Dani raised an eyebrow.
“Indian fathers have a very specific blueprint for their sons. Necromancers doubly so.”
“Are you scared of him?”
Raj shook his head. “No, it’s not— Never mind. I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you could understand. Let’s just say there’s no disobeying Hasan Dasari.”
Dani nodded, though she bristled at the idea that she wouldn’t understand. If he took the time to explain, she thought she would. “You never answered my question.”
“Didn’t I?” Raj took a sharp left, the tires squealing against the pavement. He didn’t elaborate as he parallel parked along the street, nestling his monstrosity of a car beside other vehicles that cost more than Dani would make in five years. He cut the engine and reached for the door handle.
“Raj, wait.” Dani grabbed his arm, and as her fingers wrapped around his skin, something warm bloomed in her chest. She let go, but he was already turning back to look at her, releasing the door. Through the window, Dani could see the party spilling out of the mansion, and the bass from the stereo was already shaking the car. “You can’t honestly expect me to waltz in there, no questions asked.”
“No one said waltzing was a requirement.”
“Raj.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He leaned back against his head rest, and he suddenly looked much younger than Dani first thought, probably closer to twenty than twenty-five. “If I have to be what I am,” he said, sidestepping the word necromancer, “I need lines I won’t cross. Something to keep whatever might be left of my soul intact. And I swore when I took over the club that I’d enforce that line.”
He paused, running a hand through his long hair, wincing when his fingers brushed too close to his injury. “Everyone who makes a deal in Obsidian is supposed to fully understand what they’re giving up. That’s my line. I will not condemn a soul without their informed consent, and I certainly wouldn’t permit this kind of living possession.”
Dani smiled. “You sound like a doctor. Some demonic version of ‘do no harm’.”
A flicker of warmth curved the corner of Raj’s lips, but it disappeared before it could blossom into anything more. “That woman you’re helping, she was tricked into making a deal before she fully understood the implications. I can’t let that happen in my club without consequences.”
“She might have made the same choice, even if she had known.” In the few moments of talking to the real Lana, Dani could tell the woman would do anything to save her sister.
Raj looked at Dani then, a gaze so penetrating and raw that she struggled not to flinch away. “This is the only way I can reduce the harm of what I am, Danika. I won’t tell anyone who you are. I’ll make sure we help Lana and her little sister.” He reached out a hand, like he meant to hold hers, but diverted at the last second and rested his fingers against the gear shift instead. “Do you trust me?”
Dani swallowed, her mouth suddenly too dry to speak. She felt as though she held Raj’s battered heart in her hands. It fluttered wildly, a skittish thing ready to bolt. She nodded.
“Right then.” Raj swung out of the car, leaving Dani scrambling after him. “Let’s see a man about a demon.”
Inside the house, the party raged so fiercely, it overloaded every one of Dani’s enhanced senses. The music’s heavy drums and pounding bass crushed her thoughts out of her head. The flashing lights and bodies covered with neon paint flooded her vision. Incense, sweat, and more than a little marijuana permeated the air until it was hard to breathe.
Dani hated every bit of the overload. She wanted to run. She would have if not for Raj’s steadying hand against the small of her back. His voice, smooth and sultry, was the only thing she could make out above the noise. He told her the house belonged to a childhood friend of his, the man most likely to know how to help Lana. Someone who’d be willing to provide said help to a hunter like Dani.
They searched the perimeter of the house first, checking the kitchen, patio, and even the billiard room. When they’d covered the entire house except for the crush of bodies that had transformed the grand entrance and dining room into a giant dance hall, they were left with no other choice but to dive into the fray.
Partygoers shot them dagger-sharp looks as they tried to push their way through. Dani’s already overloaded senses threatened to drown her. With so many sweaty bodies pressing against her, so many glancing touches, she wanted to disappear. To scream. When another highly intoxicated man jostled into Dani, her hands curled into fists. Before she could strike the man down, strong arms looped around her stomach and pressed her tight against a firm chest.
“Breathe, Dani.” Raj’s voice hovered at her ear, worming in despite music that shook every cell inside her body. “These are all humans,” he said, moving them through the crowd in time with the music, blocking her body from wayward arms and jostling dancers. “I don’t think you want to hit them.”
“I wasn’t going to hit him,” she grumbled.
“Liar,” he said, but his body started to move in beat with the music. “We should probably dance. We don’t want to attract suspicion while we look for my friend.”
A shiver traveled down her spine, and her body melted into Raj. She wanted to dance with him. Wanted to forget about all her responsibilities and let herself get lost in the thrum of music and the steady presence of Raj pressed against her.
Before Dani could say anything, Raj went still, his laugh tickling against her ear. “Never mind. There’s Spencer.” He raised a hand to point.
Dani followed the path to a pair of men dancing near the center of the room. They were both undeniably handsome and completely lost in each other. The white man with a shock of deep blue curls turned to face the tall Latino dancing behind him. Their fingers twined together, and the shorter man accepted a kiss that was far from chaste.
Even though she’d witnessed a succubus grind all over Raj, something about the connection between these men made her cheeks flush. There was something so real about their connection, something the demon could never recreate. She pulled away from Raj’s touch, which suddenly felt far too intimate for their precarious alliance. “Which one’s Spencer?”
Raj ignored her and approached the dancing men. “Spence!” he shouted, his voice barely carrying over the music.
The blue-haired man glanced over his shoulder, though Dani couldn’t imagine how he’d heard his name called over the noise. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, but when he saw Raj, the widest grin split his face.
“Raj!” The man flung himself at the necromancer, hugging him tight. “What are you doing here? Who’s this?” He sized up Dani as she approached.
“Can we talk in private?” Raj glanced behind Spencer, where his date was slowly coming toward them.
“Of course.” Spencer reached for his dance partner’s hand. “You remember Adrian, don’t you?”
Raj smiled. “Nice to see you again.”
Adrian raised Spencer’s hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “I assume Raj is going to steal you away for the night?” The man sounded disappointed but unsurprised.
“Hopefully not too long,” Spencer said, casting an assessing look at Dani. “I’ll come find you when we’re finished.”
The man nodded and disappeared into the crush of dancing bodies.
Spencer watched him go, something soft in his eyes, before nodding for Raj and Dani to follow. He led them upstairs into a linen closet, where he pressed on the back of the shelving and the whole wall swung out, exposing another set of stairs. Dani got the distinct impression that she could be killed in this secret floor and no one would ever find her body, but she forced herself to follow anyway.
If things went sideways, she still had Kiva and Poe on her side.
The stairwell gave way to a large room. Shelves lined the walls and were filled to bursting with leather-bound books, clear glass jars of varying sizes, and neatly arranged wooden boxes. A large work table sat at the ce
nter of the room with beakers and hotplates. The whole room had the feel of a chemist’s lab, and it was neater than Dani would have guessed, given the rave happening downstairs.
When the door closed behind them, blocking out the last of the music, Spencer finally turned to face Dani and Raj. The fun party boy disappeared completely, leaving behind a young man with sharp, inquisitive eyes and the beginnings of a frown. “What’s wrong?”
Raj looked affronted. “Why does something have to be wrong?”
“Really?” Spencer cocked his head to one side and gave them both an apprising look. “You show up at one of my parties, with a girl I’ve never seen before, and need to speak in private? If that isn’t code for Raj-Is-In-Trouble, I don’t know what is.”
Before Raj could try to deny Spencer’s claim, Dani jumped in. “Who are you, exactly? And how many times has Raj played the damsel in distress?”
Spencer laughed, a full-bodied sound that filled the entirety of his secret lab. “I’m Spencer Owens,” he said, extending a hand. “Always a pleasure to meet someone who gives Raj a hard time.”
“Owens?” Dani asked, her warmth toward Spencer freezing over. “As in the Owens family of necromancers?” While not the most powerful of the five families, Poe had warned that the Owens clan was the most radical. They worshipped demons as gods and were willing to sacrifice anything to appease their twisted deities, which made them dangerously unpredictable.
But Spencer only sighed. “Unfortunately.” He crossed the room and leaned against the work table, completely at ease among his beakers and tinctures. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been thoroughly disowned by my family.”
Dani softened toward him, but only slightly. “Why?”
“It’s a long story, but suffice it to say they didn’t appreciate it when I fell in love with Adrian instead of agreeing to join their demonic priesthood.”
“I believe your ‘heretical views of your demon masters’ was another of your father’s common refrains,” Raj added, and Dani couldn’t help but wonder why Raj felt so stuck when Spencer seemed to have escaped without too much trouble.
“And what views are those?” Dani asked, slipping out of her leather jacket. The top floor of the house was getting too warm for comfort.
Spencer’s eyes grew wide when he spotted the edge of Poe’s tattoo near the lowered neckline of her shirt, and a silent conversation seemed to pass between the necromancers. “Views I’m sure are not unlike your own, Ink Carrier.” Spencer watched for her reaction, but she gave him none. “Do you have a name, or do you answer to Carrier?”
“It’s Danika Frost. Most people call me Dani.” She glanced at Raj. “He thinks you can help me.” Though she didn’t know if she could trust either of these men, Dani explained their predicament as succinctly as she could.
Before she even finished her explanation, Spencer had started picking through his lab, grabbing items from his shelves and arranging them on the table.
“Can you help us?” Dani asked when she finished.
Spencer started the burner on his table and set a wide-mouthed glass jar over the flame. “Yes and no,” he said, grabbing a pair of safety goggles and poured a clear gelatinous substance into the jar. He muttered to himself as he ran calculations and measured out ingredients.
When he still hadn’t spoken after several minutes of focused work, Dani cleared her throat. “Could you be slightly less vague?”
“Huh?” Spencer glanced up, like he’s forgotten they were there. “Oh, sorry. Just . . . one sec.” He continued his calculations and added a drop of something black to the mixture. There was a flash of light, and then Spencer lifted the safety goggles from his face. “Sorry, you have to time the base mixture just right or else it spoils. Now, where were we?”
“Can you help or not?”
“Right.” Spencer pressed his hands into his lower back, stretching. “There’s no way to banish the succubus without undoing the pact. If you kill Pam, you kill Cassie.”
Dani deflated, her heart plummeting to her toes. “So that’s it then? They both have to die?” She didn’t think she could do it. Even though it was her job, even though generation after generation of Frost women had fought and died to eliminate demons from this world, Dani couldn’t stomach the thought of Cassie dying on her watch.
“He’s not done,” Raj whispered, coming to stand beside Dani.
“You could kill the demon,” Spencer agreed. “Or, with a little help from yours truly, you could trap the demon in the back of Lana’s mind, where she wouldn’t even notice Pam’s influence.”
“How?” A flicker of hope ignited inside Dani. She could actually pull this off. She could save Cassie’s sister, just like she promised.
Spencer lifted a gold piece from the table. “I can make an amulet that will suppress the succubus, leaving Lana to live her life as if she wasn’t possessed.”
“Sounds perfect,” Dani said. Too perfect. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch. The only tricky part is in the making of the amulet.” He turned his attention to Raj. “I need the blood of the necromancer who performed the summoning.”
Raj and Dani shared a look. “We don’t know who it was,” Raj admitted.
“Lana couldn’t remember much about him, just that he was some tall white guy with a beard.”
“That doesn’t do us much good,” Spencer mused, which felt like the most crushing understatement Dani had ever heard. “It obviously wasn’t a Dasari, right Raj? They wouldn’t operate in your club without your approval.”
“Not unless they talked to Hasan, but Dad hasn’t been meeting with anyone lately. He doesn’t want anyone to know about his . . . condition.”
Dani noted the pained tone in Raj’s voice, noted the sympathetic look Spencer gave him, but Raj didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t have the heart to tell him that his father’s condition wasn’t as secret as the older man hoped..
“The Conrads and Riveras are too uppity to set foot in a nightclub,” Spencer added, referring to the necromancer families who had infiltrated the upper spheres of human society. The Conrads were respected politicians—well, as respected as politicians could be anyway—while the Rivera clan ran much of the business sector.
“You think a Brennan was dealing in my club?” Raj scowled, and Dani noted the change in his demeanor with interest. The rumors must be true. Despite what should be a symbiotic relationship, the Dasari family controlling the club business while the Brennans ran most of the drugs in town, the families seemed at odds.
Dani stored the tidbit of intel away, along with the other insights into Raj’s world. If she intended to stay in Blackthorn and clear out the infestation of demons, pieces of information like feuds between the necromancer families was bound to come in handy at some point.
“Could be. Although I wouldn’t put it past my family either.” Spencer ran a hand through his hair, and the deep blue locks turned a vivid purple. “My parents blame Raj for leading me astray, so they’re always looking for ways to undermine his legacy,” he clarified for Dani.
Raj snorted, an irritated, petty sound. “I’m not the one who turned his back on the magic of our families. That was all you.”
“Yes, but you were my only non-relative friend. They had to blame someone for my fall from grace. It couldn’t possibly be their horrendous parenting skills.” Spencer rolled his eyes, and Dani found herself liking him so much more than she expected. “Did Lana say anything about the summoning itself? Was it pleading or demanding?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Could you ask?” Spencer pointed at Dani’s bare arms. “I assume you have Ink watching over her?”
How does he know I can speak with them? But there was no point denying it. He wasn’t asking if it was possible, he already knew. “Give me a minute.”
Dani walked away from the pair of necromancers, reaching for the thin thread of consciousness that connected her to Silas and Jasper. She tugged on the tether once sh
e found it, and it was Silas who answered first.
Yes? His voice hissed in her head, so much quieter than if he were beside her but still crystal clear.
I need to speak with Lana. Dani closed her eyes and braced her hand against the wall as Silas’s vision exploded inside her head, running like a movie reel. It was disorienting every time, the way his vision swayed as he moved.
Cassie’s sister sat on the couch, Jasper curled around her feet, holding her tight. Silas slipped up the couch and across the back, coming to rest across her shoulders. Dani’s body rocked and shuddered as Lana flinched under the weight of Silas.
“I need to know everything you remember about the summoning,” she said, hearing an echo of her own words as Silas pushed the thoughts into Lana’s mind.
“Dani? Is that you?” She looked around wildly, trying to shake Silas off her shoulder. The rocking of his vision made Dani’s stomach clench.
“Focus, Lana. I can’t keep this up forever.”
Lana’s head dropped back on the edge of the couch. After a moment, she sat up again, a seductive smile curling her lips. “Forget her,” she said, her voice low and smooth. “I remember plenty.”
“Pam,” Dani said through gritted teeth. “Let Lana back through.”
“No. Wait.” Spencer crossed the room to where Dani was leaning against the wall for support. “The demon probably remembers more. Find out what she knows.”
Dani nodded and focused on her connection with Silas, feeling his sturdy strength flow through her. “Tell me what you remember of the man who raised you, and I’ll let you stay surfaced until I get back.”
“Only if I get to play with Raj again.”
Silas wrapped his thick body tight around Pam’s torso, channeling Dani’s sudden anger.
“Fine, fine!” Pam wheezed, and Silas loosened his grip. “He was handsome, with a rugged scar on the back of his neck. He said I was the most beautiful goddess he’d ever seen and promised to serve me however I saw fit.” Pam smiled, as if lost in the memory, but then she stuck out her lower lip and pouted. “He was such a prude though. He wouldn’t even kiss me.”
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