A witch named Brooke waltzed in. Her hair was a similar shade to Evie’s, and almost as long, and she had the same curvy build. She raised her hand as she walked to the fridge. “Sup.”

“Hi,” I replied.

She took out a can of coke and pointed it at Evie. “Don’t forget about tonight.”

Evie grinned and I raised one eyebrow. “What’s happening tonight?”

“Dress up party at Meredith’s.”

I frowned at that. “Mere doesn’t usually do private events.”

Brooke nodded. “Yeah, but Jessica is one of her besties. She convinced Mere to let her have her thirtieth at the bar, as long as we opened it up to the public at midnight. You should come!”

The underworld would freeze over before I voluntarily put on a fancy-dress outfit and dealt with drunk witches.

Evie grinned at whatever expression I’d made. “Danica’s busy. Maybe next time.”

I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Maybe next time.” Misty glowed red and I covered the dagger with my shirt. Traitor.

Brooke wandered out and Evie cleared her throat awkwardly. “Are you… seeing Samael?”

“No.”

“Dani–”

I took a deep breath and filled her in. By the time I was finished, her eyes were wet with sympathy. Maybe eating my feelings would help. I reached for a cookie and took a bite.

“Wow, this is good. Don’t look at me like that. Samael lied to me. This whole time. He says it was because he was ‘protecting me’ and he didn’t want me to find the prophecy. But I know him. He was planning to use me to take down Lucifer.”

“He loves you, Dani.”

I gaped at her and burst out laughing. “You’re a romantic.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. Lia swiped at my hand and I shook my head. “He doesn’t know what love is.”

“He a demon. You know more than anyone that he has no experience dealing with humans. He’s not used to having to compromise. You need to teach him.”

“You know what I was thinking when I arrived in that library? Wow, this is so cool. I can’t wait to tell Samael about this.” I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes.

“You love him too.”

I let out a startled laugh. “I feel… something for him,” I admitted. “But sometimes that isn’t enough.”

“I’m rooting for you guys.”

I laughed. “Okay.” My shirt had ridden up and Evie reached out and brushed her finger along the hilt of Misty. The dagger glowed blue. We both froze. I’d never seen that happen.

“Whoa. It just talked in my head.” Evie’s wide, panicked eyes met mine. I was pretty sure mine were just as wide.

“What did it say?”

“It said ‘finally, there you are.’” She shuddered. “It has a creepy voice.” She jumped. “It did it again. It said ‘that wasn’t nice.’”