Weary, I climbed back into the driver’s seat, my eyes automatically looking in the rearview mirror toward the backseat. I really hoped that had been the last demon for a while.
*
I resisted the urge to reach out to Sam the whole drive home. I wanted to hear his voice, to feel it caress my mind, but I was too afraid that he would know something was wrong.
I wouldn’t want to tell him and then he would get frustrated just like before. It was better if I waited until I was a little calmer before reaching out to him again.
I could still feel an echo of pain through my ribs and arm and I wondered why Sam was still hurting. He should have been healed by now. Maybe his pain was distracting him.
I was relieved to see Cole sitting on the porch at Gran’s when I pulled up, Gemma sitting close alongside him. One of the books was open in her lap, but they weren’t looking at it. They were looking at each other and having an intense conversation.
“Did you find anything?” I asked before I was even completely out of the car.
“Nothing,” Gemma replied, looking away from Cole.
I nodded. I had hoped for the best, but knew it was a slim shot. Gemma knew those books, and if she said what I was looking for wasn’t in them, then it probably wasn’t.
I nodded again. “Thank you for looking. I guess it’s safe to say the books don’t contain the information we need on how to get a Lucent Marble without a hellhound.”
“They don’t say anything about how to break the force field that keeps Sam in that dungeon either,” Cole said.
“It doesn’t need to. We can use the dagger—it will break the force field.”
“No!” Gemma said, jumping up. The book fell from her lap. “You can’t do that!”
“Why not?” I demanded, placing my hands on my hips.
“It’s a force field! It deflects what you throw at it.”
“I hadn’t planned to throw the dagger at it. I planned to stab it.”
Gemma shook her head. “If you stab it and press the jewel, that light will shine out from it and the force field will deflect it away and send it back onto you.”
Cole whistled between his teeth.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked.
“Certain.”
Could nothing go right today?
“Maybe it’s time you tell us the rest of your plan,” Cole said.
“I don’t have a plan!” I yelled. “All I know is that I have to get Sam out of there and fast. The clock is ticking. As soon as Beelzebub comes back from what I did to him, he’s going to take it all out on Sam.”
Cole moved down the steps toward me.
“We need a way to get a Lucent Marble, we need a way to break the force field, we need a way into the stupid castle to get to the dungeon and we need a way to get the stupid demons off my back for five minutes so I can think!” I burst out.
“Were you attacked?” Gemma asked. I felt her gaze running over me for injury. Her eyes focused on the burns on my arm.
I sighed. “Since day three.”
Cole made a sound and grabbed my arm. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
I shrugged. Why bother? I was handling it.
“Were you attacked today?” he pressed.
“Twice.”
He swore. “Maybe I should stay here for a few days.”
“No. That isn’t necessary.” My stomach flipped and my vision blurred for a few moments.
“Are you feeling all right?” Gemma asked, eyes narrowed.
“I’m okay. I want a shower though.”
“We’ll wait here,” Cole said, releasing my arm.
I nodded and went past them to the door. Before going inside, I turned back to Gemma. “Do you know anything about demon spit?”
Gemma’s eyes widened. “It burns your skin.”
I nodded and held up my arm. “So this will go away, right?”
She came forward and grasped my arm. “Did you kill the demon that did this to you?”
“Yeah.”
“Did any of its blood get on you?”
“A little.”
“What about that cut on your neck?”
“No, that’s fine. A scratch.”
She made a sound. “I’ll get my salve. Go shower.”
Cole appeared at my side. “I’ll help you upstairs.”
“I don’t need help.” I refused his hand.
“Yes, you do.” I looked up at the sincere sorrow in his voice.
“What is it?”
“You’re about to be very sick.”
“What? Why?” Even as he said it, I knew.
“Remember all those bites I had in Italy?”
I nodded.
He opened the door and ushered me inside. “Their saliva made me sick.”
“I barely got any on me, nothing like the bites you had.”
“Yeah, but the blood got on you, on your open wound.”
“So?”
“Their blood is like poison, Hev.”
I let that sink in. “Just great,” I muttered.
Upstairs, Cole leaned in the doorway as I gathered clean clothes for my shower. He watched silently, like he was ready for me to fall. Before going into the bathroom, I stopped and spoke. “I don’t have time to get sick. I’ve already wasted five days training and trying to think of a way to get Sam out. I can’t afford to lose any more time.”
He came forward to lay a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. It was meant to be reassuring and comforting. It wasn’t any of those things. I pulled away.
“Give me ten minutes. Then we have a plan to make.”
By the time I got out of the shower, I was shivering and running a fever. My limbs felt weak and my stomach danced summersaults. Gemma was sitting on my bed. When I entered, she got up without a word and handed me a glass of orange juice.
“Drink it,” she ordered. Then she grabbed my arm and began coating the burns in a rich salve. It was cool against my heated skin. I lifted the juice and took a long drink, but it tasted gross. I was about to spit it back in the glass when Gemma pinned me with a look. I swallowed.
“What is that stuff?” I half gagged.
Logan appeared in my bedroom door, teetering at the threshold. I could tell by his indecision that he wasn’t sure if he would be welcomed or not.
“Hey, Logan,” I said, taking my chance to set the offending drink down on the bedside table. I waived him in with the arm Gemma wasn’t holding. “Come on in.”
“Hey, man,” Cole said from the chair he perched himself in as Logan walked farther into the room. “How’s it going?”