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And while that was a relief, it also sadly meant that … “Some other child must have died in Heidi’s place, otherwise the incorporeal wouldn’t be free.”
Levi nodded, expression grim. “We also now know that Jonas did in fact want an archdemon, just as Malden said. But it wasn’t because Jonas had a nefarious plan, it was because he was trying to foil his sister’s nefarious plan. An incorporeal demon … Damn, Harper’s going to freak.”
Knox felt his brow furrow. “No, she’ll stay calm.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“Alethea had a what?”
“Shh, baby, calm down.”
Harper did a slow blink, thinking he had to be kidding. “Calm down? Calm down? Knox, that bitch had an incorporeal demon, it’s now on the loose, and it went after Asher. There’s also a damn high chance that Alethea meant to sacrifice Heidi in order to free the fucker. It’s good for the damn dolphin that she’s not alive, because I’d have smacked the motherfucking shit out of her. Really. I’d have put her through an eternal loop of soul-deep agony until she’d begged for a mercy that would never have come.”
His cock inappropriately twitched—it seemed to love her bloodthirsty streak. Ignoring the “I told you she’d flip her lid” look from Levi, who was leaning against the wall, Knox spoke to Harper in a soothing tone. “I don’t doubt that, baby. I’d have been right there with you, delivering my own brand of punishment. But we’ll have to be content with knowing she suffered an excruciating—if much too fast—death and concentrate on dealing with those who’d worked with her, including the incorporeal.”
“Deal with it how? Correct me if I’m wrong, but those fuckers are practically impossible to kill.” Harper shoved a shaking hand through her hair. Fury and anxiety clawed at her insides. How the hell could she neutralize the threat to her son if she couldn’t damn well destroy it?
Knox rested his hands on her shoulders. “They can be killed but, yes, they make tough opponents for a number of reasons. But so do we, baby.”
Sitting on the sofa, Larkin lifted a hand. “I have to admit, I don’t know a lot about incorporeals. Just that they’re nasty little bastards.”
Beside the harpy, Keenan gave Knox a look that said he wasn’t much wiser on the subject. “I know they sure like possessing humans, pretending they’re the devil himself. Do the exorcisms really weaken them?”
“No, but they weaken the human, which then weakens the incorporeal and so they switch to another body while they regain their strength,” Knox explained.
“All I need to know is how the hell to kill it,” said Tanner, sprawled on the other sofa with his legs crossed at the ankles.
Knox had summoned Larkin, Keenan, and Tanner to the mansion so that he and Levi could inform them and Harper of Jonas’s revelations. It was vital that the sentinels were fully apprised of the situation so that they were not only prepared to deal with whatever came next, but so they could then impart the necessary information onto the Force—the demons who worked under the sentinels to help police their lair.
“Like archdemons, incorporeals are born in hell,” said Knox. “For the most part, they remain there. But that’s mainly because they can’t survive outside of it unless they have a host. The only way they can roam the Earth is if they possess bodies. But they can only control them for a short time as it’s draining, so they often sort of … linger inside a person, surfacing occasionally to take command of the body and do whatever it is they wish to do. If they’re very powerful and at top strength, they can even maintain a physical form of their own for a very limited amount of time.”
At Knox’s meaningful look, Harper hissed. “Fuck. I should have considered that she might have been an incorporeal. They’re just so rare … ” Harper frowned as something occurred to her. “Wait, could she have still been in the room with Asher after the attack? I thought she’d gone, but maybe I just couldn’t see her.”
“It wasn’t a ‘she’,” said Knox. “Incorporeals are neither male, nor female; they just are. As for whether it lingered, I doubt it. You hurt and weakened it, so it would have needed to quickly find a host. Without a body to possess, they die fairly quickly, especially since maintaining a physical form of their choosing drains them.”
Cursing, Harper started to pace. “This isn’t good at all. I mean, an incorporeal can look like anyone at any time, can’t it? It can possess virtually anyone.”
“It can possess virtually any human or animal,” began Knox, “but only a powerful incorporeal could possess a demon. Incorporeals are uncommon, and powerful incorporeals are even less so.”
“But they do exist,” said Harper.
“Yes,” Knox allowed. “Still, even powerful incorporeals generally don’t bother trying to possess our kind. They can’t use our abilities, so a human would be just as useful a host. Humans are also much easier to possess, not to mention a hell of a lot easier to control.” He shrugged. “Logically, we’re just not worth the effort.”
“Have you ever come across one before?” Tanner asked him.
“Yes,” replied Knox. “A long time ago. I killed it by calling on the flames of hell.”
Keenan took a swig from his flask. “And if you’re someone who can’t call on the flames, how do you kill them?”
“It’s not easy to harm an incorporeal,” said Knox. “You can’t do so by harming their host. You have to kill it while it’s either bodiless or using its energy to manifest into a solid form. By stabbing it in the heart and dealing it soul-deep pain, Harper will have dramatically weakened it, but it would take much more than that to kill one.”
“They can’t leave hell unless they’re conjured by a practitioner or an incantor, right?” asked Levi.
Knox nodded. “It would take a shitload of dark magick on the conjurer’s part. It usually takes months and involves a lot of blood sacrifices. Not just any incantor or dark practitioner can call a demon from hell. They’d have to specialize in conjuring, and that often takes years of practice under the tutelage of another. There’s nothing simple about the process, which is why there aren’t many of them roaming the Earth.”
“Is the conjurer then in control of the incorporeal?” asked Larkin, her eyes—sometimes gray-green, sometimes gray-blue—glinting with unease.
“To an extent,” replied Knox. “They make a bargain. The conjurer will give it freedom, but the incorporeal must first do their bidding.”
