Free Blood of the Demon by Rosalie Lario Page A

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    Keegan punched the wall nearest him, not caring that it gave way beneath his fist.
    Ronin was right—if they stayed here, Mammon would eventually find Brynn.
    “Okay.” He withdrew his hand from the rubble and watched the scrapes heal. “Until we’ve recovered the Book , the best thing we can do is move. Ronin, find somewhere else for us to stay in another city. We’ll move every couple of days.”
    “Got it.” Ronin rose and left the room.
    “Taeg, Dagan, you two go to Egypt. Try to find out everything you can about possible locations where the Book might be buried. Also, see if you can get Cresso to talk to the local demon population, maybe catch wind of something.”
    “What about you?” Taeg asked.
    “Me and Ronin will guard Brynn. Splitting up is the best way to spend our time right now.”
    “Divide and conquer, and all that rot,” Taeg quipped halfheartedly. He turned to Dagan. “I’ll flash over to London, round up Cresso. Once you know when your plane is coming in, give me a call. I can meet you at the airport.”
    “Done,” Dagan said.
    Taeg grunted and turned to Keegan. “Listen, bro. Be careful, okay?”
    Keegan gave him a terse nod. “Yeah.”
    The air shimmered almost imperceptibly in front of Taeg, creating the invisible fae path only he could travel. He stepped into it and disappeared, leaving Keegan alone with Dagan.
    “You think Brynn will be okay?” Dagan asked.
    “Don’t know,” Keegan answered truthfully.
    After he’d confessed his ancestry to her, she’d clammed up. She’d simply stopped communicating, though she had enough presence of mind to allow him to usher her downstairs and into a taxicab. They’d ridden in silence the whole way back to the apartment, and once they arrived she’d gone straight to her room, where she’d stayed for the past half hour.
    Would her mind handle the stress of what she’d just learned? She had to accept the truth, or her thread of sanity might snap. After all, she was mostly human.
    “I’ll go check on her,” he said.
    Dagan nodded and turned to leave, but then he paused. “I’m worried about you, dude.”
    “I’m fine,” Keegan answered automatically.
    “Just... don’t get in over your head, okay?”
    Keegan gritted his teeth and fought the urge to snap at Dagan. He was just being a caring brother, after all. If Dagan didn’t care, he would be little better than a monster, than Mammon himself.
    “Don’t worry about me. I’m in control.”
    Dagan hesitated, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say more. But in the end, he nodded and left.
    Keegan started down the hall toward Brynn’s room. No point in putting off the inevitable. He had to make sure she was okay. But he couldn’t help but wonder if she would welcome him, or if she’d have a million questions about what he was and what he could do. Maybe she’d shrink away in fear, cower in front of him the way others did before his father. She might see him as a monster.
    If she did, would he be able to deal with it?
    §
    Brynn sat on the bed and stared out the window, not really seeing anything. To think that yesterday, her biggest worry had been figuring out why Keegan kidnapped her. That seemed like a cakewalk compared to today’s problems.
    Demons. Keegan actually expected her to believe he and his brothers were demons.
    Even if she did believe in demons—which she wasn’t willing to admit just yet—she’d never believe Keegan was one. Those things lying on the floor of her apartment? They looked like demons, with their grotesque faces and off-colored flesh. But not Keegan. Not his brothers.
    On top of that, he didn’t seem evil. She’d seen some real evil in her life, and yeah, she supposed he might be pretending, but no one was that good an actor. No one.
    She jumped at the knock on her door. Before she had time to answer—or even decide if she wanted to—Keegan walked in, his movements deliberate and his hands visible at his sides. He paused near the door