Thinking back on the past year, the dynamic between the four of us couldn’t have been more different. Even so, it seemed every word uttered, every decision each of us made, led us to this very moment. Ryan looked at Claire with nothing less than adoration, and Jared reached over, resting his palm on my stomach.

A knock on the door abruptly disturbed our sweet little moment.

“Kim!” Ryan said.

Her clothes were dirty, hair a mess. A small brown satchel hung from her shoulder, secured under her arm. I assumed it was the book. She was forced to keep it with her at all times. Kim was the only one that could keep the Naissance de Demoniac safe from Shax and his demons.

She didn’t look like herself at all. “You!” She pointed to Jared. “You made me a promise, Half Breed, and you’re going to keep it.”

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Broken Promise(s)

Kim breathed hard; her arm outstretched with a pointed finger just shy of Jared’s nose. The air in the room was immediately heavy, the hairs on my neck stood on end. The Others were following her more closely, now, just waiting for her to make a mistake. Shax was back in Hell where he belonged, but his failure only made him more determined to have his property returned to him before Kim and Jared hand it over to the safety of the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem.

The constant presence of the enemy had taken a toll on Kim. The skin under her eyes was a deep shade of purple. Kim’s typically flippant and impervious nature had slowly slipped away over the last two years. Her possession as a teenager had left her with the ability to take power from demons that Hell didn’t understand, making her the perfect guardian of the book—until it could be returned to the one place Shax couldn’t reach. She was just as desperate to free her family from the Naissance de Demoniac as Shax was to take it from them.

A nurse walked in, momentarily taking notice of Kim’s curious body language, but quickly dismissed it when she began taking Ryan’s vitals.

Pulling the stethoscope from her ears, the nurse seemed satisfied. “Doc said you can be discharged, but because it’s late, he wants to keep you one more night and let you go first thing in the morning.”

Kim lowered her hand, letting it fall to her thigh.

“Agh….” Ryan huffed. His expression screwed into disgust.

Claire rolled her eyes. “One more night is nothing. Quit whining.”

One side of Ryan’s mouth pulled up. “When I get home, you can come into the apartment, you know. You don’t have to sit outside in the Lotus.”

“No, thank you. I can’t do my job properly and listen to you flap your jaws all night.”

“We don’t have to talk,” Ryan grinned.