“It’s a barrier.” Kellan turned back to the shed. He only stared at it for a moment.

“Kellan, what’s going on?”

“It keeps them out and us in.”

Us. He meant him and me… I thought. I assumed the ‘them’ was Damien and Aumae. He couldn’t have meant messengers, because I was a messenger, too. I was a little more than half of one even, but I didn’t voice those questions. Whatever was happening on the other side of the shed door—it sounded like sex, but I had a feeling it was more than sex. Kellan wouldn’t have cared if it was only sex, and then he strode forward. I followed, and when he opened the door, I expected the occupants to jerk at the sight of us.

They didn’t. They kept on as if they couldn’t hear us.

“I blocked them before I caught Vespar,” Kellan told me.

I saw why as Giuseppa arched her back, letting her head fall backward. She was straddling Matt, who was kissing her breast. She lifted her arms, cradling his head, sliding her fingers through his hair. “More, Matt. Please more,” she crooned, urging him on as her hips moved faster. She was riding him.

He grasped her back, jerking his hips up into her. A growl came from him as he caught one of her nipples in his teeth.

Her mouth fell open, and she continued with her moans, but then her hand lifted from his head. It continued, moving all the way in the air, and it reached behind her. Then, the moonlight glinted off something metal, and when her hand came back up, she was holding a nasty-looking dagger.

I started forward, but Kellan stopped me.

“What are you doing? She’s going to kill him.”

He didn’t answer. He kept me in place.

“Kellan!”

His jaw hardened. His hand was firm on my stomach—and then as Matt and Giuseppa climaxed, both letting out loud groans, her hand slashed in the air. She sliced his throat. Matt jerked forward, making empty sounding gasps as blood spilled out from his throat. His hand came to his throat, and he looked at her, shock and revulsion mixing together. She ignored him, coldly pushing his body back from hers, and she stood up. She was naked, blood covering her, and she wiped her hand over her chest, then tracing a symbol on the wall. Once she was done, she stood, facing the symbol and took a deep breath, then placed the palm of her hand against it. An explosion happened in the air, throwing her backward. Heat and fire flared in the air. It would’ve flung me backward as well, but Kellan held on to me. He anchored me in place and moved so one of his shoulders was half shielding me. Some of the fire grazed my cheek. I felt it burning there, but it wasn’t painful. It was like a warm tickle. I frowned at that, but something was coming. Giuseppa had opened a hole in the air and whoever/whatever was coming from the other side.

Kellan was waiting for it.

“What—?” Giuseppa struggled to her feet. The shed had blown up and ash, wood, and soot covered her body, mixing with the blood. She shook her head, gazing at us. “Wha—what are you doing here? Shay?” She gulped, jerking around. “Wait. Where’s Vespar?” Panic rose in her voice. “Vespar. Where is he? Where is HE?”

“Shut up.”

Kellan silenced her with that, then we felt the presence from whoever was coming.

I felt its darkness before it said anything. It was evil, and powerful, and I was trembling. I would’ve fallen back or run if Kellan hadn’t been touching me. He wasn’t keeping me in place. He was enabling me to stand there and tolerate what was coming. It was pure evil. I began clawing at his arm. I didn’t want to be there.

“Shay,” he said softly. His hand left my stomach and caught my hand. Our fingers laced together and I was beginning to cling to him like a lifesaver.

Black smoke began to waft in. It coated the ground, filling all around our feet and slowly rising up to cover our knees, our legs, our waists. It rose up to my face, and I began choking. I couldn’t breathe.

Kellan saw what was happening and uttered a word, “Aysh.”

The smoke combusted into fire. Again, we were unharmed, and then the smoke was gone. Giuseppa coughed, falling over behind us. She clutched at her stomach. “What did you do?”

But she didn’t matter. I felt his presence. He was there, right on the other side. I couldn’t talk or move. I could only hold on to Kellan, but I sensed his fear, too.

Black tentacles began to come through the hole, like black snakes, but they were all attached together. A thin sheen of skin covered them. They slithered all around, feeling the ground, the remaining wall of the shed until they touched the bottom of our feet. Instead of heat, I felt cold. Ice plunged through me, and I began violently shaking now.

Kellan bit back a curse, then suddenly, the snakes/tentacles left. They moved past us, leaving a perfect circle in the ground around our feet. They went to Giuseppa and a shrill scream came from them. It wasn’t Gus. It was the snakes/tentacles. Immediately, the rest of them swarmed, overcoming Giuseppa.

I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t not watch.

She had been my sister, then half-sister, and now she was an empty vessel of someone I was supposed to have loved as family. I felt none of those feelings anymore, not after seeing her murder Matt and knowing she had been the one to bring forth whomever this demon was. The snakes/tentacles writhed over her body. She didn’t say a word. They swarmed inside her throat, and when that happened, I couldn’t look anymore. I pressed my head into Kellan’s arm.

Then, I heard a hiss, “Son. You are here to greet me?”