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“A really old, powerful one might be able to, given enough time.”
“How long would a demon have to be earthbound in order to manifest, say…six or seven different forms?”
Calliope let out a low whistle. “If it were possible?”
“Trust me. It is.”
The Oracle shook her head. “Centuries. If it can shift manifestations easily? Possibly a thousand years or more.” She gave me a serious look. “Are you hunting an old one?”
“The oldest,” I agreed with a nod.
“No wonder I couldn’t see you coming tonight,” she said with a sigh.
“Why?” Desmond asked, breaking his silence.
“I can only see those with a certain future.” Calliope took my hand and squeezed it. “The minute you crossed a demon, your future went out the window.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“Tell me something I don’t already know.” I forced a smile, but it must have come out wrong because Calliope didn’t look impressed. “I need your help finding the demon. I’ll take care of my own uncertain future after that.”
Desmond took the broadsword out of my hand, lightening my burden considerably.
Calliope sighed again. “Do you have anything to connect you to the demon?”
“I’ll say. Damn thing sucked out a whack of my memories and walked around Midtown Manhattan wearing my face.”
“I can work with that.”
We followed her out of the waiting room, Desmond taking one last look at the boy who had fallen asleep smiling. “Are you sure he’s okay?”
“Of course he’s okay,” Calliope replied, somewhat indignantly. “Do I look like a monster to you?”
Desmond, smart werewolf boyfriend that he was, said nothing. Calliope’s house could expand and contract in size according to necessity. The mansion was especially large today, meaning she had a full house. When we came to a stop in front of an intimidating dark-wood door with a series of carvings depicting monsters I’d never seen before, Calliope rounded on us and gave me a serious look.
“Do you know what you’re doing?”
“Do I ever?”
“I’m serious, Secret. Do you know how to kill a demon?”
I stared at the sword in my hand. “Umm…no.”
Calliope reached for my katana, but the moment she touched it the sword emitted a piercing hiss. That was new. She withdrew her hand and glared at the Japanese weapon like it had insulted her. She grumbled something at it in a fae language, and the noise dulled.
“Where did you get that?” she asked me.
“Koreatown.”
“Hmm.” This time she turned to Desmond and held out a hand for his broadsword, which he gave her without question. The medieval blade didn’t respond to her touch in any way. I stared at my own sword again and marveled at what it had done. It had reacted similarly to the white-haired fae and the ogre. Was this what the fae shopkeeper was talking about when he told me about the katana’s darkness? Calliope cleared her throat to get my attention back. “There are two ways to kill a demon. Destroy the heart.” She mimed stabbing Desmond in the chest with the blade, and he and I both winced. “Or decapitation.”
“Oh, good old decapitation,” I said dreamily.
“But with either method, you must destroy the object completely. If you merely stab a demon in the chest, you will not kill it. If you cut off its head but leave the body and head together, it will regenerate. It would be easier to send it back from whence it came, but you need the demon’s true name for that.”
“I tried. He wasn’t exactly forthcoming when we played the name game.”
Calliope put a hand on each of my shoulders and pulled me close for a hug. With her lips next to my ear, she whispered, “One day you will die standing by someone you love, Secret. Today is not that day.” When she withdrew she gave me a meaningful look and squeezed my right hand in spite of the sword I held. The hand with the longer lifeline. She gave one last nod like she knew something she wasn’t telling me. Considering she was an immortal seer of the future, I was pretty sure she was holding something big as her ace in the hole.
