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"There are only six of theave us her name Gem and Tay consulted a shaman who perforn"

"Dammit," Reaver breathed "The cloak that keeps all charmed humans invisible to demon eyes has been broken It’s what caused reat evil" Before Eidolon could ask et about Serena Wraith can’t touch her"

The persistent headache E had been suffering for days kicked up a notch on the pain scale "That’s not your call"

"Don’t do it I mean it, E She needs the charm"

"Why?"

"Because," Reaver said, his voice as cold as a grave, "the char her alive If she loses it, she’ll die"

Reaver watched the expression on Eidolon’s face fall Shade just looked pissed As usual

"What the hell do you mean, she’ll die?" Shade deive up their charm?"

Reaver didn’t want to answer any of their questions, didn’t want to talk about so so sacred, and he really wanted to kick his own ass for spilling his guts about Marked Sentinels at all The existence of charuarded secret for thousands of years, and if it got out… Reaver’s stomach turned over violently

"Answer the question" E was all cool Justice Dealer calo from sub-zero to scorch in a heartbeat He’d been raised by the Judicia, demons who meted out justice, and his icy, detached disposition only made him that much more lethal, because he was rarely swayed by euttural, the instinct to protect the charh he was no longer worthy of doing so Technically, no angel could interfere in a Sentinel’s life--not directly That job fell to their hu howabout whoever broke her cloak, but if he wanted to save her from Wraith, Reaver would do well to appeal to his brothers’ medical sides, the parts of them that saved lives

"Serena’s mother, Patrice, was the keeper of the charave it up to her"

Shade interrupted "Wait Patrice had to have been a virgin, right? So Serena was adopted?"

"Patrice was a virgin," Reaver said, "but she was Serena’s biological h in vitro fertilization"

Eidolon propped his hip on the sink and watched Reaver with the intensity of a hawk "How do you know this?"

"When there are only a handful of char about theh it wasn’t entirely true

"And as she gifted?"

"It doesn’tthe demons far too much as it was Eidolon and Shade were about as decent as de back into Heaven, he didn’t want to blow it by handing over vital infor in a de a fine line as it was

"What matters is that shortly after Serena was born, a Mara demon somehow learned the truth about Patrice He bit Patrice’s parents… and Serena"

Being bitten by a Mara was bad news Each one carried a unique disease within its body, to be spread through a bite, and only that demon possessed the antidote to its individual disease

"He wanted the chare for the cure Patrice had a terrible choice to make, and she chose to kill the demon As a result, her parents suffered for months before they died Serena spent years in and out of hospitals, and doctors could do nothing Just before her seventh birthday, her tied downto die and no cure could be found, Patrice passed her charm to Serena in order to keep her alive--"

"How?" Shade interrupted "I thought sex was the key"

"Serena was a special case," Reaver said shortly The truth, that the transfer never should have happened, was so he didn’t care to discuss

Or think about

Shade took the hint and steered the conversation in a new direction "So what happened after Serena got the charm?"

"Her health improved instantly, but if she loses her charress She’ll die in a matter of days Hours, maybe"

"Oh, fk," Shade muttered "We can’t tell Wraith"

Eidolon’s dark brows shot up "He needs to know"