“But he’s obviously not feeding where he…breeds, or else we’d have heard about the deaths.” I closed my eyes, far from relieved that my distraction had actually turned into something big enough to eclipse my own problems. “Any idea how often he has to eat?”

Sabine shook her head. “Sorry. I exhausted my incubus knowledge with that fertile period thing.”

“Well, you knew more than I did. What else did you get from reading him?” I asked, while Em listened with a frown, obviously reluctant to believe anything bad about Mr. Beck.

“Um…he’s afraid that the girls are too old, though I’m not sure I understand that, if he’s targeting his students.” Which seemed to be the case, if we were right about Danica. “And he’s afraid that even if he gets a baby, it won’t be a boy. He’s scared of a lot of things,” Sabine said, and when I looked up, I realized she was talking to me, not Em. “But do you know what he’s not afraid of?”

“Clowns?” Emma said, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation.

Sabine never even glanced at her, and I shook my head in reply. I had no idea.

“Getting caught.” The mara’s eyes gleamed with a dark malevolence I found oddly comforting, since she was on my side this time. “It hasn’t even crossed his mind that there might be a consequence in this for him, other than not getting what he wants. How do you feel about that, Kay?”

“Pissed off.” I was almost as surprised by the anger in my own voice as I was by the actual words I hadn’t intended to say. Until I realized they were true. I was pissed, on Danica’s behalf, and on behalf of anyone else who may have suffered like she did.

Sabine nodded sharply, and her earrings glinted in the sun from the skylight overhead. “I say we take the bastard down.”

9

Emma had to leave for work straight from the food court, but Sabine insisted on following me home in her car so we could start researching incubi in general, and Mr. Beck in particular. She claimed dedication to the mission, and I’m sure that was part of it—she typically cured boredom with chaos—but I wasn’t fooled; we could have researched separately and combined info later. Sabine was coming over so that when Nash arrived after practice, we wouldn’t be alone.

And honestly, I couldn’t blame her.

I pushed the front door open and was surprised to find Alec sitting on the couch, obviously waiting for me.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I held the door for Sabine, then closed it behind her. “And how’d you get in?” As happy as I was to see him, I couldn’t help being suspicious. It turned out that about half the time I’d spent with Alec when he was staying with us had actually been spent in the company of Avari, thehellion of greed who’d been possessing him and using him to kill my teachers.

But then I noticed Styx curled up asleep on the couch next to him, and both my suspicion and fear slipped away. She would never sleep through a hellion possession.

Alec stood and held his arms out for me. “Your dad dropped by my place on his way to work this morning with a key and a strongly worded request that I come keep you company tonight. He’s not gonna make it for dinner.” I let him fold me into a hug, and I knew by his tight grip and reluctance to let go that my dad had filled him in completely—and that he was now off looking for some way to save my life. “Four days, Kay? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Before I could answer, Styx’s head popped up and a low growl rumbled from her throat. Sabine stiffened and I backed out of Alec’s brotherly grip, all three of us instantly on alert.

“Yeah, why didn’t you tell him, Kay?” Thane said, and I whirled around to see the reaper standing in the kitchen doorway, eyeing me in mock concern. “Don’t you think your friends should know you’re about to leave them?”

“What’s wrong?” Sabine had noticed me staring toward the kitchen, and Alec was just watching me, waiting.

“Nothing,” I said, hyperaware of Tod’s warning about putting our friends in danger. “Styx is probably just mad that we interrupted her nap.”

“Yeah, that’s it….” Thane said from behind me. I actually heard his clothes rustle as he came closer and because I didn’t trust him at my back, it took every bit of self-control I had to keep ignoring him. “Where’d you get that thing, anyway? I’ve never seen one of those yappy little monsters on this side of the barrier.”

“I didn’t tell you because there’s nothing you can do,” I said to Alec, struggling to concentrate on the conversation I was actually having, rather than the one I was boycotting.

“Damn right…” Thane sat on the arm of the couch, and Styx stood on the cushion to growl at him.

“There’s nothing anyone can do,” I continued, determined to ignore him. “So I’m just kind of…trying not to think about it.” And thanks to Thane, I was failing miserably, in spite of the scary new distraction Mr. Beck had provided. Knowing my death was coming was like tumbling into a deep, dark pit in slow motion. The world above me narrowed into an ever-smaller point of light as I fell further and further from its influence.

And I fell faster every time Thane showed up.

Sabine dropped into my father’s recliner like she owned it, eyeing Alec. “So you’re, like, the babysitter? What, Kaylee can’t even be trusted to die on her own?”