Slayer(104)

“And why I couldn’t knock him over.”

“Yeah.”

“He told you this himself?”

“Brought me a page of a book on cambions. He ripped the page right out, which was difficult for me to forgive. But he wanted to help you, even though he’s part demon. And by the way, what is it with you girls and demons? Buffy and the soul vamps, you and a cambion. Is it a Slayer thing?” His smile fades as he sees the stricken look on my face. As he remembers that I’m not a Slayer anymore. Not really.

So Leo wasn’t one thing or the other. No wonder we had been drawn to each other. I was not quite a Watcher but not quite a civilian. And even when I was a Slayer, I had too much Watcher in me. Too much of an instinct to protect instead of slay. Never all one thing, and therefore having no place to belong.

I didn’t realize I could be both until it was too late.

“Anyway,” Rhys rushes on, “Leo and his mom came back to the castle to get information to try and break through to his father. He thought it would help his mom get back to normal. But then when Eve found out you were a Slayer, she decided to stay. Leo made her promise she wouldn’t touch you. When she killed Cosmina, though, Leo knew he had to get you out. He was tracking his mom earlier this morning, but he lost her. That’s when she attacked Cillian, to distract you and keep you away from Leo.”

“So he really was trying to protect me?”

“Yeah.” Rhys shrugs apologetically. “Where is he?”

“I left him in the woods.”

Rhys’s eyes widen. “Did you kill him?”

“Gods, no. I just got him super high with Doug’s dirty old shirt.” I lift a hand to rub my aching forehead. My fingers tremble. I can barely keep my head up. “Then his mom attacked me. And she won.” I turn back to the window. So Leo was trying to help me after all. But he still lied to me. And he knew all along what was going on. He let me run in circles, suspecting my own mother when his was the evil one. My heart hurts almost as much as the rest of my body.

Artemis reaches between the seats, takes my hand in hers, and squeezes. I don’t regret sacrificing my power to save her. But I can feel the loss everywhere, and it’s so hard not to sink down and cry.

“What’s the plan now?” Rhys asks.

I wait, but no one answers. He’s talking to me. Artemis too is waiting for my plan. They finally trust my instincts, now that I have no power to back them up. Fantastic. Still, I’m a Jamison-Smythe. I’m not totally defenseless. And I’m going to fight with everything I have left. “Eve’s a demon. We’re Watchers. We’ll do what Watchers do best.”

“Research?” Rhys says.

“Babysit?” Imogen offers with a wry eyebrow.

“Spar,” Artemis says bleakly, gesturing to her knee.

“No. We kill the demon. Save the world. Protect the Slayers, even if they don’t know we’re doing it. Even if they don’t care. Eve’s not touching any more of us.” I pause. “Them, I mean.”

The rest of the ride is silent.

? ? ?

Imogen makes it to Naked Grains in record time. I hope we’ve beaten Eve, until I see a familiar matching Range Rover parked next to the motorcycle my mother must have ridden here.

They’re both inside.

We hurry through the parking lot, vacant this long before the store opens. The front door has been smashed in. Glass glitters in the morning light as we step gingerly over it. The rest of the store is untouched. Waiting.

I take them through the tea aisle. “Hold up,” Imogen says, studying the labels. She grabs a fistful of “Dreams of My Enemy’s Weakness” and shoves it in her pocket, then another fistful of something called “Sleep like Death.” That, she keeps clutched in her hand.

We continue on. The employee room door handle has been shot off. I push it open. No one is inside. The door to downstairs is open as well.

We creep down the spiral staircase and into the big room of demons. They’re agitated. Some are moaning, some growling, some pacing back and forth in the tiny confines of their cages.

I hear a voice, too far to make out the words. But close enough to know the tone. “Eve’s here,” I whisper. “And we don’t have any weapons.”

“Actually.” Rhys stares in wonder throughout the room. He gestures to the rows and rows of cages. “We do. Imogen, come with me. Let’s figure out how to open these up.”

“All of them?” She leans close to the nearest cage. A snakelike demon slithers to the bars, sticking out a purple tongue.

Rhys tugs her backward. “That one eats bone marrow. Children’s bone marrow. It will stay in its cage. But some of these are relatively benign breeds. I suspect they’ll help us in exchange for their freedom.” Rhys beams at me, pushing his glasses into place. “I told you my demon encyclopedia was going to come in handy someday.”

“I never doubted you.”

“What are you doing here?” Sean stalks up to us. “Did you do that damage upstairs?”

I shake my head. “No, that would be the succubus here to end the world. Or it might have been my mom. I’m not actually sure who broke the doors.”

“We need to release some of the demons,” Rhys says.

“Like hell you do!” Sean glares. “I was generous last time. You’ll not find me so kind this—”