Page 81 of Infernal

“That’s a lot of weapons,” noted Carly, her gaze filled with worry as she watched me arm myself with weapon after weapon.

“I’m not taking any chances,” I said as I slid in the last baton and then zipped my schoolbag shut. “We’re already outnumbered, and if they’re as strong as they’re magic is, it’s not going to be an easy fight.”

Carly swallowed noisily. “Is Ben going with you guys?”

“Yeah,” he answered, but I quickly shut him down.

“That’s not happening, Ben.”

“You can’t stop me, Jem. Daughter of Hades or not, he’s my best friend.”

“Exactly why I need you here. If something goes wrong and we don’t make it out of there, you’re the only one left.”

“Hey! What am I, chopped liver?” snapped Caleb, obviously insulted that I’d passed right over him.

I looked at him skeptically. It was no secret that Trace and Caleb had fallen out long ago for reasons that happened to be sitting in the middle of the living room, lighting up candles and incense.

“Don’t look at me like that, Blackburn. We’ve had our problems, but I still give a shit about the guy.”

“Well, when you put it that way…” I pursed my lips.

“You know what I mean.”

Seeing signs of sincerity in his eyes, I nodded. But it still didn’t change anything. “Either way, I need you guys here. You’re his last hope if me and Dominic fail.”

“Of course, that won’t be happening,” said Dominic confidently. “I’ve gone up against far worse than theWitches of Eastwick.I’m hardly worried.”

“The witches of who?” asked Caleb, confused.

“Dude. Rent a movie once in a while,” scowled Ben.

“The first rule of war is to never underestimate your opponent, Dominic.” I shot him a pointed look across the room.

“Is that right, angel?”

“They’re strong, and they’resisters. They’re not going to make this easy on us, especially if we’re planning on leaving the house with one of their own.” I walked over to the wet bar and poured myself a drink. My nerves were already frazzled, and I needed something to calm myself down. I threw the glass back and then winced as it burned its way down. “And that’s if the spell even works, which, let’s face it, we have no guarantees of.”

A strange smile settled across Dominic’s face, though I had no idea what it was for. As beautiful and distracting as it was, I forced my eyes to look away.

“How much longer setting up?” I asked Nikki as she wiped her hands on the top of her jeans.

“I’m just about done.” Her eyes flicked up to mine. “I don’t know how long the spell is going to last once we do it. You need to get in there as soon as you get the text.”

I nodded that I would and then looked over at Dominic. “You ready to do this?”

That grin was still plastered on his face when he answered, “I’m at your service, angel.”

29. BLOODY DRIVE

Fissures of lightning lit up the sky as the windshield wipers sloshed back and forth, desperate to keep up with the downpour beating down over Hollow Hills. The closer we got to Trace’s neighborhood, the harder it became to fill my lungs with air. So much was riding on this one mission, this one moment, and if we screwed it up in any way, the sisters would not be giving us another chance to get it right. Everything had to go perfectly. Flawlessly. Because not only did we need to make it out of there alive tonight, we needed to have one of the sisters with us.

“Pull over,” I ordered as soon as he turned onto the boulevard that would inevitably take us to Trace’s street.

Dominic quickly veered the car onto the shoulder, probably thinking I was going to throw up all over his fine Italian leather seats.

I couldn’t fault him either. I had a tendency to lose my dinner in these kinds of situations.

“I don’t want this to be a fight,” I said as he killed the engine. Rolling my sleeve up, I laid my arm across the arm rest and exposed my wrist to him. “You’re taking some of my blood, and you’re taking it right now.”

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