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“Demons?” I asked, refusing to react to or acknowledge his closeness.
“No, the Loch Ness Monster,” he said dryly.
“Funny.” I started to pull my hand away from his, but he tightened his grip.
“These are stronger than the ones who came last week.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” I really should have been spending this past week drilling Nathaniel for more answers about this world I’d stumbled into rather than pretending he didn’t exist.
“No, I’m just warning you this fight might not be as quick as last time.”
“Okay. What do we do now?”
“I’m not going to engage until they do. So for the moment, we’re walking home.”
I didn’t have the time or the brain space at the moment to consider the fact that he’d just called the apartment home, as if it was his now too. I was a little stuck on the part where he said he was going to wait for them to start the fight. “Why are you letting them make the first move?”
“There are rules about which demons I can attack and which ones I can’t. Until I know for sure that a demon is free game, I wait for them to attack, just to be on the safe side.”
I shook my head. “And the reason you’re holding my hand?”
“Making sure they know you’re not alone. Maybe they’ll decide it’s not worth the effort.” He didn’t sound like he cared either way. I had a feeling he was itching for this fight but didn’t want me in danger. Too bad for him those two things were mutually exclusive.
“If they do attack, stay behind me and let me take care of them,” he added.
We were in the parking lot just outside my apartment when the demons made themselves known. There were half a dozen of them this time. Most looked the same as the ones from last week. Their skin was red, like they’d gotten a really bad sunburn everywhere. Their ears were pointed like an elf inLord of the Rings, and they had sharp-looking horns coming out of their heads. On the scale of creepy, they actually ranked pretty low. The really scary thing about them was that they were here in real life instead of on the screen of my television.
A man pushed his way through the demons. He looked human except for the eyes. They glowed just like the demon I’d killed. Did that mean he was also a lord of Hell? This didn’t seem like the moment to ask that out loud.
I tightened my hand around Nathaniel’s, reminding myself that he was there. In the past week, I’d gotten used to his presence, but I’d never been as relieved to have him beside me as I was in that second.
The human-looking demon looked between the two of us, his eyes settling on me. “We have a score to settle.” His voice was smooth and dark.
I swallowed hard, resisting the urge to hide behind Nathaniel’s back.
Nathaniel made that move for me, angling himself so he partially blocked me from view. “You don’t talk to her,” he growled. “Better yet, don’t even look at her.”
The demon waved him off. “I don’t have the time or patience to deal with overprotective boyfriends. Get rid of them both.”
His demon minions came forward, and Nathaniel slipped his hand from mine. He crouched and pulled the two knives, which I hadn’t seen since the last demon attack, from his boots. As soon as they were free, I watched flames lick down from where he gripped the handles to the tips of the blades.
The demons paused, looking back at their leader.
“Angel,” he hissed, his lips twisting into a sneer.
“Not just any angel.” Nathaniel’s wings erupted from his back, the feathers glimmering crimson in the sunlight.
I took their moment of distraction to grab the iron stake I’d been carrying around for the past week from its place at my side.
Nathaniel had made it clear that I’d gotten lucky last time I’d been up close and personal with a demon, but he’d also said a deep cut could take out a low-ranking one. And I refused to stand here doing nothing while Nathaniel faced all the demons by himself.
“Well, this is an interesting development. I didn’t realize the sixth order had been reduced to guard dogs for humans.” The demon leader smirked.
“I didn’t know Hell could be bested by a human. No wonder you’re so desperate to avenge your pride.” I couldn’t see Nathaniel’s face, but his tone was emotionless. He sounded almost bored.
He cut through the first two demons that came at him easily, barely seeming to look at them as his knives sliced through flesh. His main focus was still on the demon who’d done the talking.
The rest of the demons came at him at once. I sucked in a breath, my heart stopping in my chest. He was outnumbered… by a lot.
