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“You really think they’re gone?”

He’d been in the middle of opening the pizza box and depositing a slice on the plate she’d brought along with the glasses, so he waited until he was done before he answered her question.

“I think we won the battle. The war?”

He shrugged and ate a bite of pizza.

Delia had also helped herself to a slice but didn’t look as if she planned to eat it any time soon. Expression troubled, she replied, “So…this is a war?”

“It’s starting to feel that way,” he replied. Probably not what she’d wanted to hear, but he wasn’t about to start sugarcoating the situation. “I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how everything shakes out, though. According to what Ty just said, it sounds like we should have some peace and quiet for a while.”

Maybe that was wishful thinking. But Caleb knew now wasn’t the time to start worrying about where all those demons had disappeared to and what they might do when they decided they’d licked their wounds for long enough, or to puzzle out why they’d wanted his old house and possibly broken into it. Did it also sit on a ley line? If that was the case, why hadn’t they bought it right away?

He supposed it was possible they thought they already had sufficient properties, and his would have been more for insurance than because it was truly needed.

And who had put the whammy on his brakes? Hank Bowers, or one of his lackeys?

Impossible to say, although, considering how things had shaken out in the end, Caleb could see why they would have wanted him sidelined.

And he also wasn’t going to allow himself to worry about whether Aegis was really dead or merely down for the count.

No, right now he was just going to enjoy having Delia on the couch next to him and let himself savor his victory.

Even though he wasn’t sure how long it would last.

She’d only drunk a glass and a half of chianti, not enough to make her even a little worried about driving home from Caleb’s house. They’d eaten pizza and talked, and had both agreed to scour the MLS tomorrow and see if any of the Aegis properties had started popping up as being listed for sale or auction. Delia didn’t know who would be handling all that if the demons really had decamped, but she supposed they must have had some sort of contingency in place to dispose of all the houses and condos they’d acquired.

And midway through their pizza, she’d gotten a text from Marcy saying her clients had finally decided they wanted to put an offer on Caleb’s former house, and yes, she knew tomorrow was Sunday, but would Delia be in the office to get it and respond?

Of course, she’d answered right away and said that would be fine. No way was she going to delay any of this, not when the local housing market might soon be facing a glut thanks to all those Aegis properties being listed for sale. True, Caleb’s old house was updated and ready to go and didn’t need any work, which would always be a bonus for a lot of people, but she still couldn’t help feeling a certain sense of urgency to get the place sold.

Maybe that was why she couldn’t seem to settle down once she got home, and found herself wandering around the place, checking all the windows and doors, making sure nothing had been disturbed in her absence.

None of it had, obviously. Why would the demons have bothered to mess with her house when they’d already known she was right there at the tournament?

She made herself head into the main suite and get ready for bed. It was quite possible that she’d lie awake for a while, since she was still feeling jangly and a little off balance despite the wine and pizza, but she knew she needed to settle back into a regular routine. Tomorrow she’d deal with the offer from Marcy’s buyers and maybe do a little more paperwork to get caught up on the stuff she should have been handling these past couple of days.

Not that she regretted giving up that time to be there for Caleb at the poker competition. Some people might have argued that she didn’t actually do all that much, and yet she knew he’d wanted her there.

That was what friends did for each other, right?

She couldn’t seem to keep herself from thinking about the way he’d clung to her arm as they’d left the casino, the way he’d shuffled along like a man fifty years his senior. He might have tried to act nonchalant about the whole thing, but the confrontation had taken a lot out of him, and she had a feeling it would have been much worse if she hadn’t been there to offer moral support.

The days were getting warmer, but the nights were still cool, so Delia pulled the covers all the way up to her chin. Not for the first time, she found herself thinking it would be much better if she had a dog, a companion who could curl up on the bed with her and make her feel not quite so alone.

But she didn’t have a dog, mainly because she knew that someone who worked her kind of hours shouldn’t have a pet that needed such a high level of attention. She’d dutifully fed the fish when she got home and they seemed just fine, and yet she knew it wasn’t the same thing.

Sleep came quickly, most likely because she was just bone-tired. No dreams at first, just a warm, comfortable darkness.

In that darkness, she saw a man approaching, shadows swirling around him like ebony mist. Because the lighting was so dim, she couldn’t make out much of his appearance, except to note that he was tall and had dark hair.

No, it was his eyes that seemed to catch her and hold her in place, piercing and cold as aquamarine laser beams, utterly ruthless.

Utterly cruel.

She found herself sitting up in bed, her breath coming in short pants. Nothing about the dream should have frightened her so much, and yet cold sweat dripped down her back.

Everything about her room looked completely normal, totally prosaic, and her heartbeat began to slow down as she gulped in some air.

Just a reaction to everything that happened today, she told herself, even though the man in her dream looked nothing like Hank Bowers, or Aaron Sanchez, or any of the others she’d encountered who’d been possessed or influenced by demons.

No, she realized as she settled herself back down in bed.

Whoever the man was…he was worse than any of them.

Much, much worse.

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