Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
I can kill demons without even touching them.
“Am I late to the party?” Mabel asks, coming downstairs. She’s wearing an ivory-colored nightgown and a flowing matching robe, complete with feathers on the sleeves. “All I heard was something about a chaos demon. What exactly do they do?”
“We’ve never come across one,” Antonio starts, taking the lead like he normally would in any hunting situation. “But we’ve heard of them. Saying they cause chaos sounds vague, but that’s literally what they do.” He shrugs.
“They might target a single person or a whole group. I don’t know what the plan is here, but they’ll do anything to disrupt normal life. That could mean starting fights between two random people in line at the grocery store or causing power outages. Literally anything that creates disorder.”
“Great,” Theo grumbles. “As if we didn’t already have one supernatural menace on our hands.”
“We’re going to find him, and we’re going to kill him,” I say, ignoring the anxiety rising inside me, threatening to take over every cell in my body.
My phone dings with a text. “It’s Marie,” I say out loud. Nerves grab at my spine from the inside, rattling me so hard my fingers tremble as I unlock my phone.
Yes, I recognize that, but I can’t tell you the demon’s name off the top of my head. I’ll run it by a colleague. Does this have to do with what happened yesterday?
Most likely. Google the 409 Reapers and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
She likes my text, and I set my phone down, letting out a shaky breath.
“Marie is going to find out the name of the demon,” I tell everyone. “In the meantime, let’s treat this like any other job.” I look at my brothers.
“What does that entail?” Xavier asks.
“We cover all the bases. Get weapons ready. I’ll work on vanquishing potions. Anything that might help. And then, as soon as we find out what it is, we go after it.”
“Like tonight?” Mabel exclaims, her brows going up.
“Yes,” Leo, Antonio, and I answer at the same time.
“If there’s one thing about demons,” Antonio continues, “it’s that you don’t give them advance notice or time. You have to strike immediately, because the longer they have to plan, the worse it gets.”
“I might have found out one other minor detail from Marie last night,” I say, wincing slightly as I speak.
“What is it?” Xavier asks.
“Certain demons go after witches because they have a way of taking our powers. I guess because they have their own type of magic, they’re able to separate a witch from her power, unlike vampires, who have to kill the witch to turn her.”
Chapter
Nine
“All right,” I say as I set my phone down. We’re still in the kitchen and Marie called. She was able to hear back pretty quickly about the sigil drawn on the floor of the Reaper’s clubhouse. “We don’t have a name, but more a type. We were right. It’s a chaos demon, and these kinds act kinda like a djinn.”
“Great,” Antonio sighs.
“What’s that?” Devon asks.
“Think of it like a practical joker, but every joke ends in a rather violent death,” I explain.
“Well, that sounds super fun,” Devon quips.
“Right,” Antonio says, leaning back as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Talk about tempting us with a good time.”
“How do you kill one of these?” Xavier asks, stopping behind me. His hands land on my tense shoulders, and I close my eyes in a long blink. I’m tired, but not tired enough to sleep, and I don’t even know what time it is anymore. My sleep schedule is so messed up.
“With a djinn,” Antonio starts, “there’s a specific way they have to be killed, but I don’t know it off the top of my head. We’ve never come across one before, luckily.”
“Djinns play games, right?” Mabel asks as she pours herself a cup of coffee, pretending to take a sip. “I remember hearing about one when I was in the Order.”
“Yes,” I tell her. “They get inside your head and basically steal your energy while you’re living in some alternate fantasy world or something like that. I don’t know if anyone we know has ever actually fought one. It’s more the kind of thing you hear about in hunter legends. Djinns are dangerous and hard to fight.”
“So if this thing is similar to one but also demonic, that’s going to make it worse,” Theo notes, struggling to keep the sarcasm in his voice. He’s nervous. As he should be.
“Much worse,” Leo says, sliding the iPad closer. “I mean, I don’t think djinns need to kill sixteen people just to break free.”
He tips his head as he swipes through the photos. “Actually, I don’t even know if this demon needed to kill sixteen people to get here. It could’ve just wanted to.”