“I know. I kept secrets too, but we have to stop,” she said, leaning her head on shoulder.
“Shay, I have some bad news. There’s no good way to say it. Lucy is dead.”
Shay’s mouth tightened, and her eyes teared up. “The bones?”
“Aye. I’m sorry.”
“How?”
“She didn’t die in the fire. She was already dead.”
“Was it Ellis?”
“The police suspect him, but they may need to ask you some more questions.”
“Everyone around me is dying. If we don’t stop this thing, everyone I care about will be gone.” She gripped his hand and linked their fingers.
“I’ll fix it,” he said. “I promise.”
***
“Coira wants to know how Jamie’s doing,” Cody said into the phone. Sam and Jamie had been gone only for a few hours, but Coira was like a mother hen with the warriors.
“He’s good,” Sam said. She sounded breathless, making Cody wonder exactly what kind of good Sam meant.
“She said to make sure he changes the bandage and gets plenty of rest.”
“I will. We’re going to check out another lead I have on Anson Masters. Shouldn’t be so hard to find him with that streak of silver in his hair, but he seems to have vanished from the face of the earth.”
“Silver streak?”
“Yes. It’s quite startling, according to the guy at the police station. Why?”
Cody cursed and smacked his fist against the wall. Anson Masters was Malek. “Don’t try to find him. Do you hear me? Don’t. He’s too dangerous.”
“How do you know?”
“I know. Tell Jamie. Tell him that Anson is Malek.”
“Who’s Malek?”
“Jamie will know. Don’t touch Anson. Swear to me.” After she promised, Cody hung up, pissed that he hadn’t thought to get a description of Ellis’s boss. He thought his appearance with the letter providing evidence against Ellis had been a little too good to be true. Malek had posed as Renee’s client while his minion, Ellis, had posed as Shay’s, probably trying to discover her identity. Malek must have gotten the book from Bree’s ex-boyfriend, and Renee probably stumbled onto Malek’s plot and hid the book. Malek must have assumed Renee put the book in one of the tables and shipped it to Shay. How the vampires found out was a mystery, but it put Shay in the middle of a war between vampires and demons.
Why hadn’t Michael assigned Malek to a warrior? Was he going to let the demon slaughter them all?
***
“Ronan, are you all right?” Coira asked. “You hardly touched your dinner.” They were having an early meal so the warriors could start hunting. “You need your strength after giving so much blood.”
“Yeah, you look rotten,” Bree agreed.
He looked like a man tormented, Cody thought. Declan was pissed at Ronan for not telling him about Cam, and Ronan was eaten up with guilt for not warning the clan about the vampires two years ago, even though he hadn’t believed it himself until recently.
“I’m fine.” Ronan glanced at Shay—he’d been doing a lot of that since the transfusion— frowned, and pushed his chair from the table.
“Vampires, demons, both wanting our book. What a mess,” Sean said. He’d just returned from taking the warrior’s body home.
“At least Shay is looking stronger. You’re the picture of health,” Coira said, patting Shay’s cheek as she put down a plate for her. Shay had surprised them all by joining them.
“I actually feel wonderful,” Shay said, sipping her iced tea, “but I had the weirdest dream while I was unconscious.”
“Tell us about it,” Bree said. “We could use some make-believe after this real nightmare we’ve been living in.”
Shay looked almost nervous, first glancing at Bree, then at the others around the table, and finally Cody. “I’ve had similar dreams before. There was a man. He was tall, really tall, and beautiful. He was so bright, it hurt to look at him.” Everyone froze, staring at Shay. “He told me to destroy the demon.”
A loud ding sounded as Cody’s fork chipped his plate. He saw Ronan’s knuckles go white on the door casing, his face pale. “What demon?” Cody whispered.
Shay swallowed. “Malek.”
Chapter 19
“She can’t,” Cody raged. “She’s had no formal training.” They were in the library, where he insisted on talking to the warriors in private after Shay’s announcement, which created pandemonium. As if they didn’t have enough to worry about.
“How can she fight an ancient demon?” Duncan asked.
