Demon Bound

gathering how these Guardians and nephilim had become allies.
    Michael nodded. “I believe it must be. Let us see if we can find them, and retrieve the Scroll. Irena, Alejandro—choose your teams, and make certain you each have vampire blood available. We will go in three groups.”
    One to each teleporting Guardian. Flippin’ fantastic. And it wasn’t a surprise when Alejandro gave Jake a nod, including him on his team, but Jake was almost knocked off his feet by the hearty clap Irena landed on his back.
    “Now you are in all the way, yes?” She grinned at him, and then strode past Alejandro, giving the tall swordsman the same Death Stare she’d given the women at Cole’s.
    What the hell? He briefly met Alice’s gaze again before she turned to speak with Hugh. Jake watched her sign a greeting, and their short embrace. They hadn’t met, he realized, since Hugh had Fallen in the early 1990s and began living as a human again.
    Jake began to look away, giving them privacy, until Hugh signed to her, If I hadn’t known it was you, I would have thought it was someone wearing your face.
    Surprised, Jake glanced at Alice. Because Guardians could shape-shift, they learned to identify one another by mannerism as well as physical features. For Hugh to make such a statement suggested that, in less than twenty years, Alice’s had completely changed.
    I have been told it is not so noticeable when I move quickly, Alice replied. And if I make a conscious effort, I can still move as humans do.
    When Hugh only looked at her, she lifted her chin and pursed her lips. “Everything that we touch, everything that touches us—it all leaves its mark,” she said, mimicking Hugh’s voice, then smiled as he laughed.
    I connect with them often, she continued. I am always pushing myself into them; I suppose it is only fair that they leave something in me. And I do not care that it appears odd—truly, I don’t.
    No. You wouldn’t. Hugh studied her for another moment. And they no longer frighten you?
    She swept her hand at the floor, indicating the bones. I found that their usefulness and my gratitude eventually trumped my terror.
    Jake did look away then, his jaw clenching, his chest tight. The Scrolls stated that a Guardian’s Gift reflected some part of their human life. His was easy; Jake had spent most of his wanting to be anywhere but where he was.
    But Alice had been saddled with spiders? And it was a leap—he knew it was one hell of a leap—but now he had that attic in his head again, that molding bed . . . and those cobwebs.
    Somebody restrained there wouldn’t have been able to move, no matter what was crawling on her.
    “And I see that I will not have to ask if you are prepared, Jake. You look as if you might tear apart the nephilim with your teeth.” Alejandro’s glove disappeared when he held out his hand. “I suggest a sword; leave the chewing to Irena.”
    “Yeah,” Jake muttered, and took one last glance at Alice as she joined Michael’s group.
    And it was, he realized, getting much, much easier to follow her.

    After six hours with no sign of the nephilim, Alice’s hope—then frustration—had distilled into resignation. When dawn began brightening the sky, Michael sent out word that they were to return to their duties while he continued to search the area.
    Though Alice had walked through the hypogeum again after they’d teleported to its location, looking for anything she’d missed the first time and making certain the nephilim hadn’t returned, she broke formation and flew in that direction—and then was saved an hour’s trip when Ethan and Selah appeared in the air beside her and they teleported to the site together.
    Birdsong filled the olive grove; a light wind rustled the leaves. Jake was kneeling in the grass next to the open shaft that led to the hypogeum, muttering to himself. When Ethan cleared his throat, Jake stood and held his hand out to Alice, palm up.
    “A little help?” he asked, and she saw the wolf spider hatchling clinging to his thumb. “I’m afraid I’ll squish him if I push him off.”
    “They are more resilient than that.” Alice held his hand still with her right, and aligned her left palm with his. A nudge of her Gift forced the hatchling to move—and revealed that there were no longer any spiders in the corridor beneath their feet. Startled, she looked at the ground. The shaft opening was still there. “Did it close up while we were away?”
    “No.” Jake