewhere I cannot see.”
    Alice’s lips parted, and she touched her own shoulder. “Belial. He’s the one who has been here, but that you haven’t turned your back on.”
    “Never of my choice. Just as it is not my choice that he comes now to ask if I have seen you.”
    “He—” Jake’s gaze snapped to the door, his heart kicking against his ribs. “ Now? ”
    “Soon after the nychiptera disperse. No,” Khavi said as Jake’s hand sought Alice’s. “You do not leave that way. Stay, a moment. I will see where the nychiptera are at present, and how much time you have before he arrives.”
    As she strode toward the entrance, metal guards formed over her arms, chest and legs. She shoved on a gleaming helmet with plates to protect her nose and cheeks, and a bow appeared in her hand. Skin hardened to scales; her fangs gleamed when she turned and smiled.
    “It will be a wonderful surprise to find you alive when I return.”

CHAPTER 16
    The opening of the door brought in the scent of blood and sulfur, the roar