tightened at the mention of Santiago. He dismissed the Dark Warrior and his claims about a substance ravaging their kind like everyone else. At the time it was unthinkable. Now they knew better. And in the end, Santi stuck to his guns and ended up spending six long, painful months incarcerated during a time when he should have been caught up in the mating frenzy.
Shaking off the remorse, Hayden refocused on the conversation at hand. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Pus demons are a different breed entirely, but what Angel’s Kiss does is far worse than they look and smell.”
Gunnar grimaced then continued down the hall along with Gunnar. Jason resumed his search of the kitchen. He found a stack of bills and picked them up. “Is there any hope Drew, Eli and Rick will recover? It sounds as bad as the rumors which doesn’t leave me with much hope for their future.”
Hayden lifted the lid of the laptop that was on the table and buried under stale bread. “If we can get to them before they travel too far down that road there’s a chance, but once they reach a certain point, the rate of survival goes down to less than ten percent.”
“Then we have some work to do.”
“Yes, we do,” Hayden agreed as he booted up the computer. He sent a silent prayer to the Goddess for information that would lead them to these males before they lost them.
As much as Hayden hated to admit it, he was forever grateful Zander broke the mating curse all those years ago. They were no longer on the endangered list with extinction a few short decades away. But they weren’t stable by any means. They’d suffered too many fucking losses over the centuries of the war against demons that it would take a couple decades for them to find solid footing again.
Hayden was going to do whatever it took to ensure his kind thrived and moved forward.
Chapter 13
Chloe’s skin prickled the second she stepped onto the sidewalk. The scent of demon was faint, but there and the street was quiet as a mouse. It reminded her of the night she was kidnapped by that Davea.
The mere thought of him and her heart started racing in her chest while her skin froze over. She swore she got cold enough to see her breath when she exhaled. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around her chest and climbed the steps to the brownstone.
It wasn’t until she had turned around and was ten feet down the sidewalk that she realized they had strong protections around their property. Shaking her head, she tried to make her way back to the house. When all she got was static and she remained immobile, she had to reach deep to find a way through the enchantment.
Dante must not have considered she wouldn’t be able to return very easily. For a split second she considered calling another car and returning to her house. If he hadn’t been attacked by Spider demons yesterday, she would have done exactly that. She had no desire to fight.
It hadn’t been easy to accept Dante’s help, but she had. And, she’d agreed to give them what information she could about the Daeva demon. The world would be a safer place for all beings if the archdemon was sent back to Hell. There had to be a way to reach the door.
Her heart fluttered as she recalled her time with Dante. Warmth radiated from her the center of her chest. When she focused, she detected a thin string connecting her to her sexy cambion.
Keeping that front and center, she tried once again and managed to make it up the stone steps and rap her knuckles against the door. Axel tugged the panel open and she was hit with demonic energy.
Any lingering effects of the alcohol she imbibed with Tris disappeared in an instant. “What happened?”
Axel ran a hand over his jaw and sighed. There was dried blood crusted on one shoulder and black goo on his cheek near what looked like a healing burn. Demon blood. It had to be. It’s the only thing that would cause a wound like that.
“We fought and killed a Daeva along with several beasts he let through the portal he opened.”
Chloe’s eyes went wide as she considered what Axel said. Her feet were carrying her further into the house as she spoke. “How did they get in here? Are they still here?”
“We didn’t fight them here,” Axel replied from