Slayer(71)

“So you believe me? About my dream?” I look hopefully toward Leo. His jaw is clenched. He nods, once. It hits me how worried I was that he would join his mother’s side. His unquestioning support this morning meant so much more to me than I realized.

“Of course!” Eve says. “Now, I’m not discounting my theory that as a Slayer your senses are so fine-tuned that you knew he was sick, and your dream was a way of communicating that to yourself. But I’m also not discounting that it could very well have been something demonic. I’m looking into it, and I’ll let you know as soon as I find anything. In the meantime, I don’t think any of us are in danger, but if you feel we are, or you dream something similar, come to me immediately.”

I nod, relieved. At least Eve believes in me. Leo too, though he’s being weird again. He’s always like this around his mom. It must have been hard, working with her. As both her son and her subordinate. Like Artemis and our mom.

“Did you need something else, dear?” Eve smiles encouragingly.

Right. The real reason I came. I wish I could leave right now, firmly in Eve’s good graces. I fidget with the delicate spoon in front of me. “I, uh, messed up. Like, really bad. Like, the worst way a Watcher can mess up.”

Eve puts her hand over mine. “You can’t mess up in the worst way a Watcher can, because you’re not one. You’re a Slayer. So tell us what happened, and we’ll help.”

It’s such a mom thing to say. I don’t get that often. I actually can’t remember the last time I had a mom thing said to me. “Right. Okay. See, there was this demon?” I blurt out the whole story as fast as I can. But I stumble when I get to the part where I’ll have to tell her about my mom killing the second hellhound in secret. Eve can tell I’m leaving something out. She raises an eyebrow, and I slouch.

“My mom,” I say. “There was another hellhound. It found me in the village, and I wanted to keep the villagers safe, so I led it back here. Which I know was the wrong move!”

“I don’t think it was.”

“You don’t?”

Eve’s warm smile confirms her statement. “You were protecting innocents, and you knew there were weapons and other capable people at the castle. It was the right decision. You need to trust your instincts more. You have them for a reason.”

A rush of warmth better than the tea fills me. “Well, I didn’t kill it. My mom did. But then she didn’t tell anyone else about it. Which is weird, right? We went on lockdown for the first one. It was almost like . . .”

“Almost like she expected the second one,” Eve fills in for me. Concern creases her brow. “Or at least knew it was hunting something other than us and we weren’t in danger. This demon in the shed—whom you suspect was the target—do you know what he was running from?”

I tell her about the demon drug dealing, the marks on Doug’s wrists, the connection to the pit-fighting organizers. And then I bite my lip. “But I think it’s less about who he was running from than who he was running to. He said he had a contact. Someone who made deals with demons. Smythe. And now Bradford Smythe is dead.”

Eve coughs on her sip of tea. “Wait. You think Bradford Smythe is connected?”

“Maybe. It explains why I had that dream, and makes it more likely it was demonic, right?”

Eve leans back, setting down her teacup. “It does indeed.” She taps her red fingernails on the saucer, then speaks again. “But did the demon say it was Bradford Smythe specifically?”

“No, he just said Smythe.”

“There’s another Smythe in the castle.”

I lean back, feeling like I’ve been punched. My mom. Of course. What if my mom was his contact? If she knew Doug was coming, she wouldn’t be surprised by the hellhounds hunting him. She would have known the hellhounds weren’t hunting us specifically. But would she really risk the castle, all of us, for a demon?

But hadn’t I sort of done the same thing by keeping him secret?

I rub my forehead. “Well, we can’t ask Doug, because Honora followed me to the shed, and we fought.”

“You fought Honora?” Leo looks alarmed.

I can’t help but smile a little. “You won the bet.”

His face cracks into his own smile, but it looks sad. “I knew I would.”

“Anyway, Doug got away. I think Honora’s connected to the group that was holding Doug captive. He knew her. She took off when he disappeared. Probably hunting him. But my money’s on her never bringing him back here. I think she’d return him to his captors.”

“What happened while we were away? How did things spiral this far?” Eve straightens, radiating strength. “Well. It’s up to us to fix things. And we will. Because that’s what we do. First things first, I’ll go speak with your mother.”

“Don’t do that!” I squeak. “If you ask about any of this, she’ll figure out I’ve been training. And if she knew that, she’d send me away for sure.”

Eve shakes her head. “I would never let that happen. She kept your potential hidden from us for all those years; she’s not sending you away now that we know what you are. You’re not just a Slayer. You’re our Slayer. Let me handle your mother. We’re your Watchers; our job is to support you.” She reaches across the table and squeezes my hand. I squeeze back, more grateful and relieved than I can say.