Demon Inside

Winston sighed. “I’d say you were overestimating Orion’s capabilities, but after what he did—what he tried to do—with the Accuser, I don’t know I’d believe it myself.”

“He was a buddy of Temp’s from way back,” Greyson said. “Who knows what they talked about?”

They were silent for a moment, then Winston nodded. “I guess it’s worth a—What the hell?”

Megan had already started to jump away when Greyson’s arm caught her and pushed her back, trying to put more distance between her and Orion Maldon as he began seizing.

Pinkish foam oozed from between his tight lips and ran down his chin. He flopped out of the chair, onto the floor, a high-pitched sound, a keening, coming from his throat. Megan’s demon heart twisted and wiggled; her fingers dug into Greyson’s hand.

“It’s her,” she whispered. “Greyson it’s her, you have to do something, you have to stop her—”

He didn’t argue, or say it was impossible, even though she knew it should have been. He didn’t ask how she knew. He just crossed the room to the fireplace and picked up the poker, holding it in front of him like a baseball bat.

Megan clasped her hands over her face, but couldn’t resist peeking out through her fingers. She didn’t want to watch this, but it was like a gory accident—no. Not like a gory accident. It was a gory accident, about to happen in the middle of the antique oriental rug on the floor of Greyson’s lovely study, and in her panicked state she didn’t even care. She just wanted the threat gone. She couldn’t face Ktana Leyak again, not in her current state. Her demon heart might be pumping merrily away in her chest, but the human one had had just about all it could take.

Orion started to swell, the thin navy fabric of his shirt ripping down his spine to reveal flesh mottling blue and purple. Greyson raised the poker and started to swing it down, but Winston caught it. The sound of the metal hitting his flesh made Megan wince. How had he not just broken every bone in his hand?

“My rubenda,” Winston said.

“Sorry.” Greyson dipped his head and handed over the poker, while sweat trickled down Megan’s temple and she clenched her fists to keep from grabbing the fucking poker herself. What was the matter with these two? Didn’t they realize how close they were? That they didn’t even know if this would work?

Winston brought the poker down in a savage arc. Blood and tissue spattered everywhere as Orion’s head exploded like a cockroach under a brick.

Someone shrieked, long and loud, raising the hairs on the back of Megan’s neck. For a moment she thought it was her, but it wasn’t. This came from elsewhere, circling the room, brushing past all of them before disappearing with a tiny pop.

“Eshti raika,” Winston gasped. His casual dove gray trousers and white shirt were spotted with gore. Megan looked down; she and Greyson both resembled extras from the set of a slasher film. “How did that happen?”

“She must have been in there the whole time,” Greyson said. Megan thought he looked a bit pale. She was certain she was. Her skin was numb. “She must have called and turned him in to Vergadering, Meg, just like she got you arrested last week.”

“She—” Megan stopped. Of course Ktana Leyak had tipped off the police. They’d said it was a female voice.

“And she heard our conversations.” Greyson raised a hand to his head, pinching the bridge of his nose for a second. “Now she knows the story of your father and Orion—if she didn’t already. She knows something about the layout of this house. She knows you two figured out why some demons are exploding.”

“We’re not sure of that,” Megan said. “It’s just a theory. There’s no proof, since every house has lost at least one demon and…they can’t all have attacked my Yezer. Can they?”

He met her gaze. “Anything’s possible. Mine are ordered to leave yours alone, but personal squabbles happen all the time.”

A weight she didn’t know was still on her shoulders lifted. Not much of a relief, but a relief just the same. She nodded, her lips curving into a slight smile.

Winston cleared his throat. “I haven’t ordered any of my rubendas to go after your family either, Megan.”

“I know. Thanks.”

“That doesn’t mean the other Gretnegs haven’t,” Greyson said. “Unless…unless she’s been possessing them, in order to attack yours, and not the other way around. Who’s been attacked, Meg?”

Her evening bag sat on the desk, behind Winston. He followed her pointing finger and handed it to her, with that particular uncomfortable air most men had when touching a woman’s purse. Like it was going to explode and spray them with tampons and cooties.

She pulled the lists out and handed them over.

“Okay.” His dark eyes sca

“You think she was trying to convince them to leave?”

Greyson nodded.

“But I’ve lost some too.”

“Perhaps they agreed to join her, but something went wrong,” Winston said. “Perhaps it’s their co

“Then how are they managing to leave me?”

“They’re doing it themselves.” Greyson shrugged. “You’re co

“You’re probably right,” Winston said, “but it doesn’t explain how she managed to possess Orion. That shouldn’t have happened. He should be too powerful.”

“Unless he invited her.”

Both men looked at her.

“Well, I don’t know,” she said, a little defensively. “Orion obviously liked to play with the big boys, right? If he tried to do some sort of deal with the Accuser sixteen years ago, why wouldn’t he try something else now?”

“To get her in here,” Winston said. His blue eyes—so like Orion’s and yet so different—lit up. “To get to you, my dear. Your little Meegra is her goal after all.”

“Yes, we already knew that,” Megan said, with a businesslike impatience she didn’t feel. “But—”

“Your demon is unspecified,” Greyson said. “It could become anything, since you haven’t done the Haikken Kra. She might not have known that before.”

“She had to know it.”

“She might not have known what it meant.”

Winston snorted. “That’s a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? The Ancient Ones aren’t stupid, Grey.”

“But we’ve never had anyone quite like Megan either. She hasn’t tried to possess her, right?” He glanced at Megan. “She hasn’t, has she?”

Megan shook her head.

“So she’s afraid of you.”

“She hasn’t tried to possess you either.”

Greyson shrugged. “She wouldn’t. She’s not capable of possessing other demons unless she’s somehow co

“Or maybe she said she wouldn’t.” Winston glanced around, then picked up his glass from the desk behind him and took a swallow. “If she told him she just wanted to eavesdrop and Orion thought he’d be killed in the morning anyway, why wouldn’t he let her in?”

“That would explain why she didn’t manage to materialize, too.” Greyson sat and pulled Megan down to sit beside him. Her legs ached. She hadn’t realized how stiffly she was holding them, her knees locked in an attempt to stop them shaking. “She doesn’t get power from other demons. Remember what I told you at Mitchell’s, Meg? Leyaks are generally dangerous to humans, not other demons. They kill people—sometimes they possess them, but usually they just steal their energy. That’s why she hasn’t been able to stick around for very long when we’ve seen her. She’s trying to do something she’s not meant to do.”

“But she did possess a human, at the café.”

“An old man,” he said. “Elderly and in poor health. He didn’t have the energy to power a flashlight, much less a demon.”