“Sephy, can you hear me?”

The words streamed through my head. Definitely male, yet grogginess fogged my brain like I’d drunk a whole whiskey bottle and now waking up hurt too much.

“Let’s take her to the hospital,” another man suggested, and that prompted me to peel open my eyes. Sunlight stung my vision and looking down at me were two men. Detective Dean Rush with his hypnotic crystal-blue pupils, and my ex, Ryder, offering me one of his flirty grins that used to melt my knees. Who was I kidding? They still did, but every time I fell for his charm, our past smacked me in the face. How he’d betrayed me, and how I might forgive him, but forgetting seemed an impossibility. Was that the best foundation for a relationship?

As I lay there, reality returned. My mouth tasted like copper, and I stared up at a smashed window in the nearby building.

“Fuckin’ demon’s ass,” I groaned as I pushed myself up. Dean took my elbow and drew me to my feet with care.

“Yep, she’s back to her normal self.” Ryder chuckled and wiped something off my cheek with a thumb. I was soaked in slimy blood. Damn, I must resemble a resurrected swamp monster who just gorged on a camper.

Ryder wore only Knox’s coat around his waist, buttoned up the front and fashioned as a kilt. I suspected it might have been at someone else’s suggestion since Ryder had grown up a nudist and had zero issues with flashing his wares.

But when my gaze sailed to Knox and the victim’s brother, Asher, my stomach dropped.

“Where’s the girl?” I surveyed the pier on either side of me. I didn’t almost die to have her end up dead. Whatever possessed the child wasn’t normal and even now the demon’s words whirred in my head about finding me, knowing me. But I put that down to the fiend making up crap to catch me off guard. Still, why hadn’t my fire blitzed it out of existence?

Asher turned my way, his eyes red-rimmed, and he held his sister’s PJs in one hand—the fabric torn and bloodied. My mouth dried, my brain unable to put two and two together. I praised myself on picking up the obvious that she was missing, but right now my head hurt. My pulse pounded in my ears, and the blood on my skin was hardening, making me feel like a chick about to crack out of a shell.

The last time I’d felt this disorientated, I’d gotten kicked out of town at thirteen. I’d lost my home and everyone I’d considered a friend with nowhere to turn next. Sure, this was different, but I didn’t understand who I was or anything about my power, so how in the world was I supposed to defeat a powerful demon?

“She ran away.” Knox combed a hand through his hair.

I closed the distance between us. “What do you mean, ran away? While possessed? And why are her PJs still here?”

Asher’s cheeks were ashen and splattered with blood. Guilt sawed on my heart at seeing the agony warping his expression, the glistening in his eyes, the way he constantly swallowed past his dried throat.

“We were all knocked out,” he started, “and when I came to, she was drinking my blood and covering her body with it.” He lifted his trembling arm where several bite marks dotted his wrist. “My sister, Trisha had leaped off the pier and swam to the shore near the mountains in record time, then crawled out on all fours. She darted into the woods and vanished.”

Asher shook his head, as if still unable to believe what he’d seen, but the supernatural had inhuman abilities. And hearing his wavering voice had my hairs standing on end, reminded me of what we had faced and failed to do.

I glanced around at the four men, noting they all had similar bites on their inner arms, and at my own. Was the fiend feeding, growing in strength?

“Girl’s possessed by a demon or some shit,” Ryder blurted out. “But ain’t like anything I’ve seen before, especially if it overpowered Sephy. I’ve seen larger demons tremble in her presence. So what the fuck was that?”

Dean studied me from head to toe and stopped on my hands. My palms were red from the flames, but my skin never burned when I called on my ability.

“How did you do that with your hands?” Dean asked.

“Who gives a fuck?” Asher blurted. “She’s a magic user. He’s a lion shifter.” He pointed at Ryder. “So nothing new. Why are we still standing around chatting when my sister’s been invaded by a demon and has disappeared?” His voice rose, and I swore if more residents had moved into this complex, we’d be swarmed with television crews by now.

“We need to return to the station,” Dean said, approaching Asher. “I’ll get the team searching for her. In fact, I want to see all of you down there to take statements about what happened here.”

Ryder shook his head. “I’m a passerby, so whatever took place in the house or with the little demon girl has nothing to do with me.”

“She has a name. Trisha,” Asher growled, and Knox stepped between the men, seasoned at breaking up fights between troubled teens at the community hall he worked.

“I’ll join you at the station and help where I can,” Knox offered. “Not sure it’s necessary for Ryder or Sephy to attend right now, especially with her all bloodied up. So let’s start with me and Asher? The priority is finding the girl and saving her.” Despite his demanding tone, I appreciated him getting me off the hook.

My head still swam with what we’d gone through. The world around me kept swaying and what I needed was a shower, food and a stiff drink to re-energize myself. The fire always zapped me, but right now I was ready to collapse.

Ryder had my elbow and pulled me against him. “You going to faint? You’re pale as a cloud.”

“Forgot to have lunch. I lost a bit of blood.”

Knox looked my way, worry marring his brow. “Take her home, okay?”

I adored his protective nature.

Ryder slid an arm around my waist and held me tight. “I got her.”

But I pushed him aside, not ready to get chummy. “I can walk on my own, but thanks.”

Knox, Asher, and Dean climbed into the police car and drove to the station, while Ryder and I ambled through the park leading to my place.

“What a fucked-up day, huh, Sephy? When I saw that girl drinking your blood, I freaked and attacked her without thinking. God, I could have killed the child.”

“But you didn’t, and I’m stumped on what’s claimed her. You and I have seen some freaky shit, but this was different, and it scares me.” I rubbed the chill out of my arms while my head floated on clouds, fuzzy and unfocused.

“Have you thought of getting out of this business?” He remained by my side in case I lost my footing.

“Don’t want to talk about that. You know my thoughts. It’s what I do. I help people; otherwise, why was I cursed with this ability?” I drew away and marched up a dirt track past kids’ swings. The breeze pushed one and it creaked. Where would a demonic child run to?

I traced the edge of the bite on my arm with a finger. The wound was slightly puffy and sensitive to the touch. Vampires didn’t exist. This wasn’t the movies, and in reality far more terrifying things existed.

Ryder strolled alongside me, our arms brushing. He didn’t believe in personal space. “She bit all of us—maybe tasting our blood, hunting for something.”

We left the park behind and ambled up my street. “Or we were being marked,” I offered, and just as the words left my mouth, I hated that I’d even thought of them. Getting linked to a fiend wasn’t on anyone’s wish list, but I also didn’t intend on sitting back. Once I got myself cleaned up, I’d head back out and search for the girl. Someone had to have noticed a naked girl running around.

“For fuck’s sake, I hope we’re not marked. I came to you for help with my crap, not to get caught up in yours.”

I cut Ryder a glare, but I couldn’t blame him for not wanting to draw demons’ attention. Who did? “I’m sure it’s nothing but a feeding frenzy.” I forced a smile on my face, but his marred brow told me everything.

“You’re a terrible liar,” he said.

I unlocked the front door to the apartment building just as Ryder darted to the line of shrubs out the front of the building. Seconds later, he dashed over with a backpack over his shoulder. Okay, someone came prepared, but then again, as a lion shifter, he’d probably had enough of finding himself in naked situations if he transformed in a rush and tore his clothes.

By the time we reached the third floor and entered my place, my head spun.

Ryder shut us inside and scanned the room. “New sofa? What about our love couch?”

I rolled my eyes. “The thing was falling apart; plus, my roommate got this when you moved out. Anyway, let me clean your wounds before I shower.”

The corner of his mouth twitched and before he spoke, I answered, “No, that’s not an invitation.”

A year ago, I would have lured him to the bathroom with a strip show, eager to fall under his spell and magical tongue. Now all I thought about was his betrayal. I forgave him already but forgetting was a whole different ball game. And as much as being in his company brought back incredible memories of our times together, the love letters he’d write, the surprise gifts, the dates he’d take me on… It meant nothing after discovering he’d cheated. Because if he’d cared, he wouldn’t have gone to another woman. And what sucked worse was how it had made me feel afterward. Worthless and lacking confidence.

With Ryder bandaged up, I jumped into the shower and drowned my sorrows under the scorching water. After all, part of my ability came with a heightened resistance to heat. Blood zigzagged down my arm and legs from the projectile vomit, swirling around my feet and drain, turning the floor a crimson hue. I scrubbed the muck off my skin, out of my hair, and from my face.

Everything about today had been off. Okay, let me be honest. It had been strange for weeks now, but today had topped it off. With meeting my dead mom, being attacked by a spirit, and failing to save an innocent. Oh, and the pleasantness of receiving a demon bite, getting vomited on, and sweet-talked by a satanic spirit. Yep. Today got added to my other memorable days.

I’d killed my first demon at the age of seven when I fought an intruder in our foster home after he had made his way to my bedroom in the middle of the night. The moment I’d shoved my hands against his arms, my palms had lit up and I’d burned him. Smoke had smothered the poor sucker. Initially I’d sworn I’d barbecued him, but later I’d discovered they’d been wisps of demon ash drifting back into the underworld. It had scared the shit out of me. My foster parents didn’t believe me and accused me of taking drugs. Bastards. I was fucking only seven years old.

I closed my eyes and tilted my head back under the stream of water, wringing the last bits of shampoo. Calmness now wove through me.

And a murmuring voice reached me.

I snapped open my eyes and froze. “Ryder, that better not be you sneaking in here.” I pushed aside the show curtain, but the bathroom was empty. I was alone.

Okay, clearly I was jumpy. I switched off the water and climbed out.

After disinfecting and bandaging my wounds and glass cuts, I pulled on my jean shorts and a T-shirt.

A voice came from the living room. Ryder on the phone, maybe talking to his girlfriend. Whatever. I wasn’t interested. Nope. Not even the twinge in my gut about missing what we’d had together would change that.

But when I strolled into the room to join him, I gasped at the state I found him in. “What the fuck are you doing?”