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Yawning, Naomi slid a reference book back on the bookcase in her workspace.

Having finished her most recent project, she’d already cleaned her hands in the sink and was now tidying a few things away.

The rest of the clutter would have to stay where it was, because she had somewhere she needed to be.

At this hour on any other Monday, she would have been pulling a shift at the pizzeria. But the other hostess had wanted the extra hours so she could save cash for her upcoming trip. This made it easier for Naomi to go ahead with plans to meet with Luka this evening.

A week. It had been a week of Luka following through on his intent to get to know her better. He plied her with questions, edging as close to her secrets as he could all while sticking to his promise not to push her. That had made her demon relax a little more around him.

She didn’t get the sense that he was making an active attempt to build something with her. More that he’d simply decided not to fight his wish to learn more about her.

To an extent, it made her uncomfortable. She was used to being ogled. Objectified. Leered at. Hit on. Treated as arm candy. She wasn’t used to having someone around who wanted to know her.

Since turnabout was fair play, she’d tossed some questions his way. To her surprise, he’d been fairly open with her, though he avoided any mention of his family and he never spoke of his illegal business dealings. The latter was no surprise.

Although they’d shared a bed for two weeks at this point, they so far remained trapped in an endless loop of indecently carnal hunger. She felt all but enslaved by it at times.

Turning away from the bookcase, she grabbed her cell phone from the drawing table and made her way out of the room. After locking the door behind her, she padded through her bedroom, into the en suite, switched on the light—

A creak on the stairs.

She went completely still, her nape prickling. Well, it would seem that she had company. Rather than uneasy, she felt a tingle of anticipation.

She closed the bathroom door and flicked the lock as she telepathed Jolene. It seems the clerics have taken the bait. Her demon all but clapped its hands with glee.

Her Prime’s psyche stroked hers. I was confident that Martina would come through for us. Jolene had assigned her daughter to flirt outrageously with Konstantin and distract him enough that any watchful clerics would take advantage and slip into Naomi’s place.

It was something they’d had Martina do on several occasions since the clerics last attacked, never knowing if they were lingering; always hoping they were and that they’d snap up the opportunity to get to Naomi.

Stick to the plan and keep them occupied , Jolene went on. The rest of us will be at your house shortly.

Okay. You’ll find us in my bedroom , Naomi told her.

She waited a good twenty seconds and then flushed the toilet, giving her intruders the impression that she was simply doing her business. She washed her hands for real—well, she’d just pressed the flush button, which wasn’t exactly hygienic—and then dried them.

A spike of adrenaline quickened her pulse as she exited the room. Sure enough, several Eliouds were gathered around. There were more this time. Fourteen in total. All were bald and clothed in their cleric gear, magick-infused swords in hand.

Her demon smirked, pleased that there were plenty for Naomi and the others to kill. It would for sure enjoy the show. How typical.

“I’m starting to think that you and your brethren don’t like me.” She scanned the large group. “So many of you. How curious. I suppose I should be flattered that you felt it necessary to have so much backup. Though I had thought that maybe you guys only worked in groups of seven.”

A cleric with brown bushy brows shot her a glare. “Apparently you can too easily handle one unit, since our other brethren have disappeared.”

“So two groups came along this time.” As always in response to a threat, the twisted seraphim power that she harbored stirred.

Seeped upward. Pooled beneath her skin. Began to heat the room.

“At this point, though, I would have thought you people would stop coming at me. I mean, are you not tired of losing brothers?”

“So it is as we suspected: they are dead,” mused a young, baby-faced Elioud.

“Where did you bury them?” Bushy Brows demanded.

Naomi gave him a smile of mock pity. “There wasn’t anything left to bury. I figured they’d prefer that, though. You Lemures don’t like to leave evidence of yourselves behind.”

There was an almost collective intake of breath. Bodies tensed, and unnerved looks were exchanged.

“Yes, I know about your order,” she continued. “If you wanted to keep its existence quiet, you should have scrapped the emblem on your clothes—it’s like wearing ID.” They really should have thought of that.

“It doesn’t matter that you know who we are,” Baby Face decided, tugging at his collar, his cheeks flushing from the heat.

“It does matter that you’re being manipulated by a dark practitioner who’s posing as an angel. He gave you those swords, right? They aren’t blessed, they’re enchanted. But hey, I don’t suppose you’ll take my word for that.”

The bland expressions aimed her way confirmed that no, they didn’t believe her.

“Also, you misread the prophecy,” she added. Not that the actual translation would make them leave—they wanted her dead so that her child wouldn’t rid the world of their order. Still . . . “I’m not going to birth the Antichrist. I won’t have a child who’ll lead an army of demons.”

Bushy Brows sneered, using the back of his hand to swipe at the sheen of sweat on his forehead. “You expect us to believe anything the whore of the devil would say?”

Whore? Fuck you, asshole. “You act so very pious for a bunch of people who believe in kidnapping little boys and dragging them into your monkhood to be brainwashed.”

Baby Face flushed. “We are not brainwashed, we are enlightened.”

Ah, so this guy had been one of the abducted. “If that were the case, you’d know the truth. You don’t. You’ve come here on the basis of a prophecy that, in reality, you don’t fully understand.”

“And it was a tremendously unadvisable thing to do,” Jolene chipped in.

The clerics whirled to face the demons who now stood at the other side of the room—Jolene, Tobe, Ciaran, Khloe, Beck, Tia, and Alfie. Curses flew out of their mouths, and they shifted uneasily.

“So very, very unadvisable,” Naomi agreed, her lips curving.

The expressions on the intruders’ faces darkened. They angled their bodies in a way that enabled them to keep an eye on both her and the newcomers, aiming to appear unfazed. But she could see that their confidence had taken a blow.

Of course it had.

All the demons held a ball of shimmering hellfire in their hand, making it clear that they were up for a battle.

Bushy Brows looked at her. “So this is how you defeated our brethren. You had others aid you. If you think such backup will make us leave, you are wrong. This time, you are outnumbered.” He raised his sword, his jaw firming. “We will kill them, just as we will kill you .”

Naomi smiled while her demon snorted. “What a wishful thinker. It’s kind of cute.

” She called on the power bubbling within her, feeling her smile fade as predatory determination poured through her system.

“You shouldn’t have come here, but I’m rather glad you did.

” Her power rushed out in a torrent of fire that lit her up from head to toe.

Shock gracing the clerics’ faces. Some eased back while others threw up their hands to shield their eyes from the radiance of the flames.

Bushy Brows gaped at her. “Merciful God,” he breathed.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’ll be coming to save you.” She paused. “Catch.” She hurled a fiery serpent right at him.

Cursing, he raised his sword high and sliced at the snake, but the blade passed harmlessly through it. And then the serpent was on him, sinking its fangs in with a hiss.

Her entity let out a little cackle.

The demons across the room acted fast, pitching orbs of hellfire at the Eliouds.

Some clerics ducked. Some darted to the side, crashing into their brothers or the wall. The others jerked as the orbs hit home, burning their clothes and scorching the skin beneath.

To their credit, all but Bushy Brows recovered quickly. Chanting sounded as magick came rushing out of the clerics—some glowing streams heading for Naomi, some aiming for the other demons.

Naomi struck with a thin blade of red-violet fire, slicing through one, two, three streams.

But she missed the fourth.

It rammed into her hard enough to knock her back a step, electrifying her nerve endings. Motherfucking ow.

Her fellow demons took their own lumps but retaliated fast. Ciaran slammed three clerics with telekinetic power, sending them flying backwards.

Khloe let out a spray of electric-blue fire bullets, making two clerics drop to the floor.

Tobe lashed out with psychic hits that flattened another two.

Jolene, Beck, Tia, and Alfie lobbed a series of crackling orbs at the others—all the clerics staggered backwards, crying out in pain.

Adrenaline pumping in her blood, Naomi joined Ciaran in porting behind people to snap their necks.

Boring, yes, but they wanted the fight over with quickly so they could focus on what was important: getting answers from the last Elioud standing.

Even as her demon understood, it was supremely disappointed that it wasn’t a bloodier scene.

Just as she dropped a dead body, another cleric settled his glower on her, held his sword high above his head, and yelled some sort of war cry. “Kill the whore!” he ordered.

His brothers echoed his cry, raising their weapons, and then they all charged at her.