This Side of the Grave (#5 Night Huntress)

He grunted. “Too right.”
“If I thought Denise would be in danger, I wouldn’t ask her,” I said to Spade. Since she’d been branded, only demon bone through the eyes could
kill Denise, and that was about as rare as a proverbial snowball in hell. “You want to keep her safe,” I continued. “So do I, which is why Apollyon’s
got to be stopped. Even if I was staked with silver tomorrow, I don’t think Apollyon will all of a sudden go away. He’s waited six hundred years to try
this power coup, and I’ll bet he won’t want to wait another six hundred or longer until another half-breed pops up again.”
Spade said nothing for several moments, his tiger-colored gaze traveling over Denise, Bones, and me in turn. At last, he spread out his hands.
“You’re all correct, of course. My apologies. It seems logic fails me when it comes to my wife’s welfare.”
Bones snorted. “I know how you feel. But don’t fret. I’m sure Denise will remind you of any flaws in your logic as often as my wife reminds me of
mine.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the dryness in his tone. “Right back at you, honey. You’re pretty good about pointing it out when I’m acting with my
fears and not my brain. So I guess we’ve all been guilty of it.”
The tension in the room drained away, resulting in a few moments of companionable silence. Then Denise cleared her throat.
“So . . . let’s get started. I haven’t eaten all day to try and gear up for this, and I’m starving. If this works, I’m rewarding myself with enough food to
choke a horse.”
So saying, she got up and stood a little way off from the couch. I went over to her, not really sure if I should say anything or if that would break her
concentration. Mencheres and Kira had left, so the house was empty aside from us. No ghosts lingered in the vicinity, thanks to the illegal stink
remedy on me and around the house, and the drapes were drawn even though the closest neighbor was a good two blocks away. We weren’t
taking any chances of being observed by anyone—unless you counted my cat, who groomed himself while throwing occasional glances our way.
Denise looked me over from top to bottom, her forehead creased with concentration. Then her scent changed, souring from her natural jasmine
base to a harsher aroma of agitation. Her pulse sped up as well, breathing becoming shorter, sharper. The air around her thickened as her scent
changed even more, now tinged with faint undertones of sulfur. Even though I’d seen this reaction in her before, I couldn’t stifle a twinge of unease
as her hazel eyes slowly filled with deep crimson.
Then Denise cried out, harsh and loud. Her skin seemed to ripple over her features in a misshapen, melted way, like wax held too close to flame.
More moans came from her, the sounds almost animalistic in their intensity. She bent over, shudders wracking her body so viciously it looked like
her muscles were being torn out of place. Unbidden, my hand rose to my mouth, stifling a gasp. Spade was right. I shouldn’t have asked her to do
this. What the hell had I been thinking?
Denise fell to her knees, her hair falling over her face as a horrible shout wrenched from her. Spade was at her side even before I was, taking her
in his arms and whispering to her. I touched her shoulder, heaping recriminations on myself.
“Stop, Denise, it’s not worth it. We’ll find another way—”
My voice broke off as her head whipped up suddenly, her eyes now gunmetal gray instead of crimson or hazel, dark brown hair changed to red
and framing the same face I saw looking back at me from the mirror.
“Bugger me dead, you did it,” Bones whistled.
A slow grin spread across Denise’s face—except it wasn’t her face anymore. It was mine.
“That was so much easier than the last time!” she said, giving Spade a quick kiss before jumping to her feet. Even her body now looked exactly
like mine, I noted with amazement. She’d grown inches taller and filled out in the butt and breast area, all in the space of about three minutes.
“Darling, are you all right?” Spade asked, rising and looking her over with far more objectivity than I felt. Staring at a mirror image of myself on my
best friend was just . . . odd, even though this was what we’d hoped would happen. The demon’s essence hadn’t just made her virtually unkillable. It
had also turned Denise into a shapeshifter like he’d been.
She smoothed her hand down Spade’s chest. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Looks and sounds much worse than it is, really. Now, where’s the kitchen?
Did I mention I was starving?”
I’d just gotten out of the shower when Bones shut the bedroom door behind him, his gaze somber. After dinner, which all of us ate so Denise
didn’t feel like the odd person out, we’d finalized the details of our plan. Everyone agreed it was our best way to hopefully head Apollyon off at the
pass, but Spade wasn’t the only one who had misgivings about his spouse’s safety. I was nervous for Bones, as he was for me, but we both knew
not acting posed the greater danger. Still, now that we were alone, I felt his disquiet in the emotions grazing mine. His natural heady, burnt sugar
scent was more reminiscent of kitchen accident than crиme brыlйe right now.
I stopped towel-drying my hair and went over to him, sliding my arms around his neck as I laid my head on his chest. Soon, I’d have to reapply the
garlic-and-pot packets all over me, but for now, I could hold him without those smelly impediments.
“It’ll be okay,” I said, my words puffing onto the fabric of his shirt. “This will work.”
Hard arms encircled my back as he pulled me closer. “I know. Just don’t fancy being separated from you.”