“And how can it not?”
“There’s an ancient text that says our daughter will be your downfall.”
“You humans,” he said, the laugh that escaped him not even remotely similar to Reyes’s, “stumbling upon words that mean nothing, trying to decipher the undecipherable. The man who wrote them was an imbecile.”
“Yet here you are in all your glory to destroy her. Is that not a confirmation of the documents’ legitimacy? You are going to fail here today.” At least I hoped so. The more he stalled, the more I worried.
“My dear, I have contingency plan upon contingency plan. Even as we speak, there are twelve dormant parasites from twelve different dimensions waiting inside human hosts. They’ve been here for decades, in this realm, on this planet, and they are just now awakening. Trust me when I say they are very cranky when they first wake up.”
“Twelve parasites? You sent the twelve? The bad twelve? Then who summoned the hellhounds?”
That was when I took a really good look at the hounds. They were not snarling at my daughter or snapping at her. They … they were protecting her. A new hope sprang to life inside me. The only person in the room they seemed focused on was Reyes. Their heads down. Their ears back. Their teeth glistening. But every single one of them was turned toward Reyes. No, not Reyes. Lucifer.
Then I noticed a man. Like the hounds, he was hard to see. His visibility shifted with the light. A shimmer of gold here. A glint of silver there. In fact, he seemed made of light. Pure and powerful.
One of the hounds nudged him, and he rested a hand on its head before disappearing into the shadows again. He was clad in armor like a prince from an ancient Asian dynasty.
“Mr. Wong,” I said as I stood stunned by the mere thought of it.
Though not tall, he stood with the beasts, his shoulders wide, his stance sure and strong as his other hand rested on the hilt of a sword.
He bowed when I finally saw him, as though he’d been waiting. “Tsu lah, Val-Eeth.”
He spoke in an ancient language that I recognized but didn’t quite understand.
I thought back, tried to reconcile what I was seeing with what I knew to be true. The Twelve never actually attacked me. They attacked others, anyone whom they saw as a threat. Me, they simply tried to drag to safety. To keep me out of harm’s way.
“Who sent you?” I asked Mr. Wong.
“You did. Before you became human, you sent me to be your protector, your sentry until you finished your duties here and went home.”
“You are like an archangel, only from our realm?”
He nodded, accepting that analogy.
I wanted to run to him. To hug him. To beg his forgiveness for that time I tried repeatedly to put a lampshade on his head. But with the outcast up from the basement, salutations would have to wait.
Lucifer was actually quite interested in our conversation. I got the feeling he hadn’t expected backup.
“What happens to the human hosts of these parasites?” I asked Lucifer. We were in a standoff, but he was taking it all in stride, letting us ramble and ask questions. I had a feeling he wouldn’t normally do such a thing. He was biding his time, perhaps expecting backup of his own.
“They are all already dead.”
I closed my eyes, horrified.
“Easier to control when they have no mind to fight back.”
“I understand. But this is between you and me. Let my family go.”
“We’re bargaining now?”
“We have twelve hellhounds that I’m pretty sure would just as soon rip your face off as look at you. We have a testy Daeva with a score to settle. We have the equivalent of an archangel who loves to use that sword of his. And we have me, the Val-Eeth. Surely you’d be willing to make a trade.”
“I’ll give you the woman,” he said, bargaining, again, to bide his time.
But so was I. I wanted Donovan and the guys out. And Garrett as well.
I glanced at Denise as she crouched in the corner. She gazed at me, seemingly grateful she was part of the deal.
With the barest wave of my hand, Artemis sank into the floor beside me then rose from the staircase right above Denise’s head.
“Was the story real?” I asked her. “The one about the blue towels? About the angel you saw in the hospital? About your mother’s car accident and your father telling you that sometimes a blue towel was more than just a towel?”
She frowned, confused, but couldn’t help a quick glance at her boss. He didn’t move. With a resigned sigh, she stood. “Yes, it was all real. But she was too much of a coward to tell you herself. Still, it was the perfect way to get inside.” She looked at Lucifer. “May I have her now?” she asked.
“Manners,” he said, scolding. “We have more guests coming.”
My chest tightened the second realization sank in. He meant Cookie and Amber. And knowing Cookie, she’d called Uncle Bob. He was surely on his way back here, and possibly with Quentin. That’s what he’d been waiting for. Because the more people I tried to save, the more chances he would have of getting to Beep. And if not him, then Denise. Or whatever was inside Denise.
Apparently the hellhounds had thought of that as well. Before I could say anything, one lunged forward, catching Denise by the throat. Artemis launched herself off the staircase and clamped on to Denise’s arm.
I gasped and watched in horror as she changed. Her face stretched as a row of long, needlelike teeth grew out of her mouth. She shook Artemis off then latched on to the hound. It cried out, but another was on her back. It sank its teeth into her rib cage, until her fingernails grew into sharp, steely points. She fended him off her with one, clean swipe.