Page 63 of Stone Cold Touch

“That cocoon is from a Lilin being birthed.”

When those words left his mouth, the blood drained from Gerald’s face and he looked faint. “The Lilin?”

“You know of the Lilin?” I asked, jumping on that. “Any specifics?”

He nodded eagerly. “Some of the covens, the more extreme ones—not ours, but others—believed that Lilith got the crappy end of the deal. That she is the mother of us all.”

I arched a brow at that.

“We don’t worship Lilith—not us, but...” He glanced back through the doorway leading to the shower stalls. “A Lilin here?”

“We believe so. For obvious reasons, we’d like to find it.” Roth’s eyes narrowed. “But what, Gerald? You were going to say something else.”

He swallowed, suddenly nervous. “There is a coven near Bethesda that worships Lilith. If anyone knows of a Lilin...”

“Or if a Lilin has sought refuge...” My heart jumped with excitement. “It’d go to them, because maybe they’d sympathize with it.”

Gerald started to sweat. “But you don’t understand. They aren’t like me or like my coven.”

I glanced at Roth and he smiled, flashing a row of white teeth. “In other words, they’re the wicked witches of the west.”

“Yes, and I know what you’re thinking—about going to them. I wouldn’t advise it. They’d welcomehim.” He nodded at Roth. “But you? You’re part Warden. I can tell. They’d skin you alive.”

I started to tell him that I was also Lilith’s daughter, so they should totally love and hug me, but Roth shot me a look of warning. “How would we find this coven?”

He inhaled deeply. “They have a club near the Row Cinema. You’ll know which one by the symbol.” Gerald pointed at the mark his sleeve now concealed. “Who you need to speak to—their crone—will be there during the next full moon. And don’t even think about bringing a Warden in with you guys. She’ll be bad enough.”

Roth’s lips curled up in a delicious smirk as he turned golden, dancing eyes on me. “That’s perfect.”

Grrreat.

“But back to those things in the lockers?” All serious-faced again, Roth pinned Gerald with a hard look. “They’re Nightcrawlers in metamorphosis, and I hate to think how many of them might be ripe.”

My stomach dropped as horror punched straight through my stomach. Nightcrawlers, like Hellions and Rack demons, were demonic creatures that were created in Hell and forbidden to be topside. Besides the obvious fact they didn’t look human by a long shot, they were extraordinarily dangerous. Like Hellions, they were strong and ferocious, but even worse was the venom they carried in their saliva, which could paralyze their victims.

So that the Nightcrawler could feed on them while alive. That’s what they did down below, torturing their prey for an eternity in Hell.

And they weren’t biters like Poser demons were. They had this impressive projectile-spitting thing going on, like those creepy little dinosaurs in theJurassic Parkmovies. If their saliva got on your skin, stuff went downhill fast.

Gerald glanced over his shoulder. “I didn’t know. None of us knew what these things were.”

“Obviously,” Roth muttered. “We need to seal this area off and—”

A loud crash startled us. Spinning around, my breath caught as I sought out the source of the noise. The sound had echoed, making it difficult to determine where it was coming from.

“Could anyone else be down here?” I asked, already fearing the answer.

“No.” Gerald wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. “No one comes down here. I only did by accident when I discovered this.”

Roth frowned at the sound of metal creaking, atick-tackingof old hinges. A shudder worked its way through me. There was a beat of silence, and then the sound of heavy, even footfalls.

“You got any superspecial witch powers we should be aware of?” Roth asked.

Gerald shook his head. “I’m just good with charms and spells—like love and fortune stuff.”

Love spells? That perked my interest for some weird reason, but now really wasn’t the time to investigate that further. The footsteps drew closer, tracking down the other row of lockers, and Roth dropped his chin. “Then you better get your ass out of here.”

I took a step back, avoiding the slime on the floor. His eyes glowed a fiery amber as they met mine. “And you need to leave, too.”

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