Demon Bound

longer.”
    That surprised her. “Twenty-five centuries?”
    “Yep. We’ll run a few tests to determine the date of death, but judging by the chamber we found it in, the latest styles there, we’re looking at around fifth or sixth century BC. And there’s no telling how long he was alive before that.”
    Lilith crouched next to the skeleton. Her black hair slid forward over her shoulder when she leaned closer, and she hooked it behind her ear. “Where did you find it?”
    “A hypogeum in Italy,” he said, then looked to Alice. She would know exactly where; he hadn’t been outside the chamber. “There might be nephilim still there.”
    “Nephilim? Wait a moment,” Hugh said, and flipped the sword around, presented it to Jake. “Best if you only have to tell us once, and we’ll get a team ready while you’re gone. Can you find Michael?”
    Jake took the sword, vanished it. “If he’s not blocked.”
    Theoretically, his Gift could take him to anyone he knew, as long as they hadn’t completely shielded their psyche and weren’t behind the shielding spell. Selah could; Michael could.
    Jake had a little less luck with it. He assumed the only reason he’d found Alice was because she pulsed her Gift so often.
    Lilith glanced over her shoulder. “Do you need help, puppy? Sir Pup is hungry.”
    He met Alice’s eyes. “Nope,” he said, and imagined her watching Sir Pup pounce on him—imagined her hearing his girly scream.
    Jumping was as easy as pie.

CHAPTER 9
    Michael was in the middle of the freak courtyard, wearing the loose white shirt and pants that reminded Jake of his granddad’s pajamas. They only lacked stripes.
    Better than the toga, though. Jake didn’t understand how any man could run around in one, but maybe it was about morale. Nothing inspired a guy to keep training like knowing someone in a sheet could kick his ass.
    Though Jake jumped in behind him, Michael didn’t spin around and almost chop off his head as Alice had done. The Doyen continued looking at the fountain, the obelisk in the center and the eerily perfect arc of water that fell without a splash into the pool below. He glanced over when Jake moved even with him.
    Jake was trying, as he had the last time he’d been here, to read the writing at the bottom of the obelisk. It was small, but it wasn’t too small—he should have been able to make it out. “Is that messing with my head?”
    “It is Caelum, and her sense of humor. You cannot read it unless you are in the water.”
    “Huh.” He looked a second longer, wondering if he should be creeped out that Michael spoke of the realm as if it were alive. “Another time, then. Alice and I found a dead Guardian, a sword that Lilith thought was yours, and a few nephilim in Italy. They want you back at SI.”
    “Then I shall go.”
    “There is one other thing first,” Jake said, and when Michael didn’t disappear, he took that as a sign to continue. “Alice needs me more than Drifter does, so I’ll be helping her from now on. Until she gets out of this bargain.”
    Michael studied him for a long moment, then inclined his head. “Well done, Jacob Hawkins.” He smiled faintly. “If you are assisting Alice, should I be more wary when you teleport in behind me?”
    Jake shrugged. “I’d say no—but the truth is, it’d be a great boost for my ego if you were.”
    Michael disappeared a moment later, and Jake stood, listening. Michael’s laugh echoed in the courtyard of stone, but no other sound did.
    If Caelum did have a sense of humor, she used Michael’s voice to express it.

    Jake took a trip to Mongolia and Kansas before finally arriving back at the SI warehouse. He teleported in between Irena and Alejandro, at the feet of the skeleton. At the head, Alice stood next to Drifter and described the nephilim’s ritual.
    Jake only half listened. The conference room was full; Selah must have been busy assembling the team that would return to Italy and search out the nephilim—ten Guardians who were usually active in the field surrounded the skeleton. All of the novices were here, but no vampires; the sun was up over San Francisco, so they were in their daysleep.
    He met Pim’s eyes. She flashed him a wide smile and a thumbs-up before looking down at the skeleton again, her face solemn.
    Michael’s expression was equally grave as Alice concluded with a description of the skeleton’s position on the wall and the symbols written above. And when she finished, they