Demon Moon

“Colin, it’s not just Hugh anymore—she’s my sister now, too.”
    As if he could forget.

    The vibration of the engines stopped. Savi lifted her head from Nani’s silk-covered lap. Only two and a half hours had passed; the pilots must have continued on to New York instead of returning to England.
    A swipe of wet tissue across the symbols erased the blood. From outside, she heard orders to come out, threats of armed agents and lethal force.
    “Michael, Selah,” she said softly. “We’re ready.”
    Selah immediately appeared in front of her—all golden skin and blond hair. A white flowing gown. No wings, but they probably wouldn’t have fit in the bathroom.
    And then she and Nani were home.



CHAPTER 3

    I do not see any danger in telling P——the truth, but for the details regarding the sword. We should not let it become known our family harbored your Doyen’s dragon-tainted weapon from the time of the Crusades. It is not the curiosity of humans I fear, should the connection be discovered, but we ought not to risk the attention of the horned and winged set .
    —Colin to Ramsdell, 1814

    Somehow, Selah managed to avoid the piles of hardware and wiring materials littering Savi’s apartment. Despite the successful landing, Savi had to help steady her grandmother—though she wasn’t too steady herself; teleportation was disorienting.
    Their luggage appeared on the wooden floor next to them, along with her laptop, and Savi sighed in silent envy. Guardians, demons, nosferatu, and hellhounds had the ability to hold items in an invisible pocket of space…or something. No matter how many questions she’d asked, Savi had never been able to determine exactly what it was, but it resembled the hammerspace in a video game: it didn’t matter the size or shape of the item, the Guardians could shove it into their cache, carry it around without effort, then make it reappear with a thought.
    Selah gave a quick smile before shifting her form. For a moment, Savi stared at a mirror image of herself, down to the clothes and jewelry. Then Selah altered it slightly, darkening her skin, widening her face, narrowing her eyes, thinning her lips.
    “Colin will be here in a few minutes,” the Guardian said, and her voice was also like Savi’s—perhaps a bit lower in tone. “Follow his instructions. I need your clothes; I can’t return them. Tomorrow, take the files you need off the computer. I’ll come back for it then.”
    Lilith must already be at work, changing the story, creating lies, and destroying evidence. Savi nodded her permission for Selah to take them; her skirt, sandals, and shirt vanished into Selah’s hammerspace, and Savi stood barefoot on the cold floor in her underwear.
    Nani shook her head. “You won’t leave me nude,” she said in her accented English.
    “We’ll worry about yours later. With luck, they won’t get past Savi to look at you. I’ve got to get back before they charge the bathroom. I hope they don’t shoot me.”
    Savi winced. “Sorry.” Bullets wouldn’t kill a Guardian, but they’d still cause considerable pain.
    “No worries; I’m tough.” Selah disappeared.
    Nani sank onto the sofa with a sigh, kicked off her sandals. “Dress yourself, naatin . You’ll become ill.”
    Savi crossed her arms beneath her breasts, shivering. Not just clothes—a shower was a necessity; she didn’t want to stink of fear and blood and nosferatu when Colin arrived.
    She found her bathrobe in her luggage and shrugged it on, wincing as the rough terry slid over her shoulder. She had to tie the belt one-handed.
    A scratch sounded at the door connecting her apartment to Hugh’s house. Sir Pup. And the vampire, if the knock accompanying it was any indication.
    Dammit. She glanced around the apartment—the silk paintings, the DemonSlayer posters, the jumble of mismatched furniture—and sighed. No time to straighten anything. Nani would likely spend the entire meeting apologizing for Savi’s clutter.
    She opened the door, and the hellhound streaked through and almost toppled her over in his eagerness to welcome her home. Then he stopped and growled, each of his three heads swinging around as if to search out the source of the nosferatu scent.
    “It’s okay, Sir Pup,” Savi told him. “It’s just Nani and me. I had an adventure.” Smiling wryly, she lifted her gaze to Colin’s face.
    Oh, god. It wasn’t fair. She’d prepared herself for it, yet still her breath caught and her