The small bone-like object was still warm and slick with blood, and something pulsed from it. An energy or presence that made the damn thing feel alive in my hand, as if at any moment it would burrow beneath my skin or try to escape. It bore a carved symbol unlike anything I’d ever seen before. It was different than the typical runes I came across—and judging by the tingling it caused in my hand, it packed a larger punch too, but the million dollar question was what did it do? With Juliet, the runes on her body allowed for demons to possess her vessel. Phoenix wasn’t possessed—or at least he didn’t seem to be. He was still helping and had no real personality changes. Either Phoenix had been lying when he said he didn’t know he had it or it had always been with him. There simply wasn’t a way someone could have surgically implanted it without his knowledge—unless maybe it wasn’t surgical?A niggling feeling at the base of my skull kept my eyes darting back to the rune any time I tried to look away.I slipped it into my pocket and forced my hand away from it.
