Page 92 of Hell to Slay

As we walked in the space between the old containment wall and the new one, I tried to picture the parts of the city that used to exist in this huge, barren place. When we were about halfway across, Hudson’s phone rang, startling me from my reverie.

“It’s our cousins,” he said with a pleased voice. I turned to face him just as he answered, flipping his phone open to project both of the twins’ likenesses.

“Hey guys,” Hudson said. “You’re here with my coven and most of the Wildes coven.”

Without asking, Nimue manifested her wand and began drawing sigils on the earth around us for her arcane circle.

“We wanted to congratulate you,” Jiro’s voice seemed overly loud on the open plains of the devastated reclaimed earth. I glanced around, but no one was nearby to hear but us. Nobody wanted to come out here if they didn’t have to.

Still, Nimue’s sound shield snapped up around us, one of the many uses of wards. “Wouldn’t want their voices to carry too far,” Nim told me quietly.

“It’s all over the news.” Ichiro grinned at us from Hudson’s phone, gesturing with one tattooed arm. “I can’t believe your crazy coven actually did it.”

“Why do I get the feeling you two have something even crazier planned?” Hudson asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.

Jax added, “Please tell me you guys don’t plan to go find your own devil in Sacramento and close the portal?”

“You’ll need an infernal antidote pendant, Ichiro,” I pointed out.

“Our artificers out here are creating them too, don’t worry,” Ichiro said. “Only they’re calling them ‘hell-ender’ charms.”

“Don’t do anything crazy without us,” Jax insisted. “We’ll be there tomorrow if you need us.”

Jiro held up his ring-covered hands. “No need for backup. Maybe the four of you should enjoy retirement first.”

Nico chuckled. “None of us know the meaning of the word.”

Jax snorted, but nodded his head. And I had to admit, I’d had plenty of offers come up recently. None of them felt like the right next step, though. Wherever life took us next, I wanted to go there as the Salvos coven. Not as Mel, the former vampire hunter turned vamp.

“You at least want one night together where your coven isn’t in danger the next day, right?” Ichiro pointed out, and somehow I got the impression that the two of them were being rather cagey about something.

“Speaking of covens,” Jax said, a grin slowly growing. “You’ll be stronger that way, even if you two don’t bond the same coven like Hudson and I did. Any recent developments?”

I snickered and elbowed him. “Ever the matchmaker.”

“You don’t have to answer that,” Hudson said. “We’re not your coven-parents.”

“Actually…” Ichiro’s image shifted as he tried to look around our small circle. “Is there anyone else there besides the Salvos and Wildes covens?”

I suppressed the urge to glance around. Anyone on the wall could probably see our strange little circle standing here in the middle of nowhere, gathered round inside Nim’s wards, looking suspicious.

“No,” Hudson said, “though plenty of demon hunters can probably see us. We’re at a distance, and Nim put up a sound shield. Even a vampire couldn’t overhear us. What’s up?”

“You’ve met someone.” Jax’s face lit up. “Or a coven of someones in Sacramento?” he asked hopefully.

“Not in Sacramento, and not a coven, but we did meet someone,” Jiro emphasized the one, but Jax still looked excited on his cousins’ behalf.

Jiro took a deep breath, and Ichiro put a tattooed hand in front of his twin’s chest. “We hope the Salvos coven will be as supportive of us as we were of you.”

Jax laughed as if there was no way that could be in question, but alarm bells were already going off in my head. Nico and I shared a glance, as did Nim and Lan. Then we all gazed back at the twin cousins. I had a feeling the Wildes witches were searching their faces for any clue, just like Nico and I were.

“Of course we will be!” Jax said. “Are you shacking up with another vampire?”

Hudson’s expression shuttered as Ichiro shook his head. “You won’t believe us if we tell you.”

“Try us,” Hudson ground out.

“Just remember—”

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