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Easton is slowly walking around the demon, gun in one hand and a bottle of holy water in the other. He and Melinda are similarly dressed in what I call the unofficial demon hunter uniform of hiking boots, jeans, some sort of flannel or sweatshirt, and a Carhartt jacket.
The demon jerks his head up, black eyes shimmering from the reflection of my energy ball. He’s still muttering the same thing over and over, but his voice gets louder the closer I get.
“Do you know what he’s saying?” Melinda quietly asks Lucas.
“Yes. He’s saying, ‘I’m going to find her and give her to him,’ and I assume he means Callie,” he tells us and draws his fangs.
I toss the energy ball up into the air, hovering just a foot above the demon. He doesn’t so much as flinch.
“I heard you were talking about me,” I try, but the demon keeps mumbling. “I’m Callista. If you want me, come get me.”
Still nothing.
“Fine. If I’m not good enough for you, then I’ll see if one of your friends wants me.” I turn to Melinda. “Can I borrow your knife?”
“Sure.” She pulls a knife from her ankle and hands it to me. I put the blade against my wrist and hold out my arm.
“Hey, demons! I’m Callista, and I hear I’d make a really nice gift for one of your cronies!”
The demon suddenly lurches forward, scooting the chair and causing one of the legs to push into the ring of salt, breaking the circle. He opens his mouth, letting out a harrowing roar, and breaks one arm free from the ropes, tearing his skin open in the process.
Lucas speeds forward, shoving the demon back down, gnashing his fangs at him. The demon struggles against him, but he’s no match for my vampire’s strength.
“Do you have any more rope?” I ask, and Easton pulls a decent length from a duffle bag. He gets the demon tied back down, and I wait until Lucas steps away to cast my own circle around him, trapping him to the space. It’s a basic demonic-trapping spell, one that won’t hold anything stronger than a lower-level demon, and one that wears off rather quickly. It’s just another layer of reassurance, keeping the asshole in his place.
“Power of the moon, power of the night, bind this space, hold my circle tight.” I wave my hand, and faint blue light glows along the salt circle for a second before fading from view.
“What happened to not doing anything impulsive?” Lucas grumbles, and I give him a pointed look.
“It got his attention, and it proves he was talking about me. Of course,” I sigh and give the knife back to Melinda. “All right, start talking. And normally, I’d say we both know how this will end—with your death. But I’m in the mood to make a deal.” I take a step closer to the demon. “You tell me exactly who you were going to wrap me up and send me to, and I’ll send you back to Hell—alive—so you can give the other demons a warning.”
The demon’s inky eyes meet mine, holding my gaze for a beat before laughing. “You don’t have the power to do that.”
“Damn, that’s disappointing,” I say, shaking my head. “I thought I had a better reputation than that. I mean, if you’re asking for me by name, I figured you’d know I was the one who brought forth the fires from Hell and watched Bael burn in front of me. I can easily do it again, and it is rather cold in here.” I hold both hands in front of me, slowly curling my fingers into my fists and extinguishing the energy ball. I’ve never summoned hellfire inside, and the thought crosses my mind that I could easily burn the building down.
As I concentrated on centering myself rather than pulling raw power from my anger, flames start to flicker in the palm of my hand. “So, what’s it gonna be? Do you want to burn or do you feel like talking?”
“It is true,” the demon says, tipping his head as he looks at the hellfire in my hand, and now I’m second-guessing if it was a mistake to summon it. I’m supposed to be keeping my identity as Queen of Hell a secret, and here I am flaunting it, though to be fair, I could control hellfire before putting a crown of it on my head. “He will be pleased when I give you to him.”
“That’s not happening,” Lucas tells the demon as he moves closer to me.
“Who?” I press, slowly wiggling my fingers to keep the fire burning.
“Our new boss,” the demon replies. “And haven’t you heard? He doesn’t want us to hide in the shadows anymore. Instead of waiting for souls to come to us, we can come here where they’re free for the taking.”
