Reed flinched away from the nails that scraped down his back. He stood with his forehead resting against a granite shower stall, one arm hanging at his side, the other pressed against the wall above his head. Steam swirled around him and scorching hot water sluiced down his spine.
“Leave me in peace,” he growled, his lower lip throbbing from the sting of Sara’s bite.
“The team is ready to go,” she said. “They’re waiting in Ontario, California.”
She was docile now, appeased and somewhat contrite. It didn’t matter. He hated her in that moment, hated how she made him feel about himself, hated that she’d seen motives he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge. But most of all, he hated that Eve was in pain and he’d had to feel it while buried deep inside another woman.
He shouldn’t give a shit about Eve. What did he know about her?
Sadly, the excuse had no validity. Cain didn’t know any more about Eve than Reed did, but Cain loved her.
Reed shut off the water and accepted the towel Sara offered him. She wore a short white silk robe and her silver-blonde hair hung loose around her shoulders. She couldn’t look more angelic. “You are truly worried about her,” she said.
“You should focus less on her and more on the reason why there’s cause for concern.”
“I am focused,” she retorted. “That is why I am accompanying you.”
“Like hell.” He scrubbed his head with the towel.
“You forget your place.”
Dropping the towel on the floor, Reed brushed past her and moved into her office. He retrieved his clothes and dressed with deliberation. There was no point in arguing. He was in full control of his gifts. The archangels, however, paid a price for using their powers. Reed could be in California in a blink of an eye. Sara had a long flight ahead of her.
“I want you to fly with me,” she said.
He glanced at her and smiled.
Her gaze hardened. “We were good together.”
“Occasionally.”
“Then why are you so distant?”
“You manipulate me, Sara.” He crossed over to the wet bar and used the mirror there to adjust his tie. “I’m just an object to you.”
“You used me, too.”
“You’re right, I did.” He had once been foolish enough to hope that she might help him achieve his own firm. They could work together, he’d thought, and thereby be twice as strong. Then he realized that not only would she never allow her “boy toy” to achieve similar stature, she also didn’t want to add to her competition. Perhaps more so than her six counterparts, Sara saw the other archangels as impediments in her relationship with God. “We both got something out of it.”
“Then, why her and not me?”
His gaze met hers in the mirror’s reflection. “You don’t love me,” he scoffed.
“I am not talking about my feelings. I am talking about yours.”
A bark of laughter escaped him. He returned to her. “I don’t love her.”
She studied him with narrowed eyes. “But you want her.”
“And you’ve hit on Cain in the past.” His hands gripped her forearms through the silk, his thumbs stroking rhythmically. “Do I hold that against you?”
Her hands went to his waist and he released her, backing up. He pulled on his coat and waistcoat, then slipped on his shoes. “Let’s not make this more complicated than it has to be.”
“It could be wonderfully simple,” Sara said. “We could work together.”
Reed paused in the act of buttoning his vest. Why would she offer help now when she wouldn’t before? “Doing what?”
“Getting Cain away from Raguel.” Her arms crossed. “It would leave the field open for you.”
Cain. Of course. Reed’s jaw clenched. Raguel would no longer have such a heavy advantage over Sara without him.
“I’ll think about it,” he said, then he shifted to Takeo.
Eve splashed water on her face, then leaned into the counter. Her eyes stayed fixed on her own reflection. It was safer than looking through the open bathroom door at Alec in the shower. They’d received a discount on the room because they didn’t need a bathtub. She hadn’t considered that they might get a glass-enclosed shower stall.
“Angel?”
Her fingers dug into the counter. “Yeah?”
“Can you hand me a washcloth?”
She looked at the towel rack on the wall next her. Pulling a rolled washcloth free, she took a deep breath and entered the bathroom. Alec stood with arms akimbo and feet planted slightly apart. He faced her head-on, his mouth curved in a wicked smile. Surrounded by steam and dripping with water, he was the embodiment of her hottest sexual fantasies. Ripples of lust flowed over her skin, building with every passing second.
“You’re rotten,” she scolded, tossing the washcloth over the glass.
He caught it with a wink. “Care to join me?”
“I showered this morning.” She set one hand on a cocked hip. “Besides, we’ve yet to have sex that didn’t last several hours. We don’t have that kind of time.”
“A quickie?”
“I’m marked, too, if you’ve forgotten.” Eve pulled open the glass door. She touched him reverently, brushing her fingertips over one dark nipple. His sharp inhalation made her smile. “I could probably ride you for days and call it a quickie.”
Alec caught her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I’ll take a rain check.”
Revved up with nowhere to go, Eve returned to the bedroom. She busied herself with cleaning up the second bed, returning their convenience store purchases to the bag. That took about half a minute. Then she sank onto the mattress and gazed about the room.
“A stakeout.” She reached for the nightstand drawer. As was to be expected, a Bible waited there. Eve pulled it out with a resigned sigh. Part of her had always believed it was fiction, or at least highly fictionalized. More like fables than absolute truths. But it was hard to deny the whole of it, when part of it was naked in the shower.
Eve reached to close the drawer. She paused at the sight of the postcards inside. They were generic cards for the motel, worn from frequent handling and boasting a photo taken many years back, if the cars in the picture were any indication. But it wasn’t the image that arrested her, it was the card itself.
Alec came out of the bathroom whistling. He wore one towel low around his hips and used another to scrub at his hair.
“Hey.” She caught his gaze. “We never figured out what was up with that invitation I received for the tengu building.”
His arms lowered.
“You didn’t tell Gadara about it either,” she noted.
“I’m not used to sharing every little detail with someone.”
“Are you sure it’s not because you don’t fully trust him?”
“I’m sure.”
Her nose wrinkled. “Okay, so I’m playing devil’s advocate here—”
“Sammael doesn’t need any help.” Alec tossed one towel on the bed, then pushed the one around his waist to the floor.
Eve glanced at the window, wondering if the sheers covering the glass really offered any privacy, or if some lucky gal was getting an eyeful. During the day they were opaque, but it was the other side of dusk now and their lights were on.
“What if Gadara orchestrated the tengu thing?” she suggested.
“Why?” He tugged on a pair of boxer briefs. She took in the view with a smile. David Beckham would be out of an endorsement deal with Armani if the advertising team saw Alec in his skivvies.
“As an excuse to keep me out of training?”
“Why would he deliberately orchestrate things to keep you untrained? There’s no benefit to anyone.”
“You have a better idea?”
“Maybe a masked Infernal did it.”
“Why?” she tossed back at him. “Kind of stupid to draw attention to themselves, don’t you think?”
“Unless they wanted you out of the picture before you Changed. Dead men tell no tales.”
“Are you telling me that people in Heaven don’t spill their guts?”
“You’re agnostic, angel. Are you sure that’s where you would go?”
Eve blinked at him. “Yikes.”
He held both hands up in a defensive gesture. “Just sayin’. An Infernal would think similarly.”
“The card was mailed the day before I was marked. That’s cutting it close, don’t you think? Why use the postal service? Wouldn’t it have been safer to slip it under my door or something?”
Alec stepped into his jeans. “Good point.”
“Okay, let’s run with your idea. I’m harmless, so they weren’t after me per se; they wanted to get to you. How did they know I was going to be marked? How did they know God had agreed to allow you to mentor me? No matter what—whether it was a masked Infernal or Gadara—it would have to be an inside job.”
“Or a mystery.” He straightened. The hair on his chest and abs was still damp. Eve fought the urge to lick him like a Popsicle. “Don’t forget: Marks are trying to save their souls.”
Eve smiled. “I didn’t say a Mark did it. But you’re thinking it’s a possibility.”
“Did I say that?”
“I’m learning to read between the lines with you. Maybe the situation is something like the Infernals working for Gadara? Satan has to have something to offer, right? And Marks are made up of sinners, not the pillars of society.”
“I’m following, but where is this leading?” Alec pulled his shirt over his head.
“We’re just speculating.”
“I’m not a speculative thinker. Give me facts and proof.”
“I’m a creative thinker. I like to explore all the possibilities.”
“Okay, then.” His arms crossed. “How about the possibility that God sent you to that church for a reason? And maybe that reason was to discover that Infernals were masking themselves. After all, you went there before the invitation ever had a chance to be put into play.”
Her nose wrinkled. “What kind of facts are involved in that theory?”
“The spiritual kind.”
Alec sat on the bed and reached for his socks. He shifted, pulling the wet towel out from under his ass and tossing it into the corner under the sink.
“Don’t you know you’re not supposed to put wet towels on the bed?” she asked wryly. Her gaze lowered. “Or the floor?”
“It’s a guy thing.”
“I don’t think so. It’s an Alec thing.”
His dark eyes sparkled with laughter. “You’ve never had a boyfriend leave his towels lying around?”
“No.”
“Bullshit.”
She laughed. “I’m serious.”
“You have obviously never lived with a man.”
“With parents like mine? Are you kidding?” Eve shook her head. “My dad is the quiet type, but he has old-fashioned values. And my mom is a fan of Dr. Laura. Shacking up before marriage is a big no-no in my family.”
Smiling, he stood and held out a hand to help her up. She accepted, then turned to put the Bible in the bag with their purchases. She was taking it with her to pass the time and the last thing she needed was for a motel employee to think she was stealing it.
Alec closed the blackout curtains and went to the door. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“What do you mean they are gone?” Raguel barked, glaring across his desk at Ms. Bowes.
“I’m s-sorry.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I said that incorrectly, sir. They ditched the Jeep at a strip mall. A nearby rental car agency recognized their photos, so we know they aren’t on foot.”
“Of course they are not on foot! They went to Upland. They just wanted privacy while getting there.” Which infuriated Raguel to no end. They could not be allowed to become a self-contained unit. “Abel knows where they are.”
“He hasn’t checked in since the herald.”
Raguel sent an order through the celestial lines of communication that existed between the archangels and the mal’akhs beneath them. He was met with silence. “Get him on his cell phone.”
“I’ve tried. It goes directly to voicemail.”
Raguel stood and stepped out from behind his desk. The secretary backed up warily.
He told himself the three—Cain, Abel, and Eve—couldn’t be working together. There was too much enmity between the two brothers. But what would explain how they all fell off the radar at the same time? What could they be thinking . . . planning? He couldn’t afford to lose control of their trinity. He needed them to achieve his aims.
For the space of several heartbeats, Raguel considered using his gifts to find them. But in the end, he resisted the prod of impatience. He had enough transgressions to pay for and there were other ways to gather the information he needed. Although Abel was presently ignoring him—an aberrance of behavior that increased Raguel’s alarm—the other handlers would not.
“I will send Mariel after Abel,” he said, running a hand over his short, coarse hair. He had sprinkled it with gray about five years past, to simulate mortal aging.
“Yes, sir.”
Ms. Bowes left the room in a rush, and Raguel moved to the window. He took in the view of the Las Vegas Strip below. Sin City. A hotbed of iniquity. And he was trapped here in this world, living a life that wasn’t his, working to save the souls of man because God held them in such esteem. They were so small and weak, yet He adored them and considered them His greatest creation. Because of them, He waged a hidden war against the Fallen One, a conflict so deep beneath mortal consciousness that no ripples marred the glassy surface. The Lord would never bring the matter to a head. Devotion was more powerful when it came from faith and not from absolute proof.
So Raguel helped the situation along on his own. Step by step. Carefully planning and maneuvering. The sooner the arrival of Armageddon, the better. He was certain the Lord would appreciate the tapestry, once it was fully threaded. It was, after all, an incredibly clever scheme.
Cain and Abel had set the chain of events in motion by fighting to the death over a woman. It was only fitting that they should bring about the end of days in the same fashion.
The moon was hidden by the canopy of tree leaves above him, but Reed’s enhanced sight had no trouble seeing in the darkness. He moved through the Kentucky forest like a wraith, swift and silent.
His veins still throbbed from the force of Takeo’s herald, sent hours ago. Takeo meant “warrior” in Japanese, a fitting moniker. He had been a perfect Mark, his training as a yakuza assassin had stood him in good stead. Reed missed him already and knew he would miss him for years to come. None of the other Marks on his team had been as skilled in killing tommyknockers—malevolent faeries with a fondness for mines. Which was why Reed was so shocked by his death. The assignment he had given Takeo should have been a simple one: vanquish a troublesome tommyknocker.
A twig snapped to his right and Reed paused. The forest was deathly quiet aside from that one noise, a sure sign that nature had been seriously disturbed.
“Abel,” a familiar female voice greeted.
“Mariel. What are you doing here?”
The mal’akh appeared from behind a nearby tree. Although the night robbed the color from everything, he knew her hair was red and her eyes green. She wore a floral dress, jean jacket, and cowboy boots, as well as an oppressive air of melancholy.
“Raguel sent me after you, most likely as punishment for losing two Marks today.”
“I’m sorry.”
“As am I.” She pivoted and gestured to the right. “This way.”
Reed followed her to the edge of a clearing. She paused there and he drew abreast of her. A chill swept down his spine that had nothing to do with the temperature.
The clearing was not a natural feature. De cades-old trees had been felled and pressed into the ground, deep enough to create a flat surface. The night breeze blew, whistling eerily through the limbs and boughs, fluttering through tissue that clung to stems and errant grass. Tissue bearing the colorful markings of irezumi—“hand-poked” Japanese tattoos.
“Dear God,” he breathed, recoiling. “Is that skin?”
Blinking, Reed engaged the nictitating membranes that enhanced his night vision. The silver and black of the moonlit vista changed into living color.
Blood red. Everywhere. On every leaf and blade, on every inch of bark, all the way to the sky. As if Takeo had exploded from the inside out, splattering his body from the earth to the heavens.
“What happened h-here?” He cleared his throat. “What did this?”
As if in answer, an owl cooed its sorrow. A wolf howled in torment and was quickly joined by several of its pack. As the forest denizens sobbed their tales of the night’s events, a cacophony of grief rose to the heavens. It hammered at Reed from all sides and nearly brought him to his knees.
Mariel’s hand reached for his. She squeezed gently. “I don’t know.”
The din ceased as quickly as it had begun. A weighted sense of expectation replaced the mourning. They wanted to know who would save them from the fate they’d witnessed that night. They listened avidly, unmoving and barely breathing.
“One of my charges and her mentor were killed this way today,” she said. “I felt the herald and I went to them immediately. Immediately. But it was already past the time when I could have done anything to help them. The mentor was already dead. It was as if they waited too long to call me—”
“Or the Infernal struck too harshly and quickly.”
She pivoted to face him. “The same happened to you.”
He nodded. Exhaling a shaky breath he surveyed the scene again. There was nothing but gore left of Takeo. “Did you see what did this?”
“Barely.” Her green eyes were wide, haunted, and shining with tears. “It was a monstrous beast; easily several feet in height. Flesh, not fur. Massive shoulders and thighs. It crawled inside my Mark . . . disappeared in her. She c-could not c-contain it.”
“Mariel—”
“The slaying happened so fast. I barely saw it, didn’t even smell it. I was so numb . . .” She gave a shaky exhalation. “I stared Sammael in the eyes once and I wasn’t as scared.”
No scent.
Reed closed his eyes and reached out to his charges, one by one. They touched him briefly, consecutively, assuring him of their safety. All save one.
Eve, he called.
Like the fluttering of a moth’s wings, he felt her. Barely there, too green and untrained, too distant from her own soul to know how to reach out with it. What he felt most keenly was the silence where Takeo used to be. It was deafening.
“I need to make my report,” he said softly.
Mariel nodded. “I’ll wait for you.”
“I have a favor to ask of you instead.” Reed leaned closer and lowered his voice. “I need you to go to California . . .”
“Can I get out and stretch?” Eve asked.
Alec looked away from the masonry. He saw the dashboard clock and winced. Almost midnight. As usually happened during a hunt, he’d lost track of time.
Despite the lateness of the hour, the masonry yard was far from quiet. Trucks moved in and out. The perimeter was surrounded by a stonework fence topped with wrought iron. Through the bars, Alec watched bags of what appeared to be cement off-loaded, while various stonework pieces—fountains, statues, and benches—were loaded onto flatbeds and driven away.
Aside from the odd time, there didn’t appear to be anything suspicious on the surface. But then again, when it came to Infernals, it was what you didn’t see that was the most dangerous. There was also the added difficulty of searching through a facility that was never asleep.
“You must be bored out of your mind,” he murmured.
Eve’s smile was sheepish. “I’m sorry. I feel like I should be doing something or helping you in some way.”
“Just having you here is enough.” He reached out to her, catching her hand and lifting it to his lips.
Her fingers tightened on his. “I brought reading material, but I didn’t think about the fact that there wouldn’t be any light.”
“Oh?” Her smile widened.
Alec caressed her cheek with his fingertips. “Close your eyes.”
She followed his instructions. She waited with an air of expectation that reminded him of their first night together. He’d blindfolded her for a time, teasing her with feather-light touches and whisper-soft kisses until she quivered all over.
As he had back then, Alec drew out the moment, making her wait until she trembled in her seat, allowing the tension to build until it nearly steamed the windows.
“Alec?” she queried breathlessly.
Unable to resist, Alec closed the space between their two seats and pressed his lips to hers. A soft gasp of surprise escaped her and he took the invitation to deepen the contact. Tilting his head, he fitted his mouth to hers. Their breaths became one, mingling.
Eve surged into him with a soft sound of need, her fingers pushing into his hair and holding him close. She gave as good as she got, her lips slanting across his, her tongue stroking deep and rhythmically until his cock ached with the need to pull her over his lap and slip inside her. The mark on his arm began to burn.
Trouble was coming.
He tore his mouth away. “Do your eyelids feel heavy?”
“You have no idea,” she husked.
“Roll your eyes behind your lids.”
“They’re rolled back in my head.” She nibbled along his jaw line. “My toes are curled, too.”
A laugh escaped him. “Open your eyes slowly.”
He pulled back enough to watch her. She blinked, then her head turned back and forth. “Holy strawberries, Batman.” Her tone was awed. “I can see in the dark.”
“Part of the Change you went through adjusted the nictitating membrane in your eyes. Rather than being useless, they now enable you to hunt with greater precision.”
“This is really freaking cool,” she said, surveying the world around her.
In the periphery of Alec’s vision, a light went out.
“Perfect timing, too,” she murmured.
His head turned to Gehenna Masonry and found that the exterior lights had been turned off. He glanced at the clock. Midnight.
“Hey.” Eve’s voice had lowered. “See that guy padlocking the front gate? Isn’t that your assignment? That kid we followed from the 7-Eleven?”
Alec didn’t have to confirm the identification visually. The throbbing of his mark and the subsequent pumping of adrenaline through his system told him everything he needed to know. “Yes, that’s him.”
The young man finished his task, then set off walking down the street with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket—a jacket that bore the Gehenna Masonry logo of a gargoyle on the back.
“He works there,” Eve noted.
“Yep.”
“There is no such thing as coincidence.”
“Right.”
“So now what? Do you want to go after him?”
“Not yet.”
“Why not?”
He stroked the backs of her fingers. “Because he’s a wolf. Killing wolves is a messy business. It has to be done in a way that doesn’t incite the wrath of his pack. Survival of the fittest is something they understand and respect. A silver-coated bullet to the back of the head isn’t.”
“You don’t have a gun. You’re playing it safe because of me.”
Alec didn’t deny the accusation, because it was true. Eve was going through a trial by fire and he saw no benefit in making it worse. She didn’t need any more death today. What she needed was a victory, however small.
“One thing at a time,” he said instead. “Let’s deal with the masonry first. Once we’re certain the yard is cleared, we can hop the fence and take a look around.”
“Breaking and entering?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Great.” Her tone was dry and resigned.
Alec reached over and patted her thigh. “This is just a reconnaissance mission, angel. We get in, look around, and get out. No problem.”
“Things haven’t worked out that well for me so far.”
“The only constant is change,” he said, tossing her a reassuring smile. “The tide will turn eventually.”
A frown marred the space between her brows and her head cocked to the side as if she was considering something. “The tide, huh?”
She bent over and dug into the bag between her feet. “I wish I’d picked up bottled water instead of some of this other crap I snagged.”
“You must be hungry, too.”
“Ravenous.” Eve straightened with a bag of beef jerky in one hand and something else that she stuck in the pocket of her pants.
“After this, I’ll take you to Denny’s.”
She winked at him. “You big spender, you.”
Alec laughed and exited the car. The masonry was dark and quiet. Rounding the front end of the Focus, he opened the passenger door for Eve and stole a kiss the moment she straightened.
“What was that for?” she asked, eyes bright in the moonlight.
“For being so good about all of this.” He didn’t explain that he felt the weight of guilt heavily. If he hadn’t intervened and requested to mentor her, she might have been assigned a nonfield position. In fact, she most likely would have been, considering she wasn’t prone to violent acts. It was his determination to protect her that had put her in danger to begin with.
“Hold that thought.” Her nose wrinkled. “I might royally screw things up in a minute.”
He shut the door and caught her elbow. “Come on. Let’s prove you wrong.”
They walked up the road some distance, then crossed the street to the side the masonry was on. The area was industrial and therefore quiet as a cemetery at night. They passed a tow yard guarded by two Dobermans. The canines whimpered softly from a seated position, but made no other noise.
“Some guard dogs,” Eve scoffed.
We’re very good.
She stumbled. Alec helped her regain her footing. Wide-eyed, she stared at the animals.
“Yes,” Alec confirmed. “You heard right.”
“They talked.”
I talked. The bigger dog’s head tilted. My mate is offended by your insult.
Eve blinked, apparently too stunned to say anything. Then she found her voice, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
You should train her, Cain.
“I’m trying,” Alec replied. “Have you seen anything suspicious going on at the masonry up the road?”
No. They don’t come down this way, and we can’t see past the auto body shop from here.
“Okay. Thanks.”
Alec urged Eve to keep walking.
“Be careful,” she said to the dogs, thinking of the motel clerk’s gossip.
You, too.
She faced forward, looking more than a little bit stunned. “Okay . . . I’m Dr. Doolittle.”
“You’re more animal than human now,” he explained.
They reached the far edge of the masonry property. Looking through the bars, Alec studied the building and the surrounding displays and empty driveways. “I’ll hop over first.”
“Go for it.”
“See you on the flip side,” he said. Then he climbed over.
Eve tried not to be creeped out by the masonry yard, but it was difficult. She had warned Alec that she was a big chicken, but he didn’t seem to believe her. Or perhaps he forgot she told him that. Either way, he was progressing through the outside displays with ease and she was jumping out of her skin at every turn.
So many of the marble statues were classical reproductions with their eyes turned heavenward and torment on their alabaster features. Gargoyles with leering maws played hide-and-seek among benches and bubbling fountains. The sound of water chilled her blood and exacerbated her feeling of dread. She was a Pisces and she was now afraid of water. Her hand went into her jeans pocket.
Her eyes never left Alec. Using hand signals, he directed her movements, telling her when to proceed and when to halt, when to crouch and when to stand still. There were cameras stationed at each fence corner and on the corners of the buildings, too. Alec knew just how to avoid them, and Eve found his expertise both impressive and reassuring.
They reached a door to the main building, which housed a showroom. He paused a moment, looking at the security system keypad. Then he signaled for her to keep going. They moved to a larger building in the back, one whose walls were made up of cement blocks. She wanted to ask why they’d skipped the other, but didn’t dare make a sound.
Constrained to the shadows, Alec took several long minutes to maneuver the distance from the main showroom building to the workspace in the rear. When they finally reached their destination, Eve noted that there was no security pad on the back building and the doorknob had no slot for a key. Alec opened the door and sniffed the air inside, then he pulled her in.
“Why did we come here?” she asked.
“Gut feeling.”
“Is that like a cramp? I’ve got one of those. I think it’s fear.”
Eve took in the gigantic room in a sweeping glance. Even with her super sight, the ceiling vaulted so high above them that it was nestled in shadow. Dominating the space was a massive kiln with rollered tracks leading into and out of it. It was presently cold. A pallet truck waited like a silent sentinel. Alec headed toward it. He moved fluidly, skirting around protruding pipes and hoses from the kiln. Eve attempted to follow suit and hit the floor in a face plant instead.
“You okay?” Alec asked dryly, standing over her with hand extended.
“Bruised my ego, that’s all.”
She accepted his help to gain her footing, then dusted herself off while looking for whatever had tripped her up. “Who the hell leaves bags of cement on the floor?” she groused.
Alec’s head tilted to line up his sight with the lettering on the bag exterior. “The manufacturer’s label says it’s crushed limestone.”
“Whatever. Shouldn’t this be somewhere besides underfoot?”
Crouching, Alec scooped up some of the contents that had escaped from the hole she’d created with her boot tip. She sank back down and he held his hand out to her. The limestone hit her nose wrong. It was sickly sweet, but with underlying musky notes.
“It stinks,” she said.
“It’s bone meal.”
“Smells weird.”
“That’s because it’s part canine and part Mark.”
Eve froze. “What?”
Alec punched through the thick brown paper exterior of a second bag lying nearby and she gagged from the resulting odor. He looked at her.
“Sorry,” she muttered. Her body may not be able to vomit anymore, but that didn’t stop her mind from sending the signal to wretch.
His hand came out covered in dark powder. “Blood meal.”
“My mom uses that stuff for gardening. I didn’t know they had any other uses.”
“I don’t think they do.” He lifted his fingers closer to his nose. “Again, part animal and part Mark.”
“How are they getting the blood and bone of Marks?”
“You don’t want to know.”
She swallowed hard. “Is that how they’re masking the Infernals?”
“That’s my guess.”
“Why is this just lying around? Shouldn’t they be guarding this stuff? It’s just dumped here like—”
“Like they bailed in a hurry?” He stood and surveyed their surroundings. “If we scared them off, they know we’re here.”
Frantic scratching broke the silence. Eve leaped a good foot into the air. “Jesus! Oww—” Her hand covered the burning mark on her arm.
They both looked down the length of the massive space. In the far right corner two protruding walls met to create a separate room. From behind the door, the scraping grew more frenzied.
“The animal mutilations,” Eve whispered.
“Right.”
“We have to get them out of there.”
“Yes.” Alec dusted off his hands.
They hurried to the door. Grabbing the levered handle, Alec pulled, but the portal didn’t budge. Whining could now be heard clearly from inside.
Eve set her hands over his and tugged with him. The door gave way with explosive violence, sending them to their backs on the floor. Nothing ran out in eagerness for freedom.
Alec leaped to his feet, then pulled her to hers, pushing her behind him.
“I’ve suddenly got a bad feeling about why there’s no lock on the door,” Eve muttered.
“You should.”
Before she fully registered the source of the voice behind her, Eve was lifted and tossed like a rag doll against the kiln. She fell to the floor in an agonized pile. The lights inside the small room blazed to life, revealing a space crawling with tengu.
“Fuck!” Alec said, just before they yanked him inside and slammed the door shut.
Eve gained her hands and knees, lurching forward to help him. She was grabbed by the scruff of her neck and hauled upward. She blinked, finding herself staring into the face of the young wolf.
He didn’t smell. He bore no designs. That was all Eve could register before he drew his fist back and knocked her out.