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“Maybe I put up with you because you’re a very effective stalker.” I sipped at the cocoa—perfectly chocolated and warm enough to be perfectly drinkable. He’d known exactly what kind of comfort food I needed. I’d have worried that he could somehow sense my thoughts, except for the fact that chocolate was pretty universal in its comfort factor. It didn’t take a psychic to figure that much out. Though he does seem to know his way around my kitchen fairly well…. I looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. I wanted to think about that a bit more, but my mind just didn’t want to hold on to any coherent thought. No wonder, silly woman. You’ve been awake for only a million hours. So much for getting my sleep cycle back on track.
I dragged my attention back to Ryan when I realized that he was speaking. “I’m sorry,” I said. “Whadja say?”
He gave me a wry smile. “It doesn’t matter. You’re totally wiped and you need to go to bed. Do you have any of the pain pills?”
I fought to keep my eyes open. “Dunno; ’sokay,” I slurred. “Too sleepy to hurt right now.”
I heard him laugh, then he took the mug out of my hand and pulled my good arm over his shoulder, dragging me up out of the chair.
“Come on, Kara,” he said, walking me down the hall to my bedroom.
“I can walk.” I tried to protest, but he didn’t seem to care. He brought me into my bedroom and gently pushed me down onto the bed, then tugged my shoes and socks off and pulled the comforter over me.
“Go to sleep,” he said, or at least that’s what I thought he said, before I lost the battle to fatigue.
“I frightened you. It was not my desire to do so.”
I knew that voice, that unmatchable resonance. The memory of my last encounter with him rose again at his words—that taste of unchecked rage, the overwhelming terror, and the glimpse into how powerful a creature he truly was. He sounded deeply sincere, but after the day I’d had, I wasn’t sure I had it in me right now to deal with him. I pulled the pillow over my head. “It’s cool. It’s fine,” I mumbled through the pillow. “Apology accepted. I’m tired.”>I hunched my shoulders unconsciously under the verbal barrage. “Sorry. I was thinking that the demon was keeping us there long enough for Belle to be grabbed.”
Ryan swore under his breath again and jammed his fingers through his hair. “Yeah. Okay. But, next time, fucking tell me. I mean, give me some warning other than ‘Cover me!’ I was fucking reloading!”
I winced. “Sorry. I’m not used to this partner thing. You’re right.”
He blew out his breath. “No. No, it’s cool. I’m sorry I yelled. Its full attention was on you, which made it possible for me to shoot it. We need to get you looked at, though, and see if our girl is still here.”
“We’re probably gonna have help in a few minutes,” I said, as I retrieved my gun and holstered it. “I’m sure someone around here will call in the fact that they heard gunfire.”
Ryan scanned the street, then looked back at me. “How are we going to explain this?” he wondered aloud. Then he let out a colorful oath. “You’re bleeding pretty badly. Where’s your radio?” He took me bodily and pushed me down to the curb.
“I’m all right. It just got me with a claw.” Now, as the adrenaline wore off, I was starting to feel it more. I could also feel what would soon be a bruise on my wrist where it had grabbed me. It grabbed me and then let me go. It had what it needed. “Radio’s in the car,” I said. Then I gave a rough laugh. “Good place for it, huh? Though I don’t know how I would have called this one in. ‘Officer needs assistance, under attack from demon.’”
“That would go over well,” he replied dryly. He reached inside the car and grabbed my radio out of the charger and a T-shirt out of my gym bag.
“I need to call something in, quick,” I fretted. “Something to explain why I got hurt and why we fired shots.”
“Got it covered,” he said with a smirk as he lifted the radio. “Agent Kristoff, Dispatch. Unit 723 and myself in foot pursuit of burglary suspects, headed down”—he paused, glancing at the street sign on the corner—“Vaughn Street at Alfred Drive, southbound. Shots have been fired.” He spoke in an unbearably calm voice, eyes on me. Then he lowered the radio, picked up a brick from the gutter, and heaved it through the diner window.
I groaned and dropped my head. “I cannot believe you just did that.”
“You want to tell them we were fighting a demon?”
I shook my head, laughing. “You’d just better hope that there’s no video surveillance on any of the businesses on this street.”
“Oh, shit,” he said, suddenly chagrined. He glanced up and down the street, then relaxed. “I don’t see any. Probably why he chose this spot. Wouldn’t want his demon to get caught on tape.” He gave me a quick grin, then keyed up again. “Agent Kristoff, Dispatch. We’ve discontinued foot pursuit. Officer in need of assistance. Subjects last seen headed southbound.
“Before all the troops arrive,” he said, as the sound of sirens became audible, “can we expect any more of these nasties?” He handed me the radio and pressed the shirt from my gym bag to the bleeding wound on my shoulder.
“Highly doubtful. It’s almost impossible to summon and hold more than one demon at a time.”
He sat down beside me on the curb, holding the shirt to my shoulder. “You know, this kind of sucks ass,” he said, tone jarringly conversational.
I laughed. “Ya think?”
He gave a wry smile. “No, I mean, you … we … can’t be honest about what we saw, which means that we can’t get help trying to find who sent it after us.”
“Yeah. That definitely sucks.” I rubbed at my face with my left hand. “A little extra manpower would be damn useful right about now.” The summoner would be tired, I knew, and a little shaky from having his summoned creature sent back. He was fucking vulnerable, and there was nothing I could do about it.
But that wasn’t what had me so unsettled. “He wasn’t trying to kill us.”
