Maximus cut in. “We have Doctor Atlas working on one already, but she’s having trouble. No offence, but if someone as experienced as her can barely find where to begin, how doyouexpect to?”
“It will certainly be a challenge, Mister Reacher,” Calanthe said. “But my people have done it in the past when animals have fallen sick and transformed into similar creatures. We may need to perform tests on animal subjects by injecting into them the toxins we’ve found in the blood of these creatures. From there, we’ll study the antibodies the animals’ systems produce in an effort to fight the transformation.”
Logan and Emilie shared a hopeful glance.
Calanthe said, “As you’ve already seen, there are countless cells in this house.” The House of the Blood Rose used to be an asylum, but it was transformed into a mansion when the borders of the District of Drakon were first created. “Round up more of the demons and we’ll keep them here while we search for an antidote. By doing this, it’ll keep them out of the line of fire—andsafe—until we can change them back into the people they were before.”
Grinning, Jack clapped his hands together. “Sounds like we’ve got some hunting to do, boys and girls!”
—
One by one, the Devils rounded up as many of the demons as they could find over the course of two weeks. The demons were getting smarter; they stuck to the shadows and preferred stormy weather over clear skies, when it was less likely that they would be spotted.
More people had gone missing. The front page of the Daystar had a new tally every day, along with reports on the new breed of demon the law enforcement, too, was working to track down. But the law enforcement only killed them, believing they were no more than the usual mindless creatures who crept through weak spots in the city’s forcefield. The Devils corralled as many of the demons as they could, in hopes of saving as many lives as possible.
Loren stayed with the slayers that were on watch the first night, stationed upon skyscrapers, while the others in their group hunted below. They worked in rotations, though Darien tended to hunt more often than he kept watch. And it was on that first night that she was reminded of a peculiar ability he had.
Stationed upon a skyscraper near City Park, directly across from the mall where Loren stood watch with a few of the Devils on the roof, Darien leapt off the edge of the building.
Loren’s hand flew to her mouth. Floor upon floor upon floor spun past Darien as he plummeted to the parking lot below, his black jacket flapping like wings through the cool night air.
“Relax,” Maximus murmured as Darien continued to fall. Loren could barely see Max’s face beneath his heavy hood. Despite his reassurance, her heart continued to race, and she couldn’t tear her wide-eyed gaze from the Devil falling through the air.
Darien landed softly on the sidewalk then, his knees bending to absorb the impact—
And then he continued walking, as though nothing had happened. As if he’d merely stepped off the bottom step of a staircase. There was nothing in the way he walked to suggest he was hurt, nothing to suggest he was affected in the least by what he’d just done.
“He’s fine, Loren,” Max said as Darien disappeared in the same direction as the demon that had crept into the thick shadows of the park. “He does it all the time.”
Jack gave a low laugh. “He likes to show off.”
“How high can you guys jump from?” she asked.
“Heightscankill us,” Max said, “but not as short of a distance as humans. Jumping from the top of the Control Tower though…” He turned around and craned his neck back to look at the tower he’d mentioned, the panes of cristala gleaming pearlescent in the moonlight. It stretched up and up, straight into a sky stuffed full of stars. “A height like that would certainly kill us.”
Perhaps it made her a coward, but Loren couldn’t stomach going with them after that first night. She stayed at Hell’s Gate with Singer—at the house that was quickly becoming her home.
By the end of the week, every cell in the House of the Blood Rose was full.
And testing to find an antidote began.
—
Loren stayed up late on Friday night, scouring the internet on the spare laptop Tanner had lent her for any information that might help them understand more about the prima materia—the creature of the gods. She had learned plenty so far, though not enough to reallyhelpthem with this case. But the information she’d found was interesting, to say the very least. Especially the articles she’d dug up about the Law of Names—and how that law was connected to the creatures that lived at the different Crossroads throughout the world of Terra.
Her eyes were beginning to feel like they had sand in them when she heard Darien’s door open down the hallway.
She stopped scrolling through the article she was reading and checked the time.
It was half past Witching Hour.
When she heard boots on the floor of the hallway, she snapped the laptop shut, stuffed her feet into her fuzzy slippers, and made for the door.
Darien had nearly made it to the top of the staircase that led down to the entrance hall when he stopped at the sound of Loren’s door opening. He turned around to face her, his eyes turning black and back with every blink. He was wearing the same clothes he usually donned before heading to a fighting ring, that same tattered duffel slung over a shoulder.
Loren waited, standing there in the hallway, her heart snapping in half at how defeated he looked. His jaw was clenched so tight it looked like it was causing him pain, his shoulders so tense she could see the lines of every muscle through his long-sleeved henley. And although his eyes were now fully swallowed up by the black of Sight, the set of his brows and mouth told her precisely how conquered he was feeling in that moment—howworthless.
She would not push him; if he felt he had to leave, she would let him leave. She should lethimcome toher.
