Page 8 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

I shake my head. “It’s broken.”

In a move so similar to Duncan it almost makes me laugh, he rubs his hand down his face. “Shit.” He huffs. “That changes things.”

“Can’t we put him back in the second Jar?”

“Maybe.” His hand shoots out. “Give me your phone.”

I quirk an eyebrow as I slide my phone out of my pants pocket. This is new, having a demon in my contact list. I don’t know if I consider it a new low, or creative problem solving. “Demanding aren’t you?.”

He chuckles and takes the phone out of my hand. “You have no idea.” He programs a number under ‘Ant’ followed by a devil emoji and sends himself a text before handing the phone back. Maybe I should start classifying my contacts with emoji’s? Now I need a vampire friend and maybe a mermaid. Are mermaids real? “When you have the Jar, contact me. I will have to rethink the next part of the plan.”

Chapter Four

Natia

Even after being hurt, a Taurus will still be insanely loyal to you.

Shadows consume the graveyard as I weave my way towards the exit. I shiver at the change of temperature. My eyes dart around, assessing any threats. My Spidey senses are tingling, something is here. The whip around my waist unclasps with a snap of my fingers as I continue my steady stroll towards the main road.

“Natia, wait,” a familiar voice says.

I spin on my heel and find Jed behind me with his hands raised in a placating gesture. I let out a breath. “Smoothie, what are you doing here?”

“Searching for you.” He lowers his hands when he realizes I’m not going to attack him.

“Why? So you can drag me back to your master?”

He scrunches up his face in obvious pain. “We’ve contained Archan.”

“Evil Archan,” I correct.

Jed tilts his head as his hazel eyes narrow. “Yeah, okay, Evil Archan. The cadre is watching him.”

“Cadre?”

“Nathan, Barney, Michael, Zac, and myself.”

I shake my head. “Excellent news, now we have to figure out a way to yank the evil out of Archan and contain it.”

He takes a step forward; I match his step backwards and he frowns. “You have nothing to be afraid of, Natia.”

My hollow laugh echoes off the looming stone statues of the angels surrounding us. “Zac and Archan wanted to kill me, and that was before the last evil possessed Archan.”

“A misunderstanding. We have spent years searching for you and led to believe you were protecting the Jar and its contents. Except we thought you were keeping salvation locked up, not the last evil.”

“I already guessed that, when Zac threatened me with a knife and Archan tried to kill me.” I shove the pang of sorrow over Archan’s mistrust deep, I understand the reasons he jumped to conclusions, I even forgive him. But the sting of betrayal is still fresh.

“Not sure he would have killed you,” Jed mutters.

“Why are you here now?”

“To-”

Three figures emerge from the shadows behind Jed. I spin towards the main exit. Three more figures appear, boxing us in. I raise an eyebrow at Jed. “Friends of yours?”

He shakes his head and backs up towards me. “Sweet Iris, where have you been hiding?” a refined gentleman’s voice asks.

“Lawrence,” I mutter, zoning in on the central figure clad in a dark pinstripe suit. He lifts his arms out.

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