Excitement tingled through her, and her breath quickened. Would that work? Would she be able to reach out to Shade or Wrath in her dreams and tell them something about where she was? She didn’t know anything beyond this room and Ashe, Calix, and Casper the unfriendly ghost.

Eddie closed her eyes and willed sleep to come.

Shade walked down the sidewalk of another interchangeable Ontario town. Tim Hortons—check, Shoppers Drug Mart—check, LCBO—check. He hadn’t even registered the name of this town.

The hounds had stayed in the truck, still trying to catch a hint of Eddie. All they could give him was the vague sense that they were moving in the right direction.

The image of Eddie flashed into his mind so quickly he stopped dead.

“Fucking hell.” A person slammed into the back of him. “Watch where the fuck you’re going.”

Shade tossed a quick apology over his shoulder.

The man glared at him. “Asshole.”

And Canadians were supposed to be polite. Shade hadn’t found much politeness through his journey. He’d found increasing levels of aggression and intolerance. His daily scan of the news channels confirmed his fears. The seals were all leaking their noxious contents into the earth realm. Unsuspecting humans went about their daily lives with no understanding of why they were suddenly experiencing urges they couldn’t control.

Eddie’s face sparked through his mind again, and he stepped closer to a storefront and stilled his mind.

There it came again. Christ, she looked like shit and amazing all at the same time. Wrath said she was still alive, but Shade hadn’t known how much he needed that confirmation until right this minute. His knees felt like rubber, and he supported himself with the brick frontage of the store. He turned his attention inward to her. “Eddie?”

A woman shot him a nervous glance and he realized he’d spoken aloud. He didn’t care. This was his first contact with Eddie since she’d been taken from him. “Eddie?”

“Shade?” Her voice sounded weak and tired. “Is that really you?”

“It’s me, sweetheart.”

“I didn’t know if this would work.” Tears tracked down her ashen cheeks, and her chest rose and fell as she sobbed softly. “I didn’t know if I could reach you.”

“I’m trying to find you, sweetheart.”

A couple of kids looked at him and jostled him with a sneer.

Yes, he was crazy. Crazy with worry, crazy with missing her, crazy to get her back where she was safe.

“I don’t know where I am.” She lay on a spartan cot in a featureless gray room. “They have me locked in this room.”

Every muscle in his body tensed as he asked, “Are they hurting you?”

She hesitated and licked her chapped lips. A struggle played across the finely wrought lines of her face.

“Tell me, Eddie.”

“They have an amulet, like the one they put on Wrath. They’re draining my power.”

“Fuck.” Shade punched the wall. Four bricks crumbled beneath his fist, and the kids went pale and ran away. “I’m going to find you, and then I’m going to make them pay.”

“Find me soon, Shade.” Her voice trembled. Her big aqua eyes looked dull and desperate. Eddie’s eyes should never look that way. Eddie was life and fire and strength.

“I will, sweetheart. This I vow.” He forced himself to concentrate past the panic. “Can you tell me anything else?”

“Ashe said there’s a war happening and that it will change everything. They drain my power to feed it to their demons.”

Primal rage beat a drum tattoo through his soul. “Have you seen anyone else but Ashe?”

“Calix is with him and some weird ghost looking demon who brings me my meals.”

“Lucifer?”

She shook her head and wiped her tears with the corner of her blanket. “Those are the only three I’ve seen. I seem to be in some kind of facility, but I can’t even see outside this cell.”

“Summon me to you, Eddie, like you did before.”

She coughed and shook her head. “I don’t even know how I did that.”

“I felt your desire for me. Reach for that, Eddie. Reach for your lust and give it space to grow. Summon me, and I will find you.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” She gave a weak chuckle. “Nobody said I desired you.”

“Eddie.” He let his voice grow smoky and seductive. He needed her to hang in there for him, and he’d use whatever he could to do that. “We both know you’re lying now.”

His words brought color to her cheeks and a gleam to her eyes. “Don’t make me punch you, Shade.”

He’d take that punch and a thousand more if it meant being in the same room with her again. “I’m coming for you, Eddie, and in the meantime, keep dreaming of me, sweetheart.”

“You wish.” She scoffed and then grew serious again. “Come soon, Shade.”

His heart constricted. “I’m on my way.”

Once the connection was broken, he ran back to where he’d parked his truck.

Cronus and Xerxes barely waited for him to get into the truck before they spoke.

We felt her, master. We have a direction on the mistress.

Chapter Ten

Wrath’s temper snapped and simmered under his skin as the demon behind him shoved him in the back with a lance and snarled. “Get moving.”

His back burned with the desire to unleash his wings and rain retribution down on Avarice’s horde.

Haziel looked across at him and shook her head.

Yes, he fucking got it. They needed to cooperate to get to Ava. They needed information from Ava, and shredding her horde wouldn’t be an effective conversation opener. Ava was slow to anger, but her desire for revenge burned long and strong. He had no doubt she’d instructed her horde to make an example of him when they brought him in.