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Shit.

The dancer turned a corner ahead of us, and the demon rushed after her. We had to stay back so he didn’t see us, and when we rounded the corner, the dancer was at the door of an apartment building. She walked in, the door closing behind her. “Where is he?”

“He can’t have just disappeared.”

The apartment building was on a corner, and we rushed across the street and down the other side of the building. Nothing. He wasn’t there either. “Where the hell did he go?”

A noise came from above us, and I glanced up and grabbed Ren’s arm. He looked down at me and I pointed up. Ren tilted his head back. “What the fuck?” he mouthed.

The demon was on a fire escape, two floors up. He was peering through a window, his pants around his ankles, his hand moving fast as he jerked off.

“We need to stop him,” I whispered.

Ren pulled me aside, into a shallow alcove in the wall, where the streetlights didn’t reach. “After tonight, she won’t ever have to worry about the asshole again. But I can’t take him out yet. We need to follow him. After what you said about his feeding habits, we need to make sure he doesn’t have anyone locked up somewhere.”

Ren was going to kill him; it was the only way to free the souls the demon devoured. Still, the idea terrified me. Frank groaned low above us. I cringed.

“So um…have you had any more trouble at your place? Are the souls still quiet?” I whispered, trying to ignore what Frank was doing. I also needed to know. I felt them with him, but they were different, so much calmer. Even more than I would have expected.

“No more cold patches or touches,” he said and moved closer. “Thanks to you.”

“I’m really glad I could help,” I said.

“I’ve been um…meditating, like you said, and Rose gave me the name of a counselor.” He looked uncomfortable. “She offered online sessions, and I’ve done a few.”

I blinked up at him through the shadows. “You did?”

“Yeah,” he said low. “I want to let the guilt go, Jaz. I want to help the souls move on.” His throat worked. “And I don’t…I don’t want to feel this way anymore. I don’t want this awful fucking jagged rock right here.” He pressed his closed fist to the center of his chest.

I wanted that for him, too, above anything else. “I’m proud of you.” I smiled up at him. “I want that for you as well, you don’t know how much.”

“I wouldn’t even be able to take those small steps if it wasn’t for you, for all the ways you’ve helped me.”

“Seeing that pain leave your eyes, seeing you smile again…” My voice was husky with emotion. Locking away a part of myself didn’t feel like much of a sacrifice knowing this was the outcome. I wouldn’t have been able to continue to do my job properly if I’d been nursing my shattered heart. “It’s all I wanted.”

His eyes softened, and he moved another inch closer—

A groan reached us and I looked up as Frank orgasmed. Something I could have gone my entire life never seeing or hearing. He quickly pulled up his pants, and Ren curled an arm around my waist, pulling me deeper into the alcove. Frank jumped to the ground, something no human could do without injury, and headed off down the street.

“Let’s go,” Ren said against my ear, making me shiver, then taking my hand again, and we followed after him.

Ren

* * *

“This is recon only,” I said to Jasmine, who had a seriously determined look on her face. “Once we find where he’s bunking down, you need to leave.”

Then I’d do what needed to be done. No fucking way was I letting her get close to this monster.

She’s already with a monster. That’s why she stopped loving you. She knows what you truly are, sees it when she tries to heal you, and it disgusts her. Edward’s voice in my head piped up, trying to drag me back down, to destroy all the work Jasmine had done, the work I’d done. I forced his voice out of my head. I couldn’t let him win.

She doesn’t love you, not anymore. Agatheena’s voice joined in, echoing through my mind.

“I don’t like that idea,” she said. “Not one bit. Who knows what that creep’s capable of.”

My fox bristled. Did she think we weren’t strong enough to protect her? “But I know what I’m capable of,” I said, and my voice was rough as hell.

“I know you’re strong, Ren, and I know you can fight, but this guy is a demon. He literally just jumped two stories to the ground like it was nothing.”