“Be human?”
Jacqui choked.
“He might not be human because he’s a demon?”
“How did you—?”
“How doIknow?” Eva barked a bitter laugh. “Well, have I got a story for you! But first, how doyouknow?”
“It’s your dad.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Of course it is.”
“Last night, he came bursting into the room while I was reading and asked me where I heard the names of your boyfriend and his brothers. I tried to hold out for your sake, but I eventually cracked under pressure and told him. I didn’t mention what you saw at the club because I knew he’d really freak, but he still freaked quite a bit anyway. He said he was going out to his studio, and then he never came back. I went into his office to look for him even though we usually don’t disturb each other’s private work spaces. But I was knocking at the door, and he wasn’t answering, so I had to check and see—”
“And then what happened?”
“I found a book. I think it’s called a grimoire? In your dad’s office.”
Eva blinked. Agrimoirein her dad’s office? Okay. Not at all what she was expecting to hear.
“It was written in Latin, I think, interspersed with some other language I didn’t recognize, and there were these symbols. Very complicated symbols, with circles and keys and squiggles, all intersecting.”
Oh god, that sounded a lot like the sigils Belial had described. What on earth was her dad doing with that? Was he trying to summon demons?Please god, don’t let him be that stupid.
“Inside the grimoire there were these loose-leaf sketches,” Jacqui continued. “Done recently, in your dad’s handwriting. They were the same symbol drawings, but very complex, more so than the others in the book. I was able to decipher the writing at the top of one of the drawings, and the same again interwoven into the design.”
“And?” Eva was gripping the phone so hard it nearly shot right out of her hand. “What did it say?”
“Honey... it said Asmodeus.”
Oh, shit.
“And there were three more papers underneath. Belial, Raum, Mephis— Mephistof— Mephi—”
“Just call him Meph,” she blurted.
“Meph. But honey, I think your dad is trying to...”—her voice dropped to a whisper—“summondemons.”
Eva paused. Waited for more.
And then realized she wasn’t going to get it.
“That’s it? Just the sight of a fancy book and you’re convinced demons are real?” She barked another laugh. “Do you know how crazy that sounds? Totally, completely—”
She stopped suddenly, rubbing her eyes until she saw stars.
“You’re right,” she finally said. “They are real.”
There was a pause.
“Eva, I want you to start at the beginning and tell me everything.”
“Mom? Hello? Are you still there or did your head explode the way mine’s been threatening to?”
“I’m here,” Jacqui said quietly.
Eva shifted on Ash’s bed, adjusting the pillow supporting her back where she leaned against the wall. “So... you don’t think I’m completely nutty?”
