Mom

"Fine. Yes. You'd have thought she was feeding an army, with the stack she set down in front of me."

Eli grinned. "She always does. That pack of dogs running around here is hers, and she splits her monster-sized meals between them, and two or three of the unattached men. She's been eyeing Red now for years, but he ain't biting."

He patted the mattress beside him. "Here, sit with me. We still have a lot to go over before you leave."

"Leave? Already?" Niki couldn't hide her disappointment.

"Afraid so. Mom is expecting you."

"She knows I'm coming?"

"It was her idea to bring you here to begin with."

Niki was skeptical. Her mother hadn't been in contact Niki since she'd abandoned them.

"It's like this," Eli explained. "A few months ago, a member of the sect found a spell in an ancient text that may be the answer to our prayers. That's where you come in."

Niki's imagination went into overdrive and she imagined giving birth to a demon baby that spoke in tongues, before having her heart removed from her chest while it was still beating. She shivered as the blood drained from her extremities, and she paled in dread of what Eli would say next.

"You ok?"

"It depends on what you say next," she said shakily.

"It's not as bad as you think," Eli reassured her. "The spell requires a vial of blood from a close relative of each man cursed to be combined with the blood of a relative of Rodriguez. Your donation is the last of what we need."