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C
an I touch one of the bones?” Priest asked.

We were is the athenaeum, examining Azazel.

Gabriel cracked the whip against the ground, and Azazel’s bones uncoiled, rippling forward like a dragon’s tail. “Be careful. Demon bones are almost as unpredictable as demons themselves.”

Bear ran back and forth in front of the whip like he didn’t know what to make of it.

Priest poked at a claw with his finger, and the bone recoiled, drawing itself closer to the hooked claw behind it.

After four hours of sleep—for those who had actually slept—I woke everyone up. We didn’t have time to sleep, not until we figured out how to save Jared.

“I think we’re approaching this the wrong way.” Priest
stood up and started pacing. “Andras is so strong now, he’s practically showering in holy water. Your whip is one of the only things that still weakens him.”

“Go on.” Gabriel sat on the edge of the table, listening.

I couldn’t stand to look at him now that I knew he was the one who betrayed Faith.

“What if there was a way to expose Andras to Azazel’s power constantly? Would it weaken him enough to buy us some time?” Priest asked.

Gabriel looped the bones around his arm. “In theory. But a demon whip can only be commanded by its maker.”

“Can I borrow the black marker for a minute?” Priest asked Alara.

It wasn’t that long ago when I used to carry one, too. Not that I needed it anymore.

She handed it to him and watched as he drew a diagram on the back of an old receipt.

“Is that a necklace?” I asked.

“No.” Priest shook his head. “A collar.”

Everyone crowded around to get a better look.

“Azazel needs a whip master because, by nature, a whip requires someone to handle it,” Priest explained. “A collar just needs someone to wear it.”

Lukas nodded. “Someone the collar will weaken.”

“Where do we get a bunch of demon bones?” Elle asked.

My eyes darted to the ivory serpent of bones coiled around Gabriel’s arm. My dad stalked over from where he
was leaning against one of the glass cases. He was the only person I hated seeing more than Gabriel.

“This entire conversation is insane, not to mention dangerous.” My dad turned to Gabriel. “I don’t know how you created this monstrosity in the first place, but you aren’t going to involve these kids in your Frankenstein project.”

“No one asked your opinion,” I snapped.

Priest crossed his arms, squaring off against my father. “Actually, it’s my project.”

My dad ignored him.

“As much as it pains me to say this, I agree with Alex.” Dimitri leaned forward in the armchair, next to the mummy. “Assuming we find a way to disassemble Azazel and make a collar, how do you plan to put it on Andras? Gabriel wields Azazel from a distance. Snapping a dog collar around the neck of one of Lucifer’s soldiers will require someone to get close.”

Alara toyed with her eyebrow ring. “My grandmother used to tell me stories about growing up in Haiti, when she was a kid. The bokors in her village used this stuff called
coup de poudre
to turn people into zombies.”

“Zombies?” Priest raised an eyebrow.

“Hear me out,” she said. “It was made from puffer fish venom and caused temporary paralysis so severe that it slowed down a person’s heart rate. What if we used it to paralyze Andras long enough to put the collar on him?”

“Please tell me you don’t carry fish venom around with
you,” Elle said, examining the severed doll heads in the case.

“I can buy it from a voodoo shop.” She looked at Gabriel and Dimitri. “Or one of you can bribe a fancy sushi bar to sell you some.”

Dimitri and Gabriel exchanged glances.

“The concoction might not paralyze Andras, but it should sedate him if we use enough,” Dimitri said.

“Stop.” My dad held up his hand. “Demon collars and zombies? Does this sound rational to you?”

I hurled a salt round at the shelves, and it exploded, white crystals peppering the air like snow. “Jared doesn’t have time for rational.”

My father’s expression softened. “I know you think you’re in love with this boy, but he isn’t worth risking your life for.”

Alara and Elle stared at my father in shock. In the short time Alara and I had known each other, she understood me better than my own father did. Even Gabriel shifted uncomfortably, as if he sensed the rage coming my dad’s way.

“You have
no
idea what I think because you don’t know anything about me.”

“Kennedy—” he began.

“Do you know how I met Jared and Lukas? They saved me from a vengeance spirit that tried to suffocate me. Where were you?”

“It’s complicated.”

“Save it. I’m not interested.” I shook my head in disgust. “But don’t show up here and try to play the concerned father with me now. It’s too late.”

He looked away.

“There’s still the issue of the bones.” Dimitri rose from the chair. “Gabriel would never take Azazel apart, not after what it involved to acquire the bones and assemble the whip.”

Gabriel’s eyes flickered from the whip in his hand to Priest. “You really think it could work?”

Dimitri looked stunned. “Gabriel, this is a mistake. One that could get them all killed. Don’t let them use your weapon to do it.”

“I’m not even sure if I
can
take Azazel apart.” Gabriel looked right at me. “But I’ll try.”

Dimitri drove Alara into Boston to hunt down an authentic voodoo shop. He didn’t trust anyone else to take her, after she already slipped away from Gabriel once. Between the last name Alara shared with her grandmother—one of the most respected practitioners on the East Coast—and her impeccable Haitian Creole, it took her less than three hours to find the venom we needed.

Priest and Gabriel’s job proved more challenging. Azazel didn’t want to be taken apart. Gabriel had to separate the bones himself using surgical instruments, while the rest of us listened to the bones scream.

When he finished, the ivory collar resembled something a tribal warrior might wear into battle. The vertebrae, teeth, and claws were lined up in a jagged pattern, and Gabriel had fused two interlocking spinal bones to form a clasp.

After Dimitri and Alara returned, she spent hours prepping the serum. Then we spent at least that long reviewing the plan a dozen times. By the time we made it down the stairs to the containment area, it was dinnertime.

Birds pummeled the roof, and the sound of their bodies thudding against the building made me shudder.

The portable construction lights had shorted out, and a thin layer of frost coated the walls. It stung my fingertips as I dragged them across the stone to guide me.

Jared’s voice drifted toward us, filling the tunnel with “Cry Little Sister” like an eerie lullaby. When we reached the cell door, he stopped singing. “Is that you, Gabriel? I can smell the ash on you. And the fear.”

Gabriel clutched the ivory collar of bones, with what was left of Azazel hanging from his back. “I fear no man or beast, Andras. Only God.”

The demon laughed. “God? What do you know about God? You’re a man destined to spend eternity in the Labyrinth. You should be thanking me for opening the gates.”

Priest and Alara worked quickly, positioning the projectors.

“The gates aren’t open yet,” Gabriel said.

“Ready,” Priest whispered.

Water splashed into the cell, and Andras laughed. “Pouring holy water through the ceiling grate? You have fallen on hard times, Gabriel. But I am thirsty.”

Please let this work.

I listened to the demon drink. How would we know if he’d consumed enough of the venom-laced water? What if it didn’t have the same effect on a demon?

Alara tapped my leg, signaling me to get ready.

One. Two. Three.

We hit the power buttons on our projectors at almost the same time.

Andras heard the buzz of the machines and padded around the cell. “What are you up to out there, Champion of God? Did you bring your Legion and exorcist? I want them to be here when I break free of these chains and tear out your throat.”

Bear snarled.

Priest turned on the wand in his hand. The black light inside made the flecks of white lint on his jeans glow. He stepped in front of the bars, holding the wand against his chest. As the fluorescent beam hit the walls, four symbols revealed themselves like the points on a compass. The Wall, the Devil’s Trap, the Eye of Ever, and the most recent addition to our arsenal—a winding symbol Dimitri referred to as the Devil’s Staircase, designed to confuse demons.

Alara nodded at me. “Now.”

I envisioned the invocation in my mind, as clearly as if the lines were written on a page, and recited them with Alara.

“From the depths of despair and the world beyond, claim the soulless among us and call him home.”

“Your spell can’t control me, stupid girl,” Andras growled.

We didn’t stop.

“Through blood, prayer, and battle we ask, for Darkness remembers his name.”

Andras flew into a rage, pacing manically one moment, then lashing his chains against the glowing symbols the next.

As we recited the lines for the second time, the demon staggered.

“It’s working,” Elle whispered.

Andras’ movements slowed as the venom took effect. “What are you doing, witch?” he called out, reaching for the wall to brace himself.

Dimitri signaled Lukas, and the two of them joined Priest in front of the cell. Dimitri held open a gilded leather book, and the three of them read from a set of exorcism rites that weren’t part of the
Rituale Romanum
.

Andras’ spine jerked.

Then he froze, his limbs immobile.

Gabriel unlocked the cell and stepped inside, carrying the collar made from Azazel.

Andras focused his black eyes on the door, and it slammed behind Gabriel.

“Stay back,” Dimitri called out. “He’s still too strong.” He turned to my father. “Alex, use the
Diario di Demoni
to exorcise him.”

My father shook his head. “It will never work.”

“You don’t have to fully exorcise him,” Dimitri said. “Just weaken him enough for Gabriel to get the collar around his neck.”

“I’ll do my best.” My dad flipped through the book until he found the right page, then he started to read.

Dimitri, Priest, and Lukas continued the rites from the
Rituale Romanum
, their voices overlapping with my father’s.

Andras’ spine stiffened, and his eyes widened in shock. A pale gray form rose above Jared’s immobile body, while Jared’s limbs remained paralyzed. Only the form hovering half in—and half out—of his body moved.

He had the hazy gray arms and torso of a man. But the extended jaw, long snout, and black eyes belonged to an animal.