---

With a heavy foot, I was able to shave a few minutes from the short ride. Still, that might not be enough. What if it wasn’t?

No, I couldn’t think about that.

Hopefully, Tessa chickened out and never went in the house. Hopefully, she was a slow driver and hadn’t arrived yet. Hopefully, I was wrong and she hadn’t come here. Hopefully, she was in a hotel room, like she had said she would be.

My heart dropped to my stomach as I turned a corner and found her car parked in front of the house. The damn house where I had been two nights ago, battling a powerful demon with her father.

Shit.

I stopped my car behind hers, cut the engine, and raced to the house. I threw the door open and my heart seized in my chest.

Tessa was sprawled on the floor, eyes closed, and several Diriel were on her, holding her down.

A few of the demons saw me and turned to me with their razor-like teeth bared. I fished my gun from my waist and switched the bullets—from silver to enchanted ruby powder bullets, or, as we called them, the red bullets. The demons lunged at me, but I was faster. I aimed at the big one going for Tessa’s throat and pulled the trigger. The next second, I went down as the little jerks jumped on me, but I could hear the demon’s shriek as the ruby powder exploded against him, around him. The closest demons screamed, taking a few steps back.

Tessa’s arms were free, and she swiped with a dagger, keeping the demons at bay.

Then I aimed and shot the demon gnawing on my leather jacket. The red powder exploded around me, making all the little demons retreat.

I jumped to my feet and shot at another demon who was at Tessa’s legs. I kept shooting at one, then another one, and another one, and another one, until they all scurried to the shadows of the living room.

“Is it over?” Tessa asked, standing up.

“Not even close,” I said, taking a step back. I kept my eyes on the little demons, moaning and whimpering in the corners. I took another step back and refilled my gun with the red bullets. “We should go,” I said, hoping she noticed the urgency of my tone. “Now.”

Tessa whirled on her feet and ran for the door, but it closed with a bang before she could reach it.

“Shit,” I muttered.

Tessa’s face paled. “What now?”

Now, I wanted to make a wish. A wish that this stupid girl had never come here. For her to get away before it was too late. For me to be able to keep her safe, as her father had wished and worked for his entire life.

I sucked in a sharp breath. “Now, you stay close.”

I pulled a leather pouch from my pocket and spread the ruby powder in a wide arc in front of us. The little ones couldn’t cross, but …

The real demon stepped from the shadows.

The leader of the circus looked like the little ones—bluish-gray skin, black veins, yellow eyes, sharp ears and teeth and claws—but it was taller, much taller. Judging by my height and the ceiling, it was probably seven and a half feet tall.

“Oh my …” Tessa gasped behind me, her hand landing on my back.

The demon fixed those yellows eyes on us, opened its big mouth, and let out a roar. The loud sound rang in my ears, but worse than that was the foul odor coming from its open mouth.

I almost gagged.

It stepped forward and bumped into an invisible wall.

“Try the door again,” I told Tessa. She didn’t move. Her eyes fixed on the monster in front of us. “Tessa. The door.”

The demon pushed against the wall, letting out another vicious roar. She snapped out of it and turned to the door. She twisted the knob and pulled hard. “I can’t open it.”

Shit. I checked my gun. There was only one bullet with ruby powder left. Double shit.

The demon grabbed a pillow from the overturned couch and used it to push the powder aside. It broke the magical barrier.

“Stay back,” I told Tessa as the demon let out a shriek and charged me.

I pointed my gun and shot. The demon stumbled back as the bullet drove into its wide chest. It probably stung the creature and impaired its movements, but only one bullet wouldn’t stop it. Proving me right, the demon lifted its claws and lunged at me.

I ducked under its big, heavy arms, rolled to the side, knelt beside the powder line, and pulled my long dagger from its scabbard tied at my waist. Instead of turning back to me, the demon kept going for Tessa. Shit.

I scooped a little of the powder in my hand and made a run for it.

The demon swiped a claw at Tessa, but she ducked, then kicked it on the side. A beautiful side kick that unfortunately was a tickle to a monster this big. The monster turned to her, his teeth snapping and claws swiping, and she retreated in obvious shock.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I jumped on the demon’s back and buried my dagger deep between its shoulder’s blade. The demon opened its arms and let out a piercing howl. To make it more effective, I pulled the dagger out, rubbed the red powder on the wound, and stabbed him again.

This time, the demon fell forward, trembling as it tried to catch me. I repeated the process of stabbing it and adding ruby powder a couple more times. The tremors diminished as the demon weakened, losing the battle.

“We should go,” Tessa said, her eyes focusing on the edge of the room.

I scrambled off the demon and looked at the little demons. They were advancing, as if unsure about my red bullets and the ruby powder wall. But a few more steps and they would realize the wall was broken and I had no more bullets.

“Right.” I took her hand in mine and turned to the door. I pulled on the knob, but it still didn’t open. I glanced around. A window a few feet away caught my attention. “Here.” I tugged her toward the window.

A low shriek filled the room behind us, and Tessa squeezed my hand.

My heart racing, I pulled on the window, but it also didn’t open. Shit. I braced myself, and with my elbow, I struck the glass. It shattered into a million pieces. More shrieks echoed around us, and I glanced back.

The little demons were on to us.

“Go!” I told Tessa, half pulling and half pushing her out the broken window. We stumbled onto the porch, and the little demons followed us out.

Hand in hand, we raced to my car and jumped in it. I peeled off from the curb before any of the little demons could reach us.

After a mile in total silence, except for our exaggerated breathing, I turned to Tessa and asked, “Are you okay?” Her eyes were wide as she stared straight ahead into the dark of the night. “Tessa?” She turned to me. “Are you okay?”

She blinked, as if waking up from a dream. “I … I don’t know.”

---

Halfway through the drive back Tessa fell asleep. In the dark, I reached over to the other side of her seat and pulled on the lever, making her seat recline a little bit.

Resistance was futile, so I gave in and glanced at her every few seconds.

She had given me such a freaking scare tonight. I thought … I rubbed at my face, not wanting to relive the panic that had seized me when I realized what she had done. Where she was going. What she was trying to do.

What if I hadn’t connected the dots? What if I hadn’t arrived in time?

Shit! I gripped the steering wheel harder.

I glanced at her again. She looked so peaceful now, with her delicate face in a serene expression and her hair curling around her shoulders—her bleeding shoulder. I sighed. It was hard to admit, but I could stare at her indefinitely.

The road was more important at the moment, though, so I cleared my throat and focused on the drive.

Not long after, I parked my car inside the manor’s underground garage beside everyone else’s cars.

I killed the engine and glanced one more time at the beautiful young woman sleeping beside me. How she was sleeping, after all that had happened, was beyond my understanding. With a sigh, I got out of my car and went to the other side. I opened the passenger door, and as gentle as I could, I slid my arms under her and picked her up, wishing she would keep sleeping. She needed the rest. We all needed to rest.

As I crossed the door from the garage to the stairs leading up to a mudroom outside the kitchen, Tessa stirred. She turned her head toward my chest and snuggled her face right over my collarbone. A shiver ran down my spine. Then she inhaled deeply, rubbing her nose on my neck. The jolt that followed her brief touch traveled south. Shit, this was dangerous.

I had just stepped into the kitchen when her eyes fluttered open. Realizing she was in my arms, she moved and pushed against me, a frown settled between her brows.

“What’s happening?”

I gently let go of her legs first. Once I was sure she had her balance, I let go of her arms and stepped back. “You fell asleep on the ride back.”

“Oh.”

I reached for the wall and flipped the switch, inundating the kitchen with bright light. Tessa closed her eyes for a moment. Then she glared at me again. “I should … I should get going.”

She turned to the door, but I stepped in her way. “Besides not having your car, you’re wounded. Let me take a look.”

“My car … damn.”

“I’ll take you to retrieve it tomorrow morning, if you want.”

The glare was replaced by a deep frown. Seriously, all the times I had seen her, those were the only two expressions she always offered me: her angry stare or a wary frown. Something stirred in me and a deep urge to fix that, to make her look at me differently, hit me hard.

“Hm, I can … I can take a cab. In fact, I can take a cab now to a hotel, then I can take a cab to my car tomorrow.” She took another step toward the door. I crossed my arms, letting her know I wasn’t kidding.

“Tessa, you’re staying here tonight. And I’m taking you to your car tomorrow morning,” I said, my voice resolute. I reached into a cabinet in the corner and pulled out a clear, plastic box. “But right now, I’m gonna take a look at that wound.”

She stepped back. “No, it’s fine, just—”

“Tessa,” I practically growled. This woman was testing my patience, damn it. “Just sit down and let me take a look.”

She gulped and sat on one of the stools in front of the kitchen island. With a hiss, she pulled her hair away from her shoulders and shrugged out of her ruined leather jacket. The tee she had on was fitted, leaving enough of her perfect curves to my imagination. It was also ripped on the shoulder and caked with blood.

“Shit,” I muttered, reaching for the wound. With scissors, I cut around the rip on the tee and opened it a little more. I would have asked Tessa to take the tee off, but I knew she wouldn’t do that. In fact, she might even slap me for suggesting it.

Despite all the blood, the wound wasn’t too bad. Just a nasty, but shallow, cut that had drawn a little blood. It was already scabbing over, but I decided to be on the safe side. With a cotton ball, I applied some antiseptic and a special healing salve.

Tessa scrunched her nose as the acrid odor filled the room. “Holy crap, what’s that?”

I chuckled. “A healing paste.”

“And what’s in it?”

I shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. We get it from a witch.”

Tessa’s eyes widened and she stilled. “W-what?”

“Relax, she’s a good witch. She’s from the same bloodline as the witch that created the bonding ritual for the Sanctum of the Seven. She’s also the one who enchants the ruby powder for us, and a lot of other things.”

“So, you guys work with witches?”

“We try not to, but sometimes we can’t avoid it.”

She shook her head. “This is crazy.”

Crazy? Crazy was what she had done earlier this evening. Shit, my anger rose and I couldn’t help it. “You want to talk about crazy? Crazy is what you did,” I said. “What the hell were you thinking?”

She averted her eyes. “I guess I wasn’t thinking,” she said in a small voice.

“You can’t just barrel into a house infested with demons like that. You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

She snapped her head back, her glare in place. “It’s your fault! If you’d let me help you, I wouldn’t have to sneak out and do it on my own.”

I pursed my lips, my jaw hurting from the pressure. “Don’t you dare put this on me. I was just trying to do what your father did all these years: keep you safe.”

“Bullshit,” she muttered, hopping of the stool before I was done bandaging her shoulder.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

She grabbed the tape from my hands. “You know what that means! He pushed me away. He didn’t like me. He was embarrassed I was his daughter.” She reached to her shoulder and tried to put on the rest of the tape herself. “Then you, oh great Landon, show up and my father is suddenly so enamored, he adopts you on the spot and completely forgets about me.”

I gaped at her. “That was not what happened.”

“Of course it was. Why else would he stay away for two, three years at a time? Because he had found his perfect son.”

I slapped her hand away gently and took the tape from her. “Tessa, you don’t know anything. That was not how it went.” She stepped back, so I wouldn’t be able to finish the bandage, but I was tired of this game. I reached over and grasped her upper arm and pulled her to me. Her chest bumped into mine. Her eyes went wide as I slid my hands to her hips, grasped them tight, and pulled her onto the stool again. I walked right between her legs. If she wanted to get down, she would have to push through me. Not a bad idea actually. Her body would brush against mine and … I shook my head, trying to clear those thoughts. “Stop fighting me and let me finish this, okay?”

With her wide eyes still on mine, she nodded.

My shoulders tense at being so close to her, I finished the bandage and stepped back.

“There.” I put the gauze and tape and antiseptic back into the box, then turned to the fridge.

“What were those things?”

“Diriel.” I washed my hand, then grabbed the bread, the cheese, and the sun-dried tomatoes. “They usually live in little groups, with one leader, the big one, and lots of smaller demons.” I turned around and set everything on the island, glancing at her. “They are attracted to the residue left by more powerful demons.”

“And I walked in there without a clue.”

I spread the ingredients across the island and set to work. “Well, you walked in there thinking you would face something even worse than the Diriel.”

She cradled her hands on her lap and stared at her fingers, a worried line appearing on her forehead. “I didn’t think … I thought …” She sucked in a long breath. “I don’t know what I was thinking.” She looked up at me. “You’re saying the demon you’re after is worse than all those combined?”

I scoffed, paying attention to the food I was preparing. “Much worse.”

“Landon, let me help you.” She paused. “Please.”

I stopped mussing with the cheese and mayo and stared at her. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” she answered, her tone low. Sad. Desolate.

“We’ll talk about this tomorrow, okay?”

I didn’t know what did it, what tore at me and made me give in, but I did. Perhaps I sympathized with her, with her desire. Perhaps I saw it was the only way to keep her safe, since it didn’t appear she was going to let this go.

Her shoulders sagged. “Okay.”

I put the meal together and turned to the grill on the counter behind. “I hope you’re hungry.”