Shit. “That’s not good.”
“Nope.” Aiden’s shoulders tensed. “I think it was scouting.”
“It?” whispered Gable. “That’s Mr. Nanni. He lives d-down the street.”
“He don’t live anywhere now,” Hercules responded. “That’s a dead Mr. Nanni.”
Aiden pivoted around, jaw tight as he pinned Hercules with a look. “Not helping.”
The demigod shrugged. “Whatever,” he muttered, cracking his knuckles.
There was a pause. “Nothing can get through that glass, right?” Gable asked. “It’s reinforced.”
“Reinforced glass didn’t mean shit,” I replied. “That won’t even stop a daimon.”
“W-What’s a daimon?” Gable asked.
“Quick and dirty explanation?” Deacon turned to him. “They used to be pures and halfs, and they became addicted to aether—that’s the substance inside of all of us that makes us who we are. Not good.”
His wild gaze flew back to the window. “Are there daimons outside now?”
Aiden laughed dryly. “If only we could be that lucky.”
Thunder cracked overhead, rattling the house, and yeah, that was a bad, bad sign. Especially when there was no lightning.
“And it doesn’t look like we’re going to get lucky,” Solos said with a sigh.
Gable looked up at the ceiling. “Is it going to storm?”
“Not the kind of storm California needs.” Alex flipped a dagger in her hand as she walked up to Aiden.
Kneeling by the bag, I pulled out a dagger and then a slender stake. I looked up. Josie stood there, hand out. My gaze connected with hers, and I looked away, jaw working. No doubt she was thinking about me. About what I’d done. I was no better than a fucking daimon. Just not as messy.
I handed her both of the weapons I held. “The slender one is dipped in Pegasus blood,” I reminded her.
She said nothing as she took the blade and then reached for the dagger. I held onto it, forcing her to meet my gaze.
“Are you ready to do this?” I asked. “There can be no hesitation. Something is coming, and whatever it is, we’re going to need to take it out. If you’re not ready, you need to hide.”
Her blue eyes darkened. “I’m ready.”
I hesitated for a moment and then let go. I grabbed the same weapons and then rose. Outside, the wind was picking up, and from the glass doors we could see the palm trees bending under the weight and force of the wind.
“What the hell is coming?” Deacon asked. “Storm?”
Luke laughed. “Again. As if we could get that lucky.”
I stayed close to Josie when she walked forward. She might want to stab me with one of those weapons, but my priority was her. In all honesty, I couldn’t give a fuck what went down with Gable at this point. My goal was to make sure that after whatever was coming our way, she was still standing.
Everyone else was on their own.
Like they were trained, a line was formed several feet back from the door, blocking Gable. Instinct had driven Josie to stand on Solos’s other side. She hadn’t been schooled in this kind of technique, how to form a line against an enemy. There hadn’t been enough time to drill years of training into her. I flanked her, fingers tense around each weapon.
Thunder boomed overhead, deafening as it shook the paintings on the walls. Somewhere in the house, something fell over and crashed. A loud crack followed, and a palm near the driveway broke in two.
Something stirred outside. My eyes narrowed as the wind continued to pick up in one area, near one of the SUVs. It spun and spun in a small area, like a mini-tornado.
“What . . . what is that?” Josie asked.
“Gable,” Aiden said, his voice level. “You need to hide right now. No matter what, you do not come out unless it’s—”
The cyclone shot forward, aiming straight for the doors. I prepared for it to come right through the glass, but it stopped before it connected, spinning in one spot. The cyclone was over seven feet tall and as wide as a person. I had a really bad feeling about what was inside that air mass.
“Um,” Deacon murmured.
A heartbeat of silence passed and then, clearly, the sound of the front door unlocking could be heard.
“What the . . . ?” Alex trailed off as the series of clicks stopped.
“Security systems fail,” I muttered.
The glass doors swung open and the cyclone shot inside. Wind whipped out as the cyclone slowed, unfolding until a figure became visible inside.
“This isn’t a friendly,” Solos said, stepping forward on his right leg as his arm cocked back. “No need to wait.” He let go of a dagger.
It flew through the air, hilt over blade, and went through the mini-tornado, embedding deep in the center. The moment it made contact, a rush of air burst out. A sonic boom knocked all of us back, like we were nothing but bowling pins.
I landed on my ass next to Josie. The Covenant dagger fell from her hand, skidding across the floor. She cursed, rolling onto her side as she scrambled toward it on her hands and knees.
“Really?” A deep voice boomed through the house, and I turned sharply. The tornado of doom was gone and in its place was a man. A very tall man with a head full of brown hair and shoulders bigger than Hercules’s. “You threw a dagger at me?” He tipped his head back and laughed as he reached down, grabbed the hilt, and then yanked the dagger out. He dropped it on the stone floor of the foyer. “This is going to be easier than I imagined.” Then he opened his eyes. They were all black.