Echo Soul Seekers

brother.”
    Raven squawks.
    Wind swirls at my feet.
    Coyote crouches, head lowered, teeth bared.
    As I take a few backward steps, drop to the ground, and summon the knife to my hand.
    Unmoved by the threat on his life, Cade rushes Dace until only a whisper of space lies between them. Gaze probing with interest, he asks, “What’ve you done?”
    He leans forward, attempts to grab hold of Dace’s shirt if only to get a better look. But Dace veers from his reach, lifting the blowgun to his lips, as I grasp the hilt in my hand. Confident that from this vantage point, I can nail this particular bull’s-eye.
    Cade whirls on me, eyes blazing and red. “Sure you want to attempt that, Santos?”
    I glance between them. Noting how aside from the hair, there’s no discernible difference between them. Dace’s eyes are as bleak and empty as his brother’s.
    “Daire, leave it. I’ve got this,” Dace says, one eye closed, the other on Cade, taking aim.
    And while I’ve no idea what’s happened to make him this way, for now my only goal is to stop the prophecy from claiming his life—his light. So I inhale a sharp breath and hurl the athame at the same time Dace releases the dart.
    Mesmerized by the way it glints—arcing in a quick flash of silver—as it slices through the air. Ultimately overtaking the dart to lodge deep in Cade’s neck, just as I’d envisioned.
    Only it’s no longer Cade.
    The demon has taken his place.
    He hooks a sharp talon around the handle, drags the blade free, and tosses it to the ground, where it falls to a thud at his enormous clawed feet.
    The sight so astounding, so unfathomable, I’m left blinking in confusion. Unable to make sense of why Cade stands monstrous and grinning before me, the knife and dart abandoned at his feet, as Dace collapses to his knees, blood gushing from the wound his brother should bear.
    Cade glances between us, his face impassive, his voice toneless as he says, “Told you we were connected. Though I guess I failed to tell you how deeply. So let me enlighten you now. In order to kill me, you need to catch me in human form. But be warned, I will not go alone. I’ll take my brother right along with me. And believe it or not, I prefer to keep him around.” He turns toward me with glowing red eyes that fix right on mine. “Oh, I may rely on Coyote to keep him in line from time to time—the wounds he inflicts on Dace bear no effect on me. Which is something you both need to consider the next time either one of you gets another homicidal urge.”
    His words leave me speechless, numbed. I stare between the two of them, horrified by a truth made suddenly real.
    Killing Cade means killing Dace.
    It’s an incomprehensible choice I could never, ever make.
    Yet I have to.
    It’s what I was born to do.
    Is this what Paloma meant when she warned me that a Seeker’s life requires great sacrifice?
    Did she suspect all along we were doomed from the start?
    Cade looms before me, his monstrous face taunting as though this is his idea of big fun. While Dace ignores the rush of blood now streaming from his neck and grabs at Cade’s ankles, his knees, trying to stop him from getting to me.
    But in full demon mode, Cade wields incredible force. He won’t go down easily. He kicks Dace away, barely sparing him a backward glance as he says, “Don’t worry about him. He’s hurting, no thanks to you. But your aim’s not that good. You missed the main artery. Thing is, that’s twice you’ve tried to kill me. Leading me to believe I can no longer trust you. You’ve run your course, Seeker. You’re the end of the line. It’s been interesting, but don’t think for a moment I’ll miss you.”
    Behind him, Dace leaps for the knife, willing to sacrifice himself in order to save me.
    A selfless act that assures me he’s still in there.
    Somewhere.
    I haven’t lost him entirely.
    But he’s no match for Cade.
    With a quick flick of his wrist, Cade’s already snatched it.
    Already coming at me in a blur of gleaming red eyes and two-headed snakes that shoot from his mouth.
    Already shoving that two-sided knife straight into my chest, the blade making an awful scraping sound when it shoves past the key.
    I stagger backward. My gaze swimming with the sight of his ghastly demon face bearing down on mine, as my hands fumble at the gash in my flesh. Watching in dismay when they come away drenched in red.
    “Hurts, don’t it?” Cade grins. Allowing those two-headed,