“Not that I’m aware of.”
“Since Renee’s laptop has vanished, could you make a list of contacts? Boyfriends, friends, clients.” Cody frowned. “I suspect someone isn’t who he’s pretending to be and doesn’t want his name seen.”
It was terrifying to think that her own clients, neighbors, banker, Realtor, or even the little old lady next door could be a demon in disguise. “Most of the Scotland and Leesburg clients are separate. I’m familiar with some of Renee’s, but not all.”
“There’s something I haven’t mentioned,” Cody said. “Someone dug up your grave.”
Brodie paused mid-chew. “Shay’s grave? Oh, the empty one.”
Lachlan raised an eyebrow. “Bloody hell.”
“They removed the casket and opened it,” Cody said. “I was going to tell you yesterday, Shay, but Nina and Matilda showed up.”
He could’ve mentioned it last night. “Why would someone do that?”
He pushed back his plate. “To see if it had a body inside.”
“So someone knows she’s not dead,” Duncan said. “When did this happen?”
“Sometime in the last day or two,” Cody said.
“It could be teenage vandals gearing up for Halloween,” Shay said, hopefully.
Cody shook his head. “I wish, but I suspect Anna’s right, and it’s something to do with your father.”
“I thought the demon the Watchers thought was responsible died,” Sorcha said.
“He did,” Cody said. “But someone knows about the secret.”
“Let’s hope the clan wasn’t wrong,” Brodie said. “That wouldn’t make the demon happy, finding out he’s been fooled all this time.”
Shay’s stomach started crawling toward her throat. This wasn’t normal stalker stuff, like on the news and TV, and Renee was in the middle of it.
“I think this is connected to the stuff with Druan,” Duncan said. “We got all the demons on Angus’s list, but even the Watchers suspected there was more happening than just Druan’s attempt to destroy the world.”
Sorcha studied her red nails, her gaze troubled. “What about Tristol and Malek and Voltar? Those dreams I had before. I couldn’t make out all the details, but I saw five men. One was Faelan and one was Druan in human form, but we never figured out who the other three were.”
“Don’t even think it,” Brodie said, crossing himself.
“Who are they?” Shay asked.
“Demons of old,” Bree said. “Faelan saw those three riding with Druan back in 1860 when he was sent to stop the Civil War. They disappeared.”
“Our Civil War?” Shay swung around to look at Faelan. Pain shadowed his face.
“I was sent to suspend Druan. He was stirring up strife and hatred that was turning this country toward war, trying to destroy it from the inside out. At least that’s what we thought, but I found out the war was just Druan’s distraction. He created a virus to destroy the world.”
“Good grief. Is anything what it seems?”
“Not much,” Faelan said. “Demons are involved in most everything bad. Human wars rarely start with humans.”
“What happened to the virus?” Shay asked.
“Faelan destroyed it when he destroyed Druan,” Bree said, her voice ringing with pride. “He saved the world.”
Faelan smiled. “Not without help. If it hadn’t been for Bree and Conall and the other warriors, there wouldn’t be any world.”
Shay looked at Cody, his handsome face set in a worried frown, and for the first time she understood why he tried so hard to protect her. “Could these three demons who were with Druan be dead?”
“Not likely. The ancient ones are hard to kill,” Cody said. “They’re quick and devious. If they’d been assigned to a warrior, we would have heard.”
Sorcha pushed back her plate. “They’ve probably been roaming the earth, creating death and destruction, trying to become eternal. Supposedly they’re behind some of our major diseases. Tristol supposedly created the HIV virus, although no one’s seen him since Faelan did back in 1860. And Druan’s father created the Plague. All this bad stuff humans think is just normal usually starts with a demon.”
“I wish we had Angus’s notes,” Anna said. “He was onto something.”
“Who’s Angus?” Shay asked.
“The last warrior who was sent to find Faelan’s time vault key,” Anna said. “He figured out what Druan was up to, and Druan had him killed.”
This stuff was life and death, not the thrilling games they played as kids, but in spite of its horror, it stirred something inside that Shay couldn’t explain, like a supercharged rush of energy.
“I’ll check Angus’s things again when I get to New York,” Anna said rubbing her eyes. “I should’ve gone straight there after the wedding.”
The wedding. Faelan and Bree hadn’t even finished their reception, let alone started a honeymoon, all because of Shay. Or had it started with Shay’s father, a man she didn’t even remember, who’d lost his wife and child. Well,
