"I'd like to get my hands on that jade cat and destroy it," Terence said softly.

"Aye," Aiden agreed.

"Ruby is a good person," Zane said, revealing more than he should to these Brothers.

"So were they all, I imagine," Julio responded darkly. "And so will be those the demon takes if we do not stop it tonight."

Chapter 7

The passing of the day was too fast to suit Ruby, as she realized that it might very well be her last. A couple of times she tried to go to sleep, hoping for more instruction from the women she had begun to think of as one very-strong entity. Marielle, however, wouldn't allow Ruby to sleep. Did that mean there was a way to stop the plans? Why else would Marielle work so hard to keep Ruby from making contact?

The eight were inside that piece of jade as surely as the demon was. Perhaps together they were stronger than anyone knew. Perhaps they could communicate with Ruby when she was not asleep if she got her head in the right place.

She should've taken one of Zane's classes, she supposed. Or at least not laughed at him.

Ruby stared out of her bedroom window. Once during the day Marielle had allowed her to go to the bathroom, but her ankles had remained tied together, which made for short, awkward steps. Her hands were free, and maybe she could try to fight. Maybe she could get away, but whatever drug Marielle had given her last night still had Ruby woozy, and she knew a failed escape attempt would get her more tightly bound. She did not want her hands trussed as her ankles were!

Maybes were not enough.

She sat up, her back against a thick stack of pillows, and stared out of the window. It was a cool day, but the sun shone through the thin curtains. Ruby focused on the light. She tried to dismiss everything else—Marielle, the jade cat, the possibility that this day would end very badly. If she did have a gift of some sort, if she could hear the demon's previous victims in her dreams, then why could she not hear them now?

Deep, even breaths lulled her, and in her mind she did her best to picture the women who had come to her. She remembered their faces. She had not dreamed of all eight, but there were five she could remember very well. Five victims. Five souls who only wanted to help her. Had those five been a touch clairvoyant, as she apparently was? Was that why they had been able to reach her in her dreams?

In her mind she asked, How can I fight? For a long while there was nothing. Not an idea, not a word, not a shimmer of light to hint that someone—or something—heard her. She asked again, How can I hurt the demon? What was it about that totem that made the demon's flunky snatch it away? She remembered the shape of a crescent moon, and something else that dangled there. What was she searching for? What did she need?

A single word finally came to her. Silver.

Ruby blinked hard. Of course! In every horror movie she'd ever seen, silver did the trick. Vampires and werewolves. Silver crosses and silver bullets. She didn't know why, and at the moment she didn't care. It was something to work with.

She turned to look at Marielle, who was staring at the jade cat with a dreamy expression in her eyes. "I have a request," Ruby said.

Annoyed to be interrupted from her admiration of the demon's current home, Marielle snapped her face around to glare. "Why should I care what you request?"

"Because no matter what, we were friends. Good friends, Marielle." She reached back into her dreams for more, she asked for guidance from the eight.

"Besides, I suspect a happy soul is tastier and more filling than an unhappy and hungry one."

"You want something to eat," Marielle said.

"There's a Death by Chocolate cake in the fridge, and double chocolate chunk ice cream in the freezer."

"You want both?" Marielle asked, her blue eyes widening.

"I don't exactly have to worry about how many calories I'm getting today, now do I," she snapped.

Marielle relaxed. "That's true." As a precaution, she quickly bound Ruby's hands and tied them to the headboard.

"Since this is my last hurrah, let's do it right," Ruby called before Marielle left the room. "I want the cake and ice cream on Aunt Mildred's best china, and I want a good fork and a good spoon. I feel like such a putz, saving all that stuff for special and never using any of it."

Marielle huffed a little, making Ruby wonder if she'd get what she'd asked for, but then the girl asked,

"Will I find all that in the dining-room buffet?"

Ruby nodded, trying not to give away the surge of hope that filled her. Marielle couldn't be allowed to see even a hint of that blessed hope.

Maybe she couldn't stop what was coming—maybe she couldn't kill the demon that was coming for her.

But she wouldn't go easily; she was going to fight.

* * *

The sun set, and the four soldiers of the Brotherhood armed themselves to the teeth, said a prayer, and positioned themselves by the door to Zane's house, waiting for the correct moment. The moment of attack had to be precise—not too soon, not too late. They had always known that even if all went well, they could end up dead or behind bars for the rest of their lives. Four men rushing into a house armed with guns and swords was bound to call attention. They would probably have to kill the demon's servant, and no one would know—or believe—that a pretty young girl like Marielle was actually an evil bitch who deserved killing.

Not that deserving killing was a defense. In that respect, the old days had been much better. Now there were fingerprints, telling fibers, blood evidence—all that CSI shit. Still, if Ruby was saved, it didn't matter.

He would happily spend his remaining days in prison if she could be safe.

"Now," Zane said, reaching for the doorknob.

"Too soon." Julio reached out and covered Zane's hand with his own.

The cul-de-sac remained quiet, but in Zane's mind he could hear Ruby screaming. He could see and feel the soul being ripped from her body. His heart pounded too hard, his mouth was so dry he could hardly speak, and still he said—somehow knowing that he was right— "Now."

"Accept, and this will go easier," Marielle said as she took the jade cat on her palm and began to chant, using sharp, decidedly unfriendly words Ruby didn't understand.

Ruby's heart pounded hard, and beneath the sheet that covered her she clutched a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other. She was quite sure Aunt Mildred had never intended for her good silver to be put to use this way, but knowing all that she knew now—she didn't think her aunt would mind.

Just as in the dreams, a darkness rose from the jade cat. It looked like a hole, a vast nothingness, and Ruby choked back a scream. The eight had warned her, and still here she was, tied to the bed and offered as sacrifice to a demon. Offered by a friend. A fork and spoon seemed precious little in the way of defense, but she would, by God, fight with all she had until she could fight no more.

Just as in her dreams, the blackness began to take shape. The eyes were fiery red. Marielle was so excited, so overjoyed at the appearance of the demon who had seduced her with dreams of forever, that she trembled from head to toe and smiled like a woman on the verge of a big orgasm.

"Wacko," Ruby muttered. Marielle either didn't hear or didn't care.

The darkness drifted to the bed to hover over Ruby. More and more it looked like a cat. She gripped her weapons tightly.

Not yet, a serene blending of soft voices whispered.

The thing Marielle called II Gatto Nero began to look solid, not so much a hole in the world as a large, fierce cat. There were likely claws—she had seen the claws in her dreams—but at the moment she had eyes only for the face above hers. The eyes were hideous, red like fire and blood. The teeth were wicked, white and sharp and hungry. The fur was black as night, and did not look soft like a kitten's coat but was instead thorny and rough, as if it would cut like shards of glass if touched. Not that she wanted to touch.

The image above her occasionally shimmered, shifting from almost real to insubstantial illusion and back again. Suddenly, Ruby could not resist the urge to open her mouth. She had seen this in her dreams, too, and knew what would happen next.

Not yet, those comforting voices called.

Were they kidding? She didn't have much time left!

The cat placed its mouth close to hers, as if moving in for a kiss. Oh, what a horrible, rotten smell! She had not been subjected to the stench in her dreams. Her heart was pounding so hard and fast she could feel it.

Her heart wanted to escape, but there was no escape, not that Ruby could see. Now? she thought.

There was a pause, as the cat above her inhaled and with that breath began to draw Ruby's soul from her body. It hurt! She felt as if a part of her was literally being ripped from deep within her. Eight voices whispered, Now!

Ruby swung her hands up as hard as she could, burying the fork and the handle of the spoon into the flesh of the demon. What she struck was not entirely flesh. There was no blood—but the thing howled as if in pain, and it drew away from her. Ruby took that opportunity to shift her weapons. She stabbed at the ghastly face, aiming for the eyes. The tines of the fork pierced the demon's left eye, while the spoon glanced off the side of its face.

The thing growled and screamed, and Ruby was vaguely aware that Marielle was protesting, too, though not as loudly as the big, solid cat, which was now very annoyed. Great. She'd only made it mad.

The door to her bedroom burst open, and four men rushed inside. One of them grabbed Marielle and pulled her away from the bed. Another snatched up the jade cat. Two moved toward the demon.

One of them was Zane.

"Silver!" Ruby shouted. "He doesn't like silver!"

* * *

The noise coming from Ruby's bedroom had drowned out the sound of four men breaking down her front door. Zane's heart had almost come through his chest, as again he had thought they were too late. They followed the unnatural din, and without hesitation Zane kicked in the door. Ruby was tied to the bed, offered as an unwilling sacrifice, but her hands were free. She clutched a fork in one hand and a spoon in the other, and when the demon cat turned toward the intruders, he had only one eye.