Page 22 of Death Match

Sean stepped to the side so he was no longer in the literal middle of our awkward conversation. “Yeah, Jade. Cole got here earlier. I was showing him the new setup I have.”

It would have been nice if he had told me that. But I shrugged, pretending not to care.

“So, what did you have to tell me?” Cole asked.

Searching his face, I found his blue eyes were still lined in red, revealing he hadn’t been successful in his attempts to cure his demon side during our time apart. I only wondered how much more of his firepower he’d used since the last time I’d seen him—how close he was to becoming a full Halfling creature. He probably needed my information now more than ever.

“I found out who your father is.” I said it flatly, and not like my words held the key to everything Cole wanted.

As expected, his eyes flashed with that obsessive look he always got when talking about curing himself from his inner demon.

“What?” he asked in a rush. He closed the space between us in one giant step. “Who is it? Who?”

What a prime opportunity to play with him. Really make him suffer.

Oh, it was too tempting.

“Jade,” he bit out through a clenched jaw.

I sighed. I just couldn’t do that to him. “Amon,” I said. “An original sin demon.”

“Original sin demon?” Sean chimed in. “Like the seven deadly sins?”

I nodded. “The most powerful and deadly demons out there. The first ones to even exist.”

Sean slapped his forehead and blew out a breath. “Damn. Pop knew a lot of shit, but apparently there’s still a lot more he didn’t know.”

When I glanced back at Cole, he was gnashing his teeth together, thinking.

“Amon is the demon of Pride,” I went on, trying to emphasize the danger he was in for. “He’s not going to be easy to catch.”

“Who told you this information? Are you sure it’s true? I don’t have time for hunches or—”

“I have an inside source,” I told him.

“I believe it,” Sean said. “Pride as your father, that is.”

“I said the same thing when I found out, actually,” I said.

Cole growled. “Not funny.”

“Maybe Wrath would have been more accurate,” Sean replied with a short laugh.

“Screw you.”

Sean held his hands up in surrender. “You’re just proving my point, you know.”

Making my tone sterner, I waved a pointed finger between them. “Whatever you do, don’t get yourself or Sean killed. If I see either of you on the other side, I’m going to be pissed. Got it?”

As my gaze flashed between them and I waited for an answer, the air in the middle of the room pulsed. Energy popped, and every hair on my arms stood on end. In the next second, an explosion of white light erupted between us, filling the trailer with brightness and causing me to leap backward.

When the light extinguished, I was staring into the face of a very disappointed yet relieved Guardian angel.

And that only meant one thing. I was in trouble. Caught red-handed.

“Uh…” I stood there, dumbfounded, unsure of what to even say.

Eli sighed, exasperated. “Jade, I told you I’m sorry, and I let you have your space, but that doesn’t mean you can go running off to the living world…”

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