“As long as you don’t feel sorry for Gavyn too,” Remy said in a hard voice. “He’s had a chance to change and chose not to.”
Keiran appeared beside our table, a weird expression on his face.
“Where’s the chow, man?” Sykes asked.
“Food will have to wait. There’s a situation in my office that needs your attention.”
We exchanged glances and pushed back our chairs to get back. I did a psi scan. There was a demon with Bran, his psi energy familiar.
“What situation?” Remy asked.
“Just follow me,” Keiran said.
Remy grabbed his arm before he could teleport. “Not that we don’t trust you or anything, but—”
“You’re acting like it.” Keiran yanked his arm from Remy’s grip.
“When it comes to Cardinal business, we have a response protocol.” He glanced at me. “Psi scanned the office yet?”
“Already did. Bran is not in any danger,” I answered, feeling bad for Keiran. He didn’t understand we didn’t rush into situations in case of an ambush. “He’s with a demon. Someone with familiar psi energy.”
“Gavyn,” someone murmured.
Our weapons were drawn when we materialized inside Keiran’s office. But instead of Gavyn’s lithe body and silver hair, a tall black guy with diamond studs glistening in his ears stood in the middle of the room. His eyes narrowed on our weapons.
“Is this the welcome we get after braving Keiran’s overzealous guards to reach you?” Dante asked in an annoyed voice.
“You didn’t hurt them, did you?” Kim asked.
“Of course not.” Dante sounded insulted. “We compelled them to go to sleep. Kael is keeping an eye on me, just in case.” He bowed toward me and touched his chest. “Lilith. It’s nice to see you again.”
Memories of everything he’d done for us after my father kidnapped us rushed through my head. They seemed so fresh, like they happened yesterday. Deciding to give him a hug, I pushed my dagger in its sheath and moved toward him.
“Where have you been?” I asked, hoping we hadn’t seen him for a while.
“Here and there, trying to make a liv—” Dante doubled over as I got closer.
“Are you okay?” I asked, touching his arm.
Dante hissed and yanked his arm away from my hand. He staggered backward, putting as much distance between us as he could, his face wreathed with pain. He clutched his arm where I’d just touched.
Kael materialized beside him. “What is it?”
“It’s nothing,” Dante insisted, his eyes not leaving mine.
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “What’s going on?”
For a moment I was confused, then everything fell into place. My gaze flew to my hand. The ancient writings covered the back of my hand. I pulled back my sleeve. The writings snaked up my arm like tattoos. Horrified, I checked my other arm.
My gaze collided with Dante’s as Bran pulled me away. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” Bran insisted.
“What did you do?” Kael demanded.
I shook my head, feeling terrible and helpless. “I’d never knowingly hurt Dante, Kael. You know that. I was going to hug him but…but…I guess I can’t.”
Bran’s arms tightened around me. The silence in the room stretched.
“Can someone explain to us what is wrong with Lilith?” Kael demanded.
“Excuse us, Kieran?” Remy asked.
Keiran hesitated. “My guards?”
“We’ll awaken them before we leave,” Kael said impatiently.
Remy didn’t speak until Keiran teleported from the room. “Lil was attacked by demons.”
“Who?” Dante asked, sounding outraged.
“When and where?” Kael added.
“A few hours ago,” Remy said. “Do you know anything about demons that hide inside a cloud and shoot lightning bolts, shatter glass but leave everything else intact?”
Dante shook his head. “Shatter glass? Banshees can use sound to break glass, but they are all in Tartarus. At least the ones we knew existed were sent there by Coronis. Did Banshees attack Lilith?”
“We don’t know, but the demons use sounds and get inside your head and mess with your memories.” Remy paused long enough to telepath us. Do we tell them everything?
Yes, we all agreed.
We’re going to need all the help we can get, Bran added.
Just don’t mention the island by name, Izzy chimed in.
Of course not. “We were relaxing on an island when the demons attacked,” Remy said then went on to explain my memory loss and Master Haziel’s theory that the powers of the dagger had been transferred to me. “We didn’t believe him, but her powers are now tied to the ancient writings on her skin, which are similar to the ones that used to be on the dagger’s blade.”
Kael and Dante studied my hands, which I lifted for them to see without getting too close. The writings were still there, which meant my body considered Dante and Kael as threats even though they weren’t. Shouldn’t I be able to control these powers and how they reacted?
“I’ll learn to control them,” I vowed. “What happened when I touched you?”
Dante shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, but now I understand how you destroyed the knife at the Club.”
“How do you know about what happened at the restaurant?” Remy asked.
“Word spreads fast where she is concerned,” Kael answered.
“The customers said you were looking for a fight when you arrived,” Dante added.
“We were looking for Gavyn, not a fight,” Bran corrected him. “You don’t happen to know the location of Mount Hermon, do you?”
Dante frowned and exchanged a glance with Kael, then they both shook their heads. “No, but we can find out,” Dante said. “You think your brother is hanging out with these demons?”
“We think he summoned them,” Bran explained.
Dante frowned. “Why would he do that?”
This time Bran explained his theory about what happened to the humans. “We have no idea how two of them managed to survive. One is a woman with children, so we assumed the demons either felt sorry for her or decided to punish her by making all her children ill.”
“Demons don’t show mercy,” Dante said.
“Really?” Sykes asked, then he pressed a fist against his chest, imitating the gesture Dante and Kael often made whenever we met. “I always thought you two were the picture of gallantry.”
Dante ignored him. “I have not heard of a demon capable of doing what you just described.”
“What if the Tribe is a breed of demons from somewhere else?” I asked.
Dante’s eyes narrowed. “The Tribe?”
“We think that is their name—the Tribe. What if they were summoned from, say, Tartarus?”
Telepathic communication between Dante and Kael happened so fast all I caught was ‘Summoners’ and ‘no way’, then silence.
“If you know something, tell us, please,” I cut in, my eyes moving back and forth between the two nature-benders.
Dante’s expression grew thoughtful as though he was debating how much to tell us. When he spoke, he did slowly. “It is possible to summon powerful beings into this world, but it’s never been done in my lifetime. It takes special circumstances to do it and the consequences are never pleasant. Hermonites and Guardians have a system in place that keeps the balance between good and evil. Bringing in more powerful beings could tip that balance, so summoning is very rare.”
“Besides,” Kael added, “summoned demons don’t look anything like us. They come back with rotting flesh and stink.”
I heard their words, but I focused on what they weren’t saying. “You know about the Tribe.”