“Shift and stand up,” Cade says to me. “Do it,” he repeats forcefully, squeezing my shoulders.
I do, making sure that I am dressed in my usual attire as I Shift.
“Ah, there she is,” Lance says. “I wondered if you would Shift back. You seemed so happy to be Emily. I nearly had you locked down. Just another second and you would have been mine. Seems our sire still has the uncanny knack of swooping in to save you at the very last second.”
CK growls at him and steps forward again. Lance holds his hand up and again he stops. “I can do this all day. You won’t get near enough to me. Not that you could hurt me even if you did.”
“What are you?” I ask. “Why are you doing this?”
“You will find out soon enough. At least who I am. My reasons will become clearer the more I destroy you.”
“You can’t destroy me,” I say with my chin raised.
“No? I have been inside your head. I know your weaknesses. Ah, right on time,” he says as he turns to Xane who has popped in out of nowhere.
“Get away from her,” he snarls, stepping forward.
“Uh, uh, uh.” Fake Lance holds his hand up and shakes his finger at Xane, who scowls, but goes no closer.
“You know what he is?” I ask Xane.
“Yes, I know what IT is,” he says. “You should have told me that bad dream you had the other night was recurring,” he reprimands me. “I could have kept you better informed.”
“Well, isn’t this precious,” Lance says. “One more knight to your rescue.”
“Liv,” Xane says. “Get your sword out.”
I twirl my hand and G.I. makes an appearance. I feel better with it in my hand. I step forward but Lance blocks me as well. It is like walking into a wall, a forcefield so strong it is holding us all back.
“I had hoped never to see that thing again,” he says, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably, as he takes in the hellfire sword. “But it will do you no good against me this time.”
Xane steps closer to me and grabs my hand tightly. “Use me,” he says. “Use my energy to break through it.”
“Oh, well now.” Lance moves closer and peers at us, then casts a quick glance over at CK who is looking like he is about to rip someone’s head off. “Look at you two. Quite the power couple. Kept that quiet, didn’t you?” he tuts at us. “As much as I would love to carry on with this, whatever it is we are doing here, I am going to let this play out. Daddy dearest isn’t going to be very happy with you.” He laughs an evil laugh and then just blinks out of existence. The forcefield drops and we all stumble forward having been pressing ourselves against it to try and get it to move.
“Power couple?” CK snarls at us. “What have you done, Aefre? I told you no more bonds to nurture!” he yells at me. Cade snickers behind me remembering what I said to him the other day.
“Nothing,” I lie. “You know about the ritual. It may have linked us together more than I first thought but I am not exploring it.”
Xane glares at me for dismissing what he clearly thinks is more than just a link. I ignore him and say, “We have bigger issues to deal with, like that.” I wave my sword in the area where Lance had been standing and CK steps back with his hands up. “Mind where you are waving that thing,” he mutters.
“Sorry,” I say sheepishly and twirl it back to where it came from.
“This conversation is not over.” He glowers at us. “But you are right. This is a bigger issue. What do you know of It?” he asks Xane.
“In Demon folklore, ‘It’, is called The Thirteen,” he says.
Chapter 10
“The Thirteen? What is it?” CK asks.
“Wait, before you answer that, shouldn’t we have everyone present so we all get the information firsthand?” I ask.
“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Cade says. Hm, nice of him to have my back.
“Will you two please go and gather the troops and we will meet you in the library? I need a drink.”
They go off to do my fetching and carrying and I turn to Cade. “Thank you,” I say and give him a hug, which he returns with a stiff one-handed pat to my back. I wonder if it is just me, or if he just isn’t a very affectionate creature in general.