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“It dies.”
Tears filled my eyes. “I visited the demon in Durham, not Myra. How could I not know? Why didn’t the mark on my palm give her away?”
“The marks on her door,” David said. “In essence, they cocooned her, protecting her from detection.”
I cast a glance toward Collin. “You said they’d figure out ways to hide themselves from us.”
He nodded; his mouth pressed into a tight line. “And when we saw her at the university, the pendant with symbols hanging from her neck probably prevented us from knowing she was a demon.”
I couldn’t let myself think about the fact that this thing had killed Myra. That I’d slept in the house where Myra’s body was hidden. I’d tried to keep her safe, and she’d ended up just like Momma and Daddy. Had she suffered? Did she blame me? Did Steven play a part in Myra’s death and possession? Or was it a coincidence? Rage burned in my chest. David was right—there were no coincidences in any of this.
The blackness Claire had seen was the evil stench from the demon. Claire’s ghost—the one who was so desperate to help me—was Myra. When was the last time I’d seen the real Myra? Apart from the protective markings on her door, how had I missed the fact that she’d been replaced by that thing that called itself my mother? But Ihadnoticed. I’d just attributed the changes in her to the stresses of her move and her new job. Could I have saved her if I’d paid more attention? I sucked in a deep breath to regain control of myself. I could grieve later. First, I had to kick a demon’s ass.
When we pulled up next to the house, Claire was pacing the porch in a skimpy robe, tears streaming down her face.
I jumped out of the truck, heart racing. Had something happened to Drew? “Claire. What’s wrong?”
“Ellie,” she choked on my name. “My ghost…” Her voice quavered. “It’s Myra.”
“I know,” I said, letting several tears fall. “She’s dead. She’s been dead for weeks.”
“But you just saw her! How?”
“A demon.” Those two words explained it all.
She threw her arms around me. “I’m so sorry.”
“I think the thing that killed her is in the house right now. It’s here to get her body.” I wiped my tears and lifted my chin. “And I’m going to make sure it never leaves.” Collin had helped David out of the truck and both of them were heading toward us. I grabbed David’s arm to stop him. “David, you stay outside.”
He started to protest, but I moved my hand to his chest. “I need you to stand watch in case it tries to escape, and I need you to protect Claire.” I spun around to face my best friend. “Claire, ask Myra if there’s anything else I should know before going in.”
Collin, who was standing next to us on the porch now, handed me the Sword of Galahad, keeping Allison’s sword in his own hand.
I lifted my gaze to his face, needing his reassurance that we could do this.
“The Sword of Galahad belongs to you, Ellie. Now let’s find this thing.” Then he held the door open and waited for me, holding his sword in his right hand.
“Ellie,” Claire said, her voice still shaking. “She says to look in the attic.”
I sucked in a deep breath. The location made sense, and now I knew exactly where to look, but the stark reality of the situation still ripped a hole in my heart. How could Myra have been dead in my house without me knowing about it? What kind of daughter was I?
“Lead the way,” Collin murmured as we edged past the kitchen toward the living room. He turned from side to side, checking the shadows as we made our way to the staircase. “Is there anyone else here?”
“Four researchers.” I cringed. “They rent the bedrooms upstairs.”
“Shit.”
We picked up the pace as we headed down the hall toward the staircase leading to the attic. The house was old enough that it had been built with an actual staircase and not a pull-down ladder. Which meant the demon had easy access. I flicked the light switch at the top of the stairs, but the room was still encased in darkness. My breath caught in my chest.
“Ellie, what’s wrong?” Collin whispered next to me.
“It’s dark.” I shook my head, feeling stupid, but I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to handle a dark room again. After a couple of seconds my eyes adjusted to the dim interior, and two small dormer windows let in enough light to show the outline of the room’s contents. “Let’s look around.”
The attic was a graveyard for every discarded thing in the house. My father, a notorious pack rat, had saved just about everything we’d ever owned. Halfway across the room, we found a small pentagram, the corners dotted with the bodies of dead animals—birds, mice, and squirrels. We’d smelled something bad off and on for a couple of weeks, and this explained it. A human body would have smelled worse. Which meant there was only one place Myra could be.
I picked my way to the back of the large space, Collin following silently on my heels, until we stopped in front of a chest freezer.
“Ellie, this thing is plugged in and running.”
