Pure

Marcus joined our little group. “Telly is keeping all the pures in the ballroom as a precaution.” He paused, glancing down at me with a little frown as if he’d forgotten about me.

“Hello.” I wiggled my weaponlessfingers.

Marcus frowned. “Alex, you’re coming with me.”

I scowled. “I’m not hiding in a room with a bunch of freaked-out pures.”

Aiden turned to me, eyes thundercloud gray. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

I glared right back at him. “Can I be irrational instead?”

Aiden looked like he wanted to shake me… or worse.

“Alex, do not argue with us,” Marcus snapped. “You are going in that room.”

My temper snapped. “I can fight if one of you would give me one of those neat blades.”

Seth grabbed my arm. “All right, little Apollyon—who is not completely trained and is on the verge of becoming a

Pulling my arm free, I whirled on Seth. “I can—”

The lights outside shuddered off, casting the grounds in utter darkness. Temporarily forgotten, I turned back to the glass. Squinting to see through the reflection of the lighted interior, I saw the shadows of the Guards forming a line. But something looked off about the formation. It moved forward instead of away from the house.

“Uh, guys…” I started to back up.

Leon stepped forward. “Miss Andros, get into that room. Now.”

Someone grabbed my arm, pulling me backward. I glanced up, expecting Seth but finding Aiden. His eyes were trained on the glass wall. “Alex, for once in your life—”

A loud crack drew our attention back to the glass. My mouth dropped open. Glass splintered and fissured under the impact of a body.

I flinched back. “Holy crap!”

The glass exploded, shooting large shards through the air as several bodies thudded onto the marble floor. The color of their uniforms made them unmistakable, although blood stained their white shirts and pants. The Council Guards hadn’t even drawntheir weapons. All of their throats had been ripped open, revealing pink and jelly-like tissue. Some still twitched before their eyes glossed over.

Aiden pushed me toward Marcus. “Go!”

With a tight grip on my arm, Marcus rushed across the room as Sentinels entered, drawing weapons— weapons? I broke free and went in the opposite direction.

“Alexandria! No!” shouted Marcus.

“Give me a second!” I skidded over to one of the bodies, trying not to look too closely at it. Wincing, I unhooked a sickle and a dagger. There was no way I was going to be weaponless in a daimon siege.

A shrill, heart-stopping cry broke through all the commotion, drowning out everything else. Shivers of dread dug deep into my muscles as the soulless howls hit an intense pitch. I wrapped my hands around the blades and jerked up. Shadows descended, like a wave of death moving incredibly fast.

Daimons—buttloads of daimons.

The sight of so many pale faces—black veins throbbing under papery-thin skin and empty holes where eyes should have been—freaked the holy hell out of me. My nightmares had come alive in vivid, startling detail. There were at least a dozen of them, screeching with mouths full of razor-like teeth. But scattered among them were faces that looked no different.

Daimon halfs.

The Sentinels—Aiden and Seth included—rushed them, disappearing into the mob. Blades clattered and fell to the floor, screams and shouts mingled with the ripping and tearing of clothing and flesh.

“Alexandria!” Marcus shouted. “Let go of me! I have to get her!”

I spun around. A Council Guard pulled Marcus toward the reception hall—toward the stronghold. Another Guard appeared, helping remove Marcus to safety. Taking off after them, I reached them just as they pushed Marcus into the hall and slammed the titanium-lined door shut. Marcus beat on the door, his words muffled by the thick metal separating us.

“This door does not open again.” The Guard looked me straight in the eye. He was the pure—the Guard who’d carried out Telly’s orders.

“Thanks,” I said through clenched teeth. Then, taking a deep breath, I turned around and faced hell.

It was a bloody mess, literally. In that instant I knew that all the smaller scale attacks on the Covenants over the last couple of months had been practice runs. They’d been testing how to infiltrate the Covenant, gearing up for a grand-scale attack on the Council. Mom had warned me, and I’d warned the pures—but they’d dismissed it.

Idiots.

I caught sight of Seth as he engaged a half-blood daimon. He slammed the half in the chest with a booted foot, knocking it to the ground. In a stu

Then there were Aiden and Leon, their backs against one another as four pure daimons circled them. They looked screwed.

Fighting was in my blood, not ru

Leon knocked aside one of the daimons, going blow-to-blow with it. Aiden went after the other two, trying to keep them both focused on him. “Alex, behind you!”

I whirled around, gripping the dagger in my right hand. A female daimon dove at me, but I ducked out of her grasp. Swinging around, I caught her in the chest with my sneaker just as Seth had done. She went down on one knee, and I lurched forward, jabbing the blade into her stomach. Looking through the poof of blue dust, I gri

“Five for me,” he grunted, sinking his dagger into the throat of his daimon.

I flipped the dagger. “Well, la-dee—”

Hands grabbed my shoulders, throwing me backward. I hit the mess of glass and blood, skidding a few feet on my back and losing my grip on the dagger. Stu

“Alex!” yelled Aiden, sounding truly panicked.

It leaned over me and sniffed. “Apollyon…”

I could easily remember what’d happened when I’d tried to fight the last half-blood daimon. It hadn’t gone well. Pushing those memories down, I scrambled across the floor. Glass dug into my palms, mixing my blood with the blood of the fallen. My hand brushed against something wet and soft. A thousand gruesome images flashed through my mind of what I’d possibly backed into.

The daimon half—a trained female Sentinel—opened her mouth and howled. She jumped in the air, swinging a Covenant dagger right at my head. There was a popping noise and then she was a ball of flames crashing down on me. I rolled out of the way as she hit the floor, screaming and thrashing.

I jerked toward Aiden. He nodded at me, then lowered his hand and swung at another daimon. Glancing back at the daimon on the floor, I winced. She slowly climbed to her feet, a charred, stinky mess of skin and cloth.

“Good gods,” I muttered, wanting to yak. “Don’t even touch me.”

She opened her mouth, and then her head went in one direction and her body in the other. Leon stood behind her, sickle in hand. “Miss Andros,” he said politely. “I do believe you were supposed to go to safety?”

“Yeah, that was the plan.” I looked around the room. There were a lot of bodies on the floor—some of the halfs who’d been turned, while others were of our kind. Seth had two daimons cornered, fighting rather gleefully. I gri

Aiden followed my gaze. “Leon, that one there counts half for me. So that’s six and a half.” Then he pivoted around, heading toward another daimon who had a Guard pi

Leon shrugged. “That’s okay. I have ten, loser.”

A howling sound spun me around. Two daimon halfs charged, going right for Leon. It was as if I wasn’t even standing there. “It’s about to be twelve,” Leon said casually.