“Dusk Hollow,” he said. He picked up speed, and fresh air swept into the cab and blew through Loren’s hair. “If there’s anyone who might have a clue where your ancestor’s bone powder came from, it’s graverobbers.”
“Are we going alone?”
“Max, Jack, and Tanner are meeting us there.” Another fact that added to her nerves. Not only would she have to be around Maximus again, but another two Devils she hadn’t met yet.
As he drove, Darien’s tattooed hands wouldn’t relax on the wheel, his knuckles showing white through his skin. Every action he performed—flicking on the turn signal, braking at a stop sign, adjusting the temperature dials—was rougher than what was necessary.
Loren took a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice.
But his hands still wouldn’t relax, and neither would his jaw; a muscle ticked in his cheek. He looked like he wanted to hit something.
“It wasn’t right for me to leave without at least telling you first,” she continued tightly. “I just…” She pressed her fingers to her temples. Cripes, her head hurt.
Darien glanced at her for the first time in minutes.
“I’m overwhelmed,” she admitted pathetically. “And as I’m sure you know, I’m terrified. Terrified ofyou, too. Even though you’ve done nothing but help me.”
It took him so long to answer her that she wondered if he even would. But then his hands visibly relaxed, and he said, “Don’t worry about it.” His voice held no trace of the sharp tone it had before. “Just don’t do that again. If I hadn’t made it in time to stop you from leaving my property, we probably would’ve had to move Hell’s Gate. We’ve lived in that house for a long time, and the others are pretty attached to it, so it wouldn’t have sat well for anyone.” He slowed to a stop at a red light that was nothing more than a smear under the rain pelting the windshield. “And that’s the best-case scenario. The worst would’ve involved a lot of blood.”
He didn’t need to add that the blood he was referring to might’ve belonged to some of his Devils, not just their enemies.
“I’m sorry.” She hadn’t realized how selfish she was being.
“Like I said: don’t do that again and we won’t have a problem.”
Loren remembered back to the photos she’d seen last night. She was beginning to understand that the Devils were a family, and Hell’s Gate was as much a home as anybody’s.
She was silent for the rest of the ride to Dusk Hollow, the weight of the talisman around her neck nothing compared to the guilt now burdening her heart.
—
Dusk Hollow was Angelthene’s oldest graveyard.
While date palms lined either side of a dirt road that swept uphill, the rest of the grounds were shaded with the heavy canopies of laurel figs. The area was lush, fenced in by cast iron so old, only pieces of it remained.
Aside from the pattering of the rain that was softening to a drizzle, the snarl of the engine and the crunch of dirt and gravel beneath the tires were the only sounds. There were no cars lining the road where visitors were meant to park, and not a single person could be seen carrying flowers to the time- and weather-worn headstones dotting the grounds.
The only vehicle that was here aside from Darien’s was an SUV that looked like it belonged on battlefields with armed forces. The same SUV she’d seen outside Hell’s Gate last night—Maximus Reacher’s vehicle.
As Darien pulled up beside it, the driver’s door of the SUV swung open, and Maximus leapt out, tan overcoat swaying. In one hand he carried a rifle; in the other a cigar he threw to the ground and crushed beneath the sole of his cracking leather boot. The other men that came around to stand beside Max were Jack and Tanner, who Darien introduced to Loren as soon as she found the courage to get out of the car.
Jack was the one with deeply suntanned skin, curly brown hair that matched his eyes, and the smile of a flirt and a jokester. He was known in the city and well beyond for his gambling addiction—and ability to win absurd amounts of money.
Tanner was taller and wiry, with sharp facial features, light-brown hair clipped close to his head, and a serious expression that gave Darien’s resting-asshole-face a run for its money. Tanner was the one Devil who spent more of his time at Hell’s Gate than he did collecting; he was incredibly smart, his hacking skills unmatched. He could break through nearly any grid of protection spells within minutes, allowing the Devils access to buildings where their targets might be hiding. He was a large part of the reason why they were so lethal—so unstoppable.
“You got a plan you’d like us to follow,” Jack said to Darien with that contagious smile as they wove around the mossy headstones, “or are we just winging it?”
“The last time I saw Benjamin, he made it very clear to me that he didn’t like surprises,” Darien said as he loaded up a pistol. He flashed them a smile as he slapped the magazine back in. “So, in traditional Darkslayer fashion, I thought we would surprise him today by showing up uninvited.”
The boys laughed. Maximus said, “At least he’ll know for next time that slayers don’t follow any rules but their own. And we also don’t listen nearly as well as we should.”
Darien chuckled. “The more you know.” He came to a stop several feet from a massive, weathered tomb in the centre of the graveyard. The pale stone of the broad, sealed door was inscribed with an array of runes.
Holstering his pistol at the front of jeans that were as faded as they were tattered, Darien gave a sharp whistle.
Loren nearly had a heart attack as Darien’s Familiar hurtled out of his shadow and bounded for the tomb. Black as a silhouette, it was a large, short-hair dog with cropped ears, a docked tail, and a long muzzle, its face like a dog’s skull with red eyes. Its movements were graceful yet powerful as it leapt into the slip of shadow outlining the sealed door and disappeared into the tomb. Like all Familiars, Darien’s was able to communicate with him through his thoughts—in a voice no one could hear but him.
Loren felt a dull stab of jealousy. She’d always wanted a Familiar of her own, ever since she was a little girl. She wanted a lot of magical things that were denied to humans like her.
