Avenging Angel (The Fallen #4)(63)

But his power had just been lurking inside. And, too late, she saw him for what he was.

One very, very dangerous demon.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN

For as long as Tanner could remember, Cody had been able to steal faces.

Stealing faces. That’s what they’d called it when they were kids. Cody had learned the trick by accident. He’d been trying to shift into a panther. How many times had he tried? Over and over, only the shift had never worked. He’d been so angry. So tired.

Their father had been yelling at him. Getting ready to swipe out with his claws because Cody was such a “f*cking failure!”

Then the change happened.

Cody had taken their father’s face. Become him in an instant.

Cody couldn’t shift into an animal. Couldn’t become the panther. But he could borrow the face and body of any person he saw.

Their father had been pissed when he’d seen the change. Pissed—and far from impressed. Turning into another person didn’t amp up Cody’s powers.

Animals were what mattered to him. Panthers had the power.

Cody’s little trick had been useless to the old bastard.

Tanner had taken the attack that his father launched. He’d been the one to scream when his father’s claws had sunk into his back while Cody shifted back to his own form.

Tanner took a breath and stared at Cody. The guy was an exact copy of him. Even had his voice. “Enough.”

With a shrug, Cody’s own face and form slowly appeared again.

Most demons could manage basic glamour. Cloaking their eye color was second nature to them. Had to be—the eye trick was an adaptation necessary for their survival. But with Cody, that adaptation went up to a whole different level.

“How many others in New Orleans can do what you do?” Tanner wanted to know.

Cody’s lips tightened, and Tanner realized he wasn’t gonna like the answer even before his brother said, “None. You’re looking at a one-hit wonder, bro. No way can the others manage what I do.”

“There has to be another!” Marna said at once. “There has to be.”

Damn right there did. Tanner kept his stare on Cody. “You find out who the other demon is.”

“I’m telling you, there is no other—”

“Because he took my form,” Tanner said. “He took my face, my body, and he tried to kill a cop.”

Cody’s mouth hung open in surprise.

“And he took my form,” Marna said, voice tight. “He went into an alley, and he killed two shifters, all while he was using my face.”

But Cody was shaking his head. “Th-there’s no other! Just me!” His hands trembled at his sides. “Don’t you think I’ve looked for others? Do you think I want to be the only freak out there? It’s not just about demon power. It’s about the shifter blood in me. I can shift, but only into other people. No one else can do that!”

“Someone else has to be doing it.” Tanner was adamant. Because if there wasn’t someone else. Fuck, no . . . it’s not him.

Cody couldn’t be setting him up.

But...

But he could be after Marna’s blood, a sly voice whispered in his mind.

Now that Cody knew just how powerful it was, just how much people would be willing to pay for it, had he been tempted?

Money had driven plenty of people to murder.

Not him. Tanner wouldn’t believe it. Not yet.

“Find him,” Tanner said again, and he knew by the tense expression on Cody’s face that his brother understood what he was saying—and what he wasn’t.

“It’s not me,” Cody whispered.

Tanner nodded, but he saw the flash of fear on Marna’s face. He might be willing to trust his brother, but why would she? Why should she?

He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Trust me.” She didn’t have to trust Cody.

She nodded, and for just a second, time seemed to slow for him. Did she realize what she was doing?

“But what’s gonna happen with you?” Cody wanted to know then as he rocked forward nervously on the balls of his feet. “Your captain is dead. You can’t just go waltzing back to the station now.”

No, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t be heading back, not until he was sure the other cops weren’t about to turn on him, too. “We’re staying low.” He hunted better in the dark anyway.

“I hope you make that damn low,” Cody told him. “Because as long as you keep staying with her . . .” An incline of his head toward Marna. “You’re at the top of the supernatural hit list.”

Bring it.

“I’m getting off that list,” Marna said as her fingers tightened around Tanner’s. “I’m going to see Sammael right now, and I’m getting off that list.”

Easier said than done.

And the truth was . . . he didn’t want her to get that deadly power back. If she killed when she touched, would she pull away from him? Be afraid to touch him?

But if she wanted to see Sammael, he’d take her to the Fallen. Hell, there probably wasn’t anything that he wouldn’t do for her.

“Twenty-four hours,” he told Cody with a hard stare. Because it was time to move. “We each do our hunting, then we meet back here.” Plenty of time to kill.