Page 94 of Devoted

“You mean out of all of us, only one person can kill these things? I think I’m going to throw up. What the fuck? They can really suck our souls?”

“Like soft yogurt out of a plastic tube.”

“Dante, that’s disgusting,” I scolded, trying to block the image out of my brain. “And you don’t know that for sure.”

“Actually, that’s a pretty accurate description,” Nico murmured, paused, then whipped open the first door he came to. As one, we all jumped, then let out a long, audible breath when he swore and slammed it closed.

“They’ll hide somewhere dark,” he explained as we worked our way down the hall. “On the ceiling or in a recessed corner. They’ll stick to the shadows, and they like the quiet.”

“Like the ones at the Sala del Giuramento,” I whispered to Valeria, her nails digging deeper into my arm. “They were all over the ceiling.”

She jerked me back, her face drained of color. “These things are in the Sala del Giuramento? And nobody thought to fucking tell me? You are all a bunch of fucking assholes,” she muttered.

“I know, right? That’s what I’ve been saying all along.” Nico shot us all a dark look, paused, then flung open the next door. Again, we jumped and sucked in a breath as though fear was a competitive sport.

“You really can be the worst. All clear.”

“That leaves the bedrooms,” I said quietly, moving forward as Nico checked the next door, then the next. “I swear to the fucking gods, if one of those things comes skittering out, I’m going to pee my pants.”

“You and me both, tesoro, I hate those fucking things. And they stink.”

Valeria let me go, then punched my arm. Hard. “I told you something smelled funny during that council meeting. You made a face, but you didn’t say a fucking word.”

“I didn’t think you’d believe me, but yes, I lied by omission.”

“They could have sucked my soul out. At any time. My gods, what else are you keeping from me?”

I took a long look at Nico. “Nothing, I swear.”

We stopped, clogging up the entire hallway as Nico set his hand on Luca’s door, counting down with his fingers as we all held our collective breath.

One. Two. Thr…

Luca whipped his bedroom door open before Nico finished.

Valeria sucked in a panicked breath that ended in a low, porn-worthy moan. My brother lounged in the doorway, elbow casually braced on the doorframe, naked to the waist and wearing… loose, gray sweatpants. Fucking hell, those things were like female catnip, especially when the tanned abdomen above the waistband could have been photoshopped.

“Don’t you own a shirt?” I muttered.

“Hello, Valeria,” my brother crooned. “Everyone. Everything okay out here?”

“Everything okay in there?” Nico peered over my brother’s shoulder into the dark room. “Were you sleeping?”

“I was until I heard a herd of elephants stampeding down the hallway. Since I can’t eat, I decided I might as well sleep. Unless the kitchen is open?” He tacked on hopefully, looking at Valeria, standing there with her mouth hanging open.

“Stay inside your room,” Nico snapped. “Don’t come out unless one of us gives you the okay.” He shoved Luca backward a step and closed the door.

We searched the rest of the villa inch by inch but found nothing, not so much as a drop of black, gooey tar.

“I have to let everyone back in. If those things aren’t inside…” Valeria’s gaze skimmed over the wild-looking island, the long stretch of beach. “Perhaps the villa’s the safest place for everyone?”

“Bring them back in,” Nico decided. “But tell everyone not to open the doors or windows and stay in pairs. Groups would be even better.” With a nod, Valeria hurried off.

“We have a problem,” Gabriel murmured as we watched everyone stream back inside, Rocco shooting us an evil glare on the way past, his nose sunburned to an alarming red.

“They couldn’t have just vanished.”

“They don’t have that sort of magic,” Nico filled in unhelpfully. “But the villa’s secure, which means now we have to search the outbuildings, the boathouse, and the entire island. As far as I know, they can’t swim, so they’ll stay on land.”