Page 27 of Semi-Reckless

“SpongeBob,” Lucas said. “The voice of Mr. Krabs.”

“No fucking way,” Benny grumbled. “Ain’t no way The Kurgan and Mr. Krabs are the same guy.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m checking IMDB.”

Hunter, ever the adult in the room, sighed and said, “Anyway, Kurgans are fireproof, as you already learned. They can travel through dimensions and have some limited teleportation abilities. As far as I can tell, they are a type of succubus.”

“What’s it feed on?” Gabriel asked. “Sex or energy?”

“We don’t know for sure,” Hunter said. “But there are some reports that suggest it’s looking for power. That it travels through dimensions, searching for it. So, maybe that’s how it feeds. And apparently, in its travels through this dimension, it hadn’t found any power of interest. Until now.”

All eyes turned to Haven.

She sat up straighter in her chair. “Why would it want my power? I have the most passive power in this room.” She gestured to Hunter. “You have more power than anyone here.”

“You had a passive power,” Hunter reminded her. “That changed when you encountered this demon for whatever reason. And I’m dead, so it might not even sense my power. It might need living, breathing power. The dhampyres are genetically close enough to demons that maybe the Kurgan doesn’t want anything to do with them, either.”

“Well,” she sputtered. “What about Lane? She’s super powerful. Why wouldn’t it want her?”

“I’m guessing there aren’t many demons who’d want anything to do with angelic powers,” Gabriel muttered.

“Good guess,” Hunter deadpanned.

Riddick gave her a gentle look. “Honey, I don’t think it matters why the demon didn’t choose someone else. He chose you. Now we have to deal with that, yeah?”

She looked so lost for a moment that it broke Roan’s heart. He couldn’t stop himself. He reached out under the table and laid his hand on her thigh, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Her entire body tensed for a second, then she relaxed and gave him an almost imperceptible nod. Comfort offered, comfort accepted. After being separated from her for so long, it felt good.

It felt right.

He just wished they weren’t coming together under these circumstances.

Circumstances he’d caused.

“You’re right,” she said to her father. “I get it.”

“Can we summon it?” Seven asked. “Like we did the angels?”

Hunter shrugged. “If we can, I haven’t figured out how. And I already asked Lucien. The angels don’t know anything about this particular demon, either. I’ll keep researching, though.”

Nikolai crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, we know what it wants. We probably don’t need to summon it. But knowing how to trap it would probably be a good.”

“I know you’re not suggesting we use my daughter as bait,” Riddick said, giving Nikolai a look that would’ve made a lesser man cry.

Nikolai merely shrugged.

Quinn piped in with, “It’s not like we wouldn’t all be there to protect her.”

“Well, that’s the tricky part, isn’t it?” Roan grumbled. “It’s not like I didn’t try. This thing is fireproof and can melt anything it touches. So, hand-to-hand fighting is out. Knives, crossbows, and swords are out. It may be susceptible to Lane and Lucien’s angelic firepower, but there’s no guarantee. The only thing I’ve seen so far that can at least slow it down is Haven’s new power.”

Haven grimaced. “The new power I don’t know how to access or control.”

“That’s the one,” Roan agreed quietly.

Harper, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole meeting, held her hand up. “I’ve heard enough. This is a giant clusterfuck, and the only way we’re going to be able to choke it all down is by taking tiny bites. So, here’s what we’re going to do. Hunter, could you please reach out to all your contacts and see if any of them know more about this Kurgan, especially if he has any vulnerabilities we should know about.”

He nodded. “I can do that.”

“Great. Thank you. Seven, question the demons in the prison wing and see if any of them know anything that could be helpful.”

She cracked her knuckles, which made Roan shift uncomfortably in his chair. As someone who had been on the other end of Seven’s interrogation methods, he almost felt sorry for the imprisoned demons. “I’m on it,” she said.

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