Demon Bound

she snapped, “Turn, the both of you. If you look at her, I will stab your eyes.” Her tone barely softened as she added, “And you as well, Dru. Pim.”
    Alice’s throat swelled with gratitude. Blast. She would not weep before a blade touched her flesh. She heard movement behind her, and when Irena appeared satisfied and closed her own eyes, Alice vanished her dress. After pulling on the robe, she climbed onto the table and lay on her stomach.
    Irena called in a knife. “How much do you need to see, Michael?”
    “A hand span around the symbols.”
    Alice quickly braided her hair, pushed it to the side. Irena cut a large circle in the silk robe, exposing her shoulder.
    Irena’s fingers brushed her nape. “If you like, I will snap your neck, so that you feel nothing until your spine heals. Michael and Olek—Alejandro—will have finished by then.”
    The thought of having no control over her body frightened Alice more than the coming pain. “No.”
    “Take this, then.” A thick strip of leather appeared between Irena’s fingers. “Unless you want to scream.”
    She did, but not here. Not for this. She placed the strip between her teeth and bit down. From the corner of her eye, she saw Pim slide her hand into Drusilla’s.
    “Now be quick, or I’ll kill you both,” Irena said over Alice’s head. Irena kneeled in front of the table, met Alice’s eyes. “And do not fear. If they are slow, I will give you his heart.”
    Alice smiled around the leather. Whose? she signed.
    Irena shrugged and took Alice’s hands in her own. “Either one.”

    Alice might have given him the go-ahead to spill the truth about her bargain, but Jake had a feeling she’d only pulled that out so he wouldn’t argue about leaving her. So if she was still uneasy about telling Drifter, then it was better all around if Drifter figured it out for himself.
    Halfway to Odin’s Courtyard, Drifter broke the silence between them. “Teqon’s got her bound, I reckon.”
    “Yep.”
    “She supposed to kill Michael?”
    “Pretty much.”
    “Meaning?”
    “If she can find a way to give Michael’s heart to Teqon without killing him, that’d get her out of it.”
    “Son of a bitch.” Drifter shook his head. “She looking at the prophecy in hopes of finding something to exchange?”
    “Yep.”
    “And that’s what you’ve got for translating.”
    “I do.”
    “She bargained to save her husband?”
    Husband? More like a fucking crybaby. “Yeah.”
    “So she figured herself yellow for not fighting.”
    “Yep.”
    Drifter swore again. After a few more steps, he looked over at Jake. “It sure is interesting that we ain’t flying. Your wings broken?”
    “Something like that. You in a hurry?” Jake wasn’t. He had several hours to kill—through torture. His heart was back there with her, and the gaping hole in his chest widened with every step. His head was probably imagining something worse than reality. Just a little cut, a little burn.
    Yeah, and if he told himself that enough, maybe at the end of several hours, he’d believe it.
    “I don’t reckon I am.” Drifter pulled his hat lower over his eyes. “She sent me a look at her spider. It stood damn near past my knee. There any chance she was fooling me with that image?”
    “Nope.”

    With all of the Guardians up in Caelum and the vampires sleeping, Special Investigations was quiet.
    Jake stuck his head into Lilith’s empty office and frowned. “Is it a weekend?”
    Drifter nodded, looking queasy. Not just from the jump—Nefertari had been hungry. Mostly, Jake thought she’d been kind of cute, but Hell had put things in perspective.
    A second after they teleported to Hugh and Lilith’s house, Jake projected an image of the giant mama spider and her babies. Drifter was still swaying when a barefoot Hugh opened the door.
    Tomato and garlic scented the air. From the kitchen, Jake heard water boiling, a sauce bubbling.
    He’d forgotten that Hugh and Lilith needed food. But then, it was hard to think of them as human.
    Hugh sized up Drifter, and smiled a little. “Hungry?”
    “I don’t reckon I’ll eat for another century. You ever seen a giant tarantula hunt down a few itty-bitty mice?”
    “No. Perhaps Lilith has—although I doubt what she saw hunted mice.” His gaze swept over Jake. Hugh’s expression didn’t change, but Jake sensed a new tension in him. “I don’t need to ask if it was difficult.”
    Because it was Hell, or because Jake