Breathe slowly. Nod.

“Your job is to find the girl and personally make sure there is not a trace of innocence left in her body. I will accept no excuses this time, Kaidan. If she is found to be a virgin after this, you’ll be dead on the spot. Do I make myself clear?”

Darkness swirls behind my eyes, causing my fingers to tingle with numbness. “Yes, sir.”

“Good,” he whispers. “Very good.” He steps closer and puts his hands on my shoulders. He feels the girth there and nods to himself, running his hands down my arms to examine my muscles. His eyes shift over me.

Do not ball your fists. Do not clench your jaw. Do not pull away.

“Shall I leave straightaway?” I ask.

This brings him back to the moment and he drops his hands.

“Yes. You’ll take my BMW and head north.” He picks up his mobile from a side table and swipes through it. “She was last seen on Interstate 95 in South Carolina, heading north. I will text you updates as I receive them. We’ve got Neph and whisperers tailing her for other purposes, but I won’t trust this job to anyone but you.”

“Thank you, Father,” I say. “I’m honored.” And truly, I’m grateful. If they had asked another Neph . . .

Do not growl.

“My whisperer Rafe will escort you.”

My eyes go wide, and I quickly neutralize my face again, but Father catches the look and smiles.

“Is that a problem?”

Yes, actually, it’s an enormous problem. “No, sir.”

“Good. The spirit will report to me as soon as the job is done, and we’ll retrieve her when we’re prepared to deal with her.”

“I understand. Would you like me to be in contact with the other Neph myself?” I ask. “To save time?” And to find out who’s against us?

“I think not,” he says with a half grin. “Not all Neph are to be trusted these days. It’s best if we deal with all of you directly ourselves.”

I nod, pretending not to care that his words clearly include me.

He pulls keys from his trouser pockets and I take them.

“Drive fast. I don’t care how many bloody tickets you get. Find her and ruin her once and for all, Kaidan. Make me proud.”

“I will, Father.”

I turn away and head to the garage. When I’m out of his sight I clench my jaw and silently curse him straight to hell before his stupid minion spirit flies in and I fall into false relaxation mode again.

Leave it to my father to unknowingly sabotage the one good thing in my life. I have no bloody clue how to get out of this. I wish like hell I could contact Anna to tell her she’s being tailed, and to let her know I’m on my way. I’ve no idea what I’ll do when I get there.

On the way out of town I stop at a drugstore and buy an over-the-counter men’s fertility test to make sure I’m completely sterile. Just in case.

I cannot have sex with her. She has to remain a virgin—it’s the only way she’ll be able to use the Sword of Righteousness. I’ll just have to take this charade as far as I can until I can go no further. This could be it. This could be the thing that kick-starts the prophecy. Because when it comes right down to it, if I cannot find a way to fool them, I might have to take Anna away; I might have to run. I’ve told her myself that she cannot hide from the demons, but damn it, I cannot let them have her without a fight, either. If our only other option is to stay put and be captured, then we will run like hell.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Not Like This

“Keep my eyes open, my lips sealed.

My heart closed, and my ears peeled.”

—“Hurricane” by MS MR

I drive through the night, stopping only once for petrol and coffee. Each time a text comes from Father I reprogram my GPS with the new information. I cannot wait to get to Anna. To see her safe, with my own eyes. I’m desperate to have her out of their sights. After a while I think something must have happened with the Neph tailing her, because the updates from Father simply stop and only whisperer sightings are being given now.

Father’s whisperer has been a nasty thorn in my side for far too many hours now. It keeps whispering excitedly about all the foul things it wants me to do to the “Neph girl,” things I’ve never done to anyone. I try hard to keep from shuddering.

“I’m not into Neph,” I tell it. “I’m not planning to stay all day.”

It begins a breathy whine in my ear. “But—”

“No. Just a quick job—nothing for your entertainment.”

It proceeds to throw a tantrum, stiffly flying from the car and bashing into the earth, out of sight, then back up, kicking at cars and flailing its grubby arms at trees as it passes them. What an idiot.

As I’m driving through Wythe County, in the mountains of southwestern Virginia, I see a whisperer swoop down in the grassy median to relay something to the other. It then flies to me, right in my face. I lean to the side, keeping an eye on the road. I can’t stand the cold sensation when they touch me.

“Blacksburg,” it whispers creepily. I nod. I’m not too far from her now.

I’ve been trying to figure out for hours what I’ll do when I get to her. How will she react? With the whisperer there, we’ll have to pretend we hardly know each other. If Anna cries or tries to hug me, or does anything remotely Anna-ish, we’re as good as dead.

Our biggest chance of making it through this is to somehow lose the whisperer, and based on how closely he’s been at my side, that will be difficult. The only other thing I can think to do is get her under the covers and pretend to shag her. That, however, could be awkward for poor Anna, and very, very difficult for me, especially if we’re naked.