Levi burst through the front doors of the nightclub and onto a sidewalk with a line of people waiting to get inside. He pushed past them, scanning over their heads for the silvery aura of the demon.

Fuck. Where’d it go? he thought.

“Hey, asshole,” the bouncer barked at him. “You ain’t gettin’ back in.”

Levi ignored the man and scanned Liberty Street for the demon. Sweat prickled down his spine from the heat that showed no sign of easing tonight. Back in the club, he’d spotted the possessed man crossing the dance floor, but as soon as their eyes met, he bolted. Levi had been too obvious; seeing Cary had distracted him. Her presence left him bereft of common sense… exactly why he was drawn to her.

And, after capturing this demon, he was going to figure out what happened between them.

First, he had a huge paycheck to catch. Ten grand! That payment would cover the rest of the debt he owed Argos and finally get them out of his life.

He stood on the curb, looking over everything and everyone—the crowd behind him, cars zooming along the road, shops and office buildings. Across the street, to his left, he caught movement: black hair, the flash of a leather jacket, and a silver glow. Of course, where else would the scum from hell go but into a dingy alleyway?

Levi ran across the potholed street, swerving around an oncoming car. Its tires screeched as the driver slammed on the brakes, screaming some profanity Levi didn’t have time for. Cars were backed up in the opposite direction, so he jumped over the hood of a hatchback and kept running. He reached for the silver cuffs in his back pocket, his thumb grazing the circular entrapping rune engraved into them.

The smell of piss and rotting garbage invaded his nostrils, worse than usual because of the hot, humid night. A fat rat dashed in front of him, vanishing behind a cluster of bins as he ran past. Up ahead, the alley opened onto another main road. The red glow of brake lights reflected off the jumper’s leather coat as he sprinted across the street. He glanced over his shoulder at Levi, grinning.

“Hell, no,” Levi said to himself. “I’ve fought hundreds of demons, some stronger, others faster than you, but in the end, I beat them all.” He dashed across the road with his gaze trained on his target.

Suddenly, a horn blared: a woman swerved her pink VW Bug toward the curb to avoid hitting him, brakes squealing.

That’s twice in one night.

Levi leapt off the road, his breathing speeding up. He turned to make sure the woman was okay, but she floored the gas and yelled, “Dickhead!” at him out the window as she drove on. He had just enough time to see the “Namaste” sticker on her back windshield before she was gone. “Damn,” Levi realized. “I lost him.” He tightened his grip on the cuffs and took off again.

Following the curved lane, he jogged out into an empty parking lot fenced off on three sides. Shadows from a nearby streetlight flickered across several large dumpsters nestled against the dilapidated building to his right.

Nervous energy spread through him like electrical sparks. Approaching the dumpsters, Levi clenched his fists. He slid open a rune-protected handcuff.

“Knock, knock,” he called out. “Publishing’s Clearinghouse with a big ass check for you.” And a first class ticket back to Hell.

Something shuffled behind the bin.

“Promise to make it quick.” Levi stepped closer.

A grating rasp pierced the air, and the garbage bin skidded across the lot. It tumbled over as if it were as light as an empty cardboard box.

The Mediterranean dude lifted himself from a crouching position, his jacket scraping against the brick wall on the way up. He tilted his head forward, revealing piercing yellow eyes that were anything but human. Hollowness and death lay behind them.

For a few seconds, Levi froze, reminded that this could be the day the demon won. No reversing of the timer on the ticking time-bomb every hunter knew was out there. You just keep going forward.

“Be nice, and I promise not to hurt you much,” Levi said as he stepped closer.

Before he knew what was happening, the other man keeled over, hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes. Black tendrils swarmed out of his every pore, converging into a solid mass and swelling in size.

“That’s new,” Levi said to the black cloud, “but I’ll play along.” He counted to six. So why wasn’t the jumper evaporating like they usually did?

Demons and the number six were all rolled up together with human weakness, the evils of the devil, and the manifestation of sin. Each host had six days before being destroyed by a demon.

And six seconds was the length of freedom demons got outside a host body before being sucked back into Hell.

Levi sidestepped a brick in his path and noticed the black tendrils still attached to the man’s ear—a lifeline to the guy’s energy. “Clever.”

The shadowy form hovered above the ground and solidified into a figure with bony limbs, claws for fingers, and an emaciated torso covered in scratches that oozed pus. Its approximation of a pelvic bone had skin pulled taut across it. Black hair drooped around its broad, wrinkled head that had no eyes or nose. Mouth opened wide, the demon exposed two rows of sharp teeth, then chomped down repeatedly like those clacking wind-up toys.

“You.” Its crackly voice boomed at Levi across the night. “I remember you.”

“Don’t think so,” Levi quipped back. “I’ve killed or captured every one of you I’ve met.” He knew the bastards shape-changed all the time and he’d vanquished more than he cared to remember, but there was no point of admitting that.

The demon’s head contorted weirdly, its gaze following Levi as he took another side step toward it.

“I remember Marcos.” The demon licked its mouth, making a sucking sound. “He was delicious.”

“Marcos!” Levi shouted involuntarily. “You’re the one that killed him!” He staggered backward, thoughts whirling. His body trembled, and he tucked the handcuffs away. Instead, he grabbed his lasso, Noose, from his belt, clicked the button on the base of the small, cylindrical rod. Like a compact umbrella, it extended, turning into a pole four feet long. At the tip, a dangerous-looking loop of rope sprung out, encrusted with salt rocks.

And heavily blessed by Argos’ magical team.

“I do know you,” Levi said to the beast. “You killed my friend.” Despite the cold clawing up Levi’s legs, his hand readied to lasso the beast. “You’ll beg me for mercy before I’m through with you.” He lifted Noose and flicked the lass forward, watching the loop widening as it flew toward the demon’s head.

But its clawed hand jerked outward and wrenched the pole out of Levi’s grip in a snakelike strike. Then it leapt for him, sharp fingernails extended, lips peeled back, teeth bared.

“Marcos screamed like a child,” it hissed.

Levi’s heart slammed into the back of his throat. Plucking a knife from his boot, the one engraved with runes for extra sting, he flung himself sideways and slashed at the attacking fiend, the blade slicing the dead flesh across its gut. Instead of blood, pus spilled from the wound.

Dropping his knife to the ground, Levi lurched backward. He plucked a vial from his belt. At the press of his thumb, the lid popped open and he hurled the holy water into the demon’s face. “You’ll never hurt anyone again.”

An inhumane shrill echoed through the night as the skin on one side of the demon’s face melted away from the bone like softened butter. Mid-scream, its still-solid fist shot out and collided with Levi’s chest.

Levi’s lungs emptied as he stumbled backward. He tripped over a broken brick and smacked the concrete with his hip. His heartbeat throbbed in his ears.

Every second seemed to play on forever as he lay perfectly still, his mind flooded with images of dying at the hands of the same demon who killed Marcos. His lungs tightened as if being smothered by an invisible hand.

The beast stepped closer, an evil, guttural groan vibrating in what Levi assumed was laughter.

“Well, fuck you too,” he replied.

He scrambled to his feet and pulled the second vial from his belt.

Getting closer, the creature’s mouth stretched open, revealing a black hole edged with knife-like teeth. More pus dribbled down its skeletal legs.

Levi tugged the vial top, but it wasn’t budging. Shit no. Perspiration rolled down his back.

Claws reached for him. He retreated until his back hit a metal fence. The beast was only a foot away now, teeth and claws heading for him. He bit down on the cork top and pulled. It popped. He tossed the contents into the beast’s gaping mouth.

The demon reared back as its mouth fizzled, and steam trickled out.

Levi pushed himself back up, off the fence, and onto his knees.

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” Levi recited.

Hissing, the spirit’s body folded over, arms over its head, cowering.

“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

The tendril connecting the monster to the man wavered.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Levi opened his eyes. The demon was cowering away from him, but movement near the side street caught Levi’s attention.

Cary stood there, eyes pinned on the spirit, her hands curled into fists.

“Attack from the back,” he called out to her.

The demon sensed the newcomer then too, and spun toward her, muttering in another language Levi had never heard before. Then it hurled itself in her direction.

“Watch out!” Levi yelled. He jumped up to help her, grabbing the blade he’d dropped earlier. Too late! The demon knocked Cary off her feet, but rebounded backward from their contact. It shoved Levi aside with a swinging arm before halting halfway across the yard.

Levi fell back, but righted himself quickly, and dove for Noose.

Cary pulled herself up and shook her head.

The demon turned back for her again, arms outstretched, its mouth wide enough to bit off Cary’s entire head. She seized a knife from her boot and hurled it, but the fiend swerved, and the blade barely skimmed its arm. Forgetting Noose, Levi threw himself in front of Cary, cutting off the attack as he grabbed her wrist.

An electric force smacked into his flank, sending him into a stumble alongside Cary.

Streetlight globes exploded around them, erupting in fiery sparks. Levi blinked, and the demon was gone.

Somehow, he’d stayed on his feet but his dinner churned in his gut, promising to come out.

He turned around to find Cary—her face had paled to the color of milk. “Did it hurt you?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” she said, but the way her words shook screamed the opposite.

He reached out to give her a hand up. Cary ignored him, getting quickly to her feet before rushing over to check on the comatose man. She felt for his pulse. “He’s still alive.”

Levi picked up Noose, stepped in front of Cary, and laced the loop over the man’s head carefully.

“6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...” he said slowly. Nothing happened. No spirit flooded out. No fizzling steam, or guttural growls. “He’s clean,” Levi said to Cary. “So, where is it?”

“Maybe it got sucked into hell?”

Levi looked around. “No one here but the three of us. The tendril connecting the spirit to the man was severed, but that's all that happened. Where's the showy exit? The demonic signs every departing beast leaves behind?” He walked around the parking lot, searching for a clue.

Unable to find anything, he turned to Cary, who was stashing a blade into her boot. “I know you haven't given up on finding that thing's whereabouts,” he said. “But you're not looking.”

She shrugged. “It's not here, Levi.”

He wanted to say that he knew she was braver than most hunters. That others in her position would have run screaming. She not only stood her ground, but attacked the jumper. He wanted to say it was another reason that he respected her.

“Are you wearing new armor from Argos, or did you get protective ink?” he asked instead, unable to quiet his pounding heart. “Can’t understand why it rebounded off you like that?”

“How would I know?” She spoke with her back to him, strands of reddish hair billowing behind her in the breeze as she called the paramedics for the victim.

Levi had that familiar sick feeling inside all of a sudden, the one he got whenever something terrible was about to happen. Was his chance meeting with the same demon from twelve years ago a coincidence or a warning of more to come?

With the adrenaline wearing off, Levi's thoughts grew foggy, and a horrific pain stung his chest with each breath. His ribs, where the demon had struck, burnt like an inferno. He rubbed the skin beneath his shirt, which felt blazing hot against his fingers. Better not be some evil rash or weird demon parasite.

Worse yet, that demon better not have placed a curse on him.