I could only stare incredulously at her.

She returned an indignant glare. "Just because I have money doesn't mean I spend it foolishly. I refuse to feel guilty for bargain hunting." She motioned at my clothes. "At the very least, strip down to your underwear. I know how smitten you are with that Templar girl of yours, and how brainwashed you are by human values of love and sex. I will respect your corrupted notions."

Since I'd already wrecked a perfectly good pair of jeans and one of my favorite shirts in the fight with Bigglesworth and subsequent spontaneous manifestation against Zagg, I relented, and stripped to my boxer briefs.

Vallaena removed every last stitch of her clothing and folded it neatly into her purse. She pulled a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra from within, slipping them on. They hung loose from her frame, though I figured it was by design.

She knelt, examining the black stain on my calf where the vampling fangs had penetrated the skin. The wounds still looked puckered and fresh. I noticed a scrape on my leg I must have sustained the night before. It wasn't severe, but I usually healed within minutes of an injury. The blood seemed to have clotted, but my blighted skin wasn't healing. Blackened veins ran up through my thigh, vanishing past the hem of my boxer-briefs. Either the potion wasn't working, or trauma accelerated the curse's spread.

Vallaena traced the dark veins up my leg with a fingernail.

"Hey, now," I said, dancing back. "No touching, please."

She shook her head. "How could the foreseeance be wrong?"

I realized she was talking about Foreseeance 4311. "Foreseeances can be wrong," I said.

Vallaena gave me a sad panda face. "Justin, at the rate the curse is spreading, you will not survive the month."

My heart seemed to stop dead. My back muscles knotted. It took a moment before I could speak, and even then my words sounded hoarse with tension. "Guess I'd better learn fast then." She had to be wrong. But what if she wasn't?

My aunt murmured something to herself, and shook her head. Looking up at me, she said, "There may be one cure."

A little flutter of hope started my heartbeat again. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Why didn't you say something earlier?"

She stood, looking me in the eye. "Because it is next to impossible to find."

I didn't like the sound of that. "How hard?"

Vallaena took both of my hands, and squeezed them. "Justin, you must eat the heart of an angel."

Chapter 25

I nearly choked on my own tongue. "Eat the heart of a freaking angel? How am I supposed to do that?"

"As I said, it is nearly impossible."

Jerking my hands from hers, I backed up a step. "Okay, let's say I kidnap Daelissa, cut out her heart, and eat it. What makes you think it'll cure anything? It might just give me indigestion."

She pressed a hand to her chest. "Our hearts are where we store our powers, our emotions, our very core."

"No, all that stuff comes from our brains. And I don't think I could eat any kind of brains, not even from an animal." I made a gagging noise. "That's just gross."

"True," she said with a nod. "Our brains process what we do, but it all passes through the heart. When our kind feeds, we channel essence through our hearts. Angels feed in much the same way, though they winnow the essence into purer forms, dissecting the spectrum between dark and light."

"How does this mean eating a heart would cure me?" I asked.

Vallaena steepled her fingers. "Because Brightlings created the vampling curse, they are immune to it. Eating a heart would channel their pure essence into you and cleanse you."

"Are you sure this isn't a crazy myth?" I said, shaking my head. "Angel hearts sound like something you'd find in the canned pasta aisle in a grocery store, for crying out loud."

"Let me give you a history lesson, nephew," Vallaena said. "Many eons ago, our people joined with the Darklings to combat the Brightlings. The enemy used curses against us, some more terrible than the vampling curse. Though the Darklings had some defense against these attacks, the Daemos had no such immunity. One of our infected warriors embarked on a suicide mission to kill a Seraphim. He succeeded. As he lay dying from his wounds and a curse, he ate the angel heart as a final insult."

Gross! I shuddered at the thought of eating a raw heart.

Vallaena continued. "According to the legend, it healed him completely, mind, body, and soul." She gave me a pointed look. "If this story is not simply legend, it means an angel heart could cure you. And you are our last hope, Justin."

I scratched my chin. "Gee, that sounds like a line from a movie."

She scowled. "Do not make light of this. If you die, our chances for defeating Daelissa and the Brightlings dims considerably. They will enslave mortals and Daemos alike."

And take away the power you crave. I threw up my hands. "No pressure, huh, Vallaena? Good lord, you're going to give me anxiety attacks with talk like that." I blew out a breath. "Look, you may be right. If I happen to get my hands on Daelissa, I'll be sure to eat her heart, okay?"

"There is another possibility." Her eyes narrowed. "The one they call Nightliss."

"Oh, hell no, woman. If you think for a minute I'd hurt her, you need your head examined."

"But what if she were to sacrifice herself for you?" Vallaena said. "She could save you. Save us all."

I slashed the air with my hand. "End. Of. Discussion." I really hated to separate all my words with a period but my dear aunt needed to receive the message loud and clear. "I will die before I do anything to harm her."

Vallaena sighed long and deep. "You're so melodramatic at times."

"And you're bat-poo crazy sometimes." I offered her a tight smile. "Now, can we get back to demonology one-oh-one?"

Her typical cool demeanor returned. "Very well. Let us begin."

Then she punched me in the stomach.

I doubled over, and felt the air rush from my lungs as my legs left the ground. I flew backward through the air, landing on a jagged rock that cut into my bare skin. I cried out in pain. Rage flushed my skin with heat. Vallaena was on top of me before I could get up, her body a blur of motion. She punched me on the bridge of my nose. Stars burst into my eyes. When they cleared, I saw Vallaena leap to her feet, a sneer on her face.

I managed to climb to my feet. "What the hell you stupid—" I forgot my next words.

My aunt's skin shifted to a cold shade of blue. Beneath it, coils of muscle writhed, bulged, and grew. She went from average height to over six feet, as curving ebony horns grew from her head like plants growing in a time-lapse video, blonde hair lengthening until it hung halfway down her back. Instead of turning into a monstrous clawed creature of death, she stopped. Her breasts bulged against the athletic bra, while her hips and bottom filled out the yoga pants with tantalizing curves. She looked every inch like a seductive queen of pain.

"I will tear out your heart," she said, baring white teeth, and growling before lunging at me.

I ducked under her first thrust, and punched her stomach. She grabbed me by the neck, and slammed me to earth with a solid thud. In a blur, she straddled me. Gripped my underwear with one hand. "You won't even want your puny girlfriend after I'm done having my way with you."

The awe and fear at her unexpected attack melted in an instant. "Nobody but Elyssa will ever experience that," I said and let the rage burn through my veins. The demon burst from its cage. I roared in pain as I felt that part of me claw its way free. My body shuddered, muscles swelled. Pinpoints of pressure in my forehead exploded in pure agony as horns burst from my skull.

"And, hold it there!" Vallaena said, abruptly leaping from my chest and jerking me to my feet by my hand.

I lost my hold on the rage as confusion sucker-punched me in the brain. "What?" I said, my voice a mix of its usual timbre and menacing, guttural depth. I stood slightly taller than my aunt. Blue and peach tones splotched my skin. My right leg bulged with muscles while the other wasn't quite as pumped up, causing me to stand a little lopsided, and my right arm looked just as scrawny by comparison. The demonic force inside me pressed and fought against my will, demanding I let it break free. I pushed back, against the pain, barely managing to hold it off.

"I would apologize for the attack," Vallaena said, "but it was the fastest way to make you lose control and release your spirit."

"You wanted to make me angry." I staggered as my demon side surged against my will.

She shook her head. "We exist in two worlds, Justin. We are corporeal, but we are also spiritual. That part of us exists in the demon realm. When you lose your temper, you lose control over your spirit. This is one reason why you manifest without wanting to."

"We're possessed by demons?"

"No, we are the demon, and the demon is us. We are one and the same, but coexisting in two different realms. It is both our strength and our weakness. Our physical bodies require food. Our spiritual nature requires essence from other living beings." She took my hand, and turned it palm up.

I looked at my hand, at the blue skin, the black fingernails. It remained human in shape, but huge.

"One part of your spirit wants to be free to do as it wishes. The other part understands control and restraint, Justin. It has a conscience. This is the first step in learning to control that dual nature."

"Brings a whole new meaning to free spirited," I said, looking at my half-morphed form. "But I'm a bit off kilter."

She smiled, her perfect white teeth contrasting with her blue skin. "You will learn."

And then the lessons began in earnest. For the next couple of hours, she forced me to lose control again and again, stopping me just before I went completely berzerk. Thankfully, it didn't involve grabbing my underwear.

After practice, I went back to the dorm room. I saw Shelton munching on a large pizza while Cinder observed him from a seat. I grabbed a piece and inhaled it. "Man, that is so good," I moaned.