Demon Forged

Khavi was over and that the grigori, her time free, might also teleport to SI. And while Jake and Alice had remained in the middle of the hub, Jake holding Alice against him until the disorientation of teleporting faded, Irena should have stayed in the gymnasium hallway—where she had a solid wall at her back—instead of walking out with Drifter to meet them in that wide, open space.
    But she’d been distracted by the flickering lights, and Drifter’s explanation that the electrical fluctuation was an effect of Jake’s new Gift.
    Then Khavi had arrived—and although Drifter continued to talk, Irena hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything he said. The demon spawn slowly circled their small group, her head tilted back as she examined each sign of the zodiac painted on the ceiling. She’d made it to the Gemini, behind Alice. Only the top of Khavi’s braided black hair was visible over the taller woman’s shoulder. Irena stepped to the side, trying to keep the grigori in full view between Alice and Drifter.
    Alice met her eyes, then moved toward Jake, allowing Irena a better angle. The long, black, silk column of Alice’s dress and her braid were just as severe as ever, and she still moved with the disjointed strangeness that she’d picked up from her spiders. But she’d softened, Irena thought, when instead of crossing her arms over her narrow chest, Alice slipped her hand into the crook of Jake’s elbow.
    Alice caught her gaze again. “Do you want to go to the Archives now?”
    Alice had been teaching Irena the demonic symbols she’d been learning from Khavi. Each week, they met in the Archive building in Caelum. They weren’t scheduled for another session until tomorrow.
    “No. I want you to go to Rome with Jake,” she began, but broke off as Khavi moved to the stand beneath the crab. A few more signs, and Khavi would be at Irena’s side.
    Then behind her.
    The hub suddenly felt closed in, shrinking.
    “What do we need to do?”
    Irena made herself focus on Jake. He’d grown up quickly, this young Guardian. A trip through Hell had forced him to, as had his relationship with Alice. He’d fought, sacrificed—and thanks to a second transformation, was stronger than Guardians several times his age. And now he was developing a second Gift . . . though he’d barely just learned to control the first one.
    In the hallway behind Jake, Alejandro slipped out of Lilith’s office like smoke. He caught her gaze. She looked away.
    “Search the church for evidence that more than three nosferatu lived there—but do not spend all of your time in the catacombs.” Irena couldn’t understand Jake and Alice’s fascination with ancient ruins, but she’d give them an opportunity to indulge it. “Find out who is restoring the building, and who looks after it. The condition in which we found it doesn’t make sense; I want to make sense of it.”
    Alejandro took a place between Alice and Drifter. Even if Khavi moved behind Irena, he’d be able to watch the grigori.
    The room stopped squeezing in on her.
    Though Alejandro spoke to Jake, he looked at Irena. “And when you see Lilith, she’ll have the same assignment for you.” He rarely smiled in the usual way; his mouth remained flat, though it seemed to deepen at the corners and his cheeks hollowed slightly. His amusement showed in his eyes, instead. “It seems Lilith’s and Irena’s plans aren’t so dissimilar.”
    Was he trying to bait her? Irena glared at him. “And you’d have given them the same task, as well.”
    “I reckon it’s only sensible to check it out,” Drifter cut in, running his thumbs up and down his leather straps. Irena wondered what made him more nervous: standing between her and Khavi, or between her and Alejandro. “And Rosalia—she’s doing all right?”
    Irena had just told him that Rosalia was fine. She gave him a look. “Yes.”
    Drifter’s face reddened, but as he’d no doubt intended, the topic had moved on from Lilith and her supposed similarity to Irena.
    “I met Rosalia a couple of times while I was training with Mariko,” Jake said. He cupped his hands in front of his chest, bounced them up and down. “She had the most amazing—”
    A poke of Alice’s bony elbow cut off the rest. Irena noted that Alice’s irritation was false, however—Irena hadn’t seen Jake even look at another woman in months. Most likely, he’d just wanted to produce that exasperated look in Alice’s eyes, and the faint