Sage had her knife in hand faster than I could blink. She stopped Joe’s knife before it could land a blow.
The demon’s eyes went wide in surprise.
But he wasn’t so surprised that he’d lost his grip on my wrist. And I couldn’t break free with my pitiful human strength.
Sage made another move at him with her knife, but he blocked her attack.
At the same time, Noah rushed down the alley, his heavenly dagger in hand. I only knew it was a heavenly dagger because he’d told me so—and because it had nearly burned my hand when I’d tried to touch it. (Apparently, us mere humans couldn’t hold heavenly weapons without being burned.) Otherwise, it looked no more magical than the knife Sage was using to attack.
Noah liked to call it a slicer—I guess he thought it sounded cooler than “heavenly dagger.”
As the demon blocked another attack from Sage, Noah jumped on the opportunity to ram his slicer straight through the demon’s heart.
The demon’s mouth opened in horror, and for a moment I saw his true form. Red eyes and elongated, yellow teeth that came down into sharp points.
But I didn’t get to stare at his form for long, because he turned into a human-sized cloud of ash. The ash looked like it was floating in the air for a second. But it fell to a pile on the ground a moment later.
All that remained of Joe the demon were the sharp inhuman teeth on top of the pile of ash.
Noah reached down to collect a tooth, and I shook out my hand. The demon had been holding onto my wrist tightly.
Once Noah placed the tooth in his pocket and stood back up, he faced me, his eyes burning with anger. “What the hell were you thinking?” he said, his voice echoing through the alley. “Were you trying to get yourself killed?!”
I backed away, because right now, he was the one who looked like he wanted to kill me.
Before I could respond, someone materialized a few feet in front of us.
Azazel.
And judging from the greater demon’s frown, the three of us were not who he was expecting to see.
“The trio from Santa Monica…” he said, apparently recognizing us from the ambush on the Pier. His gaze turned to me—I could have sworn he looked impressed—and he asked, “How did you make your aura appear like—”
Noah didn’t allow him to finish. He just reached for his weapons belt, grabbed his dart gun, and shot a dart straight into Azazel’s neck while the demon was mid-sentence.
I had to hand it to him—Noah had kickass aim.
Azazel’s hand went to the dart, and then he flashed out of the alley as suddenly as he’d appeared.
I knew exactly what potion had been inside that dart—it was the one Amber Devereux of the LA witch circle sold us before we left on our journey. It had the power to send anyone with teleportation powers back to the place they’d teleported from last, and to make them unable to teleport for the next few minutes.
It was the only weapon we had against Azazel, since only Nephilim could kill greater demons. So we had to make due with what we had.
“Why did you do that?” I motioned to the place where Azazel had just stood and turned to Noah, frustration blazing in my eyes. Now I was the angry one.
“Do what?” He placed the dart gun back into his belt. “Save all of our asses?”
“Cut him off mid-sentence,” I said. “It sounded like he was going to tell us why the demons are after me. But you cut him off before he could finish!”
“We’ll figure out what the demons want with you,” Noah said. “Just not at the risk of your safety.”
“I’m at risk while we’re demon hunting no matter what.” I held his gaze, refusing to back down. “I seriously can’t believe you did that.”
“I won’t apologize for saving your life.” Given his stern expression, I knew he meant it. He was one of the most stubborn people I’d ever met—beside myself, of course.
“Can we finish this conversation later?” Sage asked, looking back and forth between the two of us in irritation. “Because we need to get out of here. We only have five minutes until Azazel reappears.”
She didn’t have to say it twice.
Without another word, the three of us hurried back toward the hotel, wanting to put as much distance between us and that alley as possible.
20
Raven
We didn’t make it far before someone grabbed me out of nowhere and threw me into a brick wall.
I closed my eyes, bracing for impact.
Nothing happened.
When I opened my eyes, I was standing in a low-lit, dingy bar. A semi-circle of about twenty-five people surrounded me, all of them glaring at me as if I’d done something to seriously piss them off.
The person who had grabbed me—a woman in her thirties—was holding onto both of my wrists and had secured a handcuff around one of them. I glanced to the side and saw Noah, who was also being held down.
Sage wasn’t far behind. She and another one of the strong strangers materialized straight through the wall, like the bricks were made of nothing.
Both she and Noah were also cuffed.
“Rougarou,” Sage muttered, glancing around at the people in the room. “Crap.”
Noah tried to fight the person—the rougarou—restraining him. But two more of them—the two biggest guys in the room—quickly put a stop to that.
The three of us were hurled into three chairs around a table, our wrists cuffed to the legs of the table. Noah and Sage pulled as hard as they could against the cuff, but nothing happened.
“You can’t escape.” A woman a little younger than my mom stepped out from the center of the crowd, and everyone parted to let her through. She had long brown hair, startling gray eyes, and walked with the confidence of a warrior queen from ancient times. “The tables are bolted deep into the ground, and the cuffs are charmed with dark magic to resist even the strongest supernaturals and to prevent you from shifting.”
That didn’t stop Noah from mustering up all his strength and giving the cuff another tug.
Like the woman promised, nothing happened.
“What do you want from us?” Sage asked calmly, staring her down. “Are you working for the same people as the coyotes?”
The woman didn’t reply. Instead, she approached us and pulled each of our cloaking rings off our fingers. She started with Sage, then moved onto Noah, then to me. Of course, when she got to me she didn’t find a ring, since I was still depending on the potion. I wouldn’t have my ring until tomorrow—if we were free from these rougarou by tomorrow.
“She’s human,” the woman who brought me through the wall spoke up. “She didn’t have the strength of a supernatural.”
The lady who had taken Noah and Sage’s rings lifted her eyebrows in surprise. “A human?” she asked, staring at me with a mix of amazement and disdain. “What’s a human doing traveling with two wolf shifters?”
Apparently, my current traveling situation could always be counted on to baffle supernaturals.
“Why did you drag us in here?” I answered her question with one of my own. “What do you want with us?”
Noah glared at me, clearly wanting me to shut up. But I couldn’t help asking questions. We’d done nothing to these supernaturals. In fact, we’d helped them by vanquishing a demon that had been hunting in their city.
They should have been thanking us—not imprisoning us.
The woman placed the two cloaking rings on her fingers. Noah’s was so large that it only fit around her thumb. Then she turned to face Sage. “You know exactly why you’re here,” she said with a knowing smile. “Don’t you, Sage Montgomery?”
“The coyotes didn’t tell me what they wanted with me,” Sage replied with her chin held high. “So no—I don’t know why we’re here.”
The woman narrowed her eyes at Sage. “Don’t play me for a fool,” she said. “The alpha of the rougarou pack deserves more respect than that.”
So, this woman was the alpha. I wouldn’t have guessed i
t—there were lots of men in the pack who looked physically stronger than she was—but I liked it. Girl power for the win.
She also had yet to attack. I hoped it was a sign that she might be willing to hear us out instead of trying to kill us like the coyotes had done.
“Montgomery pack members aren’t allowed on our land,” she continued. “We know what each and every member of your pack looks like. The moment we caught word that unknown wolf shifters were at the Voodoo Queen’s store, I sent scouts to investigate. Imagine my surprise when I learned that Sage Montgomery herself was here.” The tips of her fingers shifted into wolf form, so she could show off her deadly claws. “I should kill you on the spot.”
“Don’t,” Sage said quickly. “We don’t want any trouble. There was a demon in New Orleans, and my hunting partner and I came to vanquish him. We’d just finished before you found us and brought us here. We were heading back to our hotel, and were planning on leaving tomorrow. I swear it.”
The alpha retracted her claws and stared down at Sage. For a moment I thought she was going to say okay and let us go… but there was no way it would be that easy.
“A demon?” She twisted the stolen cloaking rings around her fingers. “I heard rumors that demons escaped from a Hell Gate a few months ago, but I’ve yet to see one myself.”
“It’s not a rumor,” Noah said. “It’s true. We helped all the supernaturals of New Orleans by vanquishing the demon that was here. We don’t want any trouble with your pack. Let us go, and we’ll be out of here by midnight tomorrow.”
“Why wait until tomorrow?” she asked. “If we let you live—and that’s a serious if—you’ll be expected to leave the moment you’re released from our bar.”
“Tomorrow by midnight,” Sage bargained. “I’ll make a blood oath that we won’t harm anyone in your pack for the duration of this visit.”
I couldn’t help noticing her wording—she specified that she wouldn’t harm them only for the duration of this visit. Smart. If another time arose when we needed to fight against the rougarou, Sage wouldn’t be bound by the oath she’d propositioned tonight, since it had a time limit.
“A blood oath with a Montgomery wolf.” The alpha chuckled. “What a day this is turning into.”
“So you’ll do it?” Sage asked.
The alpha stood perfectly still and held Sage’s gaze. Sage looked up at her for only a few seconds before lowering her eyes.
Time with the shifters allowed me to understand what was going on—Sage was showing submission to the rougarou alpha. I could tell by the way that Sage’s jaw tensed that it pained her to submit so easily. But I understood why she was doing it. It was the best way to ensure our safety and to increase the chance of the rougarou setting us free.
“I’ll consider it,” the alpha replied. “Only after you tell me the truth about this so-called ‘demon hunt’ you’re on.”
Noah was quick to jump in. “The mission was given to me by the Earth Angel Annika herself,” he said. “She commanded me to—”
“Not yet.” The alpha raised a hand to cut him off. From the way her gray eyes glimmered, I could tell she had a trick up her sleeve. “How am I supposed to believe any of you without you drinking a truth potion first?”
21
Raven
“Great idea.” Sage sat straighter, relief crossing her face. “I have some truth potion back at the hotel where we’re staying. Let me get it, I’ll bring it right back, and then I’ll drink it and set this all straight.”
The alpha burst into melodious laughter. “How gullible do you think I am?” she asked once she’d gotten control of herself. “First of all, we’ll be using truth potion that I’ve purchased. Secondly, if I let you out of here, you’ll run away and never look back.”
“That’s not true.” Sage held her chin higher. “I’d never leave my friends behind.”
“I’m not stupid enough to trust a Montgomery,” she replied. “Especially one so eager to take truth potion. Which leaves one of the two of you…” She glanced between Noah and me, as if deciding between us.
Noah focused on the wall straight ahead. His eyes were hard—I could tell he hated the mere thought of drinking truth potion. He was the most private person I knew. I had no idea what secrets he was keeping, but I knew that the last thing he wanted was to be forced to expose them in front of an entire pack of strangers.
I was going to have to be the one to drink the truth potion. Which was fine by me, since I wasn’t hiding any big supernatural secrets from the rougarou. Once they heard the truth, I was positive that they’d let us go.
Problem was—if I volunteered, the alpha would likely choose Noah just to spite us all. And if I asked her not to pick me, she’d probably pick me just because I didn’t want to be chosen.
Noah needed to volunteer. Because if he seemed eager to take the truth potion—like Sage had—the alpha would default to me. We’d reverse psychology the rougarou alpha without her realizing what we were doing.
Except I had no way of communicating the idea with Noah without the rougarou hearing my plan.
If my mom were in this situation, she’d tell me to will the universe to do what I wanted. She’d tell me to think about what I wanted and manifest it into happening. Because she literally believed that people could manifest “gifts” from the universe into coming true if they wanted it badly enough.
I’d always thought it was crazy-talk. But right now, I had nothing to lose.
So I took a deep breath, preparing myself. The first thing my mom would tell me to do was to get rid of my doubt that manifesting could work. Apparently, if I doubted manifestation worked, I was asking the universe to prove it didn’t work. So I needed to trust in it myself. I needed to let go of my disbelief.
The idea of manifestation had always seemed so ridiculous to me that I wasn’t sure I could let go of my doubt.
Then again, I used to think that witches, shifters, spells, potions, demons, angels, and everything else in the supernatural world didn’t exist, either.
Why should manifesting be any different?
The rougarou alpha was studying Noah and me, like she was close to making a decision. I needed to hurry up and manifest my will into happening.
Volunteer, I thought, staring straight at Noah and trying to will him—and the universe—to listen to my pleas. If you volunteer, she’ll choose me. I know you don’t want to be forced to spill your secrets in front of all these people. So volunteer. Be eager about it like Sage was. Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer… I repeated it, trying to will Noah to know what I desired.
It felt silly, and I was beginning to think I was being delusional in thinking this could work.
Until Noah straightened, looked the alpha straight in the eye, and laughed. “Why do you even need to think about this?” he asked. “You’re seriously having trouble choosing between me—a shifter—and a human?” He spoke the name of my race like humans were worthless and puffed out his chest in pride. “This is my demon hunt. I’ll take the truth potion, we can get all of this straightened out, and you can send us on our way. It’ll be easy. Just choose me.”
“Thank you for making my decision for me.” The alpha was calm as she spoke, and she zeroed in on me. “The one who will be taking the truth potion is the human.”
22
Raven
The alpha sent one of her minions to fetch the truth potion from behind the bar. Apparently, they kept a stock of different potions back there.
I tried to meet Noah’s gaze so I could let him know he’d done the right thing, but he was refusing to look at me.
Maybe I’d read him wrong? Maybe he really had wanted to take the truth potion?
Honestly, that was more likely than him having volunteered because I’d somehow “manifested” him into understanding my plan.
“You’ve got this,” Sage said to me, and I focused on her, glad to find her looking at me like she believed in me. “Just tell the truth. Not like you’ll have a
n option. But really—the truth will set us free. Literally, in this case.”
I didn’t know how she had it in her to joke at a time like this, but I smiled, grateful for the encouragement.
A tall rougarou man returned with a vial of light blue potion and handed it to the alpha. I still didn’t know the alpha’s name, but I doubted formal introductions were going to happen until she decided she could trust us or not.
She pulled a chair up right in front of me and situated herself in it. “What do you know about truth potion, human?” she asked.
“My name is Raven.” I didn’t care what prejudices the supernaturals had against humans—I was a person, and I deserved to be called by my name. “And I know that after someone drinks truth potion, they’ll be magically bound to tell the truth as they know it.”
The last bit was the most important part—the truth potion could only get people to tell the truth as they knew it. If I didn’t know the answer to a question, I wouldn’t be able to answer it truthfully, no matter how strong the potion was. Also, if what I believed to be the truth was actually incorrect, I’d still answer with the truth as I believed it to be.
“Very good, Raven,” the alpha said. She wasn’t being warm and fuzzy, but at least she was acknowledging my name. “Either your companions taught you well, or you knew about the supernatural world before meeting them. I suppose we’ll find out soon, won’t we?”
I didn’t have time to reply before she uncapped the vial, reached forward, and emptied the light blue liquid down my throat.
23
Raven
The truth potion tasted fruity and sweet, like the light blue shaved ice I used to love eating at fairs.
A few seconds later, I felt calm and relaxed. On one level, I knew this was because I’d just consumed truth potion. But the rougarou around me no longer looked threatening. All of the tension I’d felt since being pulled through the brick wall and into their supernatural bar disappeared.
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