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Prologue
New Orleans was a city of secrets, and the Duvall sisters were among its most dangerous.
Catalina ran her fingers over the edges of the journal she had received on her sixteenth birthday. The worn leather cover, scuffed from years of use, held memories she couldn’t forget. Its thick, yellowed pages were filled with intricate sketches of demons and descriptions of dark rituals—silent reminders of the destiny she could never escape. It was the same for her sisters—Geneva, Savannah, and Phoenix. Each had their own Grimm File, along with the weapons that came with it. These tools were gifts and curses alike, passed down through bloodlines and bound by ancient magic and death.
On their sixteenth birthday, each sister was given her own Grimm File, handed down through the generations from Charlotte Grimm, the only sister of the Brothers Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. Most people believed that the Grimm Brothers had merely recorded and published folktales, but in truth, they had recorded the exploits of their sister, who had been a demon-hunting fae like those who followed her. Fae blood ran strong in their line, and in each generation, the duty to hunt the creatures that could give children nightmares fell to one of the descendants of the eldest sister. In the case of the Duvall sisters, that duty and the original files from which the folklore sprang had fallen on them.
The night they were given their own handwritten copy of the Grimm Files changed their lives forever.
Exiled from the fae realm, their mother and aunt had found refuge in the Crescent City; their mother’s wings had been forever stripped by love and betrayal. Her mother had fallen for a mortal, a decision that had cost her everything. But out of that forbidden love came something even the Fae Council hadn’t foreseen—four daughters, each destined to face the greatest darkness.
The city throbbed with life beneath Catalina’s feet, but it was the shadows that whispered her name, calling to her and her sisters. They had been preparing their whole lives for this, trained to wield magic with deadly precision, their bodies hardened into weapons of their own. Yet, even with all that training, there was one thing they couldn’t prepare for—finding their fated mates.
Her aunt’s warning still echoed in the back of her mind, chilling her with its truth. “You won’t know your full power until you find him. And when you do...everything will change.”
Each of them had grown stronger, their powers simmering just beneath the surface, waiting to be unleashed. But without their mate, they were incomplete, only a fraction of what they could become. The journal had predicted it all. The hunt was inevitable—not only for the demons they were destined to destroy but for the one soul who would unlock their true potential.
The Grimm Files were more than a family curse. They were a prophecy. One that could either save the world—or destroy it.
Chapter
One
CATALINA
The neon-drenched streets of New Orleans pulsed with a frenetic energy, a fusion of the magical and human worlds that never slept. Amidst the skyscrapers and towering spires of old churches, a streak of violet cut through the night sky. Most of those looking at the night sky didn’t see it, and those who did didn’t pay it much attention. Catalina, her crackling wings leaving a trail of sparks, touched down on a rain-slicked rooftop, her eyes scanning the crowds below. She brushed her long, strawberry blonde hair back over her shoulders and double checked to ensure that what she had been wearing hadn’t been set askew by her trip through the city.
For months, she had been tracking a shape-shifting demon who had wormed its way into the city's underworld. Tonight, she was close—she could feel it like a static charge that danced across her skin.
Seeing nothing from where she perched, she took off once more. As she flew, she reflected on how different the world of the fae was from that of the human world. The human world would be something of a shock to those of the fae realm—loud, polluted, and often hostile to magical beings. But she and her sisters had adapted.
Now, she was one of the most effective demon hunters in New Orleans, straddling the line between two worlds that still struggled to coexist.
Catalina landed in a narrow alley, the smell of ozone filling the air as her feet touched the ground. Ahead, a nightclub's pulsing lights spilled onto the street. The Thorny Rose—a known hangout for both human and supernatural criminals.
As she approached, a burly bouncer eyed her suspiciously. "We don't want any trouble with the fae tonight," he growled.
Catalina flashed a wry smile. "Then let’s hope I don't find any."
Inside, the club was a riot of sensory overload. Humans danced alongside vampires and shifters of all kinds, while pixies flitted overhead, trailing glitter. The humans, when they bothered, interpreted the pixies as some kind of visual illusion. In addition, the beverages and food consumed by patrons of the club contained a powerful chemical that affected only humans. It erased the memory of anything happening at the club of supernatural origin, leaving them with only good, if somewhat vague, feelings about their experience. Catalina made her way to the bar, scanning faces and auras.
"Well, if it isn't my favorite sparkplug," a gravelly voice called out. Catalina turned to see Detective Riker sliding onto the stool next to her. The human cop looked as rough as ever. She’d met him through her sister Phoenix’s mate, Griffin Broussard.
"I thought you knew better than to get involved in anything magical, Riker," Catalina said, but there was no real heat in her words. Despite their differences, the detective had proven to be, if not an ally, then at least a neutral party.
Riker shrugged. "You know me, can't resist a good inter-dimensional crime spree. Word on the street is your shapeshifter's got bigger plans than just running the local syndicates."
Catalina leaned in; her voice low. "What have you heard?"
Before Riker could answer, screams erupted from the dance floor. The crowd parted to reveal a grotesque sight—a patron's body twisting and elongating, flesh rippling as it transformed into something decidedly not human.
"Looks like your dance partner's arrived," Riker quipped, drawing his gun.
Catalina was already moving, wings unfurling as she launched herself towards the chaos. The demon—for that's surely what it was—had fully transformed now into a mass of writhing tentacles and gnashing teeth.
"Everyone out!" Catalina shouted. As panicked clubgoers fled, she raised her hands, calling down a bolt of lightning that shattered the skylight and struck the demon dead center.
The creature roared in pain but didn't fall. Instead, it lashed out with surprising speed, a tentacle wrapping around Catalina's ankle and slinging her into a wall.
