“When she kills him, she can keep him with her for eternity—those binds translate into a kind of ownership, in effect. Demons are like parasites. They latch on and it can take them years to overcome someone’s soul—but that’s what they do. They get into the person’s head and affect their choices, and with each passing day, week, month, they slowly invade the life that is led, corrupting, fouling, destroying. The soul dims from the infection, and when it gets to the right point, the demon steps in and a mortal event occurs. Your boy Vin’s right at that critical point now. She’s setting the events in motion, with the first being his arrest. It’s a domino thing, and it’s going to get worse fast. I’ve seen it too often for words.”

“Jesus…Christ.”

“Or very much not Him, as is the case.”

As questions spun in Jim’s head, he said, “But why Vin? Why was he chosen by her in the first place?”

“There has to be a place of entry. Think of it like getting tetanus from a rusty nail. There’s an injury to the soul and the demon enters through the ‘wound.’”

“What makes a wound?”

“Lots of shit. Every case is different.” Adrian moved the pawns around to form the shape of an “X.” “But once the demon’s in there, it has to be removed.”

“You said Devina can’t be killed.”

“We can give her one fuck of an eviction notice, however.” At this Eddie let out a low growl of approval. “And that’s what we’re going to teach you how to do.”

Well, wasn’t that a lesson he was goddamn aching to learn.

Jim ran a hand through his hair and got up from the bed. “You know what? Vin said something about…Vin said when he was seventeen he went to, like, a fortune-teller/psychic kind of thing. He was getting these seizures where he was seeing the future and he was blind desperate for them to stop.”

“What did she tell him to do?”

“He didn’t go into it, but the seizures stopped until recently. He mentioned, though, that after he followed orders, so to speak, his luck changed altogether.”

Adrian frowned. “We’ve got to find out what he did.”

Eddie spoke up, “And we need to get the ring back. She’s trying to lock him in even harder before she kills him and that is one hell of a strong bind.”

“I know where she lives,” Jim said. “Or I saw her go into a warehouse downtown.”

Adrian got to his feet and so did Eddie. “Then let’s do a little breaking and entering, shall we?” Ad said, scooping up the pawns and putting them back in the box. After he finished his beer, he cracked his knuckles. “Last fight I had with the bitch ended way too soon.”