I hadn’t broken the mirror when I’d entered because we were on hallowed ground, but it wasn’t too late to fix my mistake. I grabbed the nearest trash can, about to bash it into the mirror, when an all-too-familiar voice said, “Don’t!” Then it went on to say, “I believe we’re long overdue for a chat, Davidian.”
I paused in midswing. Demetrius, Adrian’s biological father and my arch nemesis, had never wanted to chat before. He’d tried to kill me more times than I could count and held my sister hostage as bait, but one-on-one conversation? That was new. Still, it was daylight and I was on holy ground, so if Demetrius did try to cross over in another attempt to kill me, he would fry as soon as he left the mirror. The thought of seeing him burning and screaming appealed to me so much, I lowered the trash can.
“What did you want to talk about, Daddy-in-law?”
DEMETRIUS’S FULL APPEARANCE became visible in the mirror, so I caught it when he winced, as if being reminded of our new familial tie had caused him actual pain. I’d hoped it would. It certainly stung me a lot.
“Never call me that again,” he bit out.
“Believe me,” I said, glaring at him. “I find it mutually repellant.”
Demetrius was one of those demons who looked like a regular person. He had unremarkable features, black hair, pale skin and a wide mouth, so Adrian must have gotten his gorgeous golden looks from his mother. A closer inspection revealed that a writhing mass of darkness clung to Demetrius’s outline. His shadows had once been far larger and more impressive, and they weren’t Demetrius’s only trick. He was also a shape-shifter.
The first time I’d seen him, Demetrius had morphed into a huge dark cloud with flesh-ripping claws and teeth. That form had been beyond terrifying, which was why he’d chosen it. Demetrius was as cruel as he was inventive.
“What, no congratulations on the happy news?” I continued to needle him. “It’s a shame you missed the wedding. It was thrown together last-minute, but still, it was beautiful—”
“Speak softer, before Adrian hears you and storms in here,” Demetrius snarled.
He’d revealed a lot with that statement. While Demetrius could have guessed that Adrian was with me in general, he shouldn’t have known that Adrian was close enough to possibly overhear us. Unless...
“You have minions watching us right now, don’t you?” I said, trying not to show how much that freaked me out.
Demetrius rolled his coal-black eyes. “Of course I do.”
I casually crossed my arms behind my back so my hands were hidden from his view. Demetrius had never seen my staff tattoo, but he was well acquainted with my slingshot. I’d decimated his formerly immense shadows with it, and the last thing I wanted was Demetrius seeing that it was missing. Then he’d know that I’d lost my only deadly form of defense against him.
“If you’ve got minions tailing us, why haven’t you used them to try to kill me?” The danger I’d unknowingly put everyone in made my stomach roil, but I managed to ask the question as if the answer only mildly interested me.
Demetrius smiled, and the sight of it sent chills rippling over my skin. I’d never known that a smile could be a messenger of evil before I’d met Demetrius.
“Because at this particular moment in time, I’m not trying to kill you.”
“You’re not, huh?” I said while getting my rattled nerves back under control. It couldn’t be because he’d had a change of heart—Demetrius hated me. That was clear in his burning ebony gaze. But he must have something else up his sleeve. “I don’t imagine we have long before Adrian figures out that something else is going on besides me having digestive issues, so if you don’t want me dead, what do you want?”
“You’ve been here too long to still be searching Vatican City for the spearhead, so why haven’t you left?”
His arrogance was astounding. He thought I owed him an explanation for my recent activities?
“Yeah, this has been nice, but you can go fuck off now,” I said, heading for the door.
“Wait!” The command in his tone didn’t make me pause, but his next words did. “It’s because you’ve given up looking for the spearhead, haven’t you?”
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear he sounded disappointed. I swung around in disbelief. “What’s it to you, demon?”
“More than you realize, Davidian,” he said, giving the same insulting emphasis to my lineage as I’d given to his species.
Why? Demetrius had pulled out all the stops to prevent me from finding the first two hallowed weapons. How could he suddenly have something invested in my finding the final one? “How so? I know you don’t care about freeing the trapped humans, and that’s all the third weapon’s good for.”
“Simple. Twit,” Demetrius said, sounding out each insult as if I wouldn’t understand them otherwise. “Did you truly believe that was the spearhead’s only power?”
I bristled. “Zach never said it could do anything else—”
Demetrius’s laughter cut me off. The demon even bent over, as if his spine couldn’t bear the weight of his mirth.
“What’s so funny?” I asked acidly.
He held out a hand as if too overcome to audibly ask me to wait while he attempted to control his mirth. Well, screw him! I was more than halfway to the door when Demetrius, still chuckling, said, “You can leave now, but Adrian’s life depends on you staying to hear me out.”
I stopped, still fuming, but unwilling to let my pride cause me to miss out on possibly useful information just because I hated its source. Demetrius was evil, but in his own twisted way, he loved Adrian. He’d even let me escape once after he’d gotten the drop on me because Adrian had been dying, and I’d had access to the manna that could save him. If Demetrius said that refusing to hear him out could cost Adrian his life...then there was a fifty-fifty chance that he might be telling the truth.
Besides, he knew where I’d been these past several weeks. Hallowed ground might stop him, but it was no barrier to minions, as the attack at the Mother See in Armenia reminded me.
“Make it quick,” I said shortly.
“Zach didn’t tell you that the spearhead has another, equally powerful function, but is that a shock?” Demetrius asked, his voice a taunting purr. “Archons might not lie, but even you can’t be so obtuse as to believe that one would tell you, a mere human, the entire truth if he didn’t want to.”
Zach did have an infuriating tendency to leave out a lot of important details. Case in point—Demetrius being Adrian’s father. Zach had kept that bombshell a secret for years.
“Fine. What else can the spearhead do, if I were to find it and wield it?”
Demetrius’s eye roll was contemptuous. “You? No one believes you could wield it
