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“Do I?” Ashe grinned. “And yet I already have one hell prince rendered as helpless as a baby.”
Wrath groaned and collapsed into a heap.
“That leaves me to contend with.” Shade stepped closer.
“I will cut her.” Ashe looked pointedly at the blade at Dee’s neck. “But I made a deal with Wrath. I don’t need him, just his power. Hand me that amulet, and we’ll all leave you to go on your way again.”
Eddie put her hand out to stop him. “Shade, he has that obsidian knife.”
“I see it, Eddie.” His calm tone reassured her. “How do you want to play this?”
There was no thinking about it. “I need Dee safe.”
Ashe grinned at her. “Good choice, Edme. She has no value to me.” He motioned to the amulet. “That, however, I can really use.” He jerked his head to the pouch. “Bring that to me, Edme, and I’ll release your grandmother.”
“Eddie.” Shade grabbed her arm. “Don’t go near him.” He glared at Ashe. “Get your lackey to fetch it.”
“I’m not a patient demon.” Ashe pressed the knife even further into Dee’s skin.
Dee held her breath.
Darting forward, Eddie snatched up the pouch and held it out to Ashe.
“There’s a good Nephilim.” Ashe grinned. He grabbed the pouch, then shoved Dee toward Shade.
Shade lunged to catch Dee.
Wrath lurched to his feet.
And the obsidian blade dug into Eddie’s throat.
“You should know better than to trust a demon, Edme. We lie.” His arm clamped around her waist, stronger than iron. The obsidian blade at her neck was enough to keep Eddie dead still. “Didn’t the imp teach you that?”
“Eddie!” Shade jerked for her and stopped. “Don’t fucking move.”
Eddie was way ahead of him.
“What’s he doing?” Dee looked from Shade to Ashe.
“Let her go.” Wrath stumbled like a newborn calf and shook his head. “We made a deal. You were to take me.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Ashe said. “But my ruse did allow me to disable your power.” He held up the amulet pouch. “And now it’s mine, and the only part of you I need.”
The world lurched around Eddie, and darkness descended.
Shade stared at the empty room that was Eddie’s bedroom. He didn’t remember much about the trip back from the battleground where Ashe had abducted Eddie. Vague flickers of Dee screaming, the hounds howling, and Wrath bellowing all merged together.
Inside, he was hollow, empty. Eddie was gone, and none of them had any idea where. They knew she was still alive because Wrath could sense her out there somewhere. If she was dead, her sire would feel it.
“Shade.” Uriel appeared in the doorway, her beautiful face somber and subdued. “They’re all here.”
“All of them?”
She sighed. “All except Lucifer.”
Of course Lucifer was missing. He hadn’t the courage to face him and Wrath after what he’d done. He would be skulking somewhere between the three realms, and he had Eddie with him.
Ashe was Lucifer’s second in command. After the shock of Eddie’s abduction had worn off, he and Wrath had spoken. There was so much about what had happened that was wrong. Ashe and his horde of misfits from all seven demesnes had been so much more powerful than they should have been. They’d managed to overpower both his and Wrath’s hordes in the battle in which Eddie was lost. Somehow Lucifer had found a way not only to gain the loyalty of demons from rival hell princes but also to transfer power to his horde.
