Darkest Before Dawn by Pippa DaCosta

a full-blood demon. He’s Asmodeus’ son,” I said softly, remembering Stefan’s words. “Asmodeus is the Prince of Lust.” Of course Val would screw with my head. It was in his DNA. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t actually want to experience his touch all over again. How could my own body betray my mind? I’d lusted after my brother, and by the look on Jenna’s face, so had she. “Are you okay?”
    She’d glazed over, focused on a spot somewhere beyond the lounge windows. “Yeah...” Running a hand back through her hair, she shook herself, and met my gaze. “Thanks to you. If you hadn’t jumped him when you did, I’d have let him do anything to me right there on the car.” She grimaced and turned away. Jenna was a fighter. I’d seen her take down demons twice her size with roundhouse kicks and short, sharp jabs. She was an imposing figure and a damn good Enforcer. Val’d had her salivating at his feet in seconds.
    “You’re lucky to be alive.” So was I. It was only the ominous, if distant, presence of my father that prevented Val from killing me. If a demon as powerful as Val was concerned with adhering to the wishes of our father, just how bad was Daddy-dearest?
    Jenna drew in a deep breath and nodded. “So what now, Muse?” She plucked her gun from inside her coat and checked the chamber. “I need to report this to the Institute.” Ejecting the magazine, she gave it a once-over and rammed it home again.
    I winced. There was no way I could stop her from talking, short of tying her up.
    She took my delay to reply as her cue to explain. “I followed you up here. Your brother caught me watching you at the mall.” She licked her lips again and wiped a hand across her mouth. “The Institute knows I’m here. If I don’t check in, they’ll send a team.”
    Akil would already be pissed that Enforcers had crawled over every inch of his Boston apartment. If I brought them to Blackstone, he’d probably send the Hellhounds after me.
    “Okay. Alright. I just need... some time.” Val followed Jenna here from Boston. I was sure of it. He couldn’t have found Dawn or me hidden inside Blackstone’s walls, so he’d tracked Jenna after she’d tried to tail me. Maybe I should have listened to Ryder. Had I handed Dawn over to the Institute, at least she’d be on this side of the veil. She’d have a chance. In the netherworld, where Val had surely taken her, they’d tear her apart and remake her into something damaged beyond repair.
    “You wanna tell me what’s going on?” Jenna asked stiffly. “Why you ran from us in Boston? Who the girl is? What you’re hiding?”
    I didn’t have much choice now. I’d lost Dawn. I had to get her back. Could I go to the netherworld and face my brother alone? I wasn’t a coward, but I did have some sense of self-preservation. And even if I got her back, what then? Val would come after me. I didn’t relish the idea of another family reunion. I needed help. “Stick around, and you’ll get your answers. I have to summon a Prince of Hell. Wanna help?”
    Jenna looked at me as though she wasn’t sure if she’d heard me right. “Don’t do things by halves, do you Muse?”
    “Not anymore.” I grinned.

Chapter Thirteen
    I glued a candle to a salad plate, using its own molten wax to stick it fast, and placed it on the floor in the center of the lounge. We’d pushed the furniture up against the walls, giving me plenty of space to work.
    Jenna handed me a kitchen knife. “You’ve done this before?” She swallowed with an audible click, wiped her hands on her leggings, and stepped back.
    “Summoned a demon? Yeah, a few times. I’ve never summoned a prince though.”
    “You think he’ll tell you about Dawn?”
    Crouched beside the candle, I dragged the sharp edge of the knife across my palm, wincing as it stung. Blood pooled inside my clenched hand and dripped onto the plate. “Maybe. I don’t know. We’ll see. Stay back. I don’t know how