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“That’s what my visions have always been about. They’ve never pointed to a demon to slay, but the person needing help from danger.”

“Maybe this vision is different, maybe your powers are growing and that’s why you’ve had trouble accessing them lately.”

“What about the magic that surrounds us every time we’re near? What about this feeling in my chest that calls out to him?”

Sloane rears back as if she’s been slapped. “Feelings in your chest? Like a crush?”

“What? No.” I shake my head, though I’m not sure I mean the words.

“Then what are you talking about?”

“I don’t know, Sloane. I just know there’s something between us that can’t be ignored, and it’s not like a wolf bond. I tried rejecting him and it did nothing, and then I was with him last night and had two visions in one day.” It all comes out rushed like word vomit. When Sloane’s eyes narrow I know I’ve said too much.

“What do you mean you were with him last night?”

My mouth opens and closes, not knowing what to say to fix the situation, to stop my sister looking at me like I’m a stranger or the biggest disappointment.

“Did you sleep with a demon?” Sloane hisses between clenched teeth.

“Not technically.”

Sloane’s bike roars to life, signaling she’s done with the conversation. My shoulders sink before I throw a leg over the seat behind her, put on my helmet, and hold on to the grab handles at the back of the bike without another word. Sloane pulls away from the curb and heads back to the inn as one by one, tears streak down my cheeks.

15

“What do we know so far?” Lennox asks.

“It’d be fucking easier if Catori kept better tabs on the coven who cursed him,” Hynde muses before hurling a dagger through the air and hitting a painting on the wall.

“Hey!” Jett whines, climbing over the back of the couch. “That was mine.” He pulls the dagger from the canvas, scowling at the slash through the basket of peonies.

Hynde looks back and forth between Jett and the painting before glaring at Len and me, glowering when his attention lands on the needle and thread in my hands. “We need to get the fuck out of the human realm.”

Catori’s threats pushed them into action last night. All day, Len and Hynde have searched farther out of Hemlock to other covens we’ve learned of from demon acquaintances outside of Catori’s lordship, ones that spend more time in the human realm. So far, no one knows anything about what happened to the Seven Sisters. We have no leads, except for Sera.

Catori’s been bound to Hell since before I was a demon. I can’t even imagine how things would change if he could surface like us. Maybe there’s a reason why witches want to destroy him after all this time, maybe he needs to be stopped, but that would mean my brothers and I would all die too.

Hynde’s hands ball into fists. Bright blue smoke coils around them like a menacing fury, growing from the inside out. “Have you all forgotten why we’re here? If we don’t find the witch who can lift the curse on Catori, that’s the end of the line for all of us. We’re ruthless demons. We live for chaos and power. I thought that’s what united us as brothers. Maybe some of us are getting too distracted lately.”

I’m not distracted; I’m confused. The witch makes me question if I really have to be this way. There are good and bad witches, but most choose a life that helps others and brings peace. Why must I be destined to bring destruction?

“We have no reason to suspect Sera or Sloane,” Lennox says evenly.

Hynde growls before spinning on his heel and hurling a smoke bomb to the floor. “Don’t protect him,” he shouts. “For two weeks we had nothing, then those two show up, that weird shit happens between one of them and Nix, and you’re telling me that’s not suspicious?”

Lennox storms across the room, pushing his chest against Hynde’s in challenge. “Then why didn’t you tell Catori that part?”

Their noses almost touch, both of them holding back from physically lashing out against the other. We’ve disagreed over the decades, but we’ve never fought like this. Guilt has my stomach curdling.

“That’s what I thought,” Lennox says calmly yet with unmistakable authority. “Because you’re not entirely sure, and you know what happens if we go to Catori with nothing more than suspicions.”

Hynde’s jaw ticks as he draws in a steadying breath. “If it’s not them, why have no other covens come forward following the attacks?”

“Maybe they’re not in the area anymore,” I say, clutching at straws with my defense. “Just because this is where the original blood oath was made doesn’t mean the ancestral line stayed here.”

“From what we know of witch covens, they rarely move on,” says Lennox. “Their powers are built on legacy; houses and businesses passed down the generations because it’s tied to the wisdom and strength of their ancestors.”

“Maybe it’s not a descendant who’s after Catori, and it’s a random coven.” Jett suggests, stretching a piece of tape over the hole in his painting.