We’re stronger together than when we’re apart. It’s a state of mind. Just knowing she loves me, and she’s secure in my love for her, makes me feel bloody invincible. I feel as if I’ve been given a second chance at life, and I’m grateful.

Yes, this time will be different, because this time, I am alive.

PART THREE

SWEET RECKONING

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Most Important Job

“Everyone’s got to face down the demons

Maybe today, you could put the past away.”

—“Jumper” by Third Eye Blind

The Dukes don’t waste any time. They’re after Anna already, and it’s only been a few days since they discovered there are traitors in their midst, since they killed Flynn. Now I’ve learned from Anna that Father’s sent someone to rifle through her dirty laundry so he can get his hands on her knickers—he’s determined to find out if she’s still a virgin.

Dodgy bastard.

It’s been days since I heard from her, and I’m beginning to feel edgy. My heart leaps when my mobile dings, but it’s a text from Blake.

My pops is going thru the changing of the guard. China.

He must be jubilant. To the world it will look as though his father died of a heart attack, leaving his mansion to Blake. In reality, Duke Melchom’s spirit will be roaming his new duty station of China, searching for a new body to inhabit.

And I’m engaged.

I cringe at this. Should I send my condolences? My mobile rings and I assume it’s Blake until I see Father’s name. Great. I hesitate, but I can’t not answer.

“Hallo.”

His voice is posh, bored, and all business. “You’re needed in Atlanta straightaway. I’ve sent my jet to L.A. It will arrive in four hours and you are to be there, ready.”

I want to ask what this is about. If it’s a job for Marissa or something else. But I don’t dare. For all I know he could be suspicious of me already.

“Yes, sir,” I say.

He hangs up without another word, and my stomach sours. I immediately want to contact Anna or the others, but it’s too dangerous. If they’ve found a way to hack her phone, we’re screwed. If he’s calling to ask me to work, he’s out of luck. That’s never happening again.

I text Belial with the code we’d agreed on for when my father calls. K-611

I grab my bag and begin readying for the trip, wishing my knives could make it past security. I’ll need to stop and buy one when I get there.

Bloody hell, I nearly forgot about the East Coast humidity. Thankfully I’m only in it a moment before I’m whisked off by Father’s driver in a black sedan, AC blasting.

“Stop at the sporting goods shop,” I tell the driver.

I buy a new knife and get back in the car. My heart beats a steady, fast rhythm the entire way to Father’s house, and I match it against my knee with my thumb. My face is schooled into an expressionless mask, and I’m eager to find out what this is about.

As we near the house I push out my hearing and find sounds of two people going at it in the den. We arrive and I stand outside the door of the den until a maid with ample hips hurries out, flushed, smoothing down her clothing. She glances at me and rushes past.

Father sits relaxed in a recliner when I enter, one of his dark whisperers bobbing in the air at his side. Father doesn’t get up or motion me to sit. He only scans me from head to toe. My straight face will not give away my nerves. I won’t allow it. I hook my thumbs in my pockets lazily.

“I’ve come as you requested.”

“You’re looking well,” he says. “Bulking up nicely.”

“Thank you, Father.”

He steeples his hands and runs his joined index fingers up and down his chin. “I’ve got a rather . . . strange job for you. But quite possibly the most important of your life.”

I force myself to take slow, even breaths. “Anything you wish, of course.”

“Of course,” he drawls. For a moment his eyes are lost in thought, then he kicks the recliner closed and stands to move closer. The spirit circles the two of us.

“We’ve been dealing with a load of nonsense recently,” he says. “Nothing we can’t handle, but a nuisance nonetheless.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I know better than to ask questions. Father hates questions. Finds them pushy.

“Yes, well. We believe Duke Belial has turned traitor, and he’s using his daughter Anna to work against us.”

Bugger . . . I push my eyebrows together as if this is shocking and appalling news. Keep it together, I warn myself. He continues.

“We will find Belial and return him to Lucifer straightaway, but we need to find his daughter first. We must know if all of our suspicions are correct.”

I nod, thrilled to hear news but terrified at the sound of Anna’s name coming from Father’s mouth.

“Do you recall she was a virgin when we last saw her in New York?” His whisperer makes a sound of disgust in my ear.

“I do recall, Father. Last New Year’s.”

He hmphs a breath through his nose, still annoyed, no doubt, that I didn’t take her virginity when he sent me off to train her originally. “Well, we have reason to believe Belial is keeping her innocent.”

I draw my eyebrows together again, as if the idea is absurd.

“If what we suspect is true, he has ulterior motives for keeping her clean, which you don’t need to concern yourself with. All you need to know is that it’s imperative the girl loses her purity immediately. I would ask you to kill her, but that pleasure will belong to the Dukes.”