A growl spilled from Cary. Trapped in the back seat of the Mustang with a lasso around her neck, she thrashed against her cuffs while they increased the distance between them and Levi.

Were the hunters taking her back to Argos? If Argos got their hands on her, they’d stick her in their lab, exorcise her, and when that didn’t work, they’d probably change her into a demon-holding-zombie.

No way would she allow herself to be transformed into a walking corpse with a demon riding inside her. But would she even be conscious of it?

Or would the beast use her memories to track down Tasha and Levi to kill them?

She battled the cord around her neck by pulling her body sideways as her hands were tied up behind her back. The handcuffs cut off the circulation to her hands, and the salt from the leash burned her flesh. With no handle, the tether attached to the lasso was knotted to the door handle as if she was a damn dog.

Then Blinkie came to mind. Images of him plunging into the black hole with the demon churned through her head. Blinkie was all she had left, and now he was gone.

And what about Levi? Last she saw, he was laying on the ground, bleeding. He’d be okay. He had to be. Levi would keep fighting with his last breath.

Up front, she recognized the guy in the passenger seat, Rick from Argos. He leaned toward her, his lips twisting into a grimace. With his unruly hair and denim overalls, she could picture him living near a swamp, wresting alligators. Probably did in his spare time.

“Her skin ain’t sizzling up or nothing,” Rick drawled, his gaze sliding across her body.

“Because I’m not a demon, idiot.” Cary ignored the pounding inside her head. “Come on, it’s me, Cary Stone. I wouldn’t lie.”

“She’s probably a new kind’a demon,” the driver, who she never saw before, butted in.

“Or you made a mistake.”

The hunters exchanged glances, and Rick responded, “Bud and I don’t make mistakes.”

Cary pushed past the shivers threatening to engulf her if she didn’t remove the Noose and quick. “Look, six seconds have passed. I’m not a demon. Okay? Release me and I won’t tell anyone you screwed up.”

Rick studied her, his leering eyes lingering too long on her cleavage. “Why are you trembling then?”

“Let me strangle you, then you can tell me how it feels.”

“You ain’t going nowhere. I’ll take my chance and deliver you to Argos just the same. Not gambling on a hundred thousand dollars. And if I’m wrong…” He shrugged. “Then I’m wrong.”

Yep, she’d kick his butt extra hard. She ignored the quivering crawling along her arms and the stabbing dull pain tapping on her skull. While the salt wouldn’t kill her, it had the power to knock her out if she didn’t get free in time. And she didn’t trust dumb and dumber if she was unconscious.

Outside, clusters of trees with the occasional house whizzed past. Soon enough, they were back on the main road, flying down the almost empty tarmac. Maybe a small distraction was in order?

“I need to pee.” Her voice came out shakier than she’d hoped.

“Hold it.”

“Not sure I can.”

“Not my problem,” Rick said with his back to her.

“It will be if I pee all over your precious leather seats. I’m serious, I need to pee.”

“There’s a pit stop ahead,” Bud said.

“No.” Rick’s demanding tone boom inside the car. “We ain’t stopping.”

“My car.”

“If we get the hit, I’ll buy you a new one.”

Bud grumbled under his breath.

Her attempt at a low, sultry voice, sounded whimsical. “You could help me with my pants.”

Rick peered over his shoulder, his brown-cow eyes devouring her. For those few seconds when he didn’t say a word, she swore he would accept the offer. “Slutty demons don’t do it for me.”

“Fuck you.”

“No thanks.”

A quiver raced through her from the lasso, sending her body into spasms.

Cary couldn’t hold back a whine, her head wavering from the piercing stabs flooding her body. Detroit was a long trip, and they had to stop at some point for gas. Then she’d make a move… If she didn’t pass out first.

“Company,” the driver said.

Rick glanced out the back window. Cary craned her neck to look behind. Gunning down the road was her SUV with Levi at the wheel. Yes, her hero.

She raised her legs and shoved them hard into the back of the driver’s seat, sending them into a zigzag across the road.

“Bitch—”

Levi rammed the SUV into the back of the Mustang, throwing Cary forward. She crashed face first into the back of the driver’s seat. Pushing against her shoulder, she righted into the seat.

Another slam into the back and Cary slid forward again.

“Overtake those cars. Bastard’s not stealing our hit,” Rick said.

Cary slid back onto the seat and lifted her legs once again, whacking her feet against the driver’s back seat.

“Fuckin’…” Bud’s voice trailed off as he attempted to control the car.

Rick was holding onto his seat.

She tensed through the sudden braking. They’d left behind the traffic and barely a car passed by now. The nose of her silver SUV edged alongside the Mustang.

The Mustang revved forward but not before Levi sideswiped them, forcing them off the road. Cary jostled and bounced about in the back, the lasso tugging against her neck. She pushed herself up with an elbow and raised her knees against the front seat, bracing for impact.

“Son of a bitch!” Rick said.

The driver frantically wrestled the wheel, trying to get it under control.

When Levi smashed into the side again, the Mustang swerved and dipped into a ditch. Cary was thrown sideways from their abrupt stop, her head slammed into the door window she was tied to. Her body lost all sensation, and her head slumped forward. Splintering pain sizzled through her skull. Her vision swirled.

The engine switched off, and the rednecks stumbled out of the car.

Screw this. She was escaping and nothing would hold her back, not the nausea swimming through her head, not the sensation of throwing up her entire stomach, or the handcuffs smoldering against her wrists.

She shifted around until her back faced the door so she could reach the handle. Her grip slipped with each attempt to get the door open. She leaned forward slightly and lifted her arms. Her fingers gripped the knob. A quick pull and push, and the door opened slightly. Fresh air fluttered in across her back.

Outside on the road side of the car, Rick was holding onto Levi, while Bud laid punches into his stomach. She had to help him.

She spun around on her butt to face the door and used her foot to kick it open all the way. The cord tethered to the door tugged in the motion and hauled her out of the car. She landed on her knees on dried foliage. The lasso around her neck kept her chained to the car door. She gritted her teeth and pulled her body against the leash, the leather digging into her neck.

Come on, just snap free.

Sitting back on her heels, she took a deep breath before attempting again.

Rick stumbled into her vision a few paces away. He tripped over a dead log and fell over. Levi was there and kicked Rick onto his back before slammed two punches into his face.

The guy collapsed onto his back, out cold. With no sign of Bud, she suspected he had received the same personal attention as his buddy.

Levi’s head jarred in her direction. Blood smeared his nose and eyebrow. Plus, his arm was bleeding through the bandages. He hurried closer. Without a word, he peeled the loop from around Cary’s neck and scooped it over her head.

“Are you all right?” A worried frown wrinkled his brow as his fingers caressed the scorched skin where the lasso had been on her seconds earlier. His touch calmed her burning flesh, and despite the chaos around them, she’d give up anything for the moment to last forever. Just the two of them, the loathing gone from his eyes, him embracing her tenderly.

Cary smiled. “Thanks for coming back for me.”

Crouching in front of her, his fingers traced the wound on her head and she leaned toward his hand.

“Looks deep.” His hand slid around her back and found the handcuffs.

“You don’t look too great yourself.”

“Been worse.” Releasing her from his embrace, he vanished behind the Mustang, then reemerged with a key in his hand. He released her from the cuffs, and Cary rubbed her raw wrists. All kinds of red and purple shades marked her skin.

Levi took Cary’s hand. “We have to leave. Someone’s bound to have called the cops by now.” With a strong hand around her waist, he helped her to her feet. “Get in the car. I’m driving.”

Cary wasn’t complaining. She stepped over Bud, who, curled into a fetal position behind the Mustang, made grumbling sounds as he cradled his gut.

Then her gaze landed on the SUV. “My car!”

It was a heap of junk. The front metal grill was warped and twisted, dents dotted the hood, and both front corners were a crumpled mess. The driver’s side was scratched to high hell and the doors were buckled.

“I just finished paying it off,” she moaned. Cary’s heart died a little on the inside, staring at her baby. Curving around to the passenger’s side, she hopped in, hating how she was slowly losing everything. She didn’t have much left in all honesty. Try as she might, she came up short on what else she had left to lose, except her own life.

Levi dragged the hunters toward their Mustang, then threw their keys into the woods behind him and dusted his hands down his jeans.

Once in the SUV, he clicked his seatbelt into place and revved the engine. Quickly, Cary fastened hers as well. Changing gears, he drove his foot into the gas pedal and did a U-turn on the barren road.

When he glanced over at her, the bridge of his nose was pinched tight and his lips were thin lines. “I’ve had enough of being hunted. I want this mark removed. Now.”