to assimilate her into their den of shadows and evil. Isabelle had too much light inside her.
He shook off the thought as soon as it entered his mind.
She didn’t belong with him. No one belonged with him. That was the mistake he’d made, and he wouldn’t make it again. He’d do whatever it took to right that error.
The sooner the better.
They were set up in a small room off the main chapel. Lou had his laptop open and was scanning the area for hot spots, places where demons could pop up from underground.
“Anything yet?” he asked Lou, needing to put his mind front and center on the mission.
Lou didn’t bother looking up from his laptop. “Not yet. Quiet and cold. Nothing’s coming up on the image scans.”
“We should have brought Angelique with us.”
Michael looked up from his perusal of Lou’s laptop. “Are you serious? That would have been a bad idea.”
“Actually, I agree with Dalton,” Mandy said. “Angelique wanted to be used as bait, and if anything would bring the Sons of Darkness out of hiding, it would be her. It’s not like we wouldn’t be on guard this time. We’d have been able to protect her.”
“Exactly,” Dalton said. “Fighting them on our turf is much easier than going down to them. We want them up here.”
“Dalton has a point,” Lou said to Michael.
Michael leaned back in the chair. “I don’t like risking someone else’s life just to make the Realm’s job easier.” He glared at the group of them assembled near the stained glass windows. “Aren’t you all tough enough to handle it?”
Dalton narrowed his gaze. “Are you being purposely insulting, or are you just trying to challenge us so we’ll head underground to get the black diamond and Isabelle?”
“We can do the job wherever it is,” Punk said, his tone low and menacing.
“You don’t really know anything about us, do you, Michael?” Mandy asked, shaking her head.
“No, I don’t,” he replied. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re all so eager to throw an innocent woman to the wolves in order to make your own jobs easier.”
“It’s called strategy,” Trace said.
Even Derek seemed angry. “What do your people do? Pick one way-the hardest way in-and go with that so you can show off your skills? Don’t you consider options?”
A shadow crossed Michael’s eyes at Derek’s words. Dalton didn’t give a shit what had happened to Michael’s team. That was his guilt to live with. He didn’t care to have his own team insulted.
“That’s enough,” Lou said quietly.
Michael held up his hand. “It’s okay. My team always considered options. But sometimes the going-in- gunsblazing-to-hell-with-the-consequences isn’t the best way. Sometimes, that’s how people get killed. We’re demon hunters. We’re trained to do this. Someone like Angelique isn’t.”
“So you ignore the best approach?” Mandy countered.
“No. I always consider every alternative.”
“Then why didn’t you consider me? I was your best option.”
Dalton whipped his head around at the sound of Angelique’s voice. Ryder stood next to her, a grin on his face and a weapon cradled in his arm.
“You were supposed to stay at the castle. With Angelique,” Michael said, frowning.
“Angelique can be very persuasive. She convinced me that her being here is the best way to draw out the Sons of Darkness, so we can rescue her sister and retake the black diamond.”
Dalton smirked. Ryder must be a freakin’ mind reader.
“We were just discussing that option, as a matter of fact,” Mandy said, sauntering over to Angelique and draping her arm over her shoulder. “Are you sure?”
Angelique nodded. “I was sure the first time. I’m doubly certain now.”
Ryder shouldered his laser and stepped fully into the room. “Angie seems to have some kind of connection to the black diamond, and to her sister.”
“What kind of connection?” Dalton asked.
“I can’t really explain it,” she said. “But when I was trapped in that room, I knew the moment the black diamond came to life. It was when Isabelle put her hands on it. And when it sparked up, so did I.”
“Because you touched it in the caves,” Lou offered.
She shrugged. “At first, that’s what I thought. But Ryder laid his hands on it, too, and he said he doesn’t feel a thing.”
“Ryder doesn’t have demon blood. You do. It’s not surprising that it forged a bond with you.”
Angelique pulled up a chair next to Lou. “But it stopped glowing when I touched it. Bart pushed me away, as if I couldn’t make the black diamond do. . whatever it was he needed it to do.”
