Chapters (52)
- Dedication
- Acknowledgments
- Contents
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Epilogue
- An excerpt from Halfway to the Grave
- An excerpt from One Foot in the Grave
- An excerpt from At Grave’s End
- An excerpt from Destined for an Early Grave
- An excerpt from This Side of the Grave
- An excerpt from One Grave at a Time
- About the Author
- By Jeaniene Frost
- Copyright
- About the Publisher
“Charles?” Ian sounded irate as well as confused. “What does he have to do with any of this?”
“Plenty,” Bones replied, carefully scooping up the coat and clasping the bundle to his chest. “I’ll explain later. Grab Tate and try to keep up. Mencheres?”
“I’ve got you,” his co-ruler replied, flashing me one of his rare smiles. “All of you.”
I didn’t get a chance to respond. Or to ask if the bundle that Bones cradled was Denise, then where was Katie? Mencheres grabbed the bloody sword and the rest of Trove’s skeleton, then all of us were catapulted into the air. Before we reached the roof, a hole blasted open, allowing us to pass through without impact. Then the empty windows on the first floor changed, the metal frames splaying outward like bare limbs reaching up to the sky.
We rushed through them and into the night, leaving nothing behind in the ruined building except blood and the smell of sulfur.
Thirty-seven
Thirty-seven
Mencheres whisked us back to Chicago, but not to the large estate he shared with Kira. Once we reached the outskirts of the metropolitan area, we dropped down at the back of a two-story church.
It was well after midnight, so no lights were on inside. All the noise from the surrounding buildings made it impossible to discern if it was empty, though. It might be late, but parts of Chicago were still very much awake, and we were right outside the busiest district of the city.
Bones shifted the bundle he held and followed Mencheres to the side door. With how fast Mencheres had propelled us here, I hadn’t been able to confirm who was in the coat because the wind had snatched away my words. Now, the question fired out of me like a bullet from a gun.
“That’s Denise, isn’t it?”
The side door opened, and Mencheres went inside. Bones glanced back at me, hesitating.
“Yes.”
Relief turned my knees to jelly. Joy kept me upright, and anxiety caused my stomach to lurch. I could still see two distinct pieces beneath the coat Bones held.
“That’s Denise?” Tate said incredulously.
Ian let out a low whistle. “You’re right; Charles will kill you, and that’s only if she comes back from this. If she doesn’t, he’ll keep you alive so he can torture you for decades.”
Fear for my best friend caused my voice to tremble, not concern over Ian’s prediction.
“Can she come back from this? Sure, other demons said only bone of the brethren could kill them, but decapitation kills a hundred percent of the rest of the population.”
“Reckon we’re about to find out,” Bones muttered.
Then he disappeared inside through the same door Mencheres had. I followed them, too worried about Denise to comment about the irony of choosing a church to see if someone branded with demonic essence could resurrect herself.