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My jaw fell slack. “You consider Petra a lesser demon?” She—it—was the most powerful demon I’d ever come across, and I’d gone up against plenty of those baddies.
He ran his tongue along the edge of the teeth like he was carefully weighing his answer. “Petra is powerful. The demon has been around for a very long time, but she was created after the originals. Much like myself.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. If Petra was a lesser demon, wouldn’t that make Hook a lesser god?
His answering smirk was all knowing, which did nothing to help my frustration. “That form of communication is passed down from the originals, and the ability fades with each new generation. Petra is likely a couple of generations removed from the source of her power.”
Cool.I tipped my head back to stare at the ceiling. It was hard to think with that smirk breaking down my defenses.
Closing my eyes, I pulled in a bracing breath. “Do it,” I said, before I could chicken out.
Yes, it sounded like one of those ideas that could ruin everything, but what choice did I have? In three weeks, I’d made zero progress even cornering the shadow, and that was with Leo and Lily’s help.
A warm breeze rolled in through the cracked window, and I just sat there with the back of my head resting against the chair and my eyes closed. Until I remembered it was almost Thanksgiving.
Why the hell is the breeze warm?
I cracked one eye open, then dragged my head up and blinked at the two unfamiliar men standing in my living room. I shot to my feet so fast my chair toppled over behind me.
“Easy,” Hook said, getting up and putting himself between me and the strangers.
They were both well over six-feet tall, built like fucking brick houses, and sporting business casual attire of all things. That was weird enough, but their eyes were what had me doing a double take. Whatever colored they’d been when they’d materialized in my shitty apartment, they were both glowing an eerie-as-fuck red.
“Your friends don’t look so friendly,” I said, not bothering to keep my voice down.
Twin growls filled the now very cramped feeling space, and I knew without looking they were coming from Leo and Lily.
“Settle down, kitten,” the guy on the left said, eyeing Leo.
He might have meant it as a good-natured joke seeing as he was only slightly bigger than the Adonis-like tiger shifter, but I wouldn’t put money on it.
Hook’s eyelids fluttered like he was trying not to roll his eyes. “These are members of The Brethren,” he said. “And they’re here because I asked them to come. Though...” he turned his attention to two men, “I didn’t expect such a quick response.”
The other guy—
Nope, not a guy, I thought, correcting myself. The primordial demon, aka the thing that looked like a ruggedly handsome human male with a thousand-pound chip on his shoulder, shrugged. “We’re here. That’s what matters.”
“And I appreciate you coming.” He tipped his head to the man on the right, then the one on the left. “Emerson, Theloneus, allow me to introduce Never Darling, and Leonidus and Lilith of the Shere Clan.”
My gaze darted to Lily. Her real name was Lilith? When I raised a curious brow, she shook her head and rolled her eyes.
Looks like I’m not the only one who isn’t a fan of her given name.
Hook moved to my side, standing close enough to draw the attention of the demon he’d called Emerson. Only now, instead of those creepy ass red eyes, he was sporting irises in a shade of stormy blue that put mine to shame.
He dipped his head in our general direction. “What can we do for you, Atlas?”
I opened my mouth to answer for him, but thought better of it when I caught the way Theloneus was watching me. The dude was studying me openly. We’re talking zero shame in that silent stare. Even worse, those brown eyes stayed locked on me as Hook started explaining our predicament, right up until he mentioned that it was my brother that Petra’s shadow had anchored itself to.
Theloneus’s judgmental stare bounced to Hook for just a moment before swinging back to me. “Brother? By blood?”
Pressing my lips into a flat line to keep my mouth shut, I gave a quick nod.
“Ah, that explains it,” he said, with a dismissive shake of his head.
“Explains what?” I asked.
Confusion flickered across the demon’s face. Then his head tipped to one side and his eyes narrowed, but Hook cut in before he could answer.
