Page 93 of Hell to Slay

“You supported us when we needed you most. We get it,” Jax said impatiently. “Just tell us. You can trust us.”

Ichiro took a deep breath and slowly said, “You know how we have different demons out here than the ones in Charlotte? More… humanoid ones?”

My eyebrows shot up. Was he about to say what I thought he was going to say?

Finally, Jiro spit it out. “The girl we’re both going crazy for… she’s half-demon.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Mel

The Following Year

It had taken us some time, but we eventually found the right coven-house for the Salvos coven. Not too far away from the city, but also far enough away that we didn’t have neighbors. After all, we had secrets to keep, even from Jiro and Ichiro. It would be too dangerous for word of our shared magic to get out.

We’d all mastered the elemental magics, and that seemed to make it easier for the guys to understand my arcane telekinesis. The three of us elementalists still had trouble mastering Jax’s magic, but we practiced whenever we could while still keeping it top secret.

Most arcane teleporters — even those in magically powerful covens — couldn’t teleport across the country twice in one day. Jax could. So could the rest of our coven, with some guidance from Jax. But no one else needed to know that.

And truly, we preferred to keep our magic topped up. Teleporting across the country twice in one day was possible, but it drained our shared reservoir to the dregs.

Anytime I missed Nimue and the rest of the Wildes coven, Jax would teleport both of us back to Charlotte. We always spent the night at the Wildes coven house so Jax could recharge.

“We don’t even get a ‘welcome home’?” Jax wondered, looking around our empty coven-house.

Jax and I had just returned from another weekend spent in Charlotte. As always, we’d let our coven-mates know we were teleporting back. They had to configure the wards to let us in, and it was a good safety protocol, anyway. So they knew we’d be here soon, but Hudson and Nico weren’t waiting for us in the living room like they usually did when we got back.

“Let’s go find them,” I said, my hunting instincts kicking in.

Comfortable, Nico-sized furniture filled the open floorplan of the first floor, with a matching living room set, a dining room set with leaves to expand to seat eight, and an island in the kitchen with stools where we often sat around watching Jax work his true magic. He’d lost his mind when he first saw the two built-in ovens, the industrial range hood of the amazing six-burner stove, and more countertop space than he knew what to do with.

A laundry room and bathroom, as well as the entrance to the garage, adjoined the kitchen and dining room space. And the door off the living room led to our master bedroom. Upstairs, all four of us had our own bedrooms, so we could take time for ourselves when we needed it. But the master bedroom downstairs? That was for all four of us.

“Where do you think Nico and your brother are?” I asked as we strode through the living room.

He laughed. “Wherever could they be?”

Since we were all vampires, it was easy enough to locate them by their heartbeats alone.

“Something tells me I should freshen up before we find out.” I made a beeline for the downstairs bathroom.

It felt great to finally have enough space for the four of us. Thankfully, we could afford it, even without steady employment for any of us. After all, we had plenty of side gigs.

Nico remained a big name in the bodyguarding industry. These days, when he took a contract, it stipulated four bodyguards instead of one. We went as a coven, always.

The OIB also sent us on assignments from time to time, but we’d refused to attempt to close any more portals. They’d begged us plenty of times, but we’d been lucky to survive the first attempt. None of us wanted to risk it again.

So as a compromise, we often trained the vampire agents the OIB sent us instead. I followed in Nimue’s footsteps, training the next generation. It had thrilled her to hear about our last batch of trainees. She told us we should open up an academy of our own, but that wasn’t really our style.

I checked my reflection in the mirror as I remembered what else we’d talked about. Nimue and I had decided to get together every Samhain for the next few years to support one another. Someday, I hoped to see my mother’s spirit again. I wanted to let her know how things were going.

“They’re all impatient,”an amused voice said inside my mind.

“Are they?” I grinned down at my little demon familiar.

We’d moved over here to be closer to Jiro and Ichiro, the only family that Hudson and Jax still acknowledged. Yet I still hadn’t gotten the chance to introduce them to Tempest. I had the feeling they’d be very interested in meeting her. Maybe Tempest could reassure them that we wanted to meet the half-demon who’d captured their hearts.

Last we’d heard, they’d gone inside the infernal realm, which meant we might have a few more months to go before we got to see them. If we got to see them. Tempest had led us to safety. If not for her, we might never have made it. I hoped a half-demon had similar abilities to safely escort Jiro and Ichiro.

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