Zorn stepped diagonally to the side, and a drop of liquid caught the moonlight as it fell to the ground. He healed faster than normal, thanks to his blood bond with Kieran, but it wasn’t immediate. He’d better clean the floor when they were done. He jabbed his blade at Daisy’s side.

She twisted away at the last moment, the strike too close for comfort. For my comfort, anyway. While he might heal quickly, Daisy was human. She possessed no such ability. Summoned by my anxiety, the Line pulsed in the room, a slash of black within a nest of bruise-like colors, the entranceway to the spirit world. Spirit blanketed the walls, covered the floor. It spread across the windows and wove into the ghost-repellent magic encasing the house. Power filled my body, ready for use.

I held it at bay, not wanting to interfere. Zorn knew what he was doing. He wouldn’t hurt her more than she could tolerate.

Daisy brought her arms around, knocking Zorn’s hands away. Her blade passed across Zorn’s wrist. He gritted his teeth and spun, lashing out in retaliation.

She was already moving, crouching and bending, as graceful as a dancer. Her small stature didn’t hinder her from holding her own with six-foot-tall, well-built Zorn. If anything, it made her quicker. Harder to pin down.

I wondered why he didn’t just tackle her and be done with it. Mordecai certainly would have. Though Mordecai had been stabbed too many times to count. Thank heavens powerful shifters healed at lightning-fast rates.

Zorn swiped her right hand, opening up a line of red. Daisy did suck in a pained breath. Then the hilt of a throwing knife blossomed in Zorn’s side.

“Oh shi—” I backed away from the island. If knives were flying, I didn’t want to accidentally get a ricochet in the face.

Zorn’s arms moved faster. So much so that his limbs seemed to almost liquify. Two steps and he was next to her, his blade cutting the air millimeters from her arm. Next he slashed inches from her chest. She barely moved out of the way, playing defense now. Another slash and Zorn finally managed to nick her upper arm, angling the knife so it didn’t plunge down deep.

More power trickled into me. I gritted my teeth, fighting the desire to come to her aid and end this fight the easy way. My way.

She didn’t stop, merely changed stance. Someone flung another knife, but I didn’t see where it landed.

My attention was on a moving object behind them. Getting to a better vantage point, I could see Frank sprinting across the lawn in what I could only assume was terror.

What could make a ghost run like that?

“Wait. You guys. Stop.” I hastened toward the window, nearly getting a blade between the ribs for my efforts. I had a blood bond with Kieran, too, and healed just as quickly as Zorn, but I wasn’t nearly so stoic about pain. “Stop!”

With my magic I punched their spirit boxes, the hard crust surrounding their most precious possessions: their souls.

Zorn danced back a few steps, wiping at his chest, but Daisy didn’t let it slow her down an iota. She surged after Zorn and stabbed down with her blade, getting him in the shoulder. She could’ve had his heart, but he wouldn’t have come back from that one.

“I said wait!” I slashed through her middle this time. She grunted and bent, staggering to the side. Guilt squeezed me, but I ignored it. She might not be blood-related, but she was still my kid. I hated hurting her. “Your fault,” I mumbled. I also didn’t like taking blame.

I jumped over a tight-lipped Zorn, ran around the table, and made it to the window just as Frank disappeared into the trees lining the cliff at the end of the street. Spirit lit up the world. Power pulsed around me, through me. I turned my head to see what Frank had been running from.

A creature stood on my grass, roughly a human form. Blacker than midnight, it looked like a person-shaped hole punched through the fabric of the world. It stood ten feet tall, with shoulders wider than a shovel was long. Its robust chest cinched down into too-thin hips before exploding out into two enormous thighs. The thing was absurdly disproportionate.

Positioned in front of the house, it tilted its blank face up to look at the second-story windows. It started forward, stepping like it was walking on the grass, but its form hovered a foot off the ground.

I back-pedaled, my eyes feeling as big as saucers, my heart choking me.

“What’s happening?” Daisy asked, already by my side with her knives.

The creature reached the window, and Zorn stepped in front of me, cutting off my view.

“Damn it, Zorn—” I shoved him out of the way as the creature reached out a hand. My breath stuck in my throat.

Its hand curled into a fist, gripping the web of repellent magic coating the house, then tore it away with one quick yank. “Oh crap.” The words sounded more like a wheeze. My heart felt like it was punching holes through my ribcage.

Frozen in terror and indecision, I just stood there, struck dumb.

“What’s happening?” Daisy asked again, shaking me, trying to get me to snap out of it.

I needed to snap out of it.

The creature bent, then stared through the bared window, its curtains hanging to the sides. As the resident Demigod’s main squeeze, I’d never had a problem with Peeping Toms. Kieran was not brutal like Valens, but he also wasn’t entirely rational where my safety was concerned. If I was threatened, he got crazy in a hurry. People were smart enough to realize this.

This was not a person. And if it was, it clearly wasn’t a person under Kieran’s influence.