He tested his neck and jaw before addressing Reyes again. “This knife will kill you. Not just your physical body. You. All of you. Your essence. Your incorporeal being. Your spirit. Everything.”

The fact that he’d come very close to dying just then struck me hard. I looked at Reyes, confused. “Why didn’t you just pull it out? What stopped you?”

“The dagger,” Garrett said.

He tossed it to Reyes, who caught it, then just as quickly dropped it with a hiss of pain. He shook his hand, then glowered at Garrett again.

Garrett was ballsy. I’d give him that.

He smiled. “Romeo can’t touch it. That dagger was Daddy’s insurance should Junior betray him.”

“His father told you about it?” I asked.

“No, he didn’t.” A calculating smile spread across Garrett’s face. “Romeo did.”

While I stood perplexed, Garrett took a brave step closer to him.

“You knew I’d figure it out,” he said. “All your clues. All your hints. You knew I’d find it.”

Reyes glowered at him. “I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to use it. When I couldn’t find it, I hoped that someone with your connections could.”

Garrett scoffed and shook his head. “And to think, I never even believed in those connections. I thought my entire family was crazy.”

“Who says they aren’t?”

He shrugged, unable to argue. “But why take the risk? Why put such a powerful weapon in my hands?”

“Because it works on any supernatural being, ass-hat.” Reyes rubbed his shoulder and flexed it, still trying to shake off the pain. “Demons. Poltergeists. Hounds of hell.”

Wait, there were really hounds of hell?

“Charley can use it to defend herself against them.”

“See,” Garrett said with a smile, “I knew I liked you for a reason.”

15

I’d rather be in Virginia.

—T-SHIRT WORN OFTEN BY REYES FARROW

I saw Cookie and Reyes out as Garrett gathered his books and notes. He stopped to massage his neck every so often, and I couldn’t believe how close he’d come to death. Again.

“You’re going to be sore for a few days,” I said, bending to help him. “That wasn’t very smart.”

“I had to know if the dagger would work.”

I looked over at it. It sat on an end table. “How exactly did you know about it?”

He drew in a breath and sat back to zip his backpack. “Like I said before, it all happened so fast. It’s like I was in hell for an eternity and yet here it was only a few minutes. The time I spent in hell I remember with a crystalline clarity. It’s the other parts that took me a while to figure out.”

“The other parts?”

“The trip back. Whoever dragged me out of hell had a few things to say to me. When I woke up in the hospital, I could only remember bits and pieces, but I started to remember more and more. And at odd times. I’d be standing in my kitchen and another memory would materialize in my mind.” He shook it off and stood to leave. “It took a while, but I slowly began to realize those particular memories had been planted somehow. They were clues.” He gestured toward the dagger. “Whoever planted them wanted me to find that.”

After I sidestepped past a few women, we stopped at my door. “And you figured out it was Reyes? He planted those memories?”

“He was the only one who could have. The only one who wanted it found. And I had a little help.”

“Help?”

“I have a few relatives who claim they can see into the supernatural world.”

“Right, but I thought it was all a con.”

“So did I. According to my aunt, it’s about fifty-fifty. Some of my relatives really are sensitive to otherworldly occurrences. They use that to their advantage. My aunt said I had a darkness following me. It wanted me to find something. Between her sight and my research, we found the dagger.”

“Where was it?”

He smiled and shook his head. “I’m still investigating the area. I think there’s more to be found there and I don’t need you snooping around.”

Though I pretended to drop it, it was so on. I would find out. It may take me a while, but I’d get there. “Fine, whatever, but why would you use it on him? Why would you risk your life like that?”

“Like I said, I had to know. There’s more at stake now.”

“You mean more because of this supposed war, not between heaven and hell but between me and hell?” The idea was almost laughable. No, wait, it was entirely laughable.

“Yes, and no. I —” He hesitated, unable to make eye contact. “I may have a son.”

Astonishment shot through me. I choked on air, then gaped at him. “You may have a son? You mean you don’t know if you have a child or not?”

“She had a child. Marika. And I’m about ninety percent positive he’s mine.”

I set aside my shock over the fact that Garrett could actually be with someone long enough to get her pregtastic – he was a man, after all – and zeroed in on his emotions. Sadness came at me in waves. And determination. “Have you asked her if he’s yours?”

He put his hand on the door handle, clearly uncomfortable and ready to dart. “I saw her at a store a while back. At first she smiled, then she looked down at a kid in a stroller. She got scared. She had the kind of fear someone gets when they’re trying to hide something. Like I said, I’m very good at reading people. She didn’t want me to look at her son.”