Omens (The Dark in You #6) - Suzanne Wright Page 0,60
telling the truth?”
“I’d like to think not,” said Jolene. “But people can do irrational things when deep in grief.”
Tanner nodded. “It might be worth looking into.”
Jolene pushed to her feet and crossed to the fireplace, a restless edge to her movements. “He’s been part of our lair for over a decade now. We need to check how many of our demons have died within that period and have someone take a look at their graves.”
“Me and Mitch will do it,” said Orrin. “If we can’t positively say any of the graves haven’t been disturbed, we’ll pay a visit to their relatives—if there are dead bodies somewhere in their house, I doubt we’ll have a problem sniffing them out.”
Khloé sighed. “I need to go home and take a shower.”
“You need to heal a little more first,” Penelope insisted. “The hot water will hurt your burns.”
“But I reek.” Khloé looked up on hearing sounds coming from upstairs. “Ciaran must be awake.”
Relief fluttered across her mother’s face. “Thank God. I’m proud of him for joining your ranks, Jolene, but I still worry for him.” Penelope looked at Khloé. “Since you’re not a member of her ranks, is there any way you can spare me the worry I went through today and just leave this stuff to the people whose job it is to protect our lair?”
“None of them can destroy Enoch’s forcefields, so, no.”
Penelope’s shoulders slumped. Honestly, Khloé was surprised the woman wasn’t slurring. It was clear she’d been drinking a lot today—probably to calm her nerves, since one of her worst fears was that she’d lose another of her children.
Just then, Ciaran padded into the living room, his face soft and flushed with sleep. He frowned at Khloé. “You woke before me?”
“Blame Keenan,” she said. “He telepathically yelled at me, and I’m pretty sure it’s what yanked me out of sleep.”
The incubus curved a hand around her nape. “I needed to hear your voice and know you were okay. Slamming a mental door on me was mean.”
“Yet fun.”
“Will you always find joy in pissing me off?”
“It’s looking likely.”
He sighed. “I feel so cared for.”
“Do you? How strange.”
He just shook his head.
A little while later, imps began to trickle out of the house. Richie had to usher Penelope out, though, as she wouldn’t stop faffing over Ciaran and Khloé.
“We should all probably head out, too,” Harper told her lair members.
“I’ll be staying with Khloé,” Keenan stated.
“I figured as much,” said the sphinx.
“I’m glad you two finally got your acts together,” Jolene said, her eyes dancing from Khloé to Keenan. “You’ve been circling each other for far too long.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Ciaran. Groaning, he leaned back in his chair. “God, I feel awful. My throat is raw, and my chest hurts.”
“I feel your pain. Literally.” Khloé grimaced. “It’s been two weeks since I inhaled whatever gas Enoch produces, and I still feel like a bag of shit.”
Keenan frowned. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t see any reason to. My body had to tussle hard to fight the gas, so I’m not surprised I’m feeling the after effects of that.”
“What sort of after effects?” asked Raini.
“Nothing major,” said Khloé. “Sore throat. Achy chest. Tiredness. The occasional headache. I have a weird chill in my bones that I can’t explain, too.”
“Describe the gas for me,” said Knox. “Was it transparent? Did it have a scent? Was it like a hazy breeze?”
“No, none of that,” said Khloé. “It was a black, smoky sphere. He threw it at me. It tasted like rot and decay, and it burned like a bitch.” Her stomach sank when Levi swore and exchanged a grim look with his Prime. She looked from one male to the other and asked, “What? What’s wrong?”
“Yes, what is wrong?” demanded Keenan, his muscles suddenly rigid.
“That wasn’t a gas,” said Knox. “Not even close.”
Ciaran leaned forward in his seat. “Then what was it?”
Knox stroked his mate’s back, who’d turned to him, the image of anxiety. “The essence of death,” he said softly.
A boom of silence hit the room.
“No. No.” Jolene shook her head. “Nobody has the ability to conjure that. The ability doesn’t truly exist. It’s a myth.”
“No, it’s not,” said Levi. “It’s just so exceedingly rare that most believe it isn’t real.”
Knox nodded. “I had a childhood friend who could conjure it. I saw him throw an orb just like that at a cat. The animal died within minutes.”
“But I didn’t,” Khloé pointed out. “I fought it off. So did Ciaran.” By