Demon Marked

canceling our weekly appointments, that is?”
    Nicholas had to laugh. “I wondered when that would come in.”
    “I was very gentle,” she said. “I did worry, though, especially when I saw the news about Rachel. You’ve never missed so many appointments in a row, and I assumed it wasn’t a coincidence. Perhaps you can fill me in now.”
    “I was hunting demons. Madelyn, primarily, but there have been others, too.”
    “Other demons?” When he nodded, she asked, “You said that you had been wrong about Ash. How do you know these demons aren’t like her?”
    “Because there are no others like her. Rosalia never mentioned halflings because Lilith had been the last—and they didn’t know about Ash.” When he’d met with her, Rosalia had apologized to him in her soft, motherly way. It hadn’t been necessary. She couldn’t have anticipated the events that led to Rachel becoming Ash. Neither could Nicholas, and that was why he wouldn’t take the risk of being wrong now. “But I won’t take the chance again. So I make certain they aren’t halflings.”
    “How?”
    “The hellhound venom. Halflings aren’t affected by it, just like Guardians and humans aren’t.” And Nicholas had verified that, too, by injecting himself with the venom. “But demons are, so I shoot them with the dart, and while they are paralyzed, I check their temperature. Then I call in Rosalia.”
    “And she takes them?”
    “Slays them, then gets rid of the bodies. All but the last one.” He looked down at his hands. “I had him down, paralyzed, but then I couldn’t reach her on the phone. The venom would eventually wear off, so I had to make a choice.”
    “To slay him or let him go?”
    “Yes. It was harder than I thought it would be. Maybe it’d have been easier if the demon had been fighting me, or threatening Ash like the one in Duluth had. It’s for her protection, so I was going to slay it anyway . . . but her protection wasn’t the only reason. I thought about Ash crying over her parents, I thought about my parents and Rachel. It’s too many people, and if it’s in my power, I’m not going to let any demon hurt even one more.”
    Leslie’s brow had furrowed. “What did you do, Nicholas?”
    “I chopped his head off with a sword.” And that had been more difficult than he’d realized, too. Not just mentally, but physically. “Then after a while, Rosalia came and cleaned up.”
    He saw the slight tremble of her mouth. Maybe a man who hadn’t known her for twenty years couldn’t have recognized the alarm, the disbelief, the horror in her expression. Nicholas could. And he knew what she thought now, too—that despite his delusional paranoia, at least he’d always been functional. But now his delusions had either become a full-blown psychosis, or he’d become a serial killer.
    She gathered herself. “Nicholas, I know that you’ve always rejected the idea of medication, but—”
    “No.” And because he’d always vowed to be brutally honest with himself in this office—and honest with her—he sat forward, took her hands between his. “Leslie, that’s not what I need.”
    She squeezed his hand. “What do you need, then?”
    Ash. But that wasn’t possible yet.
    “I need you to know that I can’t express how valuable you’ve been to me. I know that I’ve not been the easiest man. You’ve probably saved my life more times than we both know.” He took a long breath. “But what I also need now is someone who believes me.”
    She held his gaze, and he watched her struggle, the compassion and the acceptance. Closing her eyes, she nodded. “I don’t know if I can find someone who will believe, Nicholas, but I know a few people who might be better able to help you. I can make some calls, give you a referral.”
    “Thank you.”
    “And Nicholas, you know that I will always—Oh, dear God!” She lurched back in her chair, her hand flying to her heart. Mouth open, she stared across the room.
    Nicholas fought to cover his own shock. Wearing enormous black wings that arched up to the ceiling, a possessed Taylor stood . . . No, he realized. Not Taylor. Unless she’d shape-shifted, this woman with braided black hair and obsidian eyes wasn’t Taylor, but someone more like Michael.
    In a low, harmonious voice, she said, “Madelyn has Ashmodei.”
    God. Nicholas surged to his feet. “And you stopped to get me first?”
    “Of course.”
    “You should have just gone after her, saved her.” But