Demon Marked

right—”
    “But I’ve heard of those with their memories stripped away.”
    He frowned. On the bed, the demon had straightened, her gaze locked on the phone. She could hear everything they both said, and there was probably no point speaking in Italian rather than English. He’d never heard of a demon who hadn’t lived on Earth long enough to pick up almost every human language.
    But then, he’d never heard of a demon with her memories stripped, either.
    “Why would that happen?” He switched to Italian and watched the demon’s brow furrow with confusion. Maybe an act . . . but he didn’t think so.
    “As punishment, if they’d upset Lucifer—or just because he didn’t want the demon to know something.”
    Perhaps that was what had happened to this demon. It didn’t explain how or why she resembled Rachel, but he found punishment easier to believe than a demon breaking a bargain.
    “Just tell me, Rosalia: Even if the demon had no memory, would you still slay them?”
    “Of course, unless it was more useful at the time to keep them alive. But I’d slay them eventually—and I’d be wary all the while it was alive. A demon’s nature doesn’t change, even if its memories do. The rebel angels who followed Lucifer were physically transformed into demons, but their new forms only revealed what they were inside. So never forget that they are evil, Nicholas. Every single one of them.”
    He eyed the demon. “I suppose a former nun doesn’t call someone ‘evil’ lightly.”
    To his surprise, Rosalia laughed. “No, I don’t.”
    “What are you saying?” The demon got to her feet and started toward him. She froze when Nicholas showed her the remote device again. Her fingers curled at her thighs. Frustration? If so, good. She ought to feel a little of what Nicholas had, talking to her and receiving no answers at all.
    She looked to the phone. “This woman knows more about demons than you? Who is she? Can I speak with her?”
    Rosalia’s voice sounded sharply in his ear, her laughter gone. “Who is that, Nicholas? If a demon is there, don’t trust—”
    Nicholas hung up, cutting her off. No, he couldn’t trust the demon. But she might be his only way to find Madelyn, so he’d take the risk.
    If they were going to risk anything, though, they had to do it quickly. Rosalia wouldn’t wait around for him to call her back. She was probably heading to London right now—either flying with her wings or using her Guardian power to gather the darkness around her and speed through the night. If she found them, this demon would be dead within seconds.
    Knowing Rosalia’s skill with a sword, perhaps she’d be dead in less than a second.
    He tossed the remote to the bed. “We need to go. Now, before the Guardians catch up to us.”
    She stood still as he reached for her neck. “Who are the Guardians?”
    Whether she played stupid or just didn’t know, he didn’t have time to explain it. The heat of her body had warmed the steel collar. He unlocked it, tossed it aside.
    “All you need to know right now is that the Guardians will kill you. So let’s head out.”
    She nodded and started for the door. “Where to?”
    The demon didn’t know how to find Madelyn, so they’d try to find Madelyn through her connection to Rachel . . . and get as far from London as they could.
    “The States,” he said. “We’ll fly there tonight.”
    “I can’t. I don’t have any ID.”
    “And I wasn’t thinking of a plane.” When she looked at him blankly, Nicholas clenched his teeth and counted to three. “I know you can fly.”
    Her eyes widened and she looked down at her hands. “I can shape-shift into a bird? How?”
    Jesus H. Christ. The next time he made a bargain, Nicholas would damn well make certain the demon knew more than a bag of bricks.
    “You can’t turn into a bird. You can only form wings—” Oh, fuck it. He turned for the door. “I have Rachel’s passport. I’ll charter a jet.”
    “That’s good. It’s probably less likely to crash into the Atlantic than I am.” She hurried into the hallway after him. “Why do you have Rachel’s passport? Did you kill her?”
    Even if this demon truly didn’t know that Madelyn had done it, why would she care? Perhaps she was just testing him to see if he’d break down into some guilt-induced confession. To see if Nicholas secretly felt that he was to blame, that his actions had killed her, boohoo.
    Thanks to Madelyn, he’d stopped boohooing as a