“Who is it?” Eve called out.
“I’m safe, I promise.”
Eve kept the chain on, but unlocked the series of dead bolts. She pulled the door open and peeked out the opening. The woman on her doorstep was so beautiful, she had to blink a few times to process it.
“Hi,” her visitor said with a friendly smile. “I’m Cain’s mother.”
Her mouth fell open and her grip on the doorknob tightened. Holy shit.
Lightning quick, she freed the chain and yanked the original Eve inside. She glanced up and down the hallway, then slammed the door shut and locked it. Spinning around, she faced Alec’s mom with her back pressed to the door.
She swallowed hard. “Hi.”
“You’re just as beautiful as I imagined you would be” Alec’s mother said with a warm smile. She approached Eve with arms wide and embraced her. “I’m so happy to meet you, Evangeline.”
“It’s a p-pleasure to meet you, too.. . Eve” she managed, while alarms were clanging in her mind.
Satan wanted this woman enough to give up Gadara for her. Why? And how had he known she would soon be within reach?
“I would like it if you’d call me Ima” Alec’s mother said, stepping back to study her.
They were of a height and similarly colored, but the biblical Eve was more exotic, with almond-shaped brown eyes and a luxuriously voluptuous figure.
She wore a simple linen dress that looked to be handmade, and she appeared to be somewhere in her midforties, which certainly could not be the case. She definitely didn’t look old enough to be Alec and Reed’s mother.
“Ima,” Eve repeated, her brain reeling over the fact that the mother of all humanity was standing in her living room.
“What a lovely place you have.” Ima walked deeper into the room, her head tilting back to take in the vaulted ceilings. “Cain says you’re an interior designer.”
“Yes.” Eve followed after her. “Would you like a drink? I have water and tea. Soda, too, if you like that sort of thing.”
Eve didn’t know whether the woman standing in her living room was a ghost or real. Did she eat and drink? Sleep?
“What are you having?” Ima asked, gesturing at the drinking glass sweating condensation onto the coffee table.
“Diet Dr. Pepper.”
“Diet?” Ima smiled over her shoulder. “You don’t need to diet.”
“Yeah. The whole mark thing…”
“Not because of that. You’re gorgeous just the way you are.”
“Thank you.” Eve passed her on the way to the kitchen. She hit the light switch on the wall and grabbed a cup from the cupboard. The barely there weight of the necklace felt like a yoke around her neck.
Alec’s mother pulled out a bar stool and sat at the kitchen island. “I’m making you uncomfortable.”
Pausing with the cup in hand, Eve sighed and offered a rueful smile. “No, it’s not you. I’m just surprised. I’m still getting used to meeting people I always thought were. . . mythological.”
“Didn’t Cain tell you I’m real?” The grin that accompanied the question had a touch of mischievousness that was endearing. “I saw that you’re reading the Bible. Is there anything in particular that you’re researching?”
For a moment, the rattling of the ice maker prevented speech. Then, Eve pulled a can of soda out of the fridge and turned to face Ima. She was debating whether she should talk about the whole Garden of Eden, apple, Satan incident so soon after meeting the pivotal figure in the tale, but time was short. Who knew what Father Riesgo and Gadara were going through right now? And how long could the priest be a missing person before his life was irrevocably changed?
Eve set the glass in front of Alec’s mom and popped open the can. “I was reading Genesis, actually.”
“Don’t believe everything you read.” Ima picked up the can and poured some soda into the glass. She sat with spine straight and shoulders back, elegant and delicate. Her hair was a deep chestnut curtain that fell to the seat cushion. There was a fine cluster of silver strands at her right temple, almost too faint to be noticed.
“Really?” Eve set her elbow on the island and rested her chin in her hand. “What shouldn’t I believe?”
“Well, you won’t find it in that version you have there, but that ridiculous story about my husband only liking the missionary position? Ridiculous. He’s a man. He’ll take it any way he can get it and the less work he has to put into it, the more he enjoys it. Lilith spread that tale because she’s bitter.”
Eve bit back a smile. Then a knock came at the door and she straightened abruptly.
“Stay here’ she said, rounding the back of Ima’s chair. “If something happens, run to one of the rooms down the hall and lock the door.”
A grip on her biceps stopped her.
“Unless you’re expecting someone’ Ima said, “it’s probably Adam.”
Eve blinked. Adam. The knock came again, louder and more insistent.
“Isha?” a masculine voice called.
“Isha?” Eve repeated.
“Wife.” Ima slid off the chair and moved toward the door. “He’ll be so excited to meet you.”
Eve’s brain took a moment to catch up, then she rushed forward protectively. If something happened to Reed and Alec’s mother on her watch...
When Adam entered her home a moment later, Eve was dumbstruck. The resemblance to his sons was disconcerting. He was gorgeous. There was a quiet dignity to his bearing, distinguishing him in the way some men achieved with age.
As Eve stood beside the doorway, staring, Adam perused her from head to toe. His face was austere, giving nothing away. Eve squirmed inside, wondering what he thought of her, whether it was good or bad.
She was surprised when he hugged her, so much so that she stood rigidly for a moment before she hugged him back.
“I can see why Cain thinks she was worth waiting for,” Ima said, smiling as Adam straightened and adjusted his rough-hewn vest with an awkward tug. Public displays of affection seemed to be uncomfortable for him.
Eve jumped as Reed appeared beside her with a plastic bag in his hand.
“Don’t shoot me, but I brought takeout.” He spotted his parents, and his eyes widened. “I didn’t know you were visiting!”
“Surprise!” his mother said, dark eyes sparkling.
“Sorry about dinner” he murmured to Eve. “It’s almost ten o’clock. I figured it was too late to cook. You didn’t eat without me?”
Feeling the heavy weight of his parents’ stares, she could only manage to shake her head.
“Good?’ He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then smiled at his parents. “Luckily, I couldn’t make up my mind and bought an excessive amount of food. We can all eat together. Hope you’re in the mood for Italian.”
He moved toward the kitchen. Eve followed with heavy footsteps.
She heard his mother speak quietly behind her.
“Dear God. Not again.”
Reed massaged Eve’s shoulders as they stood in the common area hallway and watched his parents disappear into Alec’s condo. “Relax. If this place is safe enough for you, it’s equally safe for them.”
When she heard Alec’s dead bolt slide into place,
Eve pulled out of Reed’s grip and returned to her own home. She’d spent the last two hours wondering if Alec was going to show up. She was both relieved and disappointed that he hadn’t.
“They like you” Reed said, closing her door and locking it.
Eve wasn’t so sure about that. They’d had a decent time together once the food had been served, but there was an underlying awkwardness that Reed seemed impervious to.
“How are Montevista and Sydney?” she asked.
“They were sleeping in the infirmary when I got to them, but the witch doctor said they’re stable and in no danger.”
Frowning, Eve settled onto the sofa.
He sat beside her and tossed one arm over the back of the couch. There was something in his face, a hint of strain.
She reached out and set her hand over his knee. “Is everything all right?”
“No. Everything is far from all right.” He laced his fingers with hers. “Obviously Azazel knocked the guards out of commission before going after the priest. The question is: why didn’t he come after you instead? He must want something from you in return—guilt, recklessness, anger. . . something. But then why not take your parents? Or your sister? The move was both really bold and too restrained. Makes no sense.”
Her grip tightened on his. “I would have lost it if he’d gone after my family.”
“Exactly. So he’s playing with you. Why? Why not go all the way and hit you where it really hurts?”
Because Satan was clever. He wanted her pushed into a corner where she’d be desperate, but not wild with it. He wanted her levelheaded so that she could do his dirty work. Perhaps he even wanted to seem reasonable. She didn’t see how, but then she didn’t understand how any of these people worked.
Eve shrugged in reply. “Maybe the bounty isn’t for killing me, but for fucking with me? Putting the screws to me because of the whole hellhound thing?”
“Is that what the yuki-onna told you?”
“She was under duress at the time,” Eve reminded him dryly.
“Why were you out there with the priest to begin with?”
Eve explained the chain of events, wincing inwardly as his face darkened with every sentence.
“So let me get this straight,” he said tightly when she finished. “You’re supposed to stay in the house. Instead, you left to talk to the priest about a nut job who wouldn’t bother you if you stayed in the house like you’re supposed to?”
“I guess. But—”
“But nothing. What the hell were you thinking?”
“You know what I was thinking! The demons want me. We want Gadara. Hiding here isn’t going to help move things along. I don’t need more guilt, Reed. I’m aware that Father Riesgo’s abduction is entirely my fault.”