Burn (Dark in You 1)

“Kendra?” echoed Tanner, who was lounging on Harper’s left.

Keenan nodded. “Yep. I spoke to her, I spoke to the mother – Beatrice – and I can tell you that Kendra never left Alabama to come here. I don’t know who the she-demon is who’s been staying in our lair, but she’s not Kendra Watson.” He dropped the news like a bomb.

A short silence reigned before people began to curse.

“You’re certain of this?” Levi asked Keenan.

“Absofuckinglutely certain. What I don’t understand is why that bitch has been posing as Kendra.”

Knox didn’t have the answer to that, but he’d find it. “Did you tell Beatrice and Kendra that someone had been passing herself off as her?”

“No,” responded Keenan. “That’s lair business. I made up some bullshit reason for turning up and then I left.”

“Did the real Kendra look anything like the fake one?” asked Tanner.

“A little. Same hairstyle. Same height. Same weight. Same eye color. But I don’t think they’re related. More like someone’s been using Kendra’s identity because they conveniently look alike.”

Larkin folded her arms across her chest. “Why would someone join our lair, posing as someone they’re not?”

“She could be a plant,” said Knox, anger beginning to thrum through him. “There are plenty of demons who’d like to know our lair’s personal business.”

“That’s true,” agreed Levi, moving away from the wall. “She made an effort to get to you. She could have been sent here to seduce you, to find out your secrets.” Levi snorted at the ridiculousness of it.

Keenan took another drink from his flask. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Isla sent her.”

“Why would…whoever she really is…be looking for Lucian if her job was to spy on you?” Larkin asked Knox.

“You have a point,” conceded Knox. “‘Kendra’ went to the meeting in North Las Vegas. Jolene confirmed she met with an imp there, asking about Lucian.”

Levi shrugged. “It could have been a cover, a story to give you in case someone saw her near Harper’s apartment that night.”

“You know,” interrupted Harper, “it’s possible she’s not hiring dark practitioners at all; that they are hiring her.” When no one spoke, she added, “There are plenty of demons for hire out there – they’ll work for the enemy for a price.”

Tanner frowned, pensive. “You could be right. Practitioners probably see you as a way to get to Knox, to weaken him.”

“She really does hate me, though,” insisted Harper. “I felt it in the restrooms.”

“Maybe she just has an issue with your family or with imps in general,” suggested Keenan. “And bear in mind that she’s a real good actress, Harper. In the boathouse, she had me completely fooled about her hatred for Lucian and her distress over her mother.”

“So we can agree that ‘Kendra’ is a plant,” said Knox. “We’re just not so sure who sent her.”

“I’d say it’s Isla,” declared Keenan. “She always seems to know too much about what’s going on. She could have put a plant in every lair, not just ours.”

“It could just as easily be one of the other Primes doing a little spying,” said Larkin. “Knowledge is power.”

“Maybe,” said Levi, “but I think Harper’s right. I think dark practitioners hired her. It really would explain a lot.”

“If that’s true, she’s a lot more dangerous than we thought.” Larkin crossed one leg over the other. “She’ll have many connections to many of our enemies.”

“The way I see it, we have two options.” Tanner leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his thighs. “We can put a bounty on her head or we can act like she’s still fooling us.”

Knox thought about it for a few moments. “We’ll try the latter, see if it brings her home. If she doesn’t appear in a couple of days, we resort to the first option. In the meantime, find out who the goddamn bitch really is.”

Once the sentinels left, Knox turned to Harper, twisting fully in his seat to face her. “You okay?”

She exhaled heavily. “It’s a relief to know that I haven’t been warring with my half-sister. But I don’t exactly like the alternative – dealing with dark practitioners isn’t fun, and they seem to want me dead.”

Knox tugged her closer. “They’re trying to get to me…which means Kendra – or whoever the hell she is – is actually right; you’re being targeted because of me.”

“I’m being targeted because they’re thick as pig shit and probably have a crazy idea that if they can weaken you enough, they can contain you and then use you to fuel their spells,” she corrected.

Maybe. They wouldn’t be the first to assume they could capture and use Knox for something.

“You didn’t start shit with them. They came at you.”

“And they’re using you to come at me, which isn’t at all acceptable to me.” They thought that hurting her would hurt him. It would. He wasn’t sure when she’d become so important to him, but she was so deep under his skin there was no getting her out. When a demon fell, it was quick and hard and intense. He’d never thought to experience it. Hadn’t imagined it was possible for another person to be so vital to him. He didn’t fear it, though. He welcomed it. Knew he’d forever want this little sphinx with him.