“Alex,” Aiden murmured.

My chin jerked up, just as sparks flew from the handles, bright and intense in the darkness. Fire spread rapidly, fiery red and powerful, each forming a shape of a long, deadly blade.

“What the…?” My eyes widened.

They flew at us, bones rattling and knocking in a gruesome chorus. Aiden ducked under the first burning blade. Pivoting around cleanly, he planted a foot in the back of one skeleton.

The other lurched toward me, swiping the blade so close to my neck that I felt the heat. Darting to the side, I swung the sickle in a wide arc. The deadly sharp blade sliced through the robe and bone.

In a flash of light, the sword fizzled out and the bones collapsed into a smoldering heap. Taking a step back, I caught the sight of the same thing happening with Aiden’s opponent. The fire-sword disappeared, and then nothing remained but bone and wisps of smoke.

I waited for them to get back up and do something, maybe even an entertaining jig, but nothing. Lowering the sickle, I frowned. “That was way, way too easy.”

Aiden stalked toward me, his eyes darting over the landscape. “You’re telling me. Stay close, because I have a feeling they were just meant to distract us.”

A low growl rippled through the silent cemetery, and my stomach dropped all the way to my toes. Together, Aiden and I turned. I don’t know who reacted first. Whether it was Aiden’s explosive curse or my groan, it didn’t matter.

Crouched in the ruined remains of the church was one big, mean, ticked-off-looking hellhound.

Stone crumbled under meaty paws the size of Aiden’s hands. Claws, as sharp as the blades we held, gleamed like onyx. The body was huge, about the size of one of those energy-efficient deathtrap cars, but the heads—those were three of the biggest, ugliest things I’d ever seen. It was like taking a mutant sewer rat and mixing it with a pit bull. And the teeth… they belonged in a shark’s mouth—white, wet and very, very sharp. Drool foamed under pink gums and dripped onto the ground, where the soil burned as if splashed with acid.

Six ghoulish yellow eyes settled on us.

“Damn,” I muttered, falling into a crouch. “Don’t cut the heads off. It’s the hearts that we need to hit.”

“Got it.” Aiden flipped the dagger in his hand, like a total badass.

“Show-off.”

Aiden smirked. “Wonder what this one is called?”

The hellhound’s ears twitched as the massive body lowered, preparing for attack. I slid my hand to the middle of the blade, feeling my heart pound and the adrenaline kick my system into overdrive. In the pit of my stomach, the cord started to unravel.

I swallowed. “Let’s call this one… Toto.”

Three mouths opened in a growl that sent a cold chill down my spine, and a wave of hot, fetid breath smacked into us. Bile burned the back of my throat.

“I guess it doesn’t like the name,” I said, moving slowly to the right.

Aiden’s powerful body tensed. “Here, Toto…’’ One head snapped in his direction. “That’s a good Toto.”

I slipped around the ancient cross, creeping up on the hellhound from the right. The middle and left head focused on me, snapping and growling.

Aiden clucked his tongue. “Come on, Toto, I’m pretty tasty.”

I almost laughed, but the damn thing lurched from the pile of rubble, landing between us. The ground shook from the impact. Behind us, a few tombstones shuddered loose and toppled over. For a brief moment, it looked like Toto was coming straight for me, but at the last second, it lunged at Aiden.

Caught off-guard, Aiden stumbled back a step, his foot snagging on a fragment of stone. My heart leapt into my throat as I spun toward them, throwing out my free hand. There was a spark, a strong scent of burnt ozone, and then a ball of fire shot forward, more violet then red, unnatural and consuming. It smacked into the belly of the hellhound.

Toto reared back, shaking his three heads, about as affected if a bee had stung its paw.

Well, apparently the fire element didn’t hurt it. Good to know.

Then Toto powered off the ground, launching into the air. There was only a second, if that, before it came crashing down on me. I hit the ground, inwardly cringing because I was sure I was atop a grave, and rolled, shoving the pointed end of the sickle up.

I hit the gut, missing the heart by a mile.

“Dammit.” Pulling the blade free, I scrambled back. Toto’s claws dug into the earth between my spread legs, twisting around so fast it left my head spinning. I jerked back, but the hellhound was huge. Rotten breath blew my hair back. Acid drool dripped, splattering off my shoulder. Clothing burned, and red-hot pain seared my skin. Panic was an icy wind in my veins.

Aiden’s hoarse shout of my name was warning enough.

Screw this.

Tapping into the cord, I felt it come alive, sparking into a low, steady hum that rushed through me. Marks of the Apollyon bled through my skin, churning into glyphs. Something flared in the hellhound’s eyes, as if it could see the marks and understood them for what they were.

Toto snarled. All three heads snapped down on me with the precision and deadliness of a king cobra. Thrusting my hand up, my fingers dug into the matted, coarse hair. Supreme power rushed down my arm. Blue light crackled.

Without any warning, Toto’s heads whipped back in a yelp. The big body tensed, and then shuddered. It flopped to the side, legs twitching. The sharp end of the sickle jutted out from its chest, coated in slick darkness. A moment later, Toto was nothing more than a pile of shimmery, blue dust.

Stunned, I looked up as akasha settled back into the cord, unused.

Aiden stood above me, legs widespread and shoulders back, dark hair falling in messy disarray, eyes the color of steel and just as hard. Power—natural, trained power that came from years of dedication—radiated from him. He was a tall, looming force to be reckoned with, and here I was, the Apollyon, laid flat out on my rear while he stood.

He was a warrior, and I was awed.

Aiden extended his arm. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I croaked, placing my hand in his. He carefully hauled me to my feet. “Thank you.”

“Don’t—”

Clasping the sides of his face, I kissed him. Long. Deep. Hard. When I pulled back, his eyes were pools of silver. “Just say you’re welcome. It isn’t hard. Say it.”

For the longest moment, Aiden said nothing and then, “You’re welcome.”

My lips split into a wide smile. “That wasn’t hard, was it?”

Aiden’s gaze drifted over my face and then lower. He sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing.” I dodged the hand that reached for my shoulder. The burn had already dulled. “I’m fine. It’s just doggy slobber. Don’t come too close; I smell like wet hellhound. I’m really—”

“Lexie.”

The name—the sound of the voice—wasn’t Aiden’s, but I recognized it in my heart and soul. It couldn’t be, but it was. My breath stalled in my lungs. My legs felt suddenly weak as I turned from a shell-shocked Aiden. My heart— my heartalready knew the source of that wonderful, soft, and beautiful voice.

I stumbled back a step, suddenly swamped in emotion that tightened my chest and stole my breath. Confusion followed as I shook my head in a daze. Tears sprung to my eyes. My chest cracked wide open, because this couldn’t be real.

“Mom?”

CHAPTER 20

She didn’t look like I remembered.

When I’d seen her last—when I’d killed her—she had been a daimon, with black holes where her eyes should’ve been and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, set in skin so pale and translucent that inky veins had shown through.

That image had tarnished my memory of her. Something I’d been too ashamed to really delve into. The fact I couldn’t recall how beautiful she’d been horrified me, but she…