“Ian?” My question was clear in my tone. But when his features remained as hard as flint, I had my answer.

“As I’ve told you both,” Ian said in an acid voice. “Nothing is wrong, aside from my being interrogated, followed, and interrogated again. Blimey, Crispin, I treated you less suspiciously after you got married, and you might recall that our relationship was at its lowest point back then.”

Bones’s flinch was almost imperceptible, but I caught it. Cat did, too. She linked her arm in his and gave Ian a measured look. “Bones thought he was protecting me back then. If you were him, you probably would have done the same. But we love you, Ian. You know that. And we want to help. Let us, please.”

Bones gently pushed Cat away to move closer to Ian. Then he raised his hand as if to touch him, but dropped it with a sigh.

“I have no excuse for betraying you. Oh, I gave myself many at the time, but I should have trusted you. I didn’t. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Believe me, I’ve regretted it ever since. You’re not just my friend, my sire, and my cousin. You’re also the closest I’ve ever had to a brother. You know that, don’t you, mate? I’d do anything for you, so tell me what’s going on and let me.”

Ian’s expression softened. He even sighed as if not knowing where to begin. I laced my hand in his and gave an encouraging squeeze. He squeezed back, then looked at Bones.

“Crispin,” he began. Then his eyes narrowed at something over their shoulders. At once, tension thrummed from him. “Go away,” he finished, his voice changing to growl. “Now.”

Bones looked as startled as I felt by Ian’s sudden nastiness, but he planted his feet. “I’m not leaving until—”

“Then we are!” Ian snapped.

Now I saw what had alarmed Ian. Two demons were shoving people out of their way as they headed toward us. From their expressions, they recognized Ian. From Ian’s expression, they weren’t friends. How had the demons found us? Or was this simple bad luck? These weren’t the first demons we’d seen at this bazaar. The place was crawling with supernaturals. But they were the first that clearly wanted to start trouble we didn’t need.

I tightened my one-armed grip on Silver. Then Ian and I shot into the air. We couldn’t go high, though, as we were still beneath the overpass.

“If you don’t stop, Ian, I will stop you!” Bones shouted. He and Cat had flown right after us.

Power squeezed me in the next instant. Dammit! Bones’s telekinesis was as strong as I’d thought it was. He must have used more on Ian than me because Ian dropped like a stone. Only my quick grab kept him from falling into the crowd. Worse, the demons had almost reached us. One leap and they’d be able to pull us down. And my magic wouldn’t work on them. Like trueborn witches and warlocks, they were immune.

But Cat and Bones weren’t. I threw a spell that exploded like a flash-bang grenade in front of them. It startled them enough for Bones’s power to slip. When it did, Ian and I hurtled toward the other end of the overpass. We’d barely touched the open sky when that viselike power slammed both of us again.

We fell with a thud just meters from the end of the bazaar. Now, I couldn’t move at all. Neither could Ian. Even Silver seemed frozen in my arms. A nearby whoosh had to be Cat and Bones coming for us. We needed a massive distraction to break free, but I couldn’t hurt Cat or Bones. I also didn’t want to hurt anyone at the bazaar. What, then?

The river! I focused on it and pulled with all of my will, but I didn’t just yank power from the water this time. I tore thousands of liters of the river itself free, then hurled it all at Cat, Bones and the demons who were almost upon us.

The water slammed into them, flinging them in different directions. It also tore through part of the bazaar, scattering booths and people alike, though I tried to limit its damage there. As soon as I felt Bones’s hold on me crack again, I lunged toward Ian, but he was already reaching for me.

We surged into the sky, Silver shaking the water off his feathers like an angry duck. I felt Bones’s power grab us again, but we were too far away for it to stop us. I flung a stronger flash-bang spell in his direction and that invisible pressure vanished. There were drawbacks to a vampire’s supernaturally enhanced eyesight and hearing, namely making flash-bang spells that much more effective.

Even temporarily blinded and deaf, I wasn’t worried about leaving Cat and Bones with the two demons. Not with how lethal they were. That’s why I would have been glad for their help with Dagon. If the demons at the bazaar tried anything, they’d be dead too fast to regret it.

“Head east!” I shouted to Ian, flying faster.

He kept pace with ease. Soon, we were too far away for Bones’s power to reach us. If Cat and Bones did extricate themselves from the river mess in time to give chase, I wanted us to be close to more water so I could use its power to stop them. There was an entire ocean on the other side of New Jersey. That was more than enough.

Chapter 32

Later, we watched whitecaps froth on the ocean from a private residence near the Atlantic City Boardwalk. The homeowners hadn’t intended for their house to become an Airbnb, but while we had lots of cash, we didn’t have new identification. Plus, a hotel would also be the first place Cat, Bones, or the demons would look for us, not to mention hotels weren’t demon proof. So, after a few flashes from Ian’s gaze and a generous amount of spending money, the husband and wife decided to take an impromptu weekend vacation.

I was tired after the fiasco at the bazaar. This had been a very long day, but we still had work to do. Our bags from the bazaar were spread across the living-room couch. Silver lay next to them, his wings folded around his head until only the tip of his nose was visible. He’d fallen asleep after a large meal of sautéed vegetables. For Silver, the night was over. For us, it might be just beginning.

“I suppose we should start doing prep work on the spells,” I said with a sigh.

“Or,” Ian said in a smooth tone, “you could tell me why you neglected to mention that you’re telekinetic in addition to your other abilities.”

Of course he wouldn’t leave the events at the bazaar alone. “I’m not telekinetic,” I began.

“You’re claiming the river suddenly became sentient and had an uncontrollable urge to go shopping?”

I ignored his sarcasm. “Telekinetic vampires can use their powers on anything. I can only manipulate water, and this ability has nothing to do with my being a vampire.”

Interest gleamed from Ian’s gaze. “Go on.”

I spread out my hands. “That’s it. My other nature allows me to draw power from water and also move it around short distances. Nothing else.”

“When’s the last time you tried to do something else?” At my pause, his mouth curled knowingly. “That’s what I thought.”

“You don’t understand.” Now my voice was quiet. “My other nature is”—Dangerous. Uncontrollable. Possibly heartless. “Unpredictable,” I settled on. “So, I keep it locked away, but like anything in a cage, it can poke its fingers through.”

His brows went up. “Your abilities with water are what happens when you pull on your other nature’s metaphysical fingers?”

It almost sounded like a fart-joke analogy, but whatever. “In short, yes.”