“Harrison!” I yell, bursting in without a second thought. “Harrison!” He’s not passed out on the couch, and he doesn’t answer. “Fuck.” I run to his room, throwing open the door. He’s not in bed either. In a mad rush, I look through his entire apartment, including the balcony. “Harrison!” I spin around, hoping and praying I somehow missed him, but he’s not here.
I take my phone out of my pocket and call Harrison. Set to vibrate, I jump when I hear his phone buzzing on the cold granite countertop behind me. I stumble back, leaning against the wall for support. What do I do? This isn’t a regular missing persons case and calling the police would only slow things down.
Panicking isn’t going to help either and I need to think clearly if I want to find my brother—which I will. Demons took him, I know that for sure. Ryan said the transfer of power only works if I agree to the ritual.
The demon is using my twin as leverage.
If I find the demon, I’ll find Harrison. And if the demon is going to use Harrison to get me to agree to anything, then Harrison is still alive—for now.
I call Ethan as I hurry out of the apartment. He doesn’t answer, and I don’t remember if his phone was in the bedroom or not. If he’s sleeping, then he didn’t hear it.
“Hey,” I say, leaving Ethan a message. My voice shakes. “Harrison isn’t here, and demons took him, I know. I have to tell you about the Harvesters. It’s all connected. They want me to agree but I won’t and they took Harrison.” I end the call, not caring that my message was crazy rambling. My pulse bounds the entire way home, and adrenaline surges through me, making my entire body shake.
“Ethan,” I call when I get into the house. “I don’t know what to—” I cut off when Hunter doesn’t come running to greet me. I close my eyes, and I can’t sense him in the house. “No!” I run into my room. The bed is empty, and the smell of sulfur lingers in the air. This demon—Asaroth—has it out for me. He’s pulling out all the stops to get me to agree to surrender my powers. Taking my familiar, my brother and my boyfriend are perfect bargaining chips. But Ethan…he’s no easy target. He grew up hunting demons. He knows their tricks. He’s able to defend himself.
But not when he’s sick.
“Fuck,” I mutter and drop to my knees, blindly reaching under the bed, and find a small clay disc with some sort of symbol etched into it, with blood smeared over top. It’s a hex, and it must have been put under the bed while we were away at Ethan’s house last night. I break the piece of clay in half and stand back up.
Saving Hunter, Harrison, and Ethan means walking right into a trap, but what choice do I have? I’m going to find them, and I’m not going to agree to any sort of power-stealing ritual. I’m going to kill Asaroth, and I’m going to make it hurt.
Romeo pounces across the bed, startling me. I pick him up, kissing his furry little head, and take him with me into the kitchen, grabbing a can of rabbit meat. I give it all to him and lock him in his cage for safe keeping.
Ethan’s bag is on the floor by the bed, and I pull out the dagger along with several other weapons. I attach my dagger as well as a set of throwing knives to a belt. But now what?
“Ryan?” I whisper. “Where are they?”
The image of the old white barn flashes into my head. The barn is gone, but the root cellar is still very much there.
“Thank you,” I say. Pulling my hair into a ponytail, I look around for Ethan’s phone. I don’t have his dad’s number. “Dammit.” I dump the contents of Ethan’s bag onto the ground, but his phone isn’t there. I waste precious time looking for it but give up and move on.
I speed to Ethan’s house and run up the porch steps, getting weird looks from a group of moms out pushing their babies in strollers, and ring the doorbell. A few seconds pass and no one answers the door. I ring it again and cup my hands around my face, looking through the glass on the door.
But the house is empty.
Panic rises inside of me, and I turn around, wanting to both scream and cry. Heat gathers around my fingers, and I press my hands to my thighs as I run back to my car. I drive to the back of the neighborhood, parking along the street. I get out and sprint right into the woods.
I should have found the root cellar by now.