Larissa Ione - Sin Undone

Gem stopped playing with one of her black-and-blue braids to settle her hand on her belly. “Lore, what did you learn?”

“That this guy is good at keeping his hands clean.” Lore handed the papers to Shade to pass around. “His photo is there, suspected residence, favorite hangouts. He owns an auto salvage yard in Pittsburgh that’s making a tidy profit. He’s got a lot of enemies, but they drop like flies. Nothing can be pinned on him, but his trail reeks of assassins.”

“And you would know,” Kynan muttered, but it was a good-natured ribbing, and Lore’s lips quirked up as he flipped off the human. They used to be bitter enemies, and though they weren’t exactly friends, they got along and actually sparred in UG’s gym from time to time.

Eidolon turned to Wraith, who was messing with his iPhone. “Have you learned anything more about the collar around Sin’s neck?”

“No,” he said, not looking up from the device. “The demons who made it are, like, legendary. I can’t find any proof that they even existed.”

“Well,” Gem said, “until a couple of days ago, we didn’t have proof that Feast wargs existed, either.”

Yeah, that had been a total shocker. Luc and Kar were now staying at Shade and Runa’s New York house until Tayla and Kynan could get The Aegis death order against Kar called off. So far, doing so was a low priority—The Aegis and the military were still trying to decide if wiping out wargs was a desirable course of action, even though Eidolon’s vaccine had tested well and was being manufactured with the help of USAMRIID. Complicating matters was the fact that both paranormal agencies were scrambled by troubling developments, apparently unrelated to the warg virus, in the human world.

The Nile was running red, and though scientists had determined that the cause was red toxic algal bloom, they couldn’t explain how it happened overnight. Worse, the toxins were being spread by wind, and the normally mild effects on humans and animals—respiratory irritation—had become deadly. Naturally, thanks to the emergence of Sin Fever, The Aegis and R-XR were quick to blame demons on the new troubles, as well.

Shade crossed his arms over his chest. “So what you’re saying is that you don’t know how to remove the collar or release Sin from the warg’s bond.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Wraith grumbled. He hated not finding what he was looking for. Granted, he’d had only a couple of hours, but he wasn’t the most patient demon in the world, and with Sin’s freedom and, possibly, her life on the line, wraith was wound especially tight. “Tonight, Serena and I can snoop around the Horun region of Sheoul. Most of the legends regarding the Feast wargs and their creators originate there.”

The door to Con’s room opened, and Luc stepped out. “It’s done.” His voice was strangely raw.

“Ah, what’s done?”

Luc stared at Eidolon, and he could have sworn that the warg’s eyes were a little bloodshot. His color was definitely mottled, a rare sign of emotion in the usually unflappable warg. “He didn’t tell you?” When E shook his head, Luc swore. “That fuck. He made me do it, E.”

Alarm clanged through Eidolon. “Do what?” He didn’t wait for Luc to answer, threw open the door, took three steps, and froze.

“Hell’s fucking rings.” Shade rushed to Con’s bed, his arm glowing, and Eidolon fired up his gift as well. “What the fuck did you do, Luc?”

“You can’t help him,” Luc said. “I broke his neck after I shoved the blade through his rib cage. I thought you knew.”

Eidolon shook with demonic fury as he rounded on the paramedic, and he knew his eyes had gone red. “Why did he do this, and damn you, why’d you help him?”

“He said something about breaking a bond with Sin and keeping her safe. I owed him—I owe all of you—for saving my life. For saving Kar and the baby. So he asked me to do this, and I did.” Luc’s voice caught, just a slight tremor most wouldn’t notice. “He made me swear to take his body to his clan within the hour.”

“Oh my God.” Every head snapped around to Sin, who stood in the doorway, hand over her mouth and horror in her eyes. “He’s not… He can’t be…”

Lore caught her in his arms as she broke into a high, keening wail of grief that sliced into Eidolon’s heart like a scalpel blade. His connection with his purebred brothers had always been strong, but he’d never had the same physical link with Lore or Sin. But for the first time, he felt Sin. Felt her pain.

And when he glanced at his brothers, he saw that they felt it, too.

“Con!” Sin screamed his name over and over. Her throat hurt and her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her head from the pressure of her shrieks, but all that mattered was getting to him. She jerked out of Lore’s arms and ran to Con’s side, her foot slipping in blood that had pooled on the floor. “No, Con, no!”

Dazed, terrified, and desperate, she grabbed Lore’s hand. “Bring him back!” She mashed Lore’s hand onto Con’s thigh. It was still warm. There was a chance. There was! “Do it.”

“I can’t, Sin.” Lore gently peeled her fingers off his. “The blade… It’s your Gargantua-bone dagger.”

Impossible. Her hand went automatically to the empty sheath at her thigh. Oh, God. That son of a bitch had lifted it off her somehow.

Luc cleared his throat. “He made me use it. Said that way Lore couldn’t bring him back. Something about the dagger having magical properties that would thwart Lore’s gift.”

Sin barely heard Luc’s explanation, barely heard anything but the silent screams in her ears. “You bastard!”

She launched herself at Luc, but Shade caught her before she reached him. Still, the intent to harm Luc was there, and the Haven spell kicked in, making the writing on the walls pulse as pain ripped into her skull like claws shredding her brain. Agony blacked out her vision, and she hit the floor with a crack of kneecaps and a cry. Shade’s arms tightened around her. And then, through the pounding in her head, she sensed the others, Eidolon, Wraith, and Lore, ease onto the floor around her. Someone took her hand. Someone else palmed her shoulder. And then someone else… Wraith, she realized, tucked her head against his chest as her world shattered into a million pieces.

For a thousand years, Con dreaded the three nights of the full moon that turned him into a creature feared by humans and demons alike. It wasn’t that he’d hated being the creature, or even that he hated the agony that accompanied the transformation—it was that he’d despised the thirty seconds of vulnerability that came with each change.

Now, as he opened his eyes to stare at the dark sky and rising moon, he offered a silent hello, because night was now his new best friend, and daytime was his enemy unless the ritual was completed. Instinctively, he took a breath, even though he didn’t need to. He put his hand over his heart, even though he knew it wouldn’t beat.

A boot nudged his hip, and he shifted his head on the ceremonial pallet to look up at his childhood buddy, a wiry male whose hair was covered by a blue do-rag. “Hey.” Well, at least his voice still worked.

Aed grinned. “How’s it feel to be on your second life?”

Wincing at the stiffness in his muscles, Con sat up. “Feels like I wasted the first one.”

“Better make up for it with this one, ayech ?” Aed’s accent was a blend of Scottish, Danish, and something else that made half of what he said sound like gibberish to Con, who, unlike his old friend, had spent enough time with humans in the modern world to cultivate an accent that didn’t sound like it came straight out of Beowulf .