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of my potty mouth. “Do you know where it is? Or, what it does?”
    “ There is plenty of speculation about what it does. Nobody seems to know for sure. If a demon wants it, it can’t be good. It’s here somewhere, in the city, hidden. I have no intention of helping him find it. I’ll let him kill me first.” Father Andrew shrugged, resigned to his fate.
    My mind raced. “He wants something from me, too. But why? What’s he up to?”
    “ He’s building an army to serve him. People like you are his link to the human world. If he controls you, he controls it. Watch out for him and the fallen angel.” His tone became pleading. “Don’t let them corrupt you. You’re a Hound. One of the last.”
    I threw my hands up and turned on a heel to go. “I can’t listen to this. I’m sorry. I’m a killer. A monster. That’s all.”
    “ If anyone has a chance to stop him, it’s you.”
    Father Andrew’s voice followed me out of the church, but I didn’t look back.

Chapter Five

    “ I don’t believe it,” Jez announced. “I refuse. Kale can’t be dead.”
    Her red lips twisted into a scowl. With a vigorous headshake, she huffed. I had anticipated her reaction. Disbelief still held me in its grip as well.
    We sat on one of the couches at The Wicked Kiss, looking on to the near empty dance floor. After the disturbing evening I’d had so far with Gabriel and the priest, I decided to follow through with my plan to close the club for a few nights. Only regulars were allowed in, which meant more action in the back than out front.
    “ Briggs can’t be that good of a liar,” I replied, watching a middle-aged man offer himself to a vampire. The man had more visible bites than I could count. These people must get damn good at hiding the truth behind their daytime personas.
    “ Says who? He’s a government drone. They mess with mind control. Just because he believes it doesn’t make it true.” Jez’s haughty green cat-like gaze landed on me. “You don’t believe it either. Otherwise, you’d be a total mess.”
    I scoffed. “Give me a break. I care about Kale. The last thing I want is for anything bad to happen to him. But, I’m not this lovesick puppy you insist I am.”
    “ Bullshit.”
    I turned my attention to a loose thread on my sleeve. I’d been wearing a lot more long sleeve shirts than usual these days in order to cover the dragon etched into my forearm thanks to Shya. The ugly demon mark drew a lot of unwanted interest.
    “ If he’s not dead, then where the hell is he? He’s been missing for too long. It can’t be good.” My stomach flipped a few times in response to the anxiety-riddled scenarios that played out in my head.
    “ I bet they still have him,” Jez mused, chewing on a long, tapered fingernail. “Locked up somewhere in that hospital of horrors. We have to know for sure, Alexa.”
    “ Are you saying you want to go in there? Jez, trust me, you don’t want to see the inside of that place.”
    She fixed me with a pointed look. “Let’s just say there’s a possibility he’s in there. How can you live with not knowing for sure? He would go in after either of us. If he is alive, we can’t just leave him there.”
    Such seriousness was rare for the fun-loving leopard. Jez was far more worried about Kale than she let on. Of course, it was possible. I’d entertained the idea more than once myself, but trespassing on FPA turf wasn’t going to go over well.
    “ The chance of getting in there undetected is slim to none,” I warned, but I could see the determination in her eyes. She was set on this.
    “ Then let’s not go in undetected. They want you to become an informant so use that to get us in. Tell them you’re willing to negotiate.”
    “ That would be a lot more believable if I hadn’t attacked one of their agents.”
    “ Your sister is there. That gives you some leeway.”
    Jez wasn’t having a hard time convincing me. Perhaps I didn’t need much encouragement. I