Page 18

“Some of those housewives are she-demons, I’m certain.” Jett slaps a fist to his palm. “I’m pretty sure I’ve bedded one of them. It’s been decades, but she looks the same.”

“Better have your wits about you the next time you try to sleep with a human. She could be a she-demon in disguise.” I chuckle, stepping into my sneakers.

“Jett!” Lennox’s voice booms from the kitchen. “Get dressed!”

Jett’s head drops back with a groan. Spinning on his heel, he heads back to his room and does what he’s told.

I close my bedroom door behind me before joining Lennox where he’s waiting by the stairs. His dark, wavy hair is secured off his face in a knot at his nape, and the phone in his hand illuminates the hard lines on his face as he taps against the screen.

“How much longer do you think Catori will keep staging these attacks?” I ask.

Fire, shadow, and storm demons of varying degrees of power have been sent over the last few weeks trying to rouse a response from the witches. Catori is certain the direct descendant of the witch bloodline who cursed him is hiding somewhere near Hemlock. This is where the original ceasefire was sealed with a blood oath. It’s why Catori has always had a permanent base here with the record store, but over the centuries he lost track of them. They figured out how to disappear.

“Until a coven intercepts. So far, only those same wolves have come, and Catori is certain they aren’t allies of the witches he needs. They would have challenged us by now.”

“Have we figured out their human forms yet?”

“No.” Lennox shakes his head. “Hynde always loses them through the park after each fight.”

“Speaking of, where is Hynde?” I ask.

“Already at the cemetery.” Lennox shoves his phone in his back pocket.

Lennox hasn’t brought up Sera’s vision since we learned about them, and I don’t want to mention it in front of Hynde.

“What do you think about Sera’s visions? She said she keeps being led to us—that must have something to do with the magic between us, right?”

“Curse,” Lennox grunts.

“Whatever it is. Do you think maybe it’s a sign that she’s the one to lift the curse, or do you think there’s something wrong with me?”

Lennox strokes his jaw in thought. “We need to see if that gold magic rises when one of us touches her.” My fists clench at my sides. I don’t want them touching her. I can’t explain why. Something inside me screams that she’s my witch. Ugh, this bond is a curse. “The connection between you two is all that’s protecting us for now, but the witch could have a vision at any time that reveals too much. We can’t risk them finding out why we’re here before Catori’s curse is lifted,” Len says.

“I’m ready.” Jett strolls into the room in a pair of sweats and a pale pink flannel shirt, rolled up to his elbows exposing the floral ink covering his forearms, and his blond hair back under control.

“We’re headed to the cemetery,” Lennox barks.

We acknowledge the order, then sink into our shadows, pushing through space until we recalibrate at the entrance of the cemetery.

Catori’s only staged smaller attacks before now, no more than four or five lower-level demons, trying to tempt witches of nearby covens to engage so we can figure out which one has the bloodline tied to Catori’s curse. Now there are six, two of whom wear a blue band around their right sleeve, just below Catori’s stitched mark, indicating their moderately higher power.

Three wolves are in the center of the fight. I recognize two of them: the gray and white one and the all-black one. The third looks similar to the first one, with more white on its belly and a mark like a distorted star on its hind leg. My heart thumps in my chest when I see Sera and Sloane on the edges of the scuffle.

Sloane’s pink magic streaks through the night sky as Sera fights alongside another woman. Slightly older, with brown hair graying at the temples. She wields a katana in one hand, a halo of white magic vibrates around the blade’s edge.

I grip the back of Lennox’s shirt. “Another witch.”

He nods. “She could be the one we’ve been waiting for. Come on.”

He runs into the fray, aiming for the two stronger demons who fight Sloane and the bigger of the gray wolves.

Sera spares me a brief glance as I join her side. The eyes of the demon she fights flicker blue for a second, and I try to remind myself of my duty.

Earn their trust.

Convince them to lift the curse.

Don’t lose yourself over a witch.