open. She grabbed the pistol and slid it behind her back, then scooted into the far corner. Silence was on, safety was off. She was ready for him.
For
While she waited, she reminded herself this thing wasn’t human.
And it wasn’t Lou. It was okay to kill it.
As the demon approached her vehicle in the deserted, dark alley, she caught the telltale glow of his pale blue eyes and knew with full certainty that she’d found the right target. She grinned as he ducked his head inside the SUV
“Ready for me?” he asked.
“More than. Come on in and shut the door behind you.”
His teeth gleamed white as he pulled the door closed and slid across the bench seat until their thighs touched.
She had to force herself to stay put and not move away, especially when he loomed over her, his intent more than obvious. He was going to kiss her.
Okay, she could handle this. It would make her job easier.
“You are so beautiful.”
The demon needed some original lines. Did women fall for this shit? He leaned in, his eyes glowing an unnatural blue as he pressed cold lips to hers. She fought to keep her lips moving, trying to act like she was into it while she moved her arm from around her back, insinuating the gun between them. In a lightning quick moment she pressed the barrel of the pistol against the demon’s middle.
He had no time to react, and Mandy didn’t give herself time to think or to focus on his face. She pulled the trigger, the force of the blast catapulting the demon off her and across the vehicle. It slammed against the door, blood spraying everywhere. She fired again, once, twice, three times. Again and again she pulled the trigger, emptying the clip containing the liquid nitrogen. The demon had long ago stopped moving, the clip was empty, but she kept pulling the trigger. Sweat poured from her body, soaking through her clothes. She wasn’t even seeing the creature anymore.
All she saw was Lou’s face swimming in front of her, the sadness in his eyes as he crumpled to the ground. He knew the price of what he’d asked of them, but he’d asked it anyway. She’d see his face every day, every night, until she died. She’d relive the horror of what she’d done, just as she was doing right now.
Then she couldn’t see anything at all, her vision distorted by tears.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, continuing to press down on the trigger. “I’m so, so sorry.”
What seemed like hours later, Mandy was still in the backseat, staring at the dead demon. Her fingers had long ago gone numb, still wrapped around that pistol, still in full press on the trigger.
She swiped at her eyes. How long had she been there, frozen in some cosmic funk, sitting in the car with a dead demon?
She was going to have to move, and soon. The bar would be closing. People would come. They’d probably notice the dead body slumped against the back window, the splotches of blood on the windows. She was surprised someone hadn’t come along and seen them.
God, she was such a mess. Stiff, sore, wrung out.
But she’d managed to kill the demon-at least, she figured it was dead. She raised her boot and gave it a hard kick between the legs. No reaction.
Okay, it was dead. She grabbed it by the collar and pulled it facedown onto the floor of the backseat, then crawled into the driver’s seat and started up the engine, cranking up the heater. Despite the sweltering humidity outside, she was shivering cold. She drove to the compound, her mind on autopilot, refusing to think about anything that had happened. When she reached the compound, she pressed the remote to the security gate and announced her arrival, then indicated on her comm that she was coming in with a dead demon.
She backed in and techs were there waiting to unload the carcass. She slid out the door and tossed the keys to the waiting tech. “It’s in the backseat,” she said, then scooted by a waiting Michael. She felt his stare on her as she walked into the center and down the long hallway. She made it into the elevator, hoping Michael would want to see the demon, but he stepped into the elevator with her. She pushed the button for the second floor.
Michael didn’t say a word. Neither did she. When the doors opened, she hung a right, stopping at her room to key in her code. She pulled the door open and turned around to face him.
“Do you mind?”
“Yes, I do.” He stepped in and closed the door behind him.
She rolled her eyes and moved into the room, unbuckled her belt, and pulled clips of ammo out of the pockets of her camos. She lifted the tight shirt off and threw that on the little sofa, then toed off her boots.
Clad in only her tank top, camo pants, and socks, she glared at Michael. “I’d like to take a shower. I have blood all over me.”
“Did you have a good time tonight?”
“Yeah. I killed a demon. You should go check it out.”
“You look destroyed, Mandy”
She dragged her hand through her hair. She’d purposely left it down and loose tonight to look more attractive. Normally she had it pulled up or braided. Now it was a tangled mess. “I need to brush my hair. Sorry if I don’t look my best.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. There are dark circles under your eyes. You’re pale as death. You look ragged. Have you slept?”
“Eventually. I’m more interested in you. Something happened in that cold room the other day with the demon.”
She waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “It was nothing. I’m over it. Did you hear what I said? I killed a demon tonight, Michael.” She needed him to hear her. She needed to get back in the field. She really needed a shower. The smell of demon blood was making her dizzy, nauseous. Michael’s face began to swim before her eyes. Shit.
“It wasn’t nothing. You look pale. Oh, Christ, Mandy put your head down.”
All she heard was his voice buzzing in her ears. He reached behind her and grabbed the nape of her neck, shoving her head down between her knees.
“Stay there. Don’t move.”
It wasn’t like she could sit upright. Not with the room spinning. Her whole body began to shake. This wasn’t good. What the hell was happening to her? Some kind of delayed stress reaction or something?
The last thing she wanted was to fall apart.
Correction: The last thing she wanted was to fall apart with Michael in here. She’d held it together just fine the whole way back here. Why did he have to follow her to her room?
“Get out, Michael.” She was going to throw up. She had to … oh, man, this sucked. She pressed her fingers to her temples. She was hot, cold, sweaty. What was happening to her?
Michael came back a few seconds later and swept her hair away from her nape. Something cold and wet pressed to the back of her neck. It felt good, helped to stem the nausea some.
He squatted down in front of her, stroked her hair while he held the washcloth against her neck. “Better?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s get you up.”
Get up? No way. “I’ll be fine here. You can go now.”
“You’re covered in blood, Mandy. It’s all over your hands and your face.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Ick.”
If she kept her eyes closed, the dizziness wasn’t so bad. She could just stay like this. But suddenly hands slid under her arms.
“Come on. We need to get you cleaned up.”
She didn’t want to get up. She wanted to go to sleep, to shut everything off, to stop thinking and feeling for a while. “No.”
