I followed Garrett all the way to his house, my blood boiling. Not literally, ’cause that would hurt. He pulled into his drive, and I pulled in behind him.

“Charles,” he said, offering me his signature grin.

“Don’t Charles me.” I stalked up to him and poked his chest. “Why are you tailing Uncle Bob?”

“Whaaaaat?”

He turned and walked into his house with an angry woman hot on his heels. “Don’t play dumb, Swopes. Why are you tailing him?”

“It’s a job. I can’t tell you. My client has asked to be kept confidential.”

“Bullshit. If I were tailing your uncle, I’d tell you who hired me.”

“Now who’s bullshitting who?”

He was right. Damn it. Unless he was brought in on the case, I would never reveal my clients’ names.

“This is Uncle Bob we’re talking about.”

“No, you’re talking about him. I’m getting a beer.”

Just then, Osh spoke out like an omniscient presence. “Grab me one, too,” he said.

I walked around to Garrett’s living room and spotted him playing video games. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you watching my daughter?”

“I check in every hour.”

“Do you know how much could happen in an hour?”

“I had to get some things in order and go over the plans with Swopes here and your husband.”

“But not me.”

“Yes, you. You were on a case. We didn’t want to bother you.” He killed another bad guy. At least I hoped he was a bad guy. Osh was a demon, technically a Daeva, so he could be killing the good guys for all I knew.

“I’m not even going to argue with you.” I ripped the band out of my hair and scrubbed my scalp. “I have had the longest day ever.”

Garrett brought Osh a beer and offered to make coffee. These two men had been with us through so much, and the only person on this plane who might know about Reyes and his creation was Osh. They were two of my best friends. And they knew how to keep a secret.

I waved the coffee idea away—unusual, I admit—and sat on the coffee table, which tasted nothing like actual coffee, between Osh and the TV.

“I will suck the soul from your body,” he threatened.

“Whatever. I have something very serious to talk to you about. Like, the-annihilation-of-the-world kind of serious.”

“The world is going to be annihilated? Again?” He turned off the game and tossed the controller on the table beside me. “We just stopped one annihilation. Can’t this wait?”

I pursed my lips.

“Oh, you are serious.”

“I never joke about the annihilation of the world.”

He took a long swig, as did Garrett, who’d unbuttoned his shirt and let it hang open while he sat, his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles.

Such pretty boys.

I closed my eyes and dug deep for courage. “Okay,” I said, opening them again. “I need to know everything you know about Reyes’s creation.”

He frowned. “You mean in hell?”

“Yes.”

He sat back, his youthful appearance making him totally look like a gamer. “I guess I don’t know that much. Lucifer created him from the energies of hell and the fires of sin. Or that’s the rumor.”

“And how does that work, exactly?”

“Not a clue. Why?”

I sat beside him and looked from one to the other. “I am about to tell you the biggest secret I’ve ever had in my life, and I’ve only had it for ten days. But there is so much I don’t understand, and I don’t know what to do and who to tell. I mean, I told Cookie, but I tell her everything. I need help.”

“They have facilities for that,” Garrett said. “And medication.”

Osh laughed, and I let my brows slowly cinch together. “I don’t get it.”

“You’re punking us,” Osh said.

“Saw it from a mile away,” Garrett agreed.

“No, I’m not.”

Garrett rubbed his face with his free hand. “Okay, so what is this big secret that is going to annihilate the world?”

“Well, it’s kind of a three-parter.”

“Want another beer?” Garrett asked.

“I’m good, but do we still have chips?”

Oh, my god. They weren’t taking me seriously at all. Maybe all those times I didn’t take them seriously were coming back to bite my ass.

Nah.

“Guys!” I said, holding up my hands. “Quit with the beer and the chips shit.”

“Isn’t there a game tonight?” Osh said.

And I lost it. I grabbed Osh, put him in a headlock, and gave him just enough oxygen so he wouldn’t lose consciousness.

“I think she’s serious,” Osh said through his crushed larynx.

Having finally gained their undivided, I readied myself to tell them the most startling news since we learned the earth wasn’t the center of the universe, when Artemis jumped out of the floor and lunged right toward Osh and me. Carrying a demon in her jaws.

Because it was so unexpected, I screeched and jumped on the sofa like one would do to avoid a mouse. Osh scrambled back, too, as the demon hissed and howled from being burned alive by yours truly’s brilliant light.

Garrett rose as well, but he had no idea why.

Artemis was so happy she had a play toy. She shook it and growled at it and shook it some more, causing it more pain that it was already in. All the while her stubby tail wagged a million miles a minute.

The demon began to dissipate and evaporate into the air. When there wasn’t enough to shake anymore, Artemis jumped to me, her mouth open as she panted, proud of her work.

“Good girl,” I said, stroking her head. Then I pulled her into a headlock, too, for some playtime. “That’s her second one today,” I said to Osh.

“Artemis brought Charley a present,” Osh said, explaining it to Garrett. “A demon.”

“And it’s loose in the house?” he asked, appalled.

“No, it’s not.” I scrubbed Artemis’s fur and rolled with her over the coffee table and onto the floor. Sadly, she landed on top of me instead of vice versa. It knocked the air out of me, but that didn’t keep me from talking. Not much does. “There’s no demon in this house, huh, Artemisia? Well, there is one, but … you are such a good girl. Yes, you are.”