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When had she come to mean so much? Come to mean everything? When she’d gone after the demons who’d attacked him? When she’d braved the fires at Perseus for him? When they’d made love and she whispered his name?
Hell, it didn’t matter when. She was under his skin, locked in what was left of his heart, and he wasn’t risking her.
Don’t let them know your weakness.
The killer already knew, and Zane would be damned if he put Jana at greater risk. “Be back soon, baby,” he whispered and brushed a kiss over her still lips. He looked up at Jude.
The shifter nodded his head in agreement. “Watch your ass, demon.”
“Always.” He squared his shoulders, ignored the throbbing in his head, and walked away from the woman who could break him. The demons were waiting for him. Holding the human he called his friend.
“Distract them,” he ordered Dee and knew that she would. With her new vampire skills, she’d tear a path right through any demons who were waiting inside. She and Simon would be more than a match for at least a dozen demons. Well, they’d be a match while the sun stayed low. Since time was against them, they all needed to haul ass.
But how many are inside? Catalina hadn’t told them for sure. Just that Tony was surrounded by Zane’s brethren.
He split from the vampires and kept to the waning shadows. The stench of burnt wood and ash hung in the air. He slipped down the alley, moving as soundlessly as he could. He sure didn’t want to tip off his prey. Not now.
The back door was boarded up. Boarded from the outside, as if someone had tried to keep the demons in.
He stared at those boards and let his power flare. The nails began to ease out of the wood. Slowly, so slowly, and carefully. The nails dropped to the ground with a soft clink. He caught the boards before they could fall.
Then he heard a roar. A loud, guttural cry of female fury.
Dee. Timing her distraction perfectly. More shouts filled the air as the demons inside attacked or were attacked.
He eased open the door and went into the hollowed-out hell. The scents were stronger. The ash stained his fingers when his hand brushed against the wall. The odor of blood was stronger. Thicker. His heart slammed into his chest. Too much blood.
Zane’s breath rasped out. If Tony was dead, there would be hell to pay.
A floorboard squeaked, and he whirled around. A demon stared back at him. A demon with the face of innocence and eyes blacker than the ash. Screams echoed from the front of the den. Curses filled the air.
The demon smiled at him. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here,” Davey said, and he shook his blond head. “I mean, it’s not like the human had that long to keep living. We were running out of time.”
Zane lunged for him and grabbed the kid by his shirt. He jerked Davey close. “You fucking bastard.” Davey. The kid. The barely legal prick.
My damn fault. I let him live.
Davey must have read the thoughts on Zane’s face because he laughed. “Guess you’re wishing you’d just let me burn, huh? But don’t feel too bad. I would’ve gotten out anyway.”
But the little bastard had been all but begging for help back then. As powerful as he seemed now, why would he have?—
He’d taken the shifter’s powers. And his weaknesses. That cage—Zane would fucking bet it had been made of silver. Couldn’t move it, could you, asshole?
Zane shoved his fist into Davey’s face. The demon’s nose shattered, and blood sprayed in the air. “Where. Is. He?”
Davey wrenched away from him. That perfect smile was bloody now. “I got them both, you know.”
More screams. “Vampire bitch!”
Something heavy thudded, shaking the den. Probably a demon hitting a wall.
“I’ve got the cop.” Davey swiped the back of his right hand over his mouth and smeared the blood. “And the agent.”
His back teeth clenched. Attack. “I’ll find them both after I kill you.”
“No.” Davey shook his head. “You’ll find their bodies. I sprayed the blood all around the place. Without a shifter, you won’t be able to find them. Not until it’s too late.”
Fuck that. He’d send out his blast and he’d find them.
