Her hair caught the sunlight as she shook her head. “The demons… What if they’re not demons at all? What if they’re connected to the missing students? What if…” She finally looked at him. “What if theyarethe missing students?”
Darien’s mind reeled as he followed her train of thought. “And the spells here and on the schoolgrounds allowed them into the area because they still recognize their DNA,” Darien concluded. “They still recognize them as citizens and students.”
Holy burning Ignis.
The anima mundi—the world soul and the source of all magic in Terra, including forcefields—could not be fooled so easily. It was the same as glamours; witches or warlocks who used magic to glamour themselves might fool the naked eye, but they could never trick the forcefields, nor could they trick cameras. There were some things magic simply did not work on.
Darien spun around, surveying the avenue. There were too many people, too many prying eyes. Too many cellphones that could snap pictures or record video at any second, if he tried to take the demon or any part of it for testing. The blood he’d dropped off to Arthur, a weapons technician who worked for Lucent Enterprises… He should’ve taken more; shouldn’t have been so quick to burn the body.
Sirens began to wail in the distance.
“We need to go,” Loren said.
He was already at her side, a hand on her elbow, walking so quickly she could hardly keep up with him.
“That’s why Tanner could only kill the other one with chrysolite and silver,” Darien said, mostly to himself as they reached his car. “Whatever—whoever—that demon was… If you’re right, Loren, then the demon at the Rapids must’ve been part-wolf, and part-witch.” Silver for wolves; chrysolite for witches and warlocks.
Once they were in the car, Loren buckled her seatbelt, theclickloud in the silence, and said, “What do we do now?”
Darien scrubbed his face with his hands. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But if we’re right, then we need to find a way to change them back. I’ll have Tanner talk to Doctor Atlas and we’ll see if she can figure anything out. Maybe she can look into making an antidote.” He looked her over—the dress that was sticky with ice-cream and stained with blood, the tiny wood shavings stuck in her hair. “I think it’s also high time you had a weapon so that you can protect yourself.”
Loren slanted an eyebrow. “I thoughtyouwere my weapon, Darien Cassel.”
But he didn’t laugh. “I was distracted fortwominutes, Loren.” Blood was streaming down her leg, and bruises were already blooming on her sun-burned arms. “That could’ve ended really badly. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” But she was still shaking, and she wouldn’t look at him. He was starting to be able to read her tells without needing to see her aura.
She suddenly eyed him up, her features exceptionally soft. The sunlight slanting through the windshield turned her eyes a stunning shade of turquoise.
Darien stared back at her, longing to know the answers to her soul, wanting to learn every part of her, inside and out. The need to touch her, to comfort her and to know her on a deeper level, hit him like a fist to the stomach. He had no idea what emotions his face betrayed, but something flitted across Loren’s own features. A look of worry, he thought. Or perhaps understanding.
“You’re a good guy, Darien.” Her voice was gentler than he’d ever heard it before. She was letting that stubborn wall of hers down, lettinghimin. “You know that, right?”
Darien had no words. And that wall she was slowly demolishing…it shouldn’t come down. Not for someone like him. She deserved someone…better. Someone who couldn’t hurt her by simplyexisting.
“Loren…” The way her name left his lips was raw and vulnerable, just like how his soul felt. How his heart felt.
“Oh, right. Sorry.” She waved a scraped hand. “You’re notadevil, you’rethedevil. I forgot.”
She was getting too close to him, becoming too attached. And it washisfault. He had to put some distance between them to keep her safe, but the worddistancemade him literally want to die. He couldn’t imagine being away from her—not after everything they’d been through.
But this wasn’t about him.
He didn’t allow himself to think about it any longer, especially when a slit in the side of her dress caught his attention.
“You ripped your pretty dress.”Prettywas a massive fucking understatement.
Loren peered under her arm, at the tear that exposed her ribs. Darien’s blood boiled at the sight of the wound—another scar on her perfect body. She would live, but he didn’t like seeing her hurt.
If he was being completely honest with himself, he hated it.
“I just bought this,” she muttered.
“Did it cost you two hundred gold mynet?”
“Don’t be silly,” she tsked. “It cost me two hundred and fifty.”
Darien grinned. “You’re a riot.” He started the car and sped them to Hell’s Gate.
