A Darker Past (The Darker Agency #2)(55)

My heart pounded so hard I thought it might leap from my chest, and I called out. There was no answer. I darted for the stairs, taking them two at a time. Mom called out for me to stop, but nothing short of the apocalypse was going to get in my way now. There was a stillness in the air that made it hard to breathe. If we were too late…

No.

When I reached the top, a lump formed in my throat. The second floor of the Belfair house was in ruin, worse than the first. The curtains at the other end of the hall were singed and still smoking, and the antique table that I’d tripped over a thousand times since first grade was nothing more than splinters scattered all over the hallway.

I was rooted. Too afraid to face what the silence might mean. Terrified that somewhere in the ruin and rubble, I’d find my best friend just like Jana. Lifeless and cold.

I had to force my feet to move. Ten steps. Twelve, maybe. I was at the door to Kendra’s room. Sucking in a breath, I turned the corner and stepped inside. It was no better than the hallway. In fact, it was worse if that were possible. Unrecognizable objects lay in hundreds of pieces across the floor. But the destruction wasn’t the focal point. The only thing I could focus on was Cassidy, pale and kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room.

“What happened?” I demanded, dropping down in front of her. She didn’t answer, and I pretty much lost it. I grabbed her shoulders and shook as hard as I could. “What the hell happened?”

A minute later, someone was pulling me to my feet and dragging me across the room, away from the witch. I clawed at the air, desperate for a piece of her as Mom’s soft, controlled voice filled the air. “Cassidy, where’s Kendra?”

No answer. Cassidy blinked, but that was about it.

That’s when I lost it. I tore free of Dad’s grip and lunged for Cassidy. If Kendra wasn’t here, then there was really only one possibility. There was no body… “He took her, didn’t he? Didn’t he?”

That seemed to snap her out of the haze. “Yes,” she said, finally looking up. “The monster took my daughter.”

Her admission made the anger boiling up inside me ten times worse. If this was just a fraction of what Lukas felt when Wrath was with him, of what he still felt, I could understand his lack of control. My mind spun with dark possibilities. Painful, agonizing things I could do to get back at the coven leader. “This is your damn fault,” I raged, slapping her hard across the face. “If you’d just worked with us. If you’d just put aside your petty bullshit, this wouldn’t have happened.”

She might have been in some kind of shock, but she was still Cassidy Belfair. She climbed to her feet and shoved me hard. I didn’t take the hint. I rounded again, and it was only because Dad grabbed me around the waist and swung my body away that I didn’t rip her to shreds.

Or, at least try to.

“Jessie, be calm. This isn’t going—”

Lukas came up beside him and reached for me, but I pulled away.

I let out a scream. It launched from my throat like a missile and echoed in my ears. Inhuman. It sounded inhuman. Demonic. There was no reason to listen to the rest of whatever platitudes he was going to offer. It wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t keep Kendra safe. I dived for the shadows.





Chapter Twenty-Two


I knew it was against Lucifer’s rules for anyone in the Shadow Realm to help us with Gressil, yet still it was the first place I went after shadowing out of the Belfair house. I found myself outside the door to Valefar’s office, itching to knock, while at the same time, desperate to run. Of all the places I could have gone, why did I bring myself here? To the one place I didn’t want to be a part of.

“Don’t just stand there warming the tile, Cookie Puss. Come in.” The demon’s disembodied voice floated through the hall, followed by the slow creak of the opening of the door.

I rolled my eyes and stepped inside. He was lounging on that damn chaise with a bowl of grapes and a light blue drink with a tiny umbrella poking out.

“You’re here, and I haven’t even summoned you. Careful, little demon. I might start to think you like me.”

“Like a pile of demon shit,” I mumbled. “Look, I know you were ordered not to help me, but—” The grapes and drink disappeared. Actually, the entire room did. I blinked. Just once. When I opened my eyes, we were sitting at the table in an elegant-looking café with cloth napkins and a wine rack that would have made Paulson crap himself.

Valefar stabbed a potato from his plate and popped it into his mouth. “For the sake of getting Gressil tucked away nice and neat, I’d love to help, but you heard the big boss.”

“Fine,” I said, annoyed. I didn’t want to call him on the fact that, in my opinion, he’d already tried to help by giving us Samuel’s name. “Then what can you tell me about Samuel Darker?”

“Hmm. Darker. Darker… Sorry. Name doesn’t ring a bell.”

“He took my best friend,” I said, trying against every ounce of sanity in me to use a different tack. “That bastard took her. You don’t have to help me trap him, but give me something useful to help her. Tell me where he would take her.”

“He wouldn’t. She’s probably dead already. He needs magic-infested souls to recharge. She’s a witch, is she not?”