“Let us return to the manor so we can get this done,” said Gavril, his tone rife with agitation. “I want that power. I’m done waiting.”
Thea rubbed her son’s arm. “He’ll need a few moments, Gavril. He’s still disorientated.”
Khloé snickered. “Oh, puhlease.”
Gavril glared at her. “What is that supposed to mean?” Khloé rolled her eyes. “It’s so obvious that she wants you to believe Lane’s too weak to help you—in reality, she wants him to give her the power he stole. Come on, you didn’t think she’d let you use her son as a pawn unless she thought she’d get something big out of it—not to mention a guarantee that you’d never come after her—did you? Your death would certainly guarantee that, wouldn’t it? Not that I blame her for wanting you gone permanently. She has to know you’ll kill her before you’ll let her have Lane all to herself. Why else would your sentinel be holding him so tight?”
“Divide and conquer,” said Thea. “An old and effective trick, but it won’t work here.”
“Prove it and have little Lane transfer Asher’s ability to Gavril,” Khloé dared.
The woman’s face hardened. “He can’t yet, he’s still not fully awake.”
“How convenient.”
“Will you shut the fuck up!”
Khloé sighed. “Fine.”
Enoch turned to Gavril. “What ability does the child have that’s so important?”
The Prime’s spine snapped straight. “That’s not your concern.” Lane’s body jerked violently, as if it had been zapped by a high voltage of electricity.
“Lane?” said Thea, her voice heavy with anxiety.
He jerked again and slapped a hand on his chest. Then he was coughing and hacking like he was trapped in a burning building.
“Gavril, something’s wrong with him. What do—” Thea cut off as the coughing fit ended. She rubbed her son’s arm. “That’s it, honey, you’re fine.”
His eyes bled to black as his demon surged to the surface and glared at her.
“It’s okay,” she told it. “Everything is okay.”
The demon gave a short shake of the head. “You threatened him,” it said, its voice empty of emotion. “You scared him. You used him. All is not okay.”
She swallowed. “I did what had to be done for my sake and his own.”
“Not true,” it argued. Then the coughing started up again. Its whole body bucked as it coughed and gagged and heaved. Then it doubled-over and retched, puking up something black and oily all over the floor at its mother’s feet.
Khloé stared at the small puddle. It swirled and bubbled and steamed like a potion in a cauldron. But said movements slowly began to fade, and the puddle dried up until it was a mere black stain on the wooden floor.
Thea backed away from it. “What is that?”
“Power,” said Enoch. “Extinguished power.”
Thea’s brows snapped together. “What do you mean, extinguished power?”
“I mean it is dead power,” Enoch told her. “Something or someone made him vomit up his own personal store of power.”
Gavril gaped. “That is not possible.”
“I assure you, it is,” said Enoch. “I haven’t witnessed such a thing before, but I’ve heard of it. Some demons allegedly possess the defensive ability to purge others of their powers.”
Gavril whirled on Thea. “What exactly happened at the stadium?”
“Lane used his gift to steal Asher’s,” Thea replied. “Something jumped from Asher into him. I thought it was the toddler’s abilities.”
Gavril flicked his hand in the air. “He is now useless to me. He’s as good as human. Did you do this to him, Thea? Did you do this to escape the deal we made?”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t do anything! It was the Thorne kid!”
Ciaran’s mind touched Khloé’s. Larkin came through for us—she found that Gavril has a Victorian house a few miles away from Harper and Knox’s estate. We’re going to pay a visit to the nearest ghost towns. If you’re in none of them, we’ll check the others.
Relief fluttered through Khloé. You need to look inside the saloons, she told him.
Just then, another mind touched hers—young, powerful, familiar. Recognizing Asher’s touch, she smiled to herself. How he’d managed to bypass the psychic shield keeping her from telepathing others, she had no idea. Hey, kiddo, she said, keeping her tone cheery. I’ll come see you soon.
There was a small movement beside her. And then she could only gape. Asher was there. Yet he wasn’t. His body was partly transparent, which meant she could very well be seeing shit. Either that or he was truly—in some sense—beside her in the crate, smiling shyly at her.
She glanced at the others to see if any could see him, but none were looking her way. They were observing Thea and Gavril, who were arguing yet again.
Turning back to Asher, Khloé flashed him a smile and reached out to her brother. Ciaran, what’s Asher doing right now?
He was sleeping a few minutes ago when we left him at the estate with Meg, Dan, Larkin, Martina, and Beck. Why?