The words sting, but not as much as they would coming from someone else. From what Chester has said, Nostrand has always harbored a particular hatred for neophyte hunters like him and JJ. “Oh,” JJ says, and then: “Why didn’t you just let me? Die, I mean.”
Nostrand’s lips curve. “I think you already know the answer to that,” he says, and he trails the tip of his knife up the side of JJ’s neck, tracing the line of his hammering pulse.
JJ holds his breath and tries not to flinch. Sawyer Solomon taught both JJ and Chester how to be hunters, but their specialized mentors—external operations for JJ, interrogation for Chester—were different. Naomi Gutierrez trained JJ, Roma, and Bryant to work together as a strike team, and Adrian Nostrand?—
Nostrand taught Chester how to torture. Unwillingly, grudgingly, and in the most abusive manner possible, of course, but Chester learned everything he knows from him.
And Chester might be a master of his craft, but at least he’s clinical about it. He once quietly confessed to JJ that he sometimes blacks out during interrogations, his hands moving on autopilot while his mind goes somewhere else entirely.
Nostrand, on the other hand, is both a master of his craftanda sadist. And JJ has a very bad feeling about the next six hours of his life. “You might as well get the gasoline,” he says. “I’m not talking about them.”
Nostrand smiles. “Oh, I was hoping you’d say that,” he says, and he picks up the hammer.
Cass leans across the kitchen table of his favorite safe house, glaring at Ez and Obie on the other side. “Let me make thisverysimple for you. I’m not losing JJ. Iwon’t.So are you going to help me break into the Sanctum or not?”
Ez grits her teeth.“Cass?—”
Obie grabs her arm and squeezes. Ez turns her glare on him. “Cass, buddy,” Obie says, using the same “talk down the frightened animal” tone he’s adopted over the past two days, “it’s a suicide mission.”
“I’ve broken into the Sanctum on at least five separate occasions,” Cass snaps. “I can?—”
“But not the Sanctum’sprison,”Ez cuts in sharply. “It’s not gettinginthat’s the issue. It’s getting backout.”
“And I’ve checked the Chain’s records,” Obie adds softly. “They have maps and floor plans of the Sanctum proper, but nothing of the basement prison. As far as we know, no demon has ever left there alive. You’d be going in blind.”
“We’ve gone into worse,” Cass says. “Remember Normandy?”
“Vividly,” Obie says. “But that was againsthumans,Cass. Human adversaries with human powers and human objectives. We’re talking about hunters, about theSanctum.They have their enchantments, their training, their blind hatred of our kind. If they get their hands on you, they won’t kill you—they’llvivisectyou. You can’t fight your way out of that.”
“Watch me,” Cass says, and he smiles grimly. “You know how much I like making history. I’m getting in, I’m getting JJ, and we’re getting out.”
“That’s not aplan,Cass!” Ez snaps. “That’s awish list!”
“Then help memakeit into a plan!” Cass snarls. “Help me?—”
Obie slices a finger across his throat, a clear warning to lower his voice. Cass cuts himself off, glancing towards the couch. Desi is curled up in a ball underneath a throw blanket, Kira and Hana both hugged tightly to her chest. She’s asleep right now, her breathing deep and even, but Cass doesn’t know how long that’ll last. He’s barely been able to coax her to sleep since Monday, not since they lost JJ. Now, it’s late Wednesday night, and Cass?—
Well, Cass obviously hasn’t been sleeping, either. No time for that when he has a jailbreak to plan. After his dizzying stint of rift-hopping around the world with Desi, he brought them straight back to his safe house, stalled for just long enough to make Desi a new blanket fort for comfort purposes, and started mapping out his strategy.
His first step, of course, was figuring out who he could trust enough to help him. While he’ll storm the Sanctum alone if he needs to, he’s not too proud to admit that he works best with a team by his side, but?—
But the list of demons he trusts nowadays is depressingly short.
Maggie Khan is out, unfortunately. Much as Cass trusts her with his life in combat settings, she’s loyal to the Chain—and, what’s more, she frequently works with neophyte demons as part of her Public Safety duties. He knows she’d disapprove of his decision to not register Desi.
And even though he would’ve considered Gregorio Ricci and Micah Devereux in the past, he’s stayingfaraway from them until he knows what they’re up to. They might not be as loyal to the Chain as Maggie is, but the Chaindoesstill sign their paychecks—and, above all, they were two of the only people who knew Desi existed.
For all Cass knows, they could’ve been the ones who tipped off the Sanctum. He desperately hopes not, of course, hopes that the hunters just figured out how to track Desi’s high-energy soul like JJ warned him they might, but?—
But he’s not reaching out until he’s sure.
On the other hand, Cass thought Ez and Obie would be on board without hesitation. Apparently, he was wrong. He lowers his voice, leaning forward. “Two months ago, you two practically invited yourselves along when I broke into the Sanctum to rescue Desi. We’ve been following each other into danger for two hundred years. What’s so different this time?”
For a long moment, the three of them stare each other down.
And then, in the quietest voice Cass has ever heard, Obie says, “Are you really about to risk everything for a Sanctum lackey?”
White-hot fury blazes through Cass. “The lackey has aname,Obadiah,” he snarls. “A name and adaughter—the same one I have, in case you forgot. The lackeystayed behindso he wouldn’t put us in danger. And I begged him to come with us, okay? Ibeggedhim, but he just?—”
