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Another steadying breath, and then I darted across the line, balancing like I was on a tightrope. Heat blasted up at me from underneath, making it feel as if my skin would light on fire at any moment, but I knew there was no turning back.
I reached the victim quickly, as the circle hadn’t been that big to begin with, and tried to figure out what to do next.
“Help me,” he whispered his own thoughtful suggestion.
I grabbed the collar of his shirt. His skin was so hot it singed my fingertips, but I held fast.
A knife stuck out of his sternum, and blood pumped freely from the wound, leaking into the pit below. Each time his blood touched one of the charcoal lines, they glowed brighter for a second.
Removing the knife now would only make the blood pump faster, which was the opposite of what I wanted, so I left it in place. Instead I held tight to his shirt with both hands and pulled him up, tossing him as far as I could.
Given that he was a full-grown man, I was five-foot-two and human, and the only thing on my side was pure adrenaline, he didn’t go very far. He did clear the edge of the circle though, which was all I’d needed.
Except now there was nothing fueling the magic of the gate.
My foot slipped, and I realized my mistake almost instantly. His blood had been keeping the gate open, and now that I’d expelled him from the circle, the charcoal lines were crumbling.
Without magic to make them solid, they couldn’t hold my weight anymore.
The lines fell away like the ashes they were, and I dove for the edge of the pit, the glowing embers burning my arms and chest as I scrambled, pulling myself up using sheer desperation and fear.
Something with sharp claws grazed my leg, giving me the final, terrified burst of adrenaline I needed to haul my ass out.
I rolled away from the collapsing pit only a second before it closed, and the last thing I saw was the clenched fist of something that looked much bigger and much scarier than what was already up here.
Like I said, I’m no expert on this stuff, but I will go to my grave telling you I looked into the face of the Devil himself when I closed the door to Hell.
Chapter Nine
One problem down, two very, very big ones left standing.
The closure of the gate seemed to be the thing that finally alerted Belphegor and Red to my presence, and they both spun around, snarling when they realized what I’d done while they were busy jawing about their plans for Earth.
Villains, they never learn.
“How dare you?” Belphegor shrieked, his voice like needles.
I glanced around and gave him a coy Who me? expression that I’m sure did not make him like me too much, and tried to pretend I wasn’t on the verge of literally shitting myself.
The front of my shirt was burned, and patches had worn clear away, giving everyone in the alley a good look at my second-best black bra. My jeans were also ruined, and I was willing to bet the boots were too, which was a bummer because they’d been a birthday gift from Desmond, and I didn’t think Chloe sold them anymore. I had hoped they might survive the pool incident, but this was probably the end of the line for them.
To be fair, I should have known better than to wear my expensive designer boots to a demon-raising, but when you find something that is both sexy and comfortable, you pretty much want to wear it everywhere. That’s just Being a Woman 101.
I stood in front of the would-be sacrifice, hoping I had gotten to him in time that we might be able to save his life. We’d need to get him back to headquarters for immediate medical treatment. He had the kind of wounds modern hospitals still wouldn’t know how to deal with as well as Lily could.
I couldn’t worry about him too much, though. I had bigger fish to fry at the moment, however, with two enormous demons—now trapped in our realm—who were pretty mad at me for disinviting their friends from the party.
All hail, Queen of the Buzzkills.
The agents, realizing they had an opportunity to get to my end of the alley, filtered between the two demons, so three of them were now standing with me, while the remaining four, including Tyler, stayed with Harold on the other side.
They all kept their attention trained on the demons, but Belphegor and Red only wanted to talk to me. I was such a lucky girl.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” Red snarled.
“I do,” I replied cheerfully. “It was totally intentional.”
“We will crush you underfoot until your bones are jelly and your eyes pop in your skull.”
