Page 33 of Death Wish

That was the second time I had heard that word. Halfling. First by Andre and now Wyatt. And the way Cole’s lip curled up in disgust each time he heard it made me think it wasn’t just some typical nickname.

More like an insult.

“I told you not to doubt my skills,” he grumbled.

Wyatt ignored him. “Did you kill the bastard?”

“Er—”

There was the glower again. “Some skill.”

“Things got…” Cole paused, choosing his next word while glancing over at me. “Complicated.”

He could say that again.

“It’s a good thing I didn’t pay you to kill him,” Wyatt said. “It would have been a waste of money.”

“If you had, then you bet he would have been dead. Money is a great motivator.”

Wyatt huffed in disbelief.

“Here’s the thing. I ran into Xaver last night. Without the solstice.”

Wyatt’s brows shot up, and before Cole could utter another word, he pushed himself off the chair and walked over to one of his overloaded shelves behind the desk. After skimming the spines of the old books, he chose one and pulled it out. Opening to a random page, he grumbled something as he read it over.

Cole kept talking. “He possessed a woman’s boyfriend over in downtown Fairport. A sorcerer. And was after the girl—a Medium.”

The sudden snap of Wyatt closing the book made me jump. He cursed, tossed it onto his cluttered desk, and moved to another pile of leather-bounds by the armchair.

Angel’s eyes stayed locked on me, and she whimpered softly.

As Wyatt flipped through another book, he muttered, “A Medium would be a prime target for a victim.”

Victim. Worry twisted in my gut. It only solidified how much trouble Kay really was in.

He continued, “Depending on how strong this Medium’s gift is. But they are not only rare, they’re the middleman, so to speak, between our world and theirs. The living and the dead. It makes sense Xaver would want her. She can most likely survive long enough to produce his offspring.”

I winced. The fact that the first thing he went to was Kay being pregnant with a demonic baby made me want to throw up. Wyatt and Cole knew more about demons than I did, and if they both were thinking the same thing, then odds weren’t looking in Kay’s favor.

“Is there a way to confirm it?” I asked, but then realized only Cole would be able to hear me. Oh, and Angel, whose head perked up at the sound of my voice.

Cole repeated my question to Wyatt.

He picked up several more books and flipped through their contents. Finally, his finger stopped midway down a page, and he nodded in satisfaction. “Well, yes and no.”

“What the heck does that mean?” I said, my nervousness getting the better of me.

“Explain,” Cole told him.

“A demonic pregnancy can be confirmed by the sudden death of the mother or the evidence of a speedy gestational period.”

“Speedy what? What the hell does that mean?”

Cole threw me a look, and I clamped my mouth shut.

“So, there’s no way to tell for sure without waiting,” Cole added.

“Unfortunately. But by then, it could be too late. Has she shown any signs of a demonic pregnancy? High temperature? Fainting spells? Weakness? Expanding stomach?”

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