Blood of the Demon (9 page)

“Fine,” he said, while his brothers mumbled similar responses.

“Okay. I’ll be right out.” She shut the door and Keegan let out a deep exhale.

He turned back to Taeg. “Hey, what about that incubus friend of yours who moved to this world a few years back?”

“Cresso? He was in London last time I heard from him.”

“Can you track him down, maybe see if he can get wind of what’s going on in Egypt?”

Taeg nodded. “No problem, man.”

“You and Ronin are right,” Keegan said. “We need to do something to find the
Book
, even if we have to dig up all the damn graves in Egypt ourselves. We—”

“Shh,” Ronin interrupted him. He slanted his head to the side. “Do you feel that?”

Keegan stilled and concentrated. If Ronin sensed something, that meant something was there.

Yes, there it was. Like a pulse of energy. Something malevolent.

“Shit.” Keegan’s eyes darted toward Ronin as they both realized what it was. “Demons coming—”

The front door exploded, and a small army of demons marched inside, some humanoid, the rest glamoured into human form. But the energy that emanated off them gave them away. Demons always recognized other demons that way.

The invading demons stared uncertainly at one another before one of them turned to Dagan and said, “Who the fuck are you?”

“One, two... ” Taeg counted the demons out on his fingers before shooting Keegan a deep look. “Ten of them, bro. You know that fight you’ve been itching for?”

“Yeah.” Keegan bared his teeth at the nearest demon. Ten to four? He probably wouldn’t have minded those odds if Brynn wasn’t in the same apartment.

As if she’d sensed his thoughts, the door to her room opened.
“What—?”

She cut off with a gasp, fear etched all over her face.

“Get back in your room,” he ordered. “Lock the door.”

He didn’t have time to make sure she heeded his command before one of them jumped him. The demon’s fist smashed into the left side of his face. His head jerked to the side, the loud crack in his jaw accompanied by a burst of pain and the metallic tang of blood. He ignored it, using the momentum to duck when the demon swung again. The demon lost his balance and stumbled forward. Keegan shoved him back at the same time he swung his left fist. It caught the demon square on his ear. He hit the ground hard and didn’t get back up.

“You want some?” Dagan yelled somewhere behind him. “Take that!”

Keegan turned just in time to see his brother’s obvious relish as he knocked another demon to the ground with a brutal blow to the head. A quick glance confirmed his brothers had wholeheartedly thrown themselves into the fray. Guess they all needed to let off some steam. He turned his attention to the next demon.

Blocking jabs and throwing punches consumed the next few minutes. The demons got a few lucky ones in, too, and one asshole broke Keegan’s nose with a kick to the face and dropped him to the ground. These guys were trained to fight, and this was taking too damn long. What if more of them showed up?

Shit.
Times like these, he wished he had more control over his other abilities, the ones he’d inherited from his mother’s side of the family. But no—they were too sporadic, too uncontrollable. Too fucking dangerous.

“Watch out,” Taeg yelled.

He whirled. A long, wicked dagger headed for him. Blocking the hit just in time, he disarmed the demon and slit his throat.

Finally, there was no one left to fight. His war haze cleared enough for him to see Taeg, Ronin, and Dagan standing over the bodies, shallow wounds covering their faces and torsos.

Keegan nudged one of the demons with his foot, rolling him onto his back. His glamour had slipped in his deep state of unconsciousness. Red horns sprouted from his green, pockmarked face. Two mouths existed where one should be.

“Ugly asshole,” he commented to no one in particular.

“Oh, shit,” Dagan said.

Keegan turned his gaze toward him. “What’s wrong?”

Dagan’s eyes darted over the bodies of the fallen demons. “Only nine of them here. One escaped.”

“Not good.” Keegan let out a curse as worry and fear settled in his stomach like a lead weight. Not good at all.

“This was obviously Mammon’s work,” Taeg said.

Ronin touched his fingers to a gash on his arm, which immediately knitted itself together. He gave Keegan a meaningful glance. “You know what that means, right?”

Keegan nodded at him. Oh, he knew. His tone flat, he voiced what they had all clearly deduced.

“It means Mammon knows about Brynn.”

Chapter Eight

Brynn leaned against the locked door of her bedroom with her ear pressed to the cold, hard wood. Thumps, yells, and crashes punctuated the huge brawl in her living room. There were so many of them—more than Keegan and his brothers. That much had been clear.

Her heart hammered against her ribs as she searched her room for potential weapons. But of course, she didn’t own any. With her gift, she’d never thought she might need one. Now she didn’t know if her abilities even worked anymore.

The fire escape. She could take that. What if more men waited downstairs for her?

Oh, this sucked. Big-time.

Fear and uncertainty filled her. What should she do?

After what seemed like an eternity, the sounds of battle died down, settling into a murmur of voices.
Please, please, let that be Keegan and his brothers.

She strained, trying to hear. Finally she heard the unmistakable sound of Keegan’s voice saying, “We’ve gotta move. Now.”

“Oh, thank God.” Taking a deep breath, she unlocked her door and swung it open. A loud creak interrupted the silence, and she poked her head out. Keegan and his brothers stood in the living room, battered but largely unhurt as they examined the figures of the men lying on the floor.

Superheroes
. That was what she’d called them yesterday, and obviously she hadn’t been far off. Her own little band of superheroes. Respect and admiration for them swelled up inside her. These guys kicked major ass.

“What was that?” Her voice cracked from the remnants of her fear. “Was it Mammon?”

Keegan’s head swiveled toward her, an alarmed look crossing his face. “Stay in there.”

Wait a second...
his face
.

“Your nose, it’s healing.” She stumbled toward him, surveying him, then his brothers. Taeg’s and Dagan’s wounds weren’t disappearing, but Ronin... “You, too, your wounds are healing. How is—how is that possible?”

“Brynn, go back into the room,” Keegan ordered.

Keegan and Ronin could
heal
themselves? Amazing. No wonder they were so badass.

The large gash down the center of Keegan’s nose closed itself. Other than a few stray droplets of blood, his nose seemed untouched. She took another step toward him, but her foot collided with a hard object. She’d run into one of the downed men. She lifted her gaze back to Keegan.

Wait!

Doing a double take, she stumbled backward to get a closer look at the figure of the man at her feet. No, he wasn’t a man.
Not a man!

His characteristics were definitely male and his body mostly human, save the gray pallor of his skin. But his face—it was all wrong. Five eyes instead of two. Rhinoceros-like horn instead of a nose. Ridged spikes covered his forehead. His nauseating stench burned her nostrils, like a horrid mixture of wet dog and burning asphalt.

Warm hands gripped her arms, and someone shook her. “Brynn.
Brynn.
”

She looked into Keegan’s face. His lips moved, but she couldn’t hear him over the loud, shrill sound of an alarm.

He shook her harder. “Brynn, stop screaming!”

She realized with a start that he was right. Shutting her mouth abruptly, she moved her gaze back to the thing on the floor. She couldn’t help it.

“Look at me,” Keegan said, his voice harsh.

She focused on his eyes, his lips, his nose—his fully healed nose. When she found her voice again, she sputtered, “What the fuck is that thing?”

Another figure on the floor moaned and stirred. Taeg strode over and kicked him, and he stopped moving. But even from here, it was obvious he wasn’t human.

“What are they?” she whispered.

Keegan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he reopened them, they blazed with the intensity of some unspoken emotion. Almost like he felt sorry for her. But when he spoke, all he said was, “Demons.”

“Demons?” She laughed. Then laughed some more. In some distant part of her brain, she recognized she bordered on hysteria. “Demons?”

Keegan just stared at her.

“Are you kidding me?
Demons?
”

“You freely accept people with special abilities,” Ronin said as he moved next to Keegan and pinned her with his gaze. “Is it too much of a stretch to believe that demons might also exist?”

“Yeah, but... ” What were they going to tell her next, that aliens were real, too? “But I
have
special abilities.”

Dagan coughed. “You also have dem—”

“Dagan,” Keegan snarled, followed by a string of foreign words. Dagan yelled back before whirling around and stomping out the front door.

She concentrated on reading Keegan’s expression. “You actually expect me to believe those were demons?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

She took several deep, calming breaths. “How? How do you know all this? How can you tell me with such certainty that these are demons?”

He exchanged a serious, telling glance with Ronin before answering her. “Because, Brynn... I am one.”

§

Back at their borrowed apartment, Keegan paced the length of the living room while Taeg stood by the windows. Dagan and Ronin sat on the leather sectional, though relaxation looked like the last thing on their minds. Tension filled the air, thick and oppressive to the point that it overwhelmed.

“Shit,” Keegan said. “Where is Mammon getting his info?”

“Good question,” Taeg grumbled as he stared out the expansive windows. “He discovered Brynn’s identity right after we did, and we’ve got the whole damned Council on our side.”

“He doesn’t know where she is now,” Dagan pointed out. “At least we have that.”

Ronin shook his head, wearing a weary expression. “With intel that good, it’s only a matter of time before he figures it out.”

Double shit
.

Keegan punched the wall nearest him, not caring that it gave way beneath his fist.

Ronin was right—if they stayed here, Mammon would eventually find Brynn.

“Okay.” He withdrew his hand from the rubble and watched the scrapes heal. “Until we’ve recovered the
Book
, the best thing we can do is move. Ronin, find somewhere else for us to stay in another city. We’ll move every couple of days.”

“Got it.” Ronin rose and left the room.

“Taeg, Dagan, you two go to Egypt. Try to find out everything you can about possible locations where the
Book
might be buried. Also, see if you can get Cresso to talk to the local demon population, maybe catch wind of something.”

“What about you?” Taeg asked.

“Me and Ronin will guard Brynn. Splitting up is the best way to spend our time right now.”

“Divide and conquer, and all that rot,” Taeg quipped halfheartedly. He turned to Dagan. “I’ll flash over to London, round up Cresso. Once you know when your plane is coming in, give me a call. I can meet you at the airport.”